After the early morning email I received last week, only two weeks out from the COOLEST race I’ll have ever competed in (the Abu Dhabi International Triathlon,) it was an absolute MAD scramble to get a bike together. In selling my 2012 Cervelo P3C only a month ago, and not planning on even NEEDING a TT bike until May, that left me with only three options:

The bike fit with Björn; ensuring max aerodynamics AND comfort!

Lots of this coming for 2013

Pushing hard to break her in

Ready for battle

 If all else fails, I’ll most definitely be bringing my spare back-up race bike. You know, just in case. ALWAYS have a plan ‘B’.

The Back-up, plan ‘B’

Late last year, I had been invited to race at the Abu Dhabi International Triathlon in, where else, Abu Dhabi. There were a few critical factors that were holding me back from guaranteeing my participation, but finally, as of the last two days, it is confirmed that I’m GOING! Extremely exciting news, I am incredibly pumped!!! The distance format is an unusual one, heavily favouring the strong cyclists: 3km open water swim, 200km bike, 20km run.

Suffering in the heat

Pure. Speed.

Triathlon Top

Arm Sleeves = Sun Protection

Powerbar will keep me topped up

Setting sweat records daily!

January means the beginning of the build for the 2013 season, and this includes one of my favourites, training camp!! Although a Vancouver January camp is the shits compared to an April Tucson camp (see: rain & snow,) I still love the day-in, day-out volume of training. I’ve put some epic hours on the trainer in the last few days (today is day 4 of camp,) some long HOOOOOT suffer sessions, and those hard days will pay off when the race season comes around! Long hot indoor bike sessions can leave you depleted of electrolytes, especially with the heat cranked (yup, I ‘enjoy’ pumping it up to 25-30C.) My Powerbar Perform and bars have been helping me keep those electrolytes up, as multiple workouts a day means you need TONS of electrolytes to keep yourself going (without cramping!) The other day I broke my sweat record, after a 4hr spin it was pooling all around the pain cave floor (yes, even sweating is a competition!!)

Powerbar has my back indoors and out!

Another part of training camp (which, I have to admit, is probably my favourite part,) is the endless amount of eating required. BUT, long training hours and the “I don’t feel like moving” fatigue brought along with it leaves little energy or time for cooking or food prep. I’ve found the best way to get through is to make things like sauces, dressings, etc, in bulk, and pre-cook things like rice, quinoa, farro, etc, stored in the fridge. Even chopping different veg into containers speeds the process along. Then eating meals becomes more of an ‘assembly’ than actually cooking. Another speedy cheater is to make huge batches of things like chilli, curry, etc, and freeze them into single or double serve containers. Microwave or heat on the stove and BAM! Easy-peasy meal. HUGE quinoa salads keep well in the fridge for a while, and just taste better day after day. All easy ways for EVERYONE to bring some extra efficiency to their daily lives, to fit every minute of activity in you can (because few people have lots of time to cook all the time!)

Well, I have recently formed an addiction to ‘bowl’ meals, like curries, stir-frys, rice bowls, etc (must be the weather?) Two of my FAVOURITE dishes right now are coconut curry and thai peanut stir-fry! I will have to make a post with my curry recipe (it’s absolutely smashing, I LOVE it, it’s incredibly versatile,) but this post I will share my peanut stir fry sauce.

Making my favourite stir-fry, Spicy Thai-Peanut!!

THAI PEANUT STIR-FRY SAUCE:

I always use a blender for this one, it helps blend and emulsify the sauce. A regular blender will work fine, although I use my vitamix. Even a food processor will work just fine. This will give you a fair amount, I’ve made this sauce for up to 10 people (10 HUNGRY people, any guess where that might’ve been???) But this amount will probably give you about 3½-4 cups worth or so, enough for a few meals.

**NOTE** if you include the chillies in this recipe, it has some BITE! Adjust for your own personal heat level tolerance.

