Beating Limitations

A Podium! Runner Up, Galvin Tarte Tatin Competition

2013-05-20T12:53:24+00:00

Today is a “race report” of a different variety. This one being a BAKING COMPETITION. Yep. Baking. As in swim BAKE run. Haha!

Saturday was the inaugural Galvin Restaurants Tarte Tatin Competition. The Galvin group of restaurants are some of my favourite places to eat in central London. Pretty much every Thursday night after swimming we can be found sitting at the bar at Cafe A Vin enjoying a glass of wine and whatever Chef Jack has on special. We love the food, love the service ethos, and love the fact that we feel completely at home. When we found out about the Galvin Festival of Food and Drink, I knew that I would be entering the tarte tatin challenge.

What I didn’t expect is that I would come runner up in the judging. And I also won crowd favourite as voted for on Instagram (but mainly because my friends on Twitter and Facebook are so kind and indulged my pleas to vote for me - thanks everyone!)

I am a keen “at home” cook and my family ALWAYS requests that I make (bake) desserts when we are together. When we go to Suffolk to go cycling, a morning out on the roads is nine times out of ten followed by an afternoon in the kitchen, creating dessert for our family suppers. I am the pie-maker and cheese-cake baker. I am banana bread creator and muffin mixer. But I have never ever served my creations to anyone but friends and family. Let alone two Michelin-starred chefs, the general manager from one of London’s top restaurants, two food critics, and a food journalist. The pressure was enormous.

But I “put myself into the zone” and got to work after swimming on Saturday. I knew it was going to be a tough day for my tarte. I was facing other home cooks as well as restaurant chefs, award winning foodies, and properly trained folks. The competition was TOUGH. And it was going to be blind. No one would know which entry was gluten free. And that single gluten free entry would have to hold its own, under blind judging, against wheat pastry.

A tough ask.

I made two tartes - one with golden delicious and a bit of a broken pastry, the other with pink ladies and a better looking pastry. I really wanted the pastry to be noticed, so I chose the pink ladies. I’m not sure I made the right call - the golden delicious apples had a better texture in my opinion. But the pastry DID get noticed. For this I am so proud, and indebted to Alex and Aki at Ideas in Food for giving the world a fantastic recipe for gluten free flour that really does hold its own in a challenge versus wheat.

Photo by Park & Cube

The method I chose was based on one from America’s Test Kitchen. I’ve found I rarely go wrong with a Test Kitchen recipe (as they have already tested it hundreds of times before publication, making the errors for you).

According to lore (and my French colleague Michel who came with me to judging) the tarte tatin originated as an accident. One of the Tatin sisters was baking a pie for guests at the Tatin Hotel in France, and in error left the apples cooking in the sugar / butter mixture on the stove for too long. As the apples had already caramelised, there was no option but to cover the dish with pastry and pop it in the over, turning it over to serve. Voila - the tarte tatin aux pommes was born! Michel tells me that the key to a true tarte tatin is to make sure you use a pate sucree recipe (I did) as he says that puff pastry is cheating. He also said that a true tarte tatin will be made from quartered apples, with the cook needing to peel and core them but not to slice any thinner than quarters - remember, this was a tarte with origins in a mistake! I would add that baking a tarte tatin involves judgement - you can’t leave the apples caramelising for too long or else the caramel will start to burn and taste bitter. You also can’t let the pastry brown too much - or again you will taste burnt sugar and flour which is just nasty.

The pursuit of excellence in any field inspires me - I loved meeting (and cooking for) Michelin-starred chefs Jeff Galvin on the left and Chris Galvin on the right

I may not have appeared the most gracious of runners-up… I certainly was not shy. I whooped and flexed and jumped with joy.

My friend Jeremy now calls me the Spitalfields Tarte… Hm…
Oh, notice the little strips of tape transforming the “Bike” to “BAKE” on my t-shirt? Yes, I am a geek.

But in all seriousness. I looked at this as recognition for all at home dessert bakers and lovers - and as good as a win for gluten free eaters. It was tremendous to be able to put a gluten free pastry into a challenge and up for judging during Coeliac Awareness Week (in the UK) and Celiac Awareness Month (in the US).

According to the judges, “It was a delicious pastry.”

On request, here is my recipe. Feel free to shoot me any questions that you might have, and to post any photos you take on my Facebook page. Happy baking, and happy eating!

Pate Sucree (sweet pastry) Recipe

1 and 1/3 cup flour*
*Note: you can use a cup for cup substitute with the Ideas in Food What IiF flour blend to make this gluten free, otherwise use plain flour
1/4 cup icing (confectioners) sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
115 grams (1 stick or 8 tablespoons) UNSALTED butter
1 large egg, beaten

Combine sugar, flour and salt in a food processor and whiz around so that it is well mixed (a few pulses). Add cut up cold butter to the flour mixture and turn on the processor for about 30 seconds or so. You want to create a mixture that looks like soft sand, with the flour and butter well combined.

Remove from food processor and place in a large mixing bowl. Stir in one large beaten egg. The mixture will come together. If you are using gluten free flour this will feel sticky. That is an unfortunate part of gluten free baking, you lose the silky texture of working with wheat. Do not worry. Put the mix into a ball, and then place onto cling film. Push into a thick disc shape, covering with cling film. Then rest this in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to make it easier to roll out.

[at this point I peeled and cored all of the apples, which took me about 30 minutes]

Remove the disc from the fridge, and flour a surface to roll out the dough. Unwrap the dough and flour both sides. Roll out into a disc that is at least two inches wider diameter than your tarte pan, and quite thin (although not paper thin as it will rip). Then place the rolled dough onto greaseproof paper (wax paper) and place back into the fridge to keep it cool until you are ready to place over the tarte and bake.

Apples for Tarte Tatin

3 pounds of apples (I’ve found Golden Delicious to work better for me than Pink Ladies)
115 grams butter
3/4 cup caster sugar (finely granulated sugar) plus a little bit extra for good measure

Melt the butter in your tarte pan on the stove. Once fully melted, remove from heat and add sugar evenly to the bottom of the pan.

Slowly assemble the apples, cutting them into quarters and then stacking the apples on edge into the fan like design above.

Put the pan back on the heat, and bubble away transforming the butter, sugar and apple into apple caramel. You want the caramel to reach a darker amber colour, but not too dark or it will burn. Don’t be scared by a dark tan colour, just avoid very dark brown. This takes about 10 minutes.

