Tomato Avocado Salad and Kona - What a Combo!

The Holy Grail of Triathlon was run over the weekend. Every year I get excited and go on the countdown to Kona - the Ironman of all Ironman. The elite athletes that complete this course in astounding times just about make my head spin. The average people who have full time jobs and kids and have to spend $20K just to get there, as well as the people who are fighting or have fought illness or tend with disability, well, they just make me cry. There is something all inspiring about a human being who has all of the odds against them, staring fear and doubt and impossibility in the face and getting it done anyway. True inspiration.

I managed to get my 5km run time trial done on Thursday. I was right ... it hurt, but on a massive plus side I managed not to go out too fast and completely lose the plot at 3km. I ran 25mins3sec, which is relatively slow, but it's where I'm at and from here I can work accurately on speedwork pacings and well, just getting faster.

I spent the entire weekend working, so got a total of 0 hours training completed. Work life balance ... what is that?

If watching Kona wasn't enough to change your life then never fear, this salad will. This salad was inspired by a great raw chef website, only their version used heirloom tomatoes and required a melon baller and considering that I have worked the last 9 days straight these were things I just didnt have the time or brain power to find, so I mixed it up and made my own version and WOW. My new favourite salad has been found! Don't be put off by the fact that it looks so darn gourmet or that you need to use a food mixer - you could substitute it for a mortar and pestle and this meal can be put together in under 15 minutes. It combines the fresh tastes of tomato with creamy avocado and cheesey parmesan, all whilst being dairy free, raw, high in essential fatty acids, vitamin C, E and B6.

Tomato and Avocado Salad
Serves 1

Salad
1c Cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1/4 Avocado, chopped into large chunks
1-2c Mixed salad leaves
Balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper

Parmesan
This vegan parmesan cheese

Place cherry tomatoes on serving plate and add a splash of balsamic vinegar. You can use as much or as little as you like, depending on your tastes. Season with a little salt and pepper. Roughly chop the mixed salad leaves and place on serving plate next to tomatoes.

Gently roll the avocado chunks in your parmesan mixture until coated and place on top of tomato. Voila!

I added some lean protein (mini angus burgers) to balance out this meal nutritionally. You could use Chicken or lentils or some grilled fish - whatever takes your fancy.

Until next time...
Train hard, live long and prosper.

Time Trials & Fresh Menu Plans

Did I say Summer was on its way? What I so easily forget after 20+ years of living in Melbourne, is that a run of 3, 4 or even 20 days of seasonal weather in no way indicates that you won't be sent a FREEZING day at any moment. But there is a silver lining in every (rain filled) cloud. Cold weather is terrible for swimming and riding motivation, but cold weather is always great for running. I love putting on lots of layers and heading out for a run in the rain and thankfully that is what the training schedule called for.

I nailed a great endurance/speedwork run on the weekend. It was a format that I had never tried but I found it so much more enjoyable than 400's repeats. I did 5 x 1km run at between 4min30sec/km and 4min55sec/km with 90 second walking breaks in between. I also did 1km warmup and cool down easy jogs. It felt good to do my first speed session of the season and I am planning on doing this session once a week and seeing where it might take me (I am optimistic for Usain Bolt-like territory).

I have been just so lucky over the past few days, to get some help with my training plan from a friend at work. It really is terribly helpful when a workmate has competed in track for Australia at the Olympics. After checking my running form he made some suggestions to try and avoid the general niggles I get in my right leg. We then ran through what my training schedule should look like and he made it clear in no uncertain terms that running should always be quality over quantity. That, quite frankly, is in direct opposition to what I usually do, but I am happy to give his method a go as, well, my method has made me exactly 0sec/km faster since I employed it in marathon training 3 years ago.

We decided that what I really need to do is a current 5km time trial, because my pacing is from a TT I did oh, nearly 2 years ago I think. Or maybe 1 year ago - who even knows?! The problem is that I hate time trials. Time trials hurt. A lot. But seeing as my A race (try and say that without feeling like a tool) will have a 5km run, its really important that I know where I am at so I can get correct pacing for sessions. Boo.

Nutrition wise my diet has been very blah. I have not been organised, I have not had a plan and so what has occurred is an awful lot of avocado sandwiches, sweet muffins, bounce balls and bananas. Thats about it really. It has been a combination of not having ingredients in the house and of being in a food rut. So I did what all good nutritionists do, I sat down and made a menu for the week and it goes a little something like this (thanks run dmc):

Breakfasts
Pina Colada Smoothie
Choc Banana Smoothie

Lunches & Dinners
Asian Chicken Salad - minus the Chicken plus more Edamame
Vegan Mexican Salad bowl
Tomato Salad with 'Mozacado' Balls
Beetroot, Goat Cheese and Lentil Salad
Pumpkin, Olive and Quinoa Salad
Quinoa, Pepita and Tahini Salad

Snacks
Blueberry Banana and Seed Muffins
Apple, Almond and Grape Snacks

... and then I shopped. I will cook up a storm over the next week and post any new recipes. Mmmmmm I am hungry just thinking about it.

