You blink and it's May

I can hardly believe that I wrote the previous post 4 weeks ago!! How's that even possible? I suppose this is what happens when your life changes drastically and you try to keep up with the new rhythm. But more about this later... The first race of the season is less than 2 months away and I am NOT freaking out. Nope. I'm good. I am also a terrible liar.

Here's something that doesn't lie. Strava.

As you can see, I only averaged 2-3 workouts a week, but when you think about it, my work as an arborist IS a daily workout. They call us something like... industrial athletes, I kid you not. (Check this out - "Caring for your body as a production arborist"). The ISA even mentions something about a sawdust triathlon. Wait, what?? I suppose it counts as training after all.

This must be the core workout

Now, back to the other kind of triathlon. Alas, I only managed to train in 2 of the 3 sports. And let's not debate whether triathlon is one sport or three, or more, mmmkay?

I ran 5km three times and biked 7 times, with the longest bike workout being 2h. I still have a long way to 3h on the trainer, but it should be doable before June comes around. I may even bump my FTP by 5 points or so. As to running, the goal is to get to 10km before the end of the month.

Just for fun, here are the Trainer Road bike workouts I did, in order of progression:

• Ericsson 1h
• Bays 1h
• Carson 1h
• Glassy-1 1.5h
• Baird-1 1h
• Boarstone 2h
• Phoenix 1.5h

Last but not least - 8fit: I completely forgot about it. Seriously. I kept ignoring its reminders and eventually it left me alone. Yesterday, however, I was in mood for Yoga and I did a quick Neck and Shoulders routine which felt amazeballs.

I also found some wonderful breakfast ideas and I already tried one today:

Chocolate Banana Pudding

• 1 serving of instant Maple and Brown Sugar Steel Cut Oats (PC blue menu)
• 120ml soy milk
• 1/2 tsp raw cocoa
• 15 almonds
• 1 banana

Directions: microwave the milk and oats for 2.5min, mix in cocoa, almonds and banana slices. (Optional add in 1tsp sesame seeds and a pinch of salt)

Ready in 5 minutes and absolutely delish!

I'll try to blog more often, as I settle into a routine. Easier said than done, I'm aware. But at least I'll tell you this. I am not going anywhere. ;-)

Racing Weight Recipes

It is no secret that I love food. A little too much, maybe. But over the past few years I've tried to cook leaner, healthier, and without sacrificing the taste. When I came across the Racing Weight Cookbook, thanks to a review by Phaedra, I knew that I had to buy it. And it the past month or so, I've made quite a few recipes that became an instant hit. After countless online requests, I've decided to share my favorites here on the blog. Since all the recipes were modified slightly anyway, I kinda made them my own. I cannot recommend the book more though. Seriously, you don't even have to read the lean theory, just jump in, cook and eat. And what other book organizes the recipes by cooking skill? This one does, from "Recipes for the athlete who doesn't cook" to "Recipes for the athlete who loves to cook".

1. Quinoa and Chickpea Salad / Tabbouleh

1 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained. I like to use PC Golden and Black Quinoa, one box of 225g is perfect and it gives the salad more color.
1 15 ounces can of chickpeas, rinsed, drained and shelled (skinned?). I use 1 can of PC Organics Chickpeas, it's the perfect size (540ml).
2 cups water
2 tablespoons extra virgin oil - my favorite is PC New World EVOO
1/2 tablespoon salt
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1/3 cup red onion, chopped - I use more like 1/2-2/3 of a cup
1 pint 10oz grape tomatoes, cut in half
1 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped

Bring water to a boil, then add quinoa and let simmer for 15 min or until water is absorbed. Set aside to cool.
In a large mixing bowl stir together cooled quinoa, chickpeas, onion, parsley, tomatoes. Add olive oil, lemon juice and salt.
Refrigerate for at least 1h (I prefer to leave it overnight).

Tadaaaaa...

