Author: Maria Runs

Trying to rest!

Hey peeps

I hope everyone has had a good week- I have been trying to take it a bit easy before the half marathon tomorrow (eek).

Wednesday -which apparently was Running Day or something? As if you can ONLY run on those days- I saw a comment on a blog (a blog I find very annoying but I can’t get it out of my dashboard so I sometimes read it to annoy myself- it worked) going on about national doughnut day, and someone commented “I wish we had national doughnut day here in Canada”– Why? I mean, I am sure there are Tim Hortons on every corner- just buy one if you want one- they are on sale every other day too). Ahem. Anyway, on Wednesday I went to the Sweatshop run, and we went for the fields route. I didn’t want to go too fast, and so I ran near/ at the back most of the time. I chatted to the guy from the store (and even got complimented at the end for my even pacing- pretty much 9.32-9.42 per mile), and enjoyed being out in the sunshine, although I was super hot when I got back!

I made us cold chai lattes to cool down with – almond milk, Tea India marsala chai and some chai syrup (just a little splash- maybe a tbs between us). I love that unsweetened almond milk.

On Thursday I went to get my haircut as body pump wasn’t on- good timing really as I think even though I say I will have lighter weights I still end up with achey legs. I was worried about making it as traffic has been bad this week, but I ended up with some time so went for a chai latte while I did some marking.

I fancied a little change so I now have a bit of a side fringe, although I can’t decide if it is going to annoy me or not. We will find out when I have to dry and style it myself! I had to pop to Waitrose for cornflakes and milk for Andy- not a good idea:

Cinnamon popcorn! Sounds yummy! I have tried the tea already and it’s lovely (blackcurrant and acai- very fruity) and I had the apple crunch nakd bar at breaktime on Friday and really liked it. I am saving the mango coconut water for tomorrow, although on reading it I prefer the ingredients on the Vita Coco mango and peach one.

After that we went to the allotment for a bit- Andy did some planting while I did a lot of weeding.  I also picked some rhubarb and dug up a couple of leeks to have for dinner. It is lovely going up there in the evening, but quite hard work too!

On Friday we went again to finish planting (I wish I had taken some photos as it looked lovely in the evening sunlight) and do some more weeding. I had considered a short run on Friday evening, but decided against it in the end to be a bit more rested.

My Friday dinner was some bean burgers from the freezer (I think they were sweet potato and kidney bean burgers- I never remember to label them), sweet potato mash with leeks, and a few more leeks on the side. They were strong!

Even though I didn’t run this morning I still fancied pancakes for breakfast. These were made with 20g peanut flour, 20g wholegrain spelt flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp chia seeds, a drop of almond extract and some almond milk (perhaps 150ml) all left in the fridge overnight. I cooked them in the pan although for the second batch I had a lot of batter left. Served with fresh fruit, a little nutella and a little coconut pb.

After spending the morning doing work, we popped to Ikea (this ended up being a 3 hour round trip) as we wanted to buy a new sideboard, and had been sent a voucher which runs out tomorrow. Not sure if that was ideal half marathon prep as I am pretty tired now!

We had smoothies when we got home- made with frozen mango, pineapple and kiwi  (a mix from Waitrose), a frozen banana and some almond milk.

I have started to feel nervous about tomorrow now- I am not sure why I get so nervous before races- it is not as if I am in a position to win them, and I won’t be at the back either, and even if I was, I know that there is nothing wrong with that.

I did this race back in 2010 (you can read my recap here) although this year they have changed the course. I know that the evil hill at mile 3 is still there (Bluehouse Hill for anyone local!), but apparently after that it is slightly less hilly. I would like to beat my time, which was 2.19- I am not expecting a pb. I am not sure if there are pacers either- if there are I will keep an eye out for the 2.15 pacers again. Right, off for some dinner and a relaxing evening.

Runners- do you still get nervous before races/ events? I say events, as I get nervous before Parkruns too!

