Pasta is the classic post-run meal. Amongst old school runners, consuming a huge bowl of the stuff, before going to bed in a drowsy carbohydrate haze, is a tradition.

However, this is not the best strategy for good health or good running. A post-run meal does need to have some low GI carbohydrates,  but the best post-run meals should contain more than that. After running it’s not just your carbohydrate stores which need replenishing, you also need some protein to help repair muscles; vitamins and minerals to assist your recovery; as well as a small amount of good quality fat.

The new issue of An Honest Kitchen

Pasta is a low GI carbohydrate, so there’s nothing wrong with including pasta in your post-run meal. It all depends on how much of it you eat and what you eat it with. A large bowl of pasta with a tiny amount of tomato sauce and some cheese doesn’t have the nutritional complexity your body needs.

Instead, eat a smaller amount of pasta and pair it with some meat, fish, cheese, or legumes and lentils, as these will provide the much needed protein. You’ll also need some vegetables, the best source of many vitamins and minerals, as it’s these all important substances which ensure our bodies work as efficiently as they can. Your recovery will be vastly improved if you include all of these food groups in your post-run meal.

In the latest issue of An Honest Kitchen we’ve taken on the challenge to revamp some of the most popular meals around and our Makeovers include pasta meals. Our Macaroni and Cauliflower Cheesy Bake is a great post-run meal. We’ve cut back on the overall amount of pasta used, while also making sure the meal contains enough protein and at least three of your daily five serves of vegetables. You can make this ahead of time and then quickly reheat once you get home from your run.

Macaroni & Cauliflower Cheesy Bake

Our inspiration for this was of course the traditional macaroni cheese. Family favourite it may be, but any meal based on just pasta and cheese sauce fails the everyday test for us.

Instead, for our Makeover version we’ve added in vegetables – plenty of vegetables – cauliflower and frozen spinach, plus red lentils. As well as fibre, all these vegetables add vitamins and minerals to the meal, while the red lentils also add some protein.  We cook the red lentils in with the pasta, as they take the same amount of time and this saves using (and washing up) another pan.

We’ve also drastically reduced the kilojoule quota (and the cooking fuss) by making a lighter sauce based on yoghurt, ricotta and strong tasting Cheddar. All of this is topped off with a crunchy layer of breadcrumbs and parmesan and then baked in the oven. Easier, healthier and still delicious.

Makes 4 serves

1 small – medium head of cauliflower, about 800g
180g macaroni
¼ cup red lentils
90g frozen spinach
10-ish sprigs of fresh thyme
6 pieces sundried tomato
70g strong tasting Cheddar
½ cup natural yoghurt
150g fresh ricotta
1 tablespoon wholegrain or Dijon mustard
1 slice wholegrain bread
1 tablespoon (20g) parmesan
1 large handful of mixed leaves per person

Preheat the oven to 220°C.

Chop the cauliflower & cook the pasta: Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil. While you are waiting for the water, very roughly chop the cauliflower. Once the water is boiling add the macaroni and red lentils. Cook for about 4 minutes and then add the cauliflower and frozen spinach. Continue cooking until the pasta is al dente and the cauliflower is soft. Drain, making sure you reserve some of the cooking water (see note below).

While the pasta is cooking, make the cheese sauce: Remove the thyme leaves from the stalk (see below) and place these in a large bowl. Roughly chop the sundried tomatoes and grate the Cheddar. Add these to the thyme, together with the yoghurt, ricotta and mustard. Mix well. Once the macaroni and vegetables are cooked, pour these into the cheese sauce. Add ¼ cup of the reserved cooking liquid. Season with lots of black pepper and then gently fold together, so the ingredients are well combined. Don’t worry if it looks a bit sloppy at this stage.

Make the crunchy topping: Place the wholegrain bread and parmesan on a chopping board and run a knife through, chopping until the mixture resembles very rough breadcrumbs.

Bake the pasta: Tip the pasta and cauliflower into a baking dish. Scatter the bread and parmesan mixture over the top. Place in the oven and cook for 15 – 20 minutes, until the topping is golden brown.

To serve: Place a large handful of salad leaves on each plate and then serve with the Macaroni and Cauliflower Bake.