2. Apple raisin bars

Cooking spray
1 1/2 cups quick oats
1 cup whole wheat flour
3 servings vanilla protein powder
1 cup sugar (I used brown sugar)
3 tablespoons ground flaxseed
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup non fat plain yoghurt - my favorite is Oikos 0%
1/2 cup (4 egg whites) or egg substitute
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons canola or macadamia-nut oil (I didn't have any of these and I used sunflower oil)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 medium apples, shredded
1/2 cup raisins, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9x13 inch baking dish with cooking spray.
In a large mixing bowl, combine oats, flour, protein powder, sugar, flaxseed, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt. Stir to blend.
In a separate mixing bowl, combine yoghurt, egg whites, water, oil, and vanilla. Stir in shredded apples and raisins. Add wet ingredients to bowl containing dry ingredients. Stir to blend until uniformly moistened. Spread batter in pan.
Bake for 15-17 min until center is solid (mine took 25 min). Allow to cool completely before cutting into bars. Wrap individually in plastic bags and store in the fridge or freezer.

I cut into 12 bars, they were big enough for snack or breakfast. Very yummy and not that sweet.

It looks a bit complicated, but aside from shredding the applies and chopping the raisins (mine were gigantic), there is no preparation needed. Just mix and bake.

3. Blueberry spelt quick bread

Cooking spray
1 1/4 cups whole grain spelt flour (or whole wheat flour) - I didn't have spelt flour, I used the whole wheat version.
1/2 cup sugar - I used brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon coconut oil or canola oil
1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
2 eggs
1 cup fresh blueberries

Preheat over to 325 degrees F. Lightly coat a loaf pan with cooking spray.
In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and mix well.
In a second bowl, mix oil, applesauce and eggs. Add the dry mix to the liquid ingredients and stir until everything is moistened. Fold in blueberries. Pour batter into loaf pan.
Bake for 30-35min, or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool completely before slicing.
Store leftover slices in plastic bags in the fridge or the freezer.

Bon appetit!

Yeah, I know - that's still a lot of carbs, but they are good carbs. Eat moderately and think that they will make you lean(er). Maybe... I'm doing the experiment for you :-)

I promise to talk only greens next time!!

Easy recipes: Harley's Oatmeal Frittata

I have a confession to make: I don't like oatmeal. But oatmeal seems to like me. I feel great after eating oatmeal. It's a perfect pre-race breakfast for me. But I can only eat it as prepared in this recipe, which I called "Harley's Oatmeal Frittata" because I first read it in Harley Pasternak's "5 Factor Fitness" book, which I bought a few years ago when I needed a little big push. I tried eating oatmeal prepared "traditionally" with water and other stuff thrown in it, like fruits, brown sugar, honey etc, but the sticky gooey texture and the almost non existent taste just doesn't do it for me. That's why I keep on making it as a frittata and I don't mind sharing the recipe with you, in case you'd like to give it a try too. Who doesn't like a healthy and filling breakfast ready in 5 minutes?

Ingredients:

1/2 cup organic quick oats

1/2 cup liquid egg whites

Two dozens of jumbo organic raisins

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 splenda pack or 2 tsp brown sugar

3-4 tbsp organic unsweetened apple sauce

Preparation (5 min):

Place dry oats in a deep dish safe for the microwave oven.

Pour egg whites uniformly over the oats. Add more oats to cover the liquid patches if needed.

Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar/splenda on top.

Place raisins on top. I tend to go OCD with those as you can see in the pictures.

Cover with plastic wrap and poke a few holes in it, then microwave for 2 minutes.

Take out of the microwave (attention, it's hot) and remove plastic wrap (I thought I'd mention it, just in case).

Pour apple sauce on top and enjoy!

You can find more recipes from this blog here.

Easy Recipes: Mocha Smoothie

Whenever I feel blah and I need a boost of energy (and have my blender nearby), I make this Mocha Smoothie because there isn't any other recipe that I can stomach (of the homemade kind, because from Yogen Fruz, Starbucks or Tim Hortons, everything tastes better).