Today seems as good as any to time trial - go on, get out there and make yourself nauseous with me, I know you wanna.

The Art of Procrastination

Day 2. Swimming day. Duh na na na. Dn dn dn dn. In case you couldn't understand that, it was the sound of impending doom.

I had 1 aim and 1 aim only for this day. Get. In. The. Water. The plan was to go straight from work to the pool. But then I finished work and decided that I should really have some breakfast. After I had breakfast I reasoned that I would definitely swim more if I just got a wetsuit and could swim at work. So then I researched and priced wetsuits for 2hrs on the internet. Then I reminded myself that I had to swim today, wetsuit or no wetsuit. And then I thought to myself "Emma, everyone always says, don't affirm poor swimming form, get a few lessons". So then I researched female swim coaches in my area. For about an hour. Why female you say? Well for some reason it feels less intimidating to flail around like a drowning cat in front of a girl than a boy. I blame single sex private education.

So that brought me to 11am ... and it was time to head back to work. Shucks. I did, however, enjoy a delicious lunch at work. This little flavor combo was brought to my attention by a lovely co-worker. It covers off all your macro nutrients - including complex carbohydrates, essential fatty acids and protein. Not to mention zinc, choline, b-vitamins, vitamin E, omega 6 - the list goes on and on. It is easy to cook in bulk on a Sunday and then assemble at work during the week for lunch.

Egg Quinoa Salad

Serves 2

1/4c Quinoa (dry)
1/2tsp Organic vegetable stock
2c Water
1c Baby spinach shredded
1/2 Avocado
4 Boiled Eggs

Rinse quinoa thoroughly in a sieve. Place quinoa, stick and water in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer for approx 10 minutes or until quinoa is soft and cooked through. Drain and set aside. Roughly chop avocado. Peel and roughly chop eggs. Place half of the quinoa on plate and top with baby spinach, 2 eggs, then 1/4 avocado. Season with salt and pepper or fresh chopped spring onions. You can eat this warm or cold.

I mentioned to one of the swimmers at work (who is a swim teacher) that I swim like a cat drowns and she offered to look at my stroke and give me some pointers. Not wanting to scare her off, I didn't point out to her that calling the way I move through the water a 'stroke' was probably going a bit far and agreed to a little swim lesson on Thursday.

After work the water looked Uh-Mazing, but it couldn't fool me, I know its only 13.3 degrees in there. Plus, I had a swim lesson the next day. I needed to get home and rest for crying out loud.

This may look like the most inviting swimming water. It's not. It's freezing.

Though it may appear that my procrastination knows no limits, I have purchased a super cheap wetsuit online and I lined up swim lessons, so eventually, I am confident I will run out of excuses and will just bloody swim ... tomorrow.

Here Comes the Sun

I am sure this won't come as a surprise, but it has been so long since I blogged that I had forgotten my password to login. As if I wasn't returning with my tail between my legs anyways, the wide web of the world had to make a fuss while I tried to sneak back in. Rude.

So spring has sprung! Exciting times for those of you who have been out pounding the pavement and riding into arctic headwinds all Winter. And for everyone else who had a cold weather hiatus - its time to, quite literally, get back on the bike. Mild sunny days are on their way. Spring also means that triathlon fever starts floating in the wind - which may be the reason that I can't stop sneezing ... or maybe its just the pollen count. It's around this time of year that I think
1) I am so pumped for triathlon season
2) Why didn't I actually do the swimming training I had planned for Winter
3) I wish triathlon clothing was looser. They really don't factor in that one may have a tendency to partake in an extra winter casserole or two.

I have put in a lot of slow, miserable kms on the bike this winter and thanks to a foot 'thing', not a lot of run time. Swimming ... what's that? I have swum a grand total of about 300m since March this year and that was because I had to become a qualified lifeguard for work and we did a 200m timed swim, plus a bit of general floundering around. I have, however, managed to do quite a bit of 'Bodyrocking' and Metabolic circuits, which will be beneficial in no way whatsoever for triathlon. Schmeh.
Hence why this week is all about trying to ride a little faster, run a little more and ACTUALLY GET INTO THE POOL.

