Photos of food!

I am aware that good doesn't last long enough to take a photo of. So here's a photo of one of the aubergine lunches I made.

It ain't rocket science. Cut an aubergine in half, then slice the outside of each half. That way the aubergine (eggplant for my Aussie/American friends) sits flat in the oven pan.
Score a criss cross on top with a knife, drizzle olive oil and rub into cuts with hands.
Pour passata sauce into oven dish, lay aubergine on top. Add garlic or seasoning as desired.
Stick in a preheated oven at 180C for 60 mins. Prep time 5-10 mins max and you don't need to worry about watching it cook. Just put a timer on so that you don't forget!

Red lentils are easy too. Boil water, sling appropriate amount of lentils in, cook for 20 mins on a simmer, by which time they will look like lentil mash and be more yellow in colour. I add a veg stock cube and stir it in to give flavour. Any extra can be put in box in fridge and eaten hot or cold.

Boom!

Bye bye beans!

It has been a couple of days since my last confession father, but I have not sinned, much....

Since Monday's post I have cut out the old beans and I'm still performing rather well in the running department. My social scores have increased as well and I have felt safe to attend a hot yoga session without gassing 40 unsuspecting people. My sins have included a small amount of rice with a sushi lunch and a couple of cappucinos, please forgive me!

I went to hot yoga on Tuesday night for 90 minutes and sweated out at least a towel and a half worth of water. This particular class (Power Vinyasa) has a heated room temperature of 30 degrees and is focused on the "flow" (read continuous movement), resulting in a challenge for the cardio respiratory system and muscular strength. I find it perfect for reaching a deeper stretch for my tight running muscles than the "cooler" classes of Power Align and Basics. Having said that I will be going to a Yin class on Sunday, as the whole class is much slower and cooler, but the poses are held for 5 minutes each. Think pretzel shape yoga and you won't be far off. Well, not me, maybe Catherine ;)

Yesterday morning was run training and a lovely little speed work session. This consisted of 5 x 1000m intervals run at 4:08 (14.5km/hr or 9mph), with 400m recoveries. I have to admit that I was pretty lethargic yesterday morning and was feeling the after effects of a tough yoga practice. My first interval almost didn't happen, but with the beauty of peer pressure (Catherine watching from the bike) I got through the first one. After that it was plain sailing. For the recoveries I brought the speed down to a walk for 250-300m, then into a comfortable run for the last 100m. This gave me a chance to focus on good running technique for each interval, with the last one increased to 16kph for the last 100-150m, just to finish strong.

All this chat about training is boring no? So let's talk food, yum! I'll keep this short as most of the meals are the same. Lunches and dinners have consisted of baked aubergine with chickpeas in a passata sauce. Yesterday I cooked a load of lentils, some organic beef mince and peas and sweetcorn. Technically the sweetcorn isn't allowed on the 4HB during the week, but it is a fave of Catherine's, so I knew it would put a smile on her face. As I have probably mentioned before the meals tend to be the same, perhaps boring, but ultimately easy to make in large quantities and freeze if needed. After all the whole week builds up to the best day of all - CHEAT DAY!! It's on Saturday, so keep afoot of the action (I will post photos of the decadence) by checking back on Saturday through the day. 

Before cheat day I have to hit the gym for a strength training and bike session tonight, followed by a 7 mile tempo run tomorrow at 5am and an 11 mile long run on Saturday (forthwith known as CHEAT DAY). Happy days!

What have you all been up to lately? Let me know by posting abuse and comments. I'm mainly interested in your training and nutrition and exciting past times. So don't bore me like I do to you ;)

Happy training all,

Tom :)

Wind power

My testing of the 4 Hour Body continues with each of my marathon training sessions. Last night I ran 10 miles approximately 13 seconds a mile quicker than target pace. Now there are a few reasons this run went so well. It could have been because I had eaten regularly and sufficiently to ensure my energy and mood levels were high. There is the possibility (though unlikely) that having done cheat day on Sunday I may have had a mini carb loading of my muscles, thus packing them with glycogen ready for an exertion such as this. Or the more likely scenario is that the copious amounts of beans I have had to eat on this diet have given me a significant (and possibly illegal) boost of wind power, thus enabling me to knock significant time off my mileage.

Wind power is probably a one trick pony. Aside from the obvious benefits of improving running times, I can't see any other benefit. Unless you value your alone time and see the ability to clear rooms, perhaps even floors as a benefit. There is also the bloating experienced from eating beans, which although useful in certain life threatening aquatic scenarios isn't the best look.

'Why haven't you soaked them?' I hear you cry. Well the tinned beans we use have been soaking for quite a while, which should help break down the indigestible starches. Also I have been using organic beans (as recommended) wherever possible. It could be the variety of beans we have been consuming; cannellini, kidney beans, green baby lima beans and northern beans that have caused the issues.

Catherine and I have come to the conclusion that life is too short to find out which bean is the culprit. So we are just going to knock them all on the head instead. We will still have chickpeas, green beans and the odd kidney bean in a chili, just every other day. The only trouble is that this means eating more veggies/protein to replace the lost calories and ensure that I can still get close to my record wind powered run times.

