Tag: Trek

More recovery

Yay I got out for a run today! All day at work I was looking forward to it. When I woke up this morning my legs were still a teeny bit stiff, but not sore, so I knew I would be ok and a run would help. After work I had a yummy Trek peanut bar, and then headed home to change. I could not decide how far to go so thought I would see how my legs felt. My mind was wandering and then I realised I had already run past the furthest point on my shortest run. So I carried on down to the lake. Even though the sun was shining there was quite a strong breeze so I stayed quite cool (or I didn’t overheat!). Going around the lake was lovely, although I didn’t see much wildlife and got a rather sarcastic-sounding whistle from a bunch of guys packing up their fishing stuff. I like to ignore it and then think of replies in my head (my choice today was “I bet you couldn’t run a half marathon”- topical!). Once home I did quite a few stretches outside, then came in and had an apple sprinkled with cinnamon. Super tasty! More stretches before and after the shower just to be on the safe side!

There was almost a disaster then because half way through dinner the oven stopped working. Somehow it had tripped the fuse, so luckily dinner was saved! It was my rainbow dinner too- not sure how many veggies were in it- spinach, courgette, red onion, red pepper, tomato, basil, lentils, quinoa, served with green beans, butternut squash and beetroot! Woah!

I also had a peanut butter blondie (the ones made with apple sauce and agave) to top up my reserves!

I had a look at the photos today from the half marathon. It’s the first time I have seen any- other races have never photographed me before (or it never shows up in the searches) but this time there were loads of me- all in the last 5 minutes so I was looking rather pained in some. I was pleased though as there are a couple of action shots (yes I am actually running) plus my face is nowhere near as red as I thought it looks after a run- super impressive as these pics were taken after over 2 hours of running!

Bread baking part 1

So after work today I came home and made some bread. I have really got into making my own bread recently. I didn’t use to eat it that much as I was never really keen on shop bought stuff; too squishy. Also I have been reading up more about where food comes from (I like Michael Pollan’s books) and recently read “Not On the Label ” by Felicity Lawrence. She has an interesting chapter about bread made in factories. Sometimes we would buy some nice ciabatta bread which could be heated up alongside dinner, but it was pretty expensive and still had additives and stabilisers in. So I decided to get some bread flour and make it myself. Since then I have made loads of breads (including tear and share garlic bread, cinnamon raisin bread and sun-dried tomato bread- yum) and people always assume when I say I made it that I use a bread-maker. But I make it properly using my own fair hands! It doesn’t take that long so I think we should all have a go. When I got home I popped the kettle on for some warm water, then weighed out the flour (Dove’s farm Malthouse), added the yeast and salt, and mixed it all up. Then (because I was making tomato-basil bread) I added a tsp olive oil, some basil and some tomato puree. I kneaded it for a few minutes, then left it in a bowl to rise. I went out on a walk (what a lovely evening) and while I was doing the rest of the dinner I made it into the loaf shape and left it on the tray to rise again. So although it takes some preparation (e.g. I can’t bung it in the oven straight away) it doesn’t take long actually doing it, it just needs time in between to rise. But not that much time! Plus now I have the right measurements I don’t get really sticky messy hands.

I have been getting a little carried away with different types of flour. I have strong white, strong wholemeal (makes a nice pizza base), Malthouse, Wholegrain Spelt and Rye. The rye flour is the only one that I have found difficult to use as it seems very dry. It is much lower in gluten than other flours (the gluten is what you stretch when you knead and it is what makes bread springy), and it is recommended to make a loaf using half rye and half normal flour, which I have done and it is ok but not nice like rye bread that you buy!

It’s also pretty ecomonical to make my own bread- a 1.5kg bag of flour would make 6-8 loaves (I usually use 150g flour for a flatbread, 200g flour for a loaf) and to that I need a teaspoon of yeast (I use a little bag of dried yeast which is 99p and lasts for ages) and then any other flavours that I have at home anyway. So £3 for 7 loaves of fresh bread isn’t bad.

So I urge you all to get on and do some good old fashioned bread-making! It is therapeutic to knead the dough, and quite exciting when a “mess” or flour and water suddenly comes together into a proper dough. Plus the house smells so good when it is baking. And you can add your own flavours.

The cranberry orange bread I made was very sweet, so I think I might try it again but next time make cranberry-pecan instead. I had some of this when I was in Vancouver and it was so good.

