Egg-cellent.

I'm currently training for my very first marathon! It's coming up very soon, in fact it is in just over 2 weeks! I've been following a pretty good schedule that I found on Women's Running website and I'm hoping that it has prepared me okay!

Last weekend I did my last longgg run (32km) before the actual race, and afterwards, my legs were acheyy. I hoped in my hot tube right after and mannnnn, it was glorious. Afterwards I wanted to replenish my muscles with good food full of protein and vitamins.

How much protein does one really need? Well, I've just finished my GI unit at school and we finished it up with some talks focused on nutrtion. One of the lecturers talked about our daily protein requirements and cited this info:

Protein requirements vary depending on activity

• On average we require 0.9 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day.
• Athletes who exercise (building muscle mass) require more, 1.2‐1.4g/kg/d.

Tarnopolsky M. (2004) Nutrition;20:662‐8

“Even well‐trained endurance athletes training 4 to 5

d/wk for longer than 60 min, only increase their protein

requirements by 20% ‐ 25%. Despite these elevated

requirements in top sport athletes, there is usually no need

to take protein supplements.”

Hence the following recipe! Not too much protein. Not a 2L shake with a zillion pounds of protein powder. Just a simple breakfast with some protein that I might not otherwise have eaten. If you want to get your extra protein requirement, maybe make a smoothie. Why not try "It's Not Easy Being Green Smoothie" with some protein powders or the "Chocolate Yum Protein Smoothie". Just make sure you know how much extra protein you really need. Our bodies and muscles won't necessarily benefit from drinking or eating endless amounts of protein! "It isn't easy being green" smoothie is great too!

Hope this gives you a jump start to your day and fuels you up after your latest activities! Maybe I'll see you at the race? :D

Cookin' Tunes:

It is Well [Bethel]

Hold Me Now [RED]

Outsiders [Lecrae]

Smashed Avocado Toast with Sunny Runny Eggs

1/2 Ripe avocado

2 Pieces multi-grain bread

1 tsp Smoked paprika

1 tsp Flaxseed oil

2 Eggs

1/2 Large, ripe hot house tomato

1 Bunch fresh cilantro

1/4 Yellow bell pepper

Salt and pepper to taste

1. Put the flaxseed oil in a non-stick frying pan and use a BBQ brush or spatula to even distribute accorss the surface. Place on medium heat.

2. Crack the 2 eggs into the pan and cover the pan with it's lid. The steam created helps to cook the top of the eggs a bit faster without having to flip them over.

3. Wash and slice the hot house tomato to create 2 thick tomato rounds. Place these onto a plate.

4. Wash and finely dice the sweet yellow bell pepper. Set aside.

5. Wash and roughly chop cilantro leaves. Although the stems have a ton of flavour, because of their texture I tend to just use the leaves and set the stems aside. Set the chopped chilantro aside.

6. Get your toast toasting!

7. Remove the pit from the half of the avocado and score the inside both long-ways and short-ways to create squares. Use a spoon to remove the avocado from the peel and place even postions on your toast. 

8. Sprinkle smoked paprika on top of the avocado toast to finish.

9. Check on your eggs. I like the centres runny so as soon as the whites look done and there isn't any of that "gelatinous" eggy stuff left on the whites, I remove the eggs. Place them on top of the tomato rounds.

10. Sprinkle yellow peppers, cilantro and salt/pepper (to taste) on top.

11. Enjoy!