I've got a bit of a double blog post coming for you today, both have been requested by numerous people which I love. First I will share with you my pitta bread pizza recipe and then a little gym workout afterwards. On Friday, at home we had our usual food delivery but I had a few creative ideas to try, to make something a bit different. After seeing some people making some good looking pizza, I was instantly inspired. However I am not a fan of the big thick dough often at the base of pizza's, it just feels a bit stodgy, so I went for an alternative... wholemeal pitta bread! How to make: 1. Cut a whole meal pitta bread in half, and depending on how hungry you are, you could use 1 or 2 pittas. 2. Spread tomato puree all over the top of the pitta 3. Cut up the cheese of your choice... mine mozzarella. Place a few bits over the pitta. 4. Now add any more toppings of your choice, evenly and over the whole pizza. On my two I had tomatoes, basil, parma ham and peppers as my topping. but the choices are yours... be inventive! 5. Place in the oven at 180° and it only takes about 5 to 10 mins to cook them, just keep an eye on them. When you can see that the cheese has melted nicely then you know its time to eat! 6. Enjoy... I must admit they do look pretty good in the photos and they tasted amazing too. It is making me hungry just looking at them and I will definitely be having these again next week... perhaps I'll be more inventive with my toppings too. Now on to my gym session. Strength work is very important for any type of runner, whether it is 100m or 5000m but you need strength to different extents. In addition gym work is very important for almost every sport like swimming and cycling too. I'm not going to write out one of my exact workouts as I'll do them specific to me. However I will write out for you, which is a good basic one to get you started, which works on your arms, legs and core. Full body workout: 10 x press ups 15 x jumping squats 10 x burpees 10 x sit ups 12 x lunges 1 min plank Take a 1 min rest and repeat the set Post workout, it is always essential to refuel after a hard gym session. My favourite go to is the berry smoothie often with a bit of protein powder chucked in there to help my muscles recover after being pushed. I hope you have enjoyed my pitta bread pizza recipe and also if you do give them a go, please tag me in it on instagram @race.with.grace so I can see some of your creations and toppings you decide on.
This week for me isn't very busy with stuff outside of training and work. However I do have a lot of school work to do unfortunately, but I am plowing through it at a slow but steady pace. With just a month left of my holidays now I want to complete all my work soon to give me a couple of weeks to just relax. I hope you all have a good week! Love G x
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This week I have been up in London on an internship for economics, to help me get an experience of what it may be like if I pursue my economics route into university and later on in life in my job. I have learnt so much from it, although it was very full on, it was a really great experience. I have been busy with work experience pretty much since I broke up from school (apart from my holiday), so it is certainly nice to have finished it all for my summer and I can move onto my mountain of summer school work. Also I can make the most of my free time and getting some good training in. Whilst back this weekend I have managed to get an core session in for you all. I think there is so much importance in core strength as a endurance runner, and also in many other sports too. Runners are often portrayed as you need to be lean, and yes there is importance in this, however you also need to be strong. Strength is so important for your power in racing, so I thought if you are ever stuck for a routine then you can always give my favourite one a go below! Session is as followed: 1 minute plank 30 toe touches (one of my favourite core exercises) 20 sit ups 50 twists Quick stretch 30 crunches 20 renegade rows 20 hip pushes (okay I never know what this one is called, its when you lie on your back and lift your feet up perpendicular to you and then push them up and down. If anyone knows the correct name of this drill, please do let me know!) Take a 1 minute rest and repeat Once you've repeated it once you are all done! It all in all, will take about 20 minutes, so it is great for a quick core session in the week. It also involves no equipment so you can do it anywhere... no need to have to go to a gym. Anyway after having done my core workout on Friday evening it was time for me to make the most of my easy day of running on Saturday and take to parkrun with my dad. This is honestly one of my favourite things. Ever since I have started running, I have tried my best to get my dad into it, and yes it may have taken some time but I am pleased to say that I think he actually enjoys park runs now and he seems to be impressing the whole family every week by taking chunks off his pbs constantly. It was also great fun for me to get an easy run in. The weather was glorious too, however the rest of the day it has been far from pretty. I don't think I have ever seen it rain quite so hard before I have done yesterday. So, this week has been full on and I have explored many routes of blackheath and greenwich as I continued to train when I was staying away from home. This weekend, has been a lovely finish to my week and I have Sunday to enjoy too now. Sorry for the lack of racing posts lately but it is coming to the end of track season and my racing is starting to ease up. I hope you all have a good weekend, and enjoy your training you are doing or just have a nice relaxing day.
