I love Body Pump!

Hey!

After 3 weeks off (I think) it was back on tonight! And I do love it! It was the new one, and so for some of the tracks I used slightly lower weights, but I did manage the normal weights for some of them too. My shoulders are so sore now already (but in a good way I suppose). Not sure about the music though- seems to have less catchy ones than normal. Who knows, it might be a grower. Anyone loving the music this time around?

After my shower I had some teapigs chocolate flake tea;

It is lovely tea, but for a sweet treat I still prefer the creme caramel tea.

I got an email from the person who was running the focus group thing yesterday, saying that they are sorry that they didn’t send the email, and that I can have a place in the next group, so that was nice. 🙂

Gosh I was mad today when I was watching the Jamie Oliver in america thingy- did you know that they count potato fries as a vegatable in the school canteens? It is utter madness- I did think those high school kids that did the cooking were really good though- it was uplifting to see their attitudes towards it.

Anyway, I am off to bed now! Night.

Wasted journey

Evening all.

Today I had an annoying wasted journey. The other week I had an email from the health food shop about trialling a new product; I had to reply to the email stating which time I could make. So I did, and never heard back, but it seemed from the email that people could just come along, it didn’t say we would get replies. Anyway, I left work as soon as I could, and spent a while getting stuck in traffic and also getting lost on my way there. I got there just in time, only to be told (by a man with rather strong garlic breath) that I wasn’t on the list, and that I should have had an email saying not to come along. Well, I never got the email and so I was a bit annoyed as he was not apologetic at all. Hmph. So then I got lost some more, and got stuck in more traffic on my way home. Grrrr.

Once home it was totally time for dinner; some of my mini chickpea burgers, some butternut squash and some quinoa with tomato, cherry tomatoes, spinach and spices. Mmm.

That nearly made it all better. Also my last teapigs Earl Grey tea- perfect for weather like this.

For later I baked some plums with some agave, cloves and cinnamon.

Yum- they will be nice warmed through with some yoghurt 🙂

Anyway, on to nicer things. I have heard that my body pump instructor is back so I have that to look forward to tomorrow night- yay! I have totally missed it!

I am going to carry over the question from yesterday (or does everyone just run on a treadmill/ at lunch times in the winter? Neither is an option for me)- Any tips for running in the dark?

Night

Caramel peanut squares

Hey everyone!

I had a request for the recipe for the squares I made the other day, so here it is. It is based on a recipe from a book called “Greatest ever cookies”, by Parragon (no author or anything).

For the base:

100g butter/ marg

4tbs muscovado sugar

125g plain flour

40g rolled oats

Preheat oven to 180C and line a brownie pan/ other tray. Beat sugar and butter together, add flour and oats and bring together. Press into the tray (flatten it down well as it will be crumbly).

Bake for 25 minutes, until golden brown.

For the caramel;

25g butter

25g muscovado sugar

200ml condensed milk

Place all ingredients in a large pan and gently bring to the boil. Keep stirring so it won’t burn on the bottom. Boil gently for 3-4 minutes, until it is light golden in colour and has thickened. To test you can put a blob on a cold spoon/ plate, leave for a few seconds and see if it holds together.

I spread the base with some smooth peanut butter before I poured the caramel over the top.

Then melt 100g dark chocolate and pour over the top. Optional- melt 25g white chocolate and make pretty patterns all over the top! If I am feeling fancy I do this! 🙂

So enjoy!

I had aerobics tonight, fun as always, and I was pleased to see my Women’s Running magazine on the doormat waiting for me. I am looking forward to reading it- it looks like it has some great articles on speed work, running in the dark, and some motivational reasons to love running (as if I need it!).

I liked reading people’s comments yesterday about the lucky items- I was under the impression that I was the odd one out not having any lucky racing items- glad to see I am not! Seems we are all creatures of habit and like our routines more than our things.

Now, thinking of running in the dark- girls especially- how do you stay safe?

