Category: Stuff I love!

I love body pump hooray!

Yes!

Loving it!

I upped some weights today- went for 15kg for the squats (which meant I had to have that at the end of the lunges too- major hard work), managed to keep to 10kg for the whole of the back track (whereas you are meant to do the chest weight which for me is 7.5kg)- before I had to tip the extra off in the last rest. Woo!

I have decided that I seem to love the triceps track the most- this release it is this song and I have been singing it all evening. I find the triceps so hard, so it is great to have a catchy upbeat song which gets those endorphins going!

It was hot though, and by the end of the squats (second track) I  had sweat running down my arm! Gross! But a brilliant workout. More eyeball sweating in the abs track too!

I like it! Plus we can change the lyrics a tiny bit to fit “Baby I like it, the way we move on the floor, baby I like it, come on and lift it some more, baby I like it, gurning like never before” etc.

Yeah, I am having the high 🙂

You know you had a good workout when…

your eyeballs are sweating!

Or is that too much information haha!

Body pump was fab. Perhaps that is my most-typed sentence on here. But it was. I went for it in the back track- added on more weights after last week, on the outside of the clips so I could tip them off in the last break. But, I kept them on! Woo! Those overhead press things are so hard, but also immensely satisfying. I went back up to the normal weight for biceps, and added some for the lunges too (so back to normal). In the abs track my eyeballs were sweating. I am not sure if that is actually possible, biologically speaking. But that is what seemed to be happening!

Not much else to report. I did take a picture of my chocolate collection. It was spread around different cupboards, and I realised that perhaps I should not buy any more until I have finished it. (But in my defence, it was on offer in various places so worth it overall).

Today I had a few squares of the dark chocolate with raspberry- yum 🙂

Hooray it is nearly the weekend! I am already starting to half panic about the long run (17-18 miles- not sure why I gave myself a choice really). But I am also going to find my collection of seeds (and hope they have not gone past their plant by date) and plant some- yay! I love the season of gardening.

So, finish the sentence; You know you have had a good workout when…..

Or I am looking forward to the weekend because…

Spread the love

Hello lovelies!

I am having my usual post body pump high this evening!

The usual instructor was away, and normally this means it is cancelled, but she mentioned last week that she knew someone who might be able to cover. On Tuesday (aerobics) I asked at reception and they were “pretty sure” it was on. So I was keeping my fingers crossed and very happy when I got there to find it was on. The usual crowd were there; when I arrived one regular was already getting the bars ready for us. The instructor was so impressed with how helpful we were, how well we put away the stuff between tracks once we no longer need it and how well trained we were in general with the routine. She was really good, and near the end told us she only qualified to teach it 2 weeks ago! We were all very impressed- during the chest track she walked around to check we were holding the bars in the right position, and she was very encouraging. Loved it! (And we are a class of such swots too haha!)

Boy I am tired now though!

I shared a stoats porridge bar with Andy;

This one was raspberry and honey, with sunflower and pumpkin seeds and sultanas. Yum.

I also tried chamomile tea;

This smelled like sweeties 🙂 Again I have never tried this before, but I actually quite liked it. It also has liquorice in it, which I think adds to the sweetness. I am gradually being converted to more and more to herbal teas. (Do not panic I still love chai).

I also got an email from Martin Yelling (a bit star struck haha) saying my prize it on its’ way! How exciting 🙂 So I am now spreading some marathon talk love-go check out marathon talk– it’s the rest of the interview with Andrew Lemoncello this week- go on see why I keep on about it! 🙂 Anyone else ever listen to it? Or anyone going to give it a go this weekend?

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.

Parcels, pace, pottering and peanut butter

Afternoon peeps!

Yesterday was a rest day, not much to report although after work I did go to Morrisons to get some lovely so crispy bites (they are like rice cakes but tastier), and had a walk. My shoulders were so sore yesterday, after the tiny bit of extra weights for the rest of the track I was no surprised!

Look what I got in the post!

The lovely Jess offered to send me some Dorset cereal porridge, and also included a jar of PB2 which is sort of powdered peanut butter- sounds amazing although I have not yet tried it. 🙂 Thanks so much Jess 🙂

Today has been great so far- I got up and while Andy went on his 11 mile run (how does he do it before breakfast?) I had my porridge, with a blob of pb, and pottered about. I set off with the new marathon talk podcast (what else people?). I had planned the same route as last week, and was pretty pleased with my pace- considering it was 10.5 miles I was within 30 seconds of my time last week- this could be down to stopping longer to cross roads or whatever. Again the run felt good, I was a bit hungry by the end so I think soon I will start taking something with me, not sure what. Anyway, although it drizzled a bit, it was much less windy, and I ended feeling strong. I think I need to remember this feeling for when the runs are harder work! I only saw a few other people out running today, and recently I have been seeing loads.

Once home I had a clif bar (which Andy now likes too-cue another order on wiggle methinks) and yummy hot chocolate- I heated up some Kara coconut milk in the microwave, and then added some nesquick powder. Delicious and warming as I was very cold! Although the cup got hot so it was hard to drink- next time I need to heat it in one thing and drink it out of something else.

After lunch(which was toast with PB and mashed banana and a delish fuji apple) I had a lovely snack of some Mighty Muesli with yoghurt, which was very tasty indeed. It has a massive ingredients list including oats, barley, rye, sunflower seeds, quinoa, dried cranberries, linseed, alfalfa seeds, pumpkin seeds…..(and the best bit- no dried milk powder- I do not like that in muesli)- Yum

I also made some fudge for my friends- I used my fave Rachel Allen recipe but subbed in some broken mint matchmakers instead of the white chocolate- to make minty after dinner fudge.

It made loads so I am going to take some into work on Monday.

Tonight we are off out for dinner, and I had a little browse of the restuarant website- I got a little annoyed as loads of dishes were marked as vegetarian, when they contain parmesan. They had a contact form on the site so I sent them an email (a nice one) as I find it so frustrating that this is such a common mistake on menus. Anyway, I saw they do a pizza with goats cheese, peppers, caramelised onions and some other things, which looks amazing, so I think I am going for that 🙂 Anyone else get annoyed by things being labelled wrong? I like pizza express as they clearly state on the menu how to make things vegetarian.

Off for some tea now, later guys