Time off

I've just had a week off work and this is the first time I've made it to the computer.
I've been out and about and doing stuff, oh yes I have! More about that through the week.

But today I baked ANZAC biscuits for my workmates and made a pretty tasty rice pilaf for dinner - I used dried ginger and dried chili instead of fresh and added green beans at the same time as the prawns - turned out just fine. Other than my glorious run this morning, I took it pretty easy today.

Run; 37:33 | 6km | 6:15m/km. First run in forever! Or about 2-3 weeks. I thought it was going to hurt. It didn't and I really enjoyed it.

Tuna bowl

Each week my eating improves a little. I have found that while I'm studying at work I do a whole lot better if I have protein for breakfast as well as lunch. This bowl tides me over quite nicely. I steam the veggies the night before, then throw in a small can of 4 bean mix and about 75g of chili tuna. I also like a bit of avocado in there if I've got some.

Swim: 10m | 500m | 2:00m/100m. Relay races in PE. Fun!

Choc Berry Protein bars

I also made these chocolate protein bars featured in Jamie Eason's Live fit trainer series. The change I made surrounded the pureed baby food that I've never heard of. Instead I subbed in ~220g of frozen berries. Worked a treat! They are easily portable and make a great pre or post workout snack.

Agility; 25m. Included some pylometric work. 
Bike trainer: 10m | 4km. Warm up. 5 min easy, 5 min of 30s climb, 30s easy.
Strength: 30m. The gym was packed tonight, I did what I could on the equipment and then headed home to finish off the rest of the sets.

Failure to plan

...is planning to fail. So very true when it comes to my eating habits. 
I have to be organised. I have to be prepared, otherwise it leads to poor food choices. Last week proved that. I want to give myself every opportunity to make the right choices. So this weekend, with no study commitments I got into the kitchen.

Hello sweet potato and tuna patties! I based it on this recipe, but made some changes.

• 1 medium (about 400 - 300g) orange sweet potato, peeled, coarsely chopped
• 1 x 425g can tuna chunks in brine, drained
• 2 eggs, lightly whisked
• 1/4 cup almond meal
• freshly ground black pepper 
• handful fresh herbs (basil & parsley from the garden)
• spring onion if you've got it
• Chili flakes if you like it spicy (I forgot and ate mine with tabasco sauce)

Basically cook the sweet potato until it's mashable (either by boiling or microwave) then add everything else & form into patties, then lightly fry in your preferred oil.

The recipe said it served four, but I'd say I'll get five - six lunch servings.
They're in freezer ready to grab during the week. Score!

Sun; ride: 34:30 | 14.8km | 25.9km/hr.
Sat; strength: 20 min

Not a bad week

Compared to the few last weeks I've been so much better with my food intake. Being committed to logging my food on Fitday helps. I've managed to cut back on the mindless eating. It's still there to a degree, but I've really been asking myself if I'm hungry. If I am, I give myself permission to eat. If not, and I still want something I go for a cup of green tea.

I've packed satisfying healthy lunches (hello, veggie filled wrap!) and taken enough snacks (almonds, capsicum, banana) to work so that I'm not so ravenous by the end of the day.

Thurs; commute: 1:00 | 16.7km. Took the slow bike into the city and loved every moment on a reasonably warm Autumn day!

Wed; boxing & strength: 30m & 15m. PE boxing class, love it, it was at the end of the day and we went hard. Additional strength because I could.

Tues; spin class & strength: 43m & 20m. HR based training in spin class. Loved it, reminded me of my hardcore triathlon training days! Additional strength because I could and also because during the day we did 5 mins of burpees. Seriously, 5 minutes. Try it one time. Ouch!

Finding my groove

Post ride/strength lunch. An egg scrambled with cottage cheese, avocado, tomato, onion and spinach on a wholemeal wrap, with a banana, coconut milk & protein powder smoothie. I'm going to find my groove again. Next week is all about sliding back into the usual routine. Study is required, but I should also be able to balance it with plenty of exercise.

I also signed up for a cycling challenge to coincide with the Giro. With no races planned for after tomorrow I should be able to be bike focused!

Ride: 1:02:00 | 25.25km | 24.4km/hr. A little slow, but riding with lots of lights/slow points and didn't really get a chance to get going. 45min of this was in the rain, but with a jacket and warm gloves I was ok. Enough cannot be said for the right gear!

