Running - Maria Runs

Yes!!!! And also lots of purple

Good evening friends, I hope this day found you well.

I have had a brilliant day- hooray.

Even though I was feeling better, even yesterday I was not feeling my best, and I was still having a dull ache in my stomach, but today I awoke with no pains or aches at all- yes! It is the last day of the antibiotics, and although my tum feels a little delicate (one of the side effects) I think they have managed to rid me of the infection.

Anyway, today I was having my car serviced, and had originally planned on driving it there and running back (it’s about 5 miles) but as I was not sure how I would feel, Andy followed me and dropped me home before he went to work. I sat around for a bit but still felt fine, so I decided to try a run. There is a 5k loop near my house, which I could cut short if I started feeling tired or whatever, but actually I felt so good I went around again. I was taking it steady, but in fact did 6.2 miles in 63 minutes, which for me is pretty fast. I was so hungry when I got home! And also so happy!

(That super cool head gear combo is a head band that is a bit too big which means that my running earphones fit under it- super cool as I said).

I was cold outside and I fancied something warm, so I heated up some coconut milk and made a hot chocolate- delicious! Along with a stoats strawberry and coconut bar.

After a shower it was lunch time, and I just had to take a picture (half way through excuse the crumbs!) when I saw how colour co-ordinated it all was.

My purple themed lunch was a sandwich with cream cheese and beetroot, some nairns caramelised onion bites which have purple on the packet (also with some cream cheese as a sort of dip), on a purple plate. The purple plate was the one at the top of the pile- not planned at all. (I also had a pear which was not purple but does begin with P- am I turning into sesame street?).

Then I got going in the kitchen-I have some friends coming to visit so I made some rocky road fudge (the good old Rachel Allen fudge recipe with some chopped toasted pecans and dark chocolate chips in the middle), (plus can you see the purple stripes on my jumper?) and (I am so excited about this) my own dark chocolate peanut butter! Emma I love you for inventing this recipe 🙂

I did cheat and used meridian crunchy pb (instead of peanuts as I am not sure my mini chopper would hold up), and it is sooooooo good!

In a jar for laters (should I keep it in the fridge though?)

Of course I could not waste the scrapings on the inside of the mini chopper, so I added some cherries and some chocolate alpro for (actually another purple) a choc PB&J style pudding! I thought that only bananas went with pb, but then I remembered apples do (don’t have apples) and jam (so – cherries right?). Scrumptious.

Also I just realised that my breakfast was purple as I had blueberries in my porridge (no piture though you will just have to believe me on that one). Although dinner ruins the theme as it is lentil and spinach chilli on a sweet potato- more orange and green. Should have been a stuffed aubergine….

Anyway, mostly I am excited to finally be feeling well again. In case you have not noticed, I am not good at being ill. I get annoyed with myself for catching the germs, and I also start to invent terrible things in my head and imagine myself lots of “what if’s”, and I start to forget how feeling “well” feels. I have a tendancy to try and get back to normal too soon (possibly my saturday run is an example of this as I was shattered after and was still having dull achey pains), as I do not want to believe that I get ill. But so far today I have been feeling fine. A little tired, but nothing unusual.

So at the moment the plan is aerobics tomorrow with my friend (I was worried I would have to cancel on her and she has not been for weeks, but fingers crossed the good feeling continues) and another 6 mile run on wednesday if I feel like it (or shorter). My plan has 8 miles but I am not sure I will have time as wednesday is a busy day, plus want to take it fairly easy still), body pump thursday and then a rest on Friday, before attempting 13 miles next Saturday. But still I am going to see how I feel and be flexible with the revised plan.

So as my theme is colour today- if you could eat one colour for the day, what colour would it be? 🙂

PS- just saw on facebook that nakd are having some good offers on their website at the moment including 4 boxes of nakd bars for £20- not bad. And they now do a mix box of all the “nudies” (oat/ gluten free ones)! Check it out here.

Catch up

The weekend (and more importantly, half term) is finally here! Thanks for all the lovely wishes- all put a smile on my face!

