Energy flapjack recipe

I've been experimenting a bit trying to create something that is tasty and, hopefully, healthy.  There are some delicious energy bars available for sale but they're fairly expensive so I wanted to be able to make my own alternatives.

I'm going to include some shopping links to those of the ingredients that are mixes - these are purely for information, I don't make anything out of directing you to shopping websites. It's just so you can see what the mixes consist of - you can easily replace these ingredients with different variations on the mixes, it's a fairly flexible recipe.

For my latest version I used the following:

1 banana
3 medium apples
2 small pears (the kiddies lunchbox size ones)
1tsp lemongrass paste
2 desertspoons of coconut oil (I've noticed you can buy this in Tesco now - Yay!)
2 desertspoons of lemon or lime juice (or a bit of each)
100-125g of linseed and Goji berry mix I got mine from good old Aldi :-)
75g Omega Seed mix
1 desertspoon caraway seeds
50g chia seeds
Chopped crystallized ginger
150g mixed dried fruit
100g porridge oats
Ground cinnamon - for taste and supposed to be good for stabilising blood sugar levels
Ground ginger - for taste and supposed to be good for indigestion
Sea salt

This makes a large baking sheet of flapjacks - they won't keep for much more than a week so you might want to make a smaller batch if you're not going to share them !

Firstly, I peeled, cored and chopped the apples and pears and microwaved the apples in a covered dish with a touch of lemon juice to soften them up (about three minutes), then used a hand-blender to blend them with the banana, coconut oil, lime or lemon juice and lemongrass paste to form  a liquid.  This mixture tastes divine, would be just gorgeous with some Malibu chucked in......

I put all the dry ingredients except the porridge oats into a large mixing bowl with the mixed fruit and chopped ginger. Add cinnamon and ground ginger to taste. I like to add salt for a slightly savoury edge but that's just personal taste. The caraway seeds are just for taste too so increase or decrease as you prefer. Pour in the blended fruits and mix everything together.

Grease the baking tray using coconut oil.

I then add the porridge oats a bit at a time until the mixture is a consistency that can be pressed into the baking tray with the back of a spoon, not too sticky or sloppy. The mix should stick together but not stick to the back of the spoon.

You can vary the quantities of the different seed and fruit mixes to suit your preference and then the quantity of oats can be adjusted to suit. You can also vary the mix of blended fruit depending on what you prefer or what needs using up - I mix it in a 500ml jug and have 400-450ml of liquid after blending the fruit and coconut oil.

Bake in a pre-heated oven for 20-25 minutes at about 180 celsius/350 fahrenheit/Gas mark 4 - keep an eye on it, the cooking time may vary depending on any variations you have made to the mix.  I turn the baking sheet out on to a chopping board while still hot and cut the mixture into small pieces then leave to cool.

This should be a fairly easy recipe to adapt - the chopped crystallized ginger was a bit of an indulgence. If you don't like ginger, you could replace it with dried banana chips/apple chips/pear chips etc. If you don't like dried fruits, you could replace it with chopped nuts. Or just miss it out.  I like the idea of doing a version with a citrus and chilli theme....

For my next challenge.....

..the 2014 5x50 Challenge starts tomorrow.  For me, it will start with a six mile run in the morning, a nice steady run as it will be just a week to go until my first marathon (but more about that later).  The 5x50 Challenge is a fantastic event where you sign up to do 5km of running, walking, cycling, swimming every day for 50 days, or you can do 30 minutes of an alternative exercise. Last year, I mainly ran or cycled and changed by target partway through and decided to aim for an average of 10km a day. I achieved this target and finished the challenge by celebrating with a seven mile off-road race, followed by a seven mile cycle ride home on a very hot day.  It was a huge boost to my confidence and, although my running hadn't been great during the challenge, I did see improvements afterwards and felt able to take on my first HM a few weeks later. Previously, I had started training for the 2012 Birmingham HM  and the 2013 Ironbridge HM and both times had to drop out due to injury.

