Maria Runs - Maria Runs

Parcels, pace, pottering and peanut butter

Afternoon peeps!

Yesterday was a rest day, not much to report although after work I did go to Morrisons to get some lovely so crispy bites (they are like rice cakes but tastier), and had a walk. My shoulders were so sore yesterday, after the tiny bit of extra weights for the rest of the track I was no surprised!

Look what I got in the post!

The lovely Jess offered to send me some Dorset cereal porridge, and also included a jar of PB2 which is sort of powdered peanut butter- sounds amazing although I have not yet tried it. 🙂 Thanks so much Jess 🙂

Today has been great so far- I got up and while Andy went on his 11 mile run (how does he do it before breakfast?) I had my porridge, with a blob of pb, and pottered about. I set off with the new marathon talk podcast (what else people?). I had planned the same route as last week, and was pretty pleased with my pace- considering it was 10.5 miles I was within 30 seconds of my time last week- this could be down to stopping longer to cross roads or whatever. Again the run felt good, I was a bit hungry by the end so I think soon I will start taking something with me, not sure what. Anyway, although it drizzled a bit, it was much less windy, and I ended feeling strong. I think I need to remember this feeling for when the runs are harder work! I only saw a few other people out running today, and recently I have been seeing loads.

Once home I had a clif bar (which Andy now likes too-cue another order on wiggle methinks) and yummy hot chocolate- I heated up some Kara coconut milk in the microwave, and then added some nesquick powder. Delicious and warming as I was very cold! Although the cup got hot so it was hard to drink- next time I need to heat it in one thing and drink it out of something else.

After lunch(which was toast with PB and mashed banana and a delish fuji apple) I had a lovely snack of some Mighty Muesli with yoghurt, which was very tasty indeed. It has a massive ingredients list including oats, barley, rye, sunflower seeds, quinoa, dried cranberries, linseed, alfalfa seeds, pumpkin seeds…..(and the best bit- no dried milk powder- I do not like that in muesli)- Yum

I also made some fudge for my friends- I used my fave Rachel Allen recipe but subbed in some broken mint matchmakers instead of the white chocolate- to make minty after dinner fudge.

It made loads so I am going to take some into work on Monday.

Tonight we are off out for dinner, and I had a little browse of the restuarant website- I got a little annoyed as loads of dishes were marked as vegetarian, when they contain parmesan. They had a contact form on the site so I sent them an email (a nice one) as I find it so frustrating that this is such a common mistake on menus. Anyway, I saw they do a pizza with goats cheese, peppers, caramelised onions and some other things, which looks amazing, so I think I am going for that 🙂 Anyone else get annoyed by things being labelled wrong? I like pizza express as they clearly state on the menu how to make things vegetarian.

Off for some tea now, later guys

I love the order

Hooray!

Tonight was body pump night, which means it was going to be a good good night (that was a chest track once). More newbies (one was on time so we had time to show her the equipment etc, but two turned up ten minutes into the class which is a bit of a faff as we have a zumba class straight after so it’s such a rush)- this is the time of year where all the classes get full.

One thing that I have noticed I love about the exercise classes I do is the order of everyone doing the same thing. There is something very satisfying about looking at everyone in the mirrors and seeing every person lifting or squatting at the same time to the music. It is the same in aerobics; in our class we do a warm up, then do a little routine, and then we get into rows. I generally lead a row as I have been going for a while, and one row does a move for a count of 8 (a long move e.g. jog forward, star jumps, jog backwards, star jumps), then the next row does that while the first row does a new move, and so the moves ripple along. The people at the front take turns to count, and for some reason I find it so satisfying that everyone just falls into their places and everyone is moving in synch.

Body pump was great- last week I wimped out of extra weights during the back track, but this time I kept them on 🙂 And I managed the heavier weights during the whole of the shoulders track whereas the last few weeks near the end I have swapped to lower weights. So I am feeling good about that! Yes!

Night

Lentil loving

And some other pulses.

By the way I had to move the blog over which is why it was not working yesterday. But normal service should be resumed now.

Today the plan was 6 miles, 2 mile warm up, 2 miles tempo, 2 miles cool down, which I duly did. I was tired though- the other night I did not sleep well and yesterday at aerobics I was having such trouble following the moves! Luckily the girl that goes behind me in my row did not mind! She knows I normally do them right. Back to today- the run was fine, and when I looked at my watch at the mile markers (they are in my head but I know where they are) I was doing pretty well, first 2 miles in 21 minutes, next 2 miles in 18 mins, and a nice cool down too.

And the best bit? Why that was the warm shower! Oh, and ticking off the runs on my piece of paper with a red pen!

