Injury and energy bar update!

Figured I hadn’t posted in a while so here is progress of lack of.  Still getting a small amount of pain in the ankle. Feels like 2 steps forward literally and 1 back. I’m still resting it and showing a degree of patience which I didn’t think I had.  I’m deperate to go out running but something is telling me it’s not right yet and I stand a chance of doing further damage so rest it is.  There are days with no pain and then I walk on it for a while and the niggle begins.  I suspect it has something to do with my work trainers though.

Yesterday I had to make an emergency appointment at the dentists in Cardiff. As they say it never rains but pours, I had extreme pain in a tooth at the back of my mouth and normally I would have waited until my dentists was open after Easter but it was so bad I just had to do something.  So off I went and realised that my route to the hospital wasn’t easy due to the world half marathon running right past the hospital – So I had to park a mile away and walk, I was likely to be late so I tried a little jog – In my work trainers and instantly the pain was there in the sole of my foot. No jogging for me even slowly. However I tried a little shuffle run in my road Nikes earlier today and no pain – Is this a cushioning issue?

Anyway one tooth extraction later and I’m feeling a little sorry for myself and looking rather like the hamster that stole all the nuts. But speaking of nuts I have had my first attempt at making my own energy bars!

My base ingredients – 1/3 cup of flax. 1/3 cup of chia. Half cup of raisins and half cup of dates. Plus some coconut oil to add some binding.  Slammed all these in a mixer and mixed away to my hearts content ending up with ….

Gritty Dough ™ – How appetising!

Next up I used my inspiring culinary skills to make them into little bars.

No-one said they had to be pretty fortunately.  Had the idea of using a rubber mould to make thinner versions too.

After all a test run is test run, time to find out what works!

Into the fridge they went!

I’ve doen a taste test and they do indeed taste coconutty and seem to hold together well. However whether they hold together well on a run is another issue, need to find a way of wrapping them now. Was thinking of cling film but is that going to be a pain to open while running?

I want to test them of course while on the run but patience is holding up well.  I have another week at least in which I can take it easy – 2 weeks off for schools Easter holidays – I feel I have the best job ever sometimes.

Next saturday I’ve been invited along to the Afan Forest to test a new trail half course that the organisers of the Margam Hoka Winter Half I ran last month are devising. Sounds like a lot of fun and will be interesting to see how these things work. So hopefully another week and I’ll be raring to go!