Thinking Out Loud- Running, resting and riding a bike!

Happy Thursday to everyone who reads this sentence! (And all those who don't too, I guess ;) I am in a particularly random and chatty mood right at the minute and this is actually quite acceptable for once, as it is Thinking Out Loud Thursday. So prepare for my thoughts. Out loud. On Thursday! 

As always thanks to the awesomely awesome Amanda from Running with Spoons for this fun weekly link-up (also Happy Birthday!)

1. Now speaking of running (Running with Spoons? See= relevant) this is a topic that seems to be of quite high focus in my life right now...
Running.
It has been just over a year since I began my long (and some times quite painful) journey into the enlivening experience that is running.

Never before have I been so stiff, so limpy (sure that's a word!) and so tired at the end of the day than when I started running. But never before have I been more happy.

Seriously! When you find that one special thing that just makes you feel alive... do it often! Unless your legs feel sore and jelly-like and extremely tired (as mine do at the moment)... then you should probably take a few days rest (as I am doing at the moment)

So that's one of the main things that has been on my mind this past week. Only recently I've started seeing myself as a 'runner'. Not because I've upped my distances or whatever but because I can finally see how much running has changed my life and how much it continues to do so. I'm a runner because I love it- all of it, good and bad.

2. This is where my second point of interest comes into it.
Resting.
Yes, I fall into the category of those who hate rest days. Yes I have those ridiculous worries of losing everything I've gained from a day or two or three of rest. Silly, illogical and just plain irrational... Just try telling that to my brain!

Recently though, my legs have been feeling it. As I mentioned before I have been upping my distances and I think all those extra k's are started to weigh down on my little legs. I've been feeling tight and sore and just plain tired, so had to take the (extremely hard) executive decision to take a few days rest. I''m keeping sane by telling myself that it's for my body and I love my body and my body deserves love.

Although this is basically me:

 3. To regenerate and replenish my tired body on these restful days I can't think of a better breakfast than a nice big green smoothie!

1 frozen banana+ a handful of frozen green grapes+ big handful of kale + a big handful of spinach + 3 scoops of greek yoghurt+ sprinkle of chia seeds+ splash of almond milk- whazzed!

I love, love, LOVE frozen grape smoothies- the sweetness and taste the grapes add is soo yummy!

Eaten here along side some choc truffles because you know... chocolate!

So I was taking my pictures of this brekky and noticed a sneaky little shadow in the corner of my lens.

Yep, I cheers-ed myself to breakfast! CHEERS!

3. On the topic of breakfast- Here is a look at today's.
You see I am on the firm belief that ugly meals always seem to taste better, even though they are more ugly. And so when I stirred my 3/4 cup muesli, 1/2 cup greek yoghurt and 1/2 cup almond milk in a bowl with some chia seeds to soak overnight.. I knew this brekky wasn't going to be pretty- but it sure was going to taste good!

To go with my overnight oats I decided I wanted to stir in some banana cashew butter ice cream; you know, for extra prettiness! So into the food processor went 1 chopped frozen banana and about 1-2 tablespoons of cashew butter, whazzed (and scraped down a few times) until smooth and creamy:

Stirred into the overnight oats. See I told you it looked great ;)

Placed in the freezer for 20 mins to harden a bit.
I don't even care that it was ugly... it was delicious!

 4. I haven't been completely honest with you about my resting though (yes we are back on that topic)
I have been doing some Purely Twin's workouts each morning and also...
RIDING MY NEW BIKE!!

^^This is so true! ^^

I like really close to the beach so I love riding on the bike trails that span right across the coast line and look out to the gorgeous blue sea (remember it is Summer here in Aus) so everyday I've been trying to get out for a ride on my beloved bike

This is sort of what my baby looks like, however mine is cream:

If running is my number one outlet to relieve stress and help me think, then riding my bike is a close second- it is so relaxing and leaves me so happy. Thank you endorphins!

Aaand I feel like I've rambled on enough about all the random stuff happening in my life right at the moment!

Be sure to check out what everyone else is thinking about over at Spoons.

Tell me:
Do you like/ hate rest days?
Do believe ugly meals taste better?
Bike? Do you love to ride a bike?

Bye for now folks! Have a fantabulous day! :D

WIAW #39

Hi everyone! How are we all today?