Strength: 10m. Focus mainly on the arms and shoulders. Trying to save my legs for tomorrow's Puffing Billy/Great train race run.

Sri Chinmoy Princes Park 9.6km

54:47 | 9.6km | 5:43min/km

Or the morning I had three breakfasts...

Last night I was so tempted to pull the pin on this run. My run training has not been inspiring of late. Melbourne put on the most gorgeous Autumn morning, I couldn't not head out. Not in my mind anyway.

Pre run breakfast: 2x crumpets with jam
Initially I'd signed up for the 15km, that had been changed to a 16km and so I downgraded to the 9.6km. Three laps of Princes park. I hate abhor laps at the best of times. So I just zoned out. I tried to pick people off or stay with them. That's what got me around. Oh and trying to run 5:40m/kms.
Turns out had this been a 10km and I'd maintained pace for another 400m, I would have run a PB.

Post run breakfast: pancake with maple syrup, water and plenty of gatorade.
I saved the banana for our post ride snack. Yea, riding later in the day.
Yay, pancakes. These races do an awesome job catering for the masses.

Walking back to the scooter I noticed a whole lot of yarn bombing. Yarn bomb a bike rack = pure awesomeness.

Post shower breakfast: Seven seeds coffee and a salted caramel cupcake.
Oh man the savoury stuff looked awesome at Besito, but the dehydration was kicking in and I just wasn't that hungry.

Not all sweetness and light

The past week has been a tough one.

• I failed an assessment. I accept that I did not plan well enough with my partner and deserved to fail. Thanks to some great teachers I have that process we botched cemented in my brain, for which I am thankful. But it was stressful and the doubt I had within myself was absolutely awful, I was embarrassed by my failure and was bitterly disappointed in myself. The support from my peers was fortifying and in the resit my partner and I got through easily. Relief.

• This is so hard to admit, but ahhh I'm going to type the words: I have been having frequent binge eating episodes again. Trying to bury or mask the anxiety I've had surrounding work and quite often the guilt I feel if I don't feel like running even though I "should".

Why is it hard to admit? Because I love eating healthy produce and honestly the majority of the time I enjoy getting out amongst it running, riding, swimming and the like. I've never regretted a run (ok one, that time my ITB went, but these things happen from time to time) but I definitely regret the overeating.

I mention running in the second dot point because I have two races coming up that I want to be prepared for. That involves training. I don't enter races to win, but to participate - that gentle reminder is useful. 

I want to nip the binging in the bud, it's gone on long enough. Possibly removing sugar from my diet triggered something. It started back then, where I started binging on nuts. At Easter time I added sugar back into my diet and didn't notice too much of a difference with regards to the bloating and gas I get on occasion, but it's since given me a wider range of products to binge on. I'm definitely more aware of sugar in products and I will attempt to minimise its presence in my diet, but not outright avoid it. 

My other issue is that usually by the time I get home from work I'm blindingly hungry. Hands down this is the danger time for binging. To avoid this I think I need to keep some kind of snack in the car/scooter than I can eat prior to going home. Sure it may be an extra 200 cals in my day, but it has to be better than an extra 1000 cals or whatever the binges add up to. Up until this very moment, that logic never crossed my mind. So there is value in (over)sharing. At least for me.

The crazy thing is apart from the occasional stress of assessments, I absolutely love the new career path, yes it's challenging, but it beats the boredom of my old job every single day. With fewer study commitments I have more time to spend with the Man which is better for our relationship. There's encouragement at work to remain fit and I have access to the most amazing gym, pool and spin bikes so training is never boring. I still have an awesome family, fabulous friends and supportive peers. Life really is good, not perfect by any means but really, really good. 

I am ready to walk down the path of healthy choices once again.

Sat; strength: 20m. Hand weights @ home.
Commute: 40m | 14.8km. Slow ride to the footy and back.

Thurs; strength: 20m. Mix of hand weights, body weights & machine.

Wed; strength: 20m. Mix of hand weights, body weights & machine.


Tues; agility: 48m. Fun! Lots of run drills and agility work.
Bike trainer: 40m spin class.

Mon; swim: 29m | 1400m | 2:09m/100m. Set involved 400, 500, 3x (50 easy, 50 hard), 200. No rhyme or reason, just good to be in the water.

Banana Almond pancakes (gluten free & low fructose)

A seriously good start to the day! I added a little granulated sugar because I knew there would be no syrup, just natural yogurt. The pancakes cooked up really well and were lovely, moist and filling. The batch made three pancakes with a 3.5 inch diameter.