This year, my impending marathon means I'll have to be more imaginative and adaptable with my exercise on the 5x50 Challenge - I need to be careful not to overdo it beforehand so I'll be alternating running with yoga and/or pilates (luckily my BH bought me books on both these subjects for Christmas so I can work through those). Afterwards, I have no idea how soon I'll want or be able to run so the first week will probably bring more of the same mixed with some time on the cross trainer.  After that, I want to start cycling to work at least twice a week (8 miles each way) and to re-start the Julia Buckley Fat Burn Revolution . I did try this alongside marathon training and managed the first week before being struck down with a nasty cough and sinusitis that put me out of action for a good couple of weeks. Afterwards, I decided I was probably better sticking to the one goal for now and then concentrate on TFBR afterwards.

I'm also quite keen to find different activities for my 5km/30 minutes a day - ideas that have been discussed so far on the C25Kers on Facebook page are skipping, space-hoppering, tandem-cycling, trampolining.....I fancy trying unicycling but I'm mainly hampered by not having any money to spend on a unicycle so that may be one for a later date.  I'm hoping to be able to organise some sort of get together both for the local 5x50 challengers and for some of the mighty NHS C25K team.

As I mentioned above, I will be running my first marathon next Sunday.  I'll be running the Brighton marathon and hopefully raising more funds for the MS Society.  I chose a marathon training plan from George Anderson at Intelligent Running. His plan appealed because I've learned that I need to stick to three, sometimes four, runs a week or I start getting injured.   I also need to avoid overdoing it and wearing myself out and he emphasises the importance of not over-training.

In spite of my good intentions, it would be stretching a point to say I've stuck to the plan.  In the first couple of weeks, I missed a few runs as my son ended up in hospital; January is always a nightmare for me at work so that was a challenge in itself.  I built my runs up to 15 miles, and was surprised how good I felt the next day. Then came an easy week and I did 10 miles with three at threshold pace (more than I should have done) and was feeling happy with the way training was going.  The following week I was struck down with a really nasty cough and sinusitis that stopped me running for two weeks.  I managed 9 miles for my comeback run - they felt ok at the time but it took me far longer to recover than it had taken after the 15 miles.  I stuck to steady runs for the rest of the week, figuring the best thing was to move regularly so it didn't hurt so much next time.  This seemed to work as I then comfortably managed a long run of 19.1 miles, averaging a few seconds per mile slower than target marathon pace.  That took me up to taper time. Stupidly, I made a decision to run parkrun on the grounds that I "only" had to do 10 miles the next day.  The morning of parkrun, I noticed I was coughing a bit again but not badly.  I set off too quickly, weaving in and out of other runners, and had to make myself slow down a little but I was making good time and on course for a PB.  At about 2.5 miles though, my chest felt bad and I had to stop to cough and cough and cough. I turned my Garmin off and decided to give up but then decided to start again but take it easy as I had to get back to the finish en route to my car anyway.  I think I'd stopped for a minute or so and my official time was 30:17 so I'd like to think that had it not been for the cough I'd have got that PB. I felt terrible at the end though, coughing had given me a banging headache and lightheadedness. What shocked me more though was how much it had taken out of me for my run the next morning - I found it so tough that I decided early on to call it a day when my friends stopped, rather than carry on up to 10 miles. I'd forgotten how much it affects my Sunday run if I push myself hard at parkrun. A lesson learned (will try not to forget it again).

It also seemed to have aggravated my chest and cough and I ended up back at the doctors this week.  I was relieved to be told it wasn't the infection hitting me again but just residual inflammation.  I was prescribed an inhaler to use before running and as required thereafter - it seems to work but I'm sticking to steady runs for now. I'm thinking along the lines of rest and damage limitation ! I suppose I am a bit worried that I'm under-trained for the marathon but I haven't given up on the idea of aiming for my original time target. I have back up plans in case it becomes obvious that I'm not ready but as long as there are no crises between now and the big day I'm still focused on plan A.  If it doesn't go to plan (and even if it does, to be honest) I'm already thinking ahead to which marathon I should do next......either to do it properly because I haven't got the result I want, or just to see what happens if I get to follow the training plan more closely.

