Bircher Muesli - Recipe #1

Lately, I have had to do plenty of preparation regarding nutrition just so that I can feed myself proper food instead of the quick a coffee for breakfast, rice and tuna for lunch and "couple of boiled eggs" for dinner. I also want to reduce my intake of processed supplements such as protein shakes as they should not be used as a meal replacement.

I often get hungry after swimming (I call it swumgry) and since the drive from pool to work takes up to 50min, I am totally starving and may attack 4 pieces of Vegemite on toast as soon as my feet land within my office doors. I don't need 4 pieces of toast for post swim breakfast, it is eaten purely due to the hunger feeling rather consuming what my body really needs.

So this is something which a friend of mine got me onto and it works great. Bircher muesli made the night before which can be eaten post swim and by the time I get to work, I won't be reaching for the huge bowl of porridge (which I always make too much of) or ladling my vegemite onto toast.

A few weeks ago, I also bought a mini food processor when I bought my multi cooker and I swear on the one time I came first in an open water swim race, I don't know what I would do without both these appliances now. One chops things up so quick and the other cooks things so well! Anyways, back to the muesli...

So in the food processor, I add the following:

• 1/2 x Cup of rolled oats
• 1 x 170g tub of Chobani yoghurt (I used blueberry last night - thats why the photo is slightly purple)
• 1 x Apple (skin on) chopped into cubes for easy processing
• 2 x Medjool Dates (take pits out)
• 1/4 x Milk (this I add if the mixture is too dry)

CHOP CHOP, CHURN CHURN of the processor and there you have it! I then divided the servings into 2 equal amounts and store them into air tight containers into the fridge - I would grab them out of the fridge before I leave for swimming. Each serving is approx 400 Calories (for the reciple above)

Last night, I didn't add honey as the dates provide plenty of sweetness already.

I sometimes may mix things up by adding honey (less dates), Cinnamon, pear, fresh fruit, quinoa etc....my friend adds a carrot and vanilla bean paste into hers (I will give that a go soon).

Weekly Reflection 22/07 - 28/07

I have had a pretty chilled week in terms of training. I took Monday off swimming - a mix of no sleep + post half marathon. Tuesday pm is the only day my dietitian works and he cancelled last week due to family so we had to reschedule. I took both days easy and just went for walks around the neighbourhood with the little dog.

Favourite session of the week: I wrote about this last week that I was looking forward to my coaches catch-up (upskilling) on Saturday at the pool. So this was a 1.5 hour session on how to coach a swim squad (more for beginners). We learnt about stretches to do pre and post a swim session and then it was into the pool for some stroke correction lessons.

1) Kicking - Ryan posted a video on the Tri Alliance TV channel about kicking with arms by your side. When you want to breathe, look ahead and see the difference it makes to your body position in the water. So when we did it, I felt that when I looked up, it was almost like I was treading water rather than moving ahead. Good lesson learnt.

2) Breathing - side kicking and then lifting the face slightly to breathe but leaving the half of your face still in the water. Teaches beginners that you don't lift your head forward before tilting it on the side for breathing.

3) Sculling - feeling the water

4) Catch Up PB - having the PB in front and so your hand entry is away from the centre line - almost at 11 and 1 on a clock.

5) Single Arms - so that you can spot your weak arm and work on your full stroke.

We then had a small discussion on questions raised often during swim sessions such as cramping (personally, I think people cramp more if they have little flexibility around their ankles and feet), if people feel that they get no where using a pull bouy, people turning up late for swimming, people who finish early, stopping at each end of the pool etc.

Least favourite session of the week: I don't think you call this a session but it was what I disliked the most about my triathlon lifestyle. As I have written in the past before, I have had trouble sleeping and having  healthy appetite so the coaches advised me to go see a doctor (a sports one if available) and get some blood tests done. I went and saw a sports doctor and he referred me to get some bloods taken, ECG and a chest scan. That visit costs me $250 which I was not expecting (for the 30min consult)! The next day I went and had my ECG and bloods taken.

ECG - you lie on the hospital bed, bare chested whilst little sticky things are stuck around your chest (and around the boob). I felt weird, just lying there exposed whilst the (female) nurse just looked at the print out....

Blood - I had 6 viles of blood taken. 3 on each arm. Currently, my right arm has internal bleeding and this will probably last for about a week or so. Its normal, I bruise easily.

