I am a big fan of Runners’ World and, amidst the bills and takeaway menus, it is safe to say that my subscription is the postal highlight of my month. Whether you’re just starting out on your couch to 5K or pace setting for Eliud Kipchoge, RW is a magazine that manages to cater for the masses, offering content that is relatable, useful and eye opening in equal measure.
But hold your horses, this is not a puff piece for the country’s leading running title. There is a problem. I have begun to suspect that the RW editorial team is actually involved in an elaborate and long standing game of ingredient dare through one of its regular sections; the recipes.
Of course, I understand the importance of diet when it comes to running and recovery. I appreciate that runners require a certain balance of proteins, carbohydrates, minerals and green things in order to ensure that they perform at their best. But do any of us really need to be eating open sandwiches containing hay (August 2020 issue)?
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| Hay you, eat this! |
The ingredients being suggested in RW’s regular recipes are bewildering and read like the witches from Macbeth’s shopping list. Granted, occasionally something does catch my eye that is just about within the limits of my culinary skills, but on the majority of occasions, I am left wondering who - other than Jamie Oliver and those red-trouser-wearing folk who do their big shop at a wooden-shacked artisan market - has these ingredients regularly to hand.
Exhibit B: A fig, goji berry and banana smoothie (October 2020 issue). Okay, I admit that my go to smoothie is essentially nothing more than a banana, frozen mixed berries and a block of frozen spinach, but is this morning pick-me-up really worth a trip to Holland&Barret to buy a sprinkling of bee pollen? And who first thought that the one thing they were missing from their smoothie was a hay fever sufferer's worst nightmare?
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| Un-bee-lievable smoothie |
And then there's the plain hard work, like the celeriac soup with horseradish kefir cream (June 2020 issue). Regardless of the fact that I have just had to Google celeriac (which probably speaks volumes of my spectacularly unrefined palate), the prospect of its combination with cultured, fermented milk (kefir) and grated horseradish root does little to whet my appetite. However, while I am sure the end result is delicious, the coating, drizzling, tossing, chopping, roasting, sauteing, squeezing, blending and baking required to produce my 'gut-friendly midweek dinner,' also seems utterly exhausting. Surely, a can of Heinz tomato is a better mid-week option, and I could spend the time I've saved running instead!
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| Soup-er hard work |
I am not a foodie, as you can probably guess, and if this post fills up with irate comments from readers who disagree and are happy to make every recipe, presumably from their amply stocked cupboards of pollen and hay, then I will of course humbly withdraw my critique. However, I suspect that I am not alone in the lack of exotic or grass-based food products on my shelves.
If the editorial team at Runners' World, meanwhile, happens to stumble across this post, I apologise if I've exposed your game of random food bingo. However, I also implore you to consider catering for runners whose time is limited and whose tastes aren't quite as exotic, but who nevertheless want to eat healthily and in a way that will benefit their running.
I would welcome more recipes for simple pasta meals, such as an alternative to the humble tuna pasta bake that has become a staple in our household, or simple ways to make chicken a bit more interesting. They don’t need to be intricate and they don’t need to contain ingredients usually reserved for farm yard animals. Simple to cook and delicious to eat. It’s not much to ask is it?
Now, time for a brie and straw sandwich.
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