Running - Maria Runs

18 miles oh my

My oh my oh my. What is the most stiff? My hips, my knees, my back?

Hmm.

Well, anyway, I did it. I mapped out a route, which (there was some logic) I mapped out backwards, as I knew the first bit was 10 miles, so I mapped out the end first to check it was 8 miles, then added the beginning on. Capri’s and vest on (warm weather gear is here to stay now!), nuun in my water bottle, shot bloks and phone in my belt (plus a random packet of pineapple raisins that were best before June 2010), and I was off. Slowly.

The weather was windy again, but at least nice and sunny, so it was lovely to be outside and spot the daffodils, tulips, daisies, cornflowers etc that were all blooming. After 6 miles I realised I was 1/3 of the way and feeling alright. To be honest I think my brain has shut down a bit as I cannot quite remember when it got hard. I did have some shot bloks (3) but then I ran out of water and you have to have them with water, so then I went onto the raisins. I was tempted at the end to ring Andy but by then I was less than a mile from home so it seemed it would be quicker to just keep going. The satisfaction that I completed it is here, but also I feel very shattered. I think one problem was my mind- I normally just think about my runs each week, but this week I have been having little panics about the actual marathon, and so today I did think that I would still have 8 miles to go on top of that. Now, when I am sat down and having eaten lunch and drank loads of water, I can reason that by then I will have completed (hopefully) another 18 miler, a 20 miler and more medium- long runs, plus the adrenaline, crowd etc will all help. But the doubts were creeping in and making it harder work. I was willing the endorphins to kick in.

Anyway, my Nike+ thought I did 19.08 miles, I think it was closer to 18 than 19 (but my route did change a bit due to me adding on a half mile at the start and also going on a new bit around town) so maybe it was. It took me 3 hours 30 minutes, which was my vague estimate at the start. I need to take some positives from this- that is the furthest yet again that I have ever run. I am still on target for doing the 20 miles in the time limit of 4 hours. I did not get any blisters. I am still able to walk around (just). I can tick off another run from my plan.

Reading that back I seem quite negative. I am not being negative, but I am having little attacks of the nerves which I know will get worse. So watch out over the next 2 months. At least I am going there with Andy (his comment before his 18 miles this morning; “in 2 months this will all be over”) so he knows I am not turning into a crazy person for nothing.

I made some cinnamon raisin bread with more pumpkin seeds- that was a good lunch 🙂

Right, off to hobble to the kitchen for some more water- might save the planting for tomorrow when I can get down the stairs again!

The results are in

Hey!

Yesterday I went to aerobics, and first of all, a newbie turned up wearing (I kid you not) a roll neck woolly jumper. She must have been boiling by the end!

Anyway, that was all fine and dandy.

Today was a 6 mile run (fartlek- ooh get me using the proper runner terms!)- I like this because it is a bit like intervals (eg you get the endorphins from running fast) but you can stop/ slow down when you want. Kind of. Anyway the 6 miles went well, a slow warm up and then 3 miles at 9.54 (what?????? that was actually my average speed! I am always excited to see anything under a 10!) and finished, get this, average speed 9.04. I cleaned my glasses just in case I read it wrong! To be fair the first few miles as well as being a warm up, were gently uphill, in the rain and facing into the wind. The next ones were slightly downhill with the rain easing off and then stopping, and the wind blowing me home! But I am still taking it!

Dinner was the pumpkin quinoa tofu experiment.

The results are in and it turns out this is just as yummy as plain pasta. Although a little drier- I think the quinoa soaks up more liquid as it cooks in the oven so I might have to add something next time. But still delicious and so creamy. I love the beetroot too- pink food 🙂

I made some rice pudding with the last of my Kara coconut milk too (no picture coz I was hungry like the wolf).

I have a question about feet;

Normally after most showers I like to put cream on my feet as I don’t want too much dry skin. But then I read somewhere that it is good to have harder skin on the feet to help with running for long amounts of time. So come on all you runners- do I let the skin dry up or keep going with the cream?

Random, but hopefully helpful.

Night 🙂

A foodie post

Hello!

I was busy yesterday, mainly in the kitchen as you will see (and also the garden centre- I love this time of year- time to plant out some seeds soon yay!).

First up a clue;

Pumpkin tofu pasta.Of course you all got it from the clue- well done- stickers all round. Only I changed it up a bit. I cooked 70g quinoa and 100g wholemeal pasta first. Then I whizzed up 1/2 tin pumpkin with the block of tofu and 25g sundried tomatoes.

I mixed that with the pasta/ quinoa, and layered it with some spinach.

And topped with sliced beetroot. It is going to be yummy I am sure (but currently it is all in the freezer- fab for a midweek meal).

I also made some cookies for sunday tea (which merged on the tray to make super cookies!) ;

I used the good old Hummingbird Peanut cookie recipe, and I used some new wholegrain spelt flour. Ocado didn’t have Dove’s farm stuff so I ordered this stuff- it is amazing! It has a proper texture, and the cookies were so nutty and chewy and delicious.

Can you see?

I also did some snacking!

Some yummy mango with no sulphur dioxide! How exciting! This was also amazing.

And some delicious dark chocolate. Although for some reason I thought this was going to have cacao nibs in it, but it was plain. Still tasty (and some left for another day yay).

Today was a 9 mile run and I slept fine (unlike before the 10 milers where I was really nervous). I think for some reason 10 miles after work seems like a massive deal, but 9 was fine. The pace was still a bit changeable, and I managed a few at 9.55 and 10.09 in the middle. 96 mins (9.2 miles) so not bad overall.