Remove the apples from the heat, and using two forks slowly turn each apple over, maintaining the fan design.

Return pan to the heat for another five minutes. Turn off the heat and then place crust on top of the apples, folding over the edges along the side of the pan to create an inverted pie crust enveloping the apples.

Bake in a 180*C (375*F) oven for 25 minutes or until the crust is a golden even brown. Note: I find that gluten free crust browns quicker than wheat flour, so you need to keep an eye on it if you choose to go gluten free.

This is a seriously delicious tarte. The base is almost shortbread like in nature, the apples are sweet but not overly so as a tart apple is used. It doesn’t keep well (no one likes a soggy tarte), so unfortunately you should bake it and serve it and finish the whole thing on the same day. Oh all right, twist my arm! If you make it, enjoy it for the treat that it is.

And as Julia Child would say: “Bon Appetit!”

Write This Run: Mission Accomplished!

2013-05-15T17:59:22+00:00

On Sunday I had the opportunity to speak at the Write This Run run blogger conference just outside of London. What a phenomenal event and phenomenal experience for me, and from what I’ve been reading it seems that everyone who attended felt the same.

I was contacted early this year by Laura Fountain of Lazy Girl Running to see if I would be interested in speaking at a new event in the British blogging world.

“Finally!” I thought to myself (and wrote as much to Laura) - the creation of a conference geared to the running blogging community in the UK! This is something that I feel has been lacking for a long time over here, and something I have watched from afar as my US Twitter and blogging friends have attended conferences and taken their online networks into real life experiences for what have always looked to be smashing weekends.

But to be asked to speak? Me? And on an inspirational panel? I was kind of overwhelmed to say the least.

In November last year I had the opportunity to speak to the Charcot Marie Tooth Association Support and Action Group conference. When I was there, I had the opportunity to meet John Paul Mendocha aka Mr SpeedSell. John listened to my presentation and gave me some honest feedback. He told me that he loved my message - which to that audience was that everyone is an athlete and that all of us with CMT should stay active however we can - but that I needed some hooks to take the story to a bigger audience. He told me to focus on how it all started - to talk about the shoe store that wouldn’t sell me the shoes - and then to show lots of images on what I have done since that day - ending with a few key messages. (By the way, if you would like to see some of the images I used in my presentation as well as the accompanying videos, you can find them on my blog Facebook page where I will be posting them over the coming week…)

When Laura asked me to speak, without hesitation I said YES. And then I spent months thinking about my messages, the images to use, and more importantly, how on earth to tell my story… I had to confront my doubts - doubt number one being that I think my story is not particularly special, because I think that we all have stories to tell.

By the start of May I finished my slides, and as I wrote about on Monday, Write This Run happened at the end of two weeks of hectic work. I got back from Chicago on Saturday intending to run through my presentation, but instead collapsed from tiredness. I woke up early intending to rehearse, but instead made and consumed a gigantic breakfast (I blame *that* on time zone differences and a big training day on Saturday). Then I thought okay I will at least read everything over on the train, but then I didn’t as I met up with a few bloggers and enjoyed a nice chat en route to the venue. Finally I thought maybe I would have a chance to go to a quiet spot and review my slides before talking, but then I got totally sucked into the conference.

I know I was there to speak - and I did. I had a great time telling my story, even without the normal run through that I do to get rid of my nerves. And the event? Like I said, I got totally sucked into the conference. Just wow.

What a well planned event with a fantastic agenda and great speakers. Kicking off with PR aspects, the inspiration panel (when I got to speak alongside of Kevin Betts and Mimi Anderson) before lunch, post lunch social media experts, post coffee break running experts, and ending with a run with Team GB member and 2 hour 10 minute marathoner Scott Overall. The flow of the day was perfect, the weather cooperated, the speakers all engaging, and the audience? Equally inspiring - I left feeling like a missing part of my blogging life could be complete as I was introduced to a community in the UK that I previously had not really met (talk about looking in all the wrong places!).

You can find links to all of the many blogs summarising the day on the Write This Run Facebook page. This image from Cake of Good Hope is a great visual representation of how the day went. As you can see, a perfect flow!

Some of my personal takeaways from the day?

1. Never doubt the power of writing and running. Rhalou put it well - if wealth is measured in terms of love and happiness, you can become very very rich through both!

2. When you have a goal that matters to you, even the seemingly impossible becomes achievable. Kevin Betts and his 52 marathons each under four hours all on subsequent weekends and 27 of them on a treadmill is living proof of this. I left thinking each of us can and should find that type of passion in our lives…

3. It helps to memorise the faces of those speaking at conferences before you go. I was chatting away to world record holder and ultramarathoner Mimi Anderson for a good five minutes before it suddenly dawned on me that *she* was the badass ultramarathoner that I had read about.

4. And speaking of Mimi, listening to her stories made me want to go out and run hundreds of miles. Because that is what happens when I listen to people with drive and passion - I become infected with their virus, and suddenly I start to wonder what I actually *could* do, and if I even have any true physical limitations. Because, yeh, well Mimi makes it look easy… At a minimum Mimi reinforced that I should never stop thinking big. Ever.

5. Laura equated blogging with Eastenders (a British soap opera of sorts) - there is the big theme, and then each post is a little episode. This really resonated with me, it was a great way of thinking about blogging.

6. Before speaking at a conference it helps to spend some time thinking about who exactly you are speaking to and what they might hope to get out of your talk. I had asked Laura this question a few times, and based on my emails with her and my November conversation with John I decided how to tell my story. I knew the idea was to “inspire” so I thought a lot about how I could possibly inspire runners who quite frankly are the ones who inspire me! (Oh to be able to run a constant 10 minute mile!) Anyway, I think the forethought helped me to hit the mark (I hope so). I would venture to say that 90% of the speakers succeeded at meeting audience expectations.

7. It is very cool to meet people who you have previously only emailed. I loved meeting Nathaniel from RunDemCrew, and really really look forward to joining future Hackney runs with him. And if you haven’t heard about RunDemCrew, well that is a whole other post about how running can change lives… I’ve been very lucky to have run with West and the crew’s positivity has given me the opportunity to experience the community that is running.

8. Karen Weir gave a great talk about run technique. Never again will I read the words “clench” and “lean” in the same light! Apparently this is THE key to improved running efficiency. Thank goodness it is exactly the same thing that I have been working on with James in our sessions!

