Month: February 2011

Parcels to cheer me up!

Hello guys

Thanks so much for all the lovely messages. First of all, you are all right- I must not get back to things too early, until I am sure I am well. One week of rest will do more good than getting back too early. If you want to skip the whole “how my illness is doing” then skip down to the next bit! I know I was tired last week, but not really bad, and had a cold, but I obviously got a bit run down as after the upset stomach passed, the pains carried on. Anyway I went to the doctors today in the end and she confirmed that I also have a urinary tract infection (I had to wee in a cup which I do not think I have ever had to do before- awful! And then more awful as it was right on the desk while she was talking to me and all I could think was “that’s my wee in the cup on your desk”) and was given antibiotics. She did say she was pretty sure it wasn’t appenticitus (now I am awful at the doctors I get so nervous and panicky about things like that- I have to have a blood pressure monitor at home as it is always sky high when I go there) but of course that made me worry even more. Although today I am feeling better, not 100% but getting there. I did not go on a run today, and long days at work tomorrow and Thursday mean the first time I can exercise again will be Friday. So I am going to see how I feel, and maybe just have a walk on Friday and save my energy for Saturday. It will mean a week off but hopefully my legs will be energised. And I do not want to pick up anything else!

Now onto the exciting things!

I got some parcels in the post to cheer me up;

Some cosy tea to try out 🙂 I saw this ages ago in the vegetarian living magazine, and kept an eye out (and when I searched on the net I got loads of websites for tea cosy’s!)

And..

a selection of raw chocolate and raw chocolate covered goodies.

Although it is a little bit like mental torture as tea and chocolate are two of my favourite things (Oprah style) but I have not been eating normally these last few days- I have only been wanting quite plain or savoury things. I tried a cup of tea yesterday, only to have more pain, and then I read on the internet that the caffiene can irritate so is not a good idea, and that water is best. Anyhoo, I am rather excited to start trying them out, although I think I will wait until I am 100% otherwise I will associate them with being ill. I used to love leek and potato soup, and then I had it once when I was feeling ill, and now whenever I think about it, it reminds me of being ill.

Now I spent a lot of time today reading blogs, and could not help but notice a valentines theme on so many. I have never celebrated it- it has always seemed a bit cheesy to me, and me and Andy have always preferred to celebrate on our anniversary, birthdays and so on. So we just had a normal evening planned. So many of my friends were posting on facebook about how upset they were that their partner did not get them flowers or whatever, and I much prefer it that we do nice things for each other all year round, when we have had a hard week or something like that.

Anyway, I am off to find my 7th pint of water or something silly like that- later dudes 🙂

Bargaining

That is what I have been doing with myself since Saturday! My thought process initially was that I would rest on sunday, be better, and then add a couple of miles to my monday run. But yesterday my pains were worse (I realised that as I had a headache on saturday I took some painkillers which I think made the stomach pain go away briefly). I ended up ringing NHS direct last night, as the upset stomach had gone but the pains were bad, and Andy getting very worried. Anyway, turns out I also managed to get a urine infection (sorry for too much info!)- not a surprise as I had hardly had anything to drink on sunday, and nothing “watery” to eat (one piece of toast in the evening), and was probably dehydrated from saturday, so my mission to drink loads has begun. I managed to sleep better than on saturday night- was up every couple of hours or so, but am not at work today. The pain is lessening now, so I am hoping to be back to normal later on. But of course the monday run is now out the window. So now I am telling myself that if I go to work tomorrow I will have a run in the evening instead of going to aerobics- saves money and running is my main focus at the moment.

I am not sure what I am going to do with myself today! Daytime TV is not entertaining me!  I did start another review of the vegan cookie book- look here if you fancy it.

Thanks yet again for all the lovely comments- I have no doubt I will be back to normal very very soon!

Onwards and upwards

Hopefully

Today was going to be part 2 of operation use up the bananas. But my stomach got worse in the night, and today I have been in more pain- grrrr. I hope this bug works it way out my system soon as I am getting annoyed with it. Thanks for all the lovely messages 🙂 I looked on NHS direct and the advice now is to eat things (it always used to be to not eat anything for 24 hours) but all I have managed so far today is a small bowl of plain porridge and some ginger oat cakes. Not the best. I was also supposed to be making calzone for dinner, but now poor Andy is using the veggies to make a pasta dinner for himself.

Anyway, onto the weekly review. It started off ok!

Monday’s 6 mile run was steady and fine.

Tuesday’s aerobics was good, I tried to take it a little easier than usual.

Wednesday was an enforced rest day due to long work hours.

Thursday was body pump and I managed to keep the same weights as last week

Friday was a 3 mile run which I took as an easy run and was fine.

Saturday was a disaster! Under 4 miles instead of the planned 10. But then being ill has that effect!

All in all, I am looking onwards to next week and trying to forget about the last run!

Operation “use up the bananas”

Part one

I followed the link that Laura suggested and made some banana blobs for my lunch.

