Category: Reviews

I can’t believe that Jantastic has come to an end! At the start I was just easing back into running after having to have time out due to my hip/ lower back problems.

This final week has been a bit quieter than some weeks.

Monday- Rest (quite sore after my 8.5 miles on Sunday).

Tuesday- Gentle 3 miles (which were faster than I thought).

Wednesday- Sweatshop short run- just over 4 miles in the end.

Thursday- Rest

Friday- Rest

Saturday- Parkrun plus a couple of laps of the lake= 5 miles overall. I had aimed for 10 miles for Jantastic, but I was too tired for that and had a lot of work, so decided to be sensible.

Sunday- Walking around Whipsnade Park – this was my treat from Andy for getting all my work done on Saturday (and apart from going to the shops to get something for dinner I worked until the end of Match of the Day so really felt I deserved it!). We walked quite a long way I think!

I did my time trial this week. In the end my sensible guess was 28.59, as my previous off road times had been 30.36 and 29.41, and I felt I could go a bit faster. Although I had such a tiring week with some very late nights (working until 10pm one night, gone midnight another) so I felt almost like I had jet lag by Friday evening. Anyway, I pushed hard and got around in 28.36 so I am pretty happy with that. The idea is to predict how fit you are, so I am pleased I was so close. I do love running on the grass but I am looking forward to the flat course again, although who knows when that will be as the paths are still flooded. Crazy.

Pancakes (lovely buckwheat ones) of course when I got home!

Because I am not working towards any races at the moment (thumbs down to the rock and roll series) it would be easy to think that I have had just a normal running week. But if I look back over the 12 weeks I am really pleased with what I have achieved. Some weeks I didn’t fancy a run, or the amount of miles, but the fact that I had to log my runs persuaded me to go out. I also managed a pb at the Bath half marathon- I found that race tough, but then probably I should find a pb tough? I have also been running slightly further midweek than I have for a while.

Now the clocks have gone forward we shall be going cross country with Sweatshop, which I just love (although have to watch my footing), and I am at the moment perusing race websites to try and find things to sign up for.

Any race recommendations? What races do you have planned at the moment? Jantasticans: what are you proud of achieving? 

I can’t believe that I am in the final week of Jantastic!

So, how did last week go?

Well it was a busy one.

Monday- 3 miles after work-all I could fit in.

Tuesday- Rest

Wednesday- Sweatshop- 5 miles including 3 fast ones.

Thursday- Pump. It was the new release. Apparently some of the tracks are easier, which means you have to go heavier. I hate that. For example they now think that for squats you have to go 3 or 4 times your warm up weight. I can’t even lift that amount, let alone sit it on my shoulder, and you can forget lifting it off my head once the track ends. I did go heavier for biceps and paid for that the rest of the weekend. The back track is also weird, loads of rows (they must have heard me say how I hate the wide triple rows). The abs track had the hoover back which is good as I find all the ab crunches a bit boring and I am never sure how effective they are. The music wasn’t great (except for The Killers track) although I say this every time and usually the tracks grow on me.

Friday- 2 miles at school for Sport Relief, plus a walk around the lakes.

Saturday- Rest. Well, cleaning plus a few hours at the allotment (including finally using our new push along lawn mower to mow the paths. That was hard work- I have the bruises to prove it!).

Sunday- 6 miles for Sport Relief, plus run home=8.5 miles, and a walk around town.

18 miles for the week might not sound like much but it is a lot for me. I am really pleased with how it went.

I still have to sort out my predicted time. I did look to see if I could change the distance, but no, it will only let me change the time. I am going to attempt it tomorrow if my legs are feeling rested (they are sore today) and then probably go to Parkrun on Saturday, but of course it is the off road route so I will change the prediction a bit- maybe aim for 29 on the dot.

Now lets zoom in on Saturday.

I was super shattered after last week so had a lie in and very lazy morning- after reading in bed for ages I had a lovely breakfast of apple, granola and milk with a tea.

Andy went to the allotment earlier while I stayed at home to do some cleaning and stuff, and I also made a cake as my Dad was coming around to help with the gardening too. I was going to make an apple cake, but flicking through the Clandestine Cake Club book I found a recipe for Pumpkin cake, and as I have a surplus of tinned pumpkin I went for it. Plus the air was still cool with that almost autumnal feel so I thought it would go. I still had some of the lovely lemon infused oil so I used that instead of plain oil in the recipe and I think the lemon flavour went really well with the pumpkin and spices.

