Recipe File: Lentil Shepherd's Pie

Potato Layer
3 large potatoes
3 large sweet potatoes

Lentil Layer
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 can lentils
1 can diced tomatoes, or 4 fresh medium tomatoes chopped
½ cup salsa
2 tsp tamari or soy sauce
½ tsp hot sauce
¾ cup dry breadcrumbs
½ cup TVP (texturized vegetable protein) chunks or slices
1 can corn
1 red pepper, chopped
Spices: cayenne, cumin, thyme, salt, pepper, whatever you like, to taste

Preheat oven to 375F.

Cube and boil potatoes until soft and then mash. (Optionally add whatever you normally use in your mashed potatoes, but the sweet potatoes make it creamy and tasty as is.) Set aside.

Heat oil in a large skillet. Cook onions and garlic until tender. Stir in rest of ingredients and cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Transfer mixture to a large casserole dish.

Smooth the mashed potatoes over top. Sprinkle with paprika, ground flax seed, sunflower seeds, or other topping of your choice.

Bake 40 minutes.



Lentil mixture:




















Potato toppings, flax and sunflower seeds:

Dig in!

I'll have what she's having...

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Nature Girl had her redemption run last week, and I set off for my long run on Sunday needing one as well. After my stomach woes last week, the goal was to get this one in without dying. Turns out I was sick with a stomach bug for most of last week, so that explains why last week's run went south so badly. I had a very light week of running as a result, so I went in to this one well tapered.

Derrick and I did a loop of Big Salmon and Little Clear Lakes at Frontenac Park, where the first hour was extremely technical. That tired me out and made my hips sore, but once we rounded Big Salmon into the northern part of the park the surface started to get smoother and I felt much better. We ended up doing exactly three hours, which was a big milestone for me. It was cold out so I was wearing lightweight tights, a jacket and a buff around my ears. Very different than last week's hot long run!

Last night I followed up with an hour trail run with some good climbs, trying to blow some more rust off from the winter of injury. Today I have nicely sore (as in not in an injured way) leg muscles. That feels good!

Derrick mentioned Fred the Breadmaker in his latest blog, but Fred isn't the only new addition to our household. We also picked up Viren, our new manual lawnmower from Finland. He is a Fiskars Momentum and works surprisingly well. We spent a bit more on a good quality design and we're glad we did. Living out of town we drive a lot, but we decided we could stop using the gas lawnmower at least. We're leaving wider borders around the edges of the lawn and encouraging wildflowers to grow. I think it is going to look great, and suits us nicely.

Finding My Lost Self on the Trail

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You have to be very needy for a long run to enjoy even a good bonk.

Yesterday we headed to Frontenac Park, in all it's single-track glory. Derrick was running with Taylor and I opted for a smaller loop than them, but still one that would take me on a tour of the northern loops (North Big Salmon, Hemlock, Gibson, Little Clear). My hamstring has been feeling really good, improving significantly since Karen and I have been doing hill workouts the past three weeks. I was so excited to hit the trails feeling in such a good place.

Everything felt perfect on this run for the first 90-100 minutes. Even though it was hot, there was a bit of a breeze and I felt amazing, just flowing along the trails happy as anything, and grateful to be there. The green of the woods was back, with trilliums everywhere, and lakes brimming with life. I felt the rejuvination of spring mirrored in my own recovery. The rolling hills that I sometimes struggle on felt almost easy just because I was so happy. And really, not yet being in peak shape for going long feels a whole lot better than the 'scraping the bottom of the barrel' I felt last year. If I had kept it to a 2-hour loop, all would have been 100% perfect. But I was on a 2.5 hour loop, which was a bit more than I could handle given that it was an increase of a half hour for me, it was hot, I hadn't eaten much, and I only brought one water bottle to wash down my gels with. Not being long-run fit right now, my margin of error isn't wide enough to get away with all of that so I paid the price.

It was kind of interesting how spectacularly I bonked. I've had some very bad long runs before, but never, ever, ever have I not even been able to shuffle back, however slowly. This time my stomach was so upset and I was so zonkered I actually sat down at one point. It was heaven to sit down, and I was hoping my stomach would calm down. I had to get back though, but couldn't manage to run for more than 5 minutes at a time before having to walk. Hills were out of the question, I had nothing left. I felt so BAD physically, but still I was so HAPPY. There was no hint of despair, it all just felt good, even in it's awfulness. The amazing first part of the run more than made up for the challenge at the end, it was so incredible to be back on the flowing trails.

I've been in bliss ever since, even if a bit queasy still. I feel like I have come home. When Derrick and Taylor passed me, Derrick gave me some more water and even met me near the end again, both of which helped. But besides that I was grateful to have the run to myself, I really needed it for me. A few weeks ago my Naturopath asked me if I had anything besides running that helped me deal with stress, and sure, dealing with stress is one thing, but nothing fills up my soul like a long run through the forest. Through nature and on trails that are soft dirt from only ever being covered by footsteps. It's undeniably my church, my meds, my cleansing; it taps me in like nothing else. I knew how much I'd missed it, but I didn't appreciate how deeply that went until yesterday.