Banana Almond pancakes (gluten free & low fructose)
Combine the following:
1 ripe banana mashed
1 egg beaten lightly
1 TBS almond meal
1 TBS brown rice flour (or coconut flour)
1 TBS nut butter (I used natural peanut as it was all I had)
1/4 tsp baking powder

Additional options (I added them all!):
Cinnamon
Vanilla essence
2 tsp cacao nibs
1/4 tsp granulated stevia

Cook as per regular pancakes. The only difference is that bubbles tend not to appear on the surface, so I just flipped them when the outer edge started to firm up.

Strength: 25m. Abs and arms.

Fructose free experiment continues

So I'm week three into fructose free. I'm doing my best to avoid it in all processed foods. That said I am having 1-2 pieces of fruit a day; limited to ripe bananas, oranges (now crazy sweet) & berries. Air popped pop corn and red capsicum are my snack saviors.

The Glucodin tablets have hands down been the best find. They are pure glucogen and I've been using them prior to running after work when I'm all out of energy. They do provide an almost instant lift and I haven't found the crash heinous.

I did have a hankering for chocolate and the "...well, naturally" bar was it. It was expensive and not something I'm prepared to purchase readily. There wasn't a whole lot of melt-in-your-mouth like regular chocolate, but it did hit the spot as far as dark chocolate goes.

I made these gluten free pancakes (omitting the oil & maple syrup) and served them with a fructose free salted caramel sauce.

Fructose free Salted Caramel Sauce (with rice syrup)
80g rice malt syrup
100mls cream
25g butter
pinch sea salt

Heat the rice malt syrup until it bubbles and turns a slightly darker colour, remove from heat add cream, butter and salt. Stir until combined.

I couldn't help but experiment over the weekend with some leftover cream. Almost wish I hadn't, it's pretty good!


Tues; ride: 36:40 | 16.23km | 26.56km/hr. Getting there was easy, coming back not so much, particularly into the headwind.

Into the weekend

More half day eats! I tried a Carrots 'n' Cake protein pancake recipe. I opted for only half the banana and found them to be a little dry. So on a repeat of the recipe this morning I added a little almond milk and they were spot on. Delicious with natural peanut butter and a sprinkling of cocoa nibs.

I stocked up at the market yesterday and found kale, it was a little pricey, but I treated myself and was finally able make my own kale chips. Tasty indeed. I've still got half a bunch, I'd love to try it another way. Ideas welcomed!

My stomach seems to have tolerated banana, which is good news seeing as I'll be all about the portable snacks when I return to work next week. In preparation I cooked up a huge batch of brown rice that I've frozen in half cup portions to mix with tuna and spinach or broccoli for an easy lunch.

I'm pretty happy to take my experiment of no/low fructose eating into a second week. At home is easy, out is tricky. I'm not going to be super extremist, but I'll attempt to make good choices. I tell you giving up the pistachio macaron that came with my coffee at Bisto Guillaume the other night hurt a little, that said tomorrow as part of the food and wine festival we're set-menu-lunching at the hands of a three Michelin star chef, the kitchen is already taking into account the fact that I'm pescetarian, I decided not to push my luck with sugar.

Tennis: 40m. The Man and I headed into the glorious afternoon to make the most of the free courts around the corner. We're hack players, just a bit of fun to run around and have a hit.

Half the day

I'm just going to post half my eats for the day. I'm heading out for dinner tonight with friends. There won't be photos, just good food choices. Trust me!

Breakfast: Full fat milk latte (did not upset my stomach - apparently the fats slow the journey of the milk through the intestines and allow the lactase enzymes more time to break down the sugars, whereas low fat/no fat milk speeds through the intestines and skips the usual digestive process and is partially broken down by the bacteria in the intestines. This fermentation process causes excessive wind, bloating and associated pain - which is what I have a tendency to suffer from) and natural peanut butter on rye. Seriously natural peanut butter, I wish I'd discovered you earlier.

Snacks: Soy latte between jog & run (I wasn't prepared to overload on milk just yet) and an almond milk/cranberry protein shake after running. Choc nib chia cookies after lunch.

Lunch: Sardines with Dijon mustard and diced tomato, capsicum, cucumber & basil. Sardines have not won me over. I'll be sticking with tuna from here on in.

