Author: Maria Runs

Jantastic week 11

I can’t believe that I am in the final week of Jantastic!

So, how did last week go?

Well it was a busy one.

Monday- 3 miles after work-all I could fit in.

Tuesday- Rest

Wednesday- Sweatshop- 5 miles including 3 fast ones.

Thursday- Pump. It was the new release. Apparently some of the tracks are easier, which means you have to go heavier. I hate that. For example they now think that for squats you have to go 3 or 4 times your warm up weight. I can’t even lift that amount, let alone sit it on my shoulder, and you can forget lifting it off my head once the track ends. I did go heavier for biceps and paid for that the rest of the weekend. The back track is also weird, loads of rows (they must have heard me say how I hate the wide triple rows). The abs track had the hoover back which is good as I find all the ab crunches a bit boring and I am never sure how effective they are. The music wasn’t great (except for The Killers track) although I say this every time and usually the tracks grow on me.

Friday- 2 miles at school for Sport Relief, plus a walk around the lakes.

Saturday- Rest. Well, cleaning plus a few hours at the allotment (including finally using our new push along lawn mower to mow the paths. That was hard work- I have the bruises to prove it!).

Sunday- 6 miles for Sport Relief, plus run home=8.5 miles, and a walk around town.

18 miles for the week might not sound like much but it is a lot for me. I am really pleased with how it went.

I still have to sort out my predicted time. I did look to see if I could change the distance, but no, it will only let me change the time. I am going to attempt it tomorrow if my legs are feeling rested (they are sore today) and then probably go to Parkrun on Saturday, but of course it is the off road route so I will change the prediction a bit- maybe aim for 29 on the dot.

Now lets zoom in on Saturday.

I was super shattered after last week so had a lie in and very lazy morning- after reading in bed for ages I had a lovely breakfast of apple, granola and milk with a tea.

Andy went to the allotment earlier while I stayed at home to do some cleaning and stuff, and I also made a cake as my Dad was coming around to help with the gardening too. I was going to make an apple cake, but flicking through the Clandestine Cake Club book I found a recipe for Pumpkin cake, and as I have a surplus of tinned pumpkin I went for it. Plus the air was still cool with that almost autumnal feel so I thought it would go. I still had some of the lovely lemon infused oil so I used that instead of plain oil in the recipe and I think the lemon flavour went really well with the pumpkin and spices.

I didn’t have any brown sugar so used golden caster sugar and a tbs of treacle to give it that flavour. While it was baking I was so efficient and got on with loads of cleaning and tidying and filing away paperwork- such a good feeling to get that all sorted.

I was going to head up to the allotment later and so had one of these lovely Pulsin bars (I was so excited to find these last week in a local shop) for some energy before all the planting and mowing and weeding.

I made some icing for the cake which I left to set in the fridge while we worked, and then spread it over the top once we got back.

We got back at around 5pm, after a few hours of work, so we all enjoyed a slice with a cup of tea- I was so cold!

If you have done it, how do you find the new pump release? And do you ever manage the proportions of weights that they suggest?

Sport Relief 6 miles

So this morning I woke up early to have some porridge before my run.

I was feeling quite relaxed about the whole thing, as it wasn’t chip timed or anything I felt like there was less pressure for some reason. After pottering about a bit I got dressed and Andy dropped me off at the sports centre. The directions just said “head to the athletics track”. Well, I did, along with about 5 other people. I am not kidding! I was there about 20 minutes before it was due to start, and gradually a few more people turned up. A lady came to chat to me as I was on my own- she was going to do the 6 miles but had a cold so had decided to stop at 3.

At around 10.25 we were ushered to the running track and told: 12 laps for 3 miles, 24 laps for 6 miles- keep a track of how many laps you do yourself- I was glad I had my Garmin as I was sure I would lose count otherwise!

We did a little warm up (well needed as it was freezing) and then were counted down. I was not keen on the idea of 24 laps- I was worried that I would get rather bored. But in fact it was not too bad- the laps went down quite quickly. There was a mixture of 3 and 6 mile runners- there was one lady in front of me who was going just that bit faster, but in the end she turned out to be a 3 miler- I was only around half a lap behind her when she stopped so I was pleased she didn’t lap me (and I did think that if I was doing the shorter distance I could have kept up with her). I was lapped in about my 4th lap I think by some fast 3 milers. At around the same time I was also lapping other people- there were quite a few people doing it in little groups who were run/walking, and also an amazing lady who was doing the whole thing using a push along walking support thing (not sure what they are called)- she did about 1/4 of a lap for each one lap I did, so I went past her several times and a few times she encouraged me on (and me to her too). I lapped the lady I was chatting to at the start, as she was coming up to her final lap, so it was nice to wish her well.

