Running - Maria Runs

Weekend details

Hey guys

I am very flattered that a few of you have said you might check in on my progress! Thanks so much! So I will do the details now while I think of it.

Basically if you go to the official website here, and enter my race number 15258, and you can track my progress. My start (as I am in one of the last groups) is actually 11.40am. Also this website will be broadcasting it live, but that will be all the elite runners and so on. Also there is going to be a highlights package broadcast on Eurosports on Monday night, and Andy informs me we actually get that (for some reason I thought that was a channel for mainland Europe)- so I will be taping that. So fingers crossed for me if you do check it (and it works).

Onto today- it started with some delicious porridge- made with rice milk, swirled with raw cacao bliss (I love this in porridge as you only need a smidgen and it makes it so delicious) and topped with strawberries. Yum.

After work I had a gentle 2 mile run- I decided to leave aerobics (for all the reasons yesterday) and go for that instead. I went a little slower, and did 2 miles in 22 mins- nice and easy and gentle and all that. It was not quite as windy as today, although I should be wishing for that wind to come back and blow all the ash cloud away. Andy has told me I am not allowed to look at it on the news as it made me panic last night. I know it is not the end of the world if we don’t get there, but I will be so disappointed. So I am still crossing my fingers.

Bye for now 🙂

All coming together

First, thanks for all the comments. Rob- you made a good point (haha) about the safety pins in hand luggage- I had not thought of that so thanks.

Today I had a 3 mile run planned after work and I had a new snack before I went out.

This was nice and nutty- massive chunky nuts in there, but also very sweet and sugary- too early to call it carb loading I think!

I went out and found the first bit of the run hard (uphill and into the wind) but then coming back much easier (I could feel the wind blowing my legs)- I managed the whole route in 29 mins, and I think recently my quickest time for that route was 32 mins, so I am pretty pleased. Once home I had some lovely coconut water to rehydrate and also coz it tastes lovely!

I have decided to miss aerobics tomorrow for a few reasons- 1- I think I will be tempted to go a bit too high impact. 2- It saves me money as if I am going and do low impact I may as well do something at home. 3- I will do my 2 mile run tomorrow as on Wednesday I have a lot of work to do and so do not want to be more rushed for time. Thursday I am having my hair cut straight after work, and then will have more work to do in the evening (stuff that the kids are not doing til Wednesday and needs a lot of marking etc. by Friday, annoying as I can’t do it any earlier)- so might manage a walk or some yoga or something like that. Friday I am being picked up from work at 3.30pm to go straight to the airport, so nothing on that day either. It feels weird not doing much exercise after so long of doing a lot more, but I know that my leg still work. I just have to focus on one foot in front of the other. If I get there as now there is another volcano ash cloud apparently. Fingers crossed people, fingers crossed!

I am thinking that a marathon abroad is much more stressful than doing one down the road! And (how exciting) I had a reader request (oooooh sounds like a real blog) to put the link on for the Stockholm marathon website, so I will sort that out later in the week and of course I expect you all to be glued to your computers all of Saturday looking for updates as I pass the checkpoints. Or I will pretend you will as it will give me some incentive to keep going! Night for now 🙂

Wardrobe malfunction!

Not as bad as it could have been!

I went on my last “long” run today. I say “long” because it was 7 miles, which seems short, but just what I fancied doing. I think after next weekend I am going to enjoy doing this length of run a lot more. Anyway, Andy got a Garmin for his birthday and let me try it out, so I had that on alongside my Nike+. The plan was to compare the pace and distance etc, but it was only once I started that I realised that he likes km, and I like miles, and I just was not working out the maths that well in my head. Anyway, my pace went from 6.24 per km, up to 6.28 on a steep hill, got back down to 6.20 and finished at 6.19. Each time I glanced at it the pace was between those numbers, and I did feel quite fast but also like my legs were going like clockwork. I did the 10k in 63 mins (fast for me) and overall did 11.4 K in 69 mins. That seems to be about 7 miles anyway.

But, the worst bit- at exactly 5k I felt a ping! One of my bra straps had come undone. For the ladies, I have a Shock Absorber Run bra- it is brilliant, and has 2 straps- one across the back of the neck, and one normal one. At first I thought the top one across my neck was what opened (it is like a bikini clasp) but I soon realised that I was wrong. The straps adjust (again like a bikini) by sliding a plastic loop into slots of fabric. I am not sure if I just rushed to put it on, but that was what had worked its’ way loose. The one that goes down along the left shoulder-blade. Not sure if I have explained it right. Anyway, I tried but there was no way I was able to do it back up while running (and I was not going to stop and take it off to sort it out) so maybe that was why I ran faster??

Anyway, I enjoyed that run and glad that I felt strong and speedy- I have been feeling like a plodder of late so I am glad my legs still work. Those 20 miles seem ages ago now! This week I have a 3 and a 2 miler, so I might do a few fast paced bits on Monday, but the other one will be gentle to keep the legs ticking over.

Also, exciting news, I tried my new food processor today! It did take me about 20 mins (and then it took Andy to actually work out the problem) to get it to work. Turned out I was not quite putting the lid on properly. Anyway, after seeing these amazing looking raw brownie slice things on Emma’s blog, I knew I had to try them! The original recipe is here (I book marked it already!) but I changed it up a bit and only made half, so my recipe is below.

And of course any excuse for me to use my new measuring cups! This is the base + topping waiting to go in the fridge.

And this is a slice on my plate (spoonful so you can see the base).

Mmmmmmm it is amazing!

So, for the base, whizz 1 cup pecans and 1 cup chopped dates in a food processor. Then add 1/6 cup cocoa powder and a tbsp agave, and mix some more. Press this into a small pan lined with baking paper (pressing it with the hands was much more successful than with a spoon) and leave in the fridge to set.

