The Health Benefits of Eating Seasonally

As we head into Spring and the growing season we'll be starting to see early salads, rhubarb and other seasonal vegetables start to supplement the winter roots of leeks, parsnips and squashes and become more prominent in our supermarkets and on menus.

The idea of eating seasonally is becoming re-accepted into our society as the years go by and this is only a good thing. I say "re-accepted" because while it was only a couple of generations ago that people were more in touch with the seasons and the food it brought, as supermarkets made all manner of exotic fruits and vegetables available to us all year round and fewer people grew their own, the sense of when something was "in season" got a bit lost. So why should it matter what we eat when?

It's no news that the sooner that food is eaten after harvest the high it's nutritional content, reducing our need for supplements. But freezing, canning and other preserving methods help to combat this and I'm certainly not suggesting that those sorts of foods are bad for you. However there's a theory that we often prefer lighter, fresher foods in the hotter months and more substantial warming foods in cooler times because the body is more in need of and better at processing certain foods at certain times. The more efficient the body is at processing food the better.

My allotment

I'm fortunate enough to have a few pots outside the house and a half plot allotment that is mostly given over to things that can fend for themselves. The three rhubarb crowns I've got there are springing into life and I know I'll have a glut soon. Crumbles and compotes are the order of the day and I'll be able to ring the changes with my breakfast smoothies. Since I've been dabbling in growing my own I've noticed that fruit and veg eaten in season just tastes better. And knowing that something is at it's best for a limited period of time also encourages me to make the best of it. I use carrots all year round in soups, stews and curries but the ones I've grown myself, the first of the season, I eat with an uncomplicated dip or lightly cooked with herb butter so I can really taste them. I look forward to the summer and the strawberries that smell of strawberries rather than of nothing. I make hollandaise once a year specifically to dip asparagus into. It makes me happy, which is a huge health benefit in itself.

Growing tomatoes upside down - space saving!

Keeping chard fresh on the windowsill

But eating with the seasons also means that you get more variety in your diet which means you'll have a greater range of nutrients in the body. It's more beneficial than eating the same things all the time, reducing the likelihood of food allergies and intolerances.

Most supermarket magazines will have a feature on seasonal produce and accompanying recipe ideas but if you're in the UK this site is also quite handy. At the time of writing the following are among the things in season:

• cauliflower
• celeriac
• jerusalem artichoke
• kale
• leeks
• parsnips
• purple sprouting broccoli
• spinach
• spring onions
• swede
• wild nettles
• rhubarb

So next time you go food shopping, think about buying something that's in season and maybe try a new recipe that uses it as the star. Your body will benefit.

Internet Findings : March

Here's a little round up of some of the blogs, articles and other bits and pieces I've enjoyed across the internet this month.

Thankfully I haven't suffered any injuries during my marathon training but I'm keeping this article on the best cross training for runners in the back pocket just in case. There's a lot of training to go for other events yet! And since finding out that training for endurance events could affect my teeth I'm going to be even more careful about the drinks and snacks I consume. Time to practice breathing through my nose a bit more too perhaps.

Anything that encourages people to get active is a good thing in my book. There's a nice discussion about whether workplaces should pay for gym memberships, and some great resources on the NHS site on gym-free workouts.

Ever wondered what it's like to be an athlete? I know I have. Having a coach makes me feel like one sometimes and it's definitely been beneficial. you should absolutely read this article if you're thinking about getting a coach yourself.

For all the benefits of coaching I'm nowhere near this guy's standard. I've been full of admiration for Marathon Man ever since I met him at Equinox24 last year. Here's a great video about what he's doing and why. It's enough to make a person feel truly inadequate but it's important that we don't compare our accomplishments to those of others too often or to judge others by our own standards.

But if you do fancy a challenge how about Will Of Iron, the iron distance triathlon challenge for a good cause? You can take part as an individual or as a team (2-200), at the gym or outdoors, and divvy up the triathlon by sports or by distance. The only rule is that you need to complete your challenge over seven consecutive days and raise a minimum of £250. It's £25 to enter.