Half term shopping

So the one problem with half term is that I end up with time on my hands to go shopping, and also as I am meant to be writing reports I end up ordering things on the internet instead!

So, these are the things I have been buying!

A couple of Thoosa tops. I love Thoosa workout gear. It is the most flattering, comfortable and good quality kit I have ever bought. It is more expensive than some, but I think the extra money is worth it. I have 3 pairs of tights and they have seen me through several years, whereas I had some other ones which only lasted a year before they were stretched out of shape. These vest tops are so comfy as they are loose (I hate tight tops as they make me so hot in the summer).

They have nice wide straps on the shoulders, but nothing digs in. Plus the gathering under the bust is more flattering than most.

They also have a little pocket on the back at one side- it easily fits my mp3 player in (and often a tissue too)- nothing bounces out because the pocket has a little cover on the top part too. I am a sucker for things with pockets, and means I can leave my spi-belt for my phone and key.

I went to the health food shop in search of nutritional yeast as I have run out, and they had this coconut oil on offer, so I bought some of that too. I also bought a nakd strawberry crunch bar (I tried this the other day and loved the crunchy bits, although I think the berry flavour is not as good as the apple one- will be keeping my eyes out for those) as I love the sound of them.

I went to Aldi and noticed they now sell flaxseed mixtures. I spent a while deciding between the flavours- there was another one I liked the sound of (possibly with raspberries and something else) but it had banana powder in the ingredients and I am not a fan of banana flavour things. It was only £2 for the packet which seemed a bargain to me. (Also I have only just noticed that Kara coconut milk is now Koko coconut milk!)

Speaking of Aldi, I got a super cheap workout top from there a few weeks ago- it was only £3.50 so I thought it would be worth getting- sometimes I run out of them if I have not put a wash on for a while, or good for a race as I won’t mind it being spoilt with safety pin holes. They seem to have random things like that- one week they will be in stock and then they will be gone and replaced with something different, so they are worth a look every now and then.

I was sent some money off vouchers for “free-from” products, via the Buzz Agent website, and so I have been trying some of those this week. The chocolate macaroons are by far my favourite item.

Especially with a hot chocolate (although they are massive so I had one and Andy had the other one).

Ocado now do a lot of this range so I bought some chia seeds and more cocoa nibs as I love them on everything at the moment.

But now I am back to work so my spending will be back to normal!

Do you go through phases of buying things/ having shopping trips?

PS A massive thank you to everyone who has voted for my blog in the Whittards blogger competition- I would love it if anyone else fancied voting too (my entry is number 10). Cheers 🙂

A little plea + caramel shortcake recipe

Hey peeps!

First up I was very excited because over the weekend I got an email to say my entry to the Whittard Afternoon Tea Blogger Carnival had been selected as one of the final ten! I would love it if you would vote for me (mine was number 10- the info is all here)- all voters get entered into a competition to win a year’s supply of tea! And if you don’t want to vote, have a look as there are some very pretty and tasty entries.

On Sunday I did some baking- it is Andy’s brothers birthday next week, and his favourite is caramel shortcake, so that is what I made for Sunday tea.

The base for this is super easy- combine 100g margarine (I use Pure spread) with 4 tbs brown sugar, and cream together. Stir in 125g plain flour and 45g rolled oats, press into a pan (I use a brownie pan lined with baking paper) and then bake for 20-25 mins at 180C.

The caramel is pretty easy too- in a pan have 25g butter, 25g brown sugar and a tin of light condensed milk, and gently heat. Keep stirring. Once the butter has melted, let the mixture bubble away; keep stirring- it will eventually thicken a little and darken.

The base needs to cool for a bit before you pour the caramel over it (only for 5 or 10 minutes).

Yum look at the swirly caramel.

Then melt some chocolate for the topping. I like to add a little coconut oil as then the chocolate won’t reset completely solid and be much easier to slice. I probably used 100g plain chocolate, then 50g white chocolate over the top (but this ended up being too much white chocolate).

Leave to cool, and then slice.