I won't know what is wrong until Wednesday and so I won't go straight into taking any supplements until then. Nothing worse that overdosing on Iron or Vitamin D when you don't need to.

Advice of the week:



What I’m looking forward to next week: The Tri Alliance Advanced camp is on this weekend so I am not 100% on what the training schedule will be but I am planning on training as per usual. So on Saturday will be a long ride and then Sunday will be a long run. Because there are hardly any coaches in Melbourne, I don't think there will be a coached (hill) ride and Fairfield run will be non-coached. I am looking forward to be doing these sessions with a small group of people (if anyone wishes to join me).

The Canadian will also be back from his annual trip home to Canada (he completed the BC bike race on his single speed - too crazy).

The Journey Continues...

So I had my 2nd appointment with my sports dietitian on Tuesday (23d July). I have had to reduce my training load recently so I wanted to double check what I have adjusted to the eating plan was OK.

We then spoke about race day nutrition (especially for the full marathon run in October), speaking specifically about the carbohydrates I need per hour and carbo loading prior to race day. So far, based on my nutrition plan over the weekend, it is pretty spot on to his advice.

The dietitian's advice is aligned with what I had been doing regarding cutting down on fibre-rich foods days before a race but trying to increase the carbohydrate intake at the same time. Interestingly, carbohydrate intake not only comes from pasta, breads and rice but also from carbo-rich drinks too (such as soft drink and Gatorade).

Things we also spoke about:

• Proteins - for muscle repair/recovery. Also makes you feel fuller for longer
• Carbohydrates - for energy levels
• How much carbohydrates your gut can take and how much you need to take per hour
• Carbo loading training in preparation for days when my runs will exceed 20km
• Servings of vegetables/salads can increase if I wanted to
• Swap my latte to an espresso + yoghurt to curb my hunger at about 10-11am and stay awake during work whilst keeping calories the same
• BCAA vs Protein Shakes - both do the same thing in terms of muscle repair but a protein shake will have the calories. Choose protein shake over BCAA when I have a big break in between training and a (real) meal (e.g. Thursday night run at Essendon and taking an hour to get home to Mentone).

My weight has not decreased dramatically but my clothes are starting to become loose not as tight again.

Half Marathon - A Race Report

On the 21st July, I did my first event on the 2013-2014 sporting calendar. It was a run event which I have participated in every year since 2008 (except for 2011 due to injuries). I signed up for this event and distance as I thought to myself...yeah, I just finished a full ironman triathlon, how hard can a half marathon be? Well, the months leading up to this event, it became face-smackingly clear to me that getting back into the swing of things especially after a big event such as Ironman was not an easy journey.

The coaches have often talked about your Triathlon Layers - the longer you have done this sport, the quicker you are able to get back on the wagon and the quicker you can recover from the load. This applies to the day by day training as well as throughout the different phases of triathlon training.

I have posted about my hesitations (and anxiety) about this event before. Its not news that this wasn't my A-Race nor was I aiming to achieve a PB. It took me 3 years to get below the magical 2 hour mark for a half marathon. I am a realist, if I finish this run injury-free and under 2:15 I would be over the moon considering I felt like I ran like a waddling duck for the last few weeks.

I never let loose my injuries or illness before events (excl shin splints prior to Ironman - I had to come to terms with it quick). I had a small cold during the week and for the last 2 or so weeks, I have had issues about falling asleep (still do), all that aside, I knew that I could manage it and run a half marathon by Sunday.

Saturday, I ended up having a sleep in (more of a lie in bed scenario due to the inability to have a good sleep) until about lunch time when my parents called me to join them for Yum Cha. Who could resist yum cha? No one! After lunch, I went to a friends house as we had planned on doing some filming for training video for Tri Alliance. I then stayed for dinner with them which was great as one of the couples was also running her (first) half marathon the next day.

On Saturday night, I packed my things ready for the run on Sunday. What I have been doing lately is packing my morning training clothes into a pillow case and stuffing it under my doona so it stays warm when I put it on (genius - I know!) Due to my inability to fall asleep over the last few days, I took some sleep-aid and that knocked me out some-what. Luckily I woke up at about 5am and wondered why my alarm hadn't gone off and I realised I set the alarm on for 4:45pm instead of 4:45am the night before....whoops!

