Month: July 2012

Running through treacle

Weirdly that is what my run felt like today. I have no idea why because I had a rest day yesterday, but perhaps my legs got stiff with all the travelling?

Yesterday the Grand Prix was fab, and we were lucky with no rain (although we were hoping for some rain to help some of the British drivers)- our seats were great- we got a fab spot to see Webber overtaking Alonso (and trying several times before that), and the McLaren drivers waving to all the fans at the end too. Plus our seats were near to the park and ride, so by 3pm we were back on the bus, and 4pm back on the road (whereas last year we got stuck in a massive queue for the buses, and then the bus got stuck on the way back to the car, and then we got stuck on the motorway!)- so we got home in time to see the final 2 sets of the tennis.

Anyway, today the plan was 5 miles, but I ended up cutting it short. I had to stop and walk a few times because my calves felt so stiff- I stretched a few times but it didn’t help. 4.65 miles, so I was close, and at least I am upping my distances in the midweek runs too.

Look what came in the post the other day! The Butter London website was having a 30% off, so I treated myself to a summery colour, and a cuticle care kit too.

I was also sent a package from the lovely people at American Soda. They have all sorts of American goodies on their site (including pumpkin puree, how exciting, and pretzel flipz) and they sent me some goodies to use in my baking- brownie mix, cookie mix, butterscotch chips and peanut butter chips 🙂 I look forward to baking with them.

Also thanks for all the comments about my training for the GNR. I am feeling really positive about it. I have wanted to run it for years, as I always watch it on TV and it looks like such a great event. I will be running it for charity (and it is a charity that has close links to my family), and not for a pb (even though I can call it a “come-back pb” whatever time I get). I think we get back from holiday 2 weeks before, so that is playing on my mind a bit, but for the first time ever I am going to take a running kit with me, and even if I run once or twice a week I am hoping that will help.

Plus when I look back even a few months I can see how far I have come. I was only allowed to start running at the end of April, and so I have really been back training for a couple of months. I did start with the 1 min walk, 1 min run intervals, and built up really slowly. I must credit the Sweatshop runs (I know I keep on, but they are fab) because they have helped me see what I am capable of- because people run at different paces of course I can go at my own speed, but there is the incentive to try and not be too far behind, and of course they got me out of needing walk breaks too so helped with that psychological barrier.

So if you fancy signing up, then have a look at the SRC webpage and see if they are near you. And I promise you they have not even paid me to write that! 🙂

 What is the last thing you received in the post? It is coming up to the end of term so most things that have come have been presents that I have ordered, but I love anything in the post! 🙂

Half way!

Yup, I am half way to the half marathon distance- woo!

I am getting used to these early morning runs too. Andy got weekend tickets to the British Grand Prix, so on Friday the alarm went off super early as he had to drive up there. I did body pump on Thursday, and I always find that a run on Friday (just a gentle one) helps me to be less stiff, so I went out before breakfast. Plus because I was meeting friends for a waffle after work, I knew I would not fit one in in the evening.

Saturday morning was another early start- a bit later at 6.30.

I had half a clif bar as a pre-run boost, and then headed out (Exciting news- there are going to be new clif bar flavours in the UK!! And the bars are going to be 68g, not 50g- which I don’t think is so good as I like the smaller size, but I will cut them up I suppose- and for the same price). I would normally have breakfast, but then I have to leave it for ages before I go out. I have been teaching myself to run on empty (you know what I mean) as before my limit was about 3 miles. I had a 7 mile run planned, so I decided to have something just to give me a little bit of new energy.

The run went really well. It was very very slow (but it is called a long slow run after all)- I felt quite stiff so I was quite cautious, plus I didn’t want to struggle. In the end I felt like I could have continued further, which is a good thing and gives me a mental boost too. I did the 7 miles (well a fraction under) in 80 mins (although when I got home I thought I had only done 6 miles so I was worrying about my lack of speed!)- not too bad. And half way to half marathon distance- I think I can make the GNR!

