I really didn’t like rice pudding until I started running. It was too sweet, too creamy and just too much like nursery food for my liking. How things have changed…I can’t get enough of the stuff now! Rice Pudding is FANTASTIC recovery food!!!!! After a big bike ride, swim or long run out in the cold, it not only warms you up but it has a great combination of fast-acting high G.I. carbohydrate (short-grain pudding rice) to replenish your depleted glycogen stores, plus protein and calcium from the milk to help towards muscle repair.
Rice pudding is particularly good as it takes minutes to prepare before you leave the house – pop it into the oven at a low temperature and its ready two to three hours later on your return! All you have to do it take it out of the oven and eat it up. Yum Yum.
Take a look at Go Faster Food for some more rice pudding ideas, but here’s a basic version you can just leave in the oven while you are out for your long training session:
- 100g short-grain pudding rice
- 1.2 litre semi-skimmed milk (you can use skimmed, full fat, soya milk, rice milk, whatever you prefer)
- 3 tbsp demerara sugar (less if using sweetened soya or rice milk)
- good grating of nutmeg
- 1 cinnamon stick (optional)
- 1 bay leaf (optional)
- Preheat the oven – fan oven 130


A lovely lady called Annabel Lee at a new start-up sports nutrition venture called Orbana very kindly sent me some samples of their new energy drink to try out. Many of my followers will know that I am not one to get enthused by commercial sports nutrition products, all of which seem to claim that their product will be your answer to improved performance/recovery because of its unique blend of carbohydrate, minerals, protein etc etc. I find that most of these drinks and gels wither play havoc with my stomach or make me gag. They also tend to leave a sweet and sickly artificial taste in your mouth. I am much happier with the home made variety
IRONSTRUCK
I’ve just put up a new link on Go Faster Food for the most amazing site -
Apple Power Pancakes with Spiced Apple Syrup

I’ve been overdoing it a bit on the running front, what with the Bristol 1/2 followed immediately by the Monster Duathlon, so Mark has enforced a week’s rest on me – probably a good idea as I now feel full of beans and raring to go for my run later today.
The past two weeks have been spent camping in the wilds and kayaking down the River Wye, hence the lack of blogs. I don’t have internet on my mobile phone and there was absolutely no question of taking my laptop on the kayak, so I have been free from any contact with the outside world, apart from the odd newspaper….I like that!
Here’s some pics of the Wye trip. Huge salmon jumping around us (unfortunately not into the boat!), otters, herons, buzzards etc, heaps of blackberries and delicious field mushrooms
This is a bit of a ‘cheatie’ tagine, but it is incredibly quick and easy, ver
y very tasty and packed with goodness. All you need to do is pop the chicken in the oven, surround it with some nice vegatables and spices, maybe something tasty that might be lurking in the fridge like a few green olives and hey presto, an hour later you have a delicious and healthy meal for four. We ate it last night with Basmati and wild rice, a good low G.I. option for sustained energy…and it seems that the whole family needs that extra little boost of energy at the moment what with the end of term rush with the kids, the launch of Go Faster Food and our new training schedule for the
As an ardent pasta eater, I always welcome any new types of pasta