You will need:
– 2C coconut milk (light is a useable substitute, but will not have the same flavour and consistency as full-fat);

– scant ¼ C soy sauce (or tamari, Braggs Soy Seasoning, etc);
– juice from 2 juicy limes (fresh is ALWAYS best!);
– couple plops of hot sauce (preferably something like Sriracha,or the Rooster brand stuff);
– 2-4tsp brown sugar (adjust for taste preference);
– piece of fresh ginger the size of your thumb (maybe 2-3Tbsp worth,) peeled and chopped;
– 1-3 thai red chillies, seeded (unless you’re like me and like the burn from the seeds,) chopped (or a solid sprinkle of dried chilli flakes, for ease);

– 1 to 1 ¼ C natural PB (salted is fine; I almost go with 1.5C as I LOVE the taste of peanuts);
– 4tbsp tahini (*optional* makes it a little thicker and creamier);
– 4 tbsp pure sesame oil, toasted adds a nice flavour but any type will do;
– ½ C toasted nuts (your preference, peanuts go nicely but any will do, the crunch is what we’re after here.)

**NOTE** Thai red chillies are bloody hot little BAMF’s, so watch out! Even when handling and chopping, be sure to wash your hands BEFORE YOU GO TO THE BATHROOM!!!! Trust me, from personal experience, if you don’t it makes for an interesting night. And not so much for you, but anyone else around you witnessing the dancing comedy show you’ll put on.

Now, take the first 7 ingredients (coconut milk to chillies,) and put in a blender. Blend well, so that everything is well mixed.

Add everything else but the nuts, and blend until well emulsified. Taste-test time!!! If something isn’t to your liking, adjust it. If too salty, add some more brown sugar; if it’s too rich, add a bit more lime juice.

Once you’re happy with the flavour profile (different brands and sources of ingredients will yield slightly different results,) add the toasted nuts and just blend ever-so-slightly, until the nuts are chopped up. Now you’re happening!!

Serve it over your choice of steamed veg, fried/grilled chicken, seafood, tofu, tempeh, and rice, quinoa, noodles, etc. Top with chopped and toasted nuts, cilantro, chopped green onions, and whatever else you’ve got a hankering for!

My favourite way to do the veggies, is to put a scant ½” water in the bottom of a covered skillet, bring to a boil; Put the hardest veggies in first, and lightly steam, adding the softer veggies until they’re ALMOST al dente (stir-frys should usually have bright and fresh veggies, not mushy like in a curry.) Uncover, letting almost all the water in the bottom of the skillet evaporate (shouldn’t take long,) and add your desired amount of sauce. Heat just long enough to warm the sauce. Serve that magic on top of whatever and you’re happening!

Appropriately, I store it in old PB jars.

Just a forewarning, this stuff might as well be crack, because I find myself dipping stuff in it and I can’t stop eating it! It won’t last long, guaranteed. It should stay well in the fridge for a while, and you can also freeze it in little batches (or big, whatever works!)

Speaking of time efficiency, time to get out on the new mountain bike for it’s maiden voyage!!! Happy training everyone, be safe out there!!!

Nathan

Michael’s Chiru

Is it really possible to own too many bikes? If someone ever tells you it is, they’re probably completely full of CRAP! That being said, my collection of rigs has dwindled down to the smallest number in many seasons, although I’m very sure that will change soon once I get my hands on a new TT bike. For now, though, I would like to introduce the newest member to my stable, a brand spankin new Chiru (made in France,) endurance HT 29’er mountain bike! Michael Wegner (the Canadian Power2Max dealer,) was so kind to lend his to me late last year, and after a few minutes on it I completely fell in love with it! Although a size too large, it was incredibly nimble and light on the trails, absorbing all the punishment I could dish out, even throwing some back in my direction (suffice to say it put me on my ass a few times, Elliot can attest to that!) After all the excitement it brought, I set out with Coach Björn Ossenbrink and MultiSport Science to build up a Chiru of my own. It’s finally arrived and I’m ready to test it out in my upcoming early season training camp, which should see some high volume and a few good mountain bike rides.

After ‘getting dirty’

With my new found LOVE for mountain biking, and my continued love for trail running, why not throw them together in the sport that I live and breathe for?!? This year, I hope to race in a few Xterra races, including Xterra Portland, and possibly Xterra Maui Worlds (granted I can bargain with them to let me come play with the Caveman and other big dogs!) The first race I’ll be hitting with the new Chiru will be the Dirty Duo, on March 9th (North Vancouver.) It is comprised of a 25km trail run and a 30km mountain bike (COMPLETELY ass-backwards for us triathlon folks.) Should be a kick-in-the-pants, but an exciting one.







Have safe and happy training out there in this early season; ease back into it, and stay healthy!