It is not actually shortcake/ shortbread, but I prefer this base as it is more crumbly, and the oats add interest to the base. Plus the caramel is much softer than some recipes (some of them it goes more like toffee and is hard to slice/ chew)- this is a gooey oozing caramel, seriously it is gorgeous.

I left some slices large to take around for tea, and then cut the rest into smaller squares and took them into work today- they were all gone by lunchtime!

In running news, I was feeling fine today, but I went out on a 4 mile run and kept having to stop and walk as my legs were so stiff. So I promise I am going to get the foam roller out this evening, and perhaps have a walk tomorrow to help loosen them, if I have time.

Night! And thanks in advance for anyone that votes for me 🙂 (Andy would call you all enablers as you are supporting my tea addiction, but hey, he has that addiction too!!)

Anything you are slightly addicted to??

Focusing on the positive

Hey peeps

I hope you all enjoyed the weekend- it has flown by!

Friday night we walked to the allotment and ended up spending at least an hour digging up weeds. At least now I can actually see the raspberry canes again (yes it was that bad!). I was so hot and bothered, so needed to cool down. We had some of this amazing ice cream in the freezer- peanut butter ice cream with raspberry sauce, and I had made an iced tea earlier using Twinings Gingersnap peach tea, mixed with a little grape juice and a tray of ice.

Saturday morning we were up bright and early, wanting to get our run in before it got too hot (according to the weather)- luckily it stayed cool and overcast the whole time. Andy ran with me, but I was finding it so tough. After a couple of miles my right foot went totally numb- I tried loosening my shoe laces but that didn’t seem to help. I was also getting tight calves, which is not like me. We kept up a good pace, but Andy kept needing to stop and wait for me, which was making me feel (at the time) quite demoralised (silly when I look back now, but at the time I felt like crying at one point because I was so annoyed with myself for not being able to keep up, when recently I have been keeping up with him OK). I love running with him- it does make me go faster, plus it is nice to chat. But I was feeling bad as I was slowing him down (even though he kept saying it was OK)- and then because my legs were hurting it was making me more worried about the half next weekend. Then, going up the horrible hill at just over 7 miles, my Garmin ran out of battery. This wouldn’t usually bother me so much but I wanted to get up to ten miles, and I hadn’t measured out a route beforehand, I was just going to run around the block at the end to make up the distance. Anyway, a bit after that Andy left me, as he was going to do 12 miles (crazy!) so was adding on a different bit at the end of his run, so I was then trying to work out how far I had been since the Garmin stopped (Andy uses km’s on his Garmin so that was no use to me, as any regular readers will know that my maths goes out of the window when I start running), and trying to work out what I needed to add on to the run. I also wanted to know how long it had taken me, so I had to look at the time when I got home, as the Garmin website would tell me when my run started. Complicated!

On Friday evening I made the batter for post run pancakes, and that was just what I fancied. I had some almonds and a nuun drink as soon as I got in, then showered and made breakfast. This batter was made with 1 mashed banana, 20g peanut flour and 20g wholegrain spelt, and a little baking powder. Simple.  I cooked them gently in the pan, and then had them with a nectarine, some vanilla alpro yoghurt and cocoa nibs (I am getting a bit of an obsession with them). Plus a lovely Tea India masala chai tea.

Andy has been reassuring me about my run, which is very sweet of him. I did some maths, and I think that in the end my run was 9.98 miles (I’ll take that!) and took me just over 1 hour 40 mins, so basically 10 minute miles. Again, not bad, although once he was gone my pace was much slower. But when I did the Great South Run (which is a 10 mile race) I did it in 1 hr 50, so I am quicker than that. Also, the half marathon is a hilly one, and I don’t expect to get a pb, my main aim is to beat my time from the last time I did that (although the course has changed slightly)- that was 2.19. I think I should be OK to make that, and I suppose at the end of the day even if I don’t make that time, it will still be another half marathon completed. Saturday afternoon I was shattered, but then on reflection I had a hard Sweatshop run on Wednesday, ran Thursday and Friday morning, walked on Friday afternoon and tired myself out digging on Friday evening. So no wonder I was tired I suppose.