Love G x Last week I was in the lovely and warm La Manga in Spain. Having gone straight from school, it felt like a much needed break. This is my favourite holiday of the year because it is with my whole family, including boyfriends and husbands of my sister which makes it great fun! We had a nice civilised flight time in the afternoon so we made it to the hotel in time for dinner and then went straight to bed after that, because travelling is surprisingly exhausting. What I love about going on holiday is having the best breakfast, the hotel buffet never seems to disappoint me and a highlight is certainly the fruit bar, with all the fruit you can think of. Before I carry on, if you are a long time follow of my blog, you may have noticed that I went to this exact same hotel last year and wrote some blog posts on them, these included: Sunny Running and Run to the Beach! Above is a snap of my first course of my breakfast each day, it involved a mixture of exotic fruit with a nice pile of strawberry yogurt on top. This was especially nice if I had just come back from a run - tasty, refreshing and healthy. The are lots of runs around where I was staying, however all the exciting ones involved some serious hill climbs because they were coastal routes. From my video I have uploaded onto my youtube, I think it is fair to say you can see how large some of the hills are from this. I did most of my sessions on the roads around the complex which wasn't as exciting as the coastal paths but they were still far from flat, just a little more do able than some of the roads on the mountainous coastal routes. Some of my more easy runs, I couldn't avoid the amazing views of the coast. A few times I was joined by some of my family and could get some video footage from the drone, even the go pro came out with me a few times. I thought as I always show you all my running photos, here are a few of the snaps of my more laid back time on holiday. All I can say is I have had a great start to my holidays, it has been very busy so far as for the first week I was in Spain and now I have got work experience for the next two weeks which is always full on, but I'm learning lots from it so far. My summer starts to chill out a lot more in august and getting some good training in for the conclusion of the track season and the build towards cross country. I know you are probably all wondering where the video is, well I have had some uploading problems with is but it should be up on youtube in the next week for sure but I'll let everyone know through social media so you can go check it out. Also please let me know what you think of my video blogging as well as blogging on here as I've quite enjoyed adding the video aspect to it. Love G x Hi guys, its Sally over here, I'll be guest posting for Grace today on a really important topic of diet in the athletic world. Whilst a lot of the physiological gains of running performance come from a thorough training programme and a lot of hard work; the impact of factors such as diet, sleep and recovery can also play a substantial role. Nutrition is a topic that has increased in exposure over the last few years and many more athletes are conscious of the food they are eating and how it may contribute to performance. When it comes to fuelling for training and performance, there are no secrets, short cuts or magic remedies. The key is balance; both in terms of energy intake/output and variety of the diet. Most importantly, it's about finding out what works for you and consuming the foods that allow you to train and race to the best of your ability. As with most science based topics, there are a lot of complicated explanations and detailed descriptions of how things work and how things interact with the body. Additionally, it's worth mentioning that every athlete is different and the way in which they respond to training, nutrition and recovery will not be the same as the next athlete. However for the sake of this post, I'm going to keep things super simple and discuss a few nutrition related topics below in the most readable/understandable way. Carbohydrates A runners best friend. Despite the bad press 'carbs' often get relating to diet/weightloss and other aesthetic goals, carbohydrates are the key energy source for most middle/long distance training and racing distances. It's recommended to consume a carbohydrate rich snack/meal 1-2hours before training or racing. This may include but is not limited to; porridge, pasta, toast, bagels, cereal, rice etc. I usually train late morning and so my ideal breakfast would be a bowl of porridge with peanut butter, sliced banana