#celestinaruns

Classic Crêpes

I know, not the healthiest. But everyone deserves a treat, and these are classified as comfort food in my book! These are a staple back home in Romania, so I’m here to share with you the secrets to crêpes, because they are so much easier to make than people realize.

Ingredients:

1 cup flour (can use whole wheat, I used white in the video because it was all I had on hand at the time)

1/2 cup milk (any kind works, I used coconut)

1/2 to 1 cup sparkling water (can just add flat water or more milk, but the sparkling water makes them extra fluffy)

1 egg

1/4 tsp nutmeg

Fillings of your choice!

Directions:

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and nutmeg. In a separate, smaller bowl, whisk together the egg and milk

Whisk the egg/milk mixture into the larger bowl with the flour and nutmeg. Continue whisking in the sparkling water until a thin consistency is achieved. Unlike classic pancakes, crêpe batter is quite thin (somewhere in that thin space between honey and maple syrup). I ended up adding a whole cup of sparkling water in that video.

Heat a pan on medium-high heat and coat with your choice of cooking oil. I actually used a mix of olive oil and butter.

When the pan is hot, lift it off the stove as you pour a ladle (about 1/3 to 1/2 cup worth) of batter into the pan. Keep the pan at an angle when you start pouring and rotate it as you pour. Don’t dump the batter all at once to make it easier to spread the batter out thin.

Stop. Take a breath. I am here to let you know that your first and last crêpes, every single time you make crêpes, will be horrendous. This is normal. Centuries of Romanian mothers have yet to fix this problem. Just take a beat, because if you messed up the first one, it is no indicator of how the rest will go.

Okay. Ready? Great. When dark brown spots start forming, flip the crêpe over. I did badass pan flips in the video but the time lapse was too fast to show off :(

Continue the same way with the rest of the batter. Re-oil the pan between crêpes.

In the video, I actively filled the crêpes as they came off the pan, but you don’t have to, you could just stack them flat and fill them as you eat them.

Ta-da. All done. You can fill them with peanut butter, yogurt, fruit, jam, and even savoury stuff. A classic back home is sour cream and jam! This recipe makes about 6-7 crêpes.

Crêpes, or clătite in Romanian, are genuinely a classic. I swear we eat them more than the French. They make a great breakfast food or dessert! I do make mine relatively more healthy, as I don’t add sugar or fat to the batter and use unsweetened non-dairy milks. Also, I’ve made them with whole wheat flour in the past and they’re still great!

Monday, July 20: 10 x Royal Glenora Hill Repeats

Nothing like doing repeats on a 100 m hill with a 30% incline to get the quads feeling shaky and sore! Switched up my rest day because the sun was just shining too bright to turn down, and I had a physiotherapy appointment on Tuesday.

Tuesday, July 21: Rest Day (sort of)

Went to see my physiotherapist to follow up on how I was recovering after my ankle injury, and also to address some knee pain cropping up in my longer runs (25+ km). My quads seemed really tight and I have quite a bit of instability in my right leg (which had the injury), probably due to a lot of strength I have yet to build back up. Got my right quad dry needled, too, which was painful, but so helpful.

Wednesday, July 22: Easy 6 mi on road

This is a bit of a recovery week, especially with knee pain acting up and... not having taken a recovery week in a long time. I was exhausted though, my quad was still sore from needling and I had a long day at work!

Thursday, July 23: Easy 5 mi on road

Some more easy cruising! I totally ignored my watch navigation, which meant I got a bit more climb in than planned, but it still felt like a great run.

Friday, July 24: 25 km bike ride in the city

It was a very breezy day, so I definitely had to work hard on those uphills, but I did get a nice tailwind on the downhills, which was fun. Time to take the bike in for a tune-up, though!

Saturday, July 25: Easy 5 mi on trail

Spent the day exploring a couple new trails in the area! It was an easy run, lots of starting and stopping because I wasn’t familiar with the trails, but 126 m elevation gain over 8 km is certainly a workout.

Sunday, July 26: 10 mi (and a little more) on trail

Wrapped up my recovery week with a muddy, slip and slide style run. It had rained overnight, which I did not realize, so the trails were a bit of a nuisance to get through. Still very fun, and a whole 252 m of elevation gain! I also explored most of the trails I would have on my 24-hour run loop, and they were totally safe to cross. Annoying and muddy, but doable!

Total Run Mileage - 48.18 km (29.93 mi)

I’ve shared a post-easy run cool down, so here’s a look into my warm-up routine!