We have been enjoying my new blender to have some refreshing summer smoothies. This one was made with frozen mango and pineapple, plus Koko coconut milk.

Saturday evening we had lovely black bean and avocado wraps for dinner (this was basically a red onion cooked in paprika, then a chopped red pepper added in, a small tin of sweetcorn + black beans mixed in, served on a wrap with a chopped avocado and some lime juice)- the original recipe was with wenslydale cheese but we didn’t have any so just left that out.

This morning I defrosted a slice of our Christmas pannetone and had it with some peanut butter on one half and passion fruit curd on the other half (from the Bath Christmas markets), plus a mango, Tesco lemon soya yoghurt and those cocoa nibs.

We lazed around for a bit, I did some baking (more on that another day!) and then went to Crews Hill which is basically a row of garden centres. We got a few bargain plants for our garden and the allotment.

We were pretty thirsty when we got home, so made another smoothie- this one was frozen cherries, fresh raspberries and almond milk.

My plan for this week is to take it a bit easier than last week! I am going to have a run tomorrow- probably 4 miles. Tuesday will be a rest day as I have a lot of work to be doing. On Wednesday I shall go to Sweatshop, but not go as hard as I did last week. On Thursday pump is not on, which is probably a good thing, so I am having my hair cut. I might do a gentle run on Friday as I have found that works well for me before a race, and Saturday shall be a rest day. I think that sounds OK. I shall also be focusing on all the positive training I have had, and hopefully just looking forward to enjoying a run in the countryside next Sunday.

What are you looking forward to this week? What are you feeling positive about?

Lemon drizzle cake with lavender

Yes, I have been using more of that lovely lavender infused sugar. Although I made this a couple of weeks ago now, I am just getting around to posting it!

So tasty!

I used the lemon drizzle recipe from The British Bake Off book which is very similar to this Mary Berry one (but they are all pretty similar I find). I missed out about 50g of the sugar and added in the lavender sugar, and baked as usual.

I tried to colour the lemon drizzle, but that did not really work so well! The reason why I love these cakes so much is that you make this lovely soaking syrup (water + lemon juice) and pour it over the warm cake. This adds to the lemon flavour, but also makes the cake so moist.

I was sent these cute little daisies from Dr Oetker, so I used a few to decorate. They are basically rice paper, so they are edible.

Perfect for afternoon tea. Although the lavender flavour is not very strong. Every now and then you would get a bite which tasted a bit of lavender, but really this tasted like lemon cake. I am going to try some biscuits next and hope that it comes through more. Fingers crossed. I am worried that it will go all soapy if I add too much, but so far I don’t think I have added enough.  I am having fun experimenting with it though.

This morning I had another gentle run- I feel so much better if I have been outside and had some fresh air, so I went on an out and back route (onto the fields for a bit)- out for about 1.85 miles, then turned around and straight back again. I could have stayed for much longer but I am conscious that I want to do a long run tomorrow and don’t want to be too tired.

My i-herb order arrived the other day- I used the last of my peanut flour the other week, and when I went on to look I saw they still had gingerbread tea in stock! How exciting! I then noticed that until the end of May they are doing an extra 5% off (I think you can get 10% off if your order is over $40, but seeing as the limit for importing to the UK is £15 I have not risked a more expensive order), so I have ended up ordering a few more things.

I watched the second episode of Eddie Izzard’s Mandela Marathon challenge this morning (if you follow my facebook page you might have seen I watched the first episode the other day)- I found it so interesting as I didn’t know much about the history of South Africa at all. Then I was off to The Waffle House to meet up with some friends- the weather was gorgeous so we had a little walk around the park after. Here’s hoping that we have plenty more days like this to come.

Any plans for the weekend? Anyone else enjoyed watching Eddie Izzard?