Makes 2 large smoothies:

2 cups of milk (you can replace with almond, rice or soy milk)
2 scoops of chocolate flavoured protein powder (I use North Coast Naturals)
2 tbsp of instant coffee (decaf or regular)
1-2 tbsp of powdered sugar (or honey)
Plenty of ice

You can also add a banana and/or peanut/almond butter for the extra oomph.

Crush, blend, smooth. Pour, drink, enjoy!

Easy recipes: Energy Bar

Earlier this week I went to the group spin class and coach shared with us a homemade energy bar, which for my taste, was really divine. Of course, I had to ask for the recipe and later that day, he emailed it to me (as below). The next day I also found this recipe on the Internet (here) and didn't feel like I was holding onto a secret anymore, so by popular demand, I decided to share it with you as well. It took me no longer than 15 minutes to make those bars, one came in handy today since I was starving at the end of my long 2h aerobic ride.

2/3 cup organic tahini spread

1/2  cup brown sugar (packed)

2/3 cup raw organic honey (or molasses) I use the solid kind of honey and pack it down into the measuring cup.

1 tsp vanilla

3 cups puffed rice cereal

1/2 cup sunflower seeds (shelled)

1/2 cup pumpkin seeds (shelled)

1 cup dried organic cranberries

1/2 cup raisins

Optional:  add in some chia seeds

In a large mixing bowl combine all dried ingredients (cereal, seeds and fruit) and set aside. In a skillet, mix the other ingredients and heat on medium until bubbling. Add the vanilla as the mixture starts to bubble. Stir constantly to avoid burning. Remove from heat.

Mix the hot sauce with the dry mixture until all the mixture is coated, then pour into a greased (oiled) 9 x 13 baking pan. Flatten out the combined mixture in the pan and cut into bars. Cover and put in fridge for an hour or so.

Remove from fridge, cut into bars again and place in freezer bags for storage.

Approx calories =  273 with 11.5 gms healthy fat, 7 gm protein and 41 gm carbohydrates. This depends on how many bars you cut the mixture into. The calories are based on 12 bars.

This makes a very nutritious snack, pre or post exercise nutrition bar. Obviously, you don’t want to eat several at a time or you’ll be getting too many calories. Feel free to alter the ingredients as you desire.

Enjoy!

Other recipes that I published on this blog:
Riri's Famous Banana Bread
Egg Whites Omelet

Easy recipes: Riri's Famous Banana Bread

As the smell of banana bread is slowly taking over all corners of our house, I feel inspired to share my recipe with you guys. I found it a few years ago on the good ol' Internet, but made some slight modifications and since then, it became the regular afterlife of our mushy bananas, saved from the compost bin every 2 weeks in general (we should definitely learn to plan better our banana consumption).

Mix in order (this will make one loaf):

3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter (melted in the microwave for 30sec)
3 mushy bananas (pureed in a separate bowl)
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda mixed with 1 tbsp warm water
2 cups flour
1 tbsp of vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Optional: add chocolate chips, walnuts, pecans, raisins, etc.

Bake at 350F for 1h.

They should look like this after you take them out of the oven:

1 choco chip and 1 regular cooling down

Bon appetit!

Easy recipes: Egg whites omelet

You know, I was overweight for a while. And then one day, I decided to take the bull by the horns, as they say, and do something about it, because running alone was not cutting it. So I found my coach on Fitorbit (still have him, hi Dave!) and one of the first things he taught me was to eat right. So I discovered egg whites and they became my de facto breakfast food, as they are easy to prepare, they are tasty and you can make as many variations with them as you can dream about. Below is one of my favorite combo and I am happy to share the recipe with you because I know a few people who struggle with finding ideas for quick and easy breakfast food. Just as an FYI, I wake up at 7am, by 7:30pm I am ready to have breakfast with the boys and usually by 8:15am I leave the house for work. This literally leaves me 15 minutes to prepare and eat my breakfast, so those who think it takes a lot of time, they couldn't be more wrong.