Somehow I think I will survive and maybe my friends might want to speak to me again....

Tom :)

The day after cheat day

Yesterday was Sunday and the day after "cheat day". It was a joy to get back to a healthy way of eating  after consuming pies, pastries, coffees and pizza. Don't get me wrong I did enjoy all of those things, but I think Christmas exceeded my limit (is that even possible?) of crap food stuffs.

Sunday consisted of a scrambled egg breakfast with a black coffee. I can't say I love black coffee, but as I'm not allowed milk it is the only option (aside from black tea) that I can drink. As my friend Dane said to me today "you could just not drink coffee". An excellent suggestion sir, I'd not thought of that ;)

Cate ran 10 miles yesterday morning, so after she recovered (slightly) from that we both went to yoga. A nice basics session at PLAY in Bondi Junction loosened up some tired limbs. Once back home Cate was out like a light for awhile, so I cooked up a storm in the kitchen.

I made three separate dishes of about 8 meals for the week ahead. All of them contained protein, legumes and veggies as required by the 4 hour body. I think C ate the spiced chickpea, broccoli, carrot and red pepper stir fry for lunch, whilst I had veggie teriyaki. Most of these meals are very similar, perhaps only differing in the spice or sauce that accompanies them, so it makes them easy to produce quickly and in large quantities. The key to sticking to any regime is to prepare in advance, FACT!

After an afternoon visit to the beach we settled down to dinner at home. I shovelled in a tasty plate of beef sausages with two mushroom burgers. As a side I had a couple of raw carrots with hummus. The hummus covers the legumes part, so this was a simple meal to make and still cover the 4HB requirements. Cate ate a veggie burger and salad leaves, with carrot and hummus as a side.

My evaluation of the day is that when it's a sunny afternoon I want ice cream. Fortunately eating on the 4HB does mean that cravings are reduced, as you feel full and blood sugar appears to much steadier. I haven't had any hunger pangs or light headed moments. As per normal my ultimate test comes in training and noting my energy levels and performance with times. So I shall update you tomorrow on how I get on with my ten mile run this evening.

Tom :)

Cheating in style

After saying I would post photos of cheat day food I got lost in two meat pies, a coconut slice and my delicious coffee and forgot!

But fear not I remembered (just) to get a photo of dinner.

Am actually looking forward to getting back on the 4HB and a ten mile run tomorrow.

Enjoy your weekend,

Tom :)

Day 3 - CHEAT DAY!

Ok so I really am cheating because I've only done two days of the 4 hour body and already I am cheating. There is one reason behind this, coffee! I've not drunk a flat white in two days (yes they are that good in Sydney), so I'm doing a partial cheat day today. This means I won't be making myself sick (like full cheat days), but enjoying a flat white and a sandwich. Otherwise all will be normal.

In fact this post will be quite disappointing because I won't have lots of photos of sweet things through the day. I will be updating you with some later, but for now I can happily tell you that I enjoyed a flat white and a bagel this morning. Naturally I got my 30g of protein in at brekkie first with a protein shake.

So until later guys, enjoy your weekend!

Tom :)

4HB day 2

Yesterday was day two of the 4 hour body so I'll start there with my update.

I began the day with two fried eggs and dry fried (and mashed) kidney beans. This was a simple and tasty brekkie, which I cooked with a little coconut oil and lightly seasoned with pepper. As per the instructions,of the 4HB I ate within 30 minutes of waking to stabilise blood sugar levels. I have found this to be the key for adhering to the plan as it seems to reduce cravings and hunger later in the day. When I did the 4HB previously it was also a key factor in eating enough daily calories. Where as before I may have only eaten 150kcals at breakfast I am now eating 2-300. Not a huge amount, but it will help to ensure less muscle wastage.

After running 6 miles in training I realised I hadn't prepped any lunch beforehand. Fortunately I'd bought veggie burgers for this situation, so after a quick double carrot hummus snack I tucked into two veggie burgers, with two fried eggs. Job done.

We had friends round for dinner last night, so I knocked up a veggie bake. This consisted of pre-cooked red lentils (seasoned with herb & garlic mix), a layer of passata, pre-steamed broccoli, carrot and roasted peppers, topped with pre-grilled aubergine (eggplant for all the aussies and yanks). It's pretty much ready to serve once it's pre-cooked, but the passata needs a warm through, so it went in the oven for 20 minutes. Simple!

I'm not specifically avoiding meat, but after eating a fair amount over Xmas it helps to cleanse the system. Catherine however is doing the 4HB "veggie style", which is a much trickier task (at least it would be for me!)

Catherine and I both find we have plenty of energy for training and are less lethargic. I ran my 5 mile tempo session 9 seconds per mile quicker than target pace (7:43/7:52).

There are two other key points to remember. Firstly to make sure you eat every four hours to maintain steady blood sugar levels. Secondly that you drink water regularly throughout the day to help your body metabolise fat for energy and to help your digestive system and gut to properly process your food.

There are other key points I'll highlight over the course of these posts, but to find out more just check out: http://fourhourbody.com