I am a major foodie and one of the main reasons I work out so hard is so I can enjoy every morsel of my meals, snacks, drinks, and desserts… especially desserts.  I do however try to keep the majority of my food intake nutritious and love to start my day with a smoothie! It’s one of the best ways to pack in the superfoods without feeling bogged down or bloated.  It is also energizing before a mid morning workout!  Here is one of my favorite recipes:

Superfood Smoothie Recipe

• 1 c plain organic yogurt
• 1 small banana
• 2 T flax seed
• 2 T bee pollen
• 1/2 c fresh squeezed o.j.
• 1/2 c of low-fat milk or soy/rice/almond milk
• 3/4 c frozen organic berries
• 1/4 almonds (soak in the o.j./milk for a minute or so before blending)
• 2 T chia seeds
• 4 T organic hemp protein powder (Nutiva brand found at Whole Foods)
• 1-3 T agave syrup to sweeten (if desired)

Chia seeds are a great source of omega-3 & omega-6 essential fatty acids and are very beneficial to the heart and extremely high in fiber, calcium, high quality protein and are loaded with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.  Bee pollen contains more than 96 different nutrients and is made up of 40% protein.  It combines 22 amino acids, vitamin C, B-complex, folic acid, enzymes and carotene – all of the major antioxidants.  Bee pollen benefits your immune system, builds resistance to allergies, helps cope more easily with stress and can increase energy and endurance for athletes. Hemp protein powder is a raw, certified organic food that contains 37% protein, 43% fiber and no net carbs.  It also comes with the benefit of 9% beneficial fats, chlorophyll, vitamin E and iron.

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I have recently been incorporating ‘power drills’ into my spin workouts.  Power drills are some of my favorite workouts to improve power at lactate threshold (the point at which lactate begins to accumulate in the bloodstream).  They are the building blocks to improve power and speed during a spinning workout.

Spinning is an excellent cardiovascular cycling workout.  Routines range from strength and endurance training to calorie burners.  Many people are not fond of spinning at first because it can be ridiculously challenging on the legs. Since it’s primarily an anaerobic exercise, it pulls energy from your reserves and builds up your muscular endurance over an extended period of time.

So how do you add power drills to your spin routine? After establishing a ‘comfortably hard’ heart rate zone we move into a challenging set of intervals working a high aerobic heart rate for at at least 20 minutes.  We build into some steady time trial efforts at a higher intensity and hold each of these efforts for a 2-3 minute period of time.  Then come the power drills where we surge at a 90%, breathless effort for 30 second to 1 minute repeat intervals with a 15-30 second active recovery in between.

We typically repeat the time trial efforts and power drills to complete a full 60 minutes of high aerobic and lactate threshold intervals.  This is a great way to get those endorphins going and take high performance training to the next level.  It’s also great for all you runners who need cross training but don’t want additional impact on your legs.  Plus it’s one of the best indoor workouts for burning max calories.

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