I am off to start mega commenting so watch out! 🙂

PS- do you know what I saw on my run this evening????

A man doing a poo in a field. And the weirdest thing? He had toilet paper with him and even wiped his bottom.

Sorry about that just had to share!

A quick review

Hey

This week went well.

Monday- 10 mile run- went well with some good tempo miles in the middle.

Tuesday- Aerobics- again went well- not too tired from the longer runs.

Wednesday- 3 mile with intervals. Yeah I have not done intervals for ages. Whoops. But I got on and did it this week.

Thursday- Body pump- new release. Hard work! But in a good way!
Friday- Rest day (not even a walk as I went out straight from work)

Saturday-12 mile run- good overall time but erratic pace.

Sunday- Rest day- not too stiff now as I did some foam rolling earlier on.

Total miles- 25, so a bit of an easier week.

Lessons learned- I can go faster than I think during longer runs. I need to eat a good snack before aerobics and then I will have enough energy. I need to focus on even pacing during my longer runs. Not sure if I learnt anything else? Actually it was a busy week, work wise, and I still managed to fit the running in.

Night

More bread, more running and more rambling

Hey!

So I enjoyed the cinnamon raisin bread I had for lunch the other week so before my run I started getting it ready. Even though I use quick yeast I prefer to start it off without all the flour- it seems to work better.

So in a cup I put a tbs wholemeal bread flour, 1tsp yeast, 1tsp sugar and about 15g raisins. I poured on warm water (probably around 90-100ml) and left for a bit. In a bowl I put 150g bread flour (half white, half wholemeal), and a ton of spices (cloves, cinnamon, ginger, mixed spice, cardamom). I also added 10g pumpkin seeds to see how they would go.

Then after a bit (when the yeast goes all bubbly) I pour this onto the flour mixture and mix it around a bit.

Then I put it on a board and knead it together- lots of stretching and folding etc. It does come together if you keep on kneading.

Once it looks all smooth (like the pic below) put it in an oiled loaf tin (I have a mini one)- or you could leave it on a baking tray and have a free-form bread).

It looks so small in the tin! Cover with cling-film and then go out on a run (or do something else for a few hours).

It will look a little like that! Put on the oven to 200C while you drink some coconut milk/ do some stretching/ make some peanut butter with cinnamon and raisins (or all 3) and then bake for 35 minutes (remove the cling film!). Have a shower.

Remove from oven and leave to cool while you dry your hair and eat a pear. Then slice and enjoy.

Yum! The verdict on the pumpkin seeds is more more more! Oh and you might guess that some of the steps mentioned above are not essential for actually making the bread! Guess which ones!

And the cinnamon raisin pb is also amazing! I didn’t take any pictures but I basically put some crunchy pb, raisins, cinnamon and some brown rice syrup in the mini chopper and whizzed it up. The raisins turn to sweet pulp, although I think they maybe soaked up some of the oil as the pb went super thick (and I did add some of the oil from the top of the tub). Anyway, this is the perfect topping for that bread.

So my 12 mile run yesterday went fine. Despite last week I still overdressed as when I got up it was quite cool, so as well as my vest I put on a jacket (it’s a long sleeve zip up top), and wore tights instead of capris (in the week I wore my joggers and forgot how annoying flappy trousers are when running). I need some kind of alarm that goes off if I wear too many clothes, as after a mile I had taken off my jacket and was wishing I didn’t have the tights on. Oh well. I found it really hard to get into a rhythm for some reason. My first 2 miles were under 10 minutes, so I knew I had to slow down, but then I slowed down too much (12.05), then got too fast again (2 miles at 9.54), so then I slowed again, too much (11.54), and then sped up too much (10.28- alright, then 2 more miles at 9.54). I sometimes have it at the beginning where my breathing goes all funny, and I have to really concentrate to breathe properly and not hyperventilate, but for some reason this continued yesterday. Maybe I was over thinking it.

The run itself was still enjoyable- there were daffodils everywhere, rabbits, and loads of daisies all over the grass at the park by the lake. And no scary geese this week (phew). The sun came out for a bit, and I even had a runnner say “hello” to me half way round, and I passed her in the same place on my way back (so she said “hello again”). I love friendly runners.

Anyway, it took me 2 hours 13 minutes in the end, so not a bad average time for me! Just a bit erratic with the pacing. I had my compression socks on (actually, I still do now- I went on a hen night last night and kept then on all through that- under my boots so no-one can see!) but I feel the need to foam roll- they feel a little stiff.

Onto the rambling (“what?” I hear you cry, ” has the rambling part not already been?”) (no friends, that was the bread and running part)- I made rice pudding with coconut milk and it worked perfectly! 25g flaked rice, 150ml Kara coconut milk soaked for several hours in the fridge (probably 6 hours)- I was cautious with my cooking- 1 min in the microwave, then 10 seconds, then 10 more seconds, and it was delicious. Plus no explosions which is always a bonus. I added a few chocolate drops to it, and left them to melt and it was scrummy.

I am also excited as I saw 2 friends last night at the hen do, and they were asking about running because they want to give it a go! So I am going to send them my plan! I am so excited! 🙂

Final ramble- how things in different sized containers look different. E.g. I cook the rice pudding in a cup, and it looks small, and then I put it in a bowl, and it looks like loads. I cook my porridge in a bowl and it looks like loads, then I spoon it into a pb jar and it looks tiny! Here is my teapot which looks the same size as one of these massive cups.

But you can actually get 3 cups (these massive cups not normal cups) from the teapot as I have one and Andy has 2.

It does not look possible to my eyes, but it works every Saturday.

Might be back for the weekly review later! 🙂