Category: Running

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 🙂

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!

The weeks certainly seem to be flying by at the moment!

Today was a much needed rest day- I was not stiff but my legs did feel tired today. I did some foam rolling last night, and hada gentle walk today (although in the wind it was still hard work!).

The day started with some porridge in a jar! Using small jars of peanut butter has it’s advantages- they run out sooner!

(I had to leave some in the bowl as it would not all fit in the little jar!)- I added some carob powder to the bottom of the jar and then mixed it in- topped it with some cinnamon- yummy 🙂

I cannot think what the carob reminded me of (carob topped 9 bars/ seed stacked bars?)- I like the flavour but it is slightly different to cocoa powder. A nice change anyway.

I also unpacked my shopping from yesterday!

Holland and Barret were having another “buy one get one half price” sale, so I stocked up on PB. I love the meridian stuff (as it is 100% peanuts- no oil, salt or sugar)- once crunchy and one smooth for variety! I also got some mollasses (although later I found out that it was not black strap which has the most iron, grrr) and some blackcurrant fruit spread. In the health food shop I found date syrup (I was looking for rice syrup which I got last time and have used it all, but they didn’t have any), the carob powder and some scrummy orange chocolate.

So here is the weekly review;

Monday I did a 6 mile run with some intervals in the middle- these went ok but I think they tired me out for the week! Aerobics was busy on Tuesday, and on Wednesday I was very tired after such a busy day at work, and so my planned 6 mile was cut down, in the end to 5 miles so not cut down too much. Thursday in body pump I managed heavier weights for a bit longer during the back track, and on Saturday I managed the 12 miles just fine, even with the wind. In fact I think I may have gone too fast. I totalled 23 miles this week, my most so far (and I got onto blue level on Nike+ which means 1000km since May!). I do weigh myself each week, and although at the moment I am focusing on maintaining, I did lose 1lb this week, which may also explain why I was more tired than usual. (I am in the mid range for my height so losing some will not hurt but I did know this week that I probably was not eating enough and so I want to keep an eye on that as often after a longer run I lose my appetite and I want to have enough protein, carbs etc to recover properly from the training). On the whole I feel positive about this week- I know I was annoyed on Wednesday for not completing the allotted mileage, but that is me and my obsession with ticking things on lists! I know in the long run it won’t make any difference. I am pleased with how the 12 miles went, as again it is the furthest since my half marathon (in the summer I think my furthest training run was 11.5 miles or something) so I am pleased I managed it without totally wearing myself out.

The next 2 weeks are going to be hard, as I have a couple of late staff meetings and parents meetings on different days, so my routine will not be the same as normal. I have planned when I am going running, to fit around work but it is not ideal. Fingers crossed I will manage it.

Hope everyone else had a good week/ weekend 🙂

PS I have also added a page; my race calendar to show how I moved from my 5k race for life to my races now. It was quite satisfying to see how far I have come 🙂