Syrup for Fuel

The whole ‘healthy holiday’ plan had a very promising start. I made a lot of good food choices as I journeyed towards Canada, including a very tasty wholemeal salmon and beetroot wrap and loads of fruit. The was a minor incident at Rejkavik airport as I purchased a dried fish snack which I wasn’t entirely certain was definitely intended for human consumption; it was next to a picture of a very happy-looking dog and had zero discernable English on the packaging. Nonetheless, it tasted marvellous and had no less than a whopping 81% protein so either way, I was onto a winner!

My first day in Novascotia started out well too as I kicked off the morning with an exploratory run, located the local pool and scouted out the gym (which, to my dismay, was closing the day after for a summer break!). I even managed to maintain a reasonable amount of self-control at our first BBQ, but all that yummy Canadian meat opened up some sort of carnivorous floodgate and the next day, it started to go downhill.


We visited a market in a nearby town where many a stall is famed for its baked goods. By 10.30 I had put away a selection of muffins and cookies and a pastry bigger than my head. I simply could not stop the urge to try all the tasty snacks that another country had to offer.


I tried to balance it all out later on that day as we headed over to the cottage: a beautiful cabin up in the hills that sits on the edge of a picturesque lake. The water was plenty warm enough to swim in so with my ‘support crew’ in a pedalo I went on an open water swimming adventure.


The good work was quickly undone as BBQ number two got underway. I indulged in more of Nick’s huge homemade burgers, marinated chicken thighs, pork chops, steak kebabs and sausages. Even the salad had tortilla chips, cheese and a delicious ranch dressing. Once all that was gone (and I made sure it was) it was time to tuck into dessert, an enormous coconut cream pie. I am not even that keen on cream and should have politely refused but I’m pretty sure we don’t have this sort of thing in England so it would have been a major missed opportunity.


I was going to get back on the healthy the next day but as I awoke from my meat-induced slumber I discovered Nick, in the kitchen, with a spatula and a wild look in his eye.


Breakfast involved pancakes so large they could have doubled as seat cushions, doused in oodles of maple syrup with crispy, streaky bacon, eggs, yoghurt and a variety of fruits. Typically Canadian apparently. I immersed myself in the culture and had two.


The weather – which thus far had been stiflingly hot – had turned a little cooler and the clouds had rolled in throughout the morning. I decided a short, fast run would ease the double pancake guilt. According to a signpost, there was a campsite just up the road with lovely views into the valley. I figured I could run up there, take in the scenery and try to beat my own time on the way back, aided by the downhill. It would be 5k max.


I set out feeling super, fuelled almost exclusively from maple syrup. As I turned the corner I caught a glimpse of the road ahead. You should know that when a Canadian – with their almost laughably warped sense of size – says “Well, it’s called a mountain but really it’s more of a small hill”, you should expect it to be massive. As I began to ascend what was indeed a mountain, the clouds parted and the sun beat down relentlessly. The road got steeper and steeper and when I eventually reached the campsite I was so much sweat running into my eyes I could barely even open them, let alone enjoy the view.


I arrived back at the farmhouse 26 minutes later and possible in the worst post-exercise state of my entire life. It took so long for my face to cool down that when we made a visit to a family gathering, people were genuinely concerned that I had some sort of fever.


Another evening of BBQ followed and – even though I knew it was wrong – I shamelessly ate a crazy amount of homemade garlicky burgers and chocolate cake. Afterwards though I hit a psychological turnaround point as I realised I had drifted back into my old ways. I got my head back in the healthy zone and got ready to start a new day.