Alarm went off at 6 a.m. and I dozed back to sleep, waking after 7 a.m. and having to be out of the house for 7:30 a.m. I considered deferring this longer run to Sunday but roused myself and plodded up the hill to St. Clair. I was late but had sent an alert by email and BlackBerry Messenger to my companions. It was only around mile 12 that I began to feel perky. Miles run for the day, fifteen.
The cause of early morning sluggishness was a later than usual night due to my first ever bake-a-thon. Leading up to our May 3rd, Gala my calendar of activities will be severely constrained to Easter dinner or event planning task sessions or meetings or runs.
Get set . . . bake!
My dear friend Dolores and I over the course of nearly 6 hours baked about 28 dozen cookies! We discovered this to be a relaxing and rewarding way to spend time together. Although early on as I exercised some quality control advice from my 30 years or more of making this particular cookie type, Dolores may have wondered what she had got herself into. But she patiently heeded my instructions with appreciation for the fact that magnification of a slight over-size cookie could result in a shortfall at the end of the evening. Our minimum target was 300.
Batch #2 with 2 1/2 pounds of butter.
It didn’t take long for us to get into a groove and the afternoon and evening flew by, punctuated by a vegetarian dinner of Spanish Bulgur, a classic recipe from Diet for a Small Planet. Together we were able to nearly finish the whole mega-batch of 11 times the usual recipe for Mexican Tea Cakes from a Betty Crocker Cookie Book that was given to me by an aunt around 1967.
The Finished Product
We lamented the fact that our friend Robyn who is suffering from the severe sleep deprivation of mom-hood was unable to join us but felt good that the two of us had pulled it off. And where will these cookies go you may ask? Each gala guest will receive in their goodie bag two cookies,lovingly prepared by Dolores and Lynn.
Yesterday, making all the pieces of my day fit together meant arriving at work super-early, running from work, along the lake, through High Park and a brief interlude at home followed by dashing off to a meeting at C-5 with the bandleader of Ethio Fidel Jazz band who will perform at our gala People4Kids.
The day got off to a sweet start as we got an early morning delivery of chocolate from CAMINO fair trade, organic chocolate destined for Gala goodie bags. We received this note from CAMINO. WooHoo!
Thank you for considering us as sponsors for your event. We are truly impressed with all your hard work and dedication towards orphaned children affected by AIDS in Ethiopia. We are happy to be able to contribute a small gift for your gala. We are able to offer you 300 chocolate minis (55% dark).
I just popped a chocolate into my mouth and yes, yum, it is superfine stuff. Thanks Camino chocolate, you are the best! I’ll also be seeking out their chocolate coconut bar.
Western Horizon seen from Sunnyside Beach
The foggy dew of the morning evolved into an atmospheric mistiness over the lake in the afternoon. I took the beach shots just before starting the 12 x 200 meter pick-ups with 75 second recovery. When I remarked to my coach that it was a fun workout, he confided that it is one of his favourites. My coach, a former Olympian also holds some world records for his age group in the 800 meters. I gather that one of his training secrets is circuit training which includes hopping up stairs on one foot.
On the heels of my workout I bounded breathlessly into our local Starbuck’s at College and Dovercourt to be greeted by the manager who told me that yes, Starbuck’s will donate a $75 gift basket to the Gala. This manager is very excited about the opportunity she will have next week to meet Howard Schultz of Starbuck’s.
C5 Charcuterie Plate
As for food I added shredded apple and orange juice to my carrot oatmeal to improve on the “fruitlessness” of Wednesday. Also consumed through the day was; 1 bottle YOP, Activa yogurt (2.9% MF), peanut butter and banana sandwich, portion of a large charcuterie platter and that is it. Not much really as my appetite is still a little curtailed and I’m feeling about 90%. A nurse who is part of the team looking into the illness incurred by me and many last Friday was quite interested to hear that I had previously been struck down by the Norwalk virus.
