Quinoa Apple Salad

Here's a great tasting little salad that I made recently that used up a few random odds and ends I had in my fridge. It turned out so well I felt obliged to share it with you. I made mine with quinoa but you can substitute almost any small rice, pasta or carb. It would probably work well with puy lentils too. The ingredients are mostly white or green so it looks really fresh and has a lovely combination of textures. Feel free to change it up a bit; add some avocado, play around with the nuts and seeds or maybe add some olives. Give it a whirl and let me know what you think!

Apologies for the poor photo, but it's the only one I have!

Ingredients

Approx 1 mugs of cooked quinoa
2 sticks of celery, chopped
half a cucumber, chopped and deseeded
half an onion finely diced (salad/spring onion would be better)
half a green pepper, chopped
1 finely chopped garlic clove
1 peeled and diced apple
a large handful of toasted hazlenuts, almonds and pumpkin seeds (lightly crushed or chopped)
1 tbsp lemon juice
pinch of coarse salt (I used salt with chili)
2 tbsp yogurt, sour cream or sour cream and chive dip 

The hardest part about making this is all the chopping and toasting. After that all you have to do is mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl, cover it with some cling film and pop it in the fridge until you're ready to eat it. This will keep for a day or two so should see you through two lunches. 

New Objectives

That's it! All the big events are out of the way for this year. I do technically have one more scheduled for next weekend but my partner-in-crime is on the verge of flaking out and I'm not sure if I want to do it on my own, having been scarred by Tough Mudder.

This means no more training. Or at least not the sort of training I've spent the last 10 months doing. I haven't signed up to do any more marathons and although I've already got a few events in the diary for next year the longest is half marathon distance, something I'm relatively comfortable with. So with that in mind I thought I ought to think about what my aims actually are now and have a review with Dave. On Wednesday I went in for a session and had a health review at the same time. My blood pressure and resting heart rate have dropped dramatically which is amazing, but my weight and % body fat have not budged a smidgen. Slightly annoying but basically it just means that although I'm fitter, I still eat cake :)

When I started having PT sessions 5 months ago my aims were to get triathlon fit, increase upper body strength and improve my running endurance. Now I've decided that I want to improve my speed endurance (I can run fast, I just can't maintain it) and keep working on my upper body strength. I think these are sensible goals and although I don't have a measure in mind for the upper body strength, I'd like to see if I can smash a sub-25 minute 5k by Christmas.

It occurred to me that without a training schedule I'm free to introduce more variety into my fitness regime and am looking forward to doing a few more classes. I've already booked up to try Group Power and Urban Rebounding as well get back to the occasional Body Balance. I'm planning to start going to parkruns again when I can and any mid week runs will be for fun. So my weeks will now likely include a PT session, a class or two, a visit to the gym on my own terms and a run or two outside. That's plenty!

I'd like to do another triathlon next year so thought I might actually take some swimming lessons in the new year so I can swim front crawl rather than breaststroke for once. I can struggle through a few lengths of it but with absolutely no grace or form.

How often and when do you review your goals? What are you working towards at the moment and how are you getting on?

Bournemouth Marathon : The Spectator's Review

Today we have a guest post from my mum. I wrote about my experience of the Bournemouth Marathon earlier in the week but I thought it would be interesting to hear about it from the other side of the barriers. As ever we'd love to hear what you think, whether it be about the post itself or the race. Don't be shy, comment below!

We have been along to many races to support Vikki over the years, including the London Marathon. Last weekend we set off to Bournemouth to support her as she ran her second marathon. Apart from having arranged our accommodation, we had not really planned the weekend at all, in fact it was only the afternoon before that I actually looked at the race route. It filled me with dread as I realised that unlike London, we had no idea at all of how to get around Bournemouth to see Vikki at different points of the route. The shuttle bus had to be pre-booked (we didn't even know there was one) and all tickets had been sold anyway. How to see Vikki at the start, at the finish and ideally at least two other points along the route to encourage her, which she really needed during the London marathon? I envisaged running a marathon myself! We were not getting to Bournemouth until late afternoon, so there was no chance to familiarise ourselves with the route beforehand either.

Red sky at night, runner's delight!

So after a hearty breakfast, we set off to the start area, about a mile from our B&B. Everything about this day turned out to be the complete opposite to the London marathon. The start area was the football stadium, so we all had the use of the stadium's facilities, including toilets and cafes. All very civilised, no burger vans here! The start area was not busy at all, so very easy to meet up with Vikki's friends. There wasn't much of an atmosphere at the start, yes people were excited, chatting and laughing, but there was no loud music or warm up to get people psyched for the race. Being the first Bournemouth, the number of runners was much smaller than I expected, so it didn't take long to see them all set off, then it was time to find our way around the route.

