Pre-race Muffins

As race season creeps up and travel plans have begun to swim around my head I have been diving back into an all-time favorite recipe of mine: Pre-workout Energizing Muffins. It’s safe to say that these muffins were the inspiration for my blog and one of the reasons I started Running On Veggies. It was a simple “supply and demand” story: I was traveling to a race- the Disney Princess Half Marathon – and I wanted to take a pre-race breakfast with me but couldn’t figure out what to take. So I searched the internet and read all kinds of books to figure out what the best thing would be to have pre-race. Oats, chai seeds, and banana were the common recommendations but every recipe I found with these ingredients was loaded with added sugar and oil.And hence, these muffins were born! They offer the perfect combination of everything you want and need before a race/run. And of course, since you never try anything new on race day, I made sure to get in some training with with these muffins. I found that they were just perfect – not too heavy but not light enough that I would be a hungry in just a few hours. They have the perfect combination of carbohydrates and natural sugars. They’re also really low in fat – I try to avoid fat in my pre-workout meal because it takes a lot of energy to digest fat and I don’t want to waste that energy digesting my food. Same goes for after a workout – I avoid fat and look for protein and carbs because I want my body to digest the protein as quickly as possible.Although my first Disney half marathon seems to have been ages ago, I can’t help but recall the excitement as I now train for This year’s Ironman Lake Placid 70.3. Although this will be my second go at a 70.3 I know that I will still have the same pre-race nerves and excitement that come with any race. There is so much invested and so much unknown in each race. Fortunately this year I have some extra confidence boosters under my belt – my best and healthiest running season, and over 4K miles of riding this year so far! And thanks to this extra training I seem to be sleeping a bit easier these days and not having those horrible race nightmares.I have never been up to Lake Placid so I’m so excited to see all the beauty and history there. I know that being up there will have me itching to do a full Ironman, something that always felt so out of reach, but the more I dive into the sport the more realistic it becomes. For now I will focus on cruising to that finish line with one goal- a smile on my face.And I’ll be taking these Running on Veggies “originals” along! But since I have not made these muffins in a while I have decided to change up the recipe a bit. In this recipe I used chocolate chips but you can omit them or even substitute with blueberries. Note – these are not terribly sweet muffins so if you are looking to make them a little sweeter try adding 1/4-1/2 cup of your favorite sweetener. I would use date sugar!
I like to store them in my freezer and pop one in the toaster an hour before I head out.Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons chia seeds mixed with 1/3 cup warm water for 10 minutes
• 3 bananans
• 1 cup dates
• 1/2 cup nut milk
• 2 1/4 cups oat flour (you can make yourself by grinding oats into flour)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips or blueberries

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. In a food processor blend chia seed mixture, banana, dates and nut milk.
3. Add in oat flour, baking powder, cinnamon and vanilla. Blend until well combined.
4. Fold in your favorite topping.
5. Using a medium size ice cream scooper or tablespoon, scoop mixture into prepared muffin tins.
6. Yields around 12 muffins.
7. Bake until golden brown for about 20 minutes