Category: General ramblings

Keep your fingers crossed please!

Hello

So first up, a little confession of sorts. Last night I was not feeling very well. To cut a long story short I went to the Doctors this morning and have another UTI, and another course of antibiotics. I did not sleep much last night (I think worrying about how I should be getting more sleep in the run up to the marathon made it even worse as I was just clock watching all night) and I was in a bit of pain this morning. I am so annoyed as before Feb (when I got one) I have never had one of these. The Doctor told me I need to drink more to help prevent them coming back, but I already have 750ml water at work (sometimes I re-fill this), 3 x 330ml glasses of water per day, rooibos/ mint tea x 2 and 1 cup normal tea. Which seems a lot to me. But anyway, drink more I will.

I got very upset when I got back from the Doctors, although he did say that it should probably be completely gone in 48 hours (the normal course of antibiotics is 3 days but he gave 7 because I already had it once this year- so I am thinking if the course is only 3 days then Saturday would be the 3rd day of it). I think last time I left it a few days before I went to the Doctors, so it got a bit worse. Anyway, this afternoon the pain is practically gone, I won’t go into details but I am feeling much better and a little more optimistic. I sat here for about an hour reading stuff on the Runners World forum about running and antibiotics- a lot of stuff was about chest infections etc (which obviously would affect running due to the breathing), but there were people saying they had run with UTI’s, just taken it a little easier. So at the moment, I am going to make sure I drink loads and loads, take the tablets, and see how I feel on Saturday morning- maybe follow the 5.15 pacer runners instead of the 5.00. I cancelled my haircut for this evening and have been making sure I sit about a lot today, and I am feeling ok so I know I will be fine for work tomorrow if I still feel like this. So fingers crossed that I caught it nice and early this time.

So please keep your fingers crossed for me (thanks to Alison for the shout out too 🙂 )- I really really want to run this marathon, but of course I am not going to put myself through 5+ hours of painful running. So if you are following online and my chip does not move, you know why.

Onto more positive news, I looked at the forecast here and it looks like perfect running weather- cool (9-13 C) with a light breeze. It does keep changing a little, but within a good range.

On the carb front, we are having a home-made pizza this evening. I tried another Eat Natural bar today;

I was so hungry when I got back from the Doctors (I felt a bit icky this morning and didn’t finish my porridge) and Andy had chosen these as he liked the idea of the bakewell flavour, but they were very sweet. I did not notice the yoghurt coating until I was eating it (it was hiding underneath how cheeky). But anyway, something like 26g carbs per bar is not bad, just hope I get to use them up! I had a bagel for lunch and a little bowl of cereal this afternoon (have to eat/ drink milk with the tablets) and am up to 196g carbs for the day, so will add some late night snack too (I was aiming for 250g which did not sound like much but I am not going to get up to that I don’t think, but I think I will have had enough as before the 20 miler I didn’t do anything different food-wise). Tomorrow I am going to take some pasta salad to work (must remember to make this later) for lunch and then take some bagels and bananas and cereal bars to eat on the plane/ at the airport for dinner.

Right, I am off to do some packing and drink some more water. I will be super hydrated. I hope everyone has a lovely bank holiday weekend (when it gets here) and please keep your fingers crossed for me! The hotel has free broadband, so I might even manage a quick update to let you all know how (if) I get on.

🙂 Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

National Vegetarian Week

So in the UK it is National Vegetarian week, and as I have been veggie for, hmm, a long time now (I think officially 15 years, but really for longer!) I thought I should give it a mention. I am sometimes a little bit of a cynic with these National days and weeks, and this one is sponsored by Cauldron foods (who make veggie foods) so for them it is a lot of free press too. And some of the leaflets and information packs are a little full of scare tactics etc too. Aside from the ethical and health reasons (which I won’t go into), there are other reasons to eat less meat, as producing meat takes up a lot more of the worlds’ resources such as water (because you have to grow crops to feed the animals etc.), so I think it is worth even meat eaters to cut down a bit. But anyway, back to the food.