Anyways, I hopped out of bed like a ninja, put on my clothes and then made breakfast (porridge with dates) and ate it in the car on the way into the city. Luckily I was there early enough that I got my usual parking spot behind the Melburnian Apartments (one of my earliest projects).

There was the usual toilet stop, bag drop etc. This time around, I wasn't too stressed about the bag drop as I carried my fuelbelt with me on the run. Mentally, I had planned on doing this event as a long training run day and so carried a fuel belt with me for hydration and nutrition and didn't rely on the on-course supply. The down side is that I carried extra weight on me. Similarly to last year's write up, I have broken it down to distance and what I remembered.

0 - 2km - I was probably running faster than my comfortable pace but I was trying to dodge obstacles along Flinders St and through Southbank. I heard the Tri Alliance cow bells along Southbank (they are very distinct) and that's when I saw Paddy & Lisa.

2 - 3km - this was a weird part of the route which I think is new, we ran past the boat sheds and I remember someone nearly colliding with a boat trailer.

3 - 4km - A run through the tan, slightly uphill. I remembered opera singers and a violinist.

4 - 5km - I remember taking my first gel for the day around here where my calorie alert went off around the 25-30min mark. Funnily enough, it was outside of McDonalds.

6 - 7km - The run up Anderson Street was great. My legs were still OK so I overtook a few people who were walking.

7 - 9km - I really liked this part of the run as you could see the runners on the other side of the road and I recognised a few familiar faces.

10km - Saw my friend Lidia there cheering. 2nd gel consumed around here.

11 - 13km - My legs were starting to struggle here. I had ran non-stop and only realised it then so mentally, I was pretty chuffed.

15km - my first walk for the day, it was about 10m as I couldn't swallow my gel properly whilst trying to run along the slight incline through the Tan.

17km - I had to do a run-walk up Anderson St as my knees did not want to lift any higher. Juliet (one of my old TA buddies) ran past me and gave me more encouragement. She is such a great role model too (having done several Ironman events herself). Coke was consumed from this point onwards.

18km - Ouch. As this was the started to hurt. I knew that my technique was starting to fall into pieces so I decided to slow down and take everything back to basics - straight posture, elbows back, higher knees, land correctly.

19km - 21km - When my pace slowed down from concentrating on my technique, the 2:00 pace runners came past. At first, I thought they were just annoying runners who did not shut up (they gave encouragement but at the 19km mark, it just sounded annoying). When they ran past me with their balloons and calling out the remaining distance and time, I decided to get suck it up and ran with them. I knew that they started behind me so there was no way I could get below the 120min mark but I needed the encouragement for the last few km. I ran in front of them and stepped on the gas. In my mind, all I thought about was.."all you have to do is a 2km....1km...... run today..then its back to bed!" so I increased my pace (what I thought was awesome ended being around the 5:50 - 6min/km) all the way to the end.

21.1km - I didn't recognise anyone from the squad at the finish line (unlike last year) but did see Tim Guille who was commentating. Said hello/good bye and then went through the thoroughfare to pick up my medal, showbag (with a paper in it!) and then it was straight to the car.

As it is the middle of winter, there was no need for me to buy bags of ice (and a slurpee) from 7-11 as I have the bay to soak in 1 min from my house. Mentone beach was perfect - clear water, very small swells, very cold water - cold enough that my teeth were chattering.

Thoughts on the day...

• I didn't look at my pace the entire way through the run, I just focused on technique and getting through the distance rather than trying to meet an expected time.
• Nutrition was spot on. I did feel fatigued and sore from the 16km onwards - it could be due to fitness levels rather than nutrition. Consumed 3 gels and about 80-100ml of coke over 2:03.40, based on the Garmin, 1176Cal burnt.
• Must learn to overcome anxiety/hesitations about events like this and not have too high of expectations on how I should be performing and remeber to enjoy the day.
• Whilst during the midst of the half marathon, I did smile and thought how lucky I was to be able to do this.
• 2:03.40 is not bad at all.