9. I loved that Rebecca Randell of the Gatorade Sports Science Institute shared with me that she is not a fan of zero fat products. I did not partake of the Chobani at the event - what can I say, I am a full fat kind of girl!

10. I am definitely going to sign up for future Write This Run events. I got so much out of the day - as a speaker and an audience member - and I truly thank Laura and Liz for turning their running conversation and great idea into an awesome reality, and for inviting me to be a part of it.

Endurance Foodies: Summertime Fare (Slaw!)

2013-05-14T11:44:32+00:00

Another month, another #endurancefoodies blog carnival! What is that, you ask? Well, Jason from Cook Train Eat Race is bringing together athletes who like to cook and eat to share recipes each month, with a theme to our postings. This month’s theme? BBQs and picnics - also known as summertime fare!

When I was thinking about what to post, it struck me that posting a everyday recipe is just as good as leafing through cookbooks to find some new inspiration. I thought about what is a regular feature in my kitchen, and what also just so happens to remind me of summer. And I landed on slaw. Yep, good old fashioned slaw. But definitely not boring, and not creamy or slimy - good fresh delicious and crisp - just like summer!

I rediscovered slaw in 2010 when we started ordering a weekly fruit and vegetable box. In the autumn months we received cabbage after cabbage. So I went in search of cabbage based recipes - and I also went back to the basics with slaw and started experimenting.

I discovered that rather than staying with old ideas about what constitutes “cole slaw” I could turn slaw into a vehicle for whatever raw vegetables were in my fridge. That in reality, slaw (to me) was simply what happened when you shredded and grated raw vegetables and added THE dressing. It was a revelation - slaw is code for a particular flavour dressing on whatever raw vegetables I have to hand.

And the dressing? The dressing has got to have celery seed for it to classify as slaw in my books. Celery seeds have a distinctive, kind of celery peppery taste. And they are what my mom used to give her cole slaw its unique flavour. In doing a little online research, I discovered that celery seed has been found to act as a natural mosquito repellent - no wonder mom always included it in her summertime cole slaw! Another apparent benefit is that it may help to calm down nerves and reduce muscle spasms - great natural benefits especially for me as I can get firing nerve pain and cramping from my CMT. So not only is celery seed a secret flavour blast for my slaw, it brings with it natural health goodness.

In the slaw pictured above (which we serve with slow cooker pork and beans, and rice) I used the following vegetables: Half a head of pointy cabbage, finely shredded; one small beetroot peeled and grated (I used my food processor to grate as it is SO FAST), one large carrot peeled and grated (in the food processor), one diced apple (for a little extra sweetness, as we were having pork and beans).

I often add walnuts and celery into the slaw, for more texture and crunch. In the winter I have made slaw using celeriac (celery root). I have served red cabbage slaw on Boxing Day - slaw is for any season, and any vegetable. Basically, slaw has become an outlet for me to shred and grate any vegetables in my fridge to create delicious salads.

The dressing makes the slaw. Here is my take on it. I prefer a more liquid dressing to creamy, and I also recently moved away from using a mayonnaise base to greek yoghurt (trying to make things a bit healthier). I use honey and highly recommend a delicious raw honey - but if you don’t have honey to hand, use a teaspoon of fine granulated sugar. We do not add salt into our dressing, preferring instead to salt our salads to taste.

Slaw Dressing

1/4 cup greek yoghurt
1/4 cider vinegar (you can also sub out for another vinegar type here - my mom used rice vinegar, I just like the cider taste)
Note: this is equal parts yoghurt and vinegar, you can scale up accordingly
1 teaspoon honey (more to taste if you like a sweeter dressing or if you find vinegar too sour)
1 teaspoon celery seed (I double this amount because I love celery seeds but 1 teaspoon is fine)
a few turns from the pepper mill

Add all ingredients to a sealable plastic container. Cover and shake vigorously. Then pour onto your shredded grated vegetables, toss to coat, salt to taste. And enjoy!

May Endurance Foodies Participants

Check out the following posts and participants for this month’s #endurancefoodies challenge. I have loved checking out the recipes and have definitely found some new people to add to my blog reader through the monthly challenges. Enjoy, happy cooking, and bon appetit!

Brittany - The Fit Formula
Meg - Gillmer Girl
Clare - Maple Syrup And Me
Lindsay - Cotter Crunch
Courtenay - Twitter (Jason will post the recipe on Cook Train Eat Race)
Adrienne - Six Kick Switch
Ann - Ann’s Running Commentary

A Whirlwind Life: Training, Travel and More

2013-05-13T11:18:50+00:00

It is incredible how nearly three weeks have passed since my last post. In my head there are literally thousands of entries waiting to be written. But an incredibly busy schedule led to me hitting pause on writing and publishing. Thankfully attending Write This Run yesterday, and having the opportunity to share my story as a part of the “Inspirational Stories” panel, left me feeling re-energised and ready to get posting again!

Consistency

Although I have not been so consistent with my blogging, I have been very consistent with my training. My coach Russ Cox and I are working to push my personal training envelope, to gradually increase my weekly training hours and overall endurance levels. Managing a higher training load while managing fatigue is one of the constant battles for people like me with Charcot Marie Tooth disease - rest and recovery and how much is too much are some of the regular topics over on the CMTAthletes Facebook Group, and I have written about fatigue in the past.

So how am I doing with regard to hitting higher training volumes?

April in Numbers

Total Training Time: 32 hours 24 minutes
Swim Time: 9 hours 47 minutes
Bike Time: 13 hours 8 minutes
Run Time: 4 hours 3 minutes
Yoga: 2 sessions (sadly not as often as I would have liked)
Bootcamp: 4 sessions
Rehab exercises: definitely not as often as they need to be…

This was by far my highest volume training month EVER. I went through a complete crash follow two weeks of very high volume training - my body felt so tired. Coupled with the fact that the high volume training also coincided with my sports massage therapist Michael being out of town, I still have work to do on the recovery aspect of taking on higher volume training. But the fact is that I AM managing it and I DID MANAGE those high volume weeks.

I went into the process with the mentality of just checking off each session and each day as it came - a “just do the work” frame of mind. Not giving myself any excuses to miss sessions. Changing things up to do my hardest workouts in the morning, and trying to do my best to eat well and sleep enough. I learned a lot - but most important was that I am definitely capable of doing much more than I had previously thought possible when it comes to my training.

