Shred level 2

Evening all,

What a lovely day it turned out to be 🙂

After work (and a yummy clif bar, I think I am addicted!) I went on a run; this time only a short one as I wanted to fit in the shred as well. I kept a steady pace and did 2.7 miles in 27 minutes (plus some stoppage for crossing roads, always busy at that time in the evening). Randomly saw some teenagers carrying a massive sofa down a road, they must have carried it a mile, then put it in some bushes (I passed them on my way back) and sat on it. Suppose it’s better than standing on street corners?

Anyway, once home it was time for the shred, and I decided to stop being a chicken and get on with level 2. When I first got the DVD I watched all 3, and I am not sure it was a good idea as in my mind I remember all the impossible looking moves. Boy, this one was harder than level 1! Those walky push-up things- I am glad no-one was watching me! I was super sweaty at the end (sorry TMI!) but I did manage it. I found the cardio bits more enjoyable than in the level 1, maybe because there was more variety, and lots of the moves were ones we do at aerobics so at least I could do those.

I needed a shower after! And dinner (bean wrap yummy). As it was so nice we even had a little walk after dinner- making the most of the dry weather.

Now I am not sure if I prefer running first, then doing the shred, as the running warms me up. It does mean that my legs are tired for the squats and lunges. But if I do the shred first, going for a run in the fresh air after is lovely, but my legs are a bit jellified and the run is much harder work.

So, shred first or run first? What would you do?

Cupcake wars!

Hello peeps!

So I have noticed that this week has been national cupcake week (not sure who decided that- tate and lyle maybe??), and I have been dying to make cupcakes all week. This morning I watched an episode of cupcake wars too, just to add to the theme! It’s basically like a food network challenge, but only with cupcakes, and this time Duff from Ace of Cakes was the judge- so exciting they are doing the 100th episode of Ace of Cakes.

Anyway, this afternoon I got down to some serious Hummingbird baking. First I made some black bottomed cupcakes which are basically a rich chocolate cake mix on the bottom of the cases, and then a cream cheese/ cheesecake mixture on top. I have made them before so I decided to amp them up a bit and made the icing cream cheese peanut butter frosting- yum.

Then I made some peaches and cream cupcakes, which by the way have no cream in them. They do however have peaches in the bottom, and I decided to add some cinnamon to the mixture, and also make the icing into cinnamon cream cheese frosting. Super yum. (I used half the recommended amount of frosting as it makes so much for one batch).

I had to bake the peach ones in a shallow tray, so they spread out and only puffed up a little bit! But still just as tasty!

So now it is the battle of the cupcakes, which one will win? I can’t decide!

Chocolate cheesecake peanut;

vs peaches and cinnamon

After sampling them both, I think that the peaches one was lovely and light and moist from the peach, although instead of putting the peaches on the bottom, next time I would chop them up and mix them in the batter. Cinnamon cream cheese icing is a win! The chocolate ones are so rich that they are best kept for a special occasion, and the peanut frosting was heavenly! So in fact I cannot decide a winner. Hmm. Where is Duff when I need him?

Next week I might use up my pumpkin puree- I have been dying to make the pumpkin cupcakes from Hummingbird, and just wanted to wait until the weather got a bit more autumnal. There is no waiting any more, the big slippers are out and everything!

Onto other things- last night we had a nice meal out in London; the restuarant was super posh, super expensive (we were being treated on the company tab though) and very nice. I had a nice pasta with cherry tomatoes, jalepinos and basil, plus a mini cheesecake. Andy was going to take me to Wholefoods on the way (as a surprise, how sweet) but we got stuck in a load of traffic so didn’t have time. He only told me as we walked past, but hey, it’s the thought that counts right? And also knowing that next time we go on we can have a visit there 🙂

Also after my nuun yesterday I didn’t get a headache, and I got Andy to try some as he regularly gets headaches after long runs too, and he didn’t get one yesterday either. I am pretty excited about it, can you tell? Check out my nuun reviews here plus wiggle are having a sale this weekend!

So, as it is (or was) cupcake week, which one would  you go for? And which is your favourite cupcake of all time? The best one you have ever had!

I personally am a sucker for carrot cake cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, especially if the cupcakes have little bits of pecans in them, and there is maybe some lime zest in the icing.

My fave running bits

Afternoon all!

Today was my long run day, so after some rude health porridge (yum), cleaning the bathroom, hanging out washing and sorting out the dishwasher, I headed out. This time I put some nuun in my water bottle to take with me, although I had run down the street before I realised I had left the bottle at home! Oops! At least I didn’t have far to go to collect it. The run was the same route as last week (8.5 miles), and in the same time (give or take 30 seconds which must be down to waiting for the traffic lights at various places en route). The sun was out, the breeze kept me cool, I had all the nuun drink, all was good. When I was a couple of miles from home my legs started feeling heavy, but they picked up in the home stretch. I was laughing along to Tony’s trials on the marathon talk podcast- I loved his Robin Hood song!

I was thinking about earphones as I saw on Lauras blog that she was getting annoyed with her earphones falling out. So then I got on to thinking about the running things I have bought and loved over the past few years. When I started I went running in old pink trainers (not running ones at all oops), combats and a cotton jumper. How things have changed- now I have a drawer of running tights, capris, shorts, actual running vests, long sleeved tops……….. the list goes on.

But my fave things are here!

I love my mp3 player. Its a creative stone one (I am not an apple junkie). I am not great with technology, and this is so easy to use- plug in to the USB port and use it like any other memory stick, and charges via the computer or a little plug. Plus it is super tiny so slips into the smallest pocket (or the pocket in my drinks bottle holder).

