With Hurricane Isaac out in the Gulf yesterday, Tampa was definitely in the clear in regards to weather. However, it was a very windy day! I decided sleeping in was the way to go, so my run followed last night. With my hamstring and hip acting up a bit, I decided to take it easy and stretch out my legs a bit with a pace run. With that crazy wind, my pace run turned into a very challenging run for the first half! I was working incredibly hard just to hold the 8 minute pace that I was looking for.
Lucky for me, the head wind I had in the beginning was bound to turn into a tail wind on the way back! I turned around at mile 3, put in the same effort, and was hitting 40 seconds a mile faster! Running against the wind exerted as much energy as a tempo run! No wonder it was so hard! I was able to get the entire pace run done with very minimal pain in my hamstring and hip, which is a whole lot more than I have been able to say for the past 4-6 weeks. I still do not plan to push myself hard until I see significant improvements, but it was great to feel even a little bit like myself again. 38 days and counting until race day!!
Pumpkin Oat Bread
Over the weekend, I had some time to play around in the kitchen a bit. It is something that I rarely make the time to do, so I am excited to share a recipe that I made with all of you!
With fall right around the corner, I decided to pick up some pumpkin and make a yummy breakfast treat! Since it has oats in it, in place of some flour, it is a more dense version of your everyday bread. There is a more hearty feel to it, but it is still nice and moist, like pumpkin should be! Here is everything you need for it!
- 1/3 cup Greek yogurt
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup old-fashioned oats
- 3/4 cup flour
- 1 tsp baking power
- 1 Tbsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup canned pumpkin
Grease a loaf pan well, and preheat the oven to 350. Take the first 2 ingredients and blend together until combined. Add eggs and continue to beat well. Then, take all other dry ingredients and add to the egg mixture, about a cup at a time. Add pumpkin, and beat well, until all is mixed together.
Pour bread batter into a 9x5x3 pan, and put in the oven for 45-50 minutes, checking when it gets closer to the end.
The loaf is finished when you can insert a toothpick, knife, etc. in the middle, and it comes out clean. Don’t expect this bread to rise like other breads, since there is not a lot of flour. It is a much more dense bread, but in a very good way 
I topped mine with vanilla Greek yogurt, bananas, and cinnamon. Feel free to top yours with whatever you prefer, or just eat it the way it is. It’s great either way!
How many times have you run into the wind, and then had a great tail wind on the way back? Or maybe the opposite – tail wind at first and then head wind on the way back? Do you make pumpkin bread – any good recipes?
Both running and riding with headwind are incredibly challenging, and like you wrote, once you hit the turnaround point, the wind finally works in your favor! Whenever this happens–and I feel like I’m not moving–I remind myself to push through it because the tailwind will arrive soon enough. If anything, working out with headwind makes you stronger.
The pumpkin bread looks delicious! I was thinking of heading into the kitchen and experimenting with some fall flavors–like apple and pumpkin–now that August is almost over.
Ya, it actually was a fun way to break up the workout. I was solely focused on the two miles that I had to complete before turning around, not the ones that I had at the end, because I knew they were going to be easy
Yum! I’m ready to bring back pumpkin into my life!
Ya! Me too! I was trying to wait until at least September, but I just couldn’t help myself!
anything pumpkin reminds me of FALL. I cannot wait! This looks so good!
It turned out super yummy! I had to bring the rest to work so that I would stop eating it!
This bread looks amazing, and I am all about anything with pumpkin in it. I’m also excited to find another good recipe with things to bake with Greek yogurt. Thanks for posting your recipe!
[...] Pumpkin Madness - Did you hear the PSL is back!? [...]
mnn pumpkin bread looks great!
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