Travel

The past two weeks have also involved a lot of travel for me. It is back to juggling workouts and time on airplanes, trying to fit things in but equally not feeling bad if a session has to go just because travel fatigue gets to be too much.

The last week of April I headed to Seoul for work. One of the great things about work travel is that when we have down time, we all try to make the best use of that time possible with siteseeing and nice meals out.

Our meetings finished early one afternoon, so we had a chance to head to the highest point in Seoul to see the city. The main river in Seoul is huge - just so much wider than the Thames or the Seine. North of the river is the historic and older part of the city - we stay in Gangnam or south of the river (yes, Gangnam style - the new modern part of the city). It was nice to see it from above, to better understand how the city has grown and evolved over time.

I absolutely adore Korean food, especially BBQ, so we headed out for our last meal at a casual BBQ restaurant. I love the way that “modern BBQ” has an extractor fan at each table, so that now when you go to a restaurant you don’t wind up leaving smelling of meat and charcoal.

So Korea was a Sunday to Wednesday trip, and then on Saturday after swimming we headed to Suffolk for the first May bank holiday weekend, and a bit of cycling. We were really lucky in that the weather cooperated, and we were able to get out for a few longer rides in the sunshine. And oh yeah, an ice cream stop too. Apparently ice cream stops are the key to cycling success in Lanzarote. Seeing as I want to complete the Tabayesco climb next year, I decided to add ice cream stops into my long ride training regime. No time like the present to start training for success!

And then last week was a quick trip to Chicago from Wednesday until Saturday. In Chicago I prioritised meeting up with friends and getting some food and drinks over a visit to the museums. I also decided to jump off the gluten free train for the duration of my trip, enjoying microbrewed beers with my twitter friend (our first time meeting in real life!) Eric on Wednesday evening, and then Chicago style pizza with one of my high school friends Darold. I also enjoyed ranch flavoured bread with Ilyse and Nurit - I’m still curious how that made it ranch flavoured… Anyway, pretty much every meal I had in Chicago involved wheat. I eat gluten free because of my husband, not for medical reasons, so it is always interesting to see how my body reacts when I add wheat back in. I had a bit of a grumbling stomach, but not much else. I still contend that wheat doesn’t really give the body much in terms of nutrition. But it is a part of some tasty foods, and was worth the diversion from my normal eating patterns for a bit of indulgence with friends while away for work!

Ah… pizza…

The Next Three Weeks

I have about three weeks in London before my next travels - our summer holidays home to Hawaii for my 25th high school reunion. I have a lot I would like to post about between now and June 1st - and I have a lot to do for work (and pleasure) between now and then too.

Do you know Depeche Mode? One of their old songs (yes - from just about my high school days!) “Get The Balance Right” seems an appropriate theme song for me and the coming weeks!

Training Update: Week of April 15th and #bestfoot

2013-04-22T08:53:17+00:00

If I had to describe the last few weeks of training, I would say that it’s been ground breaking for me. The sheers hours of training have exceeded those I have done previously. Now that I am training to power via my CompuTrainer my ability to understand how to consistently push the intensity of my training is greater. The amount that I am challenging myself has grown exponentially. I am tapping into the experience of my coach to bring my training and fitness into new territories. And I am working hard to make sure that I am fitting in “real life” into the mix, meeting up with friends and family a priority - which is a new thing as normally when training gets tough I go into hibernation.

I would say that I have been pushing the envelope.

Pushing the Envelope

I have been googling to give original image credit to this, but to no avail. I pulled it from The Yoga Blog

“Pushing the envelope” is originally an aviation term, used to describe taking a plane to either new heights or new speed - to the edge of its design parameters, or envelope. Testing the limits. That is where I am with my training right now - I have upped the volume a lot, and have done so with consistency, the aim being to see if I could actually do the sessions as designed, and then of course to find out how I’d respond and recover after.

All in all I feel pretty good. In need of a less heavy week, definitely. My ankles are tired. Tired ankles are weird. Or maybe not so weird, as my ankle muscles are quite weak due to my nerve disease (which causes an atrophy in the lower leg muscles). I can tell my ankles need a few days of gentle recovery work. I don’t want to push from tired into overtrained territory again, like I did when I upped my run training a few years ago without focusing on functional strength alongside of running volume. So yeah, I did a nice bit of self massage on my ankles last night, and hope my physio can release my tight shins when I see him on Wednesday morning to get rid of that hanging fatigued feeling. Right now, after pushing the envelope I am all about actively managing my tired parts to make sure my recovery is on track.

I find it incredible that I have managed to fit all of the training into my schedule. My social schedule has been intense, with plans pretty much every weekend day and weekend night the past two weekends. To get things done I have had to make sure that I was training first thing in the morning. This meant pushing aside the temptation to lay in bed and skip training. It was not easy to do this (especially when DH was blissfully sleeping when I was crawling out of bed to get to the physio or to jump on the bike). I am actually amazed that I was able to get it all done - and feel incredibly pleased that I got the balancing act right.

But most of all, I think when I look back to January and the big questions I was facing about whether or not I could even have a triathlon season, I find myself amazed with the resilience of my body. I am coming back, moving from a point of being unable to train to able to train and push my limits in a very measured and deliberate fashion. This is exactly what I was hoping to do - and although I am not ache and pain free I feel good. Good while training, strong after training. And that is the best feeling in the world - so much different from where I was in 2007 when I signed up to do my first triathlon at a point in my life when climbing the stairs was becoming a physical challenge. It has really helped having a fluid dialogue with my coach, to have someone alongside as a second perspective on things, someone with a huge depth of personal experience (and those of some incredible athletes) to draw on to give me good solid advice and planning.

It brings to mind something Chris McCormack said in his recent interview on Rich Roll’s podcast - this isn’t an exact quote (I was listening while on the bike trainer) but he said something like “lose the focus on the results and instead commit to the process.” This. This is what it is all about.

Week of April 15th Training in Review

This was the 7th week of the #bestfoot challenge - a challenge I signed up to in order to measure and motivate myself toward consistency, especially with my physical therapy rehab. How did things go?

