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The Best _____ Ever: Training Tips

A collection of the best training tips, inspired by people who use them everyday: YOU!

Variety

I think the single most important this is variety! Make sure you are not doing too much of one thing, and make sure you hit all the different areas of your body. And I guess the other BEST tip is… JUST DO IT! Don’t overthink, just go out and do it. Honey B Nutrition

Listen to your body

You have to know when to stop or when to push harder to get the best and safest workout for your own body. Gretchen

Be Consistent

I think the best training tip is to find a way to be consistent – choose activities you know you will do regularly, a time to workout you know you can manage, etc. You won’t make any fitness progress doing getting active only 3x/month. You just won’t. There is no magical combo. Do what works for YOU! Tina @ Faith Fitness Fun

Just keep going!

Don’t let a bad/tough workout keep you down. We all have off days, but the key is to just keep going! mindy @ just a one girl revolution.

Don’t overdo it

Try one new thing at a time, so you don’t get burnt out or lose motivation for attempting too many things at once. Lauren

Find your passion

I think my best tip would be to find something you love! Don’t force yourself to do endless workouts that you loath because you will be quick to skip them. Madeline – Greens and Jeans

Don’t be a wimp

Listen to your body but don’t be a wimp! Some days I come home and feel too tired or sore or whatever to do a really intense workout or run, but I still try to go for a long walk or do some yoga or SOMETHING so that the whole day isn’t a wash. Megan (Running Foodie)

Intervals

If you have a goal of a certain in mind when you set out running or elipticaling and you get bored or hit a bit of a wall, do intervals by distance – it makes the time fly! For example if you hit 2 miles but really want to get to 3, run .1 miles at a fast pace, .1 mile at a medium pace, .1 mile at a slow pace, and then do the cycle again. It works like a charm! Georgie

Set mini goals

BEST training tip: Mini goals! When I first started training for my triathlon, I panicked when I struggled on 5k runs. How the heck was I going to swim 500m, THEN bike 17 miles and THEN run a 5k when a 5k alone was hard? So I broke it down each week. First week I alternated running & biking. Then I would bike/run bricks. Then I added in swimming. Then I added in swim/bike bricks. It is easy to be overwhelmed by the big picture, so- for me- I have to focus on baby-steps. sarah jayne

My best training tip? This is for those of you that are injured: if a PT or doc gives you strengthening or stretching exercises, DO THEM!! Just knowing about them won’t fix you. Smile

Anything else to add?!

Dazzle Dash, Round 2

Holidays

Nothing says welcome to the holiday season like the annual Dazzle Dash at the Symphony of Lights, an impressive display of Christmas lights set up each year for families to drive through and enjoy.

Each year, the weekend the light display opens for the season, it’s runners & walkers only! I much prefer walking under the lights than sitting in a car trying to see them out the window.

It was a little strange to not be completely freezing our butts off this year though. Last year I was a solid ice cube by the time the walk was over.

The Best _____ Ever

And now, by request, a new topic for “The Best _____ Ever” is open for submission. This time around, it’s The Best Training Tip Ever.

So rack your brains for your BEST piece of training advice, and leave it in the comments below, email me, or tweet me! The best tips will go up Friday on the 2nd edition of The Best Ever.

The Best Scones Ever- Cinnamon Chip Scones

Recipe

The hardest part of my quest to recreate the one good scone I’ve ever eaten was tracking down the cinnamon chips.

I hunted and hunted, from store to store. I never did succeed.

But I did stumble upon another elusive ingredient. One I’ve been itching to get my hands on so I can stop hoarding the one can I have from last year like an alcoholic who won’t share his bottle.

PUMPKIN!!!! And yes, I stocked up. It’s NOT an a convenient store. And who knows who might get there hands on it in the mean time if I don’t claim it as my own.

But back to the cinnamon chips. I couldn’t find them anywhere but online, and let’s be real- that wasn’t happening. I’m not even convinced I like scones yet.

It was an easy enough solution. I made my own:

Granulated sugar, cinnamon, coconut oil (optional), and maple syrup. Stirred together & baked at 200 for 10 minutes, then allowed to cool and broken into small pieces.

Now for the scone part.

I prepped my “buttermilk” and “egg” and let them do their thing while I got the rest of the ingredients together. “Buttermilk” and “egg” translates to almond milk + lemon juice and water + flax seed for those of you that don’t speak vegan-baking-geek-ese.

