Easter booty for my vegan booty!

I hope everyone had an awesome Easter (if that's your gig)! The darlin' and I went about 30 minutes south of the city to visit my parents and brothers. It was nice!

Despite the fact that my brothers and I are all in our mid-twenties or older, my mom still insists on getting us Easter baskets every year with goodies. Up until a couple years ago, she still hid plastic eggs around the house for us to find! She really likes traditions.

This is my Easter booty this year:



My mom researches vegan candy every year when Easter's coming up, and my brothers and I all get vegan candy in our baskets! This year, we got Swedish Fish, Mike and Ike, Skittles, Mentos, and Spree jelly beans! I'm not much of a candy eater, but I love that my mom goes to so much effort to make sure I'm included!

I also got an insulated lunch bag (LOVE!), a new loofa, another LIVESTRONG bracelet, dental floss, 2-lb weights, and a $20 bill! Woohoo!

Today, I stuck to my promise to myself and went swimming in the morning! It was awesome! I started out with green tea with agave again. I'm starting to like this caffeine-in-the-morning thing!



I had to refuel quickly after swimming because I was scheduled to run later in the day, so even though my swim was pretty relaxed (3/4-mile swim, 25 minutes), I still followed my beloved post-exercise nutrient calculus. It's really important after strenuous exercise, but it's also important if you're going to exercise again within a few hours.

Today, I had a cup of soymilk, 1/2 a cup of vanilla granola, and 1/4 cup of raisins.



You're looking at about 72g of carbs and 17g of protein. Yum yum yum. I also pounded a Vita Coco Coconut Water with Peach & Mango about 30 minutes before I hit the treadmill for my afternoon run. LOVE this stuff!



It's sooooo hydrating! It has five essential electrolytes--potassium, magnesium, calcium, sodium, and phosphorous. I feel much more comfortable drinking coconut water for an extra-hydration punch than I do drinking a sports drink. The fake colors and flavors in sports drinks give me the chills a bit! I was able to pick up these tetra paks at my local natural foods store; hopefully you can find some near you! (Check out Vita Coco's website for more information.)

Caffeine...yes or no?

So, I gave up caffeine last December as part of my new, healthy diet. Prior to December, I was drinking at least one, if not two, 20-oz. bottles of diet soda a day! I was also an avid coffee drinker. My addiction had reached the point where I could drink a latte at 8 PM and still fall asleep at 10 PM--I was completely immune to caffeine's effects. After ready numerous studies regarding habitual caffeine use's negative effects on health and weight loss (like this, this, and this), I decided I needed to give it up!

Now, I've had to break some pretty strong addictions in my day (cheese addiction? hello!), but caffeine was the absolute worst! I gave it up during my winter holiday from law school, and I was laid up in bed for 7 days! No joke! I had the worst headache that I had ever experienced, and all I wanted to do was sleep and yell at people. That I was cranky would be an understatement! I'm so glad that's over.

So, I'll tell you the truth; I've had a couple caffeinated beverages between now and then. I treated myself to a couple sodas and a coffee or two while my darlin' and I were in Hawaii for my spring break. Can you see the take-out cup in my hand? I was trying to hide it from the camera!



I wasn't training then (we were hiking every day, but I wasn't running, biking, or swimming), so I don't really know how the caffeine affected my muscle performance after so long without it. I can say this, though--after a solid three months without the stuff, it definitely gave me a jolt!

Let's fast-forward to this morning! After reading many articles proclaiming the benefits of small doses of caffeine on muscle performance (like this one), I decided to add a little bit into my morning routine, just to see what would happen.

This morning, I forewent my usual soy yogurt and instead had a big mug of green tea (2 tea bags) with 2 tablespoons of agave nectar 30 minutes before my morning run. That's a lot of agave nectar for a mug of green tea, but I used the agave nectar to add in the pre-run carbs I need.



Verdict? I definitely felt more energized while running! I was a bit worried about how my muscles would perform after yesterday's running, yoga, and biking, but with the addition of the caffeine I was right on pace! I could tell that my muscles were responding better than usual, and I had a bit more spring in my step. I think I might keep the green tea in the equation for a bit, just to explore the possibilities. I'm curious about it's effects on hydration and recovery as well.