Saturday Cycle with Cardiff Tri

Today I got on the road bike again!  I hadn't been on the bike since December I think... it's been a while.  I woke up to blazing sunshine at 7:30am on a Saturday, and I was ready to cycle.  I'de never been out with Cardiff Tri before and was excited to go out with them - the leisure ride sounded like it would be a good way to get back in the saddle as the route was flat and no one would be dropped.

I had a breakfast of 1/4 cup oatmeal with almonds and brown sugar, plus a hardboiled egg and a slice of toast with avocado (I'm hungry!).

The first 20 miles were nice but much colder than I anticipated - apparently 11 degrees isn't shorts and tee-shirt weather.  After 20 miles Brewer Half and a few others did a cheeky 5 mile sprint to the coffee stop, I held the tail for about a mile before dropping off at 20mph.  I pootled there at a windy 13mph but still made it to cake third - I could see two in pursuit behind but was able to hold them off.

On the way back Brewer half and I needed to get home quick so unfortunately had to zip away from the group.  We picked up a spare rider and belted it through the lanes, I took the lead for some at 18mph and we averaged nearly 22 for the 7 mile flat sprint from Newport to Cardiff.  I was completely wheel sucking* by that time but it didn't matter - I only got dropped when Brewer Half and Rob hightailed the last mile to get their Strava up.

In the end it was a 55 mile route, really nice and pretty flat.

When I got home I tried hard to not crash and waste the rest of the day - I had a protein recovery bar and then a big lunch of shrimp stir-fry.  I actually got a fair amount done after the ride, which almost never happenes before since usually I'm too tired to even make food.

I'll have to get on the bike more soon - long cycles are great when the weather is nice - it's pretty, it's quick, and it burns 1,600 calories in a morning!

Here's the Strava!


*wheel sucking is staying on someones wheel because you expend 30% less effort go get the same speed and the person in front gets all the wind resistance and you get sucked along.  It's good.

Pile on the Miles - Running for April - Update

So there's one week left in April!  I took a bit of a hiatus from mile piling and did not run for 2 weeks, bad Rachel!  But on Monday evening I was being especially grumpy and Brewer Half convinced me to go for a run.  I came back feeling awesome, and even though it was slow (3.5 miles in 38 minutes) I felt a million times better after going out than before!

Today I was keen for another run so I set off at 6.  I was doing a pretty okay pace (for me) but I kept switching between feeling good and feeling like I wanted to stop and walk.  I told myself I could walk at the end of the CD (35 minutes) but it turned out the playlist was 45 minutes! I finished my 3.3 mile loop in 35 minutes anyways, and didn't walk at all.

This is where I run - it is super pretty

And these are my lovely Strava awards for my run today!  

Someday I'm going to try to smash my short sprint times, like my 400 meter time.  But today the miles were 9:38, 10:17, and 10:50!

This week has been good - Running monday, mountain biking tuesday, and running on Wednesday!  But tomorrow is Crepes and Cider at Creperie de Sophie, so lots of yummy crepes and no exercise for me!

Delicious Low Fat High Fibre Banana Muffins!

I love baking - and one of my favorite treats to bake is Banana Bread!  I learned recently that I could freeze overripe bananas to use for cooking later - now my freezer is half full of discount overripe banana.  Yum!  I peel them first and measure them out to 1 cup portions for easy baking.

Oh yes, I'm American so I bake with cups - for all my UK followers, a cup is about the size of a man-fist.  To be honest banana bread is very forgiving so I estimate ingredients anyways.

Ingredients:

1 cup flour

3/4 cup oats

1 tsb baking powder

1 tsb baking soda

1 tsb cinnamon

3/4 cup fibre one

3/4 cup milk

2 eggs

1 cup mashed overripe banana

1/2 cup brown sugar (optional)

1/2 cup almonds or nuts (optional)

Here's how it goes!

1) Combine fiber one and milk.  It seems weird, just do it.  Then put aside.

2) in a seperate bowl, combine all the dry ingrediants, except sugar, which for some reason goes in the wet ingrediants, even though it's arguably dry.

3) In a third bowl, combine egg with defrosted mashed overripe banana and sugar (sugar is optional, I have a sweet tooth but I've made it without sugar before).

4) Add chopped nuts if you want to the dry ingredients (I used almonds).

5) Add the soaked fibre one and milk to the wet ingredients and mix thoroughly   The fiber one should almost disintegrate into the mix.