Me? I'm slightly dying over here in Aus as we have had a few, shall we say, bordering on oven-like days... the highest one being about 44 degrees Celsius (111.20 degrees Fahrenheit)! T'was pretty sizzling.

As a result my eats... haven't changed at all! If I want warm soup, I'll have warm soup (goes the same way for smoothies in winter.)

Speaking of eats- it's Wednesday, I have been eating foods and here I am to share them with you!

Here is What I Ate Wednesday Tuesday! Thanks as usual to Peas and Crayons for this awesome weekly link-up!

Pre-breakfast:
I had two medjool dates to give me a bit of energy for my run this morning before returning back home after an hour ready for brekky!!

Breakfast: 8:00am

 My perfect bowl of oats along with a restore apple and acai super nudie juice.

 Topped with lots of cashew butter and inhaled!

I rarely drink juice now-a-days (boy, did I used to drink a lot of juice!) but I do enjoy the odd nudie juice every now and then seeing as all the ingredients are written on the front = only fresh fruit and veg.

Lunch: 12:45am
Breakfast did a good job of feeling me up for ages, however I knew I should probably eat some lunch a few hours later to keep my metabolism up and energy stores fueled.


So I baked a sweet potato in the oven topped it with hommus and a veggie burger with some nutritional yeast, popped some pop corn, created a pot of frozen peas, cherry tomatoes and capsicum with a side of spinach.

 I do prefer sweet baked sweet potatoes (topped with nut butter or coconut butter) but I do also like a good savoury one!
If you've read this blog for a while you would probably know about my obsession with frozen peas- so yummy!

 And popcorn. I. LOVE. POPCORN.

 Upon starting my lunch, I did in fact realise I was hungry :)
So I nom-ed

Snack: 4:00pm

 For an afternoon snack I had a chopped pear with grapes and a glass of soy milk:

 Dinner: 6:45pm

 Dinner featured one of my favourite meals- roasted veg with whole wheat pasta, spinach and garlic tofu:

 The veg was pumpkin, carrot, beetroot, swede and parsnip, roasted with a drizzle of olive oil at 180 degrees celsius for 45 mins.
I know there's no sauce or anything but I seriously love the flavours of this dish without adding any more to confuse the buds.

After dinner snack included a small handful of brazil nuts because brazil nuts are probably in my top 3 for favourite nuts. With peanuts and cashews up there too.

And that's that!

What did you eat Wednesday?
Do you drink juice?
Have any food obsessions?

Still hungry for more? Head on over to Peas and Crayons to see what everyone else is nom-ing on!

Bye for now folks! :D

SPAGHETTI SQUASH!! IN AUS!!

There are rare moments here in Australian supermarkets where you may in fact stumble across something absolutely brilliant that you have been teased with over and over again on other American and European blogs, resulting in an impromptu happy dance with accompanying squeals of delight and occasional hugs to strangers.

Moments like these that I have experienced- finding nutritional yeast, finding kabocha (boy was that a goooood find!) and most recently finding.....

SPAGHETTI SQUASH!

Looking lovely with a knife straight through the middle.. my muscles needed a break- so I took a picture ;)

It was fate I tell you! You see, we had already done our weekly grocery shop the day before and I had a full fridge of veg, when the mother decided she needed a few dinner items and out of the corner of my eye one slightly strange looking veg caught my eye.

Cut in half- because I am a BEAST!

Can you believe it was the last one too? So not only were we not supposed to be at the grocery shops, there was only one spaghetti squash left at that time of the day when we decided to go! FATE I TELL YA!

Drizzled and rubbed with olive oil, sprinkled with cracked black pepper and placed face down on a baking tray to roast for 50 mins at 180 degrees celsius.

Good on ya Australia for finally growing this freaking awesome squash! Though where did the kabocha go? I need that back in my life!!

 Removed from oven, placed on a plate and microwaved for 1 minute:

 Of course I had a little try of the squash before I made a meal out of it and it tasted...
FABULOUS! I loved the flavour of it all by itself. For some reason it reminded me of roasted chest nuts?

I got my fork out and ran it along the soft squash until I had pulled and fluffed out all of the 'strands' and then stirred them in with a mixture of peas, 4 beans, lentils garlic, rosemary and olive oil that was quickly fried up together in a hot pan:

 Topped off with nutritional yeast for the cheese factor!

 I love spaghetti squash and just like with kabocha I'm slightly sad (even though I still have another half of the squash in the fridge) because I have no idea when I'll see one of these guys again... it's just heart breaking!

