I Heart Quinoa

Unless you've been hiding under a rock, you would have certainly heard of the superfood Quinoa by now.

Souce: http://thestonesoup.com/blog/

For those who have been under that rock, here's a quick run down on quinoa.

- It's pronounced 'keen-wah'....not 'queen-noah'

- It's gluten free and easy to digest.

- It's high in protein (4.4g protein per 100g) and is a source of calcium

- It looks like a grain but is actually a seed - and you generally cook it using the same methods as you would cook rice

- It's incredibly filling and has a light fluffy texture like couscous

- It's available whole, puffed or rolled into flakes (I'm yet to try puffed or flakes, I use the whole stuff)

I have been eating quinoa for a few years now but over the past 6 weeks, as I'm trying to eat a predominantly gluten free diet, I've been eating it more and more - it is definitely my post workout high energy carb of choice! I pre-cook one part quinoa to two parts water in my rice cooker and store it in the fridge for 4-5 days and use whenever I need.

Here's a couple of my favourite quick and easy ways to use Quinoa.

My Quinoa Porridge

75g cooked quinoa
1/2 scoop vanilla proten powder
10g flax meal
50-100mls unsweetened almond milk
Cinnamon (I like to add alot)
Berries or fruit of choice (chopped apple or pear is amazing too!)

Place all ingredients in a bowl, stir to combine then microwave for 1-2 mins.
Add extra fruit, cinnamon and almond milk if preferred.


My Quinoa Chicken & Mushroom Risotto

75g cooked quinoa
100g cooked chicken breast
3/4 - 1 cup sliced mushrooms (I like alot of mushrooms!)
Dash of gluten free, salt reduced chicken stock
Big handful of baby spinach leaves

In a pan, saute mushrooms until soft (you could add onion and garlic here too but I tend to stay away from it, doesn't agree with me!)
Add quinoa, chicken and stock, simmer until stock is absorbed.
Stir in spinach leaves until wilted. Serve with a tiny bit of good quality parmasan cheese if you like.


Enjoy xx

2012 Melbourne Marathon

Last Sunday I ran the 10km course at the Melbourne Marathon.

I joined a group of fabulous Run With Life crew members who participated in the 10km, half marathon and full marathon.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I have been training pretty hard over the last couple of months to improve my pace and was hoping to beat my previous personal best of 55 mins 18 secs by 5 minutes.

My sister Mel decided to do her first full Marathon (42km's!!) this year so the two of us decided to stay in a hotel room the night before the race.
We headed out for dinner on Saturday night so Mel could continue to carb load for the marathon. I wouldn't usually need carbs the night before a 10km race but I had half a bowl of rice also for extra energy because I wanted this PB so badly!
We had an earlyish night (I struggled to sleep as I was nervous for Mel and also for myself!) and woke up about 5am to eat. Mel had her last meal of oats and a banana and I had a banana and protein shake. We got ready and headed to the start line at about 6.30am, the marathon was due to start at 7am and the 10km at 7.30am.
I then said goodbye to Mel, wished her luck and told her I'd see her in 3 and a half hours.

I headed into the MCG to drop off my bag, met up with one of our running crew members and we headed over to the start line together. Then we were off! It was a pretty slow start getting through the congestion of all the other runners as it is with most fun runs but in the end, I don't think I've ever run 10km's like it before! I felt pretty amazing for the majority of the race and while I was keeping a pretty close eye on my pace the entire time, I really enjoyed myself. I started to get pretty excited by the 7km mark because I knew I was going to get pretty close to my goal time.

So in the end I got an official time of 50 mins 53 secs. I am incredibly happy with that time, up to the night before and even during the race I didn't know if I would be able to do it. I'm also pretty certain I could have shaved 20-30 secs off that time if it wasn't so slow to start. So first goal of the challenge can be ticked off!

Running towards the finish line in the MCG

Stoked with my time!!

