Blog

posted on November 13, 2019

I’m about 10 days out from my meet and marathon. I’m exhausted, finishing up training, and hungry all the time. I let that hunger get the better of me over the weekend – I was traveling to support our friends lifting in Ohio, handled another one of our own at a meet in Bridgeville, and by the time I got home Sunday, pretty much just fell asleep. In between, my diet consisted mostly of bites of pizza, fast food, donuts, and some of the best pancakes I’ve ever had.

That’s all well and good, but I do have a general weight goal for next week and eating “junk food” makes me feel pretty crappy, so I’m cleaning things up this week. That meant taking a little bit of time off on Monday to buy groceries and meal prep. Since none of it is really special, I figured I’d lay it all out here.

Supplies:

Butcher Box

salmon filet, steak filets, chicken thighs, pork shoulder (had on hand), bacon

Misfit Box (a cool CSA type service for produce that looks ugly but tastes good)

eggplant, carrots, apples, potatoes, kabocha squash

Giant Eagle Run

tomatoes, mushrooms, green beans, kale, eggs, fancy juice, sauerkraut

Stuff I always have on hand

jasmine rice, butter, avocado and olive oils, salt, pepper, basic spices

What I made:

Pulled Pork Shoulder
- I have no secret, I use the crockpot. Rub it down with salt, any spices you want (I’ve been having some issues with even the most basic spices, so I’m going salt only), add apple cider vinegar, some honey, liquid smoke. Cook for 12 hours, no less, pull immediately.

Roasted Green Beans and Kabocha Squash

- In a huge bowl, coat the green beans in olive oil, salt, pepper. Spread on a baking sheet.
- In another bowl, add peeled and chopped kabocha squash, olive oil, salt, pepper (shocker). Would have been good with a touch of cinnamon. Lay out on backing sheet.
- Stick both in the oven, preheated to 375 degrees. Green beans took about 20 minutes, squash took about 35.

Pan Roasted Veggies

- Chop the eggplant and mushrooms. Keep the cherry tomatoes nearby. Preheat a large pan, add some avocado oil. Add eggplant first, salt it, throw a lid on and let it sear. About 5 minutes later, add the mushrooms and tomatoes. More salt. Throw the lid back on and let the juices from the mushrooms and tomatoes leak out and make the eggplant delicious. I let it cook down for about 15 minutes and it was perfect.

That makes up my lunches. I do about 4oz of cooked pork and a big scoop of either green beans or the roasted eggplant and tomato. That made 8 meals that I’ll pair with jasmine rice.

For breakfasts, I almost always have either 2 scrambled eggs and rice (if within 3 hours of a training session) OR I spend a little extra time making a hash with honey gold potatoes, bacon, and kale, topped with two eggs.

For an extra meal, I’ll go to the roasted kabocha with steak or salmon. I have apples and lots of almonds and walnuts for snacks. Ready to go.

By the end of this week I’ll hopefully feel back to my normal self and be pretty much ready to go for next weekend’s adventure.