Cooking & Storage Notes:
The easiest way to remove the thyme leaves is to hold the stalk at the top and then firmly run the thumb and forefinger of your other hand along the stalk. The leaves should break off easily, although don’t worry if some stalk goes in there as well.

You don’t need to save all the pasta water, so put a mug or small bowl in the sink, place your colander over the top and drain the pasta through that.

We used a Vintage Cheddar cheese. The strong taste of this style of cheese means you can use less, which reduces the overall kilojoules of the meal, while still giving a rich flavour.

Keeps really well in the fridge for up to 3 days. However, the combination of pasta and cauliflower means this dish does not freeze very effectively.

Kathryn Elliott and Lucinda Dodds are the authors of An Honest Kitchen, a publication all about real food that’s good for you. Each issue of An Honest Kitchen is full of simple recipes, practical cooking information and healthy eating advice. Their latest edition, Makeovers, in which they revamp popular meals is available in e-format is 

Sunshine by the sea at the Edinburgh Half Marathon

Last weekend I had a wonderful time in Edinburgh running the Half Marathon. Even more fun than the race was training people for both the half and full marathon. Besides the numerous Up & Runners I had a group of private clients that had flown in from Italy. Among them was a another couple, Laura and Andrea.

Andrea had given Laura a year of training with me as a Christmas gift. I love being a gift! She works full time as an accountant and they have four children, from ages 5 to 13. She wanted to train for a Half Marathon and chose Edinburgh as her Spring goal.

“I can only run three days a week, and it has to be on weekdays after work…”

I created her a fortnightly programme and she followed it precisely, with the help of her husband who accompanied her for the workouts. They both said that the best part of the race preparation was having something new to talk about besides their children and household commitments. They started connecting in a different way. What a great gift after fifteen years together!

On race day we grabbed a cab to the start, chatting nervously as we stripped off our hoodies and handed over our bags, not to be seen again until our arrival at the finish line. It was a gorgeous sunny morning and as we waited for the countdown Laura turned to me and asked…

“So, do you think I’ll make it to the end?”

I knew, she knew, and I think you know the answer to that question too.

“Of course you will. The only thing you have to do is get to the finish line and enjoy yourself along the way. The most important thing is that you have a great time, because why else would we be here?”

I get this same question, from the 5k distance all the way up to an Ultramarathon. And my answer will always be:
if you’ve done the work, if you can see yourself there; you will always make it to the end. Whatever that run, voyage or experience happens to be.

Have you ever asked yourself this question?

• Can knitting give you a runner’s high? - Gaim blog
  “Some even refer to knitting as ‘the new yoga.’” Hmmm. We have a high ratio of knitters on the Alumni Forum; I’ll have to ask them to compare their two highs! Big thanks to Sara for sharing this link with me way back in February.
• Race Report: Julia Jones Running Festival Half Half Marathon - Philippa @ Skinny Latte Strikes Back
  “I sprinted towards the finish line, where I could see all the U&R ladies who had already finished waiting on the other side cheering. The announcer also called out my name – “FILL-EE-PA MOOR-AY!” – as I crossed the line. It was awesome, I felt like a rockstar”
• On body image and self-worth – Erin @ Design for Mankind
  Taking clothes to a tailor for alternations is a rare thing in our off-the-rack age, but Erin writes in her thought-provoking post, “We take our body to the tailors instead”.
• Try this trick – buffering – Sarah Wilson
  Cool ideas for creating some breathing space between the crazyass busy moments of your day
• Coastal run with iconic backdrop bonus - Margaret @ The Unfinished Sentence
  Feast your eyes on the gorgeous photos from a run beneath the famous Forth bridges in South Queensferry, Edinburgh

Photo by Margaret @ theunfinishedsentence.wordpress.com

It’s a huge weekend on our Half Marathon forum – we have six runners and The Coach in race action tomorrow!

• Daphne is running her first 21K in Ottawa, Canada
• In Edinburgh, Frances and The Paulas are back for more, along with Coach Julia
• Irene and Tara are tackling their first half in Leiden, The Netherlands

We’ve gathered a wee cheer squad to support the ladies in Scotland but will give our lungs an extra workout for those further away.

Very best of luck to everyone racing this weekend, whatever the distance!

“Can you take me out on my bike this afternoon?”

