Brit Chick Runs

Happy Thursday guys! ‘m afraid this will probably just be a brief post from me – thee’s some stuff that I’m really really struggling with at the moment, and it kinda feels like it’s taken me over somewhat But i’ll put on my blog-happy face now

Ooh! Dinner last night was one of my favourites….

Tofu, peanut butter, soy sauce, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and pepper, nooch – all blended together and mixed with kamut tagliatelle, aubergine and parsnip, and a side of kabocha – all enjoyed whilst watching the World Equestrian Games dressage on Tv :

(note the nasty colours due to the poor night time lighting..is there a setting on a camera to overcome this!?)

I’ve got into the habit of having kabocha by itself on the side – it’s so squishy and delicate when it’s been roasted, and if it gets mixed with all the other junk on the plate, it gets squashed and disappears :’( not what we want…anyway, the mild carbo load (does chocolate count as carbs? I had 2 squares later on too :p) was for the purpose of a 9mile run today!

Bah, it was a toughie. I had a Power Bar and 2 tsps wheat germ before I left, but – and I don’t know if it’s cos of my general mood, the hills, or the fact I didn’t have any extra fuel during the run – I totally wasn’t feeling it today. I felt like I was dragging my own corpse along the road!!! Seriously, it was really really hard work I finished in 1hr22 (I think..I forget now), which was a 9.12 min/mile pace. My slowest in a long while, not counting Sunday’s 18miler. Oh well…maybe tomorrow will be better.

When I got in, I had a scrummy breakfast waiting for me:

Overnight oats!

• 1/2 c. oats
• 1/2 c. coconut milk
• 1/2 c. soya yogurt
• 1 heaping tbsp Vega chocolate smoothie mix
• add ins – an extremely ripe banana (literally, so ripe it was mush in the skin!), cocoa powder, and a Veganomicon baked banana muffin:

DEEEElightful! Especially the muffin! I can’t believe I waited 2 days before I tried one of those bad boys – they are some of the best muffins I’ve ever baked! In fact, 2 out of my top 3 muffins I’ve ever baked have been from either Veganomicon, or Vegan with a Vengeance <- both books by the same lady. She’s a genius!

Late morning, I was feeling super inspired to give Chika a good schooling session; Team GB just won 2 silver medals in dressage at the World Equestrian Games, so I was feeling inspired Sadly, Chika was not. Actually, that’s harsh, and a lie; she was a very good girl! She just didn’t want to supple to the left very easily…but other than that, she tried her heart out for me, as always, so I was pleased

Lunch came late, but was sooo worth the wait! I saw a post on Never(Home) Maker yesterday, which had a sauce recipe that caught my eye – Cocoa-tomato-beet sauce! It sounds weird, but it was amazingly delicious I stuck to the recipe exactly, apart from omitting the parmesan cheese (a) I had none, b) it’s not vegan anyway), and using whole beets, which I blended:

Who would’ve thought – cocoa powder, tomatoes, beets, mixed herbs, cinnamon, agave, salt..it works so well! (This would be a the marriage my title refers to..beets and chocolate = bocolate I’m a genius right? :p)

I served it mixed with roasted chickpeas, roasted parsnip/broccoli/butternut, with a side of cereal:

Wow wow wow wow. One of the most delicious meals I’ve had in a long long time!! It was actually, properly SUPERB! If you like cocoa flavours, tomatoes, beets, red food, or pink food, or food in general, I recommend you make this sauce. Quick, easy and delicious Win!

Not a huge amount happened after lunch..I picked a proper big haul of blackberries (711g of blackberries, to be precise :p):

And caught up with various boring bills/letters/rap-that-has-to-be-sorted, and had a milky coffee:

(blackberry stained nails, not dirt, FYI!!)

And that’s about it

Question – when you find yourself really, really struggling – emotionally, mentally and so on – or feeling plagued by negativeness, how do you overcome it?

I used to haaaate Sports Day at school – I always sucked at it! Ironically, I was the worst at running. I did the 200m hurdles one year, and came last by about 180m….I also did a 4 x 100 relay (last again), a 200m (second from last) and a 100m sprint (last). The one time I attempted any sort of long distance running (the 800m! Aka, 1/2 mile…), I ‘collapsed’ from exhaustion at the other end. Mad right!? I wish I could go back in time, and tell myself that LD running is actually FUN! Alas!!