I was back to work on Wednesday (lots of people were very surprised that I was even off as I am hardly ever off work- in the last 4 years I think I have had one day off before these two!)- for some long days as we had parents evening on Wednesday and Thursday. But the antibiotics were kicking in, as was the copious amounts of water (and Andy got me some cranberry juice) and I was feeling better. I kept on thinking that I might have a run on friday when I got home, but in the end I was shattered so decided on some baking instead!

I made the Blackstrap ginger cookies from the vegan cookie book – yum! Although the 3 rounded tsp ginger recommended meant these are very strong, so next time I would reduce it to 2 tsp I think.

This morning started with oats in a bucket! As I finished a massive tub of meridian pb (not the one I bought last week don’t worry- this was from months ago!) I went for it! Although the porridge looked rather pitiful in the bottom of such a huge container!

It also looked rather unappetising in the picture- but it was yum! Porridge with allspice, dried cranberries and cinnamon, plus the pb scrapings from the tub.

Now on to the running side of things. My plan has got rather complicated, as I keep on moving things around. I was due for a 13 miler today, but as I was so tired (and had not run for a week) I decided against that. Instead as I was feeling alright I decided to test the legs and do a 4 mile run (I am due for a 4 mile interval run later in the week, so I pinched it and changed it to a steady run)- making sense? Anyway, the run was very hard work. I still have a bit of an ache in my stomach, and this seemed to get worse while I was running, so in the end I did only 3.7 miles. I was so tired once I got home.

So now what I am going to do it have tomorrow as a rest, and make sure I get out for a walk, and then try the 13 miles on monday. But next weekend my long run is down to be 10 miles, so I think that on monday if I only do 10 miles than I will do the 13 miles next weekend instead. Does that make sense? It’s all ifs and buts at the moment though.

I am going to make some kidney bean burgers for tea tonight which I am really looking forward to as I have not made anything like that for ages 🙂

I also think the antibiotics are making me feel a bit rubbish generally- I had to have some a few years ago and I think I was recommended some probiotic vitamins to help, so I might hunt some of those down tomorrow. Any recommendations?

Cheers and laters dudes 🙂

Operation “use up the bananas”

Part one

I followed the link that Laura suggested and made some banana blobs for my lunch.

With one mashed extremely ripe banana (the smell made me feel weird as I do not like it when they start going black, and these were covered in black blobs!), 15g oats, 4g ground flax, 2tbs milk, 1tbs pb, a sprinkle of cinnamon and about 10g chocolate chips.

I put them in a wholemeal wrap and had it with a pear and it was amazing! This may also be my lunch tomorrow how exciting!

I think I may well have to make banana bread tomorrow! I saw on the net last week a recipe for banana bread, and it looks fab, so I might try that.

Onto other things- be warned this may contain too much information and also some self pity.

My plan today was a 10 mile run. I followed the same pre run ritual as always- porridge (check), clean bathrooms (check- I am always too tired after to be bothered to do this!), lots of water (check), nuun and water in bottle (check), marathon talk loaded to mp3 player (check), some clif shot blocks to take with me (check), a trip to the toilet (check).

That was as good as it gets I am afraid. I set off, and after about 5 minutes I was having bad stomach pains. I thought they would go (like a stitch goes if you carry on) so I carried on, but after about 2 miles I was struggling and had to stop and walk. My legs felt very weak and I also felt a bit dizzy. I was near to a big tescos so I went in to use their toilets. I ended up sat in the toilet for about half an hour, I was all clammy (not normal sweaty you know but that weird cold sweat) and I felt awful. By then I knew I would not be carrying on. I had my phone with me, but Andy was down in southampton and I didn’t fancy calling anyone else! So I half ran half walked back home, and then had to lay on the sofa for ages. Now this week I have had a cold, but that is mostly gone, but I think I may have picked up a slight bug. After a shower I felt ok, but a bit light headed (and I realised it was a long time since breakfast) so I had the wrap and pear, and after basically sitting about I felt better. Well, I felt very annoyed at myself for not doing the planned run, but I know it can’t be helped. Anyway, I needed to pop to the shops for a couple of things for my dinner, so I headed out. I actually felt really upset when I drove past the park where I normally run- the weather was lovely today and it was so busy with people walking and cycling, and I felt fed up that I will now have to wait another week. Isn’t that a bit ridiculous? Anyway, I got a few more bits from Natural Health;

It’s the kind of shop where things have labels stuck on them, as oppose to shelf labels, so they get different stuff in each week. I was very excited when I saw the coconut oil (in so many blog recipes) and also the brown rice syrup- I did have some clearspring stuff before which I used up and was glad to see some more. I also got some face wipes- I normally use proper wash off cleanser but sometimes if I sit around for a bit I think the sweat and grime soaks in to my face.