Vikki and co.

In the end, there was no need to have been concerned. The route twisted and turned along the way and we were able at some points to stand in one place and see them pass twice, say at mile 5 and then again mile 8. We then only had a shortish walk down to the sea front to see them run along there. This was a particularly lovely part of the route for runners, as it was a beautiful sunny day and many of the locals had come down to sit outside their beach huts to watch the race.

Wave your hands in the air like you don't care!

Along the route there were plenty of proper toilets, (I never once had to venture into a portaloo!), plenty of cafes if we fancied a coffee, and ice cream vans if we wanted an ice cream to cool us down (have I said it was hot?!) We managed to see Vikki at least half a dozen times along the route which was fantastic. We had no reason to have need of the shuttle bus, although it would have been nice at the end as the finish was quite a way from the start, so therefore a long walk for the already tired runners. Don't worry, we left Vikki on a bench and went to get the car for her.

Sporting a fab finishers t-shirt and medal.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable day, the weather obviously helped, but the route was lovely, very well thought out from the point of supporters.  The only thing I would have changed about it would be not having the 18 mile point next to the finish, passing that and being told you ONLY had another 8 miles to go, seemed a bit mean. All the volunteer marshals (and there were many) were very good, especially the ones at the finish, some of them helping the odd runner overcome with cramps, across the finish line, and shouting much needed encouragement.

The finish area was great too, it was very easy to find Vikki, having first acquired the compulsory ice cream! We thought the medals were particularly nice too, possibly the best Vikki has, and she has a few ;)

Just one or two medals from 2013... can you spot the Bournemouth one?

We are extremely proud of Vikki having finished this marathon almost one hour faster than the London one and we were very relieved she had no injuries and managed to smile all the way round, even at the end. Yes our feet ached from all the walking, but we didn't have to run a marathon to see Vikki as we feared, everyone was happy and cheerful, and the sun shone. What a great day!

Kaizen

I recently came across the word "kaizen". Kaizen is Japanese for "improvement", or "change for the better" and refers specifically to philosophy or practices that focus upon continuous improvement. It's predominately used in manufacturing, engineering, and business management but is also starting to be used to refer to improvement of the self. It's this latter use that I'm really interested in. When I heard the word explained in this way it was as if my world suddenly sharpened in focus. I realised that this was how I was trying to live my life, with a philosophy of continuous improvement and changes for the better. 

I've barely stopped studying since I started school aged 4. After six years at Uni I devoured all the learning opportunities I was offered at work, I took on an OU short course, then a Diploma. I took another short course and have started on my Personal Trainer Advanced Diploma. I'm always seeking another opportunity to learn. Kaizen.

I often despair at the amount of "stuff" I own and try and clear it out because that would be a change for the better. I try to buy less and make the most of what I already have. Kaizen.

I have an allotment and grow some of my own food. I try and cook from scratch as often as I can and try new recipes because these are "things that are good". But I get angry with myself when the weeds take over on my plot and I can't find a free evening to invite a friend for dinner. I start to feel as though eating from the freezer is a cop out (it's really not).

I enter races partly to have fun, but also for the challenge. I get upset with myself if I don't think I did as well as I could have done. I get frustrated when I don't see my times dropping or when I can't find time to put in the work to gain those improvements. I give myself more reasons to challenge myself (for charity, for health). Kaizen.

When I look at everything I try to take on in the name of improvement I see it's not really improving me at all. It's setting myself up for a fall which gives rise this odd mental glitch of thinking I need to do even more to be better. I give myself so many goals that I cannot possibly meet them. Everything I'm taking on in the name of kaizen is actually having the opposite effect. So perhaps it's about time I stopped trying to do everything to perfection and just focus on one thing at a time. 

I will stop entering so many races; just a couple where I can really test my progress against other goals. I will stop comparing my green-fingered efforts to those of the retired gentlemen whose plots border mine. I will complete my current course to the best of my abilities because it's a step towards true self improvement and I will focus any training I do on getting faster over the 10k distance in the next 6-8 months because that is something I've wanted to do for a long time. But most importantly I will start cultivating a positive mental attitude, one of contentment with what I have achieved and what I am capable of. Now that really would be kaizen.

Training for and running the Bournemouth Marathon

Taking part in the London Marathon this year was possibly the best experience of my life. I had some problems and although I got around I didn’t do it in a time I was happy with. I honestly thought I’d only ever do one marathon. They’re time consuming to train for and mentally challenging too. But somehow, in the endorphin-fuelled aftermath of the VLM I found myself looking at the flier for the very first Bournemouth Marathon and encouraging Amy to sign up in an I-will-if-you-will way. She did so I did. So I found myself preparing for a second marathon.