When all's said and done though, it's easy to forget that downtime is just as important as being active, especially when you're in the throes of marathon training or life changes. It's ok if you're not doing something every minute of the day. I have to remind myself of this often.

Finally, and for no real reason other than it made me smile... a little article from The Times Letters...

I Went To Iceland

As my twitter feed will confirm, I have spent most of this week in Iceland on a bit of a holiday with my mum. It was equal parts tiring and relaxing. Tiring because in order to see the Northern Lights you have to stay up quite late and relaxing because we spent a whole afternoon at The Blue Lagoon and really did very little else apart from meandering around Reykjavik, eating and drinking. I didn't have a hundred things competing for brain space. I didn't need to be anywhere at a particular time. I nice change of pace for me.

At the Blue Lagoon

My training was naturally much lighter in the past seven days but I'm in taper for Brighton anyway so I'm cool with that. I landed very late last night so missed my swimming lesson and the session that my coach had scheduled, but I'm going out to do that later and switch out Sunday's rest day for a catch up day. It's nothing too arduous so I figure I can cope. The weekend before I left was great in terms of running though. I ran a total of 17.5 miles, broken down into a half hour recovery run and a long run in 4 parts... Woodley parkrun (where I PB'd), running to the test Bracknell parkrun, running said test parkrun and running home again the long way round.

Getting ready for the Norther Lights trip.

It was really fun to be part of the test team and to check out the course before the inaugural event on April 4th. It reminded me of Basingstoke a little, a twisty 3 laps with a long incline through the woods and some sharper climbs over grassy banks that will test the legs a bit.

The mountain we could see from our hotel

On the Sunday, the day before I flew out I had my assessment for my Exercise Referral module. It was a long old day, as not only did I have to teach my circuit and defend my portfolio but I also had to take part in all the other candidates' circuits which amounted to around 4 hours activity. It was a long day but ultimately a good one as I passed and have now completely finished my diploma. The sense of relief was huge!

The other view from the hotel: Concert Hall and Harbour.

So that's what I've been up to over the last week. It's full steam ahead again now though as I'm straight back into training, PT-ing and event work. So for now I'll leave you with wishes for a lovely and relaxing weekend. Have fun!

Should You Exercise When Sick?

I have followed the Precision Nutrition blog for some time. They're a good resource for anyone with an interest in health and fitness with a fine line in infographics. I wanted to share this one in particular because I know I often struggle to decide whether I should work out when I'm feeling under the weather and there really are times when it pays not to try and be superhuman.

When you're training for something it's easy to convince yourself that working out and pushing through is better for you than resting up. Every missed session can feel like a disaster but you need to recover. Maybe you switch the session for something lighter to help the immune system but don't go out and do a hill set. That ain't gonna do you any favours.

There's a full article on working out when sick, as well as the info graphic below and another accompanying infographic on what to eat when sick.

Source: Precision Nutrition

Stay healthy!

A Week in the Life

I did a day in the life post a few months ago but life's changed so much since then and although I put a lot into my Friday Round Up posts there's so much that doesn't make it in there too. So I thought I'd give you a sense of what my weeks look like at the moment. Get a cuppa and a biscuit.

Monday : I'm up and out around 8am for the day job. I usually have some interval or hill work to do as my training and if I can be faffed with showering at lunchtime I'll try and do it then. After work I PT a friend, stay for some food and then head home to chill or do my own work out.

Tuesday : I'm often sent to Newbury for the day job on a Tuesday. This makes my commute significantly longer so dinner time ends up being traffic-dependent. I lead my RunFitUK group at 7:30 and often follow this up with my own training session in the gym. Then it's home to shower, eat and write next week's session whilst listening to my dad's radio show on wirelessfm.net.

Wednesday : I start the day job early on Wednesdays so that I can leave early and head over to BoxBellFit to teach metafit, HIIT and Kettlebells. This is one of my favourite parts of the week. I'll do some strength training after classes then head home for a late dinner and an early night.

