Author: Maria Runs

More chia pudding

So a while ago the lovely Lucy sent me some chia seeds with the giveaway goodies that I won. I have quite liked them as a post body pump snack in some pudding, so I made some up today. I have to say it was the best yet. I mashed a small banana in a bowl with some cocoa powder and a tsp pb, then added in some Kara coconut milk (have not had this for ages, mmm) and whisked it up with a fork. Then I added some chia seeds (maybe a tbsp) and then some xanthan gum to help it thicken. I left it in the fridge for a few hours while I was out and when I returned I had this lovely (not so photo friendly) delight to enjoy!

The picture does not show how thick is was, and it was delicious. I did wonder if I would need some sweetener, but the mashed banana makes it so sweet anyway. Delish.

Body pump was fab- I decided to go with a heavier hand weight for the triceps as the last bit is only short, but it was so much harder (this is using a 3kg weight instead of 2kg)- I did not think that it would be that much harder! anyway the instructor said I would soon get used to it. Man that lunges track is hard- squats, lunges, squats, lunges, squats, lunges etc! No rest! I forgot to take a towel, but I did make a conscious effort to keep my shoulders relaxed during squats and that did help. But then getting the bar off after is so hard- how do people do that??

Yesterday I had a run after work- after Monday’s run getting cut short I was actually a bit worried about it. I did my Audiofuel run and it was fine. Well, it was really hard work- it makes other muscles in my legs ache. What is weird is that overall it does not make me any faster, but I suppose that makes sense as if I am running faster for short times, I need the recovery periods to be slower.

Also I finished trying those coconut water flavours and did a little review here. 🙂

Cream crackered

Yo 🙂

And welcome new commenters- always love to hear from people who read this 🙂

Gosh what a busy day! A double staff meeting (yeah how mean- no slacking off here even though we are nearly in the final week!) and a rush to the shops on my way home (partly because Emma said Sainsbury’s did PB&co pb- but my one didn’t- but also for other stuff e.g. cards for parent helpers and that sort of thing) meant I got home at 6.05pm, when I leave for aerobics at 6.10pm. I saw nak’d bars on offer so I had a cocoa mint bar in the car (as I was hungry) and then rushed to aerobics. Busy but fun. I had a sweaty ponytail at the end and we did so much cardio that we never even got the mats out for press ups or anything.

So, a few things.

One; I often listen to the Food Programme on the BBC podcasts, and the one I heard the other day I thought was really interesting. They were looking into trans fats and how they are in a lot of food (or not much according to government stats). But I still ended up confused. I do know a few things- that “hydrogenated vegetable oil” means that by forcing hydrogen into liquid oil, it turns it sold at room temp,but this in turn makes it harmful as it is not natural and the body cannot process the fats normally.  So I know to avoid foods that contain those (yeah peanut butter m’n’m’s I am talking to you), and now I only use Pure spread because it says clearly it is free from hydrogenated oils. But apparently sometimes they are just listed as vegetable fats, so even if you do read the label (I do, but apparently most people don’t) it is still hard to work out if foods contain them or not. And of course the ideal would be all unprocessed natural foods, but that is hard. So anyway, the link is here if you are interested. And any comments to add about trans fat?

Two; I got an email today about a 5k fun run in London, organised by a charity called Trees for Cities. It is on Saturday 17th September at Battersea park, plus when you finish you get a tree sapling to take home. So if you fancy that the info is here.

Three– I got a comment on my raw chocolate company review to say they have a new flavour- orange and goji berry, so check that out here!

Gosh what a lot of links! 🙂

Night

Back with a bump

So after the excitement of the weekend it was back to work with a bump!

I also realised I forgot (yet again) to do my Sunday training review and my memory is terrible! So here is what I remember:

Monday- run after work. Think it was about 5.7 miles or something.

Tuesday- Aerobics. Super sweaty. Full press ups! (Although my hands were sliding across the floor due to being so sweaty)

Wednesday- Audiofuel run- found it hard work but did it. Plus 25 mins yoga for runners.

Thursday- Body pump. Right, I have a question. At the moment I can do 15kg squats, but by the end it is my neck/ back that hurts. Do people have those special bar coater things to help with this? In the winter I kept my hoody on for that track and used the hood as a cushion- no way can I do that in the summer. I am putting it on the right place, according to my instructor anyway. So tips welcome.

Friday- 3.1 mile run before work. This set me up nicely for the day and helped with the body pump aches I am sure,

Saturday and Sunday- walking around Silverstone. I even forgot yoga because it did not feel like a Sunday! Whoops!

After work I planned a run- I headed out (complete with new red shock absorber Run bra 🙂  – I could do a magazine thing; “Top- Nike running specially chosen to clash with;  Bra (just seen)- Shock Absorber, sweaty messy face and hair-models’ own”) but I think I was probably a bit dehydrated from the weekend. I really hate using public toilets, and while I do use them (silly I know) I also drink way less when out so I have to queue for less. So at the race yesterday I think I had less than 1 litre of water all day (I did have stuff at home too, but it was hot). Plus I could not work out when would be a good time to go because I wanted to see the drivers parade, the red arrows and stuff, and had to allow half an hour for queuing. Anyway today a mile or so into my run I felt really weak and a bit shaky. I had taken water with me so made myself push on, and then the water I was drinking started making me feel sick. I had to stop for a bit, and then walked for a few minutes. I was having a conversation with myself that went like this;

“You have run 3 miles already, you can do 3 more”.

“But I feel really bad, I don’t want to make myself ill”.

“Mind over matter, come on you are just lethargic“.

“No, I think I am actually not in shape to run- come on you are not training for anything at the moment, and at least you did a run today”.

“OK, fine, we will try again on Wednesday“.

