Category: Running

Hello all

Thanks for the comments about my hip- I looked up loads of stretches on the internet in the end, and didn’t even go on a walk on Wednesday or Thursday. By Friday it was loads better, and was just stiff if I sat for too long, and so Friday evening we had a walk after dinner, just to test it out.

Anyway, all was well so this morning I went out on a run.

In one of my new Thoosa vest tops, and my lovely Bondi band too! I love the Bondi band- when it was colder I was having it over my ears too, to keep them warm, but now it is warmer it just works like a hair/sweatband.

I did a 3 mile route, 5 mins running, 1 min walking, and all was well. The wind was pretty chilly, but that is much nicer than being too hot.

Smiley and shiny when I got back home again! I like the before and after- see how much my mood improves when I get to go running 🙂

Then I got to use my new bowl and cup for breakfast!

This breakfast was amazing! Blueberries (massive ones on offer from Ocado that taste delicious), Dorset muesli, almonds and Kara coconut milk, all left to soak overnight. Then I added some cinnamon this morning. It was so creamy. Plus a mint tea as I was a bit cold.

Earlier in the week I made some more macaroons (mostly because standing up was more comfy than sitting down):

The pink ones (were meant to be orange- I used some yellow and some red food gel but the yellow didn’t mix in very well!) are orange flavour, and the purple ones are coconut flavour.

I made a ganache for the filling- equal amounts of cream (I used some Alpro soya cream) and dark chocolate. You warm up the cream, then pour it over the chocolate and stir until it melts the chocolate. Then leave it to thicken up.

Yum that ganache was good! I have never made it before but it was so simple. I don’t really like cream, and so I normally get put off recipes that use it, because the rest would go to waste, plus I never know if I will like it, but using the soya cream worked really well, and as it has a longer date than cream (and comes in a smaller carton) I might try it in other things too. Anyway, they went down well at work again!

This weekend I have plans to plant some new seeds, as I did plant some before but the little greenhouse they were in got blown over, and they were not salvageable. We need to get to the allotment and plant our carrot seeds too. I might make some blueberry scones, or maybe a lemon cake. And hopefully get out for some walks in this sunshine.

Have a lovely weekend everyone 🙂

 

Hello all

I hope you all had lovely weekends.

Friday for me included this:

When I got home from work I had some lunch, did some work and then headed out for another walk with some running interspersed. I did the same route again, and pretty much the same as the other day- 3 mins of jogging and 2 mins of walking. It chucked it down with rain, but I never mind that when running because I will get in the shower once home anyway (so really it gets my hair washing started sooner). I even got to wear my Bondi Band- and it did keep all my hair out of my face- shame it could not keep the rain off!

Once I got home the skies opened and it poured down- I did try to take a photo (the rain was beating against the window) but it does not do the heavy rain justice. My trainers would have been squelching in all that water.

Then after my shower I had a lovely dinner (cooked by Andy)- pasta with veggies, pesto and fresh basil (and then some cheese). After that we packed a bag each and headed to the train station. Andy had managed to book us a weekend in York (train tickets + hotel) and although I was a bit concerned about going away when I was tired after work, actually it was great because I couldn’t take any work with me (I could have been tempted to take loads home and work all weekend) and also could not do any housework either.

We got the train up on Friday evening, and then had a lovely weekend wandering around York. We went to another National Trust place (good timing as it tipped with rain), went out for lunch (again good timing as we were stuck in a hail-storm), and enjoyed some time walking around the town, looking at the impressive buildings and little streets. On Sunday morning we lounged around the hotel watching the London marathon (Well done everyone!!!!!!) and popped out for breakfast (I had a scone- yummy) before checking out at the last possible moment! We then paid a visit to the railway museum (and saw all the Scouts and Brownies out for the St George’s Day parade in the town centre).

And I even treated myself to some bargains: some Whittards chocolate tea which sounds divine- chocolate truffle tea which has black tea, cocoa beans, coconut and macadamia nuts in it, some Hotel Chocolat Easter goodies (reduced) and also some chocolate peanut “smudge” (spread) which I could not resist!

We did have a little bit of a hard time getting home on Sunday- we had to get two trains on the way home (which I don’t mind) and they were running late, and then the second one terminated early because of a train blocking the line, so it was a bit chaotic and we had to get a rail replacement coach, which took ages. Ah well, we got home in the end.

Having a break at the weekend is always nice, and I feel like my batteries were well and truly recharged ready for this week. This week I have a few afternoons where I won’t be in, but today and also Wednesday I will be in all day. I am taking Lara’s advice and making myself a little plan to say when I will be doing housework, when I will do work, and when I will fit in exercise, so that I don’t do it all at once. I do like a good plan.