Apple, Carrot, Orange Juice Oatmeal
After returning from C5, I was inspired by the sight of 4 very ripe bananas to bake banana bread for a friend’s visit. Well, actually she will put to work, helping me to bake 30 dozen cookies. After baking I was completely out of gas. Time for bed – blog or no blog.
To Blog or To Bake Banana Bread
p.s. I just got off the phone with Dufflet pastry and they are donating a cake certificate to the silent auction. Life is sweet! But — will my friend feel the same way after helping me bake 30 dozen cookies?
In my effort to be more focused on healthy eating, I’ll be blogging a bit about what I’m eating. Actually, I’ve probably exaggerated the state of affairs as 1) Both my husband and I have given alcohol up for Lent (with a couple of exceptions) over the last four weeks and 2) My breakfasts have been consistently healthy.
Ever since I discovered the recipe for Carrot Cake Oatmeal on my friend’s blog in December, I’ve been having this for breakfast six out of seven mornings a week. For the 4th or 5th time I encourage you to try give this a try! CLICK HERE for the original recipe and more photos of this breakfast superfood.
Ingredients for a Healthy Breakfast
It has now become a morning ritual to grate carrots to add to my oatmeal. Quickie recipe for 1 person: 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cups grated carrot, 1 cup milk or almond milk or soy milk, a dash of cinnamon and a bit of vanilla. Then cook at high in the microwave for 6 minutes in a very large bowl. Add an extra minute for every every portion cooked. Check out my previous blogs on Carrot Cake Oatmeal to see all the fancy stuff you can do with the recipe.
My lunch was a wrap with chicken, cheese, cucumber, lettuce and tomato and a glass of diet ginger ale. The ubiquitous staff birthday cake appeared and I had a piece of somewhat synthetic chocolate cake. I confess, that I had a piece larger than the one initially offered since I was asked if I wanted a larger one and I said yes. I had a latte from The Communal Mule and then picked up a Tim Horton’s carrot muffin (free due to husband’s roll-up-the-rim prize earnings) on the way home. For dinner I had a bowl of instant miso soup and three slices of cold pizza (artisanal style, cheese & tomato sauce) left over from Monday’s lunch at Pizzeria Libretto on Ossington. As I review my day I see that I’m a little short on fruit but all in all, it could be worse but still lots of room for improvement.
I ran 5 miles this morning and felt quite comfortable. I’m on the mend. And, breaking news . . . apparently, many people got sick at the event I attended on Friday and there has been talk that it might be the Norwalk Virus. Something airborne is suspected and authorities are investigating. I’ve already had the Norwalk Virus and I’m told you can only have it once so perhaps I should be letting someone know this? My husband, my son and I all caught it one year when we visited my mother-in-law in her nursing home. My father-in-law got it as well and our holiday visit to Edmonton was rather a dismal one. The Norwalk Virus was 20 times as bad as what I had over the weekend.
I’m so happy to be healthy again. A toast to health, yours and mine.
Ran 5 easy miles before work. Walked a mile to work. Walked from work, just over a mile to Village by the Grange to meet a friend for dinner. My husband met me at Village by the Grange and we walked just over a mile to the Air Canada Centre to see the Raptors play the Milwaukee Bucks.
Benefits of walking, priceless. For any other method of transport there are tokens or a $19 taxi ride home.
I resisted the Japanese version of Twinkies but ate nearly a whole box of Crunch & Munch at the game.
Today was busy. To get my run and weights done prior to work, I had to get up at 4:45 a.m. as the workday started early and I wanted to allow myself an hour to get to an off-site location north of Mel Lastman Square.
I hit the YMCA at 5:45 a.m. At times I lose perspective on my habits and recall excitedly reporting to dinner guests who live in our neighbourhood that our local YMCA was now opening 15 minutes earlier than the previous 6 a.m. opening. Not one found this to be exciting news.
Dolmeh Felfel
Here are the food and beverage highlights of the day:
I made it to Mel Lastman Square 25 minutes ahead of schedule due to perfect transit connections so was able to grab a quick latte at Starbuck’s.
