August 19, 2009

Grain free banana blueberry loaf

I have a freezer full of bananas. I always seem to get more bananas than I can eat, and they end up in the freezer doomed to be used in baking (not that there is anything wrong with that...). I also happen to have a fridge full of blueberries, because kamal gave me a pretty big box of them before he left for Kelowna on Saturday.

So I decided to try something a bit different. I could have baked a "normal" loaf. You know, that kind with sugar, flour and eggs... but I try and avoid wheat products as much as I can (although I have to admit I do not avoid it 100%...), so I was looking for something a bit more creative.

What you need:
3 large ripe bananas
1/2 cup vanilla almond milk
1/2 cup honey (I used 1/4 Babe's honey, 1/4 blueberry honey)
1 1/2 cups almond meal
3/4 tbsp baking powder
3/4 tbsp baking soda
1/4 cup organic shredded coconut
1 cup blueberries
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp cinnamon
I also threw in some white chocolate chips, for good measure :-)

The end result turned out VERY tasty, but I made a few mistakes along the way...

1. To start off with, I should have used a bit more almond meal, perhaps closer to 2 cup.
2. Since I really do have A LOT of blueberries in my fridge, I kind of just threw them in without adhering to my initial planning of 1 cup. I measured everything else properly, but not the blueberries... and I added too many. Oh well... they are rich in Quercetin, which shows strong anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative, anti-pathogenic effects and a relationship to improved endurance performance. But enough with the science talk (even if it was pretty brief) - back to the loaf...
3. I should have baked it as bars, not a loaf...
4. I guess I can try adding a couple of eggs as well...

The above mistakes aside, there is hope for this recipe - I am sure my next try will turn out a lot better. At least I know it will taste SO good once it is perfected. I will try again when I get back from Kelowna/Salmon Arm/Revelstoke/Penticton at the beginning of September and keep you posted.

In the mean time, if there are any bakers out there reading this blog, please feel free to make some suggestions :-)

August 12, 2009

It depends.

Last year of Uni at Canterbury University in Christchurch, New Zealand. Degree program - sports coaching. A professor introduces students to a case study about an athletes' racing performance. Limited information is provided, but the professor is asking the students for their thoughts on the matter...

You would think that the students will start providing suggestions to help the athlete in question, right? Well, you guessed wrong. The students are smarter than that... they have stepped into that trap before by the same professor, and they will not make the same mistake again. The correct answer is "it depends". Since only limited information was provided, it is very hard to see the complete picture and a lot more information is needed before any kind of suggestion can be made.

When making suggestions without knowing an athlete inside and out, you are making assumptions. The word 'assume' can be broken down as followed: ass-u-me. Don't assume anything, you will not be helping anyone.

Thanks Lynn... best prof ever :-)

In other news, Myke posted his Stormy 50mile race report!

August 8, 2009

Myke at Stormy 50 mile...

Myke run the Stormy 50 mile event today - his first 50 mile race. 6000 ft of elevation gain on the trails of Squamish... in a time of 7 hours and 48 minutes (Thats 5:48 min/km!). At 22 years of age, he was the youngest racer and with only 2 ultra's under his belt that is a pretty amazing achievement.... I am a very proud coach right now :-)

I am sure he will post a race update on his blog in the next few days...

August 6, 2009

2 posts back to back!

Translation - I am procrastinating... ;-)

Even though things have been insane in the last few weeks, I have been running on a regular basis. My right calf has been bothering me a bit in the last few days, so I have taken a couple of days off running and used the torture device, aka Trigger Point. It feels a lot better, but I'll book myself an appointment at the clinic tomorrow, just to be on the safe side. Its pretty handy working at a physiotherapy clinic, I'll definitely miss that!!

I will likely put my ego in my back pocket and enter some road running races next winter, just for fun. I am starting to really miss racing and I think I'm OK with being a non competitive athlete. Im saying that now, but at the back of my mind I know I am way too competitive for the whole 'racing for fun thing'... and I will likely try and get closer to some of my old PB's, which will not be an easy task as I used to run A LOT and wasn't too bad either... haha. We will wait and see how things unfold!

Oh yeah, I have a blog? I almost forgot...

It has been too long since my last blog update. Too many people have dropped hints that this blog needs some serious updating, so here goes! I apologize if this is a bit all over the place...

The last 3 weeks have been busy (But what else is new...) The Penticton training camp in the middle of July went very well and everyone got some solid training in. About a week after coming back to Victoria from the camp, my mom was here visiting for a week. I only get to see her once a year, so thats always a very full on visit. It was so good to spend some quality time with her, but now that she's gone it is time to play some more catch up and start working on my next project.

Here are some pictures from the camp:











A few days ago, someone asked me when I am moving to the US of A. Well, for those interested, I am not moving anywhere any time soon. I will be graduating with a post graduate diploma in sports nutrition at the end of October (official graduation is in Switzerland at the end of March), and was thinking about doing an MSc conversion, as that will only take less than 1 year. My first choice for that was the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, but I am not ready to leave Victoria at the moment... so instead I will be enrolling at a pretty different program, on a part time basis, here in Victoria. But more on that later... Instead of moving to the US of A, I will be moving from my current office location in Brentwood bay to another, yet to be decided location. I am in the process of looking for some commercial space, which is pretty exciting! The process will likely take several months but I am looking forward to it.

Till next time...