At this time I realised that most people (and I tried to count- I think there were about 30 people running) were stopping at 3 miles- I almost chickened out at that point but for Jantastic I had said I would do 8 miles so needed to keep going. Plus it was actually quite therapeutic- as you went around one corner you were into the wind a bit, but then of course it was behind you for the rest, and there was music being played and other people to watch.

After I had done about 4 miles more people were turning up at the track as there was a one mile run at 11.30- I really wanted to be finished by then. There was one man running and he finished when I had 2 laps to go- by this point all the one milers were doing their warm up (the lovely marshals were having to ask them to mind out of the way as I was coming through).

Finally I was on my last lap! I was about half way around when the one milers set off, so I really went for it as I wanted to finish on my own (my final mile was 8.38- my fastest). I was the first female haha! There were 2 girls who finished about a lap behind me- no prizes of course but you have to be in it to win it! It took me 56.07 for 6.05 miles (all that overtaking!!). I looked up my pb for 10K, which is 56.14, so I was pretty close to that. And the best thing is that I felt comfortable- in the back of my mind I knew I had to run home, so I could not go crazy, but except for the final lap where I really went for it, I felt like I was running pretty hard, but still in control.

One of the guys gave me my medal and some water, and I took a few photos of the milers going around the track, although the dark clouds were looming at that point so I didn’t hang around.

 

I was pretty cold on the way home- it rained a bit and I was unlucky with traffic lights too. At one point I was waiting and noticed that my watch said 7.99 miles- I even tried sticking my arm into the road in case that would get to the 8 miles (you know, otherwise that mile would be a lot slower) but it didn’t work. In total I ran 8.5 miles, not too shabby.

I was hungry after that!

I had a few chocolate truffles and a drink, before a hot shower and pancakes for lunch.

After finishing the lovely buckwheat pancake mix ages ago I have been hunting far and wide, and found it last weekend, so I had some of that. One with blackcurrant curd, and the others with chocolate pb, plus some melon.

I really enjoyed it in the end. I was feeling a bit apprehensive at the start when there were hardly any people there- I had visions of me running around on my own, but actually I do prefer smaller races. It was good to not have to worry about crowds, and because there were more runs later on, I didn’t feel like I was holding up the staff or anything. If I had needed to drive there, there was plenty of parking, and “real” toilets, and really friendly marshals too.

A nice morning out 🙂

Speeding up again

Hey folks.

So this week I went to Sweatshop as usual, and luckily as we did the hill last week, we were on a flatter (but more boring) course this week. I started off chatting to one of the girls who is quite a bit faster than me, so I decided to try and keep up with her for as long as possible. I managed it for over half a mile, but then after we stopped to cross a couple of roads she was right up to speed and whizzed off. Then I tried to keep up with a couple of others who are normally a bit further ahead of me. I kept them in sight for the next couple of miles, and caught them up when they were stopped at traffic lights- at that point I did an 8.56 mile so I was pretty pleased. Still not quite my parkrun pb speed, but getting there (and it is hard to compare as we have to cross a lot of roads, and it is not pancake flat which the normal parkrun route pretty much is).

This week I have been adding some of the course oatmeal to my porridge- it is really lovely. It gives the porridge more of a texture and of course makes it even more filling too.

On Thursday I was on a course when meant I got home nice and early. Before dinner I made some muesli bars for work, as we were all doing a mile for Sport Relief. I took the recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook- basically they were raw flapjacks- you melted butter and syrup together, then stirred in oats, cornflakes, muesli, dried fruit/ nuts and coconut.

Then you pressed the mixture into a pan, covered in another sheet of baking paper and put it in the fridge with something heavy to weigh it down.

I sliced it in the morning, but it had not really set that well. I don’t think I would make them again, but anyway people seemed to enjoy them.

On Friday my car has it’s MOT and service to Andy had to pick me up after work. It wasn’t quite ready so we went down to the park and walked around the lakes- the paths are still underwater! So parkrun will be off road for the next few weeks I imagine. I looked on the Jantastic website to see if I could change my distance for my predicted time (as I could choose my 6 mile Sunday run) but you can only change the time, so I will have to do that as there is no way I can do 26 something for the off road route!

Right, I am off to run my 6 miles for Sport Relief in a bit- have a great Sunday.