6) Mix the wet and dry ingredients together, but forget to add the cinnamon and chuck it on after but right before you take a photo.  Don't overmix but be sure there's no dry ingredients left, mixture may be a bit runny but that makes for fluffier banana bread.  Thicker mix means chewier bread. All bread is delicious.

 7) Fill muffins 3/4 full with batter.  Bake at gas mark 4/ 350f / 180c for 22-25 minutes.

8) Remove from oven when the edges are a bit brown.

9)  once out of oven leave them in the pan for another 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.  Or a plate.  Or your mouth.

Photopost: Hangfire Smokehouse - Cardiff BBQ - The Canadian Pub in Splott

I did a review last week of Hangfire Smokehouse last week.  I went again this week, and this time with a better camera!  So a few photos of this weeks deliciousness:

Love them pigs!  And 4 Anchor Steams to go around

Pulled Pork Platter, Loves it!

MOAR POARK

New sauce!  South Carolina Mustard! I think the bottle was full before I ate it all.  So good!

Best Ribs in Wales! 

More shots from above so you can see the beans.  SEE HOW GOOD THEY TASTE!

Back to regularly scheduled posts soon.  I've been playing with my new camera.  I took this amazing photo of my housemates:

I think I need a photography course.

75 minute mega-circuit: a workout for a smaller gym

Today I realized I need to get my motivation back.  I need to be stronger and more compact.  I decided to jump back in with a bit of a mix-up on my usual routine - sadly I didn't have the amazing equipment of DW but I did have barbells and bars and a few machines.  So I did the following:

April Mega-Circuit!

500 meter rower

Deadlifts (30kg) x 15

Box Step-ups (5kg each hand) x 20

Weighed squat (10kg bar) x 10

Clean & Press (15kg) x 10

Bicep Curl (12kg) x 10

Lat pull down (heavy) x 10

Dumbell Chest press (10 kg each hand) x 10

Push ups x 10

Dips x 10

Repeat 3 times!

THEN....

Machines!  I started at a do-able weight,  did 10 reps, increased to next weight, 10 reps,  increased again until I could only do 5. I did it for the following:

Adductor

Abductor

Leg Extension

Leg press (each leg separately)

THEN...

A bunch of core stuff.  Sit ups, weighted sit ups, planks, leg lifts, reverse crunches, hundreds, V-sits, Side plank, side crunch... etc.

And that's it!! That's my awesome fun workout that took 75 minutes and made me feel awesome.  Horray!

Hang Fire Smokehouse @ at The Canadian in Splott: Restaurant Review

A few weeks back I heard rumors of a new American style BBQ start-up in Cardiff.  Hang Fire Smokehouse put on BBQ nights at The Canadian - a pub I'de never heard of in Splott. The Canadian is a Brains pub, but when we walked in the bartender(ess) was super friendly and chatty - I later learned it was her pub.  It didn't feel like cookie-cutter brains - it felt like a lovely local.  There was an eclectic mix of people there - locals and hipsters all chilling out on comfy sofas and tables.

I was very excited to meet Sam and Shauna (the minds behind the BBQ), though I now forget which one I met!  Either way the story goes they traveled around America to learn good cooking, and came back to Wales to share the knowledge. The menu was PERFECT for BBQ - 5 items, simple and delicious.

I ordered the BBQ pulled pork sandwich with a side of meaty bbq beans, while the brewer half ordered ribs with chips and beans.  We were given some pigs and waited for our meals

Unfortunately the Canadian had a somewhat uninspiring selection of beers - Budweiser is wonderful with BBQ but the Brewer half was saddened by the lack of Ales. I was chatting with the owner and made a short list of my favourite american beers, and she said she would look into stocking them, so I have high hopes of better beers to come! The owner lady (I forgot her name!) was truly keen to have my suggestions, and was such a lovely lady I would even stay to drink bud :-)  Here's my list of suggested beers:

I know they probably can't get Shiner Bock in Cardiff, but I put it on the list anyways.

Our food started coming out about 20 minutes later, my pulled pork sandwich came first:

The pork was brilliant.  Soft and sweet, melt-in-your-mouth.  Chunky in parts and soft as butter in others, I almost lamented eating the bread as I could have happily eaten just a massive bowl of pork.  The sauce was delicious, and homemade.  I think I wolfed it down too fast to fully remember, It tasted nothing like the bottled sauces I've grown accustomed to.  It was rich and slightly sweet but with a bit of a bite - brilliant!  I even tried the cole slaw (even though I detest mayonaise) and it was so much better than I expected - crunchy and fresh with nice amounts of onion - the best slaw I've ever tasted. 