There we go:

Egg whites, turkey and spinach omelet

• 1/2 cup egg whites (I buy the free run or organic kind)
• 2 thick slices of turkey breast (my favorite is Cuddy Spicy Turkey (low fat), found at Metro/Fortinos/Superstore) 75-100g, sliced in thin stripes (roll the slices and cut them across)
• organic baby spinach - 2-3 handfulls of leaves to fill up the pan - they "melt" right away, so go ahead and put in a lot
• red pepper, diced (1/4th of a pepper)
• mushrooms (1/2 portobello or 4-5 small white mushrooms, sliced)
• low fat shredded cheddar cheese (I use this triple mix from PC in the Blue Menu line)

Put some olive oil in the pan, throw in the turkey, pepper and mushrooms and mix for about 3 minutes. Make sure the spinach is cooked so that no "raw" leaves remain. Pour the egg whites on top, wait for a minute, making sure that they are cooking evenly. Add the cheese and a pinch of salt, wait for another minute for the eggs and cheese to continue cooking nicely, then try to flip half of the omlet over the other half (don't worry if you end up with a messy omlet that looks more like scrambled eggs, the taste is the same). Put in a plate, enjoy with a piece of 12 grain toast (no butter) and a glass of 100% fruit juice (or coffee), no sugar added.

Variants:
Greek omlet (replace cheddar by feta cheese, add diced tomato and olives, the rest stays)
Simple egg and cheese omlet (just the egg whites and the cheese)
Ham and cheese (replace turkey by ham, keep the egg whites and cheddar cheese)
Fancy italiano (use prosciutto instead of turkey, green peppers instead of red, feta instead of cheddar)

... the possibilities are endless! I am usually throwing in what I feel like, or what remains in the fridge.

The whole meal is usually not more than 400cal for a great amount of protein and fiber that will keep you full until your first healthy snack, about 2-3 h later). I have 3 meals and 2 snacks a day religiously, so I never feel hungry. If eggs are not part of your breakfast, you should definitely give them a try. I have significantly lowered my cholesterol in the past year and I have been eating egg whites 3 times a week. Don't be afraid, they are good for you. I may not be a specialist, but I talk from personal experience and results, I lost 30lb in 6 months by learning to eat healthy and balancing the necessary nutrients needed in an athlete's lifestyle. I kept a food diary and even had a cheat day.

It's not easy, but you can do it!! After a little while you will start craving the healthy foods and get turned off by the fast food. I know that I can't even step into a McDonald's anymore, even if I still think that a Big Mac and French fries are the tastiest foods on the planet. Just try going back after 6 months of eating healthy foods and I guarantee that your stomach will NOT like it, that's how you realize how bad these are for you.

Good luck and hope you'll love omelets as much as I do!

Two new recipes

This week I took a few days off work because my physician thinks I need to relax. And what better way to relax than cooking a few meals? Although I don't like spending too much time in the kitchen in general, I am always eager to try something new. Today I came across this link for DYI Dried Apples. Since I love apples and I had a few sitting pretty in the fridge, I put myself to work and peeled, soaked, baked and ... voila!! 4h later in the oven at 175F (my oven wouldn't want to go lower than that), with a flip at half time, I have two dozens of apple chips. They are delish!

But this was just the warm-up. While I was preparing dinner, I told myself - why not make that quiche that I saved in my Training Peaks library for so long? Those baby spinach leaves are going to turn mushy before I schedule them for a meal! So I took out all the ingredients and prepared it as following:

In a pan, cooked 10oz of spinach with 1.5 portobello mushroom and some butter until they all melted nicely. Set aside in a bowl and added half a red bellpepper, diced. Added a cup of 0% Greek Yogurt (Liberte), 1 cup of egg whites, shredded cheese (I used the light 4 cheese blend) and grated parmesan. Mixed everything and baked at 350F for 45min. Result below. My hubby approved, so it shouldn't be bad at all. Apparently it tastes like cheese, no kidding!

There you go. Hungry much? Stop by anytime.