Now I am so excited because on Facebook Natural Balance Foods have mentioned that New cocoa nudies will be coming out soon! As you all know I do love Nak’d bars, and have a hard time deciding my fave flavour. The oats ones (apple pie/ berry/ cocoa) are good for a snack on the go, filling with the oats and only 99 cals (small bars) so can be a light snack. The nudies ones have a better texture, more like a brownie, and amazing flavours (gingerbread is heaven, cocoa orange is amazing) but with the nuts they are higher in cals so not so easy to squeeze in. But as the fats are healthy fats from the nuts they are a good thing to include (gotta love those healthy fats).

Earlier on they asked for new flavours- I think I had such a long list! I wanted a chocolate mint one, a chocolate cherry one, a carrot cake one, a peanut butter one (like a mini trek bar without the crispies) and a peanut butter cherry/ peanut butter chocolate one.

So I am very excited to hear that they are going to release new flavours- can’t wait to see what they will be!

Back to the bread baking- because this weekend I have the half marathon on Sunday I am going to have pizza on Saturday night (home-made dough)- I might even take some pictures of the steps as I go along. Then Sunday I might make some dough for flatbread before we leave, so I can cook it once I get back.

The kids in my class are all so excited about Sunday- there is a kids fun run and so many of them are taking part! I love it that they are all so excited about it.

This evening after dinner I had some mango sorbet- it was so good! Such a taste of summer. Although it did make me think that with my frozen raspberry/ yoghurt combo I could adapt and use frozen mango chunks to make my own. Once I finish the tub I may well investigate this further.

Well I am off now to finish watching some of the football- Hooray for the weekend!

Still trying to raise money!

After work today (and after a Trek Peanut and Oat bar yum) I went on a longer run. It was great- the first bit was by a busy road but I never mind that (especially at half five when there is loads of traffic and I can overtake a line of cars). Then I got to the lakes and ran around one of them and that was lovely, I could almost feel my blood pressure dropping! I saw so many herons (loads of which flew out my way to the other side of the lake, and then promptly had to fly back when I got around the other side!), I also saw ducklings, rabbits, and also loads of people fishing. I really enjoyed that part of it. Then I had to go back on the road, which includes a bit of a killer hill (but this is good for me as I run primarily on the flat), back by some allotments (sniff, number 35 on the waiting list, my little veggie patch will have to do for now) and then home. It was about 5 miles in 52 minutes, not bad for an after work run.

I had some quorn in the freezer (I don’t normally like “pretend” meat as I don’t like real meat, but the fake chicken quorn things are ok now and then- this one had pesto and mozzarella on it which gave it some flavour)- added to butternut squash, green beans and sweetcorn it made a tasty freezer meal!
Now my fundraising at work is going ok (but despite taking in a big tray bake of marmalade gingerbread and 9 chocolate cupcakes I have only had 5 sponsorships so far- it appears some people are not holding up their end of the bargain!), so I made some cookies in a final bid to raise a bit more. I used the chocolate chip cookie recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook , but instead of dark chocolate I used white chocolate, and added in some cranberries. As usual I halved the recipe and still made 24 fair-sized cookies.
They are lovely and chewy, I am very impressed with the recipe as often cookie recipes are more like biscuits and go a bit too crunchy.
I have also had a nice snack; a pot of chocolate alpro with half a punnet of graze “Mount pleasant” mix, which is cranberries, coconut and apple. The coconut went really well with the chocolate, so I might just add some coconut next time. Have you ever opened a coconut? I did my first ever one the other day by smashing it on the ground in a plastic bag- did the trick after 5 times!

Feeling hot hot hot!

Ten miles planned today and the weather is hot! I had a yummy breakfast (cornflakes and Dorset Delicious Muesli, plus half a banana) and then made some dough before I went out. By the time I left it was half ten which wasn’t so great as I knew I would be ending my run in the heat of the day. Oh well, I need to get used to it as my next half marathon is in June, pretty sure it will be hot on that day! I felt good on my run; my legs had recovered from body pump and I managed to keep up a consistent pace, finishing the ten miles in 109 minutes (so about one mile per 11 minutes); if I manage that for the half marathon I would be very pleased with myself. I was brave and wore my vest top with running trousers; it takes me a while to move over from taking my jacket with me- it’s a bit like a security blanket and having it tied around my waist doesn’t bother me. I feel quite exposed with bare arms as I would not normally wear vests, especially at this time of year. But I got no horrible comments or looks (one car toot but that tends to happen on most runs and doesn’t bother me- today it was when I was a few hundred metres from home so I had a bright red face!) and I was cooler than I would have been in a t shirt.