I didn’t have any brown sugar so used golden caster sugar and a tbs of treacle to give it that flavour. While it was baking I was so efficient and got on with loads of cleaning and tidying and filing away paperwork- such a good feeling to get that all sorted.

I was going to head up to the allotment later and so had one of these lovely Pulsin bars (I was so excited to find these last week in a local shop) for some energy before all the planting and mowing and weeding.

I made some icing for the cake which I left to set in the fridge while we worked, and then spread it over the top once we got back.

We got back at around 5pm, after a few hours of work, so we all enjoyed a slice with a cup of tea- I was so cold!

If you have done it, how do you find the new pump release? And do you ever manage the proportions of weights that they suggest?

Double figures! Amazing!

I do love challenges like this as they really show how far you have come- at the start 3 months seemed a long time but it really is flying by.

So, how did this week go? I am having trouble remembering!

Monday- Went for a sports massage after work- a lot of work on my shoulder which really helped.

Tuesday- Short run after work around the little fields near me and up and down a little lane. I found it really tough, my calves were so tight but I did remind myself that after a hard race it takes one day per mile to recover, so in theory I would need 13 days after Bath before being back to normal again.

Wednesday- The Hill with Sweatshop, plus an extra sprint when someone took a wrong turning! I was pleased that I found it much better than the day before, and managed over 5 miles which is not bad for an evening after work.

Thursday- Pump. Why do the lunges never get any easier? I ended up with a sore shoulder that evening, which I think was from lifting a table at work (not recommended) and not pump at all.

I was sent some of these patches to try so on Friday I wore one of the heat ones (they are unscented which is good)- it did help and my shoulder was loads better. I will do a more detailed review at some point.

Friday- Went to see my Nan after work, then just chilled out all evening.

Saturday- I had decided to go to parkrun as I had not been in weeks, but I also knew I had pledged 6 miles. Neither my Dad or brother were going which made my decision easier; I went and did the off road route which was great. There is a little hill (and you repeat the loop 3 times) and there was the most enthusiastic marshal at the top of the hill EVER! I love her! She was cheering everyone up, shouting out motivating words, and generally being a beacon of cheerfulness at the top of the hill.

Then I got my chip scanned (in super quick time), got my mp3 player from the car and went to do the normal route. I had heard that a bit of the path was still under water, which was why we were using the off-road route, but both ends of the lake was underwater, the public toilets were still flooded, and even some of the paths at the sides were covered. So my route ended up being all over the grass. I topped it up to just over 6 miles, and then headed home via the post office.

Mornflake have sent me some lovely porridge and breakfast goodies- this will keep me going for months!

Then after some baking (more on that another day), cleaning and tidying, I walked around town to pick up some bits, and then went to the allotment and did about an hour of weeding. A pretty active day.

Sunday- We went out for breakfast (we tried Carluccio’s but I think there are much nicer places), wandered around town, went to see my parents and then came home and did some work while Andy watched the Grand Prix, then went to his parents. I was going to do yoga but we got home rather late and more work was in order.

Anyway, another good week. 3 runs ticked off, and the distance ticked off too. Although I was planning on doing parkrun as my timed 5k, but it looks to be the off road course for a good few weeks so I might have to adjust my predicted time. I had a go at guessing (having only done that course once before)- my guess was 29.29, and in the end my official time was 29.41 so not bad (but a lot slower than the normal flat course).

I also signed up to do 6 miles for Sports Relief on Sunday. I am meant to be running 8 miles, but it is about 2 miles away so I am thinking that Andy can drop me off and then I can run home- perfect! I do feel a bit antsy when I don’t have any races in my diary, and now the Oslo one is cancelled I have nothing else to plan for, so it is great to have something on.

I had to check that I got the week number right!

So, how did this week go following on from the Bath half?

Monday- total rest day! I was having a bit of trouble walking. I was going to do some yoga in the evening but was pretty sore so opted for a bath with some salts in there instead.

Tuesday- Went for a little run after work- was going to go for about 3 miles and felt fine at the start, but after 2 miles I suddenly felt tired and my legs were very sore, so I went home and did a bit of yoga and some foam rolling.

Wednesday- Went to Sweatshop. I nearly turned around and ran by myself, but I had texted my brother so knew he was going. We ran together at the back but it was great to catch up and the miles sped by. When I got home I realised I had run 4.5 miles, so ran to the end of the road and back to top it up to 5.

Thursday- Pump. Ouch! I had missed 3 weeks so I was expecting it to be tough.

Friday- Rest. I was going to do yoga, and then some cleaning and bits when I got home, but I had a headache so just had a cup of tea and lay on the sofa with the TV on.

