Recipe of the Month: Protein Bars

I'm going to start a recipe of the month feature here, since I do put quite a bit of thought into my nutrition. I have a few key philosophies:
#1 Eat real food - I really try to avoid buying prepackaged/mixed stuff. It's generally cheaper to make stuff yourself, and that way you know exactly what you're eating.
#2 Plant based - I know the vegan thing isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I try to be as plant-based as possible, but a variety of reasons (my own health and the health of our environment being two of the big ones).

So here's the first in a series of recipes I'll be sharing. I always make sure I get some protein into my body after a workout. I alternate between a protein shake (I use the Vega Protein & Greens powder from Costco) and this protein bar. This bar isn't really based on any particular recipe, and has undergone many iterations over the years as I've adjusted and refined it. In general, I've pared down the ingredients to make it as simple as possible, while making it more tasty (though making a delicious bar was never the priority) by upping the content of simple carbs, which is probably just as well in the interests of replenishing my glycogen stores after a workout (at least that's what I tell myself). This is the version of the recipe I've settled on. Each bar contains about 20g of protein, which is the most your body can absorb at a time, and contains all 9 essential amino acids.

Ingredients

1 cup dry mung beans

3 cups hemp hearts

2 cups chocolate chips

3/4 tsp salt

3 tbsp coconut sugar

3 tbsp ground flax disolved in 1 cup water

Directions

Boil mung beans for 10 min

Drain water, refill pot and return to boil

Reduce heat and simmer for 40 minutes

Mix flax and water and let rest for 10 minutes

Mix with other ingredients (except beans) in bowl

Add mung beans and immersion blend all ingredients

Spread in greased pan and bake @ 350 for 35 minutes

Chill and cut into 12 pieces

The flax is a source of Omegas, but is mainly used here for its effect as a binder. Mixing ground flax and water is known as a "flax egg" and works as a vegan substitute for eggs in most recipes.

The main source of protein in this recipe is the Hemp Hearts. Hemp is one of the few plant-based sources of protein to contain all 9 essential amino acids, making it a "complete protein".

 

After the beans are cooking I leave them pretty "soupy" - one of the things I've learned over making various versions of this recipe is you do want a good amount of liquid in there to help everything bake together into one solid block. I use Mung beans because they're easy to digest (i.e. they won't give you gas like other beans) and they're high in potassium and magnesium.


Once everything is mixed together I use the immersion blender to get it consistent. Not totally necessary, but I find it help to get an even texture and keep everything held together well.


Remember to grease the pan!


After it comes out of the oven and has cool, cut it into 12 even pieces.


And then individually wrap them and put them in the freezer.

Detraining

I had such hope and optimism for this season. With no swimming, I was going to put more emphasis on running, getting in more volume and progressing steadily using the 10% rule. My plan was to hit the spring with a solid aerobic base, starting outdoor running season at a good level of weekly mileage, ready to start integrating speedwork. I was going to race with better run fitness than I'd ever had before.

I was also hoping to put together a solid winter of training without having my gains stalled (or reversed) by repeated and/or extended bouts of illness. SPOILER ALERT: the year my training doesn't get derailed by illness ain't gonna be this year.

When it comes to training while sick, you're really damned if you do and damned if you don't. An article from Triathlon Magazine Canada from last year basically states that if you're really sick, don't train at all, and if it's just an above-the-neck sort of deal (sore throat, congestion, but no fever) then you can train, but don't exceed Zone 2 and no sessions beyond 45 minutes.

Discouragingly, according to running guru Hal Higdon “Research by Edward F. Coyle, Ph.D. at the University of Texas at Austin, suggests that runners begin to detrain (lose their fitness) after 48 to 72 hours, and that it takes two days of retraining to regain the fitness lost for every single day of training skipped." (Trainingpeaks blog). The article goes on to say, however, that the "loss can be somewhat avoided if you at least include in your schedule one to three days a week of maintenance training, especially if it incorporates high-intensity exercise that approaches VO2max."

Given the restriction on high intensity training while you're sick, however... that advice isn't particularly helpful in this instance. So here's the result of my terrible winter:

 Above is the result of my second outdoor run this year, about 49 minutes of Zone 2 running. My average pace: 5:48/km. I did the first km in 5:32, then fell off into the 5:40s.

In contrast, here's a similar run from last year, albeit on a hillier route:

Same duration, but the average pace was 5:02/km. Indeed, I was able to run 9 full kilometres, all under 5:00/km while keeping my heart rate in Zone 2. In contrast, this spring I couldn't even run a single kilometre at that speed without blowing over Zone 2. I'm about 45s/km slower now than I was last year. This is what detraining looks like.

Amazingly, I haven't seen a significant loss in bike fitness. This is similar to my experience last fall when I barely biked at all for almost two months and started back on the trainer with only a slight loss in fitness. I was running a lot during that time period, so reasoned that I was still getting lots of cardio in that was translating well to the bike.

This winter, however, my extended bouts of illness meant I wasn't biking or running. But while my run fitness has suffered tremendously, by bike fitness has barely budged. I don't have any explanation for this, other than that maybe my body is just better suited to biking than it is to running (though I suppose this has been obvious for years).

So now the question is, how quickly can I regain my run fitness? Will I be able to race this year at or near the level I did last year? We'll see.