by hattenburrow | May 28, 2016 | Nutrition, Training
This week a new session was added to my training plan Mark my coach at Velo Coaching added a ‘no hanging around’ ride a 3 hour fast ride, his comments said ‘no hanging around ride’ which I found this amusing I wasn’t aware that I did much hanging around on training rides!
Thursday was the day for my ‘no hanging around’ training, it was also the day I decided commuting to work on my bike would be fun!
It was a damp but warm morning as I peddled from my house towards work. I had not fully appreciated the amount of climbing in this 31km ride so trying to take it easy wasn’t always possible, by the time I got to work I was slightly pinker than I would have liked! I felt great for arriving under my own steam.
I ate all the normal things that day and felt fine. At 5:15 I got back on my bike for my ‘no hanging around’ training ride. The first hour I did as instructed I pushed hard letting my body recover on the flat, averaging around 25kph which is good for a mountain bike on the road.
I had a torq energy gel at 45 mins in which gave me a super charge of energy, I felt like someone had added an extra fuel cell to my battery. Sadly this feeling was short lived and by 1 hour 30mins in I had a bout of ‘shaky leg syndrome’ so I stuffed in some salted peanuts for good measure knowing this would be slower to take effect I waited 10 more minutes and had another gel I had another zing of energy (slightly shorter this time) and then another lull by wonder peanuts didn’t seem to be kicking in at all and I was starting to realise it was too little too late.
I finished my training early deciding to listen to my body instead of be frustrated by my lack of pace for the rest of the session. I still managed 60km in 2 hours 37 minutes which is good going and my fastest 60km to date showing that with the correct furling I could achieve more.
The moral to this story is that of you are only as good as the fuel you put in and the timing of that fuel is crucial. You are not eating for ‘now’ but 30 mins later so start eating earlier on to stop getting to the point of no return. Also to look at your daily energy expenditure if you add in a commute or some other activity you need to eat to recover from that and replenish ready for training.
Nutrition seems to be one of my weaknesses so I have taken on a dietician. A girl that I used to work with who comes highly recommended called Rachel Hobbs she is now setting up my diet plan to get me on track for the Trans Alp.
More on my new diet soon!
Thanks for reading x
by hattenburrow | Feb 15, 2016 | Nutrition
Some times a sweet treat is needed! This apricot and pistachio cake is made using semolina which contains selenium in combination with other nutrients, including vitamin E — as an antioxidant. This means that it prevents harmful oxidation of your cell membranes and DNA, which would otherwise contribute to diseases, including heart disease. Getting enough selenium in your diet also strengthens your immune system to prevent infection. Semolina also boosts your intake of several B-complex vitamins, especially folate and thiamin. Collectively, B-complex vitamins support your metabolism and ensure that you can convert food into useable energy.
Ingredients
Cake:
- 100g apricots
- 1 large orange
- 170g butter
- 170g sugar / Struvia
- 225g semolina
- 4 eggs
- 150g ground almonds
- 100g pistachios
- 300g greek yoghurtSyrup:
- 150g honey
- 2tsp lemon juice
- 100ml orange juice
Method:
1. Preheat your oven to 190°C. Now line a 20cm circle tin
2. Put apricots, squeezed orange and peel into a bowl and soak for 6 / 12 hours. Transfer the apricots and juice to a food processor and blend
3. Put butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat together. Add egg yolks one by one and fold in
3. Add the semolina and ground almonds and mix well together, fold in apricot puree
4. Whisk egg whites until stiff, put the mixture in a tin and into the oven for 40/45 minutes
5. Make the syrup put the honey, orange juice and lemon juice into a saucepan and boil for 2-3 minutes then set aside
6. Once out and cooled pour the syrup over the top and serve with a dollop of greek yoghurt and a sprinkle of pistachios!
Let me know what you think 🙂
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 | 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 | Dec 20, 2015 | Nutrition
On Wednesday I went to a talk by Dr Rob Child on sport nutrition. It was really interesting and to learn more about how nutrition and training really sit side by side and should been seen as equally as important.