I know many runners count a “warm up” as a brisk walk, and it’s not because I’m psychic. It’s because I used to be one of those runners. But the reality is, the most a brisk walk will do is maybe oil your joints a bit and ever so slightly elevate your heart rate. At the end of that walk, there’s some really important muscles for running that get ignored in a simple walk.

Like anything in health & fitness, warm-up is not one size fits all. A good rule of thumb I’ve told new runners in the past is to have a few base exercises that will get the blood flowing better, and then add exercises on top of that that are meant to target what you would call “problem areas.” For example, if you’ve been warming up with a quick walk, but noticing some knee pain on your runs, you might want to focus on your glutes a bit more during your warm-up. If you’ve noticed ankle pain, it’s probably because your flexors need to be stretched out.

Of course, ideally, you don’t have problem areas to begin with, in which case, I suggest my usual format: work from the feet up. Warm up your ankles, calves, quads, hamstrings, hip flexors, and glutes.

So here’s some examples of “base” exercises that are good for getting your heart rate up and working on/activating some more neglected muscle groups:

Zombie walks (or opposite zombie walks/Frankensten walk, where you kick up to your opposite hand)

Wide steps/hip opener walk

Lunge jumps

Star jumps

Leg swings

Rigid skips (think of doing a normal skip, but instead of leaping and landing with your opposite foot, land back on the leg you pushed off with, keeping that leg flexed)

High skips and long skips

Karaoke/Tapioca/Weave step

Lateral band walks/monster walks

And here are some examples of more focused exercises! Pick and choose, depending on areas that are “problems” (previously injured, giving you some pain during runs) or just to cover your bases and warm up from the feet up:

Plantar flexor stretch (ankle joint, arches, plantar flexor)

Heel raises (ankle joint, calves, add a resistance band to target peroneal muscles)

Arm circles (upper postural muscles, if you’re finding upper back pain after a run)

Scorpion (lower back, hip flexors, hamstrings)

Inchworm (core, hamstring)

Walking lunges (quads)

Squats (glutes, quads)

Lunge matrix (hip to ankle stability)

Hip flexor extensions (hip flexors, hamstrings)

Glute bridge (glutes)

That  can seem like a lot, and it may take some trial and error to find the combination of exercises that sits best with you, but I highly recommend you use some easy runs to play around with this.

Typically, you should be doing 7-10 minutes of a dynamic stretch routine involving the above exercises before every run. If I’m about to do a hard effort run, I will typically foam roll some areas that tend to get really tight before heading out as well. Before races, I also throw in some strides and sprints after my dynamic stretches.

As a template, here is the outline of what I do before my runs!

Hello again! I’m currently working on building some new content for the blog, including instructional videos for some things, so hopefully you can expect a more regular schedule in the near future. I am also, finally, in the process of getting my run coach certification and can’t wait to put that to use for all my readers!

Without further ado...

Monday, June 8

A day off, resting and lightly stretching. Felt super restless as I had an easy week prior to this one.

Tuesday, June 9 - Speedwork (8x800 m repeats, total 11.71 km)

Ah, the track, how I’ve dreaded her. It was hot. Everything hurt. But I got this track workout out of me one way or another, and felt great at the end of it!

Wednesday, June 10 - Easy Trail Run (8.05 km)

This was a slow one, but I ran the trail I injured myself on for the first time ever! So I’ll take the slow, all things considered.

Thursday, June 11 - Tempo (2x3 mi, total 14.76 km)

Oof, a doozy. I got through it pretty well, but I wouldn’t say I felt amazing about it. That’s what happens when you drink sangria the night before a tough run ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

Friday, June 12 - Tabata + Yoga Recovery

Oh BOY, did my butt hurt after this one. I used to hate tabata in high school, but I’ve really been loving it as my crosstraining lately. It gives a good structure to follow when motivation is low!

Saturday, June 13 - Long Run on a camping trip! (22.54 km)

This was my second time running here and it definitely felt waaaay better and easier. The cooler weather probably helped, didn’t feel like popping back salt chews ever 5 minutes this time around.

Sunday, June 14 - taking it easy.

Perfect Scrambled Eggs

Ingredients:

2 eggs

1-2 tsp salted butter (you can use unsalted, I just prefer having the already salted butter)

Optional but great: 2 tbsp whole milk or coconut milk

Salt and pepper to taste

The rest of your breakfast: buttered toast, some fruit, and most importantly, coffee!

Directions:

On medium-low heat, soften the salted butter. Crack the two eggs directly in the pan when butter is nearly melted. Add the milk now if using (it’ll add an extra hit of creaminess to the scrambled eggs).

