And some other pulses.
By the way I had to move the blog over which is why it was not working yesterday. But normal service should be resumed now.
Today the plan was 6 miles, 2 mile warm up, 2 miles tempo, 2 miles cool down, which I duly did. I was tired though- the other night I did not sleep well and yesterday at aerobics I was having such trouble following the moves! Luckily the girl that goes behind me in my row did not mind! She knows I normally do them right. Back to today- the run was fine, and when I looked at my watch at the mile markers (they are in my head but I know where they are) I was doing pretty well, first 2 miles in 21 minutes, next 2 miles in 18 mins, and a nice cool down too.
And the best bit? Why that was the warm shower! Oh, and ticking off the runs on my piece of paper with a red pen!
Last night I made a new chilli- Lentil chilli.
YUm! It was super easy and I didn’t even put an onion in there, although you could! It made 4 big servings, and was perfect for refuelling post aerobics.
In a pan I cooked 2 chopped peppers and a courgette (but any veg would do, those are my faves!), then added 2 tins tomatoes, 1 tin kidney beans and 1 tin lentils, some garlic and chilli, and then left to simmer for a while (eg time to shower, dry hair etc). I had it with a sweet potato, which I microwaved (sorry Jess) because I forgot about it until 10 mins to go! What an easy dinner!
Yum again! Look at the steam!
I used to be such a bad vegetarian- carbs and cheese all the way (honestly I used to have pasta with tomato sauce most nights as that was all I could be bothered to do), but this week I realised that I have been good at getting my protein from beans/ pulses. This is not that recent but I have been branching out with other varieties.
Saturday I had bean bake (which is onions, peppers, tomatoes, herbs, garlic, cannelini beans) with some home made bread which exploded all over the baking tray and so I renamed foccacia bread.
The bread once it exploded!
Sunday Andy’s mum made a lovely bean chilli 🙂 (which is even more lovely as they all had roast chicken)
Monday I had my lovely chickpea stew
And then lentil chilli yesterday. Do you know I never even used to like baked beans? Although I do have a theme to most of my dinners- I like to add courgette and peppers to just about everything!
Last night I also tried some of my Nature’s Path cereal;
This was so delicious! It was so crunchy and it had a good ginger taste (but not too strong)- really different from other cereals- perfect for adding crunch to yoghurt etc too I would think.
Ok, I am first going to say well done for reading this far, as I realise this is quite a long post! I have a selection of energy gels, and I am wondering, at what stage in my training do I need to try them? When do I actually take them? They have on them things like 3 per hour, of max 40 per day (both of which seem exessive) so any ideas? Do they really give people bad stomachs? Am I better to try them before a shorter run so they don’t spoil my long run? Or near the end so I am close to home if trouble strikes? I know some people have them for 10k’s and half’s, and I never did, so not sure if I am behind the times, or behind the training?
Phew, long question, I will leave you all to ponder- night 🙂
I love lentils and all beans in general now but I still can’t get away with baked beans! Your meals all look super tasty. I never bothered with energy gels when I did my half. I actually went with dried dates! When I started running over 10 miles I started fueling up with a couple of dates around mile 7 and 11 – I just popped a few in a little bag and had them in my back pocket. They did the trick for me but I can imagine that they wouldn’t suit everyone! I think I just never liked the idea of those gels for some reason x
I’ve never tried gels – I get a bit scared when I read the packet and it gives the warning about making sure you drink enough water.
I love beans and pulses and they tend to make up the bulk of most of my meals. Tonight was a lovely chickpea curry. For something a bit different I use mung beans which I find have a unique texture. I can never be bothered chopping onions either so most of my recipes don’t include them!
Love all the lentils/pulses! I just had lentils for my dinner, but that lentil stew looks delicious! Do you know how much a tin of lentils is in (dry) grams out of interest?
I’ll have a gel if I’m running 10 miles+ really, and other fuel such as dates like Laura if more than 7/8 miles. You don’t NEED them, and I try to avoid them because I don’t like them much!
I wish I could give some good advice with the gels/tablets but I’ve never used them! I just eat a heck of a lot beforehand and never really need to have anything during a race. Most people generally split them at something like miles 13 and 20 for a marathon, though.
I adore lentils! Particularly in lentil bolognese. And I am sure I can forgive you over the sweet potato 😉 Your dish looks utterly delicious regardless of how said potato was cooked. Actually, I may just have to move in with you because I love beans too hehe. And I used to be a non vegetable-eating veggie too ~ when I was a teenager I lived on Quorn products and pasta with cheese…oh, and Heinz cream of tomato soup. It was only from the age of about nineteen onwards that I actually ate vegetables, beans and pulses in any quantity (and liked them!)
I am also envious of your bread baking ability…my Mum used to do all the cooking (by choice ~ she’d never let anyone else near the kitchen!) so recently I have only just mastered pasta and soup. Bread is in the culinary stars for me now. Ah, one day maybe…
Congrats on the excellent run!
Good job on the 6 miles! Great time, too! That lentil chili sounds awesome. And funny you mentioned never liking baked beans..because the beans were the only part of original meaty chili I ever liked! Well, I guess those are kidney beans, not baked..but still. 😛
Thanks guys!
Laura- for my half I either had nakd raisins or a nakd orange cocoa bar at about 8 miles or so, so it had to time give me a boost before the end.
Sarah- I have never tried mung beans, I think I associate them with Gillian Mckeith. And yes the scary words to put me off too!
Emma, thanks for that, I might try them near the end as my runs get a bit longer. The lentils were 230g drained, but they have already been soaked, so maybe a third of that for dried? 80g?
Jessica-it seems even more impressive that you dont use gels- thanks for that info though as I did not want to be having them all through the race.
Mary- thanks-yeah kidney beans are a bit different to baked beans 🙂
Hi Laura,
As you know I’m experimenting a bit with gels at the moment.
I did use them for my half marathon and I’ve never found they upset my tum. I do drink a lot of water when running though so that might be why.
I tried my first one before a shorter run. I took it about half an hour before I went and then did my run. When that was okay I tried one when out on a long run.
To be honest we normally have jelly snakes on our long club runs and these generally do the trick. However, we stop and eat those (I can’t chew and run!) so that’s why I started trying the gels for races that are a bit longer (for me that means anything over a 10k). If I do a 10 mile race I tend to take one at about 50 mins as it takes a while to kick in and that way it gives me a boost for the last couple of miles.
I’m sure that the Torq one I took on Sunday made a difference (or perhaps my training is finally paying off!)
I find them quite easy to carry too. I use micropore tape to strap them to my water bottle…that way they don’t get warm as warm gels are even more horrid than cold ones!
Rosexx
Thanks for that Rose- I like the idea of the micropore too although my belt has a pocket which would fit a couple in. I did look at the torq gels but thought I should try the ones I was given first! 🙂
That bread looks so yummy! The one thing I miss about doing all my workout logging online now is ticking off the runs on paper. There’s a satisfaction there you can’t get on a computer!!
You could always print it off and tick it off? 🙂 You are right it is so satisfying!
There’s various varieties of gels. Some need water (not a huge amount) whereas others (specifically SiS) don’t need water, Generally they’ll have a mix of fast and slow release carbs but some with have anti-oxidants, salt or caffeine in them too.
Personally I rarely bother for anything below 15 miles. The rate you take them at varies but might be typically about every 40 minutes.
Usual advice is to experiment and find a variety you like but I think tales of upset stomachs aren’t as serious or common as they might seem.
Other alternative is to eat something similar – jelly babies, sugar cubes, dates, banana, whatever.
Thanks for that. I like the sound of dates actually so might try those as well.