I know what my Naturopath was getting at: running relies on the body, and is therefore a vulnerable connection to rely on. Injuries, sickness, accidents can take it away in a flash. Still, what choice do I have but to accept that. In "Body, Mind, Spirit" the body comes first, it is of of equal importance. But all the Vogue magazines have it wrong; the beauty is in the function. To me the Body is the vehicle through the Mind and ultimately to the Spirit, and to have use of it is a true gift.
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Types of Runs

Some people, like Siku here, always seem to have consistently Good Runs. I'm not like that. Here's a small sample of the variety of runs that are in fact possible...

Kill You or Cure You Run - Feeling run down and zombie-like, and figure a brisk run will either push you over the edge to being sick, or magically make everything better.

Let's Snot and Just Say We Did Run - Those cold days when your nose is running harder than your legs.

Paranoia Run - Coming back from injury and worried the whole time that you'll aggravate it and make things worse.

Hurts So Good Run - The whole point - whether it be hills, tempos, intervals - is to get out of the comfort zone.

Bad Eats Run - Running too soon after a big meal or junk food. Significantly worse if the run is a workout. Could lead to the dreaded...

Runs Run - Dash to the bushes required.

Why Did I Bother Run - The rare run when you probably shouldn't have, for whatever reason. Usually end up wondering why you suck so bad instead of learning from it.

Fueled by Anger Run - Not typically a very long run as it starts out at a rage-infused, unsustainable pace before tapering down to a crawl when you calm down.

Puff and Pound Run - Up and down a mountain. No warmup possible, just up and up, puffing the whole way, followed by a quad-pounding descent.

Kill Me Now Run - Treadmill. 'Nuff said.

Not Even a Run - Crosstraining.

Calorie Run - Any run long enough to eat more than two gels.

Bonk Run - Shoulda brought more calories!

Sauna Run - Way too many layers.

Stripper Run - Ditching several layers mid-run. Sometimes right to the downright scanty. (You know who you are.)

Off the Map Run - Getting lost. Or going off-course during a race.

Knobby Tire Run - In serious mud and thankful for well-tractioned trail shoes to keep you on your feet. (Love my Crosslites!)

Zen Run - One-with-the-Universe bliss achieved on those days when everything feels good. Zen Plus if it's in the woods. Zen Minus if it's during a race (sorry, I'm just jealous). Aka Siku Run.

The Story of Stuff

More info

Note: Stuff is sometimes referred to as crap, clutter, trinkets, whoo hoos or bamboozles.

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More is more and less is less, but sometimes less is more effective

A long-recurring problem I've had with my training is that I think of my weeks as 'Mon - Sun' and try to cram in as much as I can handle, which leaves me in a position where my Sunday long runs get any scraps of energy I might have left over. Then I get frustrated when my long runs don't go very well and question how I can ever run ultras if I can't even do long runs!

So, over the past two weeks I've been following a plan that Derrick has set up for me. Right now, coming off injury and trying to regain fitness, I'm finding it very helpful to have these guidelines to hold me back earlier in the week and save something for Sunday. I think there is a place for my usual approach of trying to max out mileage every day, but I'm just not ready for that yet.

And really, seeing how well I seem to be feeling, I'm re-thinking my old strategy and might try to see how taking a day off a week works for me. (I do normally take days off on a 'as needed' basis, but sometimes by then it's too late to do as much good.)

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It's hard to make the switch though. Now that I'm starting to feel a bit fitter, the thought of my zero day today is bugging me. I would really prefer to run a million miles. Okay, I'd be happy with four or five miles today. BUT....maybe I'll feel decent on my long run this Sunday, which would be kind of great.

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I'm going to put my feet up and give it a try.

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For Sale: One Square Wheel (Cheap!)

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On second thought, I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

The last two weeks I have made a lot of progress with my injury rehab. I have increased mileage, and finally found myself in the position where it was my fitness holding me back more than my hamstring. To help me get through that, I asked Derrick to make me a training plan for the next few weeks. Not only do I trust him because he totally knows what he's talking about, but it's also a mental relief from obsessing about it. It was honestly a bit hard for me to give up control over my training, but now I'm loving it and have been following his plan to the minute.

One of the most surprising things was that once my hamstring really started to heal, it felt really strange and awkward to run as my left leg adjusted to being able to function again. For so long it felt like it was dragging behind me, like I had "one square wheel" as they say. Not good, but that eventually became my "normal". No wonder my hips were so messed up. Now that I'm getting more accustomed to using both legs equally again, I'm feeling much smoother.

I hope that someday soon I'll have something interesting to talk about instead of my hammie! I'm looking forward to getting back to some rolling single-track soon. Hopefully in a few weeks!

Love this classic: