Category: Running

Hey peeps

I hope everyone has had a good week- I have been trying to take it a bit easy before the half marathon tomorrow (eek).

Wednesday -which apparently was Running Day or something? As if you can ONLY run on those days- I saw a comment on a blog (a blog I find very annoying but I can’t get it out of my dashboard so I sometimes read it to annoy myself- it worked) going on about national doughnut day, and someone commented “I wish we had national doughnut day here in Canada”– Why? I mean, I am sure there are Tim Hortons on every corner- just buy one if you want one- they are on sale every other day too). Ahem. Anyway, on Wednesday I went to the Sweatshop run, and we went for the fields route. I didn’t want to go too fast, and so I ran near/ at the back most of the time. I chatted to the guy from the store (and even got complimented at the end for my even pacing- pretty much 9.32-9.42 per mile), and enjoyed being out in the sunshine, although I was super hot when I got back!

I made us cold chai lattes to cool down with – almond milk, Tea India marsala chai and some chai syrup (just a little splash- maybe a tbs between us). I love that unsweetened almond milk.

On Thursday I went to get my haircut as body pump wasn’t on- good timing really as I think even though I say I will have lighter weights I still end up with achey legs. I was worried about making it as traffic has been bad this week, but I ended up with some time so went for a chai latte while I did some marking.

I fancied a little change so I now have a bit of a side fringe, although I can’t decide if it is going to annoy me or not. We will find out when I have to dry and style it myself! I had to pop to Waitrose for cornflakes and milk for Andy- not a good idea:

Cinnamon popcorn! Sounds yummy! I have tried the tea already and it’s lovely (blackcurrant and acai- very fruity) and I had the apple crunch nakd bar at breaktime on Friday and really liked it. I am saving the mango coconut water for tomorrow, although on reading it I prefer the ingredients on the Vita Coco mango and peach one.

After that we went to the allotment for a bit- Andy did some planting while I did a lot of weeding.  I also picked some rhubarb and dug up a couple of leeks to have for dinner. It is lovely going up there in the evening, but quite hard work too!

On Friday we went again to finish planting (I wish I had taken some photos as it looked lovely in the evening sunlight) and do some more weeding. I had considered a short run on Friday evening, but decided against it in the end to be a bit more rested.

My Friday dinner was some bean burgers from the freezer (I think they were sweet potato and kidney bean burgers- I never remember to label them), sweet potato mash with leeks, and a few more leeks on the side. They were strong!

Even though I didn’t run this morning I still fancied pancakes for breakfast. These were made with 20g peanut flour, 20g wholegrain spelt flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp chia seeds, a drop of almond extract and some almond milk (perhaps 150ml) all left in the fridge overnight. I cooked them in the pan although for the second batch I had a lot of batter left. Served with fresh fruit, a little nutella and a little coconut pb.

After spending the morning doing work, we popped to Ikea (this ended up being a 3 hour round trip) as we wanted to buy a new sideboard, and had been sent a voucher which runs out tomorrow. Not sure if that was ideal half marathon prep as I am pretty tired now!

We had smoothies when we got home- made with frozen mango, pineapple and kiwi  (a mix from Waitrose), a frozen banana and some almond milk.

I have started to feel nervous about tomorrow now- I am not sure why I get so nervous before races- it is not as if I am in a position to win them, and I won’t be at the back either, and even if I was, I know that there is nothing wrong with that.

I did this race back in 2010 (you can read my recap here) although this year they have changed the course. I know that the evil hill at mile 3 is still there (Bluehouse Hill for anyone local!), but apparently after that it is slightly less hilly. I would like to beat my time, which was 2.19- I am not expecting a pb. I am not sure if there are pacers either- if there are I will keep an eye out for the 2.15 pacers again. Right, off for some dinner and a relaxing evening.

Runners- do you still get nervous before races/ events? I say events, as I get nervous before Parkruns too!

Hey peeps

I hope you all enjoyed the weekend- it has flown by!

Friday night we walked to the allotment and ended up spending at least an hour digging up weeds. At least now I can actually see the raspberry canes again (yes it was that bad!). I was so hot and bothered, so needed to cool down. We had some of this amazing ice cream in the freezer- peanut butter ice cream with raspberry sauce, and I had made an iced tea earlier using Twinings Gingersnap peach tea, mixed with a little grape juice and a tray of ice.

