Soup for the Soul

Despite my three weeks of rest I am still a wreck. This sinus infection is kicking my butt and all I want is comfort food. Seriously. My co-workers bought donuts to celebrate the second last day of my contract and I ate two of them. I'm not regretting that but I knew I needed to find something somewhat healthy for dinner before I could dig into any more junk.

My sister has also been under the weather and began an elimination diet a couple days ago to see if she could find the source of her health problems. She has to cut out wheat, dairy, some meats, some fruits and vegetables, alcohol, processed sugar, caffeine, and likely other things I'm forgetting. Only a couple of days into it and she's struggling to figure out a way she can change up her meals.

Soup was the most obvious choice. Simple, healthy, and comforting, it's one of my favourite things to make because I don't have to follow a recipe. Today I made an easy vegetable soup.

After grabbing just a few items I didn't have at the grocery store, I came home from work and immediately began prepping. I chopped onion, carrots, celery, a potato, and cauliflower. Warming some olive oil, I sauteed the onion with minced garlic until the onion was translucent. Next I added in the potato for five minutes before adding the celery, carrots, and cauliflower.

The potato didn't fully cook but that would be fixed later. Once the vegetables were tender I stirred in some dried basil, dried oregano, and dried parsley flakes before pouring low-sodium vegetable broth to fill the pot. Everything was free-poured and to taste... no measurements were needed.

I brought the soup to a boil (after wondering for five minutes why it wasn't boiling and then realizing I hadn't turned up the heat) and then lowered the soup back to a simmer for half an hour. The boiling and simmering cooks the vegetables, like the potato further. I also cooked some brown rice to mix in.

I've made "this" soup so many times but switching out different vegetables depending on what I felt like or what I had on hand. Other awesome options would have been zucchini (which my sister doesn't like), corn, or tomatoes (both a no-no on her elimination diet).

Making soup has me excited for the cooler weather. Last year I made soup almost weekly and I can't wait to experiment with new recipes this fall.

What are your go-to comfort foods?

Resting Continues

My rest week has spilled over to a second week. I think my body is reacting to the current stress I've been under. Between working, finding a new job for once this current contract ends, and the large amounts of exercising, my body was feeling off. It first started with a horrible blistering all over my lips that stabbed and crusted, then moved to three days of premature spotting (something that has never happened to me), and now I'm suffering from an awful sinus infection. 

Before the sinus infection kicked in, I spent Wednesday feeling off. I went for a walk and grabbed a green juice on my lunch, hoping to fight off whatever was going to happen next. 

By Friday the infection kicked in, and while my mom and my boyfriend ordered pizza for dinner, I just wanted juice. I made myself a citrus juice with oranges, grapefruit, lemon, peaches, and ginger.

Saturday night and I'm feeling awful. My sinus infection is in full force. I'm curled up in bed with the second season of Friends, lots of liquids, a bowl of berries, and a warm bean bag on my neck. 

I'm hoping this is the last thing that bothers me. Taking a break from running and cross training has been killing me, but I know it'll be better for me in the end. 

Banana Bread Breakfast

"Treat yo' self."

Sometimes chocolate chip banana bread for breakfast is important. Berries are good for the body, banana chocolatey goodness is better for the soul.

Farmers Market Haul

I love the Farmers Market. Most Saturdays, barring any pressing plans, I get up early and drive to the only local, weekend market. This week probably had the best variety I've seen. For the first time my mom came with me and it was awesome because I could leave with more bags than usual!

First we fawned over some baked goods. I get croissants every week from the same stall (if they aren't sold out) and they are must-have. We also picked up a whole wheat/flax seed/pumpkin seed/cheddar baguette, and a lemon tart and a raspberry hazelnut tart.

 

Then I stopped at my favourite produce stall for some amazing looking blueberries and raspberries. The selection of other produce wasn't great so we stopped at a second and picked up the ripest cantaloupe, a huge carton of peas, heirloom carrots, and a green pepper. 

We also grabbed some fresh donuts at a donut stand. Every week I make sure to bring my mom and sister home a donut as a little tread so this week my mom was on the lookout for this booth. I ate a lemon poppyseed donut too quickly for a picture but my mom's cinnamon sugar survived.

I also somehow got roped into buying some king oyster mushrooms from the mushroom booth. I love mushrooms butter experiences with different varieties is limited so it will be interesting to see how I use them.

What are your Farmers Market must-haves? Do you have other Saturday traditions?

Resentfully Resting

I’m potentially taking the week off of exercising. My body is stressed and acting out, sending me signals that I need to take it easy… signals I’ve been ignoring.

With weird, light injuries I’ve never experienced before, a constant feeling of fatigue, and swollen, crusted lips that make me look like a clown, I’ve decided that I need to rest before something else happens.

I thought about running over the weekend because I knew the scenery would be so beautiful but I focused on starting this resting period instead by spending most of my time in a beach chair, devouring a book and a half. Yesterday I (purposely) missed my scheduled cycling and stair-climbing, today and tomorrow I deleted speed training and more cycling from my calendar, and I’m tempted to take a week off from my long run on Thursday. Maybe some walking or yoga will be allowed but I’m trying to remember that the point of resting is to rest.

How does your body tell you it’s time to rest? What does resting look like for you?

Training Log -- July 31

Weeks left until Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon: 11
Kilometers scheduled: 24
Kilometers clocked: 15

Despite coming in nine kilometres undert goal, I feel that this is the run that I grew as a runner. 

The entire run I just didn't feel right. I had downed a litre and a half of water much earlier than I ever have while running, and I was getting waves of the chills (it was 27 degrees outside, a very warm July day). I knew early on that I should cut it short, go home and rest.

So that I did.

Surprisingly, I don't regret cutting it short. My body clearly isn't feeling it this week and why should I force myself to finish and risk ruining running in future weeks? 

I'm headed up north on Saturday for a couple of days and I'm packing my running gear, hoping that the weather cooperates. 

When did you feel like you grew as a runner/athlete?

Stair-Climbing Begins!

Today I'm hobbling around on two sore calves. This is something I almost never experience because, when I'm running, it's usually my thighs that feel it. However, training for my second CN Tower stair-climb shocked my legs, especially since I skipped the (in my opinion, lame) StairMaster and went for a parking garage stairwell.

Anyways, today I'm skipping the gym and have been foam rolling my calves. Likely I'll do some yoga later. As usual, my goal is to never negatively affect my (half) marathon training so taking a rest day for this is something I can live with.

PS: I'm obsessed with homemade hummus. Easiest thing to make, hardest thing to refrain from eating.