Then melt 1.5 tbs coconut oil. Put into the food processor 1/6 cup date syrup, 1tsp agave, (I had no maple syrup), 1tsp rice dream milk, 1 tsp cocoa powder and blend it up. Then pour in melted coconut oil and 1 tbs almond butter (this has salt in it, which is why I missed out the salt from the original recipe). Pour this over the base and leave to set again.

Just in case you did not see before, here is the exact same picture again!

It really is that good! 🙂

So make some if you have not already!

I would run 1000 miles

Ok, so I realise that the song is actually walk, and possibly 5000 miles. But still, it is in my head after I logged on to my Nike+ today. 1000 miles since last May. Not bad going. Paula even had a little video clip for me!

So first up today was our school trip- walking around a model village all day is actually very tiring! Making sure you do not lose any children is quite stressful! It was a lovely day but they were so excited (even about going on a coach) so it was tiring. I even had a cup of tea right after the kids went home which is very unlike me, but I was shattered. Then home for a run in the drizzle. Nice. Well, actually it was quite nice. I had a 5 mile run, and as I mucked up my weekend runs I missed the interval run on Monday. So I had considered doing some of that while I was out, but after about 2 miles I think the tea wore off and I felt so tired, so in the end I kept it very gentle. I feel like I am totally easing off more than I should, but hey-ho.

Dinner was fab- some of my lentil tofu veg bake with some crunchy food doctor beans on the side, and a massive pickled onion 🙂

Thanks for the comments about the carb stuff- I have been reading different things and the idea now seems to be that just to make sure you get enough normally, and not to go crazy. I think we might make some pasta to have cold on Friday evening on the plane (I am going to the airport straight from work- Andy is going to pick me up, and as our flight is at 8 we do not want to wait until we get there for dinner. And I love the bagels idea- we have some in the freezer so I might dig them out for snacks at the end of next week. But I had a look over my food diary on WLR and I seem to be getting enough at the moment anyway- I suppose I do not follow a low carb diet or anything like that- I tend to have them at most meals.

I feel like I am on the final countdown now- on my run today I thought “only 3 more runs after this before the big one”- and tomorrow is my last body pump (as I am not going next Thursday). I am kind of excited but also very very nervous.

Right, off for some blog perusing now 🙂

Most consistent run ever

Hey!

So this morning when I woke up I was feeling fine (I was yesterday evening too) so I went for the 8 miles (8.5 miles the route is)- decided I had better not push it and just finish strong.

It was cold out there- the temperature was nice in the sun but cold in the shade. Anyway, I think I run much better in these cooler temperatures and for the whole run I was feeling strong and good. I left my Nike+ on the pace screen, and whilst running it seemed pretty consistent. When I got home I was amazed- my miles were 10.17, 10.22, 10.24, 10.22, 10.24, 10.23, 10.47 (one road to cross) and 10.23- they were all so close to the same pace. It made me happy anyway. I was glad to finish strong and not too wiped out. While running I was feeling so good that I was considering running further, or going out tomorrow. But then I did decide that I am supposed to be taking it a little easier, and if I went out Monday and Wednesday, my next rest day would be Friday (which would be a whole week without a rest day) and I know this is not good for me. Some people can do that, but I know it gets me a little run down. So tomorrow I might do some yoga when I get home, or have a walk. Hold me to that!!! I watched some of the Great Manchester run stuff while I did a load of stretches (I cut out a page from a magazine that has loads of different runners stretches- they are ones we do at aerobics and body pump but there are some I always forget so I thought I would keep them to remind me).

Then I tried my almond milk (I got it ages ago from the mini Wholefoods in London)-

Oh man this was like drinking marzipan (which I love!)- it was so good. But very sweet- I don’t think I would like it all the time. Alongside some oatcakes with meridian smooth pb and morello cherry spread. Mmmmmmmm love that pb & j theme.

I have been loving this Rachel’s coconut yoghurt- seriously it is so amazing. I had it as a snack with some chocolate alpro, but actually this was not my best idea as the chocolate overpowered the coconut a bit. It is much better on its own with muesli.

Last night I also had some yummy chocolate

This was an alternative to milk chocolate, and it was ok, but not as nice as the dark stuff. I suppose that is because dark chocolate is supposed to be without milk, so it doesn’t have any substitutes in there.

Anyway, back to today. I made some chocolate pb swirl brownies (from the pb&co cookbook I got for my birthday)

Yum. You basically made 2 mixes- one normal choc brownie mix, and then one with pb instead of chocolate, poured it on top and swirled it about. They were good (and luckily Andy’s family always take the left overs!).

We also planted some of the plants that we got yesterday, and I went to pick up my food processor. The size of the box made me panic rather a lot, but they just over package it something chronic. OK so I should have put something in the picture to compare it to, but I reckon the box is easily 2 foot long, 3 feet tall and 1 foot deep. Seriously it is ridiculous.

So anyway, I have gone so far as to get all the bits out the box, but I am very excited about using it for all the recipes I keep seeing. Plus when I next make pumpkin tofu pasta I will be able to do it all in one go, instead of about 4 batches in my mini chopper!

Onto the weekly review (this is such a long post!)

Monday- 6.7 miles

Tuesday- Easy aerobics due to a different instructor

Wednesday- 3 miles

Thursday- Body pump- used lower weights for squats, lunges and back, but normal for all the arm stuff.

Friday- 40 min walk (rest day)

Saturday- Run cut short to 5 miles due to pains

Sunday- 8.5 miles nice and strong and very steady.

So total miles = 23 miles

Less than 2 weeks to go now, I feel like I need a little countdown now! Time is ticking!

Also I was lucky enough to review some Food Doctor products, and you can see my whole review here if you would like.