What I listen to when I run

Afternoon all

So yesterday was a little sad really, as it always is on the last day of term- it is weird really because I look forward to the summer holidays, but also by the end of the year it is sad to say goodbye to the lovely children (and their lovely parents).

I was given these sweet pea flowers in the morning by a child in my class- his mum said he had been growing them for weeks and had decided they were for me on the last day of term- how sweet. He even whispered to me “the butterfly is not real“- love it! What a lovely final day anyway. They smell so amazing and the scent is still filling the living room today. 🙂

To celebrate I met up with a couple of friends from other schools- we met in Starbucks where I had a chai tea (not a latte, just a tea) and a cinnamon swirl- yum. The perfect start to the holidays!

After that we had a picnic dinner at home;

I got some walnut and rye bread (amazing), and finished the Wensleydale and cranberry cheese, and an easy peasy “salad” of lettuce, grapes and pink righteous dressing. Love that dressing.

Anyway, what I wanted to say about today was what I listen to when I run. When I first started out, I did not listen to anything. I was following a walk/run plan, and I used my mobile phone to time each section as I did not have a watch or anything! But once I realised I liked it, Andy got for me a little mp3 player which was light enough to stick in my pocket. I used to listen to music- I still have a long list on there which includes A, Ash, Hard Fi, High School Musical (yeah I like the cheesy stuff too), Kasabian, Lilo and Stitch (my fave Disney movie and with Elvis tracks, what’s not to love??), Maroon 5, Muse, Radiohead, The Killers, Weezer and Foo Fighters. I love upbeat music generally, and I did used to sometimes find myself singing along! Luckily I was generally alone! What I did find was that I would try to run to the beat, so that I would pick up my speed in faster songs, and really slow down during slower ones. I was recommended talking podcasts as a way to keep a steady speed, and it seems to help me.

So now I tend to listen to podcasts. You all know my love for marathon talk– I think it is lighthearted but also interesting- a range of chat, interviews and news. I also load up from the bbc podcasts website:

The Food Programme– this sometimes looks at companies, or a specific food, or sometimes food in a certain country.

Friday Night Comedy– I prefer the news quiz, but now it is “The now show” which I think can be hit and miss, but often funny enough.

Americana– the topics on this range each week- they had a special about the space programme, they look at things like green issues, the death penalty and things like that.

Excess Baggage– this is a travel programme from a different slant. A few weeks ago they had a really interesting show about cycling- they had someone who had cycled all over the world, and another person (Matt Carroll) who has written a book about cycle rides in the UK.

The Infinite Monkey Cage-This is a sort of science show, but funny and presented by Prof. Brian Cox. 🙂

I have also listened to things like the Ricky Gervais podcasts (from when he was on XFM) or the Adam and Joe show, but they are so funny that I sometimes laugh too much and it stops me running!

So, what do you listen to when you run?

Onto today, after breakfast and some jobs I went out for a run. I was pleased as I managed my furthest ever since the marathon- 10 miles. It was hard work, and I had some twinges in my legs (but I could not decide if I was imagining them as I was a bit tired)- took me 1hr48, which I am alright with. I think I have slowed down a lot, but then in a couple of weeks I have a holiday, and I am hoping that the break will do me good and I will be able to improve on that time before the Great South run in October.

After my run I had my last bloggie swap clif bar- chocolate chip peanut crunch- which I loved! It was like the pb ones we get over here, but with added chocolate chips, and maybe a slight saltier flavour- always good after a run. Plus some coconut water with passion fruit to help rehydrate- this was tasty too.

Plus a Food Doctor pitta (thanks to Leigh for pointing out that Tescos have them on offer for 49p so we have rather a lot of them!!!) with lovely pb, apple and pear. Mmmmm.

This afternoon I have been baking and doing more jobs around the house, so more photos tomorrow I think! That is enough for now!

Bye 🙂

Rude Health Oaty Thins!

First of all, that is what I am excited about! When I got home from work today I tried a couple of them, and I love them! They are similar to rice cakes, in that they are big and sort of puffy, but without the weird stick-to-your-tongue texture that rice cakes have, plus they feel a bit more substantial.

One with pb&co maple peanut butter (not much of this left now!) and one with coconut butter and meridian raspberry spread, after this combo was recommended. I must say, it was lovely 🙂 I have never eaten coconut butter raw before, only used it in cooking, but it was nice to have that hint of coconut flavour to the snack. I also had my final Teapigs chai tea 🙁 Until my tea cupboard gets a bit emptier (remember my hoarding confessional post?) I cannot order any more.  Although they do sell it on Ocado and I am about to do a shop……..

