{"id":22,"date":"2014-03-03T14:11:00","date_gmt":"2014-03-03T14:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anjaschwerin.com\/food\/?p=22"},"modified":"2017-02-12T17:16:01","modified_gmt":"2017-02-12T17:16:01","slug":"quinoa-tabbouleh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anjaschwerin.com\/food\/03\/quinoa-tabbouleh\/","title":{"rendered":"Quinoa Tabbouleh"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"The update of the half marathon that I ran more than two weeks ago on Valentine’s day?…..ahem, yes…… I still owe you that one. Well, let’s be totally honest: I was sulking.<\/div>\n

I don’t really have much reason for it. I felt good at the start line, the weather was perfectly cold, the course flat as a pancake. PB material. I finished in 1:30:40, a PB by more than 2 minutes. Yet, I wasn’t happy with that race. It didn’t come easy, I continuously got slower through the race. My 5k splits were atrocious. And again, like at the Dubai marathon three weeks earlier, I had thoughts of giving up. I didn’t enjoy it.<\/p>\n

To put you into the whole picture, I was going for a sub 1:30 time. I thought I could do it. Perhaps it was one number to big for me yet. At the same time, I saw several of my running friends with similar race times to mine, beat the 1:30 barrier for the first time. You can imagine, that didn’t go down well. As much as I am happy for all those friends as they deserve it after hard and consistent training, I am very competitive at the same time. I am lagging behind by some 40 seconds. That bugs me. Badly.<\/p>\n

Now two weeks later, I am slowly finding my feet again. I didn’t run much. A cold that came on a couple of days after the half marathon, was a blessing in disguise to help me stay off my feet. I needed rest. My racing tank was empty. My body depleted. Not so much the leg muscles, rather all my bones. I usually find it difficult not to run despite little injuries and niggles. This time, I could literally feel how the rest was doing me good for every hour that I put up my feet.<\/p>\n

I needed some time to decide what to do with myself after the last half marathon. Another one is about to happen in a week’s time. My chance to redeem myself before the end of the season? The thought of racing another 21.1k was not appealing. And still isn’t. I am quite happy with the prospect of not having to run further than say 15-17k on my weekly long runs.
\nTwo 10k races are coming up in March. They are two weeks apart. The first one is a hilly one. The second one is flat and the one where I run all my 10k PBs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Killing myself at the RAK half marathon<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

I decided to use the next 4 weeks to do a bit of speed work. The hilly 10k race will be a training run. But I will try and do well in the last 10k race of the season.\u00a0 End of March can be quite warm in Dubai already. I am not sure if another PB will be possible.
\nI have started the training. I am adding strides at the end of my easy runs. I went for hill sprints the other day. To my surprise, I am enjoying the speed work. Perhaps the change to the shorter and faster workouts is all I need after training for two full marathons where it’s all about “long and slow” pounding of the pavements.<\/p>\n

In the next few weeks I will also experiment with a higher carbohydrate percentage in my diet. As I mentioned in previous posts, I have been writing a food journal over the past 4 or 6 weeks. It turns out that my refined sugar and mostly grain free diet reduces my carb intake to 35-40% of the total. That is rather little, especially for endurance athletes. I will try and increase it to at least 50% every day, and see if it makes a difference in my training, recovery and races.<\/p>\n

In order to do that, I am ready to add more grains into my diet again. I have brown rice here and there, and always like quinoa. Today’s recipe is a traditional Middle Eastern salad. I love Tabbouleh, it’s so refreshing and very easy to prepare. It is typically prepared with bulgur, which is split wheat. I replaced it with quinoa to make it gluten free and more wholesome. I hope you enjoy. <\/b>
\n——————————————————- <\/b>
\nQUINOA TABBOULEH<\/b><\/p>\n