Swim: 2 hours (as planned, although as my fatigue crescendoed by Saturday I was fighting to swim - a slow pace felt like a hard effort!)
Bike: 4 hours 39 minutes (30 minutes less than planned on the bike trainer due to my pillow winning the battle of the wills on Sunday)
Run: 51 minutes (I am now running at 50% of body weight on the anti-gravity treadmill and still feeling good with this)
Bootcamp: 30 minutes
Yoga: 1 hour
Rehab: 20 minutes
Physio: 45 minutes

Total training time: 9 hours 20 minutes

(rehab sessions done: 4 out of 7 days)

Now to recover a bit, let tired muscles rest… This coming week I have the Swimathon on Friday night to look forward to - a 2.5km swim which I have not yet decided if I will swim it as a time trial, or a gentle steady paced swim. It’s kind of crazy how this event doesn’t even phase me in the slightest - such a huge change from even 3 years ago!

Product Review: Speedo Rift Pro Goggles

2013-04-19T11:59:27+00:00

I was recently contacted by Simply Swim to see if I would be interested in trying out some free swim gear in exchange for a product review - specifically Speedo Biofuse fins, Speedo Rift Pro goggles and Speedo Biofuse finger paddles. I am fairly conservative when it comes to accepting freebies and doing reviews - if it doesn’t fit with my blog or my life, then I won’t accept the offer, and even then any freebies must come with a guarantee to post a proper review, not a sales pitch. The offer of swim kit was a great match for me, so I let Simply Swim know I would be interested, and also let them know that the review would be unfiltered - my honest assessment of the products, with comparison thrown in for good measure. No problems on their part - they actually encouraged me to be as honest with the feedback as possible, to benefit readers and also to provide as many comparisons as possible to help people to make a better choices.

Can I say how much I love it when companies take this approach - the whole “just write a review and be honest” fits my philosophy completely.

Goggles

A bit of backstory and context… Goggle choice has to be one of the most personal things ever in triathlon - in my opinion, you NEED to get it right, as the goggles set you up for a good first leg of a swim. You can suffer through some pool sessions with so-so goggles - but you NEED to find the ones that really WORK FOR YOU for your races. And once you find your race goggles, you might as well train in them too (unless you find something equally as good and then you can have training goggles AS WELL AS racing goggles).

When I trained for my first triathlon I used the Zoggs Predator goggles - for no reason except for these were the ones on sale at my gym.

I never really thought about my goggles - these worked, they were comfy, they didn’t leak, and although they gave me “panda eyes” post swim I didn’t really mind that.

Then in 2009 when I started to use Twitter to build my triathlon community, I asked for views on “the best” goggles people had used for swimming. A recommendation I heard time and time again was for the Aquasphere Kaiman goggles. So I bought some.

And that is when I learned that goggle choice is hugely personal. What seemed to work for so many people just was not good for me - NOT AT ALL. I found the Kaiman leaked regularly, I couldn’t quite get the seal to work well over my orbital bones / around the eyes.

Back to the Zoggs it was.

Then Zoggs announced a polarised version of its Predator Flex. Being a user of the Zoggs Predators, I jumped on board and ordered some.

I loved the fit of these goggles - and as I swim year round in an outdoor heated 50m pool, I also loved the polarised lenses as they completely took glare out of the equation, leaving my eyes comfortable and I felt able to see well in all conditions.

I tweeted my love of the Zoggs and lo-and-behold, Zoggs UK sent to me a pair of Fusion Airs to try out, ostensibly as training goggles. The key selling point (as they claimed) was that the Fusion Airs left very little marking around the eyes, using an air cushion seal. I figured I’d give them a whirl.

I was not used to goggles that sat so close to my eyes - very small goggles. But after some time, I really started to love the Fusion Airs for training. I could go to the pool and go out after training and no one would comment on my panda eyes. They were comfortable. I started to recommend them to friends, and alternate them into my outdoor training on overcast days. I soon lost my first (free) pair from Zoggs after the 2011 swimathon (having left them at the pool by accident), so bought a replacement pair instantly. And just this winter I got DH his first pair of Fusion Airs as he was complaining about goggle marks and leaking in his old goggles, and he wasn’t certain he liked the Predator Flex for racing either (like I said - goggles are a VERY PERSONAL choice).

So when Simply Swim sent to me the Speedo Rift Pro to try out, after years of searching for a good solution and finally having two goggles that I use regularly without an issue (the Zoggs Predator Flex and Fusion Airs), I approached this skeptically but with an open mind. Would the Speedo Rift Pro work for me?

The answer was a clear NO. After 5 years in the pool and doing triathlons, I know pretty quickly if kit is going to work for me or not, although I do like to always give things a fair trial (so more than one chance, usually three, but no less than two good training sessions). I tried the Rift Pro goggles in two setting - in an outdoor 50m pool in Florida, and in my local indoor 33m pool in London. I was sent the clear lens version to try out, which I know is better suited to indoor training, but I did want to see how the goggles fared in environments similar to what I train in (both indoors and outdoors).

I found the fit to be very similar to the Kaiman hitting the same spots around my eye (although clearly the shape is somewhat different). That meant I never quite got a good seal with the goggles. To get a good seal I had to really push the goggles on HARD, leaving me with severe panda eyes. I found the little leaks to be very uncomfortable. On the plus side, the visibility from the goggles and the clear peripheral views were good. But the fit was just not for me.

Final Thoughts, Pass Them On

In my emails with Michael from Simply Swim we both agreed that goggles were a highly personal thing. So it is not surprising that the Speedo Rift Pros were a miss with me - I see goggle love as probably something with less than a 50% probability of success.

I appreciate the opportunity to try out new product, and thank Simply Swim for reaching out. Seeing as I only wore these goggles twice, and they are a good product just not for me, I am happy to pass them on to someone else.

If you are a lover of the SPEEDO RIFT PRO or if you want to try them out (they are white plastic with clear lenses) drop me a comment. I am more than happy to pop them into the post for you. Much better than letting good kit go to waste!

Disclosure, Redux

As I wrote in the opening paragraph to this post, I received three pieces of swim kit for free from Simply Swim in exchange for product reviews. I received no further compensation - no payment for my time, no further discount coupons, just the free products. As you can tell from my review, the freebies did not influence my opinion - I just didn’t like the goggles. But I did like the approach of Simply Swim - to engage with me, find out what I would be interested in trying out, and being open and actually having an expectation that my review would be a “no holds barred” comparative account of the kit. Thanks once again for the opportunity to try out the gogglesSimply Swim.