Anyway, I love those oaty thins and I kind of wish I had bought the multigrain ones too, just to try them. Once these have been eaten that will be my next stop I think.

I have body pump later so I made a pudding to have when I get home;

All my ingredients ready (well nearly, I forgot the xanthan gum). Mash banana, add cocoa powder and pb (Sainsburys pb with chocolate chips, which is nice but not as good as dark chocolate dreams), then pour on coconut milk, sprinkle on xanthan gum and whisk, then add chia seeds.

The bowl gets so messy from all the stirring but I am not putting it in a clean bowl just for the photo I am afraid! This is thickening up in the fridge as I type.

Also I have been reading everyone’s “What I eat Wednesday” posts and feel left out! I keep thinking I should join in, and then the week goes by and before I know it I am reading them all over again, thinking “whoops, I should have done it”. Next week I am off, so I might even get around to doing it (but then after that I will be away for loads of Wednesdays). Anyone else not jumped on that bandwagon yet?

Right, off to body pump and then, hooray, the last day of the summer term 🙂

Vegan Moussaka recipe

Evening all

I had a delicious dinner today so I am going to share the recipe. It was for a moussaka but I am not a fan of creamy sauces, so I subbed in some silken tofu instead. And I left out potatoes because I don’t like them, but for a real one you could add in a layer.

First up, slice and griddle an aubergine.

Then in a pan cook a tin of tomatoes, a tin of drained lentils, a packet of spinach, some tomato puree, garlic paste and basil.

Meanwhile blend some silken tofu with some sundried tomato pesto (but you could use any pesto you like, I like this red one at the moment). This was about 3/4 of a pack of silken tofu, as I had already used the other 1/4 in the brownies.

Then layer up 🙂 I put the aubergine on the bottom, then the tomato sauce and then the tofu sauce on top.

Then bake 200C for 25 mins. Excuse the blurry photos! But it is lovely- the pesto in the tofu is my fave way to liven up tofu sauce now, and this was lovely and thick and creamy and tomatoey. I would have added other veg too, but I didn’t have any. Anyway, this was lovely and I am pleased I have 2 other portions to go in the freezer (since we defrosted it the other week I am having to re-fill it again).

Today I had a run after work- I really was not feeling like it at all as the children at work are getting more and more hyped up, and there are so many end of term jobs to do. Anyway, on my way home I was again bargaining with myself about doing a short gentle run, as I had had a sort of headache all day. But in the end I decided just to try with Audiofuel, and in the end it was fine. Hard work, and it rained at the end (gently, which I appreciated), but my headache was gone and I felt loads better. 🙂

I tried one of those Waitrose grain bars today. It was quite nice- it was quite sweet as it had concentrated apple juice, and dried apricot, and the texture was quite chewy and chunky. It reminded me of a cereal bar I had once, which I got in Sainsbury’s and was aimed at children, but was made of oats, dried fruit and maybe apple juice. They had bright packaging and stuff but I cannot remember the name. Sorry. Anyway, I did not like them as much as regular nak’d bars, but still it was nice and made a change. When I showed them to Andy his words were “I am so glad you bought 3 boxes of cereal bars, because we do not have enough already”. Hmm. In my defence I eat one every day for a snack at work, and often have one as a pre run/ exercise snack too!

Potatoes- yes or no? I only like jacket potatoes really, as boiled, roast and mash are not my cup of tea at all, to be polite! And after about 2 chips I wonder what the fuss was about (and really chips are just a vehicle for vinegar!)

Less rain this time

Hey peeps

So Monday when I left work it was teaming it down with rain again. I had a run planned, but during the drive home I talked myself into staying at home and doing a DVD (shoes in the airing cupboard drying- thanks Jessica for the hairdryer idea), but then as I got closer to home the sun was trying to come out, and the rain eased off, so I decided to just go for it as I knew the fresh air would make me feel better. Although I did decide on a few pieces of white chocolate fudge would give me an energy boost- note to self, fudge is not a good pre run snack unless you want to feel sick for half the run.  Anyway, I did over 4 miles, in 43 mins, so for me (especially recently where I seem to have slower loads) was a good pace. And it did not rain during my whole run so my trainers stayed nice and dry!

