marathon « Go Faster Food

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I know there are two camps when it comes to running with music- those who happily plug into their ipods and those who like to listen to their bodies and ‘enjoy the silence’. Well, I’m in two minds about this. For me it depends on my mood and the type of run I am planning. Music can sometimes keep me company,


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

HAPPY 2010!!

I’m back now on the frozen UK soil. I’ve got over the shock of the low temperatures and decided that

Haile Gebrselassie

I’ve been invited onto Radio Bristol’s Dinner party Hour on Saturday morning (9-10 if anyone’s interested!). I’ve got to choose 4 people, dead or alive, that I’d like to invite to dinner, what I’d serve to eat and drink and what music I’d play.

This is a bit of a ‘cheatie’ tagine, but it is incredibly quick and easy, verKP Chicken 2y 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

A fresh approach to carbo-loading

I’ve just spent the past 9 hours doing a post-marathon clean of the house. What a workout! I have absolutely no need to run or go to the gym today! I have to say that when in training I do become a master of the art of “skim cleaning” – it is just one of those chores which gets put on the back burner as I hate it so much, so the place really needed some serious attention!


We had our first taste of the new season’s peas today. Exquisite and packed with nutrients, with good amounts of vitamins, minerals, fibre and protein. Popped directly from their pods, they taste unbelievably good. There are all sort of ways of cooking peas if you can manage not to eat them straight from the pod –

STOCKHOLM MARATHON

Mark and I had a most wonderful kid-free weekend in sunny Stockholm, marred only by the fact that we ran the Stockholm marathon in the blazing heat on the Saturday, when other more sensible people were picnicking in the parks or swimming on the Stockholm archipelago!

No, it was good, really, and the support was tremendous, much better than expected…

Unlike most marathons which start early in the morning, the Stockholm marathon kicks off at

Just staggered in from running the Stockholm Marathon to find this lovely book review waiting for me from the resident runner at Fitness Footwear. Thanks a lot Adam, I’m glad you liked the book!


Go Faster Food Book Review

May 29th, 2009

Basmati rice is one of the best types of rice to eat if you need to load up for an endurance run. We ate this orange and cardamom pilaf on Friday night and then the left-overs for lunch on Saturday, followed by 15 miles in the afternoon (one of my least favourite routes, up the portway, over that god-forsaken M5

Conchiglioni with Slow-Roasted Tomatoes
A pot of fabulous buffalo mozzarella has been sitting in my fridge for a while now and I suddenly had the urge to make a classic italian tricolore salad of mozzarella, fresh basil and tasty tomatoes. The tomatoes were so disappointing, however, that I binned that idea, chopped them in half and slow-roasted them in the oven instead. This is a great idea for sprucing up flavourless tomatoes and produces a deliciously deep flavour, especially if you help this along by sprinkling them with some balsamic vinegar, olive oil, sugar, salt and pepper.

You could eat these tomatoes with a lovely balsamic dressing and mop up the juices with chunks of crusty bread, you could leave them to cool and keep them for tomorrow’s lunch/lunch box…there are lots of tasty options, but I decided to use these tomatoes as the base for a pasta sauce – a much more sensible idea for fuelling the body than a salad, especially as I did a pretty hard 12 mile run yesterday and have 5 miles to do today.

I used fusilli bucati, a great fun pasta with a hole running through the centre and I reckon this goes very well with a good rich tomato sauce. Spaghetti is good as well, or conchiglioni shells .The pasta and the tomatoes have a low glycaemic index and so will release energy to your muscles slowly and gradually, the tomatoes are a rich source of several nutrients, including a vitamin C, vitamin A, and B vitamins (niacin, riboflavin, magnesium, phosphorous and calcium). They are also a good source of fibre and the antioxidant lycopene (good for fighting disease). This pasta is so quick and easy to make and is a perfect midweek staple for your training diet. Scatter with mozzarella, feta, basil leaves and crispy bacon…

Pasta with roasted tomato sauce
Serves 4-5
500g pasta
8 decent sized vine tomatoes
1/2 bottle of sugocasa (just to add a bit of bulk, you can use more fresh tomatoes instead if you have them)
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
glug of olive oil
1tsp demerara sugar
Plenty of salt and black pepper
1 flaked dried chilli (optional)
1 tbsp small capers (optional)
big bunch of basil, chopped, saving a few leaves for decoration
feta cheese, cubed or slices of buffalo mozzarela
5 rashers streaky bacon or prosciutto

Method

  1. Cut the tomatoes in half and place on a baking sheet.
  2. Sprinkle over balsamic vinegar, olive oil, sugar, salt and pepper and place in the oven at about 170.
  3. Add the garlic about 5 minutes before you remove from the oven – after about 30-40 minutes.
  4. Transfer to a saucepan, scraping off all the caramelised bits as well, add the sugocasa and chilli if you are using it and cook very gently, covered, for another 20 minutes or so, stirring every now and then.
  5. Add more balsamic, olive oil, seasoning, maybe some lea & perrins etc to taste. Add the chopped basil at the last minute.
  6. Grill the bacon until really crispy
  7. Cook the pasta shells in salted water according to pack instructions – warning, you need a really big pan if you are cooking 500g! When you drain the pasta, leave some of the cooking liquid to stop it getting sticky, and add some olive oil.
  8. Serve with pasta in large individual pasta dishes. Place a slice of bacon on top with some basil leaves and pieces of feta/mozzarella sprinkled over.
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