To combat the headaches as soon as I got back I had some water (but it felt like I had too much in my tummy as I had drank on my run), the other half of the banana and half a Trek Mixed Berry energy bar. I also sprayed myself with cold water after my normal shower; not quite an ice bath but I find it does help my muscles. After my shower I made some more foccacia bread with sundried tomatoes and basil (I didn’t take a picture as it looked the same as last weeks one), and had it with Covent Garden Butternut Squash soup, yum. Plus the other half of the Trek bar.

Those people at Natural Balance Foods were so kind to send over all those samples so here is my review:

The bar has a good short list of ingredients; dates, oats, soya crispies (soya, tapioca starch, salt), raisins, apple juice, maize starch, raspberries, strawberries, ginkgo biloba extract, ginseng extract, natural flavours. The bar is 68g and had 204 calories, 11g protein and 38g carbs, so a good balance of nutrients. The bar is fairly moist but not squidgy, and has a nice berry flavour that is quite sweet. You can see little flecks of the strawberries and raspberries all through the bar. Compared to a flapjack it has way less fat but still moist (due to the dates I suppose). I definitely recommend you to try one if you haven’t already.

As for the rest of today I have made some pasta sauce (roasted vegetables; I make a big batch then freeze it in little tubs to defrost when I want it) and might potter about in the garden. Even more of my courgettes need potting on, plus the tulips are flowering so I might cut some to have in the house. If I do any baking I will post later on!

I may have a nice afternoon snack to try and keep a headache at bay; my Graze box came today. One of the mixes (Aztec gold) has green raisins, almonds and dark chocolate coated cocoa beans- sounds amazing so I may have to try. (Code KKJX34J for a free box).

A box of goodies!!

I am so excited again! You know the other day I said that I won an easter egg hunt on the natural balance food website (nak’d and trek bar site)? Well, they arrived today. I have won a lovely bag of Divine chocolate dark chocolate eggs (Fair-trade chocolate- very good) and a box of Organic Dark Chocolate “Cheeky Bunnies”. They look lovely and I will look forward to trying them during the next few days.

I also received a box of samples from Natural Balance Foods (www.naturalbalancefoods.co.uk) and will be reviewing the products on here as I make my way through the box. After work we walked to the cinema, but by the time I got home I was very hungry so I took a Trek Cherry Crunch Protein Flapjack with me to eat in the cinema (I know it’s against the rules but I didn’t want popcorn or ice-cream). Ten grams of protein in a very tasty flapjack bar, it has Nak’d cherry raisins in it and had a strong cherry flavour. The bar had 240ish calories so much lower than a “normal” flapjack and way tastier (in my opinion). My boyfriend had the Oat Crunch Trek Flapjack and this also received thumbs up on taste. I always used to think that a flapjack was a healthy option (due to the oats) and it was only a few years ago (when I started reading labels) that I realised just how syrupy and fatty some of them are. A Blackfriars Cherry and Coconut flapjack has 441 cals and 20g fat per 100g. The original one has 457 cals and 21g fat (I chose these are they are similar flavours to the Trek ones, but some of the ones I looked at has 24g per 100g, and the bars are a pretty hefty size), and apparently these have won a Healthy Magazine Readers Choice award (that’s the Holland and Barrett magazine). I imagine that was for flavour possibly and not because it is a healthy option, but the trouble is things like this are marketed as healthy. Anyway I digress…..

After the cinema (The Ghost, which was ok, not keen on all the dodgy voices and not the best ending) I walked home and cooked dinner. I had a lovely homemade veggie lentil moussaka (made a few weeks ago and frozen- how organised!!) with some butternut squash and green beans- yum.

My back was feeling very stiff after aerobics yesterday, so it was nice to not run today. Tomorrow is supposed to be Body Pump but at the moment I can’t seem to book it so I am keeping my fingers crossed that it is on as I have missed the last 2 weeks (was away one week and it wasn’t on the next). If not I’ll have a run tomorrow but I do think it is important to do some strength work and I know I would never push myself as hard as a class does.

Gosh that was a long post!