I have to admit, my first thought at Evan’s question was, “My workout! “. I know, shoot me and give me the NOT best mother of the year award. I suggested he follow me on my workout on his bike, wouldn’t that be the same? No, he said, he wanted to go to the park on his bike.

If you have children you know they usually have a plan in their head. In Evan’s case he kind of goes cuckoo if the plan in his head doesn’t somehow match reality. I’ve learned to ask him specifically what he’s wanting.

“I want to play with kids at the park…”

Now who could ever turn down a request like that from a face like this?

Evan at Running Festival

I decided to put my running clothes on anyway, bring him to the park, and then just throw in running whenever I could.

The park is one kilometre from our house. I ran he followed on his bike. We biked/ran around the park perimeter, checking out what was going on and who was there. He spotted a group playing cricket and decided he wanted to watch for awhile. There wasn’t a lot of action going on as the players kept stopping the game for cellphone calls. We moved on to the fitness area.

Jungle Gym

With my GPS still going, we ran over the obstacles to see who could do it faster. There’s also a really fun balancing swing with a bar on one and side and a seat on the other. Adults and children can play on it and this is where he found some friends. As they ran around the swing, I kept going back and forth on the obstacles to keep moving.

At some point one of the kids remembered he had a ball so they started kicking it around, and Evan was happily lost in play. This was the perfect moment to start running again so I let him know that I’d be on the bike path right next to where he was playing. It was short, probably 400 metres, but I could keep an eye on him the whole time and he in turn could always see where I was. I just had to keep moving like a hamster!

Watchful eye

We stayed until the sun set and we started to get cold. When we got back home I’d clocked 11 kilometres of movement and I had one happy boy. I may not have a fast time in Edinburgh this weekend, but while I’m running I can think about that wonderful afternoon.

About a month ago I informed my mother that I’d entered us into a fun run together on Mother’s Day. The distance was 4km and the event was specifically for runners, there being a separate 4km walk event later the same day. She bravely didn’t protest (much) and today was the big day.

Jo and her Mum

Mum is only 60, despite her silvery white hair, and is quite fit in a functional, “I’m just going out to dig holes for a couple of hours to plant some trees” sort of way. She’s never done any sort of running or sport though. She had a few questions about the run, and I could tell she was a bit nervous about whether or not she’d manage it. I had no doubt that we’d get around the course somehow at a slightly-faster-than-walking pace, and I wasn’t bothered by the idea of being dead last.

As we drove to the race she said, “If I collapse halfway then you’ll go on and finish without me, won’t you, so you’re not embarrassed?”

“Not a chance!” I replied.

Really, I just wanted to introduce her to a little of my running world – she’s never been to one of my races and I wanted her to experience it. Which meant I was glad that today’s was pretty typical in the leadup… about a 1km walk from the car park area to the start, a long wait in line for bibs and timing chips, a (thankfully shorter) wait in another line for a last-minute loo stop, and a crazy mass warm up.

I convinced her to start from near the back of the hundreds of people (Were those kids over there going to be faster than us? Uh, yes!). The run began around an athletics track before heading off down a closed road, around in a loop then back to the track to finish. I’m confused about the timing chips as I didn’t see an official start line/pad, but whatever. I started my Garmin at some point round the track and we were off.

Mum ran for a few hundred metres and then we got to a hill… and she kept running… and running!
We took breaks here and there after a while, though I found it easier to do a slow run alongside her as she walked bloody fast, and we were making great time. I’d told her we should walk on the big hill leading back to the finish line but she was still adding in running intervals. She was astonished by her own efforts, too!

Volunteers were all encouraging, and so were the people around us who we kept leapfrogging as we slowed and sped up. We were definitely not last.

I told mum as we went that we were running “with” Up & Runners Bella and Alex and Jilanna and Ianthe and Marci, which she was impressed by.

My Garmin hit 4km at 29:55, which is a helluva lot faster than I could do 4km when I first began, and for 4.2km to the finish line my Garmin time is 31:05. Pretty darn impressive!

Mum grabbed my hand going down the finish straight and was cheering with arms raised as we crossed the line… then muttered, “God Jo, find me something to hang onto, quick!”.

She was on quite a high, proudly informing a volunteer at the gate when we left that she’d “never run 4km before in her life”. We managed the ten minute walk back to the car without complaint, then back to the hotel for showers before the couple of hours drive home.

