2015 healthy eating

Right New Year, New Years resolutions, get fit, get healthy, eat healthier, lose weight, blah, blah, blah!

Some time towards the end of last year I realised I needed to eat better breakfasts, sugary processed cereals were not doing me any favours. I tried out incorporating more fruit, had yogurt with my cereal and experimented with bagels. Nothing really hit the spot.

What do I want from a breakfast?

It needs to be reasonably quick and easy, tasty and filling and above all it needs to contribute to my overall healthy, active lifestyle and support my running plans.  

I want my breakfasts to incorporate plenty of fruit and/or veg, clean carbs and ideally a good dose of protein as I feel I am not getting enough in my diet.

So thinking about breakfast ideas I came across some great recipes from Tess Agnew (@fitbits) which you can see here.

I used these along with some other ideas as my own inspiration for making my own awesome breakfasts!

Nutty banana protein breakfast smoothie

Using my new Breville blend active smoothie maker and a few basic ingredients I devised a great tasting protein packed smoothie that kept me full all morning. 

Ingredients: A splash of orange juice, a handful of brazil nuts, a banana, half a dozen spoonfuls of natural yogurt and a dash of milk. 

Method: Chuck it in the blender and blend until smooth, simples!

Spinach omelette/frittata/scrambled egg 

Inspired by +FitBits Brighton Veg omelette muffins but without access to any muffin tins (I really need to buy some!) I went freestyle and used the same ingredients and just threw it all together in a omeltte/frittata style. Awesome! So quick! So easy and so amazingly tasty! 

Ingredients: two eggs, a big scoop of spinach, and some mushrooms and baby/plum tomatoes. 

Method: Chop up the veg, throw in a wok/frying fan with a bit of oil, lightly fry for a bit then chuck in the eggs and scramble. Serving on a piece(s) toast optional. 

So they are the two breakfast stables at the moment, a nice balance of a sweet option and a savoury one as well, I had each twice last week setting me up for the day ahead and plenty of training. I need to work on a few more options but these two options will serve me well I feel and they are both versatile enough to incorporate a range of ingredients, e.g. peppers instead of mushrooms and a variety of nuts in the smoothie. 

Other healthy eating meals from 2015: 

I am a big fan of stir frays, and why not? Loads of veg, and plenty of flavoursome sauces to use, my downfall is a large portion of prawn crackers that I usually accompany a stir fry with.

Earlier in the week I whipped up a veggie stir fry with extra mushrooms, minus the prawn crackers and with the healthier option of rice noodles instead of the usually wheaty noodles. 

Clean eating lunch time meals: 



As it seems spinach only comes in large family sized gigantic packs I had a lot of it going spare! So I used it with some tomatoes, mushrooms and courgettes along with brown rice for a tasty nutritious lunch time pack up for work.









On a Friday you need something a bit decadent and enjoyable, it doesn't need to be healthy and fatty though, sweet potato! What is more tasty, luxurious and so enjoyable to eat than sweet potato?! Through in some kidney beans for a bit of substance and protein and you have a healthy clean eating great tasting lunch!

Evening meals:

Its too easy to eat some rubbish in the evening when you are tired after a long day and I am too find of throwing a pizza in the oven as a quick, filling, satisfying meal especially after training. 

So here we go an easy homemade healthier pizza: 

Here I made too different types of pizza both using wholemeal pittas as a base. The standard pizza using ketchup as a base with a topping of cheese and then mushrooms, tomatoes and peppers. My even healthier option then used homemade guacamole (Mashed avocado with a squish of lime) as a base with a little cheese and courgettes and peppers as a topping. So tasty, so enjoyable and surely so much healthier than a takeaway pizza or a frozen pizza. At the weekend I even tried just a pitta with guacamole and courgettes with n cheese and this worked out really well and was obviously so much healthier without any cheese. 


I hope you enjoyed looking at these recipes and are maybe even inspired to try these or something similar out yourself?! Happy 2015, hope its a healthy one! 

Getting on with 2015

Now that the Christmas break is over, the New Year festivities long passed and hopefully the Christmas chocolates all eaten it's time to crack on with 2015!

One of my last posts about running in 2014 mentioned that I feared I would be 'limping' into 2015 as I had been struggling with my calves (lower legs not cattle) and that has unfortunately been the case. My last proper run was an 8K run on 30th December, I attempted another run on the 1st January but had to abort after 1.25K as I was struggling with a bad back and my calves. 

The problem with my calves is compartment syndrome which was diagnosed by a sports therapist a few years back when I though I had shin splints. 

From what I understand it's basically lactic acid and waste products not exiting muscle tissue because of poor blood flow which then cause cramp like pain when the muscle is used for exercise. 

From what I have read it can often come on after a period of intensive training followed by a period of low or no exercise. Athletes can suffer with it in the off season when their training stops after intense periods of competition. That has certainly been the situation with me as I completed my 30 day run streak before doing next to no training and very little walking around while away over Christmas.