Why the Sports Day talk? Well, it’s only mildly related – but I had my follow up appointment with my sports nutritionist today it was useful! We were mainly talking about race day strat, which was helpful. I thought I knew exactly what I’d need to eat during the actual marathon, but as it turns out, I think I underestimated how much fuel I will actually need to take in. On my 18miler on Sunday, I had one Powerbar, and 2ish bottles of Lucozade. Buuutt she recommended I should have about 40g carb per hour of marathon, which translates as about 2 Clif bars and 2 Powerbars, plus about 4 bottles of sports drink! Ha. At least it’ll give me something to look forward to whilst I’m running…’yaaay, in 10mins I can have a Clif bar!!’ kinda thing :p

She also asked how long I wanted to take – I reckoned on about 4.5hours, but she said I should think closer to 5+, cos of all the people at the start. In fact, she said I might end up walking for the first 20mins or so! Meep! Does anyone have any experience of this in big marathons? The Marine Corps is like, 3rd biggest in the USA with over 35,000 people….

Oh! And interestingly, you know if you’re really cold? Well that majorly affects your digestive system, as in it goes ‘screw this, we don’t need to digest, let’s keep you warm instead!’ – which could be why I had stomach issues on my half marathon a few weeks back. After all, I was shivering at the start, it was so cold! Tres interesting.

——

In other Horsey Humpday news (I know I’ve been slacking on the HH..I’ll get back on track soon, I promise!), which has nothing at all to do with Horsey Humpday…I had food and ran today too

Pre-run – an apple, a big old Food Doctor cracker, and 2 tsps wheat germ. 5miles was on the cards today. I was feeling the need for speed, so I thought I’d try and do a faster run. Er, yeah. Fast for me 6months ago used to be 7.50/ 8min miles. Fast today? 8.53mile average!! And even that was hard work! I seriously underestimated how much marathon training would simply suck the speed out of me. Oh wellllll….post-marathon, i’m going to put the focus back on speed and shorter distances. I could maybe aim for a sub-49min 10k (I once did a 10k – unofficially – in 49.50 or something), or a sub-23 5k…we shall see

Breakfast was a big bowl of cereal:

With yogurt and cinnamon:

And sliced banana:

And half a scuffin!

And then of course, all mixed up, to truly obey the law of what a real cereal/yogurt mess should look like:

Photographed under the watchful eye (tongue!?) of Carter:

( PS -Don’t worry – I consumed the scuffin on the side. That baby was NOT being mushed into cereal!! Far too precious :p)

Post breakfast, I shot off to my nutritionist appointment, and had a brief stop in town to get a few bits and bobs. When I got back home, it was a) pouring with rain, and b) the farrier was there. Soo I held Chika for her last shoe (Hannah had been holding her before that) – a horsey manicure, if you will – and then made a super quick lunch, which I was pretty hungry for!

I broke open a Whole Foods purchase:

Sea cakes!

I served one with a toasted wholemeal English muffin, rosemary/garlic roasted brussell sprouts/celeriac/parsnip (sprinkled with nooch), and kale roasted with balsamic vinegar, salt, cinnamon and a pear:

I always have trouble deciding between photos…

Totally wonderfully DELICIOUS! It hit the spot 99% I hit the last 1% by having a bit of a scuffin

After lunch, I went for a little walk in the rain (how woeful do I sound!?) – I was feeling pretty nnnaaaaarrrrrr-y [if that makes sense] and quite down and sad. Walks (+ wild blackberries :p) always make things better

I wasn’t hungry at all for a snack, but I felt a bit low on..something (?) so I had some yogurt with a handful of cereal:

You just can’t go wrong with breakfast mixes. it’s not possible.

I also spent 15mins doing battle with a roll of cling film – I HATE THAT STUFF. Seriously! This roll was WAY too sticky and was all messy and sticking to itself and everything and getting tangled and…just…just….*insert bad word here* – *shakes fist at cling film*! I think they just make it difficult to handle so that people will be put off being environmentally unfriendly. Well, NOT ME! I’m determined, I WILL do all I can to pollute the world (note the sarcasm!!).