I had so much fun doing the race with mum. She loves that she’s done it but says “Never again”… except perhaps next year!

Many thanks to Jo and her Mum for letting us share her forum race report on the blog!

Do these awesome ladies make you want to give running a crack yourself? Let us help you get started – our next 5K Beginners Course starts 10 June!

Orange tiramisu… oh how we dream of you

Tiziana, the superb cook and manager of our Casa Ilaria base camp, is from Sicily and wanted to make her favourite home dishes for us. She’s a glorious perfectionist, getting ingredients sent up from Sicily to make sure it was just right and providing three different options for the vegetarians to make sure they wouldn’t feel short changed. When we bade her farewell on the Monday, she was already brainstorming her menu for next year!

Antipasti & Tiziana’s amazing vegetable tart

I’m a big fan of “normal” tiramisu but I liked this one so much more. The orange makes it feel zingy and fresh and creates an illusion of health. I’m contemplating a clementine version for Christmas, hubba hubba!

The recipe calls for 1 Fialetta di aroma all’arancia which Google helpfully translated as 1 fart aroma of orange, but what you’re looking for is good quality orange extract. It comes in these dinky wee vials in Italy, but elsewhere it seems to be in larger bottles - readily available online, in speciality food shops and no doubt posher supermarkets too.

Orange extract. Apologies to anyone in the Bologna city centre looking for this; we Up & Runners cleaned you out!

For our Italian-speaking readers, you can get the recipe straight from Tiziana’s pen after the jump. But for the rest of us here’s the recipe in English, having been translated over Skype by Julia from Tiziana’s notes with me hastily taking it down!

Orange tiramisu in progress.

Tiramisù all’Arancia – Orange Tiramisu

10 – 12 oranges
6 eggs
8 tablespoons sugar
500g mascarpone
1 vial or approx 5ml/1 teaspoon of orange extract
Savioradi (sponge finger biscuits), quanto basta – as much as needed

1. Grate the zest of one of the oranges and set aside.
2. Juice all of the oranges and strain the juice through a sieve.
3. Separate the eggs.
4. In a large bowl, mix the egg yolks and sugar until smooth and frothy. Add the marscapone, orange zest and orange essence. Mix well with a wooden spoon until creamy and combined.
5. In another bowl, beat the egg whites until very stiff peaks form (you can add a pinch of salt to help them along if you like).
6. Carefully fold the beaten egg whites into the mascarpone mixture using a wooden spoon, moving the spoon from the bottom to the top, until it’s incorporated.
7. Now take the tray or baking dish that you want to put your tiramisu in. Tiziana used a disposable foil tray and I wish I could remember the size of it. It’s… well, you know… lasagna size? That kind of standardy tray size. I apologise, I’m no Delia Smith…
8. Pour some of the marscapone mixture into the bottom of the pan and spread it over evenly to form the base layer of your tiramisu.
9. Thoroughly dunk a sponge biscuit into the orange juice then place it on top of the mascarpone layer in the tray. Continue with the dunk-and-place biscuit action until you’ve completed your first biscuit layer.
10. Now add another big dollop of mascarpone mixture over the biscuit layer. Smooth it over so it’s even and level.
11. Continue building your layers until you’ve used up your ingredients, finishing with a smooth layer of mascarpone mixture.
12. Refrigerate for at least six hours so the layers can mingle.
13. Decorate with very thin slices of fresh (pictured) or candied orange, if desired.
14. Buon appetito!

Thank you Philippa for the tart/antipasti pics and Minna for the tiramisu-in-progress pic!

Tiramisù all’Arancia

Arance 10 – 12
1 Fialetta di aroma all’arancia
Uova 6
Zucchero 8 cucchiai
Mascarpone 500 gr
Savoiardi q.b.

Preparazione Tiramisù all’Arancia:

Grattugiate la buccia di 1 arancia e ricavatene il succo delle altre,filtrandole con un colino

Prendete ora le uova e separate tuorli e albumi.

Lavorate in una ciotola capiente i tuorli con lo zucchero fino ad ottenere un composto omogeneo e spumoso; a questo punto aggiungete il mascarpone,la buccia dell’arancia grattuggiata e la fialetta di essensa di arancia ed amalgamate bene con un cucchiaio di legno, il composto dovrà risultare cremoso ed omogeneo.

