by hattenburrow | Feb 4, 2016 | Nutrition
I came across this recipe whilst looking for a healthier blueberry muffin mix. I love blueberry muffins but usually they’re full of sugar and white flour so I wanted to try something a little different. I changed the recipe adding dried apricots instead of 1 cup of brown sugar I used half and added dried apricots to increase the natural sweetness. I also changed the white flour for brown flour and a cup of oats.
Ingredients
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup of oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup low-fat Greek yoghurt
2 large eggs
1/4 cup of honey
1/2 cup olive oil
1 cup blueberries
1/2 cup of dried apricots
Method
- Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C
- Line a tray with 12 muffin cases
- In a large bowl mix your dry ingredients
- In another bowl mix your wet ingredients
- Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry
- Add the blueberries
- Divide the mixture into the cases
- Bake for 18 minutes, remove from the oven and check your muffins by putting a knife through the middle if it comes out clean its done
These muffins are really tasty and will last about three days in a sealed container. As they have yoghurt in them best kept in the fridge. They will freeze too!
by hattenburrow | Feb 1, 2016 | Training
I can’t believe today is the 1st February! January has gone so quickly at this rate the Trans Alp will be here very quickly…
I started January feeling positive about the improvements in my knee and mega excited about being supported by Specialized for 2016. When I got the phone call from Olivia to say when I could come in for my bike fit it felt like Christmas all over again!
I went up to Specialized HQ to have my bike fit at the start of January it went really well and I was amazed at how the minute changes made such a difference to my riding position and comfort. Red more about my bike fit here.
Since my bike fit I have really pushed my training to the next level, (apart from a blip week getting over a cold) I have been increasing my training load and pushing my body out of my comfort zone.
The last two weeks Michelle and I have combined our long distance training rides, on Saturday I went to Guildford and we rode around the Surrey Hills up Leith Hill and Newlands Corner getting in some great single-track sections in Peaslake and Holmbury Hill. We climbed over 1,200m over 4 hours which was good going, I think we might need to do more sessions like this!
I feel my stamina and fitness is really improving and I am looking forward to increasing the miles over the coming weeks.
So far in January I have ridden 384.41 miles burning 11,913 calories in 35 hours.
Although I have only been able to ride my new bike off-road a couple of times, I have found the 29er more efficient over rough ground it doesn’t feel like I lose as much power.
I had never ridden a full suspension bike, doing XC racing my bike choice has always been down to weight and how much power I can transfer through the pedals, something a ‘normal’ full suspension is less effective at. Enter the brain! The brain is built around an inertia valve which can tell the difference between me pedalling and moving around to a bump coming from the ground. (A weighted mass sits on a light spring, limiting the flow of oil. On smooth terrain, this means oil is not flowing, so the suspension stays firm for efficient pedalling. When the wheel strikes a bump, the weighted mass overcomes the spring, immediately allowing oil to flow and the shock to become active. Once the compression of the bump is complete, the rebound action combined with the spring push the mass back in place, limiting the oil flow again, and instantly putting the shock back to firm.) So far this has been really amazing I have been really surprised going uphill on smooth stuff I don’t feel like I am losing any power and then as soon as I hit the single-track the suspension kicks in allowing the bike to maintain momentum over rough ground and has improved my control and confidence when things getting a bit hairy!
Looking forward to testing my new bike on more trails over the next few weeks.
by hattenburrow | Jan 26, 2016 | Nutrition
Granola bars are full of slow releasing carbs great to keep you going all day. Sometime I find shop bought bars are quite sickly so I am always on the hunt for a new recipe.
Today the weather was not great for cycling, (although I did get a short training session in) but perfect for baking so I re-created this bar recipe I found to see how good they are.
Ingredients
- 80g butter
- 80g honey
- 40g apricot jam
- 80g dark brown sugar
- 120g jumbo oats
- 30g cashews – chopped
- 30g sultanas
- 30g dried apricots
- 40g mixed seeds
Method
1. Preheat your oven to 190°C. Now line a 20cm square baking tin with greaseproof paper.
2. In a large saucepan melt the butter, honey, jam and sugar together on a medium heat, stirring until dissolved.
3. Bring to the boil and cook for one/two minutes so that the sugar caramelises, making it a sticky sauce.
3. Add the dry ingredients and mix before turning out into your tray.
4. Cook for 15 to 20 minutes until set. Once ready just turn it out and leave to cool on a rack, cut into slices while its slight warm.
Tah Dah! Scrummy energy bars fit for long rides, although there is some refined sugar in here a lot of the sugars are natural, coming from fruit so will be released slowly during your training.
