The art of recovery

I’m trying to kick on with my half marathon training seeing as it’s only a couple of weeks away.

I completed my first 10 miles since... we’ll probably last time I did a half marathon.

It didn’t go too bad and I was spot on my target pace but did tire rapidly after the 8 mile mark.

Now one thing I’ve worked on over the years is the recovery side of things because we’ve all done those runs where days later you feel the aches and pains.

Ultimately if you’re in training you want to get back on it as soon as possible but obviously with adequate rest of course.

Now for me regardless of what I’m doing weight training or running I use the same fuel.

I know most runners will load up on the carbs and there’s nothing wrong with that but sometimes I feel runners can over look the importance of protein in their recovery.

Protein is essential to repair and strengthen muscles that are damaged during running.

Without adequate protein, your muscles will not be able to go the distance, recover, or repair themselves.

I personally will take a protein shake supplemented with creatine, HMB and essential amino acids after a run.

Now these additionally supplements are used by a lot of body builders but they seem to help my recovery.

HMB minimises muscle damage during hard exercise by minimising protein breakdown.

Although theres' not too many studies of creatine on runners, creatine it self helps to increase energy, endurance and reduce muscle recover time.

Essential amino acids are the chemical building blocks of protein but do lots of things so I take it for general well being along with my barley grass.

It works for me and generally muscle soreness is non-existent so now its part of my regime.

Just to give you a break down before my run I eat a wrap with 1/2 chocolate hazelnut spread & 1/2 peanut with a banana.

After completing my run I have plenty of water and a protein shake with milk, as milk is great at re-hydrating you for longer. I take my creatine, HMB and amino acids with some fruit juice for the sugars.

So to all you runners keep up the carbs but dont for get your protein.

Bye for now

Simon

Experiment time is up

Well there you go that’s almost 2 weeks and I’m happy with that.

I just wanted to highlight a good reason to doing something like this and one of the reasons I did.

I’ve read plenty of articles that stated that 80% of people who took this supplement gained 2lbs of muscle in a week.

7 in 10 people who ate this first thing in the morning loss on average 2 lbs a week.

My point being that 20% didn’t get the same gain and 3 out of 10 didn't loss the weight so even if the majority get these benefits not everyone does.

Therefore you need to try things out and experiment for yourself to see what works for you. So I have

The Experiment

I officially stopped being a veggie on Saturday so a total of 12 days which is a long time for me.

Overall I dont feel hugely different as mentioned before I feel like I'm waking more alertly in the mornings. I have noticed a decrease in a sort of belly ache feeling I used to get in the afternoons.
I do think the most significant thing has been the losing weight and feeling trimmer.

I didn't feel there was a big effect on my training apart from my waist shrinking but I didn't make any other gains in terms of size.
I did struggle on a few occasions with hunger but they may have not all been down to the veggie diet.

I must admit I've have kind of enjoyed it and feel I've rediscovered a couple of things.
I've broadened my recipe repertoire and I've even enjoyed the discipline / challenge side of it by sticking to certain foods.
I'd imagine its similar to those who have to eat certain foods for there beliefs and those that have serious health risks.

Most importantly I think I've got something out of this and will be taking the lessons I've learnt forward with me.

Here's a break down of the rest of the week

 

	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thur	Fri
Breakfast	Slice of banana protein bread & 2 boiled eggs	Slice of toast with peanut butter & 2 boiled eggs	Porridge & 2 boiled eggs	Rarebit on wholemeal toast & 2 boiled eggs	Scrambled eggs on toast
Lunch	Mozzarella & Homemade Mackerel pate, salad and banana	Mung bean & paneer curry with brown rice	Teriyaki salmon with sesame seeds, brown rice & salad	Quorn goan curry, salad and half a wrap	Quorn moussaka, veg & onion rings
Dinner	Teriyaki salmon with sesame seeds greens beans, stir-fry kale, spring onions, ginger, garlic & chllii	Quorn goan curry with homemade garlic naans	Grilled halloumi, roasted veg and salad.	Chunk of protein banana bread with peanut butter and half a tin of tomato soup	3 bean burritos, salsa, guacamole and salad
Snacks	Handful of mixed nuts, shape 0% yogurts, apple, boiled egg	Handful of mixed nuts, apple, Protein shake, 2 shape 0% yogurts, banana, cereal bar	Handful of mixed nuts, apple, Protein shake, 2 shape 0% yogurts, banana	Handful of mixed nuts, apple, banana, cereal bar, Protein shake	Handful of mixed nuts, apple, Protein shake
Pre/Post workouts		Protein shake	Protein shake	Protein shake

Bye for now

Simon

Happy St David’s Day

I am a proud welsh man but will be doing my celebrating on Sunday.