Weekly Reflection 15/07 - 21/07

Favourite session of the week: Wow, what a week it was! Not only was I trying to fit in some decent amount of training, I was also juggling with work and mentoring a group of yr10 students who had work experience at my firm. I had two sessions which I enjoyed this week:
1) Friday Swim - this was my first (and only) session of swimming for the week due to being under the weather and not being able to get enough sleep during the week. I didn't have a program to do but from my squad friends, they did close to 3km. So after work on the Friday, I decided to do a swim session knowing that I wouldn't be riding on Saturday morning. The set (which I made up) consisted of:

200m warm up (freestyle)
6 x 500m - 1st - pb & band, 2nd - pb, band and paddles, 3rd - fins (single arms), 4th - fins and paddles @ T4, 5th - pb & band, 6th - pb, band and paddles. I really enjoyed the swim as I was in my zone and comfortably completed the set with minimal interruptions as it was a Friday evening at MSAC.

2) My half marathon on Sunday 21st. More on this here...(I will do a race report soon)

Least favourite session of the week: Because Melbourne decided to have a tantrum on Thursday, the run sessions were cancelled on Thursday evening. I wasn't planning on doing a run TT as per my last post but I was just going to do a 30min or so run around the lake. When plans changed, I still wanted to test how my legs were going and so I did a treadmill run at MSAC on Thursday evening.

I haven't ran on a treadmill in about....4 years and it was just terrible. The gym (in general) is way too warm and I was already sweating during my 5km/h warmup. The treadmill also had a 20min limit (where it just stops whatever you are doing and goes into cool down mode) which was very annoying! I ended up doing 2 x 20min sets at about 10-11km/h which I think covered around 6.5km...it was hard to gauge on real running conditions. Luckily the legs (especially the calves) were ok but it was a session which I didn't enjoy, I rather be outside.

What I also found to be funny was that people were reading magazines whilst they were on the cycling machines and treadmills....so monotonous....I wonder if they ever step back at each one of their training sessions and asked themselves - what do you want to get out of this session?

I know that I will be back on the treadmill if I am injured again but it is not due to the love of it....

Advice of the week: Keep moving!! Even when you are injured or sick, keep the body moving. I learnt this a few weeks before my Ironman and also the last few weeks when my body is not 100%. When I was not able to follow the program due to injuries or being ill, I did the following:

• Water running when I developed shin splints prior to Ironman Melbourne
• Walked or used the elliptical trainer when my calves were sore
• Ran on the treadmill when it was (stupidly) raining and I was not 100% (as I still run in the rain other times)
• Did my own riding/swimming when I wasn't feeling 100% and knew that I couldn't follow the program/group

The intensity of the sessions were not high, I am careful about that. Keeping active also stopped me from feeling depressed that I couldn't do any training when I was sick or injured.

What I’m looking forward to next week: I have a few appointments/sessions this week which I am looking forward to:
1) My 2nd appointment with my sports dietitian - this will be a follow up appointment to see how I am travelling with my nutrition.
2) We have a coaches meeting/up-skilling session on Saturday.

Oh Recovery Week!!

This week is recovery/taper week. As part of Tri Alliance's training, we work on a 3 week schedule - 2 weeks on and 1 week off.

I think everyone looks forward to these weeks especially if we have put in 100% into our training on the on weeks. The last 2 weeks have been good (not as good as this time last year) but good enough that I am attending as much as I can.

Last Saturday, I rode with the seasoned athletes group from Templestowe to Kinglake and back. I haven't ridden up Kinglake since Sept 2011 (my last Kinglake ride). As I was part of the Long Course (first timer) group, we were programmed to do long rides along Beach Rd. Because of it, I rode Beach Road for nearly 2 years, week after week.

Right from the start, I was riding by myself but it was what I wanted (and expected). Everyone else who turned up for training was a strong athlete and beyond my training calibre. I have ridden that route once before so the scenery was familiar and I was not too scared about being alone on the road. It took me a while to fire up the legs but once I was comfortable, I just rode at my own pace.

When I reached St Andrews, I knew that the Kinglake climb was not far off and mentally prepared myself for the slow ride up. I am not too phased about climbing but I do have anxiety about descending. Even though I have had some lessons in descending and turning, my anxiety was still as high as ever. I hate not seeing where I am going and I hate when cars/other cyclists are behind me. A few TA people rode past me on the way down and some coached me to be a better descender but no one understands how hard it is for me to descend down a hill and not having any control - mentally and on a bike. If I can see where I am going, I don't have any issues, my hands are off the brakes, it is the twists and turns that don't play nice. Others love it, I am just trying to keep calm and take the turns when they come.