Yesterday was a great start to my training. I figured I would start off with a run  - the easiest of all disciplines. I had planned 5km with 700m about 30sec above 10km race pace and then 300m gentle pickup x 5. My signature planning style is to make the first run session back a set of about 6 x 400's at 80% ... and then I actually run it as fast as I possibly can and can barely run for a week. You can see why I might be trying to avoid this. I headed out for my run, sans Garmin due to the fact that I had left it at home on the charger, which meant my run was something like this: Run for about 4km or maybe 6km who would really know. Sometimes running fastish, sometimes slowish, but really its all hurting so I have no clue what sort of times I am running. Or distance. The only thing I know for sure is that I went for a run and at this stage, that'll do.

For best result, take Garmin off charger and place on wrist before leaving household.

The Breakfast of Champions who Forget their Garmins (this is an actual category of breakfasts) was porridge with banana, almond spread and almond milk. Served, of course, in a glass jar, because I have found that everything in life tastes better when served in a glass jar that has fruit imprints on it.

Banana and Almond Porridge

Serves 1

1sml Banana finely chopped
1/4c Raw oats
3/4c Water
1T Almond spread
Splash of almond milk

Combine water and oats and cook porridge as normal. Stir in almond spread and banana and add almond milk if required. Serve.



Easy. Simple. Delicious.
Like me.
I kid, I kid.

How to Make Nut Milks & Other Life Skills

I'm not a fan of cows milk, for a variety of reasons...

There is the ethical side where I question how kind it is to force cows to have calf after calf just so that they can make milk.
Then there is the 'Nutritiony' side, where we often notice digestive difficulties when drinking milk, whether that be bloating or nausea or runny noses or poor immune function.
And then, of course, there is the 'that's weird' side, where, when you take a step back and look at it, humans drink the 'breast' milk of another lactating animal that mother nature made for little calves and calves only to drink to get really big and fat really quickly. Imagine for a moment, if you will, a human expressing milk all year round and feeding it to her dog. Weird.

In saying that I know that most of us have grown up with cows milk as a part of our diets. If you enjoy food and like trying new things, why not experiment with oat, rice or soy milks or better yet, why not try making your own nut milk?

Stop rolling your eyes. You do not have to be a pot smoking, non-working hippy with only commune life to tend to to make nut milk.

This Almond milk will literally take 10 minutes to make. Add to that the fact that making a litre of organic almond milk will set you back about $2.50 versus $6.50 and you can see what I'm saying...it's a good idea.

Almond Milk
Makes 1litre

1c Almonds
4c Water

Equipment
Blender
Old clean pillow case cut on the diagonal to make a triangle shape like this ...

Place almonds in a bowl and cover well with water. Place in fridge for at least 4 hours, but I find doing it the night before you want to make the milk works well.

In the morning drain the water off the almonds and discard it. Place the soaked almonds and 4 cups of fresh water into a blender. Put the lid on and blend for about 4 or 5 minutes. Use any bowl that will hold 1 litre and place your pillow case in it like so ...

Pour all of the liquid in the blender into the pillowcase. Bring all the edges together and squeeze all of the milk out of the pillow case. This might take a minute or two to get all of the liquid out.

Hey presto you have fresh almond milk ready to be stored in the fridge.

The solid meal left in the pillow case is almond meal, which can be stored in the fridge for a few days and used to make cookies, energy balls, cakes etc.

This couldn't really get any easier and the idea can be extended to cashews, hazelnuts, whatever you like, really. Use in smoothies, on cereal or just drink it plain.

Happy drinking guys!

The Blogging Wagon Vs Travelling

Can anybody find the blogging wagon? I need to get back on it. Travelling Vs blogging - travelling wins every time.

I had a fantastic time in Northern Ireland, Dubai, Spain and Singapore. We spent most of our time in Northern Ireland which meant, despite it being summer there, lots and lots of 'comfort food'. Irish stew, potatoes, chille con carne, potatoes, roasts, chips ... potatoes.
'Lean meats' and 'leafy greens' are not in the vocabulary. One of the great things about NI food though, is their amazing and affordable range of berries. Each morning I would have a bowl full of blueberries, raspberries & strawberries. Delish! The other thing that I loved was the endless array of forests to run in. In a great twist of fate Colin washed my ipod and broke it, forcing me to run with nothing but the sound of my feet, trickling streams, the pitter patter of rain and the singing birds to accompany me. Tough, I know.

After a month abroad, I was just so very ready to lighten the food load. I want vegetables, and fruits, and nuts and seeds and juices. I wanted to get reacquainted with what it felt like to actually get hungry. I think we can all agree that holiday eating can be fun with its 3 course meals and endless time to eat at a variety of places, but there comes a time where it loses its shine. That time is usually when you are getting dressed and your pants no longer do up.