I took some water with me and had a few sips on the way around, but when I got home I was thirsty so had a nuun tab and the rest of the bar.

Then the most delicious breakfast:  frozen cherries, Dorset muesli, almond milk (I found out that £1 is the intro price as the St Albans Waitrose had the “offer” signs out), almonds, dried cherries- all soaked overnight, then topped with a little drippy pb. Yum.

All this was before 9am! Getting up early meant I was so productive! I did some cleaning, vacuumed, sorted out the recycling, packaged up some parcels, went to the post office, went to the market.

I bought some strawberries (which sadly are already going mushy) and some amazing looking sourdough with walnuts and sultanas.

Then I was off to the summer fayre at work to help out, then to the shops, and then home to watch the ladies final- my Dad found out on Friday that he was selected to be in the line judge team, so I wanted to make sure I saw it.

They all get to line up at the end, and he is right over her shoulder!

I got a quick text from him after, but then he was back on doing the men’s doubles final too- busy day!

I got a Graze box today for the first time in months, and it came with an afternoon tea punnet! A teabag and carrot cake, so of course I had to have some. Very tasty indeed.

Then my productivity slowed right down! I had a snooze in front of the TV (oops), and sorted out a drawer which I have been meaning to tackle for ages, but that is about it.

Tomorrow we are off to the Grand Prix, so I am hoping that the rain does not continue. I will be wearing my wellies for sure. This year Andy splashed out on a covered grandstand which will be well worth it I think!

Hope everyone else is staying away from all the flooding. Have a lovely Sunday.

UR nutrition and “Keep on Running”

Hey all

I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend, and avoiding all the terrible flooding that is happening.

Ages ago I was sent a book, called Keep on Running, to read for my blog.

I read it a while back, but I keep on forgetting to review it. You can read more about it on the Amazon reviews page if you want, but basically the author (Phil Hewitt) takes you on a journey through all his marathons (and he has run 25!). It starts with him taking on the challenge as his job as a journalist, and how his love of marathon running bloomed. I found it so interesting to read, because he has run various marathons across the globe (New York, Paris, Berlin…) and it was wonderful to read a runner’s perspective on them. It is not a training book, but it is an inspiring and enjoyable book- it even made me think that maybe Stockholm did not have to be my first and only marathon….

And onto UR Nutrition:

I was sent some products from UR Nutrition to try (in very shiny packets). They make a wide range of products and supplements- lots of protein powders (whey, soya) and add ins like green tea powder too.

My absolute favourite product that they sent me was the soya crisp. This was like rice crispies or something like that- nice crunchy soya pieces with a cereal-like flavour. It was fab on cereal, with yoghurts, and in baking (I added it to cornflake cakes). The stats are impressive too- a 20g serving has 16g protein which I think is pretty great.

Some soya crisp with alpro dark chocolate dessert, raspberries and coconut.

Added to some overnight muesli and nectarines- a great protein boost at breakfast.

The soya sustain (which is a soya protein powder) was a great idea as it is plain (no flavour), but they also sell packs of various flavours including chocolate brownie, strawberry cheesecake and key lime pie.

At first I just tried mixing it (top picture) but it was very lumpy! It was better when I put it in the blender (that time with some strawberries too). I found the flavours OK, but they seemed very strong and I ended up using much less than what was recommended (and I have a sweet tooth). But then that is better because you can add the amount you need, instead of having a flavour pre-mixed and finding it too strong.

They have a page of recipes on their website which is great if you are looking for ideas as to how to cook/bake with the products. I noticed they have a version of cornflake cakes (which I made with the soya crisp)- good idea!

My favourite product was the soya crisp- I am so impressed with the nutritional stats, and I would buy it again for sure. I am not so sure about the protein powders, but I never seem to get on that well with which ever ones I try- maybe I need to get the hint that my stomach just does not like protein powders very much. They were good to try anyway- thanks UR Nutrition 🙂

 Do you get on with protein powders? 

What running (or non-running) books have inspired you?

