General ramblings - Maria Runs

Green Smoothie!

Somewhat inspired by a few bloggers- Jessica, Laura and especially Lucy who was very convincing in her arguement that you cannot taste the spinach- I had my first green smoothie today! I got a link from Laura’s site to the actual green monster website (who knew there was such a thing!!) and made it pretty simple. (I also had a yummy food doctor pitta and pear)

It looked like a lot of spinach to me, but it was only 40g, with a frozen banana, a tsp ground flax seeds, and topped up with about 250ml Kara coconut milk, and some xanthan gum to thicken.

I tasted a bit with a spoon from the blender, in case I needed to add anything else, but it seemed pretty tasty.

Super green!

It would not even fit in the glass- I had to drink some and then top it up!

Verdict? I could taste the banana and coconut milk, but I really could not taste the spinach. I normally make smoothies with juice (I don’t make them often as I find they give me a bit of a sugar rush) but actually it was much nicer with the coconut milk.

I might even have another one tomorrow! I had spinach in my fridge to add to a lasagne which I am planning on making tomorrow, so I must save some for that! The only problem will be what to add!

As the day has gone on, my back (I think it was actually the bit of the glutes which was massaged this morning) has felt more and more tender, and when I was walking to the post office my calves felt sore. Other parts feel a bit sore, but I feel like I have a good amount of energy. I got outside and washed my car (my goodness it was filthy!) and then went in the garden for a bit.

Look at my pretty tulips;

Dinner was some delicious chilli (really easy- roasted pepper and aubergine, cooked with kidney beans, tomatoes and lazy chilli) served with some Food Doctor easy cook quinoa + nutritional yeast.

This quinoa was so easy! It is pre cooked, so you just tear open the pouch and either serve cold, or cook in the microwave for 2 mins. The perfect intro to quinoa if you are unsure how to cook it.

So, what should I put in my smoothie tomorrow?– votes on a postcard please. Or perhaps leaving a comment would be quicker 🙂

First sports massage

Ouch!

And I signed up for an offer, 3 for 2, so I have to go back!

Actually it was not as bad as I feared. Thanks to the advice I had a little idea of what to expect. I wore shorts and a vest, and walked up as it is about 20 mins away. When I got there I had a little chat with her about why I was having one done, she asked me about any sore or tight spots, and then told me what she would do (glutes, hamstrings, calves, quads, ITB, neck and shoulders).

I was panicking this morning about having to take my clothes off (silly me- I know she has seen it all before) but she said to keep my shorts on (and she had towels all over the place). I was rather surprised when she rolled down the waistband of my shorts to get to the glutes.

We chatted all the way through (as she is a runner too) which did help to relax me, although at some points it was hard to hold a conversation. It began with discomfort, but some spots were pretty sore and were quite painful. I am a bit of a wimp with pain, but she was really pushing her fingers into the muscle.

When she was working on my shoulders and neck at the end, I could feel things almost popping. They were stiff this morning after the run yesterday, so I suppose they really needed it.

I have to decide when to have my next one, so I am going to see how I feel tomorrow. Walking home I could already feel sore spots in different places (but I was told that I could feel bruised in places), and my legs feel a bit weird, almost like when you get the feeling back after having pins and needles.

All in all, I am glad I went for it, as a lot of my muscles were very tight, and I can already feel that I can move my shoulders better now. Plus at least when I go back, I will know what to expect.

For the rest of the day, I am pottering around. I was most excited to see that the seeds I planted the other week have popped up!

So I am going to pot them on this afternoon. It is such lovely weather so I am looking forward to getting outside. I might have another walk later too.

Onto other things- I finished watching the London Marathon highlights. Seeing how fast the elite runners go is just crazy- I am in awe of their speed! I just find it so inspiring- especially all these people running for charities. I was starting to feel a bit guilty as I am not raising money for charity for my marathon, and due to the timing I am not doing a Race for Life either (I normally raise money for that each year) but I am signed up for the Great South Run, and I am going to do that for charity, so I will still be doing something this year. I decided that I wanted to run it for myself, and if I was collecting sponsorship it would be extra pressure and I would feel like I was letting people down if I didn’t manage it. Although it is a great opportunity to raise money, I want to do it for me, and me alone.

