Recovery Runs & PBJ French Toast

Posted: July 23, 2011 at 9:57 am

Happy weekend! Yet again, I got my weekend started on the right foot (ha! I just typed ‘food’ at first…we see what my mind is on). After switching my rest day to Fridays to accommodate half marathon training better, I felt rejuvenated and refreshed for this morning’s long run. Er, wait. Scratch that.

I did feel rejuvenated and refreshed…but I had no long run awaiting me. This week is a recovery week for me on the ole plan, so no long run on the schedule. Every run this week has called for a three or four mile easy run, including today. Knowing that my fresh feeling legs would want to run fast, I resigned myself to the treadmill – to make sure I stayed at a “recovery run pace”. Running on the treadmill is so much harder for me to do at quicker paces, so it worked well. Plus, the lower impact and flat running can’t hurt in a recovery week either.

The torture device didn’t drive me too bonkers today. I got my music going, set myself at 6.2 mph, tossed a towel over the screen, and just went.

P1140792

And…done! Before, I always focused on taking one rest day a week, but never regular entire weeks to lighten the load. For half marathon training, though, I certainly see the benefits of recovery weeks. Already so glad I opted for the longer training plan that includes them!

Despite having a shorter run, I still came home ravenous. Running does that to me. I don’t mind. I like food. Currently, I really like peanut butter and jelly food. Always, I really like breakfast food. Saturdays, I really like fancy breakfast food – pancakes, waffles, french toast. You know what’s going to happen next don’t you?

Peanut Butter & Jelly French Toast

I fired up our Cuisinart panini press / griddler (love this thing!) and got cracking. I beat together one egg, a splash of vanilla almond milk, and cinnamon for my dipping. Using two slices of whole wheat bread, I made your standard french toast. Dip, cook, flip, cook, plate. Nothing fancy…but, oh sweet yum. Especially when giving me a PBJ fix.

pb french toast 1

I heated up about two tablespoons of peanut butter until it was slightly melty to spread over my french toast like a thick syrup. Then, I made my jelly syrup. We had an almost empty jar of Just Fruit strawberry jelly. I added a few diced fresh strawberries to the jar and popped that sucker in the microwave for 20 seconds. Out came a fruity, hearty syrup to douse my already peanut butter slathered french toast.

pb french toast 2

Breakfast is served!

  • Do you regular take lighter training weeks to help your body recover/rest?
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33 Comments to “Recovery Runs & PBJ French Toast”
  1. Yum – I would gladly swap maple syrup for peanut butter over my french toast! I like the way you think.

    Agree with you on the importance of recovery weeks. We beat our bodies up with all that running and sometimes you need more than a day to recover!

  2. I am really bad about incorporating in lighter weeks as a whole. It was so hard for me to taper down before my half. You’d think it should be easy, but not so much. I definitely follow them on twitter 😉

  3. I haven’t worked out in 4 days and I’m starting to get a little crazy over it. It’s my therapy! I’m about to have a killer workout with Jillian Michaels by my side. You can never go wrong with PB&J! Best combo ever!

  4. YUM! I should have just run to you house for breakfast. 🙂

  5. I really enjoy recovery weeks. When I trained for my half back in June, I only had 6 weeks to get ready. Every week was a killer plan and I was running a ton of miles. I felt good when I was finished my training runs, but I began to feel a little burnt out…like I didn’t have time to relax or rest. I definitely don’t like running when I feel burnt out!

    Enjoy this week! 😀

  6. I usually take it easy on the weekends! french toast included!

  7. Recovery weeks are so amazing for the body. I sure do take them when I need them. And pb + jam is awesome… Definitely something I love!

  8. Sarah says:

    Recovery weeks are the best. They have helped me soo much throughout my training so far. I always feel so refreshed after them!

  9. I like the treadmill a lot for recovery runs too. I’m bad about setting my pace slower than it should be outside so the treadmill works perfectly.