Anyway, then I went to Waitrose and actually felt like I was going to faint in the shop as I got bad pains again. So I rushed home and have had a bit of an upset stomach ever since. So I am pretty sure I have a little bug or something.

I did enjoy some tea this afternoon (Darjeeling loose leaf tea which I love when I go to the waffle house)

I have also been drinking loads of water as I still feel a bit shaky and now have a headache.

So now I am going to have some dinner in a bit (I defrosted some squash soup and I am going to add some kidney beans to it and have it with a sweet potato) and bascially lay about a bit more and try to cheer myself up.

Anyone want to snap me out of it?

🙂

Long time no see

Well, a few days anyway!

I am glad that my first busy week is out of the way. First to exercise: Wednesday was a late meeting at work, so I had already moved my run from then to Friday. Thursday was body pump and I was very tired. I still managed the same weights as last week (and kept on the 15kg through the back track until the last break by which time I was very shaky!), but I felt like it was harder work than usual. Today I had a 3 mile gentle run after work. I was very tempted to go further as 3 miles at the moment does not seem far, but as I have a long run planned tomorrow and I was tired from my week I persuaded myself to keep to the 3 miles and have a cup of tea afterwards.

Now to the food- I have had some more delicious snacks!

This is amazing! Seriously! One pot of alpro chocolate, mixed with some PB2 and then topped with Bear granola. Yummy! PB chocolate cherry crunch heaven.

Some Maple hazelnut cereal – this is lovely but very very sweet. Basically like eating crunchy flakes of maple syrup!

A lovely flapjack with pumpkin seeds, apricots and sultanas (I shared it with Andy after body pump as it is massive).

Also after a suggestion from Jess I used some muesli instead of oats to make some porridge;

(Glad I put the packet there as when I was looking through the pics I was wondering why I had two pictures of blueberry porridge). Verdict? Lovely! I thought the nuts would go all squishy or something (as I soak it overnight) but they stayed crunchy. Some of the grains did not soak up the milk so there was a nice chewy texture to it. I had it today too as I was so impressed!

Ok, today my question is- what is the best thing to do with ripe bananas? I have loads and I made banana cookies last weekend (delicious, but only used up one banana and made a million cookies), and I don’t fancy a smoothie. I could make banana cake but we are not seeing Andy’s parents this week so I can’t donate any to them, and my freezer is rather full! So, any ideas will be gratefully received!

Cheers me dears 🙂

And we’re off!

That is what it feels like- this week is like a race to the finish line! 1/5 done already!

I did 6 miles today, but this week I am having no interval or anything like that, just general mileage. I was tired (probably still from the 12 miles on Saturday) so I just took it easy, didn’t look at the time or anything. I managed it in 61.5 minutes, so I am pretty pleased as I felt much slower.

I tried to make sure I was fuelled during the day more, so I added a banana to my breakfast, and some clementines with my afternoon snack (although that was a fail as I forgot about them to ended up eating them after dinner). Hmm. I also had some muesli last night (scrummy dessert!) to top up the carbs in the evening!

Today with dinner I had some Twinnings English Breakfast tea;

This picture is mainly an excuse to show you one of my teapots! Do you know that I have four teapots? Pretty impressive for a two person household! I love some tea with my dinner (and I know you are not supposed to due to the tea inhibiting iron absorption, but I like it too much!).

Anyway, that is all for now. Six miles done, one run ticked off this week already, so not bad for a monday 🙂 As for the comments yesterday, I am glad so many people are loving the H&B buy one get one half price deal- never realised those big tubs of pb are loved by so many! I am still on my last big tub so have not opened the new ones yet. And I do love the idea of oats in a massive tub!