Brewer half's ribs came out second:

Brewer half is a hungry boy, so I only had the smallest taste of the ribs, however they were amazing!  I loved how they melted off the bone... I think proper southern BBQ can be a bit too chewy for me but this was tender without being overcooked.  I mentioned this to our chef and she said that British people tend to like the food a bit more cooked than southerners - so they had changed their recipe to fit the Cardiff tastes.  I think this is an improvement - normally I'm not a huge fan of ribs but when I next visit I'll certainly be ordering this dish!  The beans were stellar as well - I've gotten used to heinz but forgot the magic that happens when you combine beans and meat and spice and cook it all slow and low until it tastes like heaven in a styrofoam cup.  These beans were just that, heaven.

Ben ordered the pulled pork plate:

Same pulled pork as my sandwich, chips and beans to accompany.  Here's how good it was:

Them's some clean plates!  

Hang Fire is a unique new venture for Cardiff.  The chef was so friendly and excited - chatting to everyone who came thorugh the door.  She made everyone feel welcome and like she was expecting you for dinner - the food came out like she was serving to friends, not serving at a resturant.  It was all served on paper plates with wooden sporks, which is exactly how every good BBQ joint I've been to does it.  The price is right for good quality and tasty food, and it's great to see food ventures popping up in Cardiff.  I can definitely tell big things are on the way for Hang Fire Smokehouse!

I loved the relationship between The Canadian and Hang Fire.  The Canadian had such a nice setup and it really did have the feel of a lovely local.  They had some local bands on as well which just added to the ambiance - the stage area was nice because it was far enough away from some of the tables that we could eat and chat yet still have some good background tunes.  It was a nice mix of covers and original songs, and I did have a homesick moment as the singer crooned Tom Petty while I munched pulled pork.

If I can't be in America eating southern BBQ, I may as well be at The Canadian eating Hang Fire Smokehouse. Yum!

The Canadian

Pearl Street, Splott

CF24 1PN

02920 453141

Hang Fire Smokehouse

http://hangfiresmokehouse.com/

Edit: I just had an email from Catherine at The Canadian to let me know that they've managed to get some fine American beers!  They've got Anchor Steam (MEGA YUM!) and Blue Moon (it's brewed by coors but posh like Europe!) and Brooklyn Lager (as far as I remember it's exactly what American lagers are known for, which isn't always good, but isn't always bad either!).  What an awesome pub to pull in beers just because a chatty American asks for them!

Edit 2: For more photos of BBQ check out the photopost HERE.

A very embarassing trip to the gym

Hi Y'all!  So I havent been doing much gym lately. I go through about 10 day cycles it seems - 10 days where I just want to do more and more, and 10 days where I just wanted to do less and less.  I'm also grappling with some pretty irritating life stresses at the moment, which somehow makes it harder for me to go to the gym.  That's ridiculous though, it should be easier as the gym is one place where I shouldn't feel stressed!

I may also have PTSD (and my gym buddy too!) from the last gym session.

On Saturday I didn't feel great but really wanted to go to the gym.  So we started our reps. 250 meter sprint, 20 clean and press.  Repeat.

I was slow. So slow.

But I kept going!  We did the sets 5 times.

I did not feel good at all.  I felt bad.

We moved onto burpees (which I didn't do) and inverted chest press.  I did 6 chest presses and then I knew I was going to be sick.

So I ran away and it was highly embarrassing.  The kind gym staff offered me water.  I had to be driven home by gym buddy, like a kid from school.  I had to have gym buddy stop the car so I could, well, be gross.

Gym buddy was so nice about it.  We've been friends for years and had many nights out together, he's never had to hold my hair before.  But 100 clean and presses later he's blocking me from view of traffic as I try to hide behind a car and a Chinese takeaway.

As it turns out, I think I may be intolerant to duck eggs.  This is a major bummer as I love all eggs, and duck eggs are especially delicious.  I had eaten 2 for breakfast! And I felt like I was going to die.  I'm not sure how one tests for an intolerance, but Brewer Half's plan that I eat duck eggs again and see what happens is not encouraging.

So my next gym session will have to be better than that.  And yes, I was sick at swimming once too.  I have the weakest stomach in the world combined with a desire to eat all the strange things, and this often leads me to trouble.