Let me know what you think 🙂
by hattenburrow | Jan 22, 2016 | Training
Last week I went to specialized to pick up my new Era, I met Olivia from specialized who took me to meet the guys doing my bike fit Murph and DA.
I had a body geometry bike fit which started with talking about my background and any injuries I had sustained. This was a relatively short list, however I find it interesting the few injures I have had seem to all be related back to my back injury from years ago kitesurfing. My top tip, when you have a physio and exercises keep doing them and then go to Pilates to keep your core strong, it’s like any muscle if you don’t use it, you lose it and it impacts on other muscles.
I then had a physical assessment to check my alignment, leg length and flexibility. During this we also looked at the contact points on the bike so shoes, gloves and saddle. To find out what size saddle I needed I had to sit on a piece of memory foam which recorded where my sit bones were, from this Murph (one of the fitters) could work out the best width saddle for me.
One of the parts I found really interesting was this heat mat that I put my feet on and it showed where the parts of my feet where connected to the ground. Doing this test was really interesting because I learnt that I have very high arches in both my feet, which don’t collapse when I am standing, which is good. This was interesting to find out as I have always struggled with finding supportive footwear and now know why!
Because of my high arches I had special green insoles designed for people with high arches out in my new s-works shoes I immediately felt more supported on the inside of my foot.
After a few more tests it was time to get on the bike, the information Murph and DA had collected from the tests helped them to pin point changes that needed to be made straight away.
Once I was on the bike they wired up the joints of my body so that they could see my movement patterns on the computer screen.
Using side analysis they looked at my full leg extension which determined whether my saddle needed to be higher, which it did. This also helped judge how far forward to push my saddle to create more of a bend in my elbows.
The front camera showed my hip, knee and foot alignment, as I was already aware that I have one knee that moves towards my frame more than it should DA looked at my cleat position and step up and we moved my cleats to help correct my knee alignment. This was also helped by the new supportive insoles.
I get a funky bend in my wrist which seemed to happen whether my hands were wide on the bar or not, Murph cut 35mm off each end of the bar which seemed to suit my riding position.
They also looked at my riding position from behind which highlighted an issue I was having with my saddle, my left hip would drop and I had to keep moving myself backwards to get comfortable. We tried a variety of different saddles. The last one was, called power, it seemed to lock me into a stable position and also felt like my weight was distributed more evenly between my sit bones.
A little video of the bike fit:
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This process was really thorough and we spent a long time making little tweaks until I was in my optimal riding position.
I am now going to ride the bike for a couple of weeks and see if there are any little niggles that need ironing out.
I was really impressed with the whole fit and how such small tweaks can make such a difference. From having such an in-depth fit I have realised how important it is for your bike to fit you properly to be comfortable and also to make the most of the power you create! This is going to be especially important during the Trans Alp as I will be riding my bike for around 5/6 hours a day for 7 days.
Thank you Murph and DA for a brilliant fit and cuppa T! A massive thanks to Specialized for supporting my 2016 race season, I can’t wait to race my new Era.
Follow my journey to the Trans Alp on Twitter and Instagram
Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
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by hattenburrow | Jan 13, 2016 | Training
My winter training didn’t get off to the best start, running during my off the bike month created a problem with my knee, probably due to a weak core and pretty naff hip flexors! So I had to go back to basics working on my core strength and hip flexor mobility. An MRI showed that my knee is actually in pretty good condition which was great news and meant I could concentrate on doing light training.
Over the past two weeks I have been concentrating on increasing the miles using tempo rides. Having had a sore knee I have been working closely with my coach to steadily build my training back up.(Velo Coaching)
I have been doing 2-hour tempo rides (heart rate zone 3). Training this way (avg HR 155 BPM) achieves 2 things, it allows me to condition my aerobic system whilst gradually building my base aerobic capacity without having to ride for hours in HR zone 2. Riding in this heart rate zone also maintains my lactate threshold by working the upper limits of my aerobic capacity.
The other key session is hill repetitions, as I am gradually building back up to the level of training I would be expecting to do. I have found a hill which begins with a gradual climb and then a steeper lip. I do each rep trying to stay in the hardest gear possible, this works like on the bike weight training!
I find this very tiring and painful but enjoy feeling my muscles burn and my heart beat fast because I know I am doing everything I can to get my fitness back on track and build a solid foundation on which to increase my anaerobic capacity. After each rep I have a 3 minute recovery period.
On Friday I get my new bike from Specialized which is exciting. They have kindly agreed to support my 2016 season so during the year I will be racing and training on one of the most beautiful bikes I have ever seen! I can’t wait to see how going from riding a 27.5 to a 29er effects my training and racing results.
