A Lot on the Boil

I'm just home from my skills session with Coach Geoff Nash. There's a pot of organic vegetable, chicken and quinoa soup reheating on the stove as I write this.

It had been over 4 months since my last visit to the track at Heffron Park. That's where we headed for today's session. In our last session I finally conquered a skill that had held us back for quite some time - changing hand positions. I was elated last Tuesday. Finished feeling happy, accomplished and content. Today we tackled changing hand positions to change gears and when to do it. Today's session didn't end with a rush of enthusiasm for me though. Today I left feeling drained. I came off again.

It wasn't a bad stack, but it wounded my confidence. I was practicing a new skill in a new riding position in a relatively new environment and on a rough surface - yes. The stack, however, was avoidable. It shouldn't really have happened. I feel clumsy and awkward. Maladroite, but moreover: plain silly. I want to stop falling down while I move forward and just head in that direction without the annoying niggles. Boohoo, I hear you say, and I do know that these are first world problems of no real or significant consequence. I also know that no journey is without it's challenges. I'm breathing into this... but it's taking some doing today. I acknowledge my frustration. I have high expectations of myself and this disappointment I feel is of my own creation. I just miss last Tuesday's joy. Could be the dreary weather?

Anyway, it is truly great to be back in training again. I'm loving the fitness training, but have also found renewed vigor and passion for my strength training. I'm finally able to deadlift the olympic bar with my prosthesis in a controlled manner - I trained this on Friday and boy crikey - I still hurt! The hammys are STILL tight! I'm also lifting my personal bests in upper body strength right now which is awesome. I wonder if the fact that I've recently converted to carnivourism is much of a factor.

What does the rest of my training week look like? Well, Wednesday is a hard day, so I'll be doing upper body strength training as well as teaching spin (a hard cardio session) in the evening. Thursday I again teach spin in the evening, Friday I'll train legs/deadlift with Emily before I cover yet another spin, making this a hard day. Saturday I will run 8km with clients and friend and finally on Sunday I'll wind down with 40 minutes of cadence training on the wattbike out at Velofix Rozelle.

Speaking of Velofix, I have some class plans to tidy up and send off before I head out there to coach tonight's indoor training sessions. You should come and check it out! :)

Misadventures in Baking

May was an exceptionally rough month! In the second week, I got sick. After a week I recovered, only to fall ill again a week later. Boy oh boy was I ill. I had an evil, nasty virus that sapped me of all my energy and caused a host of infections that required 2 different kinds of antibiotics to take control of. Antibiotics, however, will only treat the infections. The virus is something that your body must combat on its own.

I hadn't been that kind of sick for many years. There's a large part of me that is somewhat indignant about it - "I'm so fit and active and healthy! I go to bed early, I don't eat junk and I exercise all the time!" But I also work a whole lot, try to keep a house, attempt to maintain a relationship with my significant other and family, as well as, very occasionally, my friends.. The honest truth is that I've been living my life at breakneck pace and have often wondered how long my body would tolerate it. Some changes are in order.

With my time off, I had a little project. I'm not very good at resting, but I did lay on my couch and watch dvds  or in bed reading a book for much of the time. My little project wasn't very taxing and didn't take very long. I wanted to make some healthy baked goods - full of nutrition, not sugar. Tuesday I attempted coconut cookies, replacing much of the butter with applesauce and using organic ingredients. I used too much baking soda and they turned out extremely bitter! Also, they were too fluffy, more like cake than cookie. I've always struggled with cookies. This was no exception.

I'm a pretty good cook! Risotto, curry, pasta dishes, frittata, polenta, fish, beans, anything vegetable, casseroles, stews and soups. I make mean salads and have some wicked healthy pizza recipes using either spelt bases or mountain bread. In dessert land, I can make a nice rice pudding.. Baking, however, has alluded me for the past decade because I'm always trying to reinvent the wheel. My friend Swah has a baking blog and she is an exceptional cook. "Baking is a science - follow the recipe to the letter!" she urges... I have had success with Brownies and when I was a kid I won a few cake competitions, but it's a different matter these days - I can't follow a recipe because I'm trying to INVENT.

Today I had a goal. A completely healthy, high protein, quality nutrition muffin. No added sugars or oils and all organic ingredients. I used unsweetened applesauce, soaked whole rolled oats, 2 eggs, apple, carrot, coconut, pumpkin seeds and lots of Cinnamon and allspice. I was a little stingy on the baking soda though, following the bitter cookie episode, and my muffins didn't rise. They are dense little rock cakes and they don't particularly taste of anything. They aren't distasteful, though, so that's a great improvement! I will work with this recipe again next week, with 1/4 tsp extra baking powder and baking soda and either some chopped dates or pineapple. Pineapple is in season and quite affordable at the moment, it also won't elevate blood sugar levels like the dates would AND contains enzymes that will help fully digest the protein from the eggs... So stay tuned!

Tomorrow will be my first day back at work and next week I will resume teaching my spin classes. I'm also taking on a new venture! Velofix Rozelle are opening a spin studio, where I will be coaching sessions on the Watt Bikes - a completely different style of spin class to those you experience and that I teach in a Fitness First environment. This is much more technical, practical and personal. I will spend most of my time off the bike, monitoring the class, instead of on it, entertaining them and yelling. I'm VERY excited about this! Classes for the first 2 weeks from Monday June 6th are free and you can book a bike on the website linked above.

I'm really happy to be finally heading back to the gym to see my clients. I miss them terribly! I love that I get to work with such great people :) I'll be able to pick my bike up from the shop tomorrow and get back into training - I'm hoping for a Sunday ride. Huzzah!