(next review: comparing paddles designed to improve hand entry - Finis versus Speedo)

Thought On: (The Loss of) Hope

2013-04-18T15:05:04+00:00

Today my French teacher called me radical. I differ. I am not radical. I am just not surprised by human nature, and I am deeply pragmatic.

The bombing at the last mile of the Boston marathon was unconscionable. It filled me with deep sadness.

But - perhaps this is why she labelled me “radical” - in some way I comprehend.

I think acts of violence like this are the physical manifestation of what happens when someone (or groups of someones) loses hope. When disenfranchisement happens. When people no longer feel a part of society, when they no longer believe that society acts in their interests. When institutions which should be trusted are believed to have turned their back.

Senseless acts of violence occur when there is no hope.

~.~

I have gone on doing my triathlon training this week, as usual. My week started off with Monday night yoga.

At the onset of the practice we were asked to set our intentions. The instructor suggested that if we decided to dedicate our practice for someone else, that we should set our intention and direct our thoughts to that person. I started my practice with my Twitter friend Sheila King as the target of my intentions, as she is still in intensive care from an extremely serious bike crash on March 22nd.

At the end of the practice I looked at my phone and found a text from my sister. “Did you hear? 2 bombs went off at the Boston marathon.”

This week as I have continued to train, before each session I have set my intentions - to train for Sheila, and to train for those impacted by the horror which happened in the last mile of the Boston marathon.

~.~

I wasn’t going to participate in “take a photo in a race t-shirt to show solidarity with the running community and Boston”. It’s not that I lack a feeling of community or solidarity. I just wasn’t going to take a photo. I feel overwhelmed by the constant coverage on the televisions, by the neverending stream of reflection on social media… I just didn’t feel like adding my image or thoughts to the fray.

But then my dear friend Melissa specifically asked me to contribute. To share.

Friends matter. I read Melissa’s blog post and decided that I was being irrational. So I changed my mind and stood in front of my wardrobe, contemplating what shirt to wear. And it struck me.

If I was going to do this, I needed to do it right. I needed to wear the only race shirt I have that symbolises HOPE.

My 2012 Paratriathlon National Championship t-shirt. A race which was built on my dreams and which was altered by decisions and events completely out of my control. A race which showed to me that no matter what happens, life goes on, even if it might look different from my plans and expectations. A race which showed me that out of shattered dreams new paths will emerge and new dreams will take shape.

A race t-shirt that symbolises hope.

~.~

Did Boston surprise me? Sadly, no.

I watched CNN as the Twin Towers fell. I walked across London on the 7th of July. I have felt the gauntlet of emotions, and then more.

I have travelled with armed guards and in armoured vehicle convoys in places where I am a target simply because of what I represent. What I represent? A hope and aspiration that was killed, a hope and aspriation that someone never had or that someone was denied, a hope and aspiration that was lost due to corruption and contempt. I realised in a bizarre travel moment, as I sat sandwiched between armed guards, that I was a pawn in a game, a game whose players seek attention and redress, whose players want acknowledgement of their opinions, and that I was a target of those who felt silenced and who saw no other way to make themselves heard.

Boston… Boston saddens me.

We - the big collective communal we - WE need to figure out how to collectively turn this around. How we can instill hope in people.

Because I don’t want to live in a world without it, or to be a daily target of those that have lost it.

Thank you Melissa for encouraging me to be participate and be included in your project - in this community. Your heart gives me hope.

Endurance Foodies: A Homage to Red & White (Gnocchi)

2013-04-17T09:27:39+00:00

This is my third month participating in the #endurancefoodies blog carnival. What is that, you ask? Well, Jason from Cook Train Eat Race is bringing together athletes who like to cook and eat to share recipes each month, with a theme to our postings. This month’s theme? A two-coloured palette. Yep. Make a meal in two colours.

My gut reaction to the challenge was to bust out a beautiful green-and-white salad. To feature as many delicious leafy greens as possible, and some wonderful cheese and nuts, and avocado. And to top with a simple easy balsamic vinaigrette. But I then thought “why not showcase something different, something that takes a bit more commitment to the kitchen, but something extremely worth the invested time.” A perfect chance to introduce homemade gnocchi - my red and white meal.

Gnocchi

Before we get into gnocchi, I want to share some context with you. For years and years risotto to me was a turn off. It all seemed too complicated. And it also seemed like an invitation to consume stodge. Just. Not. Interested. DH was always telling me risotto could be delicious, it could be the perfect way to use up a leftover roast chicken. But I could only think of bad restaurant risotto experiences that I had had - gloopy, stodgy, and just not my type of food. Or the one time I made it at home - an uber complicated Locatelli recipe that was fantastic, but by no means something I would ever replicate on any old day. Then one day, for some reason, I relented. I decided to try my hand at making a simple, uncomplicated, fresh and non-stodgy risotto. And suddenly my aversion to risotto disappeared. I learned that if I made my own, I could produce a simple, delicious, nutritious and flavourful risotto WITHOUT THE SENSE OF STODGE.

Fast forward to gnocchi. Gnocchi to me always meant “potato pasta bombs that sit heavy in the stomach” - aka STODGE. Probably because the gnocchi memory that sticks out for me the most is in New York’s Little Italy, back when DH and I had just started dating and went on a weekend trip, and headed to Little Italy for a meal. He had breaded mozzarella bombs in his stomach - I had gnocchi bombs in mine. What a bad food memory! So me and gnocchi? Again… Just. Not. Interested.

But then I saw this post from Ideas In Food. You may remember me evangelising Ideas In Food and how Alex and Aki have totally transformed my kitchen into a gluten free paradise with their What IiF flour blend. I *love* the Ideas In Food site. And if Alex & Aki said that gnocchi could be fluffy and light and pillowy - even gluten free - I figured it was worth a shot.

This recipe is time consuming insofar as it requires making the gnocchi “dough” and then rolling it out. But once made, there is enough for about 6 hungry people (we have portions now in our freezer). One thing that is a must for this recipe is a potato ricer (or Alex and Aki suggest a food mill, but I have no idea what that is - fortunately I do have a ricer at home that sits in our window as kitchen decoration - mostly…) A ricer is a must because unlike mashing the potato, with a ricer the starch stays (mostly) intact. Meaning that the potatoes are not gummy, but fluffy. Which I think is the real difference in this recipe.