What did you get up to this weekend? I am trying to catch up on blogs but the new Blogger dashboard is not as easy to use and I think I have missed ones out. So update me 🙂

Anyone else love watching marathons on TV? Andy thinks I am a bit strange to like it so much- last weekend I was watching the Paris marathon too- but I love seeing all the people out there running, all the people raising money for charity is so inspiring, and the elite runners are so fast!

Hello everyone!

Since dipping my toes back into the running water (shoes?), I have been thinking a lot about starting running. I really wish I had started this blog right then (back in 2008), but in fact I waited a couple of years (and had run my first half marathon) before I started blogging. I did a post about how I started out running here, and I really believe that anyone can do it.

Here are some of my tips for starting out (or starting again!)

Have a plan!

I think if you are starting out, then having a plan is really important. The plan I followed is here– it starts with 1 minute of running (which means gentle jogging and not fast sprinting) alternated with walking. I did think that I might need to start there, but as I have had a few years of running under my belt I think my body had retained a little of that and so I have started a little further along this time. Anyway, each week the next week looked too hard, but your body does adapt and I think a plan helps to move you on at an appropriate pace. I am going to create a plan for myself, based on previous training plans and my current fitness levels. Because I am going back to work I need to fit in with that, so I will only be going out maybe twice a week to begin with, until I am feeling better and can increase that.

Don’t go too fast or too soon

I think often (and I was included here) people think the “run” part of a plan means all out sprinting, when really it is a gentle jog and might only be a tiny bit faster than walking pace. You can work on your speed once you can run steadily for 30 mins or more. Also don’t go from doing nothing to going running every day. Your body needs time to adapt to this new exercise.

Rest!

Your body needs rest days. The temptation is to go out every day, but when you are starting I think the rest days are even more important as your muscles will be recovering.

Kit yourself out

I think getting some good trainers (and of course a sports bra girls) is really important. When I started originally I was wearing old skechers which were not very supportive (and slipped off when I ran). This time I was back in my trusty old Nike’s (even though I would be walking more than running). I am also planning to get my gait analysed when I next buy some new trainers.

As I have got more into running, I have accumulated more bits (e.g. a Nike+ band, a Garmin, water bottles etc), but I used to time my running/ walking intervals on my mobile phone! I have a little mp3 player and I love to load it with podcasts and listen to radio shows, and that would be my favourite item I think.

Enter a race!

This is great for motivation. The reason I started running was because I wanted to run a Race for Life (a 5K race), and when the training runs were feeling tough, I had my goal in the back of my mind. I was worried that races would be elitist and full of speedy lycra-clad club runners, but in reality they are friendly and inclusive. Just don’t start at the front as you will get in the way of the fastest runners!  And don’t worry about coming last. I always worry about this, as even at my fastest I was still a slow runner. Last summer I was last for the majority of a race, but it was still fine (and I had a personal cycle escort for a lot of it!). If you are starting out (and a female) then I think the Race for Life series is brilliant- very inclusive and beginner friendly (as lots of people walk the events)- and of course great for raising money for charity, and raising awareness. I am following this advice, as I have two half marathons booked for the autumn- hopefully by then I will be able to run that distance again. 🙂

Run in a different part of the country.

I am lucky because Andy enjoys running too (OK, maybe he does not enjoy it, he sees it as something he should do) so we have completed a few races in different parts of the country- a nice excuse for a weekend away. My favourite of all time was the one we did near Nottingham last Autumn– who would not want to run with views like this?

And of course if you enter races you can get rewards like medals, t-shirts etc.

Think about nutrition

Different food works for different people, so you have to find out what works well for you before and after running. I know that some foods that I can eat normally do not agree with me before a run, and also I want to make sure I am eating nutritious foods to help my body with the running. In the summer heat, think about keeping hydrated, especially when running further. I know I get very sweaty (is that too much info??) and end up with salt all over my face and body after a run in the heat, so I have to make sure I replace those salts with something too, not just replace the water, as otherwise the salts get too diluted in your blood.

I am pretty sure that a soya chai latte was a good way to rehydrate after running 10 miles -right?

I really really love running, and I cannot really say it enough. My 22 year old self would be surprised to know this, as I really could not run at all, and never thought I would be able to. So if you fancy giving it a go, then please do- you never know, you might love it! (But of course check with your GP first).

This year AXA PP healthcare are one of the sponsors of Race for Life, and they are going to be holding some live discussions about running on the 26th April (next Thursday). They have experts from different areas, including training and nutrition, so if you want to join in you can click here. You can also leave comments on their facebook page, or on Twitter.

The line up looks like this:

10-12am: John Grudington, who is a personal trainer, fitness tutor and physiologist.

2-4pm: Lucy Wyndham-Read, a personal trainer. She has contributed to some great articles on the AXA PPP website including this one about starting running.

5-7pm: Dr Sarah Schenker, a nutritionist.

