Mind, Motion & Matter

Running, Essentially . . .

Category Archives: Food


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Power gels or chocolate?

When running a marathon, a past pre-race routine has been to drink a lot of gatorade, a can or two of Boost and then down a powergel, shortly before the race starts. Later in the race I take a gel at the 15K and 30K marks and further on, if needed. Through the years, as my body became better at using fat as a fuel, I needed fewer carbohydrates.

Mounds Dark Chocolate - 2 mini-bars

Power gels are the yuckiest, things you can imagine, a sugary, gooey syrup that must be followed with water in order not to gag on the stuff. Years ago, I asked a friend, a PhD in nutrition to analyze the contents to see if there was anything other than glucose in the mix. The answer, NO. Since I sometimes would have a power gel near the end of long run, I decided why pay nearly $2 for this concoction when I could be eating chocolate.

Mocha Clif Shot

In addition to the improved taste, a chocolate bar purchased on the run, also buys you a ticket to a washroom. This is a real bonus in the winter when most of the washrooms in city parks are shut down.

The talk at the high school went well. And the thank-you gift, a box of Lindt chocolates, inspired my blog topic. Chocolate however, does take a bit more effort to ingest so the gels, while racing the marathon will still be required.

Peanut Butter Crunchy Bar

Picking my poison, my preferred gels are Clif Shots with Mocha, my favourite flavour.

The mocha flavour is special because it has caffeine in it. Although this is only available in the U.S. as Canadian Food and drug regulations do not allow caffeine to be present in gels. I don’t normally go for sports bars but while traveling find that they are handy (and economical) items to have on hand in while on-the-go, in transit. My husband and I like the Peanut Butter Crunchy bar.

The best box of chocolates I’ve ever had was a gift from our across-the-street neighbours, who really know “good things”.

Stubbe Chocolate

The chocolates were from Stubbe which has a location at Dupont and Christie. The other day I bought two Stubbe chocolate bars at the LIT Espresso bar for my son and our roommate.  I’ve become a Stubbe devotee.

Stubbe chocolate bars, one with almonds, the other with peppercorns

LIT is the only place in Canada, I’m told, that brews Stumptown coffee. Those of us who are addicted to Starbuck’s, do notice the Stumptown difference.

LIT espresso bar, College just east of Ossington

Stumptown Coffee

Well, I really must go but I hope to continue this discussion of chocolate very soon. Sweet dreams!

p.s.  I ran 7 miles on the treadmill this morning and made edits to my talk, while running.


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Guess where I was at 6:30 a.m.?

Sobey's - open 24 hours

I you said grocery store, you are correct.  I forgot to set my alarm last night and woke at 5:45 a.m. rather than the usual 5 a.m.  Rather than rush out the door to run 8 miles, I decided on the double-workout as I did on Monday.

Eyes closed but wide awake

The light bulb went on, as I realized that a 24 hour Sobey’s is about 15 minutes from our place.  The exact amount of time I wanted to run this morning.  So, off I went with my mini-backpack to fetch the parsley I needed for my bean salad lunch.

In case you are wondering how got a photo of myself, I propped the camera on a display and set the auto-timer.

I have taken my lunch to work 14 straight days and was headed to 15 days but a workmate has asked me to lunch with her tomorrow. We will dine at the Auberge du Pommier and probably order their lunch special.

As for the bean salad, it is an extremely easy salad to compose. It is an adaptation of a salad recipe I found years ago in Metropolitan Home magazine.

Lima Bean Lover Salad

1 can lima beans
1 can black-eyed peas
1/4 cup chopped mint
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1 1/2 cups grape tomatoes, chopped in half

Dressing
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar or balsamic cream
pepper
1 tablespoon honey

Lima bean lover's delight


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The promise of winter

So today, on the heels of yesterday’s exhilarating run I woke to wet, cold rain. It is time to mulch the garden and pull out the cold weather running gear. I had some speedwork planned, and there is some risk involved in running fast in the cold and wet, so I ran to the YMCA and hopped on a treadmill.

There are positives to running on treadmills; shoes last longer; the rubber running surface is easier on the legs; you can readily monitor your effort and pace; among other things. One aspect of my running psyche that keeps me going is that I am very flexible in the ways I enjoy running be it; fast or slow, with or without company and indoors or outdoors.

Running on the treadmill means less stopping, no worries about pit stops and a chance to catch up on TV news. Sometimes I focus on devoting a chunk of treadmill time to work out practical issues and make chore lists while running, with pen and paper close at hand.  I ran 8 x 1 minute hard and the run totaled 8 miles.

On the nutrition side, I’ve had a couple of good weeks of healthy lunches. Last week, and so far this week, I’ve taken my lunches, bean salad and quinoa pilaf from Thanksgiving dinner (augmented with chick peas). It’s time to be more thoughtful about fueling up.

Here’s a recipe for quinoa patties from the Whole Foods website.  Click here for the RECIPE My husband has been a quinoa devotee for many years, having discovered a recipe in the New Basics Cookbook 15 or 16 years ago. The nifty thing about Whole Foods is that you can find the recipe for most items sampled in their cafe on their website.

We passed through Las Vegas earlier this year, while en route to Utah and he had a delicious quinoa burger at the Whole Foods. You can make a batch and freeze them as well for a thrifty and healthy meal.

Quinoa patties from Whole Foods


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A calorie burned is a calorie earned – for a treat!

I consider myself fortunate that within one block of my house, on opposite corners, stand a YMCA and Starbucks.  Two or three times a week, following my run, I lift upper and lower body weights at the YMCA and then walk across the street to treat myself to what I call the “fatty latty”, a triple-venti-vanilla-whole-milk latte.  Nothing beats the satisfaction of strolling home over that last block, workout done, sipping on my latte.

At most times, I’m not the best role model of healthy eating as I burn a lot of calories daily and am able to afford to spend a few of them on treats.  One of my favourite treats, is pictured here . . .

poutine "the works"

Meal replacment

Yes, poutine is my  junk food of choice.  My mom turned me on to something called “The Works” a New York Fries special, a poutine variant which in addition to the usual fries, gravy and cheese curds has chili, sour cream, bacon bits and green onions.  I know, I know . . . you can feel the heart attack coming on but exercise and low body weight is a great cholesterol regulator.   The poutine pictured here was ordered and quickly consumed by yours truly, very recently at Ann’s Cafe in Richard’s Landing, St. Joseph’s Island which is about 50k east of Sault Ste. Marie.

The weeks when I eat most healthily are the 3 weeks preceding a marathon when I am tapering i.e. reducing my training volume and reducing my body weight by 5-6 pounds to lighten the load for the 26.2 mile marathon trek.

Lattes at the Ezra Pound

Getting back to coffee, my husband and I do try to diversify our coffee intake and recently tried the Ezra Pound on Dupont Street.  In homage to its (mad and fascist) namesake, the EP  has a poetry vending machine dispensing poems for a toonie, a project of Toronto Poetry Vendors (TPV).  There is poetry on this blog at the HEART and WORDS pages.

Poetry

Click on this to read!

poetry

Poetry Vending Machine

poetry

Poem Packet $2.00