Anyway, if you have not already, look here to see the race recap of Rose. I have loved reading her marathon training journey, and you can read her London Marathon report if you pop along to her blog. Well done Rose 🙂

Rob has some interesting lessons from his recent Paris marathon (in very hot weather too) which is also worth a look. I should be taking notes I think!

One thing that did occur to me was the pointlessness of the texting in- BBC had a scrolling bar with messages of good luck texted in- but surely if you are running it you cannot see the messages? Anyway, marathon fever is starting to get to me now!!! The Stockholm marathon website is going to become one of my “favourites” soon I think! Although I was glad to see they have pace runners (for 5.00, 5.15 and 5.30- well and faster but these are the ones that I will be near). Thanks Alison for talking some sense into me (I am a bit panicked as the course shuts after 6 hours which does not give me much breathing space)- having the pacer runners has made me feel better, as I am sure there will be others running at that pace.

Right I am beginning to ramble way too much now, so I am going to go now!

Laters! 🙂

More gluten free baking

Hey

Before I head off to Italy I was due to meet up with some friends, including my friend with coeliacs. When I saw the quinoa flour the other day, I decided it would be perfect to try out in place of regular flour in some baking.

I found a brownie recipe in the Great British Book of Baking (a Christmas present which I have not yet used), and the recipe only needed 50g flour. So I thought it would be a good place to start.

I left out the nuts in the end, as my pack of pistachios said they were packed on a line that also handled gluten. The recipe was a standard brownie recipe- melt chocolate and butter, add eggs, vanilla, sugar, then stir in cocoa powder, flour and nuts. I baked them for a little longer than the recipe said, as although I like them squidgy, they were really really gooey. But they turned out really well. 🙂 I was a little apprehensive, as on the packet of quinoa flour, it said that it was typically used in savoury recipes (and it did smell like the packet of quinoa) but actually the brownies are very sweet. I needn’t have worried- we all enjoyed them anyway!

Before I headed round there I had time for one more run. I was supposed to do 5 miles, but in the end the weather was so lovely and I was feeling great, so I ended up doing 6.8 miles (in 69 mins- my fastest ever I think!). I kept my Nike+ on pace, and kept an eye- on the flat, down hill and gentle uphills I was under 10 min miles. I was feeling so strong (perhaps the slice of fruit cake- Andy’s birthday cake- last night was the key?)- the weather was fab as the breeze was cold, so in my vest and capris I was cold so I had to run fast to warm up. On the steep uphills I was slower, which is why my pace overall was a shade over 10 min miles. But for me, sustaining that pace on a longer run is great going.

Once home I had some yummy pudding- (sorry it looks like a mess- I mash it all up the sides and did not want to waste a bowl on making it look presentable!)- mashed banana, 15g ground flaxseeds, tsp carob powder (literally, 5g or something), a tsp (15gish) pb, and left to set in the fridge. Yummy! I topped it with a pear, and alongside some alpro milk with nesquick it was filling enough to be lunch! So good.

So, I am off for a few days. No guest posts lined up or anything like that (I am not that organised- also have no idea of the logistics of that)- enjoy the next few days 🙂

Another awesome run

Hello!

I hope everyone is having a lovely day.

I had a 10 mile run to fit in today (around appointments, packing, jobs at home), and in the end headed out at about half 10. The weather was beautiful (more suncream on first)- sunny with a light breeze. I put my Nike+ on pace, as I knew the route I was doing was about 10 miles as it was a section of the 13 miles I did the other day. I kept an eye on it the whole time, and I managed to keep a steady warm up pace of about 10.05-10.09, except for the hills which I slowed down to around 10.45ish. I was worried I would feel tired, as after all our walking around London yesterday I felt shattered in the evening. But I was fine. Later on I upped the pace for a couple of miles at faster pace- these averaged at 9.54 which I was pretty pleased with.

I was just so happy to be out there. The route goes around the lakes, and then after a bit through some country lanes, and there were flowers out, bees out, birds singing, blue sky…. and I spent some time reflecting on how far I have come. When I started training for this, a 10 mile run was hard work, and left for a weekend long run. Now I can manage them after work, and it does not tire me out for the rest of the day. So I can see I am improving. I was glad to enjoy it too, as although the majority of my runs have been good, for example the 18 miler last week was really tough, and although I know it will not all be plain sailing, I primarily run because I love it, so it was a pleasure to have that today.