 The spaghetti-like strands (that really freaked me out) the mild yet oh-so-comforting flavour and the filling-ness of this squash seriously surprised me!

 I didn't even need the side of blanched asparagus and kale I made to go with it:

Although I did chomp my way through as much as I could because asparagus and kale is really yummy too!

That was my first experience with spaghetti squash!

How about you?
Have you ever tried spaghetti squash?
Do you live in a place where it is readily available?
Do you like it? I'm sure everyone who's ever tried it liked it. Without a doubt! ;)

Bye for now friends! Have a great day! :D

Running fuel

Happy Sunday everyone! I hope everyone's day has started off well. Mine started with a bit of a surprise...

I've mentioned this before (probably multiple times) but my running routine is basically run, rest, run, rest and today was a run day.

Now, I don't have a fancy shmancy fitness watch or mile tracker or heart rate monitor or step counter... my distances are the result of how I'm feeling on my run and if my legs feel like they are starting to break- then I'll head on home.

So, recently my legs must be getting stronger and my fitness too (no longer huffing and puffing like the big bad wolf after 20 mins) because when I arrived back home after this morning's run (legs feeling quite similar to wobbly jelly) I looked at the clock and had to do a double take. It was 7:30am. I had run for 1 hour and 15 mins! What?!?

I think the reason it shocked me so much was because I was perfectly fine (if just a little bit more sore and stiff than usual)! I didn't feel like I'd been pounding the ground for over an hour and I guess that's a good thing?
Sure is Steph!

Feeling it now though Steph!

I will admit I'm starting to feel it now (tired-ness is creeping in) but in the name of food lovin' I knew that I really needed to start watching what I fed my running machine and make sure I was filling (and I mean FILLING) it with all the good stuff. Wanna see what I have been nom-ing on?

 Even on rest days a big bowl of steel cut oats full of complex carbs, good fats and protein, is a must as these days in between my runs are where my body recuperates and replenishes it's energy stores. Food is vital- no skimping on portions for this gal!

 I forgot to put vanilla protein powder in this bowl (to make it my favourite bowl of oats), but it's still full of protein from the oats, almond milk, chia seeds and cashew butter on top:

 Made with banana and lots (if I could underline twice I would) of cinnamon cooked in:

 And then of course stirred around:

Lunch involved plenty of delicious fresh veggies (thank you grocery shopping day!) delicious homemade spelt bread, hommus and mashed red kidney beans and lentils:

 The veggies that made this sandwich the monster it was included spinach, avocado, grated carrot and beetroot, cucumber, capsicum and tomato:

 My mouth didn't quite fit all the way around this one... but that's ok!

Dinner was another big plate of veg (all those vitamins and minerals work wonders for the bod)

 With some poached eggs topped with salsa on the side for a little more protein (essential for recovery)

 Brussels sprouts, broccoli, beans and white sweet potato roasted in coconut oil for around 45 mins:

 N-O-M

It's so important what you eat on your rest days as this can influence how you run on the following day! I only just learned that myself! So when I awoke this morning and nomed on 2 pitted medjool dates as a pre-run snack, I knew I would be fighting fit and ready to tackle the trails (well I don't really follow any trails...)

Upon return (and the surprise of finding out how long I was out for) I sipped on some coconut water for fast re-hydration and some added electrolytes etc. Whipped up a ginormous smoothie:

1 large frozen banana + a handful of mixed frozen berries and grapes+ a handful of kale + a handful of spinach + 3 big scoops of greek yoghurt + sprinkle of chia seeds + a dash of almond milk- all whazzed together until smooth.

Then I took a shower (still carrying around my coconut water with me everywhere I went) and raced back down to toast up two wholemeal crumpets, slather them with cashew butter and enjoy my deeeelicious brekky:

 Even though I wasn't very hungry after my long run I knew it was super important to put back all those nutrients into my body so I nom-ed my way through this (the hunger returned soon after starting) and was a very happy camper.

 I feel like I'm doing the right thing with my fueling and really all I'm doing is eating the delicious foods I love- which is the most important thing! ;)

Now my belly's full, my legs are jelly and my smile is big. Perfect. :)


How about you?
How do you re-fuel?
What do you eat on your rest days? Do you eat differently?
Do you ever lose track of the time when out for a run?

Bye for now folks- have a great day!!! :D