At the moment, I am not feeling 100%. Not sure if it was from walking in the rain for 2 hours or just my body's reaction from the reduced training load. I didn't train on Tuesday due to appointment with dietician (who ended up cancelling 15min before appointment) and then Wednesday due to not getting enough sleep. Tonight's run session has been cancelled but I may just do a 30min slow jog.

This weekend's training consists of a Beach Road ride (a short one for me) and then Run Melbourne half marathon on Sunday. Fingers crossed that I survive that run because at the moment, my body is still not 100%.

Weekly Reflection 08/07 - 12/07

Favourite session of the week: Loved my Monday morning swim session. We had Coach Ollie on and he took some (above) water videos of our swimming which gave plenty of feedback to our swimming efficiency.

Least favourite session of the week: My calves are still tight and sore from my run session on Thursday night and I was struggling to walk on Friday. Saturday's hilly ride also did not help with the issue. Instead of running with the group (program was 15km) on Sunday, I decided to just walk for a few hours instead. My calves felt sore as I tried to do a few small runs so I decided to just do what I could.

I ended up walking for 2 hours which was approximately 10km. It wasn't my favourite session of the week as it wasn't a run. I also had to break the boredom of the walk by listening to my iPod which I haven't done in years. The music I had loaded on the iPod was from the 2011 Run for the Kids. 

Advice of the week: Learn the difference between fatigue and laziness. There is a level of fatigue that still lingers after doing an big event. I am still trying to get my body back into the training schedule and so far, I can only do what my body allows me to do.  

What I’m looking forward to next week: This weekend (Sunday), I have my first event. I am running (using this term very very lightly) a half marathon as part of the Run Melbourne event. I have posted about my level of hesitations about this event before. Due to the lack of run-fitness I have, this will be just a long run day with a few thousand other runners. I am looking forward to this event as I love being amongst the atmosphere of others being fit.

Underwater video of my swim

I am the 2nd swimmer in this video - yellow swim cap with the Tri Alliance "cammo" swimming briefs.

Enter-Catch-Push

Over the last few days, I have had the privilege of receiving some valuable feedback in my swimming. Last Friday was the last session for Ryan's 6 week stroke correction classes and he did some underwater filming and gave us some (visual) feedback on what we actually looked like as appose to what we imagined we were doing...

The dolphin-like strokes I thought I was trying to do was quickly dispelled... it was not a pretty sight.

Feedback I received from Ryan was:

• When I get lazy/tired, my hands tend to enter towards the centre line when they are suppose to enter at shoulder width in front. I must be more conscious of where the hands (and fingers) enter.
• My catch is good but needs to start earlier. I must use my elbows as a lever early and don't let the elbows drop too soon. More under-water freestyle or doggie paddling will help.
• My hands are not exiting the water too early so I am utilising the enter stroke under the water.

This morning, we had Coach Ollie at Northcote who did more filming and providing us with more feedback. During the single arm strokes, he started to film us already without us knowing. I was working on my left arm more this morning as it has always been my weak arm and so the feedback was that the stroke was good. My hands were entering correctly and my fingers were on the downstroke (catch) and then my elbows were kept high. During the 8 x 100m paddle with pull buoy and bands (one of my favorite combinations), he started to do some more filming. Feedback I received from Ollie was:

• My palms need to stay perpendicular to the horizon as much as possible - this will ensure that I am using all the resistance of the water to propel me forward. I found this helpful but hard to adopt as I would need to bend my wrist in time to enter the water fingertips (tips of paddles) first.
• Keep elbows high for longer. Due to the resistance of the paddles, at certain points of some of the strokes, I let my elbows drop to be more comfortable and this defeats the purpose of the stroke.
• Activate my back muscles more - do more band work.

Having visual feedback definitely made a difference over the last few days. I am not sure if we will receive the videos. If I do, I will post them here....only if I don't look like a pasty white whale.

Weekly Reflection 01/07 - 07/07

Favourite session of the week: I haven't been following my half marathon program for...well for the last 10 weeks! I have been slowly getting back into the groove of a triathlon training schedule (eeekkk) So this weekend, I made a conscious effort to follow the half marathon program rather than the half ironman (triathlon) program. On the half ironman program, it was a 13km and the half marathon was 18-21km (peak week) - big difference hey?!!