A questo punto montate a neve fermissima gli albumi (potete aiutarvi aggiungendo un pizzico di sale); aggiungete gli albumi al composto, attenzione non smontate gli albumi ma incorporateli sempre aiutandovi con un cucchiaio di legno e con movimenti dal basso verso l’alto, dovrete ottenere un composto perfettamente omogeneo.

Ora prendete una teglia per il tiramisù, versate al centro un pochino di crema ottenuta e spalmatela su tutta la superficie della teglia; prendete i savoiardi ed inzuppateli abbondantemente nel succio di arancia con e create il primo strato, aggiungete abbondante crema e spalmatela per bene livellando la superficie, seguitate in questo modo fino al termine degli ingredienti.

Terminata la preparazione potete decorare la superficie con delle fettine.

The first two years were difficult, mostly because we were a new event and everybody was watching to see what would happen. I used to get super nervous in the lead up, but this year I had a mental shift. I decided I couldn’t worry about how many women turned up, I could only focus on making sure that whoever came had an awesome time, no matter what. I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to apply this to the rest of my life!

Yummy Austrian sweet bread

Last year Kathrine Switzer emailed both myself and Edith Zuschmann and wrote, “You two have to meet”. Kathrine is a very wise woman and a mentor to us both, so we did. Edith is the director and coach of Club 261 and organizes a women’s race in Klagenfurt, Austria in August.

We clicked right away. I love when that happens! Edith wanted an idea for her girls to come to Running Festival and mingle with the other runners rather than run and leave. She came up with what we called “Cross Culture Exchange”. Each person brought a gift with a value of no  more than €3/$4 and names were drawn from opposite groups so you’d meet a runner from another country and exchange your gift.

It turned out really well! The Austrian group all brought what was dubbed “Atomic Mushrooms”, sweet mini breads with swirls of cinnamon and brown sugar throughout. Very yummy, but I’m sure you’d have to do our 10K course a few times over to burn one of those babies off.

They’re running uphill!

This year we added a Kids Festival on Saturday afternoon. The city of Bologna had closed Via Indipendenza, the main drag, to traffic for the weekend. What better place to have a children’s race! Children were divided according to age and the younger they were,  the closer they started to the finish line. About 200 kids raced = success.

Left to right: Julia, Luisa Balsamo, Valeria Straneo, Maria Comotti, Ivana Di Martino

On Saturday night I organised an evening called “Inspiration”. I wanted women to be inspired by other runners and three excellent athletes agreed to attend. Ivana Di Martino had just run a half marathon every day for twenty-one consecutive days. Luisa Balsamo is an ultramarathoner who has run the Marathon des Sables seven times and placed in the top three each time. Valeria Straneo holds the women’s Italian marathon record and placed seventh at the London 2012 Olympics. It was a great evening and yes, they did inspire!

Seconds to start

This year the city of Bologna gifted us a start from Piazza Maggiore. We changed all three race routes and everyone seemed to love them. I ran the 6km so that I could be back at the finish area sooner, but still enjoy and be part of the race.

Gorgeous view

Run!

It was no surprise that Valeria won the Half Half Marathon race. I want to mention that she’d called me a few weeks before the race and asked me if she could come and run. After the race she had people standing in line to take photos with her and she stayed until the very last picture was taken. Such a lovely, giving person and a gifted athlete.

Valeria Straneo, winner of the JJ Running Festival 2013

High five, baby!

I’m brimming with new ideas and projects for JJRF 2014. Can I talk you into coming to Italy to run it?

Balloons at the start of the Running Festival, Piazza Maggiore

Both Julia and I are rather delirious with emotion today. She’s spent the past few months running round like a crazy lady to make both the retreat and her Running Festival race happen, and me? Well… goody bags and spreadsheets, man! All that formatting and shopping really takes it out of you!

Seriously, it was a wonderful weekend with outstanding food, racing, and life-affirming company. We both had a blast with our Up & Running retreaters and feel quite bereft back here in the real world!

Now here is a token paragraph that doesn’t have an exclamation mark at the end of it.

We’ll have a wee snooze then be back soon with all the goss. In the meantime, cop a load of my post-race gelato!

Two scoops – one berry cheesecake, the other something-or-other with Nutella in it!