Nathan

All MINE!!!! Right off the showroom floor at Multisport Science

Holy smokes, the last few weeks have just gone by so incredibly fast, it feels like a big blur!! SO many things have happened, let me do a quick recap:

It’s okay to be jealous

– I’ve recently taken up skate skiing (a type of cross country skiing,) and I’ve become incredibly hooked on it! It marries not only an aerobic workout, but also quite a strength tester (especially if you have poor form, which I do.) BUT, I can tell you this, I am ROCKING the retro neon coloured skis and boots (huge thanks to the Holtham’s for lending me their old pair!) I may not be the fastest out there, but damn do I look awesome doing it (think circa 1990’s.) After a couple of weeks of heading to the hills (getting help from Jenn Kohm and David Palermo as how to actually do it,) I’m starting to get the hang of it. So much so (see: over confidence,) that I’ve gone out on a limb and signed up for Sigge’s Payak, coming up on February 23rd. First race of the 2013 season!

Abby: Guardian of the Gifts

– Christmas went exactly as I hoped it would, full of family, friends, fun, and probably WAY too much food (and I don’t mean kale salads kinda food, I mean Aunt Tricia’s ridiculously amazing baked goodies and Uncle Brian’s candied yams (heavy on the ‘candied’) kinda chow!) It also brought with it some amazing presents, two of my favourite being from my parents: a painting that I’ve always admired at my parents house, which they were so gracious to have framed and gave it to me, as well as a Kuvings low-speed masticating juicer (beet juice anyone? Increases your oxygen carrying efficiency!) I spent the day with my folks: making them a rather solid egg scramble for breakfast (and yes, I DID sneak kale into it, so dad has officially eaten kale now!) opening (and more satisfying, watching them open) gifts from everyone, getting out for a stubbornly difficult 21km run, polishing the days festivities off with a huge family dinner and the traditional poker game (where my grandma, bless her soul, proceeded to scrape our pockets clean of every last penny!)

By night’s end I was in the red…..

Slow-speed juicing AWESOMENESS!

My favourite gift, painted by a Coquitlam Fire Fighter.

– New years was spend between Cypress and Callaghan Valley Whistler Olympic Park, where I managed to get some solid skate skiing in with Jenn (as well as some snowshoeing, another first for me!) It was Coconut Curry left-right and centre on NYE and new years day for us, as we cooked up enough to feed us for a week (well, at the rate we eat food, MAYBE two days.) It was stunning, I will have to post up the recipe for the concoction very soon.

NYE sunset at Cypress Mountain

Coconut Apple-Tofu Curry!! Delicious, healthy, and vegan.

Speaking of concoctions, I’ve been told by many people that I need to start blogging my recipes and creations, so I think one of my new years resolutions is to try and post more about the delicious foods and smoothies recipes that I’ve been amassing lately (although, I never was one to make new years resolutions……) But, as I do love to see people enjoy things that I’ve flung together, I’ll do my best. The hardest part is when I’m cooking, there’s not only a flurry of things going in, usually I don’t measure anything, it’s more of a “bit of this, bit of that, needs a touch more of those and a few of them…..” You see where I’m going with this. I’m doubtful I’m the only one who does!

Whistler Olympic Park, Callaghan Valley

Well, the new year is off to a good start already, spending hours skate skiing and riding in the last two days already. What did you do to kick off 2013? Any 100×100 swim workouts? Any big resolutions? Regardless, I wish everyone the best of 2013, I can already tell it’ll be the best year to come by in a long time (including the year they invented sliced bread, although that was a pretty great year.) May all your goals and ambitions be hard-sought but completely attained by this time next year!!!

Happy training, set those goals, eye on the prize, and fight like hell for everything you want to accomplish this year.

I know I will be.

Nathan

More Snow = More TRAINER!

So I got a delightful present in the mail today, from the great folks at Powerbar. I guess you could say it’s an early Christmas present? Just as I was about to jump on the trainer (yes, with all this snow lately, I’ve been logging some solid hours on the old trusty trainer,) the Purolator delivery man arrived to hand over a package. Expecting a few things (yes, Amazon and Ebay have been frequented lately,) imagine my surprise when I receive NONE of the things I was expecting!

Powerbar Christmas Present!!