Let the eggs be for a bit! When the whites start to cook, use a rubber spatula (best! flippers and wooden spoons also work okay, though) to move the egg whites around and form those scrambled egg-esque curds. Do NOT disturb the egg yolk.

When about two-thirds of the egg white seems to be cooked, break ONE of the egg yolks and slowly incorporate it into the scramble. Break the second yolk about 1-2 min later, or when it looks like all of the egg whites are cooked.

Turn the heat off and continue to gently scramble the eggs, using the rubber spatula to make sure nothing sticks to the pan, for another 2 min. When it looks like the eggs are cooked (to whatever extent your heart desires), put them on a plate with your morning toast and some fruit. Top off with salt and pepper, as desired.

Makes enough for one! For more, basically double/triple/etc accordingly and follow the same recipe. If you’ve doubled the ingredients, break two yolks at a time, if you’ve tripled break three at a time, and so on.

Apple Cinnamon Protein Pancakes: Powder-Free and Single Serving!

Ingredients:

1/3 cup cottage cheese

1/3 cup egg whites OR 1 egg

1/3 cup oats

1-2 tsp honey (optional, only if you want a little sweetness added to it)

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp baking powder

1 apple, chopped

1/2 cup yogurt, 1-2 tbsp peanut butter, or any other desired toppings

Directions:

Blend all ingredients (except apple and toppings) in a blender.

Chop up apple. Heat a pan on medium heat and brush with olive oil (or whatever cooking oil you prefer).

Pour about 1/4 cup of pancake batter at a time (you can do more if you want bigger pancakes) into heated pan, topping with some chunks of apple. Cook like pancakes.

Top your pancakes off with the remaining apple chunks and whatever other toppings you would like. I love yogurt and peanut butter, as well as some jam for a little extra sweet kick.

This is truly one of my favourite pancake recipes ever! It’s so handy that it’s single serving, and really easy to multiply when I want to have pancakes for multiple people or meal prep. But nowadays, it’s more like single-serve breakfasts around here.

You can also play around with the flavourings! Top with different fruits, make them chocolaty (add a few tbsp of milk if adding cocoa powder), whatever your heart desires!

Garlic Chicken with Sautéed Carrots and Polenta

For the Garlic Chicken (makes 4 large chicken breasts, or about 6-8 servings):

Ingredients:

4 large chicken breasts

3 large cloves of garlic, minced

About 1/4 cup olive oil

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp your choice vegetable and herb medley seasoning

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 F and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.

Mix the olive oil, garlic, and seasonings in a medium bowl. Add the chicken breasts in and make sure they are entirely coated in the oil mixture.

Place chicken breasts on baking sheet and brush on any garlic oil leftover. Bake for 20 minutes.

Allow to cool down. You can cut the breasts smaller beforehand, but I prefer to do it after because I always cut them uneven and that messes with the cooking time.

For the Sautéed Carrots (makes 3-4 servings):

Ingredients:

6 carrots, chopped

1 onion, chopped

1 tbsp olive oil

Salt, pepper, and paprika, to tast

Directions:

Sauté onions in olive oil with seasoning on medium.

Once onions become yellowy and aromatic, add in the carrots and stir in, coating in all the oil and onions.

Add a splash of water, cover, and allow to simmer until carrots soften, but not to the point that they fall apart.

Remove lid and allow water to reduce.

For the Polenta (makes about 3-4 servings):

Ingredients:

3/4 cup cornmeal

3 cups water

Cheese or sour cream to top

Directions:

Add cornmeal and all but about 1/2 cup water to a pot. Turn the heat on the stove on high.

Whisk the cornmeal and water constantly. Polenta can be very finicky and burn to the bottom of the pan super easily.

Slowly add in the rest of the water as the polenta starts bubbling.

Keep whisking while polenta bubbles until it is thickened, sort of like a pudding texture.

Take off of the heat, but keep whisking for another minute or two. It can stick even now so it’s better to be safe!

Put it all on a plate and top the polenta with some cheese or sour cream!

Did I ever do morning stretches before this whole isolation thing? No, absolutely not. But am I using this quarantine situation to play around with my daily routine? Definitely.

Truthfully, I can’t absolutely say that morning stretching has changed a whole lot, as I’ve made a lot of changes all at once lately. That being said, I’ve definitely been feeling a bit better, body-wise and energy-wise, and my posture has been better, too. Which is saying a lot, because it’s definitely been Slouchville since I’ve resorted to being in sweats 24/7.

If you are ever curious about attempting a morning stretch routine, here’s mine! I will say it is something nice to look forward to when I wake up and gives me a little pre-coffee energy boost.