I have football tonight so that interrupts my dinner plans but those of you whole wish to indulge in some welsh cuisine I have some recipes for you.

First one I’m giving you the link for after all there’s no point recreating the wheel.

It’s a recipe for Anglesey Eggs by the hairy bikers for one of their shows and at the moment it’s my favourite cooking program so check it

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/angleseyeggs_92117

Now most welsh recipes will include Lamb but in days gone by, meals would have been revolved around the pig due to cost.

I’m going to stay away from the lamb recipes and give you 2 of the easiest to do.

Rarebit
Rough guide

• Enough cheese to cover your toast (depending on how much your making)
• Melt that down in a sauce pan and then add a splash of milk for each piece of toast to cover.
• Teaspoon of mustard for each 2 pieces of toast
• Teaspoon of Worcester sauce for each 2 pieces of toast
• Splash of beer if you like and spoonful of flour to thickening
• Then pour on to the toast

 

The next one is laverbread with oats now I know laverbread may not be everyone’s cup of tea but its so good for you.

Its low in fat, high in protein and loaded with nutrients so give this a go.

If you can get fresh laverbread than great but if not its likely to come in a 120g tin.

Simply add about 100g of oatmeal to the laverbread and mix together.

Pinch of salt and pepper to taste and form the mixture into pattys

Then chill for while you fry up some bacon in a pan

Pop in the laverbread in the bacon fat and cook until the outside is crispy

Serve with bacon and eggs

A bit of a rough post but you get the jist

Iechyd da

To veg or not to veg

So the week is up but have I turned into a hippy yet. Not yet but I am running with this a little bit longer.

Why?                     

Well first off it’s not been too bad it requires a bit of manoeuvring and will power but I’ve managed it. Secondly a week probably isn’t long enough to see any decent effects on the body or overall well being.

Have I noticed any differences?

Well the first couple of days I did seem to be quite hungry but as I mentioned that may not be to do with the veggie diet. This rest of the week has been fine if not a little bit in the air on a personal level.

I did wonder if my training would be affected but no I seemed to be functioning relatively well I have cut down on the running because of knee trouble so I haven’t put my body through as much as usual.

I do feel I have trimmed up a bit and I’ve defiantly lost weight as I’m down about 5lbs but the last time I weighed before that was about 3 weeks ago so not a true reading. On top of that despite hitting the gym with a few decent sessions my measurements haven’t changed and may be a fraction on the slide so will have to keep an eye on that.

Pro and cons

I’m finding I’m waking up a bit more alertly in the mornings so that could be a bit of an improvement.

It’s good to be able to create meals straight from the cupboard and fridge. However I do find it a little bit limiting at the same time because I just like to cook so doing a veggie means I have to look at alternatives to my free flowing spirit ;)

It’s also been quite good for discovering new recipes as on Sunday I knocked up a mung bean and paneer curry.

I also battled with temptation and difficult times this week. I had to rush out on Friday night hence the grab stuff kind of meal plus on the way home I had to fetch the good wife a chicken kebab...I gave in I had a tomato covered in burger sauce.
I’m still off the booze and this has been one of those testing weeks which I could quite of easily gone f*** it got drunk and polish a tub of fried chicken but I feel I’ve hit an ultra disciplined zone at the moment.

I’ve also realised how much I eat meat, the other day it suddenly dawned on me that I possible don’t even go a day without it or certainly never past 2 so this is quite an achievement at the moment.

Anyway here’s a break of the remaining week

	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun
Breakfast	Scrambled eggs and toast	Slice of banana protein bread & 2 boiled eggs	Scrambled eggs and baked beans	Boiled eggs and soldiers (classic)
Lunch	Mozzarella & Homemade Mackerel pate, pitta and salad	Mozzarella plus salad and flapjack	Small cheese wrap and Chunk of banana protein bread	½ cheese wrap & ½ a seaford stick wrap
Dinner	Quorn sausage stew	Bolied egg, 2 table spoons of mackerel pate, lump of cheese,crisps (I know)	Fish, oven chips, beans and peas (shop bought so lowest calorie, chips skins on)	Mung bean and panner curry with brown rice
Snacks	Handful of mixed nuts, 2 shape 0% yogurts, Protein shake	Handful of mixed nuts, apple, Protein shake	banana	Cake, boiled egg
Pre/Post workouts	Protein shake

Quick Veg Update

So almost half way through and the only thing I have to report is I’ve felt quite hungry so far.

Now it may not have been completely down the veggie diet. For example Monday morning I had a chunk of my protein bread and I ate it earlier than normal. The result was that throughout the day I was always hungry. The upshot is eating earlier and less meant I wanted food sooner throughout the day, not anything to do with a veggie diet.