I try to run near busy roads- near me there are loads of offices and bus stops so if I go in the evening-5/6pm then there are loads of people about. I also wear a rather fetching IKEA high-viz jacket (for a bargain £3 or something) over my running clothes as I am paranoid the cars won’t see me. There are some roads that Andy has told me I am not allowed to run along in the dark, which seems weird when in the summer those roads would feel safe even at 8pm at night. But something about the dark makes things seem less safe.

Night 🙂

I had a dream

Race report alert!

It was a 10K race- I turned up to the same race I did last year, so I was feeling pleased that I knew the course. I forgot my mp3 player, but I felt confident I could focus on my running and not listen to my breathing. We were off and I was feeling strong. I kept checking my Nike+ wristband (not for the pace but for the time) but after running for half an hour or so I realised that I had not seen any distance markers at all. I was hoping to get in under an hour, and my pace was feeling fast so I was optimistic. Then there was the hill. I remembered it from last year, but this time around it seemed so much steeper. In fact I ran at it, and could not get enough momentum to reach the top; I slid back down and had to try again. I realised with a panic that I had not long to go before my hour was up, and I could not see a way up the hill. In the end another runner pointed out a rope to me, which I held on to and managed to haul my way up the hill.

Did I finish? Well, I don’t know, because then I woke up.

Now in fact in a few weeks time I do have a 10k race, and I did the same race last year, and I am also hoping to get in on the hour mark (my fastest 10k race time is 63 mins and some seconds). It must be playing on my mind! I really enjoy races, I try not to put pressure on myself and do them for the fun and for the achievement, but I am always nervous before and never sleep well the night before. But this is a first! I have such a good pre-race routine now- I always get all my things ready the night before, down to the safety pins and number, put the timer chip on my laces etc (I use the list in the Zest runners book) so these things calm my nerves a little bit. I don’t have lucky pants/ racing vest or anything like that; I just worry about not finding parking or missing the start or forgetting my water or something silly. Or there being a long queue for the toilets. In fact in the last half marathon I did, I was talking to so many people that I didn’t have time to go to the toilets and spent the entire race needing the toilet- not good!

Anyway, today actually was a standard work day. I split a 9bar between my am and pm snack, and then once home went out on a run, in the lovely English drizzle. I suppose you could call it refreshing, but in fact my glasses fogged up and my hands got cold.

But anyway, I managed a 5.2 mile run, around the lakes and back, and despite really tight calves I kept a fairly even pace (except the one mile with a massive long horrible hill that gets progressivly steeper the more you run up it), finishing in 52 mins with a few minutes waiting at various traffic lights.

Then it was home for a hot shower (which is always so much better after a run in the rain) and some dinner (what else on a monday than a mexican bean wrap?).

I also indulged in some of this;

(That is actually an old pic but in fact I had the exact same cup today what are the chances? Slim as I have about a million cups- I hoard them like nobodies business).

So, any crazy pre-race nervy dreams? Any pre-pace superstitions or routines? Any lucky items that you have to have with you in a race?

Another blogging craze

Evening all

First of all, a picture of the peanut caramel squares I made yesterday;

They were lovely but the peanut flavour was rather faint- I think next time I would spread it a bit thicker on the base. I made them in a big tray so they were thin and spread out, instead of in a smaller tray where they would be thicker.

But that was yesterday.

Today started off with another blogging craze- oats in a jar! I have seen so many people having it, and this week finished a jar of smooth PB, so I saved the jar to try it!

I had a mixture of normal oats, rude health porridge and cinnamon, and it was really tasty. I have tried almond butter in bircher muesli which is nice, but I have never had PB in a porridge before. It was quite rich, but a nice treat!

Mmm, does not look appetising at all! Haha! But it was very nice.

I managed to have a walk in between the rain showers (well, my walk ended in the rain so I half avoided it) and then spent the afternoon doing jobs and watching the grand prix, then popped to see relatives.

What a nice sunday, even if the weather has been awful!

So, anyone else tried/ never tried oats (porridge) in a jar?

And any other blogging crazes that people have tried and liked/ not liked?