In order for me to complete the 18-21km, I would either have to run 5-8km by myself after the group has finished or start early as to finish with the main group and soak in the river with them. I opted for the 2nd option so I am not left alone in the Yarra. 

I spoke to Coach Greg when I saw him in the morning to let him know what my plans were. He told me to do the usual Fairfield loop as a warm up before heading out the Main Yarra Trail. I was just going to run the Main Yarra Trail heading south but was advised to run North. 

It took a while for me to get my body to work on a cold morning. I felt sluggish and fat. After the Fairfield warm-up, it was over the pipe bridge and then onto the Main Yarra Trail. I decided to take the Koonung trail instead of taking the trial route as it was more busy with other runners and recreational cyclist and so I felt more secure. 

I tried as much as I could to run under 6min/km pace but it was hard and my legs just didn't want to cooperate but I did push on. I concentrated on my technique and made sure that I held my posture and landed correctly. Why was this my favorite session for the week? Here are some of the reasons why...

• I ran at my own pace without trying to keep up with the main group
• I took my nutrition (and hydration) when I needed to. I brought my fuel belt with me on this run in order to consume my gels at every 300Cal. 
• I had rest-walks when I needed to without the pressure of slowing the group down. Good news was that I walked about 100m in total. 
• I ran 21.5km! Mentally, I am prepared to do the half marathon in 2 weeks time but I know for sure it won't be under 120min. 

Least favourite session of the week: I was exhausted from going to a 1st Bday last Sunday so I didn't get enough sleep to recover for a 4:30am alarm. Instead of skipping the swim on a Monday, I decided to not go to Pilates in the evening and went to GESAC for my swim and completed the program (and a bit more). It wasn't a bad session but I did miss the squad session in the morning and compromised my pilates. I did do a short core balance session at home after the swim but it was not Pilates. 

Advice of the week: Be consistent. Not just in training, be consistent in everything you do, be it work, sleep, spending time with your friends or family. 

What I’m looking forward to next week: Next week will be another Build Week. I am hoping for another productive week in training and putting in 100%. It is also my last week with the Strength and Conditioning program and I am looking forward to learning a few more moves to help improve on my upper body and core strength. 

The Stir Fry

Stir fry cooking is an Asian method of putting things into a wok/pan and at the end of the cooking process - one complete dish is done! Stir fry cooking is also a quick a convenient way for triathletes (or other athlete-kind) to cook up a meal. This post is not about recipes nor will it give you any photos of the thousands of stir fries I have cooked up in my lifetime but it is more an educational piece.

Why? Because so many people are doing it wrong! That's why.

In basic Asian stir fry cooking - it comes in 3 parts/steps.

1) Add oil and your Asian aromats to hot wok/pan.

What are these aromats you speak of? They are your garlic, ginger, onions, chillies which set the tone of your dish and adds the flavour to your cooking oil.

I don't have a recommendation to the oils you use. There are many studies out there which recommend and oppose the use of different oils for cooking. I will leave this up to you. What will add here is that I never recommend the use of Olive oil in Asian stir fry cooking. Why? Olive oils and Asian cooking don't go hand in hand, Asian stir fry cooking requires oils with a high smoke point. I personally use coconut oil, rice bran and sometimes vegetable. I often add (a few drops of) sesame oils - it should never be used as the sole oil for cooking - it is only added to perk up the flavour of the oil.

Different proteins suit different aromats. From what is passed down to me from my mum...and her mum etc...

• Ginger suits white meats such as chicken, fish etc
• Garlic goes well with everything
• Chillies are good for added spice - I add it more with beef or pork
• Onions I don't use too much personally but it goes well with most proteins

2) Add your proteins to your oil and aromats...

Only after your aromats are cooked through (become transparent/smell of the aromats can be noticeable). After I add the protein to my wok/pan and stir through to evenly coat the contents, I turn down the heat so that the proteins can be cooked through. Why? You don't want to over cook your proteins on the outside whilst it is still raw on the insides. I never use frozen proteins, I always cook either fresh from the supermarket/markets or I will defrost ahead of time. Nothing worse that icy meat and excess liquids in stir fries.

If you have more than one protein in your dish, the one which requires a longer time to cook goes into the wok first etc. The time it takes for proteins to cook through also depend on how thick you have you prepared them. This is why it is important that you cut proteins as evenly as possible.