So that is what I will be doing. Home for some coconut water with pineapple! Yum! Tastes like pineapple juice. 🙂 Once home I felt fine, but I think I probably was dehydrated, and it is warm out there (plus yet again, I spent all afternoon outside teaching PE so not ideal). I have cooled down now!

So body pumpers- how do you cope with a heavy bar?

Silverstone weekend

Hey guys!

Hope you all had a lovely weekend- I did 🙂

We were up so early (6am on Saturday and 7.30 today) to get up to Silverstone in time, but it was fab. In brief, Saturday we had “roaming seats” which meant we could sit anywhere there was space, so we watched practise sessions and then the qualifying in one grandstand (luckily it was covered as it tipped it down!)- it was great, the cars were so noisy (I had earplugs though phew), but it was freezing cold! I think I shivered for the whole day. As soon as you went down to the ground it was fine, but up high it was windy. We also saw some other cars racing (in a different stand just to mix things up a bit), and Jenson and Lewis having a little chat on the vodafone stage after qualifying.

Today there were a few things before the race, but we had seats (in an open air stand) so we did not have to get there as early.  It tipped it down with rain once we were in our seats, but we had dressed for the rain and brought an umbrella, so we were OK! It did stop before the start (although Jenson and Lewis did ask for rain yesterday as they would have stood a better chance I think- we were in two minds- rain makes for a more exciting race, but then we would have got wet!). We saw the drivers go around on the back of a lorry, the Red Arrows did about 30 mins of awesome amazing stunts, and then it was race time! I won’t bore you with the race, as I am sure you would have watched it if you were interested. But I have never been to one before, and I was wondering how I would get on, as you can only see part of the track (and we could see the start of the pit lane too). Normally when you watch it on TV they tell you where everyone is, so I did think I might get a little confused. There were big screen TV’s showing the feed just as it comes on BBC, and when the cars were not near you could hear the commentary. Andy listened to the radio (on an mp3 player) but I wanted earplugs instead, but I did manage to follow what was going on. There were some exciting overtaking moves, and I was loving that the crowd were cheering every time Jenson or Lewis went past- loads of clapping and air horns and stuff! I had not thought about it before, but you know at a football match the players can hear the crowd, but in those cars with all the noise (and seriously, it is so much louder than on the TV, so much more high pitched) there is no way the drivers can hear, so I did not know if there would be any cheering during the race, just at the end. But it was great! 🙂 Andy was trying out his new fancy camera (one of those digital SLR ones) so no photos from me I am afraid!

What was not so great (but cannot be helped) was the awful traffic coming home today! The park and ride bus took an hour to get us back to the car park, and then the motorway, urgh, no idea what went on there.

Anyway, it was a brilliant weekend. And I have one question (Ferarri fans need not apply)- Jenson or Lewis?

I am for Jenson Button all the way- a few years ago (maybe 5/6?) one of my friends gave me an official photo of him as a birthday present, as I was rather taken by him! Andy even teased me that if I met him I would be even more star struck than when I met Mickey and Minnie Mouse (and yes I was an adult at the time too). 🙂 But I love having two Brit drivers in the same team, and I was still cheering on Lewis when he did some fancy handbrake style turning stuff in front of the grand stand to celebrate at the end! 🙂

Who’s idea was a run before breakfast?

As it certainly was not my idea! (yeah, it was Andy’s!)

Last night body pump was great- and phew I managed the full press ups again (not sure if I could manage more than 4 though haha!)- next week I am going to try higher dumbells as the triceps track finishes with a short lot of kickbacks, and also as the shoulders track seems to switch between standing up stuff and kneeling down stuff, and only a small time with the bar at the end I think I may be able to go a little heavier.

Then it was time for a refuel:

I made some chia seed pudding, with a small mashed banana, cocoa powder, splash of milk, tbsp chia seeds and xanthan gum, left in the fridge while I was out. Then topped with strawberries and Lizi’s mango granola (with lovely pieces of dried mango in there yum). The pudding went really fluffy, sort of, a bit like angel delight! (Anyone else used to love that? Although we always had generic supermarket stuff so we called it milk pudding).

Anyway, as Andy was off to Silverstone today and leaving before 7am, he suggested I had a run in the morning (I was going to go after the waffle house today, as I would not get out over the weekend) so I didn’t wash my hair last night which left me no option!

Anyway, I left my kit out so from the alarm going off to heading out was 10 mins. I did my 5k loop in 31 mins, so I was pretty pleased with that. It was drizzling and windy when I left, but by the time I got home it was dry. I was starving though- I am always hungry the morning after body pump, and having been awake earlier I suppose made it worse!

Then (after my quickest shower) it was time for breakfast! This was porridge made with mashed banana, oats, milk and sprinkled with cinnamon. It was so good! I keep seeing people having mashed banana in their porridge, but have never tried it before. It is a keeper I can tell you!

I only just had time to dry my hair (this takes a good 15 mins which is why I normally wash it in the evening) before rushing off to work, but as the traffic is generally lighter on a Friday I was there 5 mins later than my usual arrival time, so not bad at all. As the day has gone on I have got more stiff (from body pump) and I quite liked having a run in the morning, so I might consider it a bit more, especially on a Friday when I can afford to leave a little later.

After work was the waffle house! Hooray! And unlike last time everyone made it this time so I had a lovely catch up over a pecan waffle. Mmm. I wish they did a peanut butter one though! What flavour would you love to see?

I also had the laziest dinner ever!

Yup, a veg pot! We did not know what time Andy would get home, and when we ordered out shopping I was still planning on a run after my waffle (yeah that would not have been a good idea I think!), so we decided on the second quickest dinner (if you are wondering, toast is the quickest). Delish anyway. What is your fave lazy dinner?

So off to Silverstone tomorrow 🙂 Have a fab Saturday everyone!