At my workplace, between noon and half past, a dinner bell rings to call everyone to share a meal, cooked by either staff or a volunteer. Today the meal was a very authentic and tasty Iranian dish called Dolmeh-Felfel.
I tried a new location of Ezra’s Pound coffee shop on Dundas and had a fairly good latte.
I met a friend for dinner at a fairly new restaurant called Caffe Mercatto in the MaRs complex at College and University. The highlight was coconut ice gelato that followed the lobster fettucine. I found it a bit hard to choose my meal as there were several things on the smallish menu that I’m not fond of; goat cheese, calamari, lamb and rabbit. The glass of prosseco they served was the smallest serving ever and was quite flat. I should have taken a photo as proof. The atmosphere is very nice and the service friendly.
Sunday is when I tally up my total miles run for the week. When building towards a marathon, I take easy weeks on average, every three weeks. My total for this week is 40 miles. Prior to this I had run 52, 60 and 60 mile weeks. After taking an easy week, in addition to the physical break to rebuild, I find I am mentally recharged as while I look forward to the break, it doesn’t take much easing off before I begin to feel like a slacker.
Here are some of the things I did or did not do that lead to feeling this way.
Missed a weight work session
Missed a tempo run session
Ran 2 miles on a day I had planned to run 5 miles
Ran 10 miles instead of 12 miles on Saturday
Doubled my typical caloric intake for one day with three large meals while visiting Ottawa
SO that is the point of the easy week, paradoxical though it may be, easing off and experiencing a bit of remorse for not having made more spartan choices, makes me look forward to the next round of training . Ultimately, I love the results of being a super-fit, 55 year old and after one week of relative ease I am chomping at the bit to “get with the program”.
Skipping the tempo run and weight workout had a lot to do with being in a rush to visit the National Art Gallery which was a 10 minute walk from the hotel. I had a thoroughly relaxing time there and visited a number of shows, includingIt Is What It Is: Recent Acquisitions of New Canadian Art
One of the most memorable pieces was a very large pencil crayon drawing by Cape Dorset artist Shuvinai Ashoona. I’m happy to know that the National Art Gallery (NAG) has purchased that drawing for their permanent collection. I was unable to find a photo of the drawing in question but did find this example of Ashoona’s work.
The gallery has recently bought and installed a stunning sculpture, One Hundred Foot Line by Roxy Paine. I stepped out onto a terrace with a “Beware of Falling Ice” warning to take the photo below. And did I mention that I set off an alarm when I tried to step out to take another photo.
New Installation-Sculpture
In case you wonder what I consider overeating, my big day started with a large portion of eggs benedict with home fries and croissant at 7 a.m. followed by a lunch at the National Art Gallery of soup and a sandwich, then a three-course dinner with two glasses of Proseco ending with a fancy apple cake dessert.
National Art Gallery Cafeteria Lunch
Some may laugh at what I consider excess however the work of the easy week is done. I’m eager to run 60-65 miles this week, skip desserts and opt for less rich food, that is, until the next easy week.
February 2011 it turns out, will be a very social month for us, more so than the holiday season. With an outing tonight and tomorrow, I decided to do a solo long run this morning to avoid a weekend long run. For a moment, I considered doing my 14 miler on the treadmill, discouraged by the overcast sky but thought better of it.
Four miles into the run, I took part in an email exchange around a confusion about whether the racing, mentioned a few days ago, was happening today. I suppose having a BlackBerry is a bit of consolation, a kind of companion when you are slogging it out in the winter with no company. There are those days when it takes a lot of positive self-talk to get out there and train so if the promise of being able to check email every few miles makes it a bit easier, so be it.
I enjoyed the section in Murakami’s What I Talk About When I Talk About Running where he describes his interview with Toshiko Seko one of Japan’s great marathon runners. Murakami asks Seko if there are days when he doesn’t feel like running. Seko looked at him with a you-must-be-joking expression and answers that of course, there are those days, every day in fact! If one considers the difficulty of his training routine, it makes perfect sense. As we say in the business, the man is a “machine”.