As some of you know, Andy is a meat eater, so some of our meals are separate(or we start with the same base, and he adds some meat in a separate pot. But, there are some meals we both eat now which are totally meat free, so maybe good for someone who eats meat to give it a try.

Mexican bean wraps served with a salad are a popular meal in our household. The beans are chunky and filling, and the spices give it a strong flavour (add as much chilli as you can take!), plus you could add whatever veggies you like to the wraps.

Roasted vegetable calzone is another popular one. If we eat out, Andy will often choose a (meat) calzone, but this one is also very tasty!

Lentil chilli is one of my faves (but you could use any beans/ pulses).

Chickpea stew is another one which I love.

I have also discovered silken tofu- I initially loved in in Pumpkin pasta bake, but I have had success using it in lasagne dishes too- it goes all creamy and really delicious so give it a go.

So veggies and non veggies alike, what would your choice of veggie food be this week?

Onto today. First of all thanks for all the wishes and huffing and puffing regarding the ash cloud (and thanks Rose for your good luck post– made me very excited!). I am trying not to worry because at the end of the day there is nothing else I can do. At Christmas we went to the airport the night before, just in case the motorways were too snowy (and it nearly worked) but here there is nothing like that, so I am going to try to chill!

I was sad to realise that my training plan has come to an end.

Look at all the ticks and stuff written all over. I even kept the same red pen by it because I wanted to keep it all the same. Except for the black pen in the bottom corner (this is about a local 5K in the Autumn that was advertised and I wanted to write the details down and this was my only paper option!).

It seems crazy that all those weeks have flown by, and all those miles have been run.

Dinner today was a veggie hotch potch- some roasted pepper, courgette, beetroot, with basil tofu (yum I have not had this for ages and I had forgotten how yummy it is), spinach and food doctor seeds.

Yum! Another good recipe for veggie week.

Last night I had a nice snack too- I heated some pumpkin puree with a little molasses and cinnamon, and then swirled it into some ginger yoghurt.

Scrumptious 🙂

In fact I might have some more this evening.

Night

Weekend details

Hey guys

I am very flattered that a few of you have said you might check in on my progress! Thanks so much! So I will do the details now while I think of it.

Basically if you go to the official website here, and enter my race number 15258, and you can track my progress. My start (as I am in one of the last groups) is actually 11.40am. Also this website will be broadcasting it live, but that will be all the elite runners and so on. Also there is going to be a highlights package broadcast on Eurosports on Monday night, and Andy informs me we actually get that (for some reason I thought that was a channel for mainland Europe)- so I will be taping that.  So fingers crossed for me if you do check it (and it works).

Onto today- it started with some delicious porridge- made with rice milk, swirled with raw cacao bliss (I love this in porridge as you only need a smidgen and it makes it so delicious) and topped with strawberries. Yum.

After work I had a gentle 2 mile run- I decided to leave aerobics (for all the reasons yesterday) and go for that instead. I went a little slower, and did 2 miles in 22 mins- nice and easy and gentle and all that. It was not quite as windy as today, although I should be wishing for that wind to come back and blow all the ash cloud away. Andy has told me I am not allowed to look at it on the news as it made me panic last night. I know it is not the end of the world if we don’t get there, but I will be so disappointed. So I am still crossing my fingers.

Bye for now 🙂

All coming together

First, thanks for all the comments. Rob- you made a good point (haha) about the safety pins in hand luggage- I had not thought of that so thanks.

Today I had a 3 mile run planned after work and I had a new snack before I went out.

This was nice and nutty- massive chunky nuts in there, but also very sweet and sugary- too early to call it carb loading I think!

I went out and found the first bit of the run hard (uphill and into the wind) but then coming back much easier (I could feel the wind blowing my legs)- I managed the whole route in 29 mins, and I think recently my quickest time for that route was 32 mins, so I am pretty pleased. Once home I had some lovely coconut water to rehydrate and also coz it tastes lovely!

