Oh, hello there, Thursday Thoughts! It’s been some time.

I’m probably due for some mindless typing on the internet.

Except this post won’t be too mindless. I do have a general agenda to discuss.

Our week of clean eating dinners!

My husband has gotten back into Tough Mudder racing this year. Back in 2013 he accomplished 5 races (I tagged along for one of them. You can check out the videos (you can check out his videos on his YouTube channel)! After that CrossFit became king of the roost and he became a certified trainer, working at gyms in both Florida and Ohio in his free time.

Tough Mudder issued new levels of obstacle racing, including the Toughest Mudder. Toughest Mudder is an 8 hour race from midnight to 8 am, as many laps of the course as you can accomplish.

My husband gathered a couple of coworkers to tackle the course with him and they’ve been training all year.

Last weekend was the big event!

There wasn’t any big dietary change, however it was “dry season” beginning February 1st.

The weekend before the race, on a sleepless night, I had the brilliant (?) idea to try a week of cooking “clean” for us. I found a weekly meal plan on Daily Burn and picked 4 recipes to make for dinners.

To kick off the week and provide leftovers to help us out with lunch, I made Turkey Chili with White Beans. I only had half a pound of turkey in the freezer, so I just used that and added in a can of corn. I also used garlic powder instead of fresh garlic. This chili was 100% toddler approved! Firecracker had seconds on each of the three days he ate it.

Tuesday night we had a Savory Steel-Cut Oatmeal. This oatmeal with asparagus and mushrooms is topped with an egg was intended to be a breakfast dish on the meal plan. I’m “too American” to be able to handle a non-sweet breakfast, but my husband says he’d totally eat something like that for breakfast! Instead of a sunny-side-up egg, I simply did a fried egg. I used dried thyme, shallot in place of garlic, and omitted the truffle oil.

On Wednesday, I prepped the Vegetarian Black Bean Burgers during naptime so that dinner would be prepped for my husband to cook while I was at Pure Barre. I was concerned with the burger patties while making them, but they turned out to be perfectly moist and full of flavor. I used packed Italian seasoned breadcrumbs (that might “break the rules” of “clean eating”) so left out the oregano. We ate these on toasted whole wheat buns. I topped mine with tomato, ketchup, mustard, and mayo. My husband ate his with pepper jack cheese, tomato, and avocado. Even Firecracker ate a portion of the patty, voluntarily and repeatedly! Another, kid-approved recipe.

The final night of my cooking, we had company for dinner. I made the hearty Balsamic Chicken Recipe with Barley and Chard. Instead of barley I used some lentils we’ve had in the pantry for ages. Again, I used dried thyme. To be honest, this meal wasn’t my favorite. I felt it to be lacking in texture. Having some beautiful fresh bakery bread with butter helped.

So, how did the race go? It went well. The cold did get the better of him and he was forced to miss out on his personal goal of 25 miles by 5 miles (1 lap). I’m insanely proud of him for making the smart choice and taking care of his body and health. To go 8 hours in the wet, cold, and dark is insanely commendable (and only slightly crazy).

Would he do it again? Absolutely!

What did he learn? Pack extra pants! He packed extra shirts to change out of with varying layers of thickness, but only one pair of long leggings. He’d also train in his wet suit so as to be able to bring it when the temperature drops. (His rule is, “no new gear on race day.”)

He did a great job packing fuel. He had portioned out baggies of nut mixes, some breakfast burritos, a juice from the farmer’s market, bananas, berries, and plenty of “goo” packs for energy. He has a hydration backpack which he used while training, but found it unnecessary during the race. He ran out of water after the first lap and didn’t want to waste time refilling it. Tough Mudder did a great job of having plenty of hydration stations along the race route that it wasn’t an issue.

Congratulations, Team Cinnamon Roll, on completing a Toughest Mudder!