Tofu can be used as a protein and I will often cook it the same time as my vegetables as they don't need to be cooked through as they can be eaten raw. They are added to the wok to be heated only.

3) Add your vegetables.

They don't take as long to cook through as proteins. If you have a mix of vegetables - try to sort (or know) which ones takes longer to cook than others and thrown them into the wok/pan in the order of duration to cook. If it is not obvious enough, you want your dish to have its contents cooked through - the last thing you need is to have one vegetable overcooked and the others raw.

Sometimes I might blanch vegetables before I add them into a stir fry - this method allows the vegetables to cook through without losing too much of its colour and will not require too much stirring through to cook.

Always add salt to your stir fry dishes. I tend to add the salt once everything is cooked through. The other sauces or flavours you wish for your stir fries to have can also be added now. If you are having a sweet-ish dish, you still need to add the salt, (trust me) without salt, it will not work. I sometimes add fresh chopped chillies at the end of the cooking phase too.

Have you noticed that when you eat out in Asian restaurants that when the meals come out they are all shiny and often have the thick liquid/gravy on the bottom (full of flavour)? This is cornflour mixed with cold water and added to the stir fry and cooked for about 30sec prior to serving.

Well there you go - I have just given away the secret to Asian stir fry cooking. I don't have recipes as I have always been taught to cook by feel/taste.

Some excellent combinations I often make are:
- Garlic, beef and snow peas
- Ginger, prawns, Chinese cabbage
- Garlic, chilly, pork, honey and soy sauce (childhood favorite as the honey and soy sauce caramelises the pork)
- Ginger, chicken, tofu, bok choy*
- Garlic, white fish, capsicum with sweet and sour sauce (my family recipe of tomato sauce and pineapple juice) - this can also be sweet and sour pork if you replace fish with pork.
-  Garlic, ginger, tofu & bean sprouts

Crab I cooked once - served with boiled eggs

*with vegetables such as bok choy, always cut/separate the stems with from the leaves as they cook at different rates - stems go in the wok prior to leaves.

These are only a few that I can think of off the top of my head...I have cooked so many stir fries in my life that I don't particularly have a specialty.

Hope this helps people with their stir fry adventures. There is more to stir fries than just throwing everything into a wok and stir through. Do you have a dish you want me to personally make and post? Let me know, I have cooked most stir fry dishes in the past.

Happy Stir-Fry!

Weekly Reflection 24/06 - 30/06

Favourite session of the week: I ended up doing my own 20km Ride TT on Saturday instead of starting with the squad at 6am. I wanted to do my own TT without the pressures of being surrounded with others. I am happy to report that my 20km Ride TT has a new PB of 43:37 from my previous (best) time of 45:22. This time is not fast for most triathletes but I am stoked because it is a 2min PB from my previous best efforts.

The teardrop loop is slightly shorter than 1km so that is why the total distance is 500m short of 20km but everyone who did the 20km should have approximately the same distance (unless they rode on the outside of the loop the entire way).

Yes, my watch is strapped onto my handlebars over a sock. I don't like to use the quick release due to the number of people I know who have lost their watches because of this.

Least favourite session of the week: Even though I had a 1min improvement on my swim TT, I enjoyed the session the least because my mindset was not in a good way which magnified everything that went wrong that morning - (1) my (new) bathers acted like a drag suit in the water (2) we were asked to move from one end of the pool to the other (from 3 lanes into 2) due to the fog and the lifeguard could not see us and lastly (3) the coached had us swimming 5 sec apart which was not long enough OR we were seeded incorrectly. I found myself tapping feet, overtaking one person but 50m pool not long enough to overtake the 2nd, through to waiting at the end of the pool for congestion to settle so I could avoid touching other ppl's feet. But looking at it positively, I know that I am able to swim < 20min for 1km and this will be my goal for the next TT.

Advice of the week: Make a conscious effort to know what you want to get out of each session before you start. That way, we are not training for the sake of training/ticking off the sessions. Coach Greg asked each one of us on Tuesday evening during the windtrainer session this question - it was actually a hard question to answer - you don't know what is the right answer to give. I answered this - I wanted to work on my weakness (or I wanted to gain strength on the bike).

What I’m looking forward to next week: I am looking forward to my double session Tuesday and Thursday. I don't have life interruptions this week so I should be able to attend those days.