How did it come it this ? continued

There are various versions of the C25K plan but the version I chose was on the NHS website, with free podcasts to download for each stage of the program.  It's a brilliant program for anyone who wants to start running, starting off with easy intervals (60 seconds running alternated with 90 seconds of walking for twenty minutes) and building up over 9 weeks to running for half an hour. Although it is described as taking you from couch to 5km, the reality is that for many new runners that half hour of running isn't long enough to cover 5km but it is still a huge achievement and the distance and pace can come later.

You can read about the program and download the podcasts here: http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/c25k/Pages/couch-to-5k-plan.aspx

Because of my complete lack of confidence, I hid away in the gym for most of the first six weeks, plodding away on the treadmill. Every time I completed one of the podcasts, I felt a huge sense of achievement. Sometimes I'd even go back and do a bit extra just to see if I could.  I also made a point of always running the last interval (or two) at a faster rate than the others. I didn't get bored on the treadmill while the sessions were short intervals of running and walking but as the time spent running got longer it became less interesting.

I completed the Week 5 Run 3 podcast on the treadmill - the first time I had run for a whole twenty minutes and I sped up for the last couple of minutes.  I was buzzing and afterwards I just wanted to sing and dance in the showers at the gym.  I don't think I stopped grinning all day, I think this was the run that gave me the greatest sense of achievement, even more so than actually graduating at the end of the nine weeks.  Soon afterwards though, I started wondering if I dared to venture into the great outdoors.  Would people just point and laugh at the unfit, chubby lady huffing and puffing along at little more than walking pace ?

We had a holiday booked in Northumberland, a week on a caravan park so I knew I would have no choice but to run outside.  I tried a very early morning run from home beforehand, early so as few people as possible would see me.  It was strange how much more there was to think about, kerbs seemed like an extra challenge and the hills, which are fairly unavoidable around here, they were killers, especially as I live on a hill which means all runs end with an uphill stretch.  On the other hand, it was certainly more interesting and, difficult as it was to crawl out of bed so early in the morning, I loved it once I was outside.

On holiday, my first of the week seven runs, a whole 25 minutes of running, was fairly cautious as I had no idea where to head for or how far I would get.  I got up bright and early and ran around the caravan park a couple of times.  It felt like hard work but I suspected that was largely because it wasn't very interesting.  For the next run, I was more adventurous and decided to explore an intriguing looking footpath through some nearby woodland.  As soon as I set off, I found myself dodging tree-roots and stones, weaving around nettles and trotting through mud; I saw rabbits, squirrels and even a heron swooping down over the nearby river.  Now, this was more like it. I think this was when I decided I loved running.

Another particularly memorable run was after a mini school reunion in Taunton.  After a very enjoyable evening and late night and lots of wine, I was up incredibly early so I could fit in my scheduled run in a once-familiar area.  The road layout had changed a bit and I wasn't completely confident about where I was going but places soon began to fall into place.  I found a new nature reserve area behind my old secondary school.  There was a particular joy in running here, in sight of the playing field where I had so used to hate sport. I laughed to myself as I wondered if the games teachers would believe that I was now running because I actually enjoyed it.

After completing the program, mainly running in the great outdoors early in the morning, I felt a bit lost.  I didn't have a target to aim for any more and I needed something to motivate me.  I didn't know anyone else in Telford who ran.  Inspired by a couple of people on the Health Unlocked C25K forum,  I started to wonder if I was brave enough to join a running club..............

Energy bar recipe

I've been experimenting a bit recently with making my own energy bars. I've based them loosely on this recipe from Runners' World.

In today's version, I found that someone had pinched my old bananas so I peeled and grated four small apples instead then blended them with half a cup of coconut oil (instead of the vegetable oil) and added a cup of honey and dark brown sugar (instead of the cup of sugar). I started off using the recipe quantities of oats and flour but I think my apple mixture must have been a lot wetter so ended up adding lots of extra oats until the mixture was stiff rather than sloppy.  I also added dessicated coconut, half a cup of omega seed mix, chopped crystallized ginger, chopped dates and sultanas, ground nutmeg, cinnamon and ginger and some caraway seeds. I greased and lined a shallow baking sheet using coconut oil, pressed the mixture into the tin and cooked on about 180 deg C for 20-25 minutes.

