Running - Maria Runs

Chilling out

So, the Easter holidays are finally here. Hooray.

I did bring home a boot full of work, but I decided to have today totally off.

I was tempted by parkrun, but my brother was not going, and so I decided to not set the alarm and just head out on a run when I woke up- in the end I was out at about 9am anyway.

I saw these on offer in Waitrose the other week and thought they might be good for a pre run energy boost (or for taking along to half marathons with me). I had the blackcurrant one before I set off as I felt a little hungry. I headed into the fields and did just over 5 miles. It was pretty chilly to begin with and at first I was regretting my t-shirt, but of course after a couple of miles I was warm. It was windy out there though.

Earlier in the week Sainsbury’s sent me a lovely Easter picnic selection, including some hot cross buns. The Taste the Difference ones went into the freezer as their date was imminent (shows they are fresh), so this morning we had a gluten free one for breakfast.

I had one half with coconut butter and (home-made) blackcurrant jam, and lemon curd on the other. It was very tasty, although the glaze was very sticky!

I spent the day pottering about at home- doing the usual Saturday cleaning jobs, plus finally getting around to jobs like sorting out my drawer of running clothes- my clothes are back into neat piles although I am not sure how long it will last! I had to pop to town to get Andy a few bits, and had a chai latte to warm me up- my hands were so cold they had gone all red and itchy.

Andy is out and I had not really thought about dinner- we had some leftover sourdough so I mashed an avocado with some lime juice, basil infused oil and a little salt, and topped it on the toasted bread. That must be one of the best speedy meals ever!!! Could be improved by adding in some chopped tomato, but I didn’t have any (and didn’t think to buy any while I was out). Plus some tomato soup we had in the cupboard. I didn’t enjoy the soup much though- I used to love this soup so I am not sure why.

I then spent the evening re-purposing a Christmas cake for Andy’s birthday (he doesn’t read this!). Basically the other day I was tidying up and found a cake tin on the side- I thought it was empty but I picked it up to move it and it was heavy. Turns out there was a Christmas cake in there, complete with a Christmas tree decoration. I think I baked it to try out a recipe that Sainsbury’s sent me, but then I went ahead and made my normal batch of cakes, so forgot about it. Luckily he had requested a fruit cake for his birthday, so I just had to remove the Christmas tree and find a good way to hide the green stain on the white icing.

I found some cute minibeast cupcakes in the book I was sent, but thought they would look a little strange like that, so adapted them a bit. The ladybirds didn’t turn out too well, so they went in the bin.

But the bees look cute I think.

Well the eyes were very hard to make- the black icing warmed up so quickly and more of it stuck to my hands than the bees- one of them is wearing sunglasses I have decided.

At least now it looks like a birthday cake!

How do you like to spend your chill out days?

Jantastic week 12- the final countdown!

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?

Cleaning out the freezer

Hey peeps

This has been a very busy week! At the moment we get our shopping delivered on a Tuesday evening, and I had ordered a few bits to go in the freezer. I often freeze things but I never label them (should be a resolution really)- there were questionable baked goods from ages ago, and rather sadly I found a stollen that I think I made 2 years ago. Yup. So we had a good clear out.

I knew I had a busy week ahead so bought some bean burgers- they had a spice rating (I am sure it was called that) of mild, so I thought they would be OK. Along with some sweet potato fries and a salad, this was lovely (and hooray, not too spicy). I had some melon as a starter (well it would not have gone well on the plate I don’t think).

We also found this ice cream buried under bags of frozen fruit so we finished it. A benefit of not organising the freezer is nice surprises like this.

There has been some running this week- my legs were so stiff on Monday so I had a rest, then on Tuesday went out for an out and back 3 miles. I felt like I was going so slow, but each time I looked at my watch I was doing sub 10 min miles so actually not as slow as I felt. I got home and wondered if I should have attempted my time trial.

On Wednesday I was off to Sweatshop- I started off trying to keep up with the speedy girl, but that didn’t last too long (until the first traffic light- she can really speed away from a standing start). I ran with someone else and we both kept saying it was a bit fast for us, but we kept going. We managed an 8.31 and 8.45 miles (the others I am not sure as I started it on the way up so they are skewed by me stopping it partway through)- phew. We even managed to keep another girl in sight, and normally I can’t see her after the first mile, so that was good.

Last night I didn’t go to pump as we had a family thing. My only strength workout was carrying the huge pile of books, work and folders to my car, up my stairs (and this morning back to work). Although I am not sure I would have managed as the last two nights I have had so much to do- was up til half 12 last night so I think I would have had to skip pump anyway.