So the last week I haven't done any running or any impact training that have affect my calves, really scaled back my walking and just tried to rest my legs as much as possible. I have stretched my calves everyday and used the foam roller as well as icing my calves as much as I could. 

I still did plenty of training during the week, sessions on my stationary bike at home along with plenty or circuit work including upper body and core stability exercises. 

One of my regular circuits to do at home is squats, pressups, crunches and dips, my normal circuit is 25 squats, 25 pressups, 15 crunches, 15 dips x 3or4. 

I have also been working on core strengths through mountain climbers and other plank exercises. Through in some leg strengthening exercises and it has been a busy training week! 

Today was time to get back out and run, and I was so thankful to be able to get out and run successfully. I covered a very leisurely gentle 4.5km where I just tried to enjoy running again and focused on my technique. 

So after feeling no ill effects I am ready to crack on with my 2015 running aims, first up on the agenda the Hampton Court half marathon definitely booked for March and the Tunbridge Wells half marathon pencilled in for the end of February. 

Watch out 2015 here I come!

I'm famous!

Well almost, just a little bit, OK not quite really I just have my photo in a national top selling magazine and that makes me feel like a it of a celebrity! 

Why you may ask? 

Well at the end of last year I was selected as one of 50 lucky boot campers out of over 3000 applicants to be selected for the first stage of Runners World's Asics Target 26.2 competition. 

February's issue of Runners World features a recap of the boot camp stage and subsequently a photo of all 50 boot campers:

 

Of course I would recommend you pick up a copy and read up what Runner's World have to say but you can also read my summary of the day here. 

While it's great for me to have my mugshot in with all my fellow boot campers I feel robbed of not having a second photo in the group shot below as I am a little hidden by the runner in front! 

If you haven't already do check out the Asics 26.2 section of the Runner's World website for lots of tips and advice on marathon training, the Asics 26.2 forum threads are also worth reading up on as a great way of chatting with other runners. 

A summary of my running year

In summary 2014 was an epic year, at the start of the year I would never have dreamed I would have been involved with most of what 2014 brought. I never thought I would start a blog and had no idea of the supportive world of social media that lay in store! 

In all I covered 1,648Km or 1,024 miles which passed my target of 1,000miles! 

They say pictures tell a thousand words and they are of course much quicker to view than hundreds of words so if you are a bit strapped for time a flipagram of my year is here: http://flipagram.com/f/OQy63MFpUe

The start of the year:

2013 ended with me feeling very disappointed after a poor performance at the Beachy Head Marathon in October. I was eager to quickly get this disappointment out of my system with another marathon in early 2014 but couldn't find anything that fitted into my schedule for the early part of the year.

So in January I instead took part in the Benfleet 15 not so much a running event as a mud fest! It was a great event though that I really enjoyed and quite liked running a 15 mile distance although it took me around 2 and a half hours! 

A half marathon PB

Come February I had entered the Tunbridge Wells Half Marathon searching to better my half marathon PB of 1.46 and aiming to run sub 1.45. The event goes down as my best running performance as I smashed my PB and expectations finishing in 1.39! The feeling of catching the 1.40 pacers in the last mile and then powering past them in the final few hundred metres will live long in my memory as a real highlight! 

Three marathons in three months 

Around this time I hatched my plan to run three marathons in three months later on in the year, my three marathon challenge was designed with the aim of me running sub 4 hours for the first time and giving me a focus ahead of the impending doom of my 30th birthday in early 2015.

As things transpired I missed out on my sub4 hour target principally because two of the three marathons were tough off-road affairs where a PB time was never realistically going to be achievable.

The first of the three marathons was the Vanguard Way in August starting in Croydon and taking place over the North a Downs. It turned into a very eventful race as I got lost three times and eventually crawled over the finish line in 4.55. The race was probably the most enjoyable of the year as I enjoyed the camaraderie with other runners, the small scale of the event and the subsequent isolation and solitude experienced while running.

Marathon number two was an altogether different affair with a large scale inner city marathon with the Robin Hood Marathon in Nottingham. A great performance and a marathon PB of 4.09 which I was really pleased with.

The third marathon was a tricky kettle of fish, a local off road trail marathon the Weald Park marathon which consisted of 12 3.5km laps. Again really enjoyable but so demanding and again I was massively pleased with my finishing time of 4.34. 

Overall I loved running marathons so close together and really felt I gained momentum as I progressed through the three and I was able to learn more about myself as a runner as well as the requirements of running a marathon.

Spitfire scramble

Somewhere towards the end of my training towards my first of three marathons I ended up unexpectedly taking part in spitfire scramble which is a 24 hour team relay event which held its inaugural event in a nearby country park. I say unexpectedly as I ended up getting involved only days before the event was due to take place as a team had suffered with dropouts of runners with injuries and illnesses and I answered an urgent appeal on Twitter for runners to get involved. 