Once cooled, I've cut them into bite sized pieces so I can stick two or three in my bum bag for long runs and see how I get along with eating them on the hoof.  I'll have to hide some as I've noticed that they disappear rather quickly when the teenogre is home alone !

How did it come to this ?

My elusive father rang me the other day.  We don't have much contact, which is a shame, because he no longer has an internet connection or even a telephone line at home so I have to rely on him remembering to ring me on his mobile.  He's also very forgetful.  During the course of the conversation, I mentioned that I've been running a bit and that I've recently completed my first half-marathon.

 "I don't believe it !" he said "You haven't run since you were about three!"

I should also point out that he is not Victor Meldrew and he can be prone to exaggeration.

When I thought about it, I realized that I probably hadn't run since I was at school, which was a long time ago. If I had told my games teachers then that one day I would be contemplating running a marathon they would probably just stared in disbelief.  I remember loving running and jumping when I was at primary school - we would set up hurdles in the back garden and practice long jump and high jump and running was just something you did without thinking when you wanted to get somewhere quickly.  Secondary school really killed any joy I had in sports and I know I'm not alone in that. I can't catch to save my life and could rarely manage to make a bat make contact with a ball so I may as well have been completely useless. What was described as "cross-country" was seen by many as a form of punishment and was really just running around the school playing field in the cold.

After leaving school, I suppose I was fairly active in that I walked or cycled everywhere but I certainly didn't have any thoughts of going to a gym or exercise class. I think there was a brief period when I was about 20 when I went along to an aerobics class with my mum, then again a brief period of going to the gym with a friend from work when I was about 29 and newly single, but I don't think I worked very hard at it. A year later, I was in a new relationship and pregnant and feeling exhausted and big.  After my son arrived, I worked hard at losing all the baby weight and used a resistance machine regularly at home to get back in shape but that was it until about two years ago.

I was overweight and feeling worn out. I'd had aches and pains in joints and limbs for months and months and little energy left after getting through the day at work.  I'd been to the doctor several times, checking for things like arthritis and having blood tests and at last it was concluded that I had fibromyalgia.  I was prescribed daily tramadol and citalopram.  It was good to have an answer at last and I went home and did lots of research on the internet.  I'd thought about going to the gym or running over the previous couple of years and just not got any further than that because of the aches and pains.  Now I found several mentions that exercise could be good for fibromyalgia and that prompted me to join a gym and to start attending a yoga class and a weight loss/fitness class.

I was very nervous to start with but loved the classes and worked hard at the gym too.  For a few months I carried on with this but kept vaguely wondering if I could run.  I'd gone to a few Women in Motion running classes a year or so earlier and, after finding it very painful for my knees, had got as far as buying proper running shoes before the little group fizzled out.  I kept looking at the NHS C25K plan and wondering if I could do it.  I downloaded the podcasts but still wasn't sure how to start. I wasn't confident enough to venture outdoors and run where people could actually see me.  The gym closed down for a while and a nice new one was built.  Soon after the new gym appeared, I decided I would follow the C25K plan on the treadmill until I felt confident enough to venture into the great outdoors.  I discovered a wonderfully warm and supportive community of new runners and C25K graduates on the Health Unlocked C25K forum. At the end of February 2013, aged 45, I got up early and headed for the gym,  knowing that it would be almost empty and hardly anyone would see me huffing and puffing on the treadmill.

I was embarking on a new and exciting journey that would take me up to running a whole 5km without stopping.  I was determined to stick with the program.  I was confident that would be as far as I wanted to go with my running journey - I would run a regular 5km a couple or three times a week, just enough to keep me active.  I couldn't imagine ever wanting to go further than that.

To be continued.....

Another run

Nice easy run with friends from Telford Harriers. Left calf and right achilles niggling a bit so didn't push too hard, just enjoyed the sunshine and good company.

Bah !

Woke up with a cricked neck and have had nasty shooting pains through my right hip all evening.

Today's exercise consists of ankle stretches !