But what a surprise it was. I’ve been talking to Troy Hutchinson (the Powerbar Canada rep,) about the newly reformulated Powerbar Protein Plus bars, and my present was a bar of each flavour! Chocolate Fudge, Vanilla Yogurt, Cookies and Cream, and my all-time favourite, Peanut Butter. The delivery was perfect timing, and at the advice of Troy, I tried out the Cookies & Cream bar after the gruelling 3hr trainer ride. As I neared the end of the workout, all I could think about was that Protein Plus bar. Then, finally, I got to crack into the new bar.

Finally, after 3 hard hours, it’s chow time

A. MAZE. ING. All I can say. They are absolutely NOTHING like the old bars, completely different flavour profile and texture. The Cookies & Cream was almost a cake-like consistency, very light in texture but huge flavour. The chocolatey coating landed an ever-so-slight crunch, and the inside had tiny little crunchy bits of cookie. They are smaller than the old bar, at only 210kcals (down from a sometimes hefty 300kcals,) but still packing 20g of protein and 26g of carbs, to help you recover. I still am in awe of how amazing it tasted, I am looking forward to tomorrow’s training sessions so I can try some more (it’s almost sad how excited I am about them! Peanut Butter is next at bat.)

Cookie & Cream perfection. BAM!

Just thought I’d let you all know about the new bars, they are available now, so go get yourself a few and try them out! I liked the old bars, but these bars are a whole new level of rectangular perfection. I’ll be posting soon about all the other exciting new revelations lately (skiing anyone?)

Have a Merry Christmas everyone, and a safe and Happy New Year! (and please, be SMART out there during the holiday season!)

Nathan

Christmas, it’s the best time of year! Well, it’s my absolute favourite time of year, that’s for sure. It always means dinners, gatherings, and good old-fashioned parties with friends and families! Not even half-way through, and I’ve gotten up to all sorts of things already! First, there was a poinsettia incident. I can bake you almost anything, but trying to keep a plant alive? Not my forte! I’ve been told poinsettia’s are difficult to kill, but I managed to end the life of some poor thing in only a day or two. Sad really.

This spring, I was asked to partake in the filming for an indoor cycling video, SpinFocus, by my good friend Jordan Hurdal. It was a lot of fun, although I only participated in the outdoor portion of the filming. Well, Jordan recently asked me to ride in one of the studio spin sessions, and how could I say no? I think the seller was the fact there would be a room full of good lookin’ ladies, and a kitchen of food 🙂 He knows the way to an athlete’s heart, that’s for sure! It was a blast, we spent a few hours filming. The videos should be finished fairly soon, and trust me, they are solid sessions!

In the spin focus studios!

One of the most exciting things to happen yet, was the Team Ossenbrink Christmas party. Partly because it was with an awesome bunch, but mostly because it was at MY HOUSE! The first party I’ve ever hosted, EVER. I am a big fan of the christmas decorations, I like it to feel very festive, and I tried to go pretty all-out. Maybe beginner to some, but I was pretty happy with my efforts. For my first kick at the can, I’d say successful. Now there are more to come every weekend until the big December 25, which I’ll assist in hosting at my parents house. Absolutely LOVE this time of year! Even though I’m lacking a douglas fir or charlie brown in my living room, I was able to get to my parents house for the annual mulled wine and tree decorating (and for the record, my mum makes THE BEST mulled wine around.) What a treat.

Today was the first day in months I’ve ridden the roadie outside, and what a day to go out! It was sunny the whole time, and you would be hard pressed to find anyone out there today with a bigger smile. I’d attribute the smile to a few things, one of which being that my power numbers were excellent for this time of year, and two being that I recently received an invite to race in the 2013 Abu Dhabi Triathlon in March!! WOO was I ever excited!!!! I am hoping I’ll be able to find my way there, but it will be an absolutely amazing race to do. The perfect way to kick off the season as well.

Anyways, it’s time to pack it in for the evening, happy training everyone, and Merry Christmas!!!

Nathan

Waffles: NOTHING better!

…would it surprise you, at all, to know a cookbook is my new favourite book? If it does, it shouldn’t. ‘The Feed Zone Cookbook,’ by Biju Thomas and Allen Lim, is a phenomenal little book that will give you all sorts of ideas to fuel you right, whether you’re taking off on a 6hr cycling adventure, or just kicking back for a day of relaxing. I’ve been trying out some of the different recipes, my favourites being adapting the pancakes into waffles (with my awesome waffle maker, generously donated to me by Rachel McBride, another waffle aficionado!) Also, I’ve been starting my day with a take on their Sweet Rice breakfast bowl, it’s a real treat! If you head down to Multisport Science Inc you can find it locally, at a great price, along with a few other hardcovers to dive in to. I’ve also started reading Scott Jurek’s ‘Eat and Run,’ it’s been great so far. An added bonus is that Scott has recipes for tasty snacks and meals throughout the book, making it difficult to put down.

