Fighting Over the Foam Roller

Well I never thought I'd see the day, my husband and I actually arguing about who gets the ice pack or foam roller!  Things we both don't like using but at the moment, unfortunately we both need them.  Stuart unfortunately and disappointingly pulled out of the Crinan Puffer race at the weekend with under 1 mile to go, after being in the lead all the way.  He's been running fantastic and is at his peak of fitness right now so we are hoping it is just a little strain....  I was gutted for him.  At least my obsessive internet searching about injuries and rehab has came in useful and the win went to fellow team mate and friend Dan Sheldrick who also ran brilliantly.

Regardless of his injury, he still didn't mump or moan about it (not compared to me anyway) and still cheered everyone on in what was another great race from Crinan to Ardrishaig on Sunday.  I was very thankful to be able to take part, not racing, but enjoying the company of my little sister Mairi as we blethered our way from the start to the finish line in time for flapjacks and goody bags - isn't that why people race?  OK so it was 20 minutes slower than last year but I was just grateful to take part and enjoy it.  The rest of the Campbeltown bunch did us all proud yet again - great times and prizes to inspire us all including IM training buddy Jen who came 3rd, who is getting faster and stronger every week.

Sun is in our eyes!  Me and sis.  We are happy.  Honest.  (Thanks for photo Marj!)

Training didn't stop there, afterwards myself, Katie, Ironwoman Jen and Drew hopped on our bikes and cycled home.  The tailwind was a blessing and we managed to get to Campbeltown in around 3 hours.  And for even more punishment I added on another 10 miles as I felt good and wanted to get past the 56 mile barrier of the half-iron point.  With not much pain, sun shining and good company - chatting about how our friends were getting on in the London marathon (turns out flipping fantastic!) made the ride fun.  Of course, we had prosecco and some good food to look forward to when home too.

This week's other training highlights were getting to cycle with Rebecca Helliwell from Mid Argyll who was fab company, an awesome cyclist and an IM!  I managed to swim the furthest I've ever done - 3.5k in one go, 140 lengths of the pool!  #starving   I also enjoyed another brick session involving a 1.5 turbo session and a 1 hour pool run.  As I mentioned last week, this can get boring so I mixed it up with following a YouTube video for 1 hour cycling around Sydney, Austrailia doing intervals in the comfort of my back bedroom (2 sets of 12 x 1 min sprints with 1 min recoveries).  That's a more economical way of me getting to see the world - my husband is glad to hear about this!

A photo from Sydney a few years ago. But I was there last night via YouTube!

If anyone is injured or wants to try a pool run try the following session to keep your mind occupied, I felt following a plan helped me rather than watch the clock:

• 5-10 mins warm up (deep end only)
• 10 x 25m fast
• Recover 5 mins
• 5 x 25m high knees
• 5 x 25m long strides
• 5 x legs only
• 5-10 mins cool down (full length of pool)

After putting on a good few pounds since my injury, devouring a 3 course meal on Sunday and bingeing on chocolate on Monday I've been trying to be careful with my nutrition for the rest of the week and tried out a few different recipes.  One of my vegetarian favourites was a chickpea curry - 

Ingredients:

Teaspoon of coconut oil

1 tin chickpeas (rinsed and drained)

1 large onion choppped

2 tomatoes, chopped

1 pepper chopped

1 tin passata

2 cloves garlic

1/2 green chilli

1 teaspoon ginger

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground cumin

Wholewheat or your choice of rice

Wholewheat pitta bread (I like to spray with coconut oil spray, garlic salt & coriander leaves and bake in oven for 10 mins)

Coriander leaves and natural yoghurt to serve

Method:

Fry off the onion and peppers in coconut oil.  Add in the garlic and ginger.  Add the chickpeas, pepper, passatta and tomatoes.  

Add all of the spices plus some salt/pepper to season.  Simmer for 15 mins or longer to absorb the flavours.  Serve with your favourite rice and pitta.  Enjoy!

Chickpea curry