As many of you know, I am running an ultra marathon in a couple of weeks. It was convenient timing that I was researching a recipe using matcha around the same time I was to run my longest training run, 27 miles. When running that many miles at once, you have to eat. You have to eat a lot of food while you are running. It’s one of the hardest adjustments I had to make when I started running longer distances. I have tried eating the energy “goo” packs, which just left me feeling kind of sick, and might or might not have led to some post-run gastro-internal issues. I perform much better when I make my own, real food.
After reading about the “clean” form of caffeine matcha contained, I knew it would be a perfect addition to some mid-long-run snacks. I decided to make some matcha energy balls with whatever I could throw together to make it stick together into a ball. I used oats, almond butter, honey, goji berries, vanilla, and of course, matcha.
I mixed the ingredients together, and packed them into a small 1-ounce scoop. I placed them on a sheet pan, and in the refrigerator. They came together perfectly, and tasted great! On the run they were a bit burly. The next time I make them, I will either soak the oats, or grind them up in the food processor. Burliness aside, they were magic balls of “zenergy,” which really made a difference in boosting our energy throughout the run.