 

Mary Berry’s Whole Lemon Cake

You all know by now that I am a sucker for lemon cake. It is my favourite and I would always choose it over anything else in a tea room. I was watching Mary Berry last week and she made a lemon cake which just looked amazing. The recipe is here if you fancy trying it out.

These lemons have been boiled for 30 mins. While that was going on I sliced off the skin of the third lemon and sliced it finely ready for the decoration.

The cake batter nearly filled the biggest bowl of my food processor! Shows that the cake was going to be mammoth! You save some of the lemon pulp for the filling (that is the pale stuff in the bowl). I used the quick tip of putting the zest in the oven.

The lemony smell was just so lovely and fresh too. Now the challenge after this was to cut the cakes in half. Not something I am good at- I can’t even slice evenly!

Then I made the cheesecake filling- marscapone, butter, icing sugar and the rest of the lemon pulp. This smelled amazing.

The slicing was not too even, which meant I had to stack them carefully to avoid a Pisa-esque cake.

Then I made the final part (this was truly a long project)- lemon and icing sugar to drizzle over- it was meant to drip down the sides a bit but I ended up with a cascade.

We took it around to Andy’s parents for Sunday tea- there were 6 of us but there was loads left- this was a mammoth cake!

If I made this again I would not slice the cakes in half, and just have 2 layers. I think I would also just have the cheesecake filling and use some as a topping instead of having the extra lemon icing on the top. The lemon taste was so strong, which I loved, so it would be something I would try again at some point.

Do you like kitchen projects like this? I love them once in a while- it is great to keep revisiting something and try a new recipe for a change.

Jantastic week 10

Double figures! Amazing!

I do love challenges like this as they really show how far you have come- at the start 3 months seemed a long time but it really is flying by.

So, how did this week go? I am having trouble remembering!

Monday- Went for a sports massage after work- a lot of work on my shoulder which really helped.

Tuesday- Short run after work around the little fields near me and up and down a little lane. I found it really tough, my calves were so tight but I did remind myself that after a hard race it takes one day per mile to recover, so in theory I would need 13 days after Bath before being back to normal again.

Wednesday- The Hill with Sweatshop, plus an extra sprint when someone took a wrong turning! I was pleased that I found it much better than the day before, and managed over 5 miles which is not bad for an evening after work.

Thursday- Pump. Why do the lunges never get any easier? I ended up with a sore shoulder that evening, which I think was from lifting a table at work (not recommended) and not pump at all.

I was sent some of these patches to try so on Friday I wore one of the heat ones (they are unscented which is good)- it did help and my shoulder was loads better. I will do a more detailed review at some point.

Friday- Went to see my Nan after work, then just chilled out all evening.

Saturday- I had decided to go to parkrun as I had not been in weeks, but I also knew I had pledged 6 miles. Neither my Dad or brother were going which made my decision easier; I went and did the off road route which was great. There is a little hill (and you repeat the loop 3 times) and there was the most enthusiastic marshal at the top of the hill EVER! I love her! She was cheering everyone up, shouting out motivating words, and generally being a beacon of cheerfulness at the top of the hill.

Then I got my chip scanned (in super quick time), got my mp3 player from the car and went to do the normal route. I had heard that a bit of the path was still under water, which was why we were using the off-road route, but both ends of the lake was underwater, the public toilets were still flooded, and even some of the paths at the sides were covered. So my route ended up being all over the grass. I topped it up to just over 6 miles, and then headed home via the post office.

Mornflake have sent me some lovely porridge and breakfast goodies- this will keep me going for months!

Then after some baking (more on that another day), cleaning and tidying, I walked around town to pick up some bits, and then went to the allotment and did about an hour of weeding. A pretty active day.

Sunday- We went out for breakfast (we tried Carluccio’s but I think there are much nicer places), wandered around town, went to see my parents and then came home and did some work while Andy watched the Grand Prix, then went to his parents. I was going to do yoga but we got home rather late and more work was in order.

Anyway, another good week. 3 runs ticked off, and the distance ticked off too. Although I was planning on doing parkrun as my timed 5k, but it looks to be the off road course for a good few weeks so I might have to adjust my predicted time. I had a go at guessing (having only done that course once before)- my guess was 29.29, and in the end my official time was 29.41 so not bad (but a lot slower than the normal flat course).

I also signed up to do 6 miles for Sports Relief on Sunday. I am meant to be running 8 miles, but it is about 2 miles away so I am thinking that Andy can drop me off and then I can run home- perfect! I do feel a bit antsy when I don’t have any races in my diary, and now the Oslo one is cancelled I have nothing else to plan for, so it is great to have something on.