Lilydale to Warburton Rail Trail

5:00:00 | ~78kms | 15.6km/hr

Somehow I missed the fact that this trail was somewhere between 38-40kms ONE way...

I digress.

Last Wednesday I had the whole day to entertain myself, my one day without any plans/appointments/catch-ups. So I decided to head out to Lilydale station, the start of the rail trail. It's well signposted, but for those that need to know, the trail starts at the end of the station car park.

The trail is pretty flat and for the most part, gravel. Not really suited to road bikes. I took the (new to me) Giant Yukon MTB. I passed through forest, farmland and via the old original platform stations which were pretty cool.

There's a couple of toilet stops along the way, as well as places to fill up with water. There's also a couple of cafes on the track, but they're only open Thurs-Sun and I went along on a Wednesday. Super disappointed! I would have happily stopped for a coffee. Multiple times over.

The trail is set up quite well for road crossings, there's only a couple of places that didn't have pedestrian lights.

I didn't love the section from Yarra Junction to Warburton. Partially because I was battling at this stage and partly because you're riding parallel to the Warburton Highway, so it's not quite as peaceful as the rest of the ride.

It was a fairly big relief to reach Warburton. I'd thought about turning back earlier, but then questioned when I'd have time to tackle the ride again, so I persisted.

I was pretty underdone on nutrition. I'd eaten two trail bars in 2.5 hours of riding. Not quite enough for me. I smashed a cauliflower and broccoli pie, a vanilla slice and half a bag of mint leaves at the Warburton bakery and felt a little better.

The ride home took a whole lot of mental energy. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, I was dehydrated. By no means was it a hot day, but I'd failed to drink enough. I took my hydration pack so there was no excuse. On the road bike I'm used to sipping on water every 10 mins. But I forgot to do it during this ride. I need to install an odometer, that will act as a visual cue for me.

I also started to get quite uncomfortable, 4+ hours is a long time to be on a bike that you've only ridden a handful of times! I missed the luxury of tri bars and a different hand position.

But I made it and I'd do it all over again knowing that I need to fuel and hydrate a whole lot better than I did.

Tues; run: 50:10 | 8km | 6:15m/km. I'm not quite as exhausted from work as I usually am. Took the opportunity to run, but gave myself permission to go as slow as I needed to, to get the job done. In the end not unhappy with the pace given I've not been running much.
Strength: 25m.

Thurs; personal training/strength: 1:00:00. Focus on good form for upper body/back workouts. Squeeze the scapula!

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!

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.

Nothing new on race day

The last long training run saw me try out the Chomps I'd picked up earlier in the week. Compared to the Cran-Razz Shot Bloks the packaging was slightly easy to open, had a slightly firmer texture (less teeth stickage) and weren't quite as sweet. I plan on relying on gels for the majority of my fueling come race day, but I tend to find the longer I'm out there the faster I seem to burn through the energy, whether it's true or not, who knows, but it certainly feels that way. I plan to "top up" with these. I definitely prefer these to the Power shots, which I think work better on the bike.

Run: 1:30 | 14.3km | 6:17/km. I considered putting this off until tomorrow. I just didn't have the best night's sleep. But the blues skies were enticing I knew it would be worthwhile to not have this hanging over me. And now it's done. The Garmin played up a little and kept measuring my kms short which I found off putting. Due to tiredness I really had to focus on midfoot rather than heel striking, so it's something I'll need to remember for race day.

Weekend experiment*

On Friday night as I was waiting for the Man to come to bed I picked up one of the Women's Health magazines sitting on my bedside table. I was looking for some strength exercise inspiration. I did find some, but I also found a suggested eating plan for a day. When I worked it out it came to a total of just under 1400 calories. Significantly less than what I would usually eat.

In fact when I totaled my average for a weeks worth of food logged over at FitDay I averaged 1850 cals a day. Which according to the National Health and Medical Research Council's Nutrient Reference Values for Dietary energy is on track given my height, weight and day to day activities. My BMI puts me in the healthy weight category, but at the higher end. I'd like to be closer to the middle. At this stage I'm maintaining my weight, but I could definitely stand to lose 4kgs.

