Overnight Oats AND a new endurance SpinList

Ever get a hankering for something that you just can’t get rid of? Mine is usually something wonderfully carb-filled, and the other night I couldn’t fight off my need for some oats! I love to soak steel cut oats overnight (since who has 45 min to boil them in the AM) and add a topping in the morning before heading off to teach spin.

Here’s the super simple recipe for 2 servings (it ends up being about 1C of oats per serving once cooked)…

Overnight Steel Cut Oats

Ingredients…

• 1/2 C steel cut oats
• 2 1/2 C water (you could also steep your fave tea and use that as the “water” for extra flavor)
• 1 TBSP cinnamon ( I love cinnamon!)
• Stevia to taste

Combine oats and water in a small pot, bring to boil for 1 min, turn off the heat, stir in cinnamon & stevia, cover pot, and leave it set out overnight. In the morning, bring the oats back to a boil over high heat. Then, reduce the heat to medium and simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes.

Voila! You have a scrumptious breakfast. I like to put a little bit of fruit and walnuts on top, and I usually sprinkle on some chia seeds and stir in a third of a scoop of my protein powder since au natural, there is only about 5-6g of protein per serving.

Don’t know what to do with that second serving? How about…

• Mix in 1 TBSP Hershey’s special Dark Cocoa powder, add some cherries and a sprinkle of chopped almonds, and have yourself a fabulous, fiber-filled dessert!
• Grab a small mason jar or any jar with a lid and make a layered parfait like this Gingerbread Poweroats recipe from Powercakes

So oats are usually my go-to breakfast if I’m headed out the door for an AM spin. (You can even put them in a little Mason jar and take ’em in the car!)

Lately I’ve been making new “build on & endure” playlists for my classes that are killer cardio workouts. The goal is to progressively add on weight throughout each loop and then do an endurance song keeping the weight on, increasing your RPMs, and going as close to completely breathless for as long as you can (hopefully the entire song).

I’ll be posting more about HIIT spin workouts and heart rate zones (HRZs) in the future. NOTE: I usually teach my classes in terms of perceived rate of exertion (“on a scale from 1-10 you should feel like a…”) but I like to teach about HRZs to encourage my students to really get in tune with how hard they’re working since we usually think we are working harder than we actually are!

Here’s my latest Build & Endure Playlist…(each loop is a different color)

1. Soul Man: Blues Brothers (3:28)- warm up
2. Don’t You Worry Child: Swedish House Mafia (3:32)- add 2 surging
3. Gangham Style: Psy (3:39)- stretch, climb, adding 2
4. Proud Mary: Glee Cast (3:41) DON’T UNLOAD Fast Flat: ZONE 3
5. Don’t Stop the Party: Pitbull (3:26)- Jumps (2-8ct sets double-time)
6. Pound the Alarm: Nicki Minaj (3:25)-Climb, surging on chorus and then adding 1 gear after each surge
7. The Way You Move: Outkast (3:54)- Hill, add 1 at 1min & 3min marks
8. The Pretender: Foo Fighters (4:27)-DON’T UNLOAD…Fast Flat HR ZONE 4
9.  Locked Out of Heaven: Bruno Mars (3:53)-1 min recovery & add 2 for a standing climb
10. Tonight I’m Loving You: Enrique (3:51) 4 position, 4 count jumps
11. Strike It Up: Black Box (4:58) Tempo Training Hill 1min 80, 1 min 90, 1 min 100, 1 min 110, 30 sec break, 30 sec 120
12. Domino: Jessie J (3:51) Recover, add 2 gears to climb, surging on chorus, add one gear after each chorus
13. Bad (Remix): MJ (7:33) DON’T UNLOAD…Seated moderate hill hitting HR ZONE 3, set RPM & hold
14. Some Nights: Fun. (4:37)- Cool down

P.S… if you want an easy-to-use, inexpensive way to keep yourself honest while you work out… GET A HEART RATE MONITOR! It doesn’t have to be fancy schmancy! Just get a reliable brand with an easy to change battery and a chest strap (I tried to avoid the chest strap thing, but after doing some research I really think it’s the best way to measure your heart rate 😉 and it’s not even that annoying)

Here’s mine…

Harriet

 

I’m hoping to purchase a Jawbone UP band soon…they look so amazing!

Do you use a heart rate monitor or anything else to track your workouts? How are those Habits coming along…February is almost over!