I stumbled across this old recipe that I think I got and adapted from the magical Angela over at Oh She Glows. It is a vegan website so to be honest I usually use her recipes, and then add meat. I hope this doesn't devastate her. It probably does. Anyway, This is a Vegan Taco Mince recipe which can be put into soft or hard shell tacos but I prefer to just eat a bowl of it. Its warm, a little bit crunchy and the spices make otherwise plain ingredients work in perfect, tasty harmony. Are you sold yet?


Vegan Taco Mince
Serves 6Seasoning
1t chili powder (adjust according to taste
1/4t garlic powder
1/4t dried oregano
1/2t paprika
1 1/2t ground cumin
1t sea salt
1t black pepper

Combine spices and set aside. Extra can be made and stored to be used in other dishes.

Mince
1/2c brown rice
2 1/2c water
425g can canellini beans
1/4c sunflower seeds
1/4c pepitas
Prepared seasoning
2 tbsp extra virgin coconut oil

Boil water and rice in a medium saucepan. Cook for approximately 30-40 mins, making sure it stays slightly al dente. Drain the rice and set aside.

Place cooked rice, beans, seeds, and seasoning in food processor and pulse until ingredients are broken up but not mushy. Transfer to a large frying pan, add 2 tbsp of coconut oil, and cook on medium heat for 5 minutes, or until heated through. Remove from heat and serve with a dollop of natural yoghurt.

Easy, right? Store the extra in the fridge and sprinkle it over salad or into wraps for lunches the next day

Have a great week everyone and stay warm!

Paleo days 5-7, Weekly Roundup & Paleo Fueling for Endurance

Just when you start to think you are a mildly talented human being, your Mum owns you on a ride. No matter how hard you pedal you really don't make any ground. Your quads burn, oh how they burn. And then you realise, she keeps looking back to make sure you are still there. Because she knows she is kicking your butt. Note to self. Go to more spin classes.

Fortunately eating paleo does not hurt body nor ego nearly as much. As I round out the last 7 days I have to say that I have shocked even myself in a couple of ways.
1. I have not eaten a single piece of bread or chocolate or refined food. I cannot recall a time in the last 5 years when this has happened. Noteworthy.
2. I haven't even been interested in eating chocolate. Beyond noteworthy. Astounding.
My digestion is fantastic. Probably the best it has been in a long time. My energy levels are good too. Although I did get smashed on the bike today, I am confident it was not due to the way I fueled. I think I may have lost a little weight, but I don't ever weigh myself. I just know that my pants are getting a bit looser.

As a food roundup for the last 3 days I will include anything new I have tried but leave out anything I have
already posted, so this is not a true photo food diary, but I'm sure you can use your imagination. Here goes.

Ummmm. This is an apple.



Re-worked Meatloaf with Creamy Brussel Sprouts and Kumara.
I combined the meatloaf from earlier in the week with a few tablespoons of tomato passata. Then I blanched some brussel sprouts and dressed them with mashed avocado, salt and pepper and baked some sweet potato slices in the oven. Delish

I have no doubt that cavemen sat around with good friends and had a wine or two on a Friday evening...



And a really good Chicken Salad with Raspberry Dressing.

I have been on riding, running & swimming rations (what, you haven't heard me whinge about it repeatedly) for 3 weeks now so I have not had to fuel for endurance with paleo eating yet. Today was my first attempt and I think it went quite well. I didn't struggle with any nausea like I sometimes can and I didn't crash (energy-wise, or literally for that matter).

Pre-ride - I usually have toast with almond spread, so I improvised and used banana instead. Its also a medium release of carbohydrates to top up stores from the night before. The almond spread has fats and proteins to help to slow down the gastric emptying and just generally keep the meal well rounded. Sports nutritionists like to use a lot of carb heavy foods pre and during events and not a lot of fibre, fat or protein, but I find my body just doesn't love that. You should always do what works for you.

During ride - I have been using organic fruit packs for a while, so I knew I would digest these just fine and I did. I swapped my Gu electrolyte drink for organic coconut juice and I put a pinch of Himalayan salt in it. The coconut juice is naturally high in magnesium and potassium, but has less sodium that a sports specific drink so the salt helps with that. I have to say the tatse of this is SO much better than any electrolyte drink I have had. I find them too sweet, especially if you have to drink a lot.

Post ride - The trusty blueberry, glutamine, banana, maca, cashew milk (recipe and instructions to come) recovery shake. mmmmmmm.

So how did I find paleo fueling - easy. To be honest I didn't have to change a lot of my normal practices. Depending on the length of your ride it would be more expensive to use coconut juice that a sports powder, but I don't have a problem with that because at this stage we don't ride longer than 2 1/2 hrs.

Wow...If you are still reading then I really do owe you a prize. How about a cashew milk recipe tomorrow - will that do?

Until then, enjoy your life, enjoy your training and enjoy your food. That's what its all about right?