Sweet potato and kidney bean burgers

I really fancied a bean burger this week, and so I made some.

Super easy- a tin of beans, a couple of small (baked) sweet potatoes, some paprika, a tsp flour, some black pepper. Lime juice would be good- I might add that next time if I remember. Oh, I also added a tsp of egg replacer to help bind them together.

Mash it all up.

Shape into burgers and place on an oiled tray (I flipped them over so they had a little oil on both sides).

Bake for about 25/30 mins.

Serve! I had mine in a pitta (a yummy Food Doctor one as they were on offer), with some relish, baby avocado, a gherkin, roasted veggies and spinach.

Yum indeed, and so simple to make.  And, bonus, I have 3 more in the freezer for an even easier dinner 🙂

I had another Sweatshop run last night- I was meant to get my free t-shirt (again) but they didn’t have any in stock- boo! Will have to cross my fingers for next week. Anyway, we did a new route which was lovely, and again I managed to start off a little slower and finish a bit faster.

Right, off to body pump now! For those of you that do it, what do you think of the cool down track? I absolutely love it- I find it so uplifting and relaxing, but I have seen that some people don’t like it at all! I suppose it is different from the usual cool down tracks, but they are usually my least favourite ones, so it is a nice change that I actually enjoy it.

Bye 🙂

Peanut butter granola (recipe)

Hey peeps

While we were away, one morning I had some lovely home-made granola for breakfast, and it reminded me how delicious it can be. I decided to make my own- I started with a recipe from Sweet Vegan , but I changed it rather a lot (getting rid of the oil and brown sugar and replacing them with pb and grape juice, swapping in brown rice syrup for agave, changing the amounts of nuts and fruit). It is not perfect, but it is a good start, and very delicious.

First up- the ingredients:

Wet ingredients:

60g peanut butter

50ml grape juice

50ml brown rice syrup (or agave/ honey)

1 tsp vanilla

Gently heat these together in a pan- keep stirring until it all comes together. While this is going, pre-heat the oven to 150C.

Dry ingredients:

320g oats (I used the Sainsbury’s porridge mix which had oats, dried apple, cinnamon and raisins in, but plain oats would be fine).

45g coconut

100g almonds

50g brazil nuts

1 tsp cinnamon

Mix these together in a bowl, and then pour over the warm mixture.

Mix mix mix. I think next time I might make a little more of the wet mixture, as it was hard to coat all the oats. Then pour onto a tray, and bake for around 40 mins. Every 10/15 mins I got the tray out and shifted it all around so it would cook evenly.

When it is baked, add in some raisins (about 100g), then push the granola to the side of the tray so it hardens and cools into clumps.

This is lovely 🙂 The recipes makes a big tub too, so I shall be kept going for a while 🙂

Aside from that, I have been trying to stay indoors! I was meant to do a 6 mile run on Monday (although looking at my plan, I think that was a typo as I only did my first 6 mile one on Sunday)- I had to be back for the shopping to be delivered, so I did a short 3.2 miler (also glad of that because it was raining lightly when I left, but pretty heavy by the time I got home). I felt like I was going at a snail’s pace, but I did manage to keep a good pace- starting at about 10.40 per mile, and ending at 10.20. I have no idea how I am managing this at the moment but I seem to speed up towards the end of each run, and I hope I can continue it.

Today has been a lovely rest day- it is tipping it down with rain, so I am quite glad to be out of it (I feel sorry for the Sweatshop people as they are starting the beginners running today). I am making some sweet potato and kidney bean burgers instead.

The other day I was reading a very interesting article at No Meat Athlete– it was about the 10% rule when running. I had always heard this rule, but not really thought about it in depth. Anyway, it is worth a read I think. I think all the plans I have followed have not really followed the 10% rule. I suppose people should not increase mileage too dramatically (if you use km, do you say increase your kilometerage?) so that helps people to be mindful of it, but it is not actually that practical.

Just a thought anyway.

Bye 🙂