(Print Recipe<\/a>)<\/p>\n

1\/2 cup quinoa
\n2\/3 cup water
\npinch of salt<\/p>\n

1 1\/2 cup fresh parsley leaves, finely chopped and tightly packed
\n1\/2 cup fresh mint leaves, finely chopped and tightly packed
\n1\/2 cup cucumber, deseeded and finely chopped
\n1\/2 cup cherry tomatoes, finely chopped<\/p>\n

2 tablespoons olive oil
\n2 tablespoons lemon juice, freshly squeezed
\n1\/4 teaspoon sea salt (or to taste)
\nfreshly ground pepper<\/p>\n

Serves 4
\n——————————————————-
\nIn a medium pan, bring quinoa and salted water to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat, cover pan, and simmer until quinoa is tender, about 10 minutes. Let quinoa stand in covered pot for another 5 minutes, then fluff with a fork.
\nMeanwhile, whisk lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Set aside.<\/p>\n

Combine finely chopped parsely and mint leaves in a salad bowl. Stir in the cooked quinoa until well combined. Add cucumbers, tomatoes and the dressing. Toss to coat. Season to taste with salt and pepper or more lemon juice.<\/p>\n

Serve cold or at room temperature. Salad keeps well in the fridge for 24 hours.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Save<\/span><\/p>\n

Save<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The update of the half marathon that I ran more than two weeks ago on Valentine’s day?…..ahem, yes…… I still owe you that one. Well, let’s be totally honest: I was sulking. IRead More<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":558,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,7,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["entry","author-Anja","post-22","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-gluten-free","category-salad","category-vegan"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8TjFz-m","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":30,"url":"https:\/\/anjaschwerin.com\/food\/12\/grain-free-sweet-potato-brownies\/","url_meta":{"origin":22,"position":0},"title":"Grain Free Sweet Potato Brownies","author":"Anja","date":"December 20, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The year is coming to a close. Everybody seems to be wrapped up in the Christmas frenzy. Although I have been living in Dubai for 10 years, and have spent 9 Christmasses (is that the right plural form?) in warm weather, I still find it hard getting into the festive\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "dairy-free"","block_context":{"text":"dairy-free","link":"https:\/\/anjaschwerin.com\/food\/category\/dairy-free\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/anjaschwerin.com\/food\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/SweetPotatoBrownies3-s.jpg?fit=667%2C1021&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/anjaschwerin.com\/food\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/SweetPotatoBrownies3-s.jpg?fit=667%2C1021&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/anjaschwerin.com\/food\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/SweetPotatoBrownies3-s.jpg?fit=667%2C1021&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":23,"url":"https:\/\/anjaschwerin.com\/food\/02\/orange-almond-cookies\/","url_meta":{"origin":22,"position":1},"title":"Orange Almond Cookies","author":"Anja","date":"February 13, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"It has become a habit of posting here on my blog the day before a big race. 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Tonight, I'll be flying out to Germany. I am usually not a person who packs days in advance before traveling. But this time, I was very tempted. 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As you might also know, I have run the marathon last Friday in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "bars and squares"","block_context":{"text":"bars and squares","link":"https:\/\/anjaschwerin.com\/food\/category\/bars-and-squares\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/anjaschwerin.com\/food\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/MolassesGranolaBars.jpg?fit=680%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/anjaschwerin.com\/food\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/MolassesGranolaBars.jpg?fit=680%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/anjaschwerin.com\/food\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/MolassesGranolaBars.jpg?fit=680%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/anjaschwerin.com\/food\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/QuinoaTabbouleh2-s.jpg?fit=665%2C1015&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anjaschwerin.com\/food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anjaschwerin.com\/food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anjaschwerin.com\/food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anjaschwerin.com\/food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anjaschwerin.com\/food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/anjaschwerin.com\/food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2377,"href":"https:\/\/anjaschwerin.com\/food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22\/revisions\/2377"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anjaschwerin.com\/food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anjaschwerin.com\/food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anjaschwerin.com\/food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anjaschwerin.com\/food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}