Moving on – for dinner last night, I had this:

No, it’s not meat…. it’s seitan! Love that stuff Along with sweet potato roasted in maple syrup, dijon mustard and balsamic vinegar (thank yoooouuuu Jess for the idea!), as well as cocoa roasted veggies. No pic purely cos the light was so awful and orange that the pics didn’t really come out! After dins, I had some dessert too – yogurt and chocolate, oh yes

—-

Question – did you like Sports Day at school? Were you any good at it?

Marathon runners – how have you found the starts of marathons? Were you much slower than you thought you’d be?

Happy Tuesday!! You know what’s awesome about today? Very little, cos it’s just a Tuesday. I’m not a fan! Tomorrow will be better though – I’ve got my second/follow-up appointment with my nutritionist Apparently, we’re going to talk race day strategy and the like, for the marathon. Which FYI, is in…less than 5 weeks!!?? Freakin’ madness!

Anyway, back to Tuesday. I was so majorly tired today. I woke up and actually looked like Death. It’s days like these I thank my lucky stars that no-one else sees me early in the mornings!! Alas. After eating an apple and a bite of a rice cake, I did some DVD action for 55mins or so, and then, something mildly annoying happened. Normally after a workout, I’m not hungry for a good hour afterwards. So, I finished my workout, pretty-ed myself up (well, attempted to :p) and thought I’d dash to the store to get my newspaper before my sister took the car for the day. It just HAD to be today that pretty much as soon as I was on the road, I was starving! And it also just HAD to be today that I got stuck behind freakishly, jokingly slow farm traffic for miles. Gah! Therefore, breakfast was v v v v welcome:

• 1/2 c. coconut milk
• 1/2 c. soya yogurt
• 1 tbsp hemp seeds
• 1 c. cereal
• xanthan gum
• banana
• cantaloupe melon
• frozen papaya
• a few kale strips
• dates, Grape Nuts, homemade jam and almonds for toppings

Gawsh! I don’t know what it was today, but that mix was so SO good! One of the best ever, for sure! A bowl I wished would never end…..

I rode Chika for a bit after breakfast – after the past few days’ escapades, I thought it’d be best to lead her in hand past the lion den before I got on – sure enough, she was all ‘ohemgee can’t go theeeerrrrreeee!!!!!’ for a good 5minutes – thank goodness I didn’t get on first! When I did eventually get on, she was very well behaved But gosh, I sure don’t know what’s gotten into her the past few days. Maybe someone is spiking her feed with Red Bull? Hmm…

Lunch was just a plate of sheer awesomeness today. So many delicious aspects! Angela’s spelt pancakes for one (minus the protein powder):

Served with roasted broccoli and parsnip fries, and rosemary and garlic seasoned roast kale:

Check out the bubbles!!

That wasn’t it though – toppings were to come! Roast soya nuts, hummus and peariac puree (see my recipes ) – basically, roast celeriac blended with a ripe pear and some salt:

Ah. No words! I sure had a hard job deciding on what the best mouthful was to save til last It was ALL ace.

Moving on – you know how yesterday I really got ma bake on? I did the same this arvo too!! I had lots of butternut squash sitting in the fridge, so I decided I’d do something pumpkin-inspired…cos roasted butternut is the perfect sub Soo, I cut and roast a whole load:

I had to pretty much handcuff myself to my chair so I wouldn’t eat all the roast gooey-ness when it came out of the oven….ANYWAY! After I roasted it, I had to decide on a recipe. Angela’s pumpkin and chia scuffins won my vote!!

I used a chia egg, rather than a flax egg, cos I had no flaxseed open

The result was 22 little fluffy scuffins of LOVE!!!

These pictures do NOT do them justice!

Oohh they are BLISSful!!! I had one as an afternoon snack:

They’re light, fluffy, full of flavour….just delicious! I’m so glad there’s another 21 left to eat

The scuffins were Baking Mission Numero Uno. BM Numero Duno was muffinsssss!! When I was at the store this morning, I saw some really dirty skank bananas which, just like the ones yesterday, were calling out to be baked with. I obeyed that call.

Using a recipe for banana bread in the Veganomicon cookbook, I made muffins

Well, they smell really good! I’m yet to try one (cos I had a scuffin instead), but no doubt one will SOMEHOW find its’ sneaky way into my stomach at around 9pm tonight, when my raging dessert tooth demands to be fed

Oohh but before dessert, I get to eat dinner I’m feeling inspired by a certain fellow horsey blogger, who did a wonderful balsamic/maple/mustard combination the other day. I’m reckoning on covering sweet potato chunks in it, and baking…literally, my mouth is watering at the thought!

Talking of dinner – no photos, but I thought last nights’ was worth a mention (ohemgee, I just heard on the radio that The Apprentice starts next week – YAY!) - I made a real groovy tomato sauce, using chopped tomatoes, balsamic, mixed spice, stock, molasses and soy sauce. I cooked some tempeh in it, with chickpeas and broccoli and my favourite veggies, and it was SO. GOOD. Love love love!!

Mks, now I gotta stop talkin’ about it, and go prep dinner

Question – what’s your favourite reality show? I’m a sucker for The Apprentice and…uh….well, there are a ton more, but apparently I’m having a brain blank

Oh – Ps – cute Kovac

Hehe! Cats and boxes. They fit together like…Edward and Bella

…haha LOL, just to demonstrate how wet I got on that 18miler yesterday – here is my page of inspirational quotations that was tucked in my pocket while I ran:

Bah! Soaked to the skin folks – soaked. to. the. skin. (Random side note – my English teacher in high school used to get so mad when people said ‘quotes’ – ‘it’s quoTATIONS!!!!’ she used to scream. Just thought I’d let y’all know.) (2nd random side note – I have absolutely zero stiffness or soreness today! In fact, I feel really quite fresh – I’m so happy I finally feel like I really can run that marathon…)

So anyway, I changed my name today, from Freya to Chef. I’ve cooked 3 things today! Not breakfast, lunch and dinner, but seitan, apple cake and my own creation I knew this would happen – as soon as the temperature drops and it rains outside, all I want to do is bake bake bake Why deny a desire?

My first mission was the seitan – vital wheat gluten mixed with spices and water, boiled in stock (with the addition of molasses, thanks to Jess‘ last post):

Brilliant picture right? This is why I’ve asked you to call me Chef, not Photographer :p Despite the crap picture, for once in my tiny life, the seitan actually worked! Success.

Next job was an apple cake (using homegrown apples!), per my mama’s request, so she can take it into work and have everyone gush over her:

Success again! [The brown colour is not burnt-ness, it's the sugar and cinnamon that was sprinkled on top, to give a crunchy topping ]

And finally – I had some super duper ripe bananas which were just crying out to be mashed up and cooked beyond oblivion. Sooo that’s what I did

I actually made completely, 100% my own recipe!! I’m really proud of myself :p normally I alter someone else’s, but NOT TODAY! Check it out:

There are things like banana, molasses, buckwheat flour, baking powder, peanut butter and dates in there…to name but a few :p

I might post the recipe tomorrow…but there are a few tweaks I wanna make

—–

In other food – breakfast! Squashy oatmeal aka 1/2 c. oats cooked with cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, 1/2 c.coconut milk, 1/2 c.++ water, lots n lots of cooked pumpkin/squash (not sure what it was). Topped with cereal and peanut butter (and unpictured brazil nuts):

You wouldn’t believe how long it took me to decide on that meal. Banana oats? Squash oats? Cereal and yogurt? SIAB? EGM? I just couldn’t decide!

Yummy yummy yummy I got love in my tummy….

Post breakfast, it was time to work The Mare……I got on, she spooked, I picked up my reins, we went to the lion’s den from yesterday, and good gracious – she was having none of it! I mean, we’re looking here at my soul job being to stop her from sitting down and spinning/galloping off in the other direction, let alone actually walking towards the lions!!! Thankfully, at least one of us had our Sensible Hats on (me), so I recognised the severity of the situation, hopped off, and made her go past it in hand (whilst avoiding being majorly trodden on/squashed). After 10mins, she calmed down, I got back on, we had a good session Honestly. Horses!

Lunch was pretty random – I wasn’t really feeling anything, so I had a mish mash – soy sauce/vegan worcestershire sauce stir fried kale, with roasted parsnip, summer squash, celeriac and turnip:

That was DELICIOUS!

I also made a thickie – loads + loads of cereal, super ripe pear, 1/2c. yogurt, xanthan gum, cantaloupe melon, kale, vanilla and blackberries:

Note – Chef does NOT waste any amount of food, no matter how small

See?

After blending, the result:

Woaaaaaah. I thought part 1 of lunch was delicious – this was even more so! So thick, smooth, creamy….bliss. I also had a square of super dark chocolate

And now for a trip back in time -

Yesterday’s snack – left over roast squash with maple syrup and cinnamon, and a fig:

Ohhh my. No words.

Last night’s dessert:

Yogurt, 90% dark Lindt, and a Bliss Bar <- I bought this a while back from Whole Foods, but have been saving it for a special occasion. I felt the aftermath of my first ever 18mile run was special occasion enough And it was sooo worth the wait! That thing was DELICIOUS! And raw, and vegan, and gluten/soya free, and non-GM! Check out the ingredients: dates, cashew butter, raw cacao, brown rice malt, cacao butter, maca, brown rice powder, sunflower lecithin, vanilla pods, ashwaghanda root (no I don’t know what that is either; something good I think?!), sea salt, green tea extract. Increds!!

Trip forward in time now – today’s snack:

Yogurt, blackberries, and one of my freshly baked….things. I’m yet to name them

Hmm. As usual, I’m off to go cook my din dins now It’s a toughie though – tempeh? Seitan? Lentils? Chickpeas? TOO many decisions! What would you choose!!??

Question – if you could change your name to anything, what would it be?

I always want to change my name to Freja (as opposed to Freya), cos one of my favourite supermodels is called Freja I also love the name Brooke and Lacey, and Darcey, and Paris (but not after Paris Hilton)…I have lots I’d love to be Oh – and Chef, of course. Duh.

Good night!

If it’s hurting, it’s working

Pain is temporary, quitting is forever

If you find yourself going through hell, keep going

Are you going to be a wimp, or are you going to be strong today?

Can I give more? Yes.

Rock what you’ve got.

I set a new distance record for myself today!! EIGHTEEEEEN big ones baby!! Oh yes Run recap and a ton o’ horsey action shots to come….

—-

Saturday

Breakfast:

A lorra lorra cereal, with a splash of soya milk (the self-confessed milk & cereal hater can now have milk and cereal…what has the world come to??), yogurt, wheatgerm, a banana and blackberries

A side of fig

I sure worked myself up a mild appetite for lunch! Cos I rode Mrs Chika in between, and – due to the terrifying wind – she was quite the handful. I set out thinking ‘bah, it’s cold and windy, I’ll only do 25mins’…..50mins later, I finished! She’d decided that she couldn’t (could?) see the lions hiding in the grass with all the wind, therefore it was perfectly necessary to spend 30minutes spooking at the exact same spot. Over and over. And over. And over.. Mares!! Luckily, just as she was determined to spook, I was equally determined for her NOT to spook – Battle of The Mare vs The Girl commenced (albeit with no violence obvs!!). I won we finished on an ace note, and both came in tired and happy

Um…sidetrack much?? Lunch! I had to carbo load today, due to the impending 18miler on Sunday, so it was the winding route of kamut tagliatelle that won my charms today. A nice hefty portion, served with a ‘sauce’ made from a 1/2 tin of chopped tomatoes, tomato puree, mixed herbs, garlic, stock, swede, turnip, broccoli, celeriac, parsnip and squash:

Sure was delicious! A piece of Lindt may have been eaten too…

The afternoon was spent gettin’ ma bake on! My gran had given me a huge (arm size) courgette the other week, and a request to bake a chocolate courgette cake. Like the good grandchild I am, I obeyed:

Voila!

I then had a taste for baking….so I whipped up some muffins from Allie’s recipe section. The original recipe was for pumpkin and carrot muffins, but I firstly vegan-ised it (by using 1tbsp chia seeds mixed with 2tbsp water), and English-ised it – mashed banana in place of pumpkin!

Instead of making 6 large muffins, I made 12 mini muffins instead

Tooooo cute!!