In the summer I love these earphones :

The earphones fit in your ears well, the band holds them in place but isn’t too tight (and it doesn’t bang on the back of my head like some can)- plus it has a little clip so the wires can be out the way.

I also love my Nike+

I know people love their garmins and stuff, but for me this is perfect- I can track my speed, pace, distance and time (and cals earned), plus on the site you can map your runs, see other people’s runs, join challenges and set yourself goals. It’s pretty motivating and also very easy to use. I used to use a normal digital watch so I could time my runs, but this is easier and smaller.

On a short run I don’t take water with me (unless it is totally baking and then I probably wouldn’t run) but on longer runs I like to take a drink with me. I have my trusty old Nathan water bottle holder;

The bottle comes out of the sleeve and can be washed properly. The sleeve has a zipped pocket which I can cram loads of things into (small nakd bars, raisins, tissues, mp3 player….). I am on the hunt for a waist pack as after about an hour and a half of running my shoulders get sore and I am sure it is not helped by carrying stuff in my hand.

My other essentials (not pictured) are trainers (I like Nike ones as they are nice and wide but whatever is comfy), a sports bra (I like shock absorber ones) and proper sports clothes. Sweat wicking tops are so much better than soggy cotton ones, and lighter trousers are better than cotton trackies.

In the summer I wear an old tennis visor, which is also handy when it is raining to keep the rain out of my eyes. I often run in sunglasses, and I have a lovely earband for the winter which keeps me ears and forehead warm. I can’t run in a hat as there is nowhere for my ponytail to go!

So what are your fave pieces of your running kit?

This afternoon I popped to the shops to collect my order from Natural Health (I was so excited about trying sunflower seed butter) and also do a quick food shop.

For a late lunch I had;

Half rye bread spread with organic sunflower seed butter, and

half with rainforest nut butter. Plus an apple (the bags of apples were buy one get one free so I need to start somewhere!), cherries and a bit of leftover yoghurt.

The sunflower butter was so so so yummy!

We are off out for dinner tonight with people from Andy’s work- I haven’t met them and we are going to a steakhouse so I am hoping they do a veggie meal as I don’t want to come across as being an awkward guest.

Hope everyone is having a super saturday 🙂

More nuun and a speedy run

Hooray Friday is finally here!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can you tell I am kind of happy about the weekend?

I started the day with some rude health porridge and I am so glad I did, I have been freezing all day. Even with a warm lunch (the last quinoa veggie thing) I was chilly in the afternoon. I feel all hope of an indian summer has passed.

After work I had a snack (cocoa orange nakd bar), only I managed half of it before dropping the other half on the filthy floor at work- no chance of rescue! But at least I could go home!  I had to collect my other parcel (the one I tried to get the other day but the post office was closed)- it was my mini chopper replacement at long last so I can go back to chopping up things. Might attempt my own peanut chocolate butter as I finished the dark chocolate dreams the other day. After that I headed out on a quick run- I realised that I missed the speedwork session (runs were all out of sync this week) so I warmed up for ten minutes (about a mile) then spent the next 10 minutes alternating between 30 seconds fast (well, fast for me) and 30 seconds jogging (just over a mile) and then around 8 minutes on a loop to cool down.

Once home I tried the last of my nuun (sadly pronounced “noon” so my title for this post does not rhyme!)- the orange with a hint of ginger.

The flavour was pleasant, again similar to the citrus in that it tasted like weak squash, or a bit like those evervescent vitamin c orange tabs that you get in tubes. I could not really taste the ginger, but I had also had a pineapple sweetie;

(special veggie sweeties don’t you know)- so anyhoo that may have made it harder for my taste buds to taste the ginger. Anyway, I liked it, no yucky aftertaste or anything like that, seems refreshing with the flavour. 9/10 cherries.

Then it was on to the shred- I am still being a chicken and only doing part 1, although I have watched the other ones and think pretty soon I should attempt number 2. But I was tired after my busy day, and I want to do a long run tomorrow so I don’t want to go crazy or anything!

Dinner was good- I made some bread and I had some left over roasted peppers so I chopped them up small and put them in the dough. This off-roading turned out alright;

Colourful bread!

I also had some baked apple with blueberries in another attempt at warming up. It is so cold in the evenings now 🙁

Also exciting news- I have ordered some teapigs tea, and I found on their site that they do chocolate flake tea- how good does that sound? Can’t wait to try it!

So I was wondering today as I was running and thinking of my run tomorrow, what do most people do around a long run? Do you have a rest day before the long run so legs are fresh, and then have a gentle recovery run the following day, or do you save the rest day for after, and have a run the day before to stretch the legs and so on?

I find that a run the day before, so long as it is fairly short, does not seem to hinder my long run, but the day after my long run is not a good idea for a run, as when I have tried it my legs (and knees) have been very sore. But I still rest the day or two before a race- not sure why!

Night all 🙂

Looooooong day

Urgh. It was a long day at work today! From 8am I had meetings with staff, with parents, then teaching, then meeting at lunch time, then more teaching, then a parent meeting straight after school, and then……… a presentation evening. I am all meeting-ed out.

Not much else to report! I had my quinoa/ roasted veggies for lunch (that was a mistake as it was tooo hot and I burnt my tongue when eating it as I only had a few minutes), I managed a clif bar before the presentation. I was lucky to come home to Andy cooking dinner and also a pretty bunch of flowers! 🙂

I am so glad it is Friday tomorrow!

My brain is fried so I am off to crash on the sofa! Night!