After a pretty solid week of training, including some of those long, mentally draining indoor trainer sessions (that leave you feeling like a candy bar wrapper that’s been crumpled up and thrown on the floor,) it’s time to recover up a bit and do some cooking and baking to prepare for a weekend of christmas parties. This has to be the best time of the year, getting together with all your friends and family to celebrate with good food and even better company.

Have a great week everyone, be safe out there (looks like snow might be in our forecast!)

Nathan

Suffering now = gains in 2013

Nutrition: it plays a vital role in every aspect of human life, especially for that of an athlete. Good nutrition will help us maintain good health, and keep us performing at our absolute best performance. It prepares us and fuels us through long, hard days of training, and lets our body effectively repair itself after we continually break it down. That being said, I am EXTREMELY excited to announce my acceptance onto the Powerbar Team Elite, for 2013!!! I will be working with Powerbar, to fuel me through what will hopefully be an absolutely outstanding season of training and racing. The races haven’t been decided yet, but there will be a good focus on the long course racing this year, while I prepare to improve on my debut Ironman performance. Powerbar will have my back, and I know their line of fine products will get me to the start line strong, healthy, and ready to throw down. 

Holy WOW are my legs ever sore! It’s been 3 days since the New Balance Fall Classic Half marathon, and my legs are still feeling every one of those 21.1 kilometres (actually, it was 21.3, but who’s counting?)  That had to be one of the most painful things I’ve done in a long time (remembering that EPIC 250 wasn’t really that long ago!) Just starting up again after the offseason break (and a few too many treats,) doesn’t make a half marathon any easier. I won’t lie, it started to hurt right out of the blocks, and it just went downhill from there (then uphill, then downhill, then uphill again!) But I finished the race, with my usual epic kick the last 3km. I don’t know where it comes from, but I guess I always have some mysterious form of motivation to give it everything I have left for a solid hard sprint. No personal bests this time around, but a 1:21 was good for a top 10 finish, and most importantly, BOATLOADS of fun! Of course, I came out in my Sunday best, which included some neon green Compressport calf guards with matching New Balance 1400 race flats (favourite shoe EVER,) a Carlsberg headband (with colourful hair sticking out the top) that came from the World Cup in Europe, and my scary-as-hell Movember stache. Which, by-the-way, you can donate to my fundraiser at http://mobro.co/nathanjkillam.

Ready to RACE!

As always, I was most excited to be able to race alongside my Team Ossenbrink teammates. Rachel McBride had another solid race, taking the gold medal only a few weeks after her first ever Ironman 70.3 victory in Austin, TX. (She ALSO has an interview on the triathlete mecca known as Slowtwitch.com; you know you’re the real deal once you’ve made it on there. Check out Rachel’s Interview.) All the rest of the team had a great day too, everyone had fun despite the high winds and rain. A bunch of the Speed Theory team was their as well, a great effort by everyone! As usual, the volunteers did a fantastic job, especially a few funny Mexican Muchachos at the turn around point (with, I might add, some fantastic mustaches!) Post race we went out to Juliet’s Cafe, for some brunch to celebrate Jenn and Christina’s birthdays. Juliet’s cafe never disappoints, it’s a fine joint to check out if you’re ever in Kitsilano.

Let the mayhem begin

Not the fastest, but definitely the best dressed

Post-race I was informed that the offseason is over, and this race kicked off the 2013 season. The difference between myself and most: everyone else is just ENDING their season; mine is just beginning. SO…..I figure I might have a good go at the rest of 2012’s races, and will try my hand once again at a muddy cross country race: the Gunner Shaw 10km. Dec 1 is race day, and it’s guaranteed to be a mud-fest of fun. I’m looking forward to the adventure, outfitted with some fresh spikes by New Balance Vancouver I should be able to rip around the slippery mess with ease. I hope to see a lot of friends out there partaking!

Till then, happy training, get out there in the rain 😉

Nathan