I would love to ask them about getting back to running after surgery. I did ask my consultant about when I could start, and he said to leave it at least 6 weeks, because the surgery was around my abdominal area, and he wanted to give everything time to heal up before I put it under stress. So one question would be “Following surgery, how can I tell the difference between pushing myself to improve, and pushing myself too far?”

I would also like to ask about nutrition- I am vegetarian and am not keen on eggs or dairy. I do like cheese but with the saturated fat content it is not ideal to have too much, so my nutrition questions would be “how can I include some healthy vegetarian/vegan protein into my diet?” and “how much protien should I be aiming to eat each day?”

What sorts of questions would you like to ask? 

They also have a Race for Life competition– and if you enter you have the chance of adding £100 to a sponsorship fund (or £200 if you are a member of AXA healthcare).

Happy running!

This post was sponsored by AXA PPP healthcare. All the views are my own, I was just asked to include certain links.

Look at what arrived this morning:

Yup, the race pack. There is no way I am doing this (it is only 30 days away now), and when I came out of hospital and realised that, I had already missed the cut off for cancelling (where you don’t get a refund, but £10 off next years entry). After it came this morning I looked on the FAQ’s and it seems that you can transfer a number. So, if anyone fancies running it (it is Sunday 19th Feb), please let me know and I will happily send out the number to you. Seems a shame to let it go to waste, plus it is sort of annoying to see it there. Have a look on the website for details of the course etc. I have emailed them to get the transfer form so I am ready to go.

Thanks 🙂

Oh, and a few of you asked about those amazing chocolate pecans yesterday. I got them from the Montezuma’s website– I went there, must have registered my email address, but didn’t buy anything. Then a few days later they sent me an email saying they had noticed I visited their website and didn’t buy anything, so here is a 10% discount! Well, it was rude not to use it surely? So, if you are unafraid of Big Brother then might be worth a try! 🙂

Hello all

I think I have cracked it! Nearly.

Yesterday I set out on a little walk, and decided to wear my Garmin to see how I got on. I actually wrapped up warm, walked around the corner before I remembered and had to go home and get it- whoops!

Using it was pretty easy- when I first turned it on (at home once I had charged it) it prompted me to select things like my age, weight, other stuff I can’t remember- for some reason I thought it was a twisty dial but it is just buttons on the side, so very easy.

Then, I had to press a button to search for satellites, and then press start. It did beep at me after I had walked one mile (one lap it said) but although I pressed OK the first time, the second time I didn’t notice and it carried on recording until I pressed stop. Not sure if I can turn that off because the beep is annoying, but if not it is not the end of the world.

Then it got a bit harder. The instruction manual said just to go to Garmin.com/intosports, or Garminconnect.com, and to download the software and then follow the instructions. I did the first one, but then realised that was for not using the internet or something, so then Andy helped me with the next bit.

Then it is not too hard- it plugs in to the USB port, and when you go to the connect site (and log in) you should in theory be able to click “upload” and it will upload new activities. This took about 3 goes and in the end I had to do it manually (clicking through “my computer” to find the file)- I un-plugged and re-plugged it in a few times as it did not seem to register. Anyway, hopefully it will get easier as I get used to it.

Now, I can’t do a fancy pants screen shot, but the photo came out OK. Anyway, this is what is exciting- there is a map, a line to show my walk and another one to show the elevation. How exciting. 🙂

I must say that using Nike+ is super easy and good for any techno-phobes like me (I only learned to type when I was at uni- before that I hand-wrote everything as I was actually “scared” of computers after something at school which I won’t bore you with), whereas the Garmin seems more complicated and I don’t think the website makes things that obvious. I think once I start running again (one day…..) I will keep with the Nike+ too- I like all the challenges on there and the count of my total miles, that sort of thing.

I actually walk faster than I thought. Also years ago I had a bad knee ( it is still not perfect)- it got really sore and painful of I was still for a long time (eg the cinema) and would feel like something was wrong when I went to straighten it after it was bent for a while. Crouching down then standing up was really hard as it felt like it would give way. The doctor just told me to rest it (which seemed silly when the resting made it worse) and to strengthen the leg muscles to help the knee joint. Since taking up running (and aerobics and body pump) it has been loads better- I had not really thought about it but just this last week I have noticed that going down stairs it has started to bother me again, and it is getting stiff while I am sitting. I need to start running again! I did feel several pangs of jealousy while on my slow walk I was overtaken by many many runners out for a lovely lunchtime run. But I am sure the time will fly by.

I went to the GP today, and am signed off for another 3 weeks, but she said to me (quite frankly) that it may be longer as the cyst is big, and until they take it out it won’t get any better- plus when they take it out I will then be recovering from an op. So, ideas to help me pass the time please!

I have: Listen to the radio, watch a series of Top Chef on TV, do brain training and suduko on the DS, tidy out some drawers/ cupboards, read some magazines/ books, write out some recipes into my nice recipe binder things, do internet shopping (oh, hang on, that is not such a good idea!)….

Thanks 🙂