So on Saturday I decided to cap my calories at 1400. The above is what 1342 calories looks like. I started with a small cup of coffee with low fat milk, raisin bread done as french toast with berries, yoghurt and cinnamon sugar. Lunch was Prawn gyoza, dipping sauce and green tea. Afternoon snack was a smoothie with mango puree, coconut water, berrries & protein powder, I met a friend for a glass of Rose (not a pot of mustard!) prior to the football and dinner was carrots, celery & a quarter of a cup of homemade hummus and a muesli bar. I was going for portability given we were at a game. Plus several cups of peppermint tea from the thermos to keep me warm.

Could I have made better food choices? Yes of course. My eating habits are far from perfect. While processed foods save time, they certainly add dietary energy. It's a constant balance. The suggested plan included almost no processed foods. I need to take a leaf out of that book!

Did I have any energy? I did a 20 minute strength session in the morning. The day was spent pottering around the house until the Man decided to go for a run and I accompanied him on the bike. Hardly strenuous. Add to that a 50 minute walk. I had more energy than I thought I would.

Was I hungry? When I crawled into bed at 11:00pm I was, half an hour earlier and I would have been fine. Breakfast and lunch were satisfying, my danger zone is from 4pm until dinner time. The smoothie did the trick. Would I be happy to have carrots, celery and hummus for dinner every night? Hell no, but the muesli bar did pack a calorie punch for something so small.

Would I do it again? I'm keen to reduce my food intake on rest/low activity days. However I think 1500 calories would be a better fit. I need to look at reducing my fat intake while increasing carbohydrates and proteins. Again, reducing processed foods and adding in more vegetables & fruits should help with this. Planning and forethought is required, but I definitely think it's worth it.

* Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, registered dietitian or nutritionist, just a girl trying to work out what's best for her body.

Good mail day!

Just in time too, I ate my last Gu yesterday. And now I'm stocked up again. I'm looking forward to trying out the Powerbar Sport shots - I haven't had the lemon before. I get hungry on long runs, so the physicality of chewing and eating something solid might help.

The marathon training plan calls for a rest/cross training day today and I'm enjoying it. I've done a little strength, a little walking and of course yoga. Fingers crossed some good sleep will put me in good stead for tomorrow's speed session.

Note to self: get organised!

I cannot run on an empty stomach or if I'm hungry. I get that whole faint headed feeling which I don't love while running. Thankfully I found the Gu in my bag and a post work run was had. I am not on top of the food thing at the moment, I need to stock up on fruit and veggies pronto so I can fuel properly.

Generally if I start the week off with exercise I'm more likely to see the week out with training. Goal for this week is three runs. Should be do-able particularly as the weather is set to improve.

Run: 33m | 5km | 06m 25s/km. Lap of the Tan from work. HRM wasn't working, but I felt like I worked hard for this.

Oats are not for me

I just can't come at porridge. I've tried, really I have, to like its texture and its stick to your stomach lining goodness, but I just can't handle the mouth feel. On a day where I know I'll be running I like to have a pretty substantial breakfast and a bowl of 'sweet' Quinoa does it for me. It was Heidi from 101 cookbooks that inspired me to try it for breakfast.

I usually cook up a batch and freeze it in 1/4 or 1/3 cup portions for use during the week. I either defrost it overnight or just pop it in the microwave when I'm ready to eat.

I've been known to prepare it with Almond milk, which adds to the Quinoa's nuttiness, but it works equally as well with regular and soy milk. This version includes stewed apples with vanilla, greek yoghurt and almond butter. So very satisfying.

Run: 32m | 4.8km | 06m 40s/km. I was pumped for this run, I had to wait until the afternoon for some clear weather and it was a serious disappointment. I felt awesome for the first three minutes and horrible the rest. I'm not talking OMG this is hard, I'm taking OMG if I don't stop I'm going to lose my stomach contents. Hopefully next week I'll come good.