CrossFit Endurance & Coconut Curry Chicken Tenders

James, in all his craziness, has decided to run a marathon this coming May.  First and foremost, I'm incredibly proud of him for taking on such a massive challenge.  I think he's tapped in the head, but running has very much become one of his "things" and I'm incredibly happy to be supporting him on his training journey.  While I have zero intention of ever running 26.2 miles shy of my life depending on it, I am using his training as an opportunity to help increase my own endurance.

He's decided to utilize the CrossFit Endurance program to help him train, that way he can incorporate running with his strength training and MetCons.  The program starts with a 6-week intro that combines 2-3 sprint interval days with your standard CrossFit plan that, while a bit rudimentary for someone who's been running for a while [James], I think it's a great starting point to help increase my cardio capacity without sacrificing CrossFit workouts.  The other great piece, is you can incorporate cycling and swimming as well over time, which for me, is key in avoiding monotony.  Having completed the first week of running, I will say that the workouts have been quick [around 30 minutes each] and the intervals have felt effective - win.  Let's see if this makes an impact on our [OCN] Winter Games at the end of the month...

I've also been on a chicken kick the past few days and wanted to share another solid, make-ahead recipe that's a great paleo option.


Coconut Curry Chicken Tenders

1 lb chicken tenders, cleaned
1/4 cup canned coconut milk
1 egg
2 tablespoons sweet curry powder, divided
3/4 cup finely shredded unsweetened coconut
2 teaspoons kosher salt
5-6 grinds of freshly ground black pepper

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Whisk together the coconut milk, egg and 1 tablespoon curry powder
- Thoroughly coat the tenders in the coconut milk mixture and allow to marinate for 15-20 minutes
- In a paper bag, toss the shredded coconut, salt, pepper and remaining curry powder together
- Shake tenders in the shredded coconut mixture to coat
- Lay on a baking rack and cook for 22 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees