All Veg Power Smoothie

Vegetable smoothie

If you're looking for an iPhone app to help you exercise look no further than Nike Training Club. The app has different interval training workouts for you to do at home. I've only used it twice so far but both times were a challenge (in a good way). As you do workouts with the app you earn "rewards" and the last reward I earned was recipes for Power Smoothies. Most of the recipes are pretty normal but this veggie one stood out so I decided to try it after a weekend of less than healthy choices. It's a good way to up your vegetable intake. It tastes like a bunch of vegetables but sometimes that's what you need.

Not your typical smoothie ingredients!

All-Veg Power Smoothie
Recipe adapted from Nike
Ingredients:

• 1 carrot
• Chunk of ginger, chopped
• Half a ripe avocado 
• Quarter of a cucumber 
• 1 stick of celery
• 4 oz apple juice (I used orange) 
• Ice cubes

To make:

1. Chop all the vegetables in a blender. Blend with the apple juice & ice until smooth. 

Running With Nike+

To all the runners out there: have you tried Nike+?  When it first came out it was just this sensor that you fit in your shoe (Nikes of course) and then the sensor interacted with your iPod to tell you your pace, distance, and calories. I had this version of Nike+ since 2008 and I always liked it. The sensor type of Nike+ is still available but I've moved on with technology!

Image from iTunes

If you have an iPhone you can get the app Nike+ GPS for $1.99 which does all the regular Nike+ functions "plus" more.  Since the iPhone app uses GPS it's more accurate than the sensor method and it also tracks your altitude and pace every step of the way. When you're done you can link it to your Nike+ account and go back and look at your runs on pretty graphs. There are also training programs through the website- I'm training for a 1/2 marathon right now.

Screenshot from my Nike+ training site

I'm a big fan of this technology for a couple reasons.  One it's convenient- if you just randomly go running outside there's no real accurate way of telling how far you've gone but this app changes that. You can program in how far you want to go and it alerts you as you complete a mile and when you're halfway.  Two it's fun- I like that it tracks all my past runs and I like interacting with the website too. If you have Nike+ and want to be "friends" on the community, my username is fauxfurr so add me!