In truth, for those who run every day, however humble our goals, we rely on all manner of mental gymnastics to get out the door. Discipline is a lot about becoming highly adept at finding the many reasons, why, why, why when so much of the mind and body says, no, no, no. Anyhow, today was such a day but as usual I reminded myself of how great I feel after a long run and how much I like the results of being highly fit and running fast times. Additionally, I remind myself of how much I dislike the results of less activity. When I started running, I was very motivated by the benefit of stress release and used to visualize that I was leaving stress behind like a trail of soot on the road.
My route in a nutshell was west to High Park with a short loop there, then back east through the CNE grounds, past Ontario Place and over to Harbourfront, with a northwest beeline for home.
View From Ontario Place
There was a very pretty pink hue hovering on the horizon which made for a pleasant sight while running past Ontario Place. East of there is the Tip Top Tailor building. I’ve run by the Tip Top Tailor building, now converted into lofts for decades, and often wondered about the interior. Today I’ll get the inside story, as that is where we are headed this evening.
I made a pit stop at Harbourfront Center and took a moment to enjoy a photography exhibit. A photo by Jesse Boleswhich is part of an exhibit called Piles caught my eye. The aesthetic is similar to art that I enjoyed in my younger days. And then I hit the road again, face to face with a very strong west wind. This is the first year that I’ve had a vented face protector and it is a big improvement over the muffler style face warmers which can get iced up in super-cold temperatures.
Photograph by Jesse Boles
My final stop was the dry cleaners, from there jogging the final stretch home, cleaning in hand. Finishing felt so good that I cheered out loud for myself!
As with the camping experience, food tastes better after a long run, so I eagerly dove right into breakfast by making my quickie version of Carrot Cake Oatmeal. If you haven’t tried it yet, you really must. It is super-fine stuff.
Breakfast of Champions
Recipe: In large microwavable bowl combine 1 cup grated carrots, 1 cup milk, 1/2 cup oats (not quick cooking oats), 1/4 teaspoon vanilla, a dash of cinnamon, raisins (optional), dried cranberries (optional) and cook on high for 5 minutes. Stir. Add chopped pecans, maple syrup and milk or cream. Make sure the bowl you cook the oatmeal in is at least twice the volume of the ingredients as it will boil and bubble vigorously.
YOU MUST TRY THIS!
There was some leftover whipping cream in the fridge so I indulged, and used that instead of milk. This is my third post about Carrot Cake Oatmeal, and I urge you to give it a try. It’s a real winner and will add excitement to your breakfast table this winter. And how virtuous one feels starting the day with a cup of grated carrot in your cereal, especially after a hardy workout!
“Your net worth to the world is usually determined by what remains after your bad habits are subtracted from your good ones.” Benjamin Franklin
According to some mental health experts, Monday, January 17thwas the most depressing day of the year. Mainly due to the arrival of bills in the mailbox and gloomy weather. In addition, by this time, many will have abandoned New Years resolutions, short of the 21 days that it supposedly takes for good habits to take hold.
I don’t usually make New Years resolutions as I find that September is the month when I feel most upbeat about tackling new projects. It must be all those years of mom-hood that have me stuck in the school-year cycle. Today however I feel the need to resolve to reduce my sugar intake for the rest of the year.
The reason for this belated resolution is that I have not quite recovered from the holiday season sugar overload and I’m hooked, with the energy lapses and subtle mood swings to show for it. Some have called refined sugar consumption, “Death by installments.” I read and was influenced by the book Sugar Bluesin the late-seventies and this coincided with my return to regular exercise after a five year lapse. The results of these two important lifestyle changes were that my energy level became very consistent and stable through the day. Mid-afternoon sleepiness and drowsiness after meals can be avoided by reducing the refined sugar in our diet, and foods ranking high on the glycemic index.
Here is an enthusiastic review of the Sugar Blues by a more recent reader:
A true health classic! February 3, 2000 Reviewer: A reader from New York City
I’m sugar-free ever since reading “Sugar Blues.” I was sluggish, moody, hungry, etc. I remembered that John Lennonmentioned Dufty’s book in an interview once. So I bought it at the local health food store. He starts off with his own sugar hell and redemption and then delves into the whole history of the cane. Very interesting, health-wise and also politically. . . When I tell people I’m sugar-free they usually scoff, saying sugar’s not that bad for you, why give it up completely. Well, now I wake up clear and I get through the afternoon w/o any flagging of energy. At various times of the day I’ll feel some energy racing through my body. (A great feeling; keeps me motivated.) Now I need less food on my plate, and my hypoglycemia has all but disappeared. (Think about THAT one, folks.) Never eat “refined sucrose” again! It can be done! Sky’s the limit! Thank you, William Dufty!
Sugar Blues by William Duffy
Apparently, John Lennon used to regularly give away copies of Sugar Blues. Well I’m a believer in “baby steps” so here is what I did today to lessen my sugar intake, I had a non-sweet latte, at LIT, foregoing the usual triple-venti-whole-milk-vanilla latte and I skipped a sweet treat. Once I’m back to minimal sugar consumption, a sweet treat can be enjoyed every now and then without ill effect and it will be truly a treat rather than the satisfaction of an unhealthy craving.
I won’t delve into the more serious issues related to blood sugar levels such as Diabetes for which my knowledge is limited to first-year Biology and Nutritional Food Science but one starting point might be this link to The Canadian Diabetes Association.
LIT Latte Art
Here is a great quote from Jack Lalanne, the Godfather of Fitness who passed away recently at the age of 96.
Exercise is King, nutrition is Queen put them together and you have a kingdom.
What happens when you drop into Starbuck’s and discover that you’ve forgotten the book you are dying to finish? Happily for me, you run into an old friend of over 25 years with whom you are long overdue to catch up with. With me, the catching up process usually involves a “Still running?” inquiry and in this instance more than two hours of chatting.
Part of my friend’s news was that recently a car drove into the front of her restaurant at 4:30 a.m. causing a fair bit of damage which included squashing her bike, left parked overnight for one of three times in 11 years. Monica is the owner of Saving Grace Cafe on Dundas West, as in this review of Toronto restaurant brunch offerings by NOW Magazine.
Saving Grace
907 Dundas W, at Bellwoods, 416-703-7368. Monica Miller’s intentionally anonymous café is always bedlam on weekends. Regulars know to disregard the printed menu and go for the chalkboard specials. Best: devilishly textured corn cakes accompanied by chili-fired mango chutney and greens dressed with sun-dried tomato vinaigrette; waffle du jour with real maple syrup, or very plain scrambled eggs with pumpernickel toast and oven-roasted home fries; French toast with caramelized bananas in maple syrup. Open Saturday and Sunday 10 am to 3 pm. Licensed. Access: one step at door, washrooms upstairs. Rating: NNNN$$
"Photos of what happened to the front of my restaurant!"
I told her about the Carrot Cake Oatmealrecipe I had blogged about recently and we had a lively discussion of the culinary possibilities of oatmeal. She may test this recipe on her staff as a step towards adding it to her famous brunch menu.
Committed commuter cyclist and chef with her new wheels.
Upon leaving Starbucks, she showed me her replacement bike. There was a time when I cycled everywhere, all but 6-8 weeks of the year, but Monica has outlasted me in this pursuit by nearly two decades.
On the topic of chance meetings and food; What happens when you forget your key and need a place to hang out, to await rescue? Across from Starbuck’s is a new restaurant Hadley’s, where I dined in this instance, waiting for my husband to get home from work to let me in. I sat at the counter and shortly after an old friend, the phys. ed. teacher from my son’s elementary school, sat down beside me.
