Fit 4 Thursday

Welcome to another edition of Fit 4 Thursday!

I know last week I shared my favorite recovery smoothie, but today I'm also sharing another favorite.

Now, I'm not one to readily jump on any bandwagon, but I gotta say I am impressed with tart cherry juice.

What's this about tart cherry juice, you ask?

Well, a few weeks ago, my mother-in-law posted on my facebook page that she'd read/heard that a lot of runner's drink tart cherry juice. Then one of my runner friends chimed in and agreed about tart cherry juice, saying that it's got some great anti-inflammatory properties and that she can't drink it straight, but she does mix it with plain carbonated water.

How is it that I'd never heard of this? So then I ask another girlfriend about it, and she again, backed up everything that I'd heard so far.

Who knew?!


So then off to the grocery store I went. I picked up a bottle of tart cherry juice and some carbonated water, and excitedly put them in the refrigerator for the next day's trial run.

I had no idea how much cherry juice to add to the water, so I started off with a 1:4 ratio of cherry juice to water.

Holy wow! That's still way tart. Ugh. How do you people drink this crap? I powered through it.

After my long run, I realized I didn't have any more coconut water so I couldn't make my recovery smoothie. I did have that cherry juice though.

You see what I'm getting at here? Yep, I made a smoothie out of the cherry juice, and I'm going to share that recipe with you today!

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Chocolate Cherry Protein Smoothie

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Ingredients

Scoopful Chocolate Protein Powder
Banana
1 C Tart Cherry Juice
Ice, to preference

Directions

Add everything to blender and blend away.

Enjoy!

This is a delicious smoothie! The cherry juice really helps offset the sweetness of the chocolate protein powder.

Remember when I said that, I'm not one to jump on a bandwagon? I will say that my calves feel so much better this week, after incorporating the cherry juice into my diet.

It could just be coincidence, but maybe not. Either way, the cherry juice will remain apart of my training.

Have a great day!