Thursday : Up at 5:35am to teach Kettlebells at BBF at 6:30am then at my desk just after 8am. Despite the early start I love it. We're getting some gorgeous sunrises at the moment. Coffee is a big feature of the day.  I PT straight after work, then train and use any time left between then and my swimming lesson at 9:30pm to study/session plan and just catch up on stuff. I'll try and cook a batch of something so I don't have to worry too much about lunches. Home. Shower. Sleep.

Friday : WFH! Lie in day! I'll sneak my training in before work or at lunchtime so I have a clear evening for fun things. If I'm in I'll do some "proper" cooking and might be sociable by having a friend over to chat and watch a film but sometimes Friday night is gig night which is also fun.

Saturday : parkrun day! After parkrun I PT and then tackle a bike session if it's been scheduled. I try and get all the activity out of the way early on so I have the afternoon to myself. I don't get many big chunks of time in my week any more so allotmenting, sewing, cooking, all my other occasional hobbies, happen here. General rule of thumb seems to be that if I've not been out on Friday I'll have something going on on Saturday.

Sunday : Long Slow Run day with occasional dog walking unless I'm marshaling for Barnes Fitness, in which case I'll do my LSR on Saturday and skip parkrun. Sunday evenings are for chilling out. Always.

I'm just about keeping things balanced but it'll probably all change again in a few weeks. Until then I'm just keeping on keeping on.

Funk, Soul and R&B (Running and Bananas!)

This week I seem to have mostly been eating bananas. Bananas in porridge, with yogurt and granola, mashed and heated through with a square of chocolate, in pancakes, with nut butter and on their own. And I still have a curry recipe I want to try. I came away with a stack of left overs from the race last weekend and my freezer only has so much space. Any more banana recipe suggestions (apart from cake, smoothies and ice-cream) are welcome.

And I already had some in the fruit bowl!

So back to last weekend. I had a bit of an unplanned rest day on Friday. I'd gone to my swim class against better judgement on Thursday, having suffered with a streaming cold all day, and felt better for it but woke up on Friday morning feeling congested and achy. My first thought, as it was 5:30am, was that it was early enough to get a gym session or run in before work. My second thought was that I'd be far better off staying in bed with a cup of tea and some Breaking Bad. I had a chat with my coach scheduled that day and he agreed it was better to take the time off and moved my schedule around so I wasn't tempted to try and play catch up. Better to set something achievable than destroy any confidence gained in the race simulation session the week before.

By Saturday I was feeling up to the day ahead: parkrun, PT client, dog walking and study. A productive day. I had a whale of a time helping out at Cholsey Chase on the Sunday and even managed to drag myself out mid afternoon for a 10 mile training run. I find it so hard to go out at that time but it was a good, solid run and I rewarded myself by spending the rest of the day in my PJs and an over-sized hoodie I've had since Uni.

My "not leaving the house again today" outfit

So apart from Friday, this week's training has been pretty good. Admittedly I skipped my bike session due to lack of time but I managed everything else scheduled. A reasonable strength session, 27 miles run and an early morning swim today. I was so late home and knackered after PT and my run last night that I decided to skip swim class. I know, I know, but running is the bigger priority but actually I got more crawl practice done this morning than I would have done in class.

And the week in general has been fun. We did a beer race at RunFit this week which everyone seemed to enjoy and I've seen some lovely sunrises. I got some new music and a new book through he post, both of which I'd forgotten I'd ordered. Oh and I got asked to be Godmother for my cousin's little girl! I'm so excited about this I only gave a small thought to the race I'll miss for the Christening. That's very unlike me.

This weekend I'm testing out the course for the brand new parkrun that's due to start in Bracknell in April and I'm back at UEL Sports Dock on Sunday for my assessment for my Exercise Referral module, the last in my PT diploma. I'm crossing fingers and toes that I pass because on Monday I'm off on a much anticipated break to Iceland with my mum for a few days, and I'd really rather not have a re-sit hanging over me. With everything else that I've been busy with in the past few weeks I keep forgetting it's so soon. I've not packed yet!