The Posse: Amy, Anna and me. We mean business

I developed a relatively solid level of fitness over the Spring so decided that a 12-week plan would be sufficient. I ended up training for a couple of triathlons before hand as well as fitting in study so juggling everything was challenging to say the least. I found training through the Summer in the heat as opposed to the cold, dark and wet Winter a lot easier in some ways as I had more daylight to play with and could do my long runs during the week but the sheer amount of "stuff" I had to balance stressed me out. Towards the end, very little went to plan. I didn't get in the long runs I wanted and my longest run ended up being a split one, 8 miles in the morning and 12 in the evening. That was it. I only managed a 16 miler prior to that, so not the best.

Cheesy pre-race photo! I have the BEST supporters :)

In the week before the marathon I had a bit of a holiday. I completely chilled out, ate ridiculous amounts of food, drank more in 4 days than I had the previous month, and had two very treacly runs where everything felt wrong. Apparently this put me in very good stead for the event. I hadn't really thought too much about it, I wasn't psyched up in the same way as for London. In fact I felt pretty zen. I stayed over in Bournemouth the night before the event in a lovely little B&B with my parents. We spent the evening eating lovely food and watching the sun set over the sea, had a slap up breakfast in the morning and strolled the mile to the start area where I met up with Amy and Anna. We'd decided to start the race together, which was the best decision I made, it stopped me from going off too quickly, chatting took my mind off things as it just felt like a training run, and we got loads of support from the spectators thanks to Anna's fabulous tutu.

Check out that amazing tutu

The start of the race was at the local stadium. There seemed to be plenty of loos, the baggage drop lorry was well manned and it was really easy to find our start pen. What I hadn't given much thought to was how much smaller this event was to London. It took almost no time at all to get over the start line and I started to get concerned about how I'd manage to stay motivated with smaller crowds and possibly fewer people around me at the end of the race. I needn't have worried. It was a glorious day, slightly too hot for running truth be told, but it brought the locals out in force, particularly along the front at the beach chalets where several people set up unofficial water stations for the runners.

The first half of the race zoomed by. We chatted to bat woman, a couple of 100 Marathon Club members, superman to name but a few. We looked out for friends on the switchbacks and I spotted some Tough Mudders, Farnham Runners and Reading Road Runners. I parted company with the girls shortly after the halfway point to maintain my pace and found myself still in good nick by mile 18, the point at which things fell apart for me in London. The last 4 miles were a bit hard but I was still able to run a bit and power walk. A few niggles but I couldn't believe how good I felt (for running a marathon, it's all relative).

High fives from my fella. Rock on!

My favourite part was through the park between miles 18 and 20, there was shade and some nice downhill action. I was met by my fella who offered encouragement, ran with me for a while and then poured water over me before sending me back out into the scorching sun.The heat cause a few people issues; I saw a several people receiving medical treatment and I made sure I took on a little water at each station to stay hydrated. I'm rocking a spectacular runners tan now! I ended up not using my iPod at all, instead chatting to Anna and Amy, enjoying the encouragement from the sidelines and the few bands on route. I wanted to soak it all up and not miss a moment.

I was very impressed with the organisation, especially as it was the first event. There were loads of marshals, all in high spirits, friendly, knowledgeable and enthusiastic. The water stations were frequent and well stocked and many had gels available in the second half of the race too. Because of the route along the front there were plenty of public toilets we could use, with no queues! The course itself was relatively flat, save a couple of hills which I just power walked. Most of the course was along the front, starting off on roads and then dropping to the promenade, zig zagging up and down and going out onto both piers and back. Taking us under the finishing arch around the 18 mile point was a bit mean and the last 6 miles up and down the promenade was hard work, being flat, open and monotonous.

You can't see it but I AM smiling!

There was still a massive crowd when I reached the finish line and although everything ached, I still managed to run over the finish line with a smile on my face. I didn't feel as emotional as I did after London, or indeed the last few events I'd done. I think the difference was that I was well rested, relaxed and had built up some tolerance for fatigue. The finish area was well organised, obviously by the time I got there it wasn't very crowded so I was filtered through as fast as I could manage to collect my (amazing) medal, goody bag (containing arnica gel, mints and other bits and bobs) and a technical t-shirt in my favourite colour (purple).
I knocked a massive 57 minutes or so off my London time and although I've already been asked when I'm going to do my next one and get a sub 5-hour, I don't have the same high as I did from London so I'm not sure if I'll do another or not. That said, all in all I loved every single moment of this race. There was a great atmosphere, excellent organisation and even at around £45 I thought it was a good value race. There were many other events going on as part of the bigger festival with a 5k, 10k and half marathon as well as kiddies events so something for everyone.