Saturday morning we were up bright and early, wanting to get our run in before it got too hot (according to the weather)- luckily it stayed cool and overcast the whole time. Andy ran with me, but I was finding it so tough. After a couple of miles my right foot went totally numb- I tried loosening my shoe laces but that didn’t seem to help. I was also getting tight calves, which is not like me. We kept up a good pace, but Andy kept needing to stop and wait for me, which was making me feel (at the time) quite demoralised (silly when I look back now, but at the time I felt like crying at one point because I was so annoyed with myself for not being able to keep up, when recently I have been keeping up with him OK). I love running with him- it does make me go faster, plus it is nice to chat. But I was feeling bad as I was slowing him down (even though he kept saying it was OK)- and then because my legs were hurting it was making me more worried about the half next weekend. Then, going up the horrible hill at just over 7 miles, my Garmin ran out of battery. This wouldn’t usually bother me so much but I wanted to get up to ten miles, and I hadn’t measured out a route beforehand, I was just going to run around the block at the end to make up the distance. Anyway, a bit after that Andy left me, as he was going to do 12 miles (crazy!) so was adding on a different bit at the end of his run, so I was then trying to work out how far I had been since the Garmin stopped (Andy uses km’s on his Garmin so that was no use to me, as any regular readers will know that my maths goes out of the window when I start running), and trying to work out what I needed to add on to the run. I also wanted to know how long it had taken me, so I had to look at the time when I got home, as the Garmin website would tell me when my run started. Complicated!

On Friday evening I made the batter for post run pancakes, and that was just what I fancied. I had some almonds and a nuun drink as soon as I got in, then showered and made breakfast. This batter was made with 1 mashed banana, 20g peanut flour and 20g wholegrain spelt, and a little baking powder. Simple.  I cooked them gently in the pan, and then had them with a nectarine, some vanilla alpro yoghurt and cocoa nibs (I am getting a bit of an obsession with them). Plus a lovely Tea India masala chai tea.

Andy has been reassuring me about my run, which is very sweet of him. I did some maths, and I think that in the end my run was 9.98 miles (I’ll take that!) and took me just over 1 hour 40 mins, so basically 10 minute miles. Again, not bad, although once he was gone my pace was much slower. But when I did the Great South Run (which is a 10 mile race) I did it in 1 hr 50, so I am quicker than that. Also, the half marathon is a hilly one, and I don’t expect to get a pb, my main aim is to beat my time from the last time I did that (although the course has changed slightly)- that was 2.19. I think I should be OK to make that, and I suppose at the end of the day even if I don’t make that time, it will still be another half marathon completed. Saturday afternoon I was shattered, but then on reflection I had a hard Sweatshop run on Wednesday, ran Thursday and Friday morning, walked on Friday afternoon and tired myself out digging on Friday evening. So no wonder I was tired I suppose.

We have been enjoying my new blender to have some refreshing summer smoothies. This one was made with frozen mango and pineapple, plus Koko coconut milk.

Saturday evening we had lovely black bean and avocado wraps for dinner (this was basically a red onion cooked in paprika, then a chopped red pepper added in, a small tin of sweetcorn + black beans mixed in, served on a wrap with a chopped avocado and some lime juice)- the original recipe was with wenslydale cheese but we didn’t have any so just left that out.

This morning I defrosted a slice of our Christmas pannetone and had it with some peanut butter on one half and passion fruit curd on the other half (from the Bath Christmas markets), plus a mango, Tesco lemon soya yoghurt and those cocoa nibs.

We lazed around for a bit, I did some baking (more on that another day!) and then went to Crews Hill which is basically a row of garden centres. We got a few bargain plants for our garden and the allotment.

We were pretty thirsty when we got home, so made another smoothie- this one was frozen cherries, fresh raspberries and almond milk.

My plan for this week is to take it a bit easier than last week! I am going to have a run tomorrow- probably 4 miles. Tuesday will be a rest day as I have a lot of work to be doing. On Wednesday I shall go to Sweatshop, but not go as hard as I did last week. On Thursday pump is not on, which is probably a good thing, so I am having my hair cut. I might do a gentle run on Friday as I have found that works well for me before a race, and Saturday shall be a rest day. I think that sounds OK. I shall also be focusing on all the positive training I have had, and hopefully just looking forward to enjoying a run in the countryside next Sunday.

What are you looking forward to this week? What are you feeling positive about?

I hope! It has been a bit dreary here the last couple of days, but I am hoping the weather forecast is right and some sunshine will be coming back. Although we were talking at the Sweatshop run last night (at that point it had stopped drizzling) and saying that this type of weather is good for running in. It ended up being a super tough run- we did “the hill” and as it was on pavements I decided to push it a bit (a lot). 3.7 miles in 34 mins (the hill really slowed me down at two of my miles were 8.50 ones, but the first one was 10.16- shows the difference!)- I was so tired after that (especially as I run up there and run home after too).

I had a freezer meal of sort of moussaka (lentils in tomato sauce, peppers, courgettes, grilled aubergines and a tofu/ sun-dried tomato sauce), plus an avocado.

And later on some lovely vanilla alpro with trail mix- delicious.

This morning I had a little recovery run- 3.1 miles in the drizzle, but I thought it would help my legs (it did) before going out for lunch with some friends.

Anyway, I would love the sun to come out as I the other week I found my sunglasses- they have not been worn that much!

I wear prescription glasses (and could not even face the idea of contact lenses) so I normally get a pair of prescription sunglasses at the same time. This time I kept them as I felt I had not worn them that much (one of my eyes got better, and one stayed the same, so I figured I would be OK to keep wearing them)- I got buy one get one free with actual glasses, although I have done this a few times and always end up favouring one pair over the other- anyone else do this?