Ingredients

1150 grams peeled potatoes
9 grams sea salt (about a teaspoon and a quarter)
2 large egg yolks
160 grams flour (I use the What IiF blend I make at home, but wheat flour will work just fine here)
60 grams grated parmesan

Instructions

Peel and boil the potatoes until cooked through. The potatoes need to be cooked through to pass through the ricer easily. When you drain the potatoes, spread them out onto kitchen towels to dry off completely - you don’t want the water in this recipe. Again, I think this is another trick to avoid gummy stodginess.

Once you rice all of the potatoes into a big bowl, add the egg yolks and cut them into the potatoes (just like you cut butter into flour for pastry making), mixing the yolks thoroughly into the potato. Sprinkle the flour and salt onto the potatoes and stir through. Then add the parmesan and stir through. You will wind up with a loose light dough.

Break the dough into four pieces, and roll these pieces out like logs / giant long tootsie rolls. The roll should be about 2 inches wide—this is the length of your gnocchi. Cut off pieces approximately 1 inch wide (no more than an inch - this is the width of your gnocchi). Then take the little cut piece of gnocchi and shape it. The four logs make LOADS of gnocchi.

We found that this recipe makes main course serving size for four people, plus enough for leftovers for 2-3 people eating main course sized meals.

By definition, this is a meal full of starchy carbohydrates. Over time I have learned that my body loves meals full of starchy carbohydrates BEFORE very intensive training sessions. So for example, this meal works really well for me if I have it the evening before a hard and intense morning bike trainer session (I tend to train in the morning with very little food beforehand). My body also likes starchy carbohydrates following long endurance activities. So if I finish a long bike ride and have an egg right after (for the protein) then about an hour or so later this gnocchi with tomato sauce, plus a big green salad, is a really nice lunch.

It is interesting for me to pay attention to what food works for me with the training patterns that I have. Have you ever tried the same, to vary your food choices according to your training plans and performance aims?

As you can see from the video above (should have been a Vine, Vine crashed when I was uploading it, hello YouTube) to serve the gnocchi in red sauce, first I pan friend the gnocchi in butter. Then I heated some red sauce and added the gnocchi in to finish.

Red sauce is easy easy easy to make. Basically, to make a whole lot of sauce (enough for a meal for four, and then for two more single size portions for the freezer / leftovers) you need four 400g cans (small cans not the gigantic 28 ounce cans they sell in the US, but the smaller 12-14 ounce cans) of whole peeled tomatoes. Open and drain the tomatoes in a sieve over a bowl (don’t toss the juice - you need it). Chop up one small onion diced finely, and a few cloves of garlic. Heat olive oil in a pan, and the sautee the onions / garlic until semi-transparent (I always add some salt in this stage as I had heard that salt stops burning from happening - who knows if that is true?). Then add the tomatoes (not the reserved juice) and break them up and stir them to the point that the liquid has evaporated and they are kind of sticky on the bottom of the pan. Add a half a glass of red wine (what you like to drink - never cook with wine you wouldn’t drink) to deglaze the tomatoes from the pan. The wine also adds a richness to the sauce. Once loosened off the pan and like a tomato paste, add the reserved tomato juice (from when you drained the tomatoes) and about a teaspoon of oregano and simmer for another 10 minutes or so. To finish the sauce, tear up and add some fresh basil before serving.

Now, for the leftover gnocchi. We have used the leftovers to serve as a side dish with a roast - we pan fried in butter but did not finish them in sauce. We have also served as plain gnocchi in parmesan - a decadent carb heavy meal - with a giant salad. And we have some in the freezer for emergency meals (the tomato sauce above can be scaled back to sauce for one, using only one can of tomatoes and eliminating the draining phase). Anyway, you will find that however many you make they won’t stick around too long - as they are JUST SO GOOD.

Seriously. This is a great recipe. I am now a gnocchi convert - but of course, only if I make them!

April Endurance Foodies Participants

Jason - Orange And Green - Cook Train Eat Race
Jen - Purple And Green - Miles, Muscles And Mommyhood
Brittany - Green And Yellow - The Fit Formula
Andrea - Yellow And White - LA Easy Meals
Amanda - Green And White - Run To The Finish
Joanna - Green And Orange - Living Mint Green
Mia Rommel - Red And Green - Diets Are Crap
Adrienne - Red And Yellow - Six Kick Switch
Lindsey - Red And Tan - Cotter Crunch

#bestfoot: Week of April 8th Training in Review

2013-04-15T09:19:45+00:00

Finally! Last week was an excellent training week for me - all things came together, finally! I had a good balance between training and life, I had flexibility to move things around to make sure everything scheduled was done, and for the first time perhaps all year I did absolutely EVERYTHING on my training plan! A huge huge achievement for me as it means that I got the training AND recovery just right to enable me to stretch myself but not fall apart from the fatigue that often comes along and causes me to alter my plans.

Last week was week 6 of the 7 week #BestFoot training challenge.

My aim for the challenge has been to be more consistent with my training and in particular my rehab for my shoulder and knee. Last week I definitely hit the mark with my training, although I only managed 3/7 days of self directed rehab (and 1 intense session with my physiotherapist Ellis Taylor).

I really started to feel the fatigue from my training by the end of last week, but after a (predictable) collapse on the sofa on Saturday night, I finished off the week strong and very very happy with the way things are going. I am not sure what this week will hold, as I have a lot of personal commitments to manage alongside of training, but I do have confidence now that I actually can manage my schedule and my nerve disease-related fatigue at the same time. This is a huge step forward for me, and I think is an indicator that my overall fitness is entering new territories and that I am becoming more able to take on an increased training load. Success!

Week of April 8th Training in Review

Swim: 2 hours
Bike: 4 hours 26 minutes (including more work on training witih power - which is completely exhausting!)
Run: 50 minutes (and my first three run week since December - finally building back while managing my knee situation!)
Bootcamp: 30 minutes
Yoga: 1 hour
Rehab: 5/7 days (although only 3 of these were self-directed sessions)

0: ZERO sessions skipped or modified in training plan (hooray!)

In addition to hitting all of my training sessions last week, I also hit some of my fastest 100m swim times ever. I am finally making good progress in strengthening and quickening myself in the pool. On Saturday at swimming I was extremely fatigued and still managed to hold onto a respectable 400m time trial time at the end of the session - I am pleased that my shoulders are holding up to an increased training load, although I still have some way to go when it comes to managing lingering post fracture pain.