Last night I made a new chilli- Lentil chilli.

YUm! It was super easy and I didn’t even put an onion in there, although you could! It made 4 big servings, and was perfect for refuelling post aerobics.

In a pan I cooked 2 chopped peppers and a courgette (but any veg would do, those are my faves!), then added 2 tins tomatoes, 1 tin kidney beans and 1 tin lentils, some garlic and chilli, and then left to simmer for a while (eg time to shower, dry hair etc). I had it with a sweet potato, which I microwaved (sorry Jess) because I forgot about it until 10 mins to go! What an easy dinner!

Yum again! Look at the steam!

I used to be such a bad vegetarian- carbs and cheese all the way (honestly I used to have pasta with tomato sauce most nights as that was all I could be bothered to do), but this week I realised that I have been good at getting my protein from beans/ pulses. This is not that recent but I have been branching out with other varieties.

Saturday I had bean bake (which is onions, peppers, tomatoes, herbs, garlic, cannelini beans) with some home made bread which exploded all over the baking tray and so I renamed foccacia bread.

The bread once it exploded!

Sunday Andy’s mum made a lovely bean chilli 🙂 (which is even more lovely as they all had roast chicken)

Monday I had my lovely chickpea stew

And then lentil chilli yesterday. Do you know I never even used to like baked beans? Although I do have a theme to most of my dinners- I like to add courgette and peppers to just about everything!

Last night I also tried some of my Nature’s Path cereal;

This was so delicious! It was so crunchy and it had a good ginger taste (but not too strong)- really different from other cereals- perfect for adding crunch to yoghurt etc too I would think.

Ok, I am first going to say well done for reading this far, as I realise this is quite a long post! I have a selection of energy gels, and I am wondering, at what stage in my training do I need to try them? When do I actually take them? They have on them things like 3 per hour, of max 40 per day (both of which seem exessive) so any ideas? Do they really give people bad stomachs? Am I better to try them before a shorter run so they don’t spoil my long run? Or near the end so I am close to home if trouble strikes? I know some people have them for 10k’s and half’s, and I never did, so not sure if I am behind the times, or behind the training?

Phew, long question, I will leave you all to ponder- night 🙂

Better intervals

Hooray!

Today I decided to learn some lessons from last weeks’ bad attempt. The plan was 6 miles fartlek, so I decided (after listening to them talking about intervals on marathon talk, see I told you I go on about it a lot) to have some 3 minute intervals in the middle. I warmed up nice and slowly for 2 miles (actually it was just over 2 miles in 21 minutes), then I did 3 minutes of faster running (hard work, but not flat out as I had to maintain it for that long), then a minute of jogging to recover. I repeated the intervals 5 times, and then did another mile and a bit to cool down. Altogether I managed just under 6 miles in 57 minutes, so not a bad average time either.

I was well hydrated, I did not have an apple, and I visited the bathroom before I went out, and I felt good during the run. I feel the need for some foam rolling now though!

I had to have a very lukewarm shower (that turned cold) as I had forgotten to put on the hot water. Oops. But I had some yummy chickpea stew to warm me up after 🙂 Love those freezer meals!

On another note, thanks to all the comments on the post yesterday. I really enjoyed Born to Run and I hope other people will do. It is quite cheap here on amazon too.

Night 🙂

Born to Run review (and some baking)

Afternoon

Last night I finished Born to Run , and as promised I am going to do a little review (without giving anything away I hope).

I cannot emphasise how great I think this book is. It is a pretty easy read, but at the same time it has some great information on various running studies slotted in. The author, Christopher McDougall, tells the story of how (after suffering more and more running injuries) he tried to track down the Tarahumara tribe of Mexico, famed for running great distances. The book flits between his experience, and the stories of various other ultra-runners that become involved in the story. I found the chapters about different races particularly gripping, as you could imagine yourself watching these 100 mile races, and it is hard to predict who will win. The athletic feats of the people involved are also pretty amazing.

The book is filled with inspiration, as well as tips and information (as part of the story, not removed from it) on running technique, nutrition (chia seeds which are all over blog land at the moment are featured in there), and footwear. I also feel like it is a book I will read again, so it is well worth a purchase in my opinion.

So, basically, if you love running, or are injured from running, or are feeling in need of some inspiration, then read it and see.

Onto other things- today I finally did some baking- woohoo! I made blondies from the Hummingbird book, only I swapped in some almonds for the pecans.

My legs are not too stiff from yesterday either- I did some foam rolling last night, which was very painful so I know it was doing me some good! I do feel very tired today, which I suppose is to be expected, but I am glad that my muscles have not seized up. 🙂