I sometimes look at proper funky/ trendy sunglasses (like these ones from Cutler and Gross) as sometimes it would be nice to try a different look. Also I look at super cheap sunglasses in places like Accessorize as then it would not matter if I squashed them etc.  But mainly I would like “real” sunglasses for when I am running. I prefer to keep my glasses on, as I can see without them, but not as well (who knows how many times I would fall over if I couldn’t see properly!). In the summer it would be good to have some proper wrap around sunglasses that didn’t keep sliding down my face! I gave some to my brother for his birthday last year (they were for when he goes cycling- from Wiggle- but they would be perfect for running in too)- his were so fancy they came with 3 different lenses to choose from!

Fellow glasses- wearers; what do you do about the sunglasses dilemma? Do you wear glasses/ sunglasses when you workout? I keep mine on for pump so I can see the instructor properly, but during aerobics I leave them off as I worry they will bounce off. This leads to me never knowing if the instructor is asking me to count, or someone else, as I can see her face, but not where her eyes are looking!

*Post contains a sponsored link but all opinions are my own

So, where did I leave off last time? On Tuesday my legs were feeling better, so I went for a 3.1 mile run after work (I chose a new route which I thought would be about 3 miles, so I was very pleased when it ended up being a 5k)-I thought I was going slow, but I actually wasn’t that slow, and it helped my legs big time.

On Wednesday I went for the Sweatshop run, and found out we were doing the route through the fields. I didn’t want to go too hard as it is off road so generally tougher, and then a girl came along who hasn’t been since about November, so we ended up chatting for most of the run (she did so well seeing as she has done no running since then- we averaged 9.45 minute miles and didn’t stop to walk at all). I felt like I could have pushed harder, and I know she wouldn’t have minded me going ahead of her, but it was nice to have a social run for a change.

I was sent some lovely tea this week from the folks at Tea India. At the moment they are running a facebook campaign where they are giving away free tea.

Thursday was body pump- I had not been for 2 weeks so I found it pretty tough, During the jumps bit of the lunges track (you have to stand with your legs either side of a step, jump up and then land in a squat) I could not even keep up with the music by the end!

I made the batter for my post-run pancakes the night before- spelt flour, peanut flour, egg replacer, baking powder. I had them with coconut peanut butter, mango and coconut. Plus a cup of chai.

On Friday I had a rest day, and went to see my Nan after work. Then on Saturday we were up early for a run. Andy was coming with me, and I was worried I would slow him down as he has been running longer at the weekends while I was getting ready for the 10K last weekend. But it actually turned out really well- we averaged about 10 minute miles overall, and I did 8.7 miles in 1 hour 26 mins. Plus I looked back on the Garmin stats and my average time for a slightly shorter loop was around 90 minutes, so I am still doing OK for speed over longer distances. I felt pretty good- we went out before breakfast as I feel I run better then, and after about 6 miles I started to feel a bit hungry, but I still felt as if I could have carried on and run further. Although I did feel very tired later on.

I made us some chai banana milkshakes – one frozen banana, almond milk, some ice and a little chai syrup- so refreshing.

I did some housework and bits, but then spent some time chilling out in front of the TV, as we were then off to the Emirates stadium to see Muse!

Dizzee Rascal was the support – I would not have put them together! We just enjoyed being outside as the weather was lovely. We could have stood on the pitch but we found some empty seats which had a better view (I can never usually see at gigs), plus we were both tired from our morning run!

Muse were amazing, as usual. Way back in 2000 I went to Reading festival, and Oasis (who I quite like) were headlining, but Muse were headlining in the tent, and I went to the Muse show, and it was just amazing (although back then I was right in the mosh pit! Now now!). We have seen them a few times since, and each time they are fab because they rock up their music, whereas some bands live their music is just like it is on the CD, only louder. They also utilised the open air aspect- those fire balls kept on going off. Some of it was a bit weird- there was one bit where a female actor (I think she was meant to be a banker?) came on to the stage and a petrol pump was raised up onto the stage, and she sprayed herself with petrol. Now, if I ever see that all that comes to mind is the bit in Zoolander where the models all do that and then die (also I end up with “Wake me up before you go (go?)” in my head, so I can only assume that no-one who planned the show had ever seen that film? Gave me a laugh anyway! It was a fantastic show anyway.

Today we have been taking it easy- I walked up to the shops in the afternoon, and did a bit of baking (more on that another day though), and spent time at both our parents’ houses. Tomorrow I am off to Wembley with my Mum, to cheer on the Golden Boys in the playoff final. I want to fit in a run before I go. I am feeling OK about the half marathon now (it is 2 weeks away)- I think I want to do a few 6 mile runs as my medium distance runs, and next weekend I want to do 10 miles minimum, and maybe a little more if I feel OK. I am sure I will manage the distance, but I don’t think I will break my Brighton time as it is a hilly course, and might well be a hot day. But I want to enjoy it and I feel that with some longer runs under my belt I will be able to do that.

Any Bank Holiday Monday plans? Any other Zoolander fans?