What is that even about anyway?

Batman knows the deal…

Kate. KATE! Pay attention – you like this saying don’t you? Well I do not. And I like the fact that I drank 5 beers and a glass of prosecco (thanks creepy old man staring at me through the window who went to the bar and bought me that and plonked it on the table in front of me without saying a word – gah) before smashing a “cheeky Nandos” (kill me now) even less. Yes – you heard me – the “athlete” that has written about saying no to the Friday beers ended up drinking all the bloody beers. *sigh*. This is the moment I blame my friends for telling me to live a little and have a drink. But actually, I am not going to blame anyone. Because that is pathetic.

What I WILL say is my post ‘4 bottles of Sol’ guilt is somewhat relieved by the fact I had the best strength and conditioning session EVER yesterday. Oh and I also had a very good tempo run. Smug smug smug. Not really. Anyone can lift some weights and put one foot in front of another. You just have to crack on and do it.

So – back to the House of Chicken that is worshipped by so many. I tell you – I have never seen a grown man skip into a restaurant. What is it about this place that people love so much? It’s not even that good! Oh my god put your torches down seriously. Don’t get me wrong, I love ma wiiiiings, a lot, like a lot a lot, like I think ate more wings than the boys last night.

….I definitely ate more wings than the boys last night

However, there is something to be said for this place. Besides the fact there is absolutely no way these are “happy chickens” (Mrs Mac’s turn of phrase meaning they ain’t free range – frown frown – poor chickies) there are some solid options if the man in your life is whining that he needs his whole chicken fix and that’s where your Friday night date is going to be. Looking back at the delicacies on offer last night you could quite easily have a pretty balanced meal.

You wanna know what I ordered didn’t you…. Oh you bas***ds…

• Peri Peri Hummus (shared!… kind of)
• 5 wings (shared!… I had 3)
• Chicken burger (lemon & herb – I am a massive wuss)
• Sweet potato wedges
• Macho peas (obvs)
• …ahem… 5 more wings

Stop judging me! I was very very hungry!

Anyway, the point is, you can eat out at restaurants and still be lean. Really you can. Just don’t go for dinner with me. Go for dinner with me after September when the Ironman will be finished and I will be lifting weights 4 days a week and predominantly looking to be lean instead of fuelling endurance.

So say it were September now and we went to Nandos – what would I have? Dead easy. Half chicken, mixed leaf salad, fino coleslaw and if I had been in the gym that day I’d have the sweet potato wedges. Stop rolling your eyes boys. You crack on with your whole chickens and your spicy rice and your chips. Don’t be crying to me when your England rugby shirt makes you look like Chris Moyles instead of Chris Robshaw (NB Chris Moyles has actually lost tons of weight – it’s pretty incredible but you get my point).

I realise we have touched on the subject of dining out before and I have to try and cast my mind back to 6 months previous before I started the endurance training. Please remember that I currently get away with 1000kcal servings of oats for breakfast because I easily burn them in the training I am doing! When you see “fit chicks” on Instagram or some lunch venue flogging a superfood smoothie or “clean” cookies – they almost definitely ain’t the foods you want to be targeting if your goal is to lose weight. Don’t get me wrong! Fruit over McDonalds? Every damn day. But those “clean” versions of brownies and truffles and bla bla bla – 90% of the time they are made with mushed up dried fruit like dates or pureed nuts. Oh hey there MASSIVE carb and calorie bomb.

I am writing this whilst propped up on a billion pillows on my bed because I am utterly exhausted. Why so tired Cat? You only did half your bike ride! – oh shut up will ya – I smashed the swim ok?! The reason I am so much more tired than normal is because alcohol also affects your sleep. Jeez. Thanks a bunch “guys who invented booze”. Make it so appealing and then properly screw us over why don’t you. So yeah, I didn’t sleep at all well last night. In fact if you got a response to your message at 2:37am this morning – I wasn’t partying, I was counting sheep.

If you guys have regular places or meals that you like to go out to/for and you want to keep them in your life but you also want to smash those pesky little fat cells then drop me a link to the menu – I bet you I can find options that will stop you being billy no mates on Sunday afternoon when everyone else is fighting over the yorkshire pudding left in the middle of the table.

For now though, Nandos, it’s been a pleasure but I won’t be seeing you again for quite some time – hang on hang on – IS THAT AN UNLIMITED FROZEN YOGHURT MACHINE?!

C xxxx