The tradition of the post race ice cream continues. Check out that bling!

Vital Stats
Race number: 6445
Full time: 05:05:34
Split 1: 02:29:01
Overall finish position: 1688 of 3001

Apple, Celery and Stilton Soup

This soup was dreamt up on a day when I'd done a split long run (8 miles pre-breakfast, 12 miles after work), knew I'd be hungry, would need something warm, simple, quick, tasty and hearty and wouldn't feel like going shopping. I had a bit of cheese and a pack of celery languishing in the fridge, a big bag of apples from my mum's tree and a few small spuds hidden away in a cupboard from the allotment, so I came up with the soup idea. These ingredients just seem to have a natural affinity and I was really pleased with how this turned out. Adjust the amount of cheese to suit your taste but a blue cheese does work best in my opinion.

Apple, Celery and Stilton Soup

Serves 2
Ingredients
1 tbsp oil
1clove garlic
1 smallish white onion
4 sticks celery
750 ml vegetable stock
2 medium apples
1 medium potato
1 tsp dried rosemary
30-50g stilton

Method

1. Heat the oil over a medium heat in a pan. 
2. Peel and crush the garlic, peel and roughly chop the onion and celery and add to the pan. Soften over a medium heat for about 10 minutes.
3. Peel, core and roughly chop the apples and add to the pan.
4. Roughly chop the potato and add to the pan. You can peel it if you prefer but I didn't bother.
5. Pour over the stock and add the herbs. Simmer for 10-15 minutes until the potato is cooked through and soft.
6. Crumble in the stilton, stir and leave to melt for a minute or two then remove from the heat, blend, season to taste and serve! 

This is especially good with croutons or crusty bread. Enjoy!

Tips on Healthy Winter Eating

Nasty illnesses such cold and flu can be frequent during the winter season with the assaults to the immune system. You can keep going and boost your immune system even during the winter months. There are some tips and great foods for remaining healthy in the winter months. There are a number of foods that will help you to remain healthy all winter long:

• Citrus fruits including lemons, limes, grapefruit and oranges are excellent sources of immune boosting vitamin C. 
• Carrots and green vegetables that are high in antioxidants
• Pomegranates
• Potatoes

This time of year eating fruits and vegetables is a must. Boosting the immunity can be done by eating carrots, which have anti-oxidants and beta-carotene; other great foods include mangoes and squash. Green mangoes can be used for salads while salsas and smoothies can have the mangoes that are riper in them.

Getting a veg box delivered over the winter can make life easier

Probiotics that help to protect against infection can be found in yogurts because of the live cultures in them. You can also add yogurt to recipes to boost the immune system farther, you can even mix it with cream cheese to use a spread. Garlic is also something that can be used all year long to help boost immunity and fight against illnesses such as cold and flu.

Yogurt with added protein will give you a boost.

Vitamin C, found in citrus fruits will help to keep the immune system working properly in order to keep you healthy. Oranges, grapefruit, lemons, limes and juices are a source of vitamin C that can help to ensure that you get the recommended daily dose without having to take supplements.

Pomegranates and their juice are full of antioxidants that prevent the oxidation of free radicals into LDL cholesterol. The oxidation causes plaque to build up in the arteries, and drinking pomegranate juice can keep the blood flowing freely to the heart. Vitamins A, C, and K can be found in escarole, mustard and collards, which are also source of folate.

Why not try my Apple, Celery and Stilton soup? Blog post soon!

Soups are an amazing way to keep yourself eating healthy in the winter. You can fix soups with a variety of vegetables to help ensure that you get almost all of the nutrients that you need.  An example would be adding potatoes that are rich in vitamin B6 and C. Vegetarian chili will help the body that is afflicted with a cold or the flu. There are antiviral effects from garlic and onions while the immune system benefits from beans. Spices aid in clearing the sinuses, which can help you to feel better if you have the flu or a cold.

There are dozens of healthy seasonal foods that can be eaten in winter such as collards and mustard greens, which can be planted in a small space in your yard. Eating a wide variety of foods that are rich in vitamins and minerals will help you to receive the antioxidant boosting properties and natural probiotics that aid in digestive health. A wide range of colours and textures will help to make sure you are eating a healthy combination.

This post was written by Tammy Mahan, a medical/health freelance writer who contributes articles to Healthline.Com. You can find more Healthline content on twitter and Facebook.