The event was amazing and it was a great experience to run late at night and in the early hours of the morning, in all I contributed six 9.5km laps in the 24 hour period towards our teams total. 

I enjoyed it so much I am already signed up for 2015! 

Running all the way home

My other memorable achievement of 2014 was the completion of my long held aim to run all the way home from work a route of some 18 miles. I capitalised on my marathon fitness to complete this aim in October and you can read about it here. 

30 Day runstreak  

After these three marathons and the relative disappointment of missing my sub4 target I was a little unsure of what my next aim would be. In November I embarked on a 30 day run streak to push my limits as a runner as well as aiming to raise awareness for pancreatic cancer awareness month while also fundraising for Pancreatic Cancer UK, you can still visit my JustGiving page here. 

Asics 26.2

I was only a few days into my runstreak when I got caught up in the whirlwind that is Runnersworld Asics Target 26.2. I was fortunate enough to be selected in 50 lucky runners from over 3,000 entrants to go through to the boot camp stage. It was an amazing experience and I was so lucky to have been involved despite not progressing any further in the competition. I have made some great friends though and am really looking forward to following everyone's progress in 2015 as everyone searches for Marathon PBs at various events in the spring. 

The year ended with me completing my 30 day runstreak and my last event being the traditional Santa run, which as always is great fun! 

Thank you again for all your support I really appreciate it, best wishes on all your running endeavors in 2015!

The last run of 2014

Today was my first run post Christmas and my festive indulgences and despite feeling like the Michelin man after calorific merriment my run felt pretty good.

I am rather ending 2014 on a low note as over Christmas I have struggled to walk let alone run with severe pains in the front of my calves caused by a previously diagnosed complaint I suffer from, compartment syndrome.

Today's run was about seizing the opportunity to run while out visiting family, it provided the chance to run somewhere different and to reminisce about past running routes I used to regularly cover. A visit to Dagenham is not necessarily the most attractive proposition but it was nice to rerun familiar routes and I have always fairly enjoyed running in the area.

Coming towards the end of the year when you are feeling nostalgic it was nice to run around some of my old haunts.  

Castle Green Park

Back several years ago when embarking on training for my first marathon as a naive, up confident runner I did the majority of my training in and around Castle Green park. Foolishly I used to run the same routes repeatedly, over and over to build up my mileage for long runs as opposed to exploring new routes. In castle green I used to run my usual route around but then include figure of eights or extend my course towards the boundaries of the park in the aim of trying to squeeze in extra mileage. 

Castle Green lives up to its name of being a green expanse (minus the castle) which is somewhat rare in these parts with the busy A13 buzzing past. The City and more specifically Canary Wharf is easily visible on a clear day providing a scenic background. 

The most notable part of the park is Barking and Dagenham's sporting tribute to the boroughs sporting heroes. Overlooking the A13 opposite Barking rugby club proudly stands four monuments to the sporting prowess of England's football World Cup winning captain Bobby Moore and manager Sir Alf Ramsey, England's rugby World Cup winning star Jason Leonard and 8 Paralympic medal winning swimmer Beverley Gull. It's a tremondous moment to recognise the boroughs sporting achievements especially the unique and quite unbelievable feat of this unglamourous and less prestigious borough providing both England's triumphant manager and captain for our only World Cup victory. 

In many ways the monument is misplaced as it is somewhat hidden away and not in the most well visited of areas but despite this being placed across the road from the club where Jason Leonard started his career off and just down the road from Beverley Gull's childhood home makes it more than a fitting location.

The statues have provided plenty of inspiration as I have ran past them many times over the years and they have certainly motivated me when using the slope they stand upon for hill training. 

My run then took down to Becontree before heading straight down Hedgemans Road towards Dagenham Heathway. Hedgemans Road is one of those straight never ending roads that goes on and on. Great when your running well and want to power on but demoralising when running poorly when the end of the road never seems to come! It's also a great road for fartlek/interval training as the little side roads provide natural intervals to split up efforts. 

Old Dagenham Park

Then in the second half of my run I ventured through to Old Dagenham park which is part of the area that commemorates the old village when Dagenham was a small green hideaway miles from the hustle and bustle before urban sprawl gobbled it up into London's greater suburbia.

The park is somewhat of a hidden gem as it is a sizable green space consisting of tree lined paths, several football pitches, a traditional children's play area as well as the modern young people's skate park and hangout area as well as a surprising purpose built BMX race track which seems slightly out of place and underutilised.

Overall I covered around 8K over pavements, pathways and grass taking in residential roads, parks, busy shops and industrial areas. 

It was pleasing to finish 2014 with a successful and enjoyable run even if I feel I am limping into 2015 feeling less than fit after a Christmas of excess and feeling injured with my calves.

Thank you for reading and for whatever part you have played in supporting my blog and my running in 2014. I hope your year of running has been successful and I wish you every success and plenty of PBs for 2015!