Look! These are my garden blueberries!!!! They were delicious 🙂

And I got a new toy!

I was ordering some other things from Lakeland (gifts, not for me) and I saw this strawberry thing, which gets the green spiders out of strawberries! So nifty! Normally I use a knife but then cut off half the strawberry, but this you push in and it grabs the green bits, then you twist it and it pulls them out! Magic! I was trying to take a picture of me using it but it needs 2 hands! And the brownies I made the other day are lovely- had one with cherries and strawberries, and even though it smelled like banana, it did not taste like it. Phew.

Today was not aerobics as I had a work thing, but I did manage in between meetings to pop to Waitrose and get some treats for me.

Actually I do not think quinoa is a treat! But I saw these bars on Lucy’s blog the other day- seedy, nutty and grain bars (they had none of the squashed fruit bars), and they were still on offer so I decided to get them. I also got some Montezuma’s chocolate- have not had this in ages and decided that those 2 flavours (minty and with cocoa nibs) sounded lovely. Then I was most excited to see that Rude Health now do “thins”. I never like rice cakes, but I used to get them as they were lovely spread with toppings. Anyway, they do oaty thins (which I got-made of 50% oats and 50% spelt, 24 cals per thin), multigrain ones with quinoa and brown rice and stuff (which I nearly got, and possibly were gluten free) and rice ones too. I am very excited to try these- I bet they will go super well with peanut butter 🙂

So, fave rice cake/ oat cake topping? I think I will have to go with pb and raspberry jam/spread. Yum.

Baking extravaganza!

Evening all 🙂

Hope you all had a good weekend despite the crazy weather. I ended up stuffing my trainers with brown paper yesterday, as they were so soggy. Today I took the paper out and it was wet through, and so I put my trainers in the airing cupboard. Hopefully they will be dry for a run tomorrow.

This weekend I have mainly been baking.

First I attempted some mint chocolate fudge. I made my usual fudge recipe, and then added some chopped dark chocolate before pouring it into the pan. I then sprinkled it with sugar which I had mashed with a pestle and mortar with some mint essence. The fudge tastes fine, but it was so crumbly so cutting it was not so easy!

Interesting shapes no? Anyway, I hope it will still be happily received.

Then I made some peanut butter cookies from my Peanut Butter & Co cookbook. I was a bit wary of trying this recipe, mainly because the Hummingbird recipe is so good!

These were amazing- so chewy and almost gooey on the inside- stuffed with peanut buttery goodness. These were for Sunday tea so we have none at home now.

Then I made some of those brownies that Katie invented and Rachel also made.

I also had some white chocolate stars from Sainsbury’s so I added these on the top (sadly no edible glitter!). I had a minor problem in that I did not have enough apple sauce, so I used some mashed banana instead- hopefully they do not taste too banana-ey. I am going to freeze this in slices ready for later. 🙂

Then it was the piece du resistance- white chocolate and coconut fudge. I used the normal recipe (from Rachel Allen’s Home cooking) and added some shredded coconut to the middle and to the top.

There it is cooling (all the white chocolate melts from the heat of the fudge and pours out the sides).

And sliced! This batch sliced much easier, and looks so pretty too. These will be in bags soon, for end of term gifts. So not too much to tempt me with at home!

I did have a lovely lunch;

Andy bought some Wensleydale and cranberry cheese to have at our picnic on Friday (and he bought rocket salad too which I was very impressed with as he is normally very fussy with salads and only buys iceberg!)- so I had some on some toast with a red pear. And you can see my lovely teapot so of course I had to have some tea.

OK so time for a quick training recap of this week;

Monday- attempted a mid length run but cut it short due to having to stop and walk- think this was tiredness and dehydration.

Tuesday- Aerobics hooray!

Wednesday- Audiofuel run which is still hard work but in a good way I think! Plus yoga for runners podcast.

Thursday- Body pump hooray! Upped weights only for dumbells in the triceps track, and forgot to take a towel. Whoops.

Friday- Rest day.Picnic concert. Plently of body pump aches!

Saturday- Long and wettest run ever.

Sunday- Rest day- yoga for runners podcast.

So fingers crossed that my trainers are dry by tomorrow.

And it is on to the final week of work before the summer holidays, so I was wondering does anyone have any lovely school memories from the last day/ week of term? We used to get to take in games from home on the last day which always seemed like such fun! I was easily pleased I think!