Raspberries Galore!

The raspberry bushes we have in our front yard are just starting to produce. It looks to be a huge crop. There are a few reasons why this is a problem.

• We still have frozen raspberries from last summer.
• We'll be gone right at peak season for a week. That is great for the neighbors but in reality it does take a bit of effort to keep the raspberries picked. 
• I'm starting to snack on raspberries all day long!

So my plan is to pick pretty heavily the next couple weeks and take extras into work. Anybody want raspberries? Let me know and I can get you some or come pick!

Why do we still have frozen raspberries from last summer? I do use the frozen raspberries year round in smoothies but smoothie consumption drops off severely with winter. I've been going through a couple cups of frozen a week but we really did have a lot.

And why is it a problem to snack on raspberries all day long? I raced a half marathon two weeks ago and took a pretty severe cut back/recovery week. This week I've been upping my miles (45 miles this past week) plus ran a longer trail race mid-week which has increased intensity.  Plus trail running in general just requires more calories mile per mile.

And? I was pretty tired saturday on the trail run. That was fine as i was expecting to feel the uptick in running but I thought i was a little too tired. the issue? All this healthy snacking means I'm not eating enough calories and my weight is down.  It's too low of a weight for this point in training. Yes, i've seen a drop in body fat percentages overall which is great but losing weight too quickly can set me up for difficulty hitting workouts, poor recovery from workouts, a loss in muscle and basically mucking about with my metabolism.  I don't weigh myself very often as I tend to just rely on how my clothing fits. I knew I'd lost a little bit of weight which was fine but wasn't quite expecting that big of a drop. 

So what to do? I baked and used a recipe which required frozen raspberries. The rhubarb almond crumb cake i made a couple weeks ago worked fabulously with frozen raspberries. I've been having a slab of it for a mid morning snack. I'll admit this is a good problem to have.  It probably means going back to a calorie tracking app.  Why? If I'm running 6-10 miles per day, I get lazy about replacing those burned calories sometimes. Seeing the hard numbers helps me plan more food at work.  Baking is just fine!