Dr Robert Child is the head of ESG’s nutrition services and is an expert in the safe and legal use of nutrition supplements. He has been working with top-level athletes for over a decade.
Below are some of the key points from the lecture that I wanted to share.
Fuels for performance and what they do:
- Fat – lots of fat available to fuel a small engine – slow process to use fat
- Carbohydrate – smaller reserve but can burn at a faster rate
- Creatine – tiny engine – fast process to use creatine. Used very quickly but regenerates rapidly too
Good nutrition is about harnessing the beneficial effects of food.
What is a good training diet?
Fat-
- Omega 6 – cakes/ ready meals etc Omega 6 has an inflammatory response
- Omega 9 – olive oil
- Omega 3 – fish/ Flax seed etc Omega 3 suppresses inflammation – benefits of omega 3 include reduced heart rate, improved mood, and improved ventilation
Protein-
Vegetable protein
Animal protein (milk, egg, fish, meat) – milk and eggs contain important antioxidant’s; creatine, carnosine and carnitine are found in animal proteins.
Characteristics of animal proteins –
- Low GI
- They make you feel full (20/30g per meal)
- High vitamin density b vitamins, iron, minerals, zinc, creatine
- Important for muscle grow, repair, immune system
Carbohydrate –
Glycemic index.
The Glycaemic Index (GI) is a ranking of carbohydrate-containing foods based on the overall effect on blood glucose levels. Slowly absorbed foods have a low GI rating, while foods that are more quickly absorbed have a higher rating.
- White bread 95 digested quickly so big increase in glucose
- White boiled rice 60-70
- Spaghetti (Durham wheat) 64
- Potatoes boiled 85
High GI foods are good recovery foods and help stimulate the release of insulin was which also helps with muscle repair.
Anything with a lot of fibre in it has a low glycemic index, low GI takes longer for your body to break down and release energy making them good pre-race/ long training ride foods.
- Oats/muesli 42
- Apple 36
- Chickpeas 36
Fibrous (unrefined carbs) if it looks like when it was growing its fibrous
- Fruits
- Veg
- These have low GI
- Don’t elevate insulin levels
- Make you feel full
- Nutrient dense
QUESTION: I tend to train early in the morning and if nots an intense session I won’t eat first, I thought this meant I burnt more fat… but turns out I could be burning muscle too!
Starchy carbs
- White Rice
- White Pasta
- Ice cream
- High GI
- Elevate insulin levels
- Don’t make you feel full
- Low nutrient density
Type and amount of protein, fibrous carbs, starchy carbs in meals is important
- Big breakfast high calorie to fuel you throughout the day. Minimum of 10g protein in breakfast
- Big lunch
- Small dinner so less to be stored over night as fat
This is obviously very different to the way most of us eat now and is a lifestyle change but potentially a good one! After Christmas I am going to give it a go having a larger breakfast and lunch and a smaller dinner.
I hope you have enjoyed my post, the nest one will be on recovery nutrition.
by hattenburrow | May 9, 2015 | Nutrition
Pre race day is a day off rest and the odd spot of baking, but baking often involves high sugar contents and as scrummy as the end product may be nutritionally its not doing me any favours!
So ive gone for a healthier rockie road treat which is indulgent, tasty and slightly more healthier than the normal sugar fuelled version and comes with the added bonus of being ready a lot quicker than anything you have to stick in the oven!
All you will need is:
250g dark chocolate (buy the good stuff 80/90% cocoa it will taste a lot better)
50g flaked almonds
50g dried fruit (I used cranberries, sultanas and raisins)
Method:
1) Melt the chocolate in a glass dish on the stove
2) Add your almonds and fruit to a large mixing bowl (you could also add other nuts and chopped apricots)
3) Pour the melted chocolate over the nut/berry mix and stir together
4) Stir well!
5) Now to get a little messy use your clean hands to roll up little balls of mixture and place on a tray/plate. (optional licking of the bowl)
6) Stick it in the fridge to cool for at least 2 hours, best kept in the fridge too!
Enjoy these as a snack after a training ride.
