Taking Stock: August

I finished up the month by catching a tummy bug. I made a little bed on the bathroom floor for two nights in a row, dropped a further kilo, and cursed my luck for it happening in the middle of the final surge of training before the taper begins. I got back in the swing of things yesterday with a 3hr bike/1hr run run race-pace brick workout and felt fine; although my stomach was a little shaky towards the end, everything stayed down.

My training volume this month turned out to be almost exactly what I did in June:

Riding: 33.5 hrs
Running: 13 hrs
Swimming: 13.5 hrs

...both of which were less than what I did in July (rode 42hrs, ran 18.5, swam 14hrs - only I was too tired to do the math on that at the end of July). In July, I seemed to be buzzing all the time and had trouble sleeping. I've settled down this month and feel like the training I did, while lower in volume, was of high quality. I feel faster across the board in all three disciplines; yes, even on the bike. In short, I feel like I can cautiously say that everything is coming together well.

So, recipe of the month. I got a lot of inspiration in the Pyrenees (no, not from the homemade sausages) by Spanish-influenced cooking. Vegetable paella is on my list of ones to find a recipe for, and I am gearing up to make oven-roasted vegetable fajitas any day now, but haven't gotten around to making the guacamole and salsa. So I'm settling on a vegan pesto sauce that I can't get enough of.

Pesto sauce is always so versatile, and this one is no exception: I've been using it for pasta, on crackers with a dainty olive as an appy, spread on a sandwich (it's really, really good with a homous and cucumber sandwich) and marinating peppers in it before roasting them on the grill.

Ingredients:

* 1 large bunch of basil (about 3 cups, loosely packed)
* 2-3 large cloves garlic
* 6 Tbsp raw pine nuts or walnuts (or a combination of the two)
* 3/4 – 1 tsp salt, or to taste
* 6 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
* 1/4 cup nutritional yeast (optional, but raises the nutrition content)

Preparation:

Place all ingredients except the olive oil and nutritional yeast into a food processor. Process to a finely ground consistency. Add olive oil and process again, until smooth and creamy. If desired, add nutritional yeast and process again until creamy. Keeps in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Just one month to go; I'm on the home stretch.