Crash bang wollop! NO RUNNING....NOOOO! New BIke....

It was the hardest crash of my life, I have never hit the deck quite so hard! The impact was heavy and my instant reaction was to shake it off and carry on, I was soaked through due to the constant hard rain and now freezing cold. I was 9 miles into the 19.5 TT and I was banged up bad, my elbow hurt like hell and my knee was bleeding quite heavily, but I also knew that the only way that I could get back to the start was to ride. So I made sure I was ok, I could move everything without too much pain and the bike was ok, so I got back on and continued along the route....but man I was cold and battered!



Now as I was heading back towards the finish for the 19.5 TT I could sense that my body temperature was dropping very low and I could feel that the effort from cycling was becoming more and more painful, although due to the cold I didnt feel any pain from my injuries and finished with no pain at all due to how cold I was. I finished and had another cyclist pull off my sleeve, it was then it became apparent that my elbow was extremely damaged and needed medical attention. I was rushed to A and E and there it was x-rayed within 5mins of waiting (very quick service). I then sat back down and tried my best to get warm again....this turned out to be my demise. I started to feel my fingers and toes and then the shock and pain came....I was sick with about 30mins of sitting down getting warm again! the pain was horrid and rather overwhelming. After being sick they called me back in to tell me that I had no breaks which was extremely lucky, I was so happy!

I arrived home in some state, but it would not be till a few days when I tried to run again that I would realise the how much damage the impact had caused. I have not been able to run since and have seen a physio who has now advised me to lay off running until this evening 3.6.15....I am writing this praying it will be ok. I will also be writing what happens tomorrow.....

5.6.15

And the run went terribly....back to the physio it is! oh man its frustrating! Physio now feels that I have inflamed it and will cause me problems for a few days.









Always love getting a delivery from my sponsor. Trying new hemp protein, this is slower release and can be used to aid recovery over night. Its a wicked green colour but it is defiantly helping me to add more protein to my diet.

 Best man duties......






New Bike 


Watch this space, I have a new bike on the way and its gonna help me push to actually get some PB's....I hope it will help me start to make some new PB's.

Until the crash training was going really well and since it has been tough but I am constantly working hard with the help from my fantastic coach www.mattbottrillperformancecoaching.com  and my great sponsors www.pulsin.co.uk I am always trying to achieve and improve very week. I have targets to hit and goals to work towards, but you must remember that it must be enjoyable to work towards these.

                                         

Digging yourself into a whole.........FIT but not HEALTHY!

LISTEN TO THIS!!!!!

This is literally the best podcast I have ever listen to about over training. It talks about how training can become an obsessions, driving to succeed, and trying to become the best.

http://www.bengreenfieldfitness.com/2015/04/are-you-fit-not-healthy-the-shocking-story-of-what-happens-when-you-exercise-too-much-and-what-you-can-do-about-it/#

Managing weight, energy levels, training, food, life can all become problems and being fit and healthy are two very different things if you get them wrong.

In January 2015 I had all of the symptoms to suggest that I was struggling, but I stupidly ignored them. I raced and almost cried, I would train and be in pain for hours, I would literally fall asleep when I sat down in the evening. I wanted things far too much!

Re-Think!

Now after 2 months of reviewing these problems I have now changed a lot of things I was once doing and everything is heading in the right direction. It was quite frightening to not be in control of your body, strange things happen you actually know the reason is completely you own fault. Fatigue is a crazy thing and can spiral out of control! You wake up tired, go to sleep tired, it can just be a never ending struggle. Now it is time to build and move on with all these though in mind......onto race reports...........

39 mile Classic CTT race - Beacon RCC – Sunday 26 Apr (K22/39) 39 miles 

This was one of the most fun, challenging and tough races that I have done. It was great fun and took in some of the hardest climbs around the Worcestershire area (ankadine and stanford bank). The time trial was 39 miles of undulating road, and very enjoyable....but yet very challenging. I had no expectations for the race and just wanted to do myself proud. I went into it open eyed and enjoyed it alot. At some times I didnt even this I would get round with any sort of decent time and I was always expecting people to pass me, but to be honest I wasn't passed by many at all so I was quite happy with that indeed!

I finished the race with no real idea just how I had done, other than I had stuck to the pre-desired wattage set by my coach and I was happy about that. My time was 1.53.25 and this was very respectable for the distance and the course.

My coach finished with a course record and won the race in fantastic style! so impressive.....and completely inspiring! smashed the record by 90 seconds!!!

http://www.beaconrcc.org.uk/open_races/lmtt/results.html

K33-10m Saturday 9.5.15

This 10m TT is a classic round the Worcestershire area, there are different versions of the course and its very popular with the locals. It isnt a mega fast course, but also not a slow one (although was for me on this day). My wattage has been steadily improving week to week,

I went into the race expecting to go a little faster than previous weeks, although this wasnt the case. It may have been due to wind, drag, im unsure really....but my time didnt really show the effort. Which was very disappointing! hopefully this will change once I have a new bike.....I hope so anyway!

I out alot into the race and really enjoyed looking down at the watts and seeing that they were higher than previous weeks, but when I finished I looked at the time and was very disappointing...On wards and upwards!!!

"In sports you don’t get what you wish for, you get what you work for" M.Bottrill! 

http://www.mattbottrillperformancecoaching.com/#!about-matt/cmv

I wont be stopping in my pursuit to time trial speed demon....although it might take a little longer than expected! I need to have patients and not get annoyed when the odd results doesn't go my way!

Freezer brownie and oat cookies .....Gluten free and simple baking.

Ingredients:

150g oat flour

150g ground almonds

3 tbsp honey

50g pea protein

2 tsp chia seeds

1 whole chia bar

1 egg

1. Pre-heat the oven at 170

2. Add the oats to the food processor and wiz until the oats have formed a flour type texture .Combine all into a food processor and wiz till combined.

3. Make sure none of the batter is stuck to the sides and it all goes into the lined baking tray. 

4. Bake for 25-35mins and leave to cool.

5. Slice and enjoy (amazing with peanut butter) 

                      

Ingredients:

200g peanut butter

pinch of salt

4 tbsp of melted coconut oil

2 tsp chia seeds

3 tbsp of nutella

1 scoop of @pulsin pea protein

100g almonds

100g ground almonds

1. Pre-heat the oven at 180

2. Combine all into a food processor and wiz till combined.

3. Add to a loaf tin lined with cling film and place in the freezer.

4.Take out as and when and slice to eat.

Gluten free Baking, baking and more baking.....4 new recipes!

Baking is literally such a guilty pleasure and I share the recipes more so for my memory and also the pleasure of hopefully 1/2 people who might actually have a go and try and attempt the same one day, I do hope that people have a pop at these things. I try to make them very simple, gluten free, easy to get hold of ingredients and not long to make. This makes it easy for the average Joe to have a go at them.

Almond flour and chia charge cake

Making this cake was a little difficult at first but I made two versions and the second one I did in a taking try and not a cake dish and is worked so much better. The cake doesnt rise that much but taste so good. The polenta in it is actually very original and makes for a very good texture.

Ingredients:

150g polenta

150g ground almonds

3 tbsp honey

50g pea protein

2 tsp chia seeds

1 whole chia bar

1 egg

1. Pre-heat the oven at 170

2. Combine all into a food processor and wiz till combined.

3. Make sure none of the batter is stuck to the sides and it all goes into the lined baking tray. 

4. Bake for 25-35mins and leave to cool.

5. Slice and enjoy (amazing with peanut butter) 

 

Brazil nut, date, @pulsin pea protein and honey cookies. 

Ingredients:

200g Brazil nuts

200g dates

2 tbsp honey 

50g pea protein

1. Pre-heat the oven at 180

2. Combine all into a food processor and wiz till combined.

3. When the cookies make a dough (it will be a little wet) roll into small balls and place on a baking try, and squish with a fork. 

4. Bake for 15mins and leave to cool.

Cashew nut butter, coconut oil and honey cookies. 

Ingredients:

200g Cashew nut butter

2 tbsp honey 

2 tbsp of melted coconut oil.

1. Pre-heat the oven at 180

2. Combine all into a food processor and wiz till combined.

3. When the cookies make a dough (it will be a little wet) roll into small balls and place on a baking try, and squish with a fork. 

4. Bake for 15mins and leave to cool.

Raw peanut butter, nutella, coconut oil brownies.

Ingredients:

200g peanut butter

2 tbsp honey 

2 tbsp of melted coconut oil

2 tsp chia seeds

3 tbsp of nutella

1 scoop of @pulsin pea protein

1. Pre-heat the oven at 180

2. Combine all into a food processor and wiz till combined.

3. Add to a loaf tin lined with cling film and place in the freezer.

4.Take out as and when and slice to eat.

Gluten free cycling fuel - rice cakes.

The book below has changed the way I have been baking and making gluten free cycling fuel, the first chapter is fantastic and really does have an amazing outlook on training and how adaptation, fueling and recovery play a huge roll in the life of a top quality athlete (not sure I'm quite there yet). The book has so many fantastic different portable fuel ideas, and has led me to try them but also adapt them to my own ideas. 