I have decided to miss aerobics tomorrow for a few reasons- 1- I think I will be tempted to go a bit too high impact. 2- It saves me money as if I am going and do low impact I may as well do something at home. 3- I will do my 2 mile run tomorrow as on Wednesday I have a lot of work to do and so do not want to be more rushed for time. Thursday I am having my hair cut straight after work, and then will have more work to do in the evening (stuff that the kids are not doing til Wednesday and needs a lot of marking etc. by Friday, annoying as I can’t do it any earlier)- so might manage a walk or some yoga or something like that. Friday I am being picked up from work at 3.30pm to go straight to the airport, so nothing on that day either. It feels weird not doing much exercise after so long of doing a lot more, but I know that my leg still work. I just have to focus on one foot in front of the other. If I get there as now there is another volcano ash cloud apparently. Fingers crossed people, fingers crossed!

I am thinking that a marathon abroad is much more stressful than doing one down the road! And (how exciting) I had a reader request (oooooh sounds like a real blog) to put the link on for the Stockholm marathon website, so I will sort that out later in the week and of course I expect you all to be glued to your computers all of Saturday looking for updates as I pass the checkpoints. Or I will pretend you will as it will give me some incentive to keep going! Night for now 🙂

Final review

Ahhhhhhh!

That is how my brain feels! I keep having dreams about the marathon- about running too slow, or not passing the checkpoints in time, or not being able to see the pacer runners, or just not actually running it for some reason. I am not sure how I can take a whole week of these nerves!

Anyway, one of my main worries was breakfast- I like porridge and really thought about this aspect far too late. Not sure if our hotel does breakfast (we think it does but not 100%)- I looked on google to see if there are Starbucks in Stockholm as they do porridge (apparently one at the airport so no use for the morning), then for MacDonalds (but then when I looked on the Swedish MD site they did not list porridge on the menu). Anyway, when looking on Ocado at our shopping I spied a tub of grasshopper porridge (like the Stoats ones I tried but never see in the shops)- all you do it add hot water. Enter stage 2. Do we have a kettle in our room? If we have breakfast provided could I take the pot and use the hot water from the coffee machines? Etc. Anyway, I considered buying a travel kettle but then I rang my Mum and it turns out she has one (well, in fact 2, but I only need 1!). So now my breakfast is sorted. Phew.

Today I also did some more baking (no food processor this time). Andy requested blondies, and I saw this recipe and decided to have a go. In the end I used my normal blondies recipe from Bake by Rachel Allen, and then copied the icing idea from that blog. They look good and we had a little nibble from the offcuts when I was slicing them.

I can not slice things into even sized pieces! Dearie me. Anyway, luckily we took these to Andy’s parents so they won’t be around to tempt us.

(This was not the off-cut, it just shows the layer of blondie and icing)

Onto the review. It was a different week as I had the 2 runs last Saturday and Sunday, so I have not really done much running this week.

Monday- Yoga podcast and a walk- rest day really

Tuesday- Aerobics

Wednesday- 5 mile run after work (work was a school trip so lots of walking and stress!)

Thursday- Body pump- lower weights for legs etc again.

Friday- Rest day- was going to have a walk but went to see my Nan instead.

Saturday- 7 mile run- fab 🙂

Sunday- Yoga/ rest day

Total miles- 12 miles!

I am feeling a bit antsy now, but I keep telling myself that this is how I am supposed to feel???

Also, I am not sure about going to aerobics this week? I could go and do lower impact stuff, but then am I better to save money (and time) and go on a gentle run straight after work instead? At the moment I am leaning towards the second option, but I am not sure. I think that I will be tempted to fling myself about a bit too much if I do end up going.

Anyway, the packing has started (very slowly) and I am going to wear my running trainers on the plane to save space in my hand luggage, and have as much as I can with me (all the essentials) just in case.

Regarding the sports bra incident is that I have 2, so I will be taking the other one with me! And I have had them a while (well, since earlier this year or maybe the Autumn?) and they have not done that to be before, so I will be double checking before I leave the hotel room! 🙂

Also I got an email saying that it is going to be broadcast on-line, and also as it records our chip times every 5k approx that they will be on the net too, so I have already emailed my Mum and Dad with the details so they can sit glued to their computer for 5 hours on a Saturday afternoon, or is that being unrealistic??

Right, enough of my rambling. I am off.