Recipe of the Month: Banana Pancakes

My fall run focus was cut short by the return of my calf strain (which never really healed all the way). So instead of the usual runtastic autumn, I've been enjoying some long bike rides. I try as much as possible to eat real food while doing these rides (typically 60-90km), as opposed to sports drinks or gels. I really tried to get into rice cakes, but a) couldn't get a recipe going I really liked and b) they don't respond well to being frozen.

This pancake recipe is now my preferred ride fuel. It's delicious, freezes well, and has a good mix of glycemic indexes from the the oats, bananas, and flour, so you get your calories absorbed over a span of time, which is good for long rides.

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp ground flax + 1/4 cup water
1/2 cup oats
2 ripe bananas
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup crushed pecans
1 tbsp coconut oil

Instructions:
1. Get the flax soaking in a measuring cup with 1/4 cup water
2. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl
3. Stir in water and mix to make consistent batter, then add flax
4. Mash bananas in a smaller bowl until smooth, then add to batter
5. Stir in melted coconut oil and add pecans
6. Ladle batter into hot pan and cook until brown on either side

I put these pancakes in a ziplock bag and freeze them, taking one or two out when I'm about to head out on a long ride.

K-Town Duathlon

Race report coming for the Kingston Duathlon. Another new race for me and a fun experience. MSC definitely puts on a quality event. I was really happy with my race, which will most likely be my last multisport race of the season. Won my AG and got 4th overall (MSC has top 5 as the podium, so an overall podium for me here too). Time for a little r'n'r then on to my fall run focus.

First Race of the Season

My race report for the Sydenham Du is up. Fun to try out a new race after doing the same ones for a few years. Sydenham is a nice venue for multisport racing. The field was pretty small but some pretty fast folks showed up across the various races, including a few Ottawa-based professionals, at least one current Age Group World Champion, and multiple ITU World Championship qualifiers. It was a hot one out there, but not as bad as it's been over the past couple of weeks. As is often the case, the first race of the season serves as a reminder of some things I need to work on. I'll likely only get one more race in this year, so that'll be the real test.

Recipe of the Month: Race Nutrition

I've tried a few different race nutrition options through the years. As a short course dude, nutrition isn't all that crucial compared to what it is in long course racing, but it can still make a difference at the tail end of a race, especially when it's really hot. I think a sprint race is totally doable without any nutrition at all, but I still like to have a little something on the bike just to make sure my blood sugar is topped up for the run and I'm also getting electrolytes in as I'm a heavy sweater and do plenty of races with temps running into the 30s.

I think if I were racing long course I'd separate my carbs from my electrolytes (i.e. eat calories, drink electrolytes), but in short course the intensity is not conducive to eating solids, and I just like to get what I need by sipping away during the bike.

I've used Skratch and Infinit with some success, but have fallen victim to the classic mistake of "I'll just mix this a little more concentrated that what's called for so I get more calories", not having any understanding of osmolarity. Of course the results were not pretty.

Maltodextrin comes in plastic baggies and looks very incriminating

After having made my own protein bars for a couple of years, I figured I'd take a stab at race nutrition. For calories I mostly use maltodextrin, which is easily available at home brewing stores. Maltodextrin has a super high glycemic index, so enters your blood quicker than sugars. Because it consists of big molecules, it allows you to concentrate a lot more calories into a solution than other sugars like glucose or fructose, while still maintaining a proper osmolarity for absorption. There's also sucrose from the lemonade, which is absorbed through different channels so increases your caloric uptake, while having a slightly lower glycemic index, spacing out the rate at which the sugar enters your bloodstream.

Like many of my ingredients, I get my lemonade from Costco

For electrolytes I just use a Nuun tab - it's readily available and has everything you need. Coming up with a way to get all the necessary electrolytes in there some other way is more than I want to get involved with.

Sprint Drink:

6 tbsp maltodextrin

125 ml Kirkland Organic Lemonade

300 ml  water

1 nuun active tab

Calories: 225

Magnesium = 25 mg

Potassium = 115 mg

Calcium = 13 mg

Sodium = 377 mg

I have other variations of this recipe I use. For example my pre-race drink is made with green tea for caffeine, and is more evenly split between maltodextrin and sucrose. My Olympic distance mix is a greater quanitity, also with caffeine and some extra salt. I may post those sometime down the road.

Reflections on run training

When I first started running outside again this spring, I was dismayed at how my run fitness had deteriorated from last fall. But it's been steadily coming back. I'm still not where I was last fall, but I'm at least where I was this time last spring, so that's something.

Here are two runs along more or less the same route, a year apart:

Date	Distance	Time	Avg pace	Avg HR
May 8 2017	10.24km	0:53:56	5:16/km	152
May 1 2018	12.45km	1:05:13	5:14/km	153

So, pretty similar. Doesn't look like I'm starting this year in a different place fitness-wise from last year, which is disappointing because I'd hoped to make some run gains this winter. But it's looking way better than it had a month ago.

Unfortunately I've also developed another running injury. So far I've had run training derailed by patella-femoral syndrome, achilles tendonitis, and shin-splints/medial tibial stress syndrome. Time to add something new to the list: calf strain.

So I'm back off running for a while. This one has been building for a while, and in retrospect I made some poor decisions. As it's an injury I've never had before, I did really realize what was happening/what could happen. Why now?

One reason is the way I've been doing my runs. This year I'm doing a little more volume than last year, but the big difference is my frequency. For example, last year in early May I ran about 2:20 in a week, spread over 5 runs. This year I ran about the same duration, but in only 3 runs. I'm thinking that more, shorter runs is a better way to build volume, so perhaps I need to rethink my training schedule.

Realistically though, this injury was only exacerbated by my switch to outdoor running and the way I was doing it. I've been noticing tightness/pain in my calves (though one in particular) for a while now, stemming from some lower leg strength/conditioning work I'd been doing in order to avoid the shin splint/achilles issues I've had in the past. The discomfort was mild so I made no adjustments to my routine, but I really should have. I came into outdoor running season set up to fail with injuries that weren't healed. No surprise that outdoor mileage pushed them over the edge.

Too bad because I was just about ready to incorporate speedwork. But so far, it's looking like this injury will take a while to get better. At this point I have no idea when I'll be able to get into race shape this year, if at all. Running really is ridiculous. With the amount of effort I have to put into injury prevention/management, it's a wonder I do it at all. I periodically contemplate just becoming a full-time cyclist, and one of these years I'm going to do it.

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.