and chia seeds. Additionally the consumption of carbohydrates after a hard training session or race can help to replenish glycogen levels, which have been depleted throughout the activity. An energy bar/flapjack after training is always a good option to fill the gap before a balanced meal is consumed. Protein Recovery, recovery, recovery. Protein forms the building blocks to repair and recover muscles after exercise, put simply. Whether in the way of shakes and bars on the go, or as part of a balanced meal, it's good to incorporate an adequate amount of protein into your daily intake. Whey protein and shakes are not essential however they're very convenient for a quick top up after training or even as a snack in between meals. I tend to blend Greek yogurt with whey protein and ice to make a thick cold smoothie bowl and top it with fruit and peanut butter as a snack or dessert after a meal. When it comes to meals or packed lunches; chicken, salmon, eggs and tuna are all great sources of protein and will have the same effect as a shake or bar if consumed straight after training. Fat Whilst most athletes strive for a very low body fat percentage; the importance of fat in the diet is often underestimated. Not only is it a source of energy during aerobic exercise, it protects vital organs, allows women to have regular periods and is essential for the healthy maintenance of a demanding athletics lifestyle. Whilst I wouldn't necessarily encourage the consumption of vast amounts of burgers, chips, chocolate, cake and ice cream on a daily basis, a couple of treats a week are absolutely fine. Fat sources such as eggs, avocado and nuts/seeds can be incorporated into meals on a daily basis and often carry many more nutritional benefits such as being rich in iron. Weight Always a sensitive topic in athletics but one that needs addressing and talking about more. The prevalence of eating disorders in sports such as distance running are high and I'm sure I'm not the only one who has friends and knows of athletes suffering from eating disorders and dangerously low weight. Put simply, the lighter an athlete weighs, the faster they can run as physics taught us work = distance x weight. The danger here is that athletes can perform to a VERY high standard despite being severely underweight for a fairly long time (often a couple of years), before being forced to stop through injury/illness/fatigue. Being underweight can also put an athlete at risk of developing low bone density, amenorrhea in female athletes and other complications such as chronic fatigue, electrolyte imbalances and anxiety/depression. The 'ideal' weight for an athlete is the one at which, enough energy in the way of food is consumed to support daily training, recovery, sleep and regular functioning. The key here is that everyone is different and that my ideal weight will not be the same as the next persons. Equally so, it's ok to experiment with weight and see if losing or gaining 2-3kg makes any significant changes in training and performance. But most importantly, focus on athletic achievements and goals rather than weight and appearance. Eating for performance It's good to be conscious about the food you consume as an athlete, but it's not necessary to get too caught up over the exact macro and micro content. A balanced diet including a few treats is a reasonable goal to aim for in order to sufficiently fuel performance. As mentioned, every athlete is different and to really nail the nutritional aspect of any programme, a lot of learning and experimenting with different foods is required. But as a rule of thumb, if you find something that works for you, stick with it. An example daily meal plan can be found below; Breakfast - porridge (40-60g oats & milk) topped with sliced banana, peanut butter and chia seeds Post session snack - protein shake or energy bar Lunch - 2 slices of sourdough toast with smashed avocado, tomato and poached eggs Dinner - sweet potato wedges, grilled salmon and steamed veggies Dessert - 2 scoops of ice cream or frozen yogurt I would just like to say thank you so much to Sally who wrote this blog post for me and I think she has some really good information we could all learn from. If you want to follow her on instagram, her username is @adventureswithsal and she has some of the best food pics out of any instagramer I know. Her blog is also worth a read for sure!
Love G x |
HelloI'm Grace, a 18 year old runner, and fitness fanatic. Join me on my crazy journey through life, squeezing in an adventure in every second of spare time I have. Archives
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