Then mix the dry ingredients together. I used half spelt flour and half all purpose flour. I figured the scones should be nice and light instead of whopping bricks (although I majority of the scones I’ve had do in fact taste like bricks.)

All the good stuff gets mixed in with the flour: brown sugar, cinnamon, granulated sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

Then comes the butter. I used non-dairy, feel free to use whatever you have on hand. First get it nice & cold- I throw mine in the freezer before I start.

Chop it up into small pieces, then toss it in the flour.

Using a pasty cutter, knives, or a food processor, cut the butter into the flour.

Keep going until the butter is well mixed and makes small granules of flour, like clumpy sand. (Mmm appetizing.)

Once the butter’s cut in, add the wet ingredients and stir gently. It probably won’t come together very well, but that’s ok.

To avoid overstirring, mix until it’s mostly cohesive, then use your hand to gently knead it into a finished ball, adding the cinnamon chips as you go.

If the dough gets too warm, pop it in the freezer at any point. Keeping the dough cold will help make it flaky when you bake it.

Spread the dough onto a baking sheet and form a flat circle.

Cut dough into triangle shaped wedges and spread out on baking sheet.

Lightly coat the tops of the scones with almond milk or a mixture of cornstarch & water.

Then sprinkle each wedge with turbinado or demerara sugar.

Bake at 375 degrees for 12 minutes.

Let cool for several minutes. Then eat up!

Hmm. Looks like a scone.

Smells like a scone.

Tastes like a scone….maybe it IS a scone!

Ok these were pretty good. But I’m still not a scone convert. Give me cinnamon rolls, cookies, or muffins any day.

The Best Scones Ever- Cinnamon Chip Scones

Ingredients

Cinnamon Chip Scones
1 cup spelt flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup almond milk
1 tsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp flax seed meal
3 Tbsp water
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 T sugar
1 T brown sugar
1/4 cup vegan butter or regular
Cinnamon chips see above if can’t find
Sprinkle demerara sugar

The Best _______ Ever Series: SCONES!

What do you think the Best Scone Ever is?

Here’s what you said:

Alex: I love scones, fruity scones, chocolaty scones, buttery scones. But my favorite scones are savory… bacon-cheddar-chive (because cheese makes everything better). I make these and serve them with delicious, runny eggs.

Cynthia: The best scone I ever at was at a British Tea House near my mom when I was in high school. Perfect in every way with currant and a bit of brown sugar.

Teri: the best scone EVER EVER EVER EVER is the America’s Test Kitchen Lemon Blueberry Scone. Just accept the fact that it has tons of butter. It’s ok. They are AMAZING.

(These ones are next on my list- look how amazing those look!!)

Brandi: I actually JUST posted a recipe this morning! All my scone trials in the past have been disasters, but I think all the biscuit baking I’ve done this year has been helpful.

Heather: I am a fan of my Cherry Chocolate Chunk Scones I love scones with chocolate in them.

Erin: My personal favorite that I made were these cranberry walnut scones. I didn’t expect them to turn out half as good as they did, since it was my first time baking scones, but they honestly tasted like something from a bakery. It was one of my biggest–and yummiest!–successes. Healthy, too!

You guys have some good lookin’ scone recipes!! Maybe I need to try one or two more before I officially write off scones…

Which scone is your favorite?

The Best _____ Ever Series Kickoff

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Something catastrophic happened yesterday.

I bit my lip eating a scone.

No, that’s not the catastrophic part.

The catastrophic part? I liked it. The scone, not the lip biting.

Yes me, who hates scones and doesn’t appreciate their dominance in the pastry world. I’ve been quoted on more than one occasion as saying they taste like stale dry cookies.

But this one was good. Not cookie good, but, part of breakfast good.

So obviously that means I needed to figure out how to make them.

(Why was I eating a scone if I hate them you ask? Well, apparently “pumpkin bread” sounds a lot like “cinnamon scone” to the Starbucks barista. Luckily she didn’t destroy my soy cinnamon dolce latte so I let her live.)

Anyway. It was just slightly crusty on the outside, and soft on the inside. Some kind of merger between a cookie and muffin. But in a good way. Not a what the heck am I eating and why did I pay 2 dollars for it way.

So, you know what’s gonna happen? While I work like a mad scientist determining the absolute best scone recipe of all times -that doesn’t taste like stale dry cookie- I’m kicking off the new SoS series that’s the result of the brilliant master mind Sarah: The Best _____ Ever.