But before all that I'm having a Night Out tonight with Craig Charles as he brings his funk and soul DJ set to Reading! I'm not sure I'm built for nights out anymore but I'll sure as hell be throwing some shapes on that dance floor, for better or worse.

What was your last big Night Out? Has your social life suffered as much as mine thanks to training?

Behind the Scenes at Cholsey Chase

Ever wondered just what goes on behind the scenes on race day? As a participant you'll likely have arrived to see the start and finish areas set up, water stations in place, timing boards and photographers ready to go and the registration area buzzing. If you've ever given up some of your time to be a marshal at an event you might have helped to set up aid stations, put out signs and helped to set up the registration area. But even then there's so much else that has to happen to make races the success that they are.

This year I'm helping out behind the scenes at all but one of the Barnes Fitness events and gaining a huge amount of insight into and appreciation for just how many things have to come together in the lead up to the day and indeed on the day itself. The first event of the season was Cholsey Chase, a 9 mile event that is mostly off road, with some stunning views at the top of some tough climbs.

The race was due to start at 10:30am, but by the time I arrived at 8am it was clear that Ellie and a handful of others had already been on site for a while, marking out the course and setting up the registration area inside the sports pavilion. I set about helping to inflate the finishing arch, mark the parking areas, fill water containers, collect bananas and set up the finish area.

By 9am we had a full compliment of marshals including some familiar faces from Woodley parkrun who were not only manning registration desks but running as well... dedication! There was some mild concern that the timing chips hadn't arrived but just before the runners started to turn up they appeared. I just had time to avail myself of possibly the largest piece of bakewell slice I've ever seen from the cafe before helping out with registration. At just £1 a piece I'm amazed that they make any money but the cafe was buzzing all morning with runners, spectators and marshals, hardly surprising with such a wonderful array of cakes, rolls, pancakes and pizza slices.

Breakfast!

I was surprised by the amount of on the day entries we had but this is part of the joy of these smaller, more local races... you can look out of the window in the morning before deciding. By all accounts it was extremely wet and muddy last year, so much so that the lead bike had to stop after a mile! It was clear from the finishing times that the conditions made a difference. Three minutes were knocked off of the course record with the first man finishing in a time of just 53:02... that's speed I just can't quite comprehend!

Shortly after 10am Ellie gave the race briefing and at 10:30 on the dot the airhorn sounded and they were off! Race HQ may not have been playing host to runners any more but there were still things to do. Getting a head start on clearing away registration, setting up the trophy table, locating the finishing tape and ensuring goody bags and a box for the timing chips to be put into were near the finish funnel. There was time to enjoy a cup of tea and some chat before readying ourselves for the runners return.

Awaiting the race briefing

The distance between the course entrance onto the field and the finishing line gave us plenty of time to get into position and ready our cheering voices. I also learnt about the magic that is the commentator mat, which uses the timing chip technology to let you know who's approaching the finish line so you can name check them. I've always loved getting a name check at events, it makes you feel quite special! It's definitely a skill to judge the mood of an incoming runner, who needs some time before having a goody bag foisted upon them and who's happy to have their timing tag whipped off right away and learning the best places to stand so as not to get in their or the photographer's way.

Once everyone was over the line, trophies handed out and people had started to dissipate it was time for operation clear up. Tape, stakes, signs, banners and flags all had to be collected up and stowed away. Taking down the gazebo was a 4 person job. The highlight of the clear up has to be Ellie's dad rolling up and sprawling on the finishing arch in a bid to deflate it more quickly. And "suddenly" it was all over and I was heading home with a large piece of brownie and a couple of bunches of left over bananas. In reality it'd been 5 hours but the time just flew by. In a couple of weeks time I'll get to see how preparation for and running of a duathlon differs. It's the day the clocks spring forwards... I wonder how many people will be caught out!

It takes a lot of hard work and good will to put on a race and it can't happen without help. There's always a minimum number of people needed to marshal the course, man water stations and the finish line. Local and small events depend on volunteers and tend to look after them well so if you can't participate or your have a friend or loved one running in a race, consider offering to help out. Your help will always be appreciated and you can still support your runner.