Then it was time for some breakfast, meet up with my parents, brother and the other crew members to wait for our half marathoners and Mel to finish.

My brother and I managed to catch some photos of Mel running her last kilometre just outside the MCG and I cheered her on at the top of my lungs!

Mel ended up finishing the full 42km's of the Melbourne Marathon is 3 hours and 29 minutes, truly amazing. I have never been more proud of my little sister!

What a champion!



Mel and I after she completed the Marathon

A few members of our running crew post race in our CPEC tops



Congratulations to all our Run With Life crew members who all ran amazing times in the respective races, it was such a fun day and I'm truly thankful to have a great group of people to share my running experiences with.

I'm now planning my next running goals, I want to run my first half marathon in the next 12 months and am hoping to do the Gold Coast Half Marathon in July next year. In the meantime, I've registered for City2Sea in November and will do Run for the Kids again next year (both 14km courses). Can't wait!

I'm still living The Awesome Life!

Oh gosh, I've taken abit of a hiatus from the blogging world haven't I?

It definitely hasn't been intentional, since my last post in early August, I was offered a new position as work. It is alot more time consuming then my previous role and while I am loving it, it has left me not alot of free to time to blog!

I'm going to do my best to get on here whenever I can (I need it for myself more than anything!) although the posts might not be as regular as I'd like them to be.

So what's been up since August? I decided to do the 12 Week Fenix Transformation Challenge again (the challenge that started my journey last year) and we're almost halfway through week 5 at the moment.
Part of the reason why I've made time to start blogging again is that I have to take a step back at look at what I'm not doing enough of and not doing to the best of my ability and take accountability for it. I started this challenge hiding my goals and starting measurements, deep down probably scared that I wouldn't acheive them. So here I am, baring all because I WILL reach my goals.

These are the goals I wrote down at the beginning of the12 weeks:

- Run 10km in 50 minutes - that's wiping a full 5 min 30 secs off my pb
- Get control of my nutrition - kick the sugar and binging habit in the ass - cos it doesn't matter how much I train, you can't out-exercise a bad diet!
- Lean up quite dramatically - especially my lower body - would like to hit between 12-15% body fat
- Achieve a flat stomach with muscle definition
- Achieve an athletic body - look fit, healthy and strong to an outsider who doesn't know how hard I work
- Do 5 unassisted chin-ups in a row

As part of the challenge, we take measurements every 4 weeks to gauge progress. I had my first 4 week measurements on Monday. So I'm putting it out there, the good, bad and the ugly! Here's my progress results so far.

	Week 1 - 09/09/12	Week 4 - 08/10/12	Results
Weight (kg)	63.6	62.6	-1
Body Fat %	20.3	19.2	-1.1
Shoulder (cm)	103	102	-1
Chest (cm)	89	87	-2
Navel (cm)	79	76	-3
Right Bicep (cm)	27	26	-1
Left Bicep (cm)	27	26	-1
Hips (cm)	89	87	-2
Right Thigh (cm)	53.5	53	-0.5
Left Thigh (cm)	53	52.5	-0.5
Right Calf (cm)	37	37	0
Left Calf (cm)	37	36.5	-0.5

As you can see I did get some results, which is definitely positive but no way near enough to hit my goals. I am back to where I was weight-wise, body fat % and most measurement-wise at the end of the last challenge so I am happy and excited to see how much I can improve my body.

I know exactly where I'm lagging and it has to do with one of my main goals - nutrition. To get where I want to get, my nutrition over the first four weeks has not been up to scratch. So back to square one, closely watch and be accountable for everything I put in my mouth and don't let anything get between me and my goals.

This Sunday I'm running the 10km course at the Melbourne Marathon and I'm hoping to tick off my first goal on the list and run it in 50 minutes. I've been training hard but I'm not sure if I'll quite get there! Keep your fingers crossed for me and if you'd like to sponsor my run, you can do so here, myself and our running crew are running for the Cerebral Palsy Education Centre.