Portrait of a Great Phys. Ed. Teacher
She told me that has seen me regularly, running in the neighbourhood. We got to know each other during the years when I coached the school cross-country running team and assisted with the track and field team. She had just come from a school basketball game and modeled the latest version of the school t-shirt. She was a star basketball player and assistant coach with the University of Toronto Blues and was once a member of the national basketball team. It was good to hear that she is doing some teaching at OISE as she is a wonderful teacher and fabulous role model.
She urged me to have a taste of her appetizer, whitefish on green pea pancakes, an improbable combination which I would never thought of ordering. They were sensational!
Hadley's Whitefish on Green Pea Pancakes
I mentioned the green pea pancakes to Monica and she has such a recipe, which I hope to try. In case you are thinking about checking out Saving Grace, I think they close annually, in February, so call first to confirm. Bon appetit!
Our flight to Edmonton was comfortable and passed quickly with a bit of napping and inroads made into The Sea Lady, the sixth or seventh Margaret Drabble book I’ve read which after 120 pages, seems well worthy of the praises sung on its covers. The long drive from the airport to the suburb of St. Albert was another story.
The Edmonton area has been hit with record snowfalls lately, along with very low temperatures making for treacherous road conditions. Shortly after leaving the airport we saw several vehicles in ditches, including an overturned jeep. Along the way, we spotted numerous abandoned vehicles. Later we were told the likelihood of securing tow truck services during this spell of bad weather is very low. Tough going but an evening peppered with my father-in-law’s stories of prairie life on the farm, pre-depression certainly gave us an it-could-be-worse perspective.
View From an Edmonton Parking Lot
As is our habit while here, we had our coffee and then drove to the Servus Centre for a morning work-out. Upon arrival we noticed that it was the busiest we have seen it and discovered that it was the second day of The Continental Cup, a world-class curling tournament featuring competition between the best teams from North America and the best in the world.
Curlcast coverage included this news item. “Andrea Schoepp doesn’t have the use of a bicycle during the Continental Cup at the Servus Credit Union Place this week. If she did, the current world women’s curling champion skip claims she’s be riding from the hotel to the arena and back every day, and never mind the minus-20 temperatures or the ice-bound streets. “Oh yes,” she was saying this week, “you don’t have it cold here. This is great weather. Definitely not too cold for biking.”
Um, well, I beg to differ. Sounds foolhardy and life threatening. Is this bravado the equivalent of curler’s “trash talk”?
As my husband was about to hand over our entrance fee, I interjected excitedly, “Hey look, YOU are a senior!”. As the attendant reworked the total, he joked that he was disappointed that she did not ask him to show his I.D. Said I, “I don’t think that is the first time she’s heard that joke”. At this juncture my observation may not have been wholly appreciated.
I ran six miles on the treadmill, did upper and lower body weights and was pleased to see that they had the sled style leg press machine. You should definitely have a trainer in your gym show you how to use this machine and if a novice, should start out with no weights. The lock and unlock feature on this machine varies a great deal so be careful if you are using a new machine. The demonstration below is a good one.
I also do ankle raises on this machine by positioning the balls of my feet at the bottom of the machine and flexing the ankles up and down. You don’t unlock the machine for this as the range of movement does not require unlocking and to do so would put you in a vulnerable and dangerous position.
View of My Feet in Position for Ankle Raises on Leg Press at Servus Centre
Workout done, I stopped by Booster Juice for a Ginger Hammer, a mix of apple, carrot and ginger juice as an appetizer to a regular outing during our Edmonton visits, a trip to Ricky’s restaurant. My usual choice is one of my indulgences, like my love of poutine, one of four Big Breakfast choices called the Perogy & Egg Platter which includes; 3 eggs, 7 perogies and Bavarian or Chorizo sausage and toast.
Perogy & Egg Big Breakfast
With the 1 p.m. timing of our breakfast, I devoured this treat with gusto, save for two perogys and 1/2 an egg. Certainly, not the basis of a healthy lifestyle but a reasonable twice-a-year meal for an omnivorous runner with no family history of heart disease. And there is something to be said for insulating layers of fat when living at minus 26 Celsius.
$$
Mind, Motion & Matter 