And I could literally hear a giant sigh of relief in London on Sunday as the sun shone and spring finally seemed to have arrived - I had a run on tired legs on Sunday afternoon but it was completely bearable with sunshine and a tank top. At least that’s what I told myself!

Because it didn’t happen unless you posted a photo of it - right?

Here’s hoping that the good weather - and my ability to keep my fatigue at bay - is here to stay!

10 Months After Fractured Ribs

2013-04-12T10:20:30+00:00

When you fracture something, you figure it will take time to heal. Then you figure it will take time to rebuild. And then you figure you will be back to normal, just like before. Break-heal-recover-fixed. But no one ever tells you that sometimes you might have lingering pain.

When I broke my ribs as a result of the impact from a silly bike topple just before the CapTex USA Paratriathlon National Championships, I knew that it would have an impact on my triathlon season. I dropped two races in 2012 (The Blenheim Triathlon and The Paris Triathlon) because of the fractures. I knew I would need to rehab my injury. I was taped, I did some shoulder exercises, and I was patient (kind of).

I started swimming again about three weeks post break, but I didn’t “SWIM” until about six weeks after the break. I waited to feel healed before really hitting training. I naively thought that would be it, I would just get back to normality.

When I finally got back to swimming my times had slowed dramatically, from a steady consistent 1.45 per 100m pre-fracture (and 1.40 wetsuit assisted) to about 2.00 per 100m at best. When Rev3 Old Orchard Beach came around, I was looking forward to racing and was thankful to be out there. I threw my time goals out the window and used the format (middle distance aquabike) just to try something new and to have fun. One of the things I didn’t reflect on in my race report was how OFF my swim felt. I felt like I just couldn’t get any power out of my right arm (the side that I broke my ribs). I thought more time training would right this, and looked forward to testing myself with a hard swim at The London Triathlon. But I still did not feel right in the water by the end of September. My shoulder was clicking a lot, and I just felt weaker and like I was getting slower in the water - no matter how much additional training I was doing.

So finally in I had had enough. I knew something was not right, something left unaddressed post bike topple in May, and I knew I needed to go back to the drawing board to fix things.

Enter Ellis Taylor of Tatami Health. I started seeing Ellis in October to find out the reasons for and to FIX the lingering shoulder issues I had from May’s crash. Essentially with the fracture my shoulder had pulled forward and out of alignment as the muscles tightened to protect the injured ribs. So to bring things back to a more normal state we started with gentle exercises to work on spatial awareness (quite similar to what I did during my Bay Swim training), and then slowly built in weights to work on strengthening around the joint. I had strict orders to stop all weight training and to stop using paddles in the pool until stability and basic strength had returned to my shoulers. Slowly and steadily I rebuilt so that by January I was able to resume training as usual with weights at bootcamp and paddles in the pool. And I was feeling much better.

Not only was I feeling better, but as I have continued to work on shoulder strength and stability I have grown stronger than ever in the pool. I am now consistently clocking less than 1.40 per 100m on my hard sets. With a wetsuit on this is about 1.30 per 100m. I have never swum this fast before. So it is a testament to the power of consistent and constant rehab - so important after an injury, and I think vital for someone like me who is hypermobile.

But one thing that has not gone away is the lingering pain.

Image sourced from google, original source Pain (The Game)

No one ever tells you that you may have pain that continues for a while after chest fractures. Well, okay. Almost no one. If you read the blogs of pro triathletes who have had career changing injuries like Joanna Zeiger you may know that rib fractures can lead to significant and lasting pain. It’s just that my topple was so silly, so “gentle”, I never expected that I would have any kind of post-injury pain.

From what I can understand from Ellis and my sports therapist Michael Collins, my pectoral muscles attach to the area where my ribs were fractured. This area also has a lot of nerves and cartilage. So it is sensitive and can take a while to “feel better”. As I am rebuilding and getting stronger, when the muscles get tight they pull on the same (formerly injured) spot. This causes me to have a dull continual ache - what I imagine a toothache must feel like. I notice it the most after hard swims, yoga and bootcamp - activities where I use my shoulder and chest muscles. And I think I notice the ache now - months after my fracture - because I am finally starting to use my muscles in “the right way”.

So what is my point?

This is not a “woe is me” post. Rather, I just want anyone who is injured to learn from my experiences.

1. You may be treated for the obvious injury (in my case rib fractured) but the longer term issues that require physical therapy may be initially untreated.

Tap into a good trusted physiotherapist as soon as possible in your rehab process so that you can start to work on the “collateral” damage from your injury.

2. Just because you feel better, don’t assume you are fixed.

Again, work with a trusted physio to develop, monitor and assess yourself during the rebuilding process. You may find that you have to address other things that are going on as you rebuild, to avoid ongoing issues. Get a good dialogue and working relationship going with your therapist so that you can address these head on and early in the game.

3. Expect the unexpected and if you want something be prepared to persevere.

I had no idea I’d have a continuing dull ache from my injury 10 months post topple. I know it relates to tight pectoral muscles so I am prepared to continue to work not only on my shoulder strength (because it is helping my swim SO MUCH) but also to figure out how to keep loose and how to stretch out my pecs, to manage the ache. I can completely understand why people give up doing things after injury as the aches can be tough - but persevere and talk with your team to figure out how to best manage things. Don’t quit asking questions and seeking relief. Because the reward of being active is worth it.

4. Keep it all in perspective.

I was swimming yesterday and although it felt uncomfortable, I did hit some good times including my best yet 100m hard effort. I was chatting post-swim with one of the guys in my lane. I knew he was coming back from some sort of injury, but what I hadn’t appreciated was that yesterday was his third swim in about 18 months, after having dislocated his wrist, broken his arm, and suffering related shoulder problems. He was faster than me in the pool so I hadn’t realised the extent of his injuries and type of comeback he was just starting to make.

It’s really easy to forget to consider the people around you when you are focused on your own pain and injuries. Don’t. Because I took an extra 5 minutes post-swim to chat with “the fast guy” I now have a new lane buddy who is dealing with rebuilding post injury too. So when my swimming is hurting I can look to him for an extra bit of inspiration to push through and work hard.

Always make the time to learn about others and what they are up to.