Hill Intervals, The First OIAJ, & Easy Peasy PB Cookies

Sunday called for my first hill run for marathon training. Let me tell you, I was psyched to hit that treadmill on an incline.

…Can you feel the sarcasm?

You see, Virginia Beach is a joke when it comes to hill runs. The land is completely flat almost everywhere, and to run hills outside, I’d have to travel about 20 minutes from my house. So I hit the gym, jumped on the treadmill, and braced myself.

I was a little worried. These treadmills make it very clear what is appropriate and what is not.

no crawling allowed.

Honestly? It wasn’t bad at all. I surprised myself.

Maybe it had something to do with the throwback SNL episode on T.V. And not just any throwback. Backstreet throwback.

oh, hey Kevin. Join me for hill intervals?

Brian, I would run “Anywhere for You.”

Here’s a breakdown of my treadmill hill intervals:

.5 miles  -  3.0 incline  -  6.5 mph
.5 miles  -  5.0 incline  -  7.0 mph
.3 miles  -  3.0 incline  -  6.8 mph
.4 miles  -  4.5 incline  -  7.0 mph
.3 miles  -  6.0 incline  -  6.5 mph
.5 miles  -  3.0 incline  -  7.0 mph
.5 miles  -  6.5 incline  -  6.8 mph
.3 miles  -  5.0 incline  -  7.0 mph
.4 miles  -  3.0 incline  -  7.2 mph
.3 miles  -  6.0 incline  -  6.5 mph
.5 miles  -  3.0 incline  -  7.0 mph
.2 miles  -  9.0 incline  -  6.5 mph
.3 miles  -  6.0 incline  – 6.8 mph
.2 miles -  2.0 incline  -  7.0 mph

Phew. Just typing that tires me out.

I followed the workout with .5 miles of walking uphill. Special thanks to The Backstreet Boys and my new running playlist for getting me through that sucker.

After the gym, I swung by the beloved Trader Joe’s for a few necessities.

salad dressing and wine. obvious life necessities.

And I didn’t get those Fiber One brownies from TJ’s. They were a curious Wal-Mart impulse buy. The verdict? They kinda suck. If you’re a fan of dry brownies with some frosting on them, let me know. You can have mine.

I’m so generous.

Guess what was calling to me from the pantry when I arrived home?

Not Chloe. I don’t keep her in the pantry.

Although she’d probably love that.

My Naturally More peanut butter disappeared somehow. No idea how that happened…

So I stepped up to the plate for my FIRST OIAJ, or “Oats in a Jar.” Gosh, was I pumped.

On the stove top, I heated up 1 1/2 cups Light Chocolate Silk and mixed in 1/4 cup steel cut oats. I then stirred in 1/2 scoop Nectar Chocolate Truffle Whey Protein Isolate.

After the oats were done cookin’, I poured them into the empty pb jar.

A star was born.

How has it taken me this long to make Oats in a Jar? It’s a travesty. This tasted like a warm peanut butter cup.

I ate half of it, stuck the rest in the fridge (just to see what all the fuss is about the “Overnight Oats,” and tried it cold.

The verdict? It’s so much better warm. I’ll stick to my hot oats.

Apparently, hill workouts make me hungry for peanut butter. Around 8 p.m. on Sunday night, I tried my hand at three-ingredient brown sugar peanut butter cookies.

1 cup Naturally More Peanut Butter (I’m an addict)
1/2 cup brown sugar blend Splenda (this would be a full cup of regular sugar)
1 egg

I didn’t feel like dirtying up my blender so late at night, so I whisked the three ingredients in a mixing bowl.

into the oven you go

6 minutes later, et voila.

three ingredients, no flour. awesome.

I enjoyed three of these little babies before packaging them up for one lucky coworker. I’m lucky enough to work with someone who is willing to sub for me teaching my summer camp while I’m in Ohio for this weekend’s family wedding.

I was a little angry with myself for not thinking to throw some chocolate into the recipe, so I improvised.

And then I wanted even more chocolate so I added a chunk of the Cadbury dark chocolate Colleen sent me.

JK. No I didn’t.

Oh, shoot. There’s photo evidence. I guess I did.

Tagged as: chocolate peanut butter oats in a jar, easy peanut butter cookies, hill intervals, OIAJ, three ingredient peanut butter cookies, Trader Joe's, treadmill hill workout