Jog: 36:07| 4.3km | 8:23/km. I met G at the Tan and slow jogged a lap. She's lost 22kgs and still has 20kg to go. For a long time she didn't have the right mindset/attitude with regards to her health and weight loss. She sure does now, it's so good to see the shift.

Run: 44:27 | 7km | 6:21/km. After a soy latte with G I embarked on my own run. I struggled - under fueled. Still it was a beautiful morning for it and I felt lucky to have the time to get out and run by the river.

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Plenty of errand running today, of the beauty variety. Mani/pedi, waxing & hair appointment all in one day! Productive.

Breakfast: 2 crumpets, vegemite, almond milk latte
Post run: Cranberry/almond milk/Aussie bodies protein shake
Snacks: Popcorn, almonds, Fruit free Gluten Free Bar (last two not photographed, and pretty stoked to find the Fruit free bar fructose free!)
Lunch: Zucchini salad based on this recipe. I omitted chickpeas & added baked ricotta and I'm partial to a light mayo/horseradish dressing.
Dinner: Zucchini cheesecake based on this recipe. I omitted the Parmesan & added spinach.
Dessert: Choc nib chia cookies. They didn't hold together as well as I'd hoped, but I still ate far too many of these for my liking.

Run: 36:13 | 6km | 6:02/km. Vibram run. I procrastinated on this run big time. I thought it was going to be harder than it was. I keep putting pressure on myself to maintain a 5:41/km pace. I need to get over that train of thought and just get out there. I probably should have run in shoes to give my feet more of a rest after Sunday's Vibram run.

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Calorie consumption is probably a little higher than I'd like considering I didn't actually exercise today and while I ran errands this morning, there wasn't a whole lot of moving this afternoon. That said, I just wanted to see where I was at while attempting my first day fructose free.

There's definitely reduced bloating and gas. Yay for me! Yay for you! At about 3pm I kind of felt the need for "something" as I was feeling a little light headed. I fed that need with green tea instead. Hence it's pictured twice.

And seriously the "peanut mousse" is awesome. I used granulated stevia as a sweetener and now I'm thinking cocoa powder could be a good addition too.

Fructose free experiment

On Saturday the weather was conducive to staying indoors, it enabled me to catch up on what was happening in blog world and do a little research. Particularly around the issue of fructose malabsorption and the benefits of a reduced sugar/fructose free diet. I know I can't eat raw apples or pears without being in a world of gastrointestinal distress. Of late I've been suffering all sorts of bloating/gas/stomach cramps I'm keen to try anything if it's going to be beneficial to my quality of life! A lot of people who reduce their sugar intake report reduced bloating.

I'm well aware I could go and get tested via a Hydrogen Breath Test. But I can't see the harm in cutting out fructose to see if it's good for my health.

Sarah Wilson went sugar free, she's got heaps of useful information on her site and this week I'm going to follow some of it. As an experiment in giving up the sugar if you will. As a general rule if it has more than 6g sugar per 100g I ain't eating it.

Over the weekend I packed all the sugary items in the house and popped them in the top cupboard. I have to get a stool to reach that shelf. Hopefully I can be mindful enough not to go there!

Massage: 1 hr. Oh yeah. THE perfect way to kick off a week of leave.

Sun; run: 34:02 | 5.6km | 6:05/km. Vibram run around Albert Park, before the swim. With so much rain on Saturday I had no chance of getting out.

Sun; swim: 42:45 | 2km | 2:08/100m. Ladder time. 100, 200, 300, 400, 400, 300, 200, 100.

Almond milk

I seem to go through stages of tolerating milk. Usually I can have two lattes over the course of a day and suffer no ill consequences. On the other hand I know that if I drink a 500mL ice coffee I'll be in a world of pain. However of late, just one latte is causing me grief. Oh the bloat! I can't forgo coffee just yet, but I can forgo milk.

Purchasing almond milk can be expensive, and can contain a heap of sugar... So good Almond milk, I'm looking at you.

I've had success in making my own almond milk in the past and I'm at it again.
• Soak 1 cup of almonds in a cup of water over night
• Drain the water
• Blend the soaked almonds with 3-4 cups water depending on your preferred consistency (I've also used a stab mixer with success)
• Drain. I use a sieve, but if I find a nut milk bag in my travels I'll get one.

You can add a sweetener or some vanilla essence at this stage, but I prefer mine unadulterated.
Lasts 4-5 days in the fridge.