  10. Great looking french toast!!!
    When I was training for the half marathon, I took recovery weeks. Now that I”m back to my normal routine (spin, zumba, weights class, etc) I don’t. I take recovery days on Sunday and sometimes Saturday too but that’s it. I travel a lot so I take my “recovery weeks” then. 🙂

  11. Love the idea of putting the towel over the screen on the treadmill. I WILL be stealing that. Thanks, Tina!!

  12. That french toast sounds incredible!

  13. Yup I definitely take recovery weeks. Rest is very important to me, physically and mentally.

    that PB&J french toast is making me wish I haven’t had brunch yet – It looks sooo good!

  14. Running fast on treadmills is so hard for me! It’s weird because I normally run on the road at around 7mph, but when I do 7mph on the treadmill it feels 10x harder! I guess it’s just a psych thing though.
    Anyways, enjoy your recovery week and have a great weekend, Tina!

  15. Khushboo says:

    I agree about the running fast on treadmills- I always feel like I’m running faster outdoors! Is it embarrassing to admit that this post kinda made me drool ;)!

  16. I’ve always seen people cover the treadmill with a towel at the gym! Do you do that so you dont get distracted?

  17. That looks fantastic. Melting the pb is a great idea. I never take rest weeks but should. I would probably get a better workout in the long run.

  18. Errign says:

    I guess this week was a lighter week for me, having just written out my macro look at this week. Even though I’m not training for something – I’m going to tell myself that it’s a recovery week 🙂

    Love, love, love French toast!

  19. Kristin @ STUFT Mama says:

    That French Toast looks amazing. I’ve never topped it with peanut butter and jelly before. I MUST try. 🙂 The towel covering up the treadmill stats is a must! ha!

  20. I’m using the Runner’s World Smart Coach training plan for my half marathon training, too. And, I am on a recovery week, as well. I’m really loving a week of 4 mile easy runs after the last few weeks of tempo runs and 8 mile long runs. I’m trying not to think of the 9 mile long run awaiting me next week. It wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t so hot outside.*sigh*

  21. I’m on a recovery week this week, too! I love recovery weeks. 🙂 Heh, I actually really look forward to long runs (they can be torturous at times but the feeling afterwards is so amazing!) but it is nice to have a week here and there where you can take it easy and your weekend isn’t dominated by a crazy running schedule. 😀

  22. What kind of peanut butter do you use? When I’ve microwaved natural peanut butter in the past, it’s just dried up, not melted. I’d love to have an option that would actually melt!

  23. Mandy says:

    Yummmmmmmmmmmmm 🙂

  24. […] Recovery Runs & Peanut Butter French Toast […]

  25. […] likely not work out as often as I usually do. I’ll take a cue from Tina’s (at Faith Fitness Fun) marathon training schedule and use this as a recovery week. I think it’ll also be the kick […]

  26. Katherine says:

    I always have to cover the treadmill screen when I run on it as well! If I don’t I’d just be staring at every second go by and it would feel like a millennium to run 3 miles. I also find it hard to run faster on a treadmill for some reason, any idea why that is? For my first 1/2 Marathon I was training primarily on a treadmill and the day of the race I actually ran at a pace that was :50 sec/mile less than what I was training at!

    The PB french toast looks delicious! I’ve been smother PB on whole-wheat blueberry pancakes lately, I highly recommend it.

  27. I have never used my Griddler for french toast before!! Great idea! I know what I’m having for dinner tonight … 🙂

  28. Jeannie says:

    Lol! I had tweeted not to tempt me with the PB & J french toast and what did I have yesterday morning after my long spin session? Yep, made french toast and spread Dark Chocolate Dreams PB on it with some mashed up raspberries mixed with a little raspberry jam. I agree with you, yumm!

  29. […] true oatmeal with iced coffee instead. Sometimes I crave different things for breakfast – like PBJ French Toast – but it never fails that I return to this […]

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