Tonight I am off to The Waffle House after work with some friends, so no running today. I am off to parkrun tomorrow, so hopefully my legs will be rested and I can have a real go at the time. Although I have also put down that I will run 10 miles this weekend- not sure if that is going to happen.

Are you good at cleaning out your freezer/ labelling what is in there?

Had a good week?

Jantastic week 11

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?

Sport Relief 6 miles

So this morning I woke up early to have some porridge before my run.

I was feeling quite relaxed about the whole thing, as it wasn’t chip timed or anything I felt like there was less pressure for some reason. After pottering about a bit I got dressed and Andy dropped me off at the sports centre. The directions just said “head to the athletics track”. Well, I did, along with about 5 other people. I am not kidding! I was there about 20 minutes before it was due to start, and gradually a few more people turned up. A lady came to chat to me as I was on my own- she was going to do the 6 miles but had a cold so had decided to stop at 3.

At around 10.25 we were ushered to the running track and told: 12 laps for 3 miles, 24 laps for 6 miles- keep a track of how many laps you do yourself- I was glad I had my Garmin as I was sure I would lose count otherwise!

We did a little warm up (well needed as it was freezing) and then were counted down. I was not keen on the idea of 24 laps- I was worried that I would get rather bored. But in fact it was not too bad- the laps went down quite quickly. There was a mixture of 3 and 6 mile runners- there was one lady in front of me who was going just that bit faster, but in the end she turned out to be a 3 miler- I was only around half a lap behind her when she stopped so I was pleased she didn’t lap me (and I did think that if I was doing the shorter distance I could have kept up with her). I was lapped in about my 4th lap I think by some fast 3 milers. At around the same time I was also lapping other people- there were quite a few people doing it in little groups who were run/walking, and also an amazing lady who was doing the whole thing using a push along walking support thing (not sure what they are called)- she did about 1/4 of a lap for each one lap I did, so I went past her several times and a few times she encouraged me on (and me to her too). I lapped the lady I was chatting to at the start, as she was coming up to her final lap, so it was nice to wish her well.

At this time I realised that most people (and I tried to count- I think there were about 30 people running) were stopping at 3 miles- I almost chickened out at that point but for Jantastic I had said I would do 8 miles so needed to keep going. Plus it was actually quite therapeutic- as you went around one corner you were into the wind a bit, but then of course it was behind you for the rest, and there was music being played and other people to watch.

After I had done about 4 miles more people were turning up at the track as there was a one mile run at 11.30- I really wanted to be finished by then. There was one man running and he finished when I had 2 laps to go- by this point all the one milers were doing their warm up (the lovely marshals were having to ask them to mind out of the way as I was coming through).

Finally I was on my last lap! I was about half way around when the one milers set off, so I really went for it as I wanted to finish on my own (my final mile was 8.38- my fastest). I was the first female haha! There were 2 girls who finished about a lap behind me- no prizes of course but you have to be in it to win it! It took me 56.07 for 6.05 miles (all that overtaking!!). I looked up my pb for 10K, which is 56.14, so I was pretty close to that. And the best thing is that I felt comfortable- in the back of my mind I knew I had to run home, so I could not go crazy, but except for the final lap where I really went for it, I felt like I was running pretty hard, but still in control.

One of the guys gave me my medal and some water, and I took a few photos of the milers going around the track, although the dark clouds were looming at that point so I didn’t hang around.

I was pretty cold on the way home- it rained a bit and I was unlucky with traffic lights too. At one point I was waiting and noticed that my watch said 7.99 miles- I even tried sticking my arm into the road in case that would get to the 8 miles (you know, otherwise that mile would be a lot slower) but it didn’t work. In total I ran 8.5 miles, not too shabby.

I was hungry after that!

I had a few chocolate truffles and a drink, before a hot shower and pancakes for lunch.

After finishing the lovely buckwheat pancake mix ages ago I have been hunting far and wide, and found it last weekend, so I had some of that. One with blackcurrant curd, and the others with chocolate pb, plus some melon.

I really enjoyed it in the end. I was feeling a bit apprehensive at the start when there were hardly any people there- I had visions of me running around on my own, but actually I do prefer smaller races. It was good to not have to worry about crowds, and because there were more runs later on, I didn’t feel like I was holding up the staff or anything. If I had needed to drive there, there was plenty of parking, and “real” toilets, and really friendly marshals too.

A nice morning out 🙂