Don't throw the nut pulp out! I've been known to freeze it only to throw it into baked goods at a later date. I'm currently experimenting with roasting it lightly and forming nut butter.

Hands free

While it was hands on in the kitchen last night (mango, avocado, chili, lime & coriander salsa), my workout was strictly hands free.

About a week ago I stumbled upon the Bodyrock.tv website. Initially it was all incredibly intimidating. People with abs I am unlikely to ever have (never say never!). To see hosts struggle through the sets made me wonder how I was ever going to manage. But tonight I gave it a try.
There were a few modifications made, but I did it nevertheless and I have to say, the 20 mins went pretty quickly.

The only equipment I used was a free interval timer app for the iPhone! 50 sec of work, 10 sec rest, 20 times over.

My stats:
Star jumps: 52, 53
Get ups (I sucked at these): 6, 4
Star jumps: 53, 51
One legged bridge (right leg extended): 18, 17 *oh the hamstring cramp*
One legged bridge (left leg extended): 21, 19
Star jumps: 53, 54
Jump lunge: 25, 29
Star jumps: 53, 54
Leg lift: 17, 14
Star jumps: 50, 53

Strength/intervals: 20 min

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I didn't feel so ravenously hungry today. I'm not sure if it was the additional protein in my breakfast (protein powder + overnight oats is a winner, providing you don't mind the taste of your powder!), the tuna at lunch, the appetite suppressant that can be running or the fact that we ate and drank very well over the weekend in celebration of a wedding.

I was however craving chocolate, obviously! As if the above wasn't enough my artificially sweetened/lo-cal hot choc wasn't photographed. Honestly I try to avoid that stuff, the asapartame usually upsets my stomach, but I couldn't help myself.

Oh, and this recipe is a keeper. I subbed green beans instead of asparagus.

Kickboxing: 45m. Played with the kettlebells. How's the fatigue!

Run: 49:16 | 8km | 6:10/km. Speed session. Warm up: 15 min. Main set: 3x 800m effort (4:15, 4:10, 4:24 - they were meant to be at 4:06) 400m rest mostly jogging, some walking. Cool down: 12 min. I always wonder why I don't do more speed work, until I get out there and do it. It's hard. I find it incredibly uncomfortable and really tough. But if you don't train to run fast, I guess you can't expect to run fast.

Observations

It was all about a river run this morning, it's been a while since I've been down there and there was some new (to me) graffiti art. Small ceramic dog plaques. I love that the path is ever evolving!

I've also been keenly recording what I've been eating and noticed a fairly significant mistake in the recording of my breakfast. So I haven't quite been hitting the deficit like I thought. Which makes sense because my weightloss has stagnated at the -2-2.5kg/4.4-5.5lbs mark. Next week I'm going to switch back to overnight oats but experiment with adding protein powder. To see if it can help with the satiety. In fact I'm going to try and have some protein with every meal.

I'm getting increasingly interested in adding some intensity to my my work outs soon, to mix things up and get the calorie burn going. Watch this space!

Run: 1:05 |10km | 6:30/km. Long run for the week. In tough conditions, hot and windy. I swear I've run 30kms that have felt easier than this.

Just compensation?

I am suffering the effects of hay fever. It keeps me awake at night, at least the streaming eyes and nose do. I am exhausted. The past couple of days have been rough with little sleep.

The redeeming quality to this time of year is that it's mango season. I'm loving them sprinkled with a little bit of hot chili powder. I'm so looking forward to nectarines and peaches! As someone who cant tolerate too many apples & pears, the new summer fruits are a welcome addition to my diet.

Walk: 40m. I nearly fell over when the Man walked in the door just after 6pm. Usually it's just after 8:30. So we had time tonight for a neighbourhood walk. I wasn't up for much else.

Tues; run: 52m | 8km | 6:30/km. Garmin played up so distance/time an estimate. I attempted to run home. I didn't make it all the way. This run was broken into two. Mentally I was pumped to tackle the 10km, physically I didn't have it together. My calves were still sore/tired from the Vibram run. I was exhausted, it was warm, somewhat windy and I felt as though I was lacking energy even though I had some chews before running. All in all, disappointing.

Mon; kickboxing: 45m. I'm still sore from this. So many push ups.

Mon; commute: 1:10 | 20.6km |17.66km. So windy on the way home. There was one stage I swear I was being blown backwards, I had to get off my bike and walk.