With one mashed extremely ripe banana (the smell made me feel weird as I do not like it when they start going black, and these were covered in black blobs!), 15g oats, 4g ground flax, 2tbs milk, 1tbs pb, a sprinkle of cinnamon and about 10g chocolate chips.

I put them in a wholemeal wrap and had it with a pear and it was amazing! This may also be my lunch tomorrow how exciting!

I think I may well have to make banana bread tomorrow! I saw on the net last week a recipe for banana bread, and it looks fab, so I might try that.

Onto other things- be warned this may contain too much information and also some self pity.

My plan today was a 10 mile run. I followed the same pre run ritual as always- porridge (check), clean bathrooms (check- I am always too tired after to be bothered to do this!), lots of water (check), nuun and water in bottle (check), marathon talk loaded to mp3 player (check), some clif shot blocks to take with me (check), a trip to the toilet (check).

That was as good as it gets I am afraid. I set off, and after about 5 minutes I was having bad stomach pains. I thought they would go (like a stitch goes if you carry on) so I carried on, but after about 2 miles I was struggling and had to stop and walk. My legs felt very weak and I also felt a bit dizzy. I was near to a big tescos so I went in to use their toilets. I ended up sat in the toilet for about half an hour, I was all clammy (not normal sweaty you know but that weird cold sweat) and I felt awful. By then I knew I would not be carrying on. I had my phone with me, but Andy was down in southampton and I didn’t fancy calling anyone else! So I half ran half walked back home, and then had to lay on the sofa for ages. Now this week I have had a cold, but that is mostly gone, but I think I may have picked up a slight bug. After a shower I felt ok, but a bit light headed (and I realised it was a long time since breakfast) so I had the wrap and pear, and after basically sitting about I felt better. Well, I felt very annoyed at myself for not doing the planned run, but I know it can’t be helped. Anyway, I needed to pop to the shops for a couple of things for my dinner, so I headed out. I actually felt really upset when I drove past the park where I normally run- the weather was lovely today and it was so busy with people walking and cycling, and I felt fed up that I will now have to wait another week. Isn’t that a bit ridiculous? Anyway, I got a few more bits from Natural Health;

It’s the kind of shop where things have labels stuck on them, as oppose to shelf labels, so they get different stuff in each week. I was very excited when I saw the coconut oil (in so many blog recipes) and also the brown rice syrup- I did have some clearspring stuff before which I used up and was glad to see some more. I also got some face wipes- I normally use proper wash off cleanser but sometimes if I sit around for a bit I think the sweat and grime soaks in to my face.

Anyway, then I went to Waitrose and actually felt like I was going to faint in the shop as I got bad pains again. So I rushed home and have had a bit of an upset stomach ever since. So I am pretty sure I have a little bug or something.

I did enjoy some tea this afternoon (Darjeeling loose leaf tea which I love when I go to the waffle house)

I have also been drinking loads of water as I still feel a bit shaky and now have a headache.

So now I am going to have some dinner in a bit (I defrosted some squash soup and I am going to add some kidney beans to it and have it with a sweet potato) and bascially lay about a bit more and try to cheer myself up.

Anyone want to snap me out of it?

🙂

Long time no see

Well, a few days anyway!

I am glad that my first busy week is out of the way. First to exercise: Wednesday was a late meeting at work, so I had already moved my run from then to Friday. Thursday was body pump and I was very tired. I still managed the same weights as last week (and kept on the 15kg through the back track until the last break by which time I was very shaky!), but I felt like it was harder work than usual. Today I had a 3 mile gentle run after work. I was very tempted to go further as 3 miles at the moment does not seem far, but as I have a long run planned tomorrow and I was tired from my week I persuaded myself to keep to the 3 miles and have a cup of tea afterwards.

Now to the food- I have had some more delicious snacks!

This is amazing! Seriously! One pot of alpro chocolate, mixed with some PB2 and then topped with Bear granola. Yummy! PB chocolate cherry crunch heaven.

Some Maple hazelnut cereal – this is lovely but very very sweet. Basically like eating crunchy flakes of maple syrup!

A lovely flapjack with pumpkin seeds, apricots and sultanas (I shared it with Andy after body pump as it is massive).

Also after a suggestion from Jess I used some muesli instead of oats to make some porridge;

(Glad I put the packet there as when I was looking through the pics I was wondering why I had two pictures of blueberry porridge). Verdict? Lovely! I thought the nuts would go all squishy or something (as I soak it overnight) but they stayed crunchy. Some of the grains did not soak up the milk so there was a nice chewy texture to it. I had it today too as I was so impressed!

Ok, today my question is- what is the best thing to do with ripe bananas? I have loads and I made banana cookies last weekend (delicious, but only used up one banana and made a million cookies), and I don’t fancy a smoothie. I could make banana cake but we are not seeing Andy’s parents this week so I can’t donate any to them, and my freezer is rather full! So, any ideas will be gratefully received!

Cheers me dears 🙂