Before I left I got an email from No Meat Athelete (does anyone else subscribe to these?)- with some special links to download. There were 3 interviews with various vegan/ vegetarians (including Scott Jurek)- I listened to the Brendan Brazier interview today and it was so interesting. So if you would be interested, sign up to the no meat athelete email (click on the link at the start of this paragraph) and you should get the link for them.

One thing he said that made so much sense to me was to mentally break the marathon into quarters. The first 2 quarters should feel easy, as people would have run half marathons before, and you would be running at a slower pace. The third quarter is apparently mentally the toughest,, but then by the final quarter, you don’t have long to go, and the end is in sight etc. That really made sense to me, and I think that is how I am going to “arrange” my race.

Once home (10.5 miles in 1 hour 48) I was so thirsty (I did take a bottle of water + nuun with me, and it lasted until close to the end), so I had some alpro milk with nesquick. Yummy. And a honey stick bar.

After my shower it was lunch;

Those are red pears (they were on offer in Waitrose)- very soft pears in fact that are not red on the inside. But they are tasty. Plus a delicious food doctor pitta with some brazil cacao spread (I could not wait to try it!). And a fridge apple- great in this weather.

And- big news! After umming and ahhing for a while, I have booked my first sports massage! Eek! I have one booked for the day after my next 18 miler (and apparently the person doing the massage is also running “THE marathon” so hopefully will know how sore my legs will be)- and I signed up for 3, so I think I will see how that one goes and then possibly have one after the 20 miler and one after the actual day itself. Maybe. Or I will be so scared after the first one that I won’t go back! Haha!

Anyway, my packing is coming along nicely- so much harder than a normal holiday, as I don’t normally even take a hairdryer with me, but as we are going to a wedding I feel like I need to look presentable. Might even take some mascara with me- steady on now!

Laters 🙂

Fab Sunday + weekly review

Hey!

Thanks for all the comments- you are all so complimentary (especially of my post run red face pic!). My hair is straight, but also very thick, so it gets done with straighteners at the hairdressers to properly flatten it down. It is the one thing I always like, as it has always been really healthy (you know, you have days when you feel puffy, or have bad skin or whatever)- even if I went to sleep with it wet and it is a total mess, and have to tie it up, I still like it.

Anyway, today I went on a wander around London. There were all signs everywhere warning of the closures next week (anyone running London this year?)- very exciting! The weather was so beautiful and we just wandered around for ages (I have no idea where, we did go to lots of parks, by the London Eye, up the Mall and some more parks), and it was perfect. We also went in a little Wholefoods store, (no choc pb though) where I got some mini cartons of almond milk, and some brazil cacao spread. Yum.

So onto the review.

This week went a little something like this:

Monday- 8 mile run. Which went well considering I did 18/19 miles on the previous Saturday. Did not take any water with me and so was so thirsty by the time I got home.

Tuesday- Aerobics- all good.

Wednesday- 4 mile run in the sunshine- attempted some intervals but due to pavement works and sore-ish shins I eased off.

Thursday- the most awesome body pump workout! Upped some weights and was feeling great!

Friday- Rest (eg wander around shops before haircut). Starving all day which I think showed how hard the body pump was.

Saturday- 13.1 miles, again in the heat. Finished that fine though.

Sunday- Rest. Several hours of walking around London.

Total miles- 25.

Lessons? I am getting the balance of snacks right. My fave running outfit is a vest and capris so I think I will be planning on taking those with me to the race. I need to be more careful at applying suncream (the shock absorber run bra – racer back- combined with a normal vest gives some interesting tan patches!).

I still have 7 weeks to go, but that is feeling very close now. I suppose it is proper spring marathon time now, what with Paris, London, Boston, Brighton etc. Next week is going to be a bit funny, as on Tuesday night we are off to Italy for a wedding, and not back until late Saturday. So my idea is to run Monday and Tuesday this week, and then rest while away. We always do loads of walking so I am not too worried about having a break of a few days. When we get back we have a family day out that Sunday, so I am going to do my 18 miles on the Monday (as it is the Easter holidays for us lucky teachers). I am hoping this will be ok. Any thoughts on this?

I am off to watch the rest of the grand prix now

🙂