Ingredients:

200g rice crispies 

100g delicious alchemy gluten free rice flakes @4GlutenFreeFood

75g almond flour

2 tbsp coco

2 tbsp butter 

100g currants

100ml almond milk

Directions:
To make these it is very simple.

1.Add butter to a pan and melt.
2.Add the almond milk and heat gently.
3.Once the milk has heated slightly add the rice crispies, stir well and then add the almond flour.
4.After these have combined with the milk and become a little thick, add the coco and the currants.
5. Transfer to a shallow tin lined with baking paper and leave to cool. (I put it in the fridge after 10/15mins)
6. lye out and cut into squares. Wrap each square with foil and you are ready to go.

NEW BEGINNING....WATTAGE, MATT BOTTRILL and a new start......Euro 2016 qualification.

It has been a rather tough month and if you asked me how I felt 4 weeks ago I would have gave you an honest answer and it would have been rather confused. I  was on a taper week ready to race clumber classic after a rather crap race two week prior. I had no idea how I was going to race and was very worried that it would be another repeat performance of a substandard race....and low and behold it was another very poor race by my standards. I wanted more from racing and have worked my ass off during the winter (turns out making myself weaker and weaker, week on week). After these very disappointing results I found myself very lost and didnt know what to do where to turn or what step to make next, I also had Horst European Duathlon Championships on the horizon...so it was crunch time. I needed to now make some decisions, first of which was getting a coach, this was and I hope to be a fundamental and critical decision to contribute towards me making progress in the future. I almost want to achieve too much and have been burring myself week in and out and doing far to much with not enough of the right stuff. I can now see and say that I was chronically fatigued and am now starting to shake it and come out of it, but there is still more work to be done there.

The coach I have chosen for my new beginning is Matt Bottrill, his credentials talk for them self and he is one of the most talented time trialist's to ever grace the British shores with some fantastic records for numerous distances.



http://www.mattbottrillperformancecoaching.com/


Matt is going to look after my cycling and provide me with the correct training plans to improve my cycling. I know this isnt a quick fix...what it? So I am in it for the long run to suffer and strive to improve my cycling and get faster! The first thing Matt told me was, if you want me to make you faster you must train to wattage...so thats what ive done, and the chosen type of power meter is stages. This was recommended by a friend and has been great so far. Wattage has no variance and is what it is, you push what you push and things like caffeine will not alter it. So on wards and upwards!  Next stop....new bike?


The next decision was, what do I do about Horsts? obviously the race had now passed, but it was a very hard decision especially because it was something that I was working towards all winter....but I decided to pull. It was a hard decision, but certainly the correct one. I had such high aspirations to do well at Horst but it just didnt work out, the training and focus was lost due to many things and I just had to make the best decision for myself!



Although I had such a bad race at Clumber Park duathlon I did however manage to qualify for the European Duathlon Championships in 2016, which as a slight silver lining. This is something to aim for and a realistic goal to aim for to achieve something serious in the sport.

NEW TOY!


So where to go next, I have a program in place, a new coach, a few new toys and a summer of miles and improvements! The winter almost killed me and now I have a coach to make sure this does not happen again!


Also watch this new space for some new recipes..............

Waffles................BOOM! www.pulsin.co.uk

So I have brought a waffle iron, yes a waffle iron. I can hear the gluten free, high protein waffle imagination cogs turning. I have been tempted to buy one for a little while now and oh my what a joy, literally so much pleasure when you see a perfectly formed waffle come out!

Protein Waffles - First ever attempt.....and it begins!

Second attempt and recipe below. Getting adventurous, Chia Charge and pulsin protein waffles. No flour in sight!

Ingredients:

100g Pulsin pea protein powder www.pulsin.co.uk

Half - a Chia Charge bar http://chiacharge.co.uk/buy-chia-charge-flapjacks.html

50g Ground Almonds 

2 eggs (whisked)

50ml Almond milk

Mix all the dry ingredients into one bowl, and make sure they have combined well.

Mix all the wet ingredients in another bowl, make sure that they are whisked well. 

Combine the two together and make sure it isnt too think, if it is then add a little more almond milk. The batter should be a little gloopy, but too thick. 

Spray the waffle iron with a spray oil, I use coconut oil spray (trust its best)! 

Leave the waffle iron to do its thing, and come back to it and check its not burnt, then leave it till crispy and soft. I serve mine with www.meridianfoods.co.uk almond butter and it was delicious.