My afternoon snack was some cereal and yogurt:

And dinner was the scrummiest mix of maple roast sweet potato, lentils cooked with apple, and maple roast kabocha and parsnip:

In hindsight, although this meal was delicious – it was too much fibre!

I had a little dessert of Lindt, yogurt and a cracker

——

Sunday

I was awoken ever so rudely by an alarm at 6.30am today. Why? I had eighteen miles to run of course! However the weather was looking seriously dodgy, with heavy showers forecast….so I wolfed down a breakfast cookie (1/2c. oats, mashed banana, peanut butter, milk), as well as a few dates and a spoon of Grape Nuts:

And then 1/2 hour later, I set out.

BAD MOVE!

The first 5 miles of my run were hell on earth. I felt so amazingly SICK. At 3.66 miles, I had to stop for 15mins, expecting to throw up at any second, whilst having a major cry session. I couldn’t believe how ill I felt after so little distance, and all I could think was ‘I’ve got a half marathon left to run….’. It was horrific! However, I had to keep going. I was 2miles from home, and I knew my mum would be waiting for me. The next 2miles were deathly slow (like, 10.50pace), but I did them. When I saw my mum’s glowing pink coat at the end of my drive, it was like a beacon of hope

I cried on her for a few mins, cos I felt so bad, but after a little weeny pep talk, I set out again, on a 3mile loop. Baby steps! Thankfully, I started to feel a bit better. After an hour and 20mins or so, my stomach started to settle. No sooner had that settled, did the clouds UNsettle, and the rain clouds open. And open they did! I’m talking monsoon like rain, for an hour. I literally could not SEE cos it was raining so hard, and I was soaked to the skin. It was horrible!! But my mum, bless her, was waiting for me after every loop (even the 2mile one!) to just be there for support. Words can’t describe how grateful I was to her! Especially since she was getting soaked too!!

Anyway – despite the rain and the sick stomach and all, there was some good – my legs felt GREAT! The whole achey-leg thing is a distant memory now Thank goodness for Brooks trainers! And after the rain slowed, I actually started to enjoy myself again. The best bit? The last 2miles, when my mum dug out her old bike (she hasn’t ridden one in decades) and wobbled down the road next to me, singing crap folk songs (!) to me and telling jokes and laughing! I was running with a Hugh Jass smile on my face I also seemed to get a second wind of energy, which meant I decided to get my run finished in under 3hours (on the wonk cos I can’t rotate it :p):

Oh yeah!!!

The start was slow, but I finished strong, and felt I could have even continued for quite a lot more miles!! Needless to say, I was happy

My average pace was 9.58, total 2hrs59. During the run, I drank about 750ml Lucozade Sport, and ate a Power bar. I probably should have had more, but it wasn’t until mile 13 that I even started eating <- that’s how sensitive my stomach felt! But regardless, I finished great (no walls for me :p), so alls well that ends well

Oh! Amazingly, I didn’t use my ipod for the entire run! And it was fine! I entertained myself by singing ‘There were 99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer…take one down, swirl it around, there were 98 bottles of beer on the wall….’. Weird, but it worked!

When I got inside, I quickly ate a mini banana/carrot muffin:

And then went on a 10min walk to stretch out. Lovely Brunch was a proper big old Epic Green Monster:

• 1 c. cereal
• 1/2 c. soya milk
• 1/2 c. soya yogurt
• 1 tbsp hemp seeds
• xanthan gum
• loooooads of spinach
• a massive banana

Perfect post-run fuel!!

And as usual…this is now a massive long post, so I’ll speed up!!!

I made my mum and I soya cappucinos (spelt wrong…!) for a nice afternoon break:

Could have had more froth but my mum was on the phone so I couldn’t blend for long enough

We aslo played horses in the afternoon – lunged Tig over jumps:

And showed my baby some love

Excuse my outfit! Gran-knitted hat, long thick horse socks, 3/4 length trousers…I’m pure class. I also did some yoga, which was fabulous! Nothing like a good stretch after 3hrs of running

Annnnd that’s where I’ll leave it! I had a delicious snack too, but the pic isn’t on here so….whateverz :p

Question: do you have any inspirational quotes? How do you keep yourself motivated/not bored during a long run?

What’s been your biggest achievement lately? It doesn’t have to be physical, or huge – an achievement is an achievement, regardless of size