Saturday- Had a lovely walk to and from the shops in the sunshine.

Capris! No running tights! This was at about 8 in the morning and it was already gorgeous and sunny.

Sunday- 6ish mile run in the morning (spent a lot of it mucking about on the fields looking at maps and birds and things), then around a 3 mile walk around the lakes in the afternoon. Loved the sunshine!

Muddy trainers are also very happy (I was taking photos of the fields and things and so took a picture of my shoes too, as you do).

At one point there was a red kite swooping so low, it’s markings were so clear, but of course in the photo it looks like a tiny dot.

I found a new bit of field too, although the new path further on was far too boggy so I retraced my steps. A lot of stopping and starting of my Garmin (when I remembered). It was so fun to just be out wandering about, not worrying about time or pace or anything else, just being outside. That is what I love most about running.

After my run I was pretty thirsty and so had a drink and an apple, as we were going to go to breakfast. We showered and headed out but when we got to the Waffle House the car park was full and the queue was out the door, so we came home again and had pancakes.

Later on I got my car washed (what a treat) and while we were waiting for that we went for a cold drink in a fairly new coffee shop as we had been walking around the lakes in the sunshine. Well, we weren’t that impressed- several things were not right including the barista asking me how to make the drink as she had not had training yet! (I don’t blame her but I do think they should have training! Or at least a sheet that tells them how to make all the drinks). Anyway I have emailed them because I was charged for the wrong size (but didn’t realised until we were leaving) and a few other things- it has been open for at least a month so it is not as if it was their first weekend.

Anyway, I have got sidetracked. Jantastic week 9 done- 3 runs complete, distance target complete, no attempt at my time trial yet.

How did you enjoy the sunshine this weekend?

Fellow Jantasticans- we are on to double figures! The end of the challenge is in sight! Give yourself a pat on the back and tell me what you have been proud of achieving over these past two months.

Does that work?

I feel like there is a better rhyme there but I can’t find it.

Anyway, first up thanks for all the comments on my last post. I feel I must explain something; I always used to have breakfast, wait a couple of hours and then go on my long runs. But that ate into my day and I found that I could run better before breakfast as so many things I eat normally don’t agree with me before I run. So I started going out before breakfast, and having a few dates before longer runs (say 8 miles and over) for a little boost. That has all been fine (and for my 12 miles a few weeks ago that was what I did). I also used to have something to eat during a half marathon- most recently jelly beans but then I stopped finding them good- I ended up with a stomach ache and also that horrible sugary feeling in my mouth. Anyway, I do realise that I should find some source of fuel that agrees with me while I run- I am happy for suggestions! (I did try a few gels when marathon training but they made me feel very sick indeed so I am not sure if I fancy trying any more).

OK, pancakes first.

Yummy coconut flour pancakes for breakfast on Saturday, along with a cooked apple, flaked almonds and some nutella.

They even looked like real pancakes when they were cooking!

Today I had some pancakes for dinner. I used half wholegrain spelt and half plain flour, egg and milk for the batter, and then topped (filled?) with sundried tomato pesto, avocado and a little bit of lime juice.

I am going to make sweet pancakes later on once my marking is done, because if you can’t have double pancakes on Shrove Tuesday then when can you?

And now for the review:

Monday- I ran up to Tesco’s in the pouring rain to get some bits for dinner. 3 miles (and a bit).

Tuesday- Rest day.

Wednesday- Run with Sweatshop. Think I ended up doing about 4.5 miles, with the middle 3 miles a bit faster.

Thursday- Pump was off so had a walk when I got home and decided to embrace the extra rest.

Friday- Yoga. This was just what I needed after a busy week.

Saturday- Walking around shops/ to and from car/ football ground.

Sunday- Bath half marathon.

Another successful week- 3 runs completed, mileage target hit.

And so now we are on to March. For those of you who have not signed up for it, in March you say how many runs per week you will do, the length of your longest run for each week, and then a target time for any distance of your choosing. I panicked and filled mine out without much thought, as I have no races now.

Last year I had a shocker when I predicted I would do 27 hours instead of 27 minutes for a 5k- that knocked my score right down! This time you had to fill in with the hours:mins:seconds so I couldn’t make that mistake again.

I have chosen a 5k again, mainly because I miss going to parkruns and it is easy to find out my time for that distance. I did find a fairly local 10 mile run, but have not signed up to it yet so didn’t choose that. But I have chosen a rather optimistic time (and if our local parkrun doesn’t get off the cross country route then I stand no chance)- but anyway it is just for fun after all.

Who enjoyed pancakes today?