6 miles!

I am very happy to have run 6 miles today without any foot pain! It was a slow run, but very encouraging. It was great to be able to run outdoors again, albeit breathing in the car fumes. I'm hoping to increase the distance on the weekend, although I know it's probably a bit too soon. There are 12 weeks to the Copenhagen marathon so my training schedule has gone out the window. I will now just see how I feel when I'm running and try and gauge how far I should run. Keeping my fingers crossed that i'm actually able to run the marathon!

6 weeks on... first 20 minutes on treadmill!

After six weeks without running, I am pleased to say I ran for 20 minutes on the treadmill today! No painful after effects so I can deem it a success. For the last few weeks I have been swimming, pool running, cycling and yoga-ing - everything I can possibly do without putting pressure on my foot. It seems to have done the trick and I am now pain free. I've also stretched using the many different methods suggested (including rolling a ball and a frozen bottle under my foot). This website has been a help:

http://plantar-fasciitis-elrofeet.com/plantar_fasciitis_exercises.html#.TzRErdnNyw4.facebook

I'm unsure whether I can run the marathon in May, but at least I can re-start the training now and see how I feel...

On the plus side, I have become a better swimmer! I've also quite enjoyed the pool running using the device shown below. Quite unusual, but you strap it around you and run the length of the pool. It's probably quite annoying to be in the same lane as me whilst I'm doing this exercise! (It's a very slow exercise)

Valentine's Day Meal

Yesterday I cooked a three course meal for my husband and I using the Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall book and a great recipe I found on the Good Food Guide website. I was really pleased with the results and the whole cooking process took me under two hours. My husband spent an hour washing up though ;-)

For starters we had the Cambodian Wedding Day Dip. It tasted amazing (better than it looks). It was really creamy with a hint of crunch from the peanut butter. I also made a salad of green beans and roasted tomatoes in a tahini dressing (inspired by H F-W)

For the main meal I made the courgette and rice filo pie, which we had with the remainder salad. I loved this dish as the rice cooks in the courgette juices inside the pie.

Dessert was made using a recipe from the Good Food Guide:

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3431/chocolate-brownie-cake

This was made even more calorific with Hagen Daaz chocolate cookie ice cream :-)

Such a lovely evening. And enough food left over to have the exact same meal today. Happy Days!

Hugh F-W - my new crush!

Whilst I haven't abandoned my quest to cook all of Delia's recipes in her Vegetarian book, I have ignored it of late in favour of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Veg book. I followed the TV series and am now addicted to the recipes. I have found them straight forward, very tasty and, most importantly, different from other recipe books. Instead of replacing meat with tofu, or relying heavily on eggs and cheese, he simply celebrates the veg!

Here are a selection of dishes I have made using his cook book:

Stuffed Squash with Leeks

Kale and Mushroom lasagne

Swede speltotto

Spinach, penne and cheese spouffle

And here are some of the dishes my husband has made:

Squash and walnut toastie

Tahini dressed courgette and green bean salad

Kale speltotto with goat's cheese

My husband loves Hugh too.

My Veggie Moussaka

  

I made this delicious vegetarian moussaka the other night and was really pleased with it - especially as I didn't follow a recipe! It comfortably served me and my husband, but we did have enormous portions!

 

Ingredients:

 

Two handfuls of Green lentils (approx)

One large augergine sliced length ways

Red pepper cut into 4 pieces lengthways

Yellow pepper cut into 4 pieces lengthways

Large onion sliced lengthways into thick slices

Fresh thyme

Tin of tomatoes

3 cloves of garlic with skin left on

Chilli infused olive oil

Big knob of butter

Small handful of flour

Milk

Cheddar and/or goats cheese, grated

 

Method:

(pre-heat oven to 180c)

1) Roast the aubergine, peppers, onion and garlic in the chilli oil (you may need more than one roasting tin)

2) Simmer the lentils until cooked

3) When the veg is nearly roasted start making the bechemel sauce. Melt the butter in a saucepan and slowly add the flour to make a roux, then add the milk slowly to create a creamy sauce. I can't say how much milk to add as it always differs and depends on how thick you want the sauce. You need to make enough to go on top of the moussaka

4) Chop up the tomatoes and mix in the thyme (add salt and pepper as you like)

5) Take the veg out of the oven and squeeze out the roasted garlic and rub it all over the slices of aubergine (this gets a bit messy!)

6) When everything is cooked, layer the veg in a casserole dish as follows: Half the aubergine, all the peppers, half the tomatoes, all the lentils, all the onion, other half of the tomatoes, other half of the aubergines (you can mess around with the order, as long as there are aubergines on the top)

7) Pour the bechemel sauce on top and then scatter over the cheese, finally add some ground pepper on top.

8) Bake in the over for half an hour - 45 mins

 

Serve with a green salad. I think if I was making this again I would use two aubergines.

Two weeks on...

...and I still can't walk properly! I've been for two swims and a bike ride in the last few days, but nothing compares to running. I can feel the marathon slipping through my fingers as the days go by. I have an appointment with the physiotherapist tomorrow and I'm hoping that he can sort out my foot - although I think I'm being far too optimistic that he can solve the problem in one session! Ah well, I think Copenhagen is a lovely city to go to anyway... If I don't get to do the race it will be a good city break, however, I'll make sure I'm not in the city when the race is taking part - might just be too much for me!!

Seems to be getting worse!

This is what all runners dread: Injury! Especially after deciding to do their first marathon! I think I either have tendonitis in the arch of my foot or plantar fasciitis. Either way it hurts. It is no better (and, in fact, feels worse) after three days of rest. I'e been icing my foot every day for around 20 minutes and keeping it elevated where possible. I tried yoga the other day, but found it difficult as I could only balance on my good foot meaning that for some of the class I had to sit on my mat waiting patiently until the next move.

I will be attempting swimming in the next few days (not my favourite sport!) to see how that goes. I'm quite intrigued by running in the pool. There are floats available that allow you to do this - hopefully that will keep up my aerobic activity whilst my foot gets better.

Over 4 months until the Copenhagan marathon. If I can start training again in Feb I'm hoping that I can at least do the marathon, although may have to walk some of it.

Ah well, I'll just have to focus more on cooking :-)