Training seems to be fine I’ve cut back on the running due to my knee giving me a bit of jip.

I’ve struggled to get a good nights sleep so far this week but again I don’t think that’s related to my food intake.

Anyway it was just a quick update so here’s a breakdown of my meals so far

	Mon	Tues	Wed
Breakfast	Chunk of banana protein bread	Slice of banana protein bread & 2 boiled eggs	Scrambled eggs, tomato and a slice of granary bread
Lunch	250g Cottage cheese with garlic, chilli spring onions plus a salad	Mozzarella plus salad and flapjack	250g Homemade Mackerel pate and salad
Dinner	Steamed trout with a lemon & herb seasoning. New potatoes, green beans, carrots & kale (with ginger, garlic, chilli & sesame seeds)	Homemade falafel, wholegrain pitta, salad, yogurt with harissa paste & saffron	Miso soup with mushrooms, pak choi, tofu and spring onions
Snacks	Handful of mixed nuts, 50g cottage cheese, 2 shape 0% yogurts, cereal bar, Protein shake	Handful of mixed nuts, apple, Protein shake	Handful of mixed nuts, apple, Protein shake, banana, 50g homemade Mackerel pate, some crips
Pre/Post workouts	Protein shake	Protein shake	Chunk of banana protein bread

Bye for now

Veggie, Veggie, Veggie, Oi, Oi, Oi

I'm having a little experiment this week and I'm going veggie...well almost.

I'm still allowing myself fish, I know to some people that's cheating but its baby steps.

Why? I hear you cry

We'll I read a post off of a friends blog
http://www.skinnylattestrikesback.com/2012/02/no-meat-no-problem-endurance-training.html
and it did get me thinking a bit.

We had Phillipa and Tom round for dinner a while back and both advocated the benefits of being veggie.
Now I love my meat, a medium rare rib eye hits the spot, bacon sarnies, bbq ribs... need I go on.
However I am big on nutrition so why shouldn't I give it a go.
Another part of me wanted to see if I really do feel any different after cutting out the meat. You have to listen to your body and I'm always curious how it reacts.
Since the 5th January I havent touched a drop of alcohol and even had to change some of my recipes to avoid cooking with it.
Now there are a lot of people who swear by giving up the booze however I'm not one of them. I don't feel ten times better than I normally would and cant really hit on any other benefits at the moment. Apart from losing the best part of a sunday normally followed by a takeaway in the evening those have disappeared.
I did recall though the last time I had a lengthy lay off the booze. On my first night out I was quite sick on just a few pints, I felt awful.
Where am I going with this, well I'm not sure but I guess it highlights how much of a poison it is to our system.

Anyway back to the whole veggie thing.
I'm also interested if it has any effect on my training. I'm currently doing gym work as well as my half marathon training.
Now I can obtain proteins from other sources but apart from whey protein some of the other veggie sources will not contain those complete amino acids.

I've kicked things off on Sunday night by making myself a nice protein banana bread which I'll try and get the recipe up online.

So for now the meats on hold

I'll be back with updates

Simon

Must do better

Training has been a bit on and off at the moment.

Just over 3 weeks ago my good wife had to go in to hospital to have her anterior cruciate ligament repaired.

So with a combination of hospital trips and lunch time journeys home to check on the patience things have been a little in the air.

I’ve started to get on it again over the last couple of weeks.
 
My biggest problem at the moment is the balancing act between gym work / muscle building and my cardio work.


I play football every week which will have an impact and now I’ve started training for my half marathon.

A good friend has meet me the last 2 Saturdays to go for runs as I’ve had a break in the football fixtures.

Last week I was planning on a treadmill run straight after work on Saturday mainly because of the snow and ice. Now I quite like running in the snow but you not going to be setting any PB’s and with more ice about I decided I’d get more from the treadmill.

In the end I went for the run in the snow and I’m glad I did. I think that gives me a good article to right about next time treadmills vs the great outdoors.

We did just over 7 miles and it took us just over an hour.

I know nothing to write home about but considering the snow and anyone who knows High Wycombe will know it’s quite hilly round these parts.

I normally love my hill runs but I must concede on this occasion my friend ran me into the ground.
 
Surprisingly I didn’t have too many aches and pains after that but that’s what the right nutrition does for you.

I've also started using an app for my iphone which helps me record workouts and do challenges it does help so check it at www.fleetly.com

Maybe join me in some of the challeanges 36,500 Push-ups in 2012 and 100 Mile Running Challenge - 2012, if you feeling brave enough.

Bye for now
Simon