Maria Runs - parkrunning and touring since 2013!

Awesome Ottawa

Hey peeps, I hope everyone has been well. For the last two weeks I have been away on holiday- we got home Friday morning, and then I was at a hen weekend (not sure it is the best cure for jet-lag) but now I am home properly so get ready for some long recap posts!

First up was Ottawa, the capital of Canada.

We had an afternoon flight to Montreal and then got the bus to Ottawa the same day, and so had a full day the next day sightseeing. The city was really walkable- everything was so central. The houses of parliament were right by our hotel, and they did free tours (you had to get a timed ticket though so best to get one early).

While we were waiting for our tour time we walked on a little tour (from our guidebook) and at one point could hear a band. Then this came into view! They were accompanied by a couple of police cars, so the roads were just sectioned off as they marched past, then immediately reopened!

The tour was really interesting- I don’t know much at all about Canadian politics (other than they have the “Queen of Canada” as their head of state- I did find it funny to hear her being called that) so the tour guide went into a bit of detail about the two sections of parliament (they are more sensible and have non elected but non inherited positions instead of our House of Lords). The guide also talked about the building- the clock tower was modelled on Big Ben, and there was the mot amazing library- we were not allowed to take photos but it was so ornate with floor to ceiling beautifully carved shelves- apparently like something from Harry Potter.

After that finished we walked around the city some more- there were lots of lovely shops to browse, as well as plenty of memorials – there was one for jazz musician Oscar Peterson (there is a picture here as I didn’t take one)- it was him sat on a bench by a grand piano (with space on the bench for picture posing) and music was being played too which was lovely.

This was the National Aboriginal Veterans Monument which I thought was just stunning and thought-provoking.

We also walked through a park and by a canal and saw loads of black squirrels- I had never seen them (or even heard of them) before. Then we had a little rest in the hotel before heading out for the evening (when we arrived the night before we were lucky to receive an upgrade to our room- probably as it as late so not many rooms left I imagine- and one of the services was a turn-down service; this one was super posh and when we got back they had even put on some jazz music for us- so fancy!), as every night during the summer there is a special light and sound show on the Houses of Parliament, called Mosaika (again, images here as Andy took some with his camera but I didn’t try with my phone). The show is free, you just turn up and sit on the grass and enjoy. Amazing.

For food we ended up in the same diner twice- Zak’s diner made amazing pancakes and French toast for breakfast, and then I had a lovely goats cheese, spinach and strawberry salad for dinner.

Last summer we went to Victoria on Vancouver Island and Ottawa reminded me of that- some of the architecture is very British, and it was nice and compact. The gorgeous weather helped too! There are loads of museums there too, and had the weather been bad we probably would have visited them, but seeing as it was such wonderful weather we made the most of sightseeing outdoors.

It was a great start to the holiday anyway. Have you ever been to Ottawa?

Runners extras

So, the great thing about running is that you don’t need anything except for trainers (and a sports bra). No other equipment, or gym membership is required.

But, of course, there are loads of optional extras. MP3 player, Garmin, water bottle, arm carry things, waist belts, quick draw gel belts, special earphones….

And of course there are loads of products geared at active people.

When ramping up the miles during half or full marathon training I quite like protein cereal bars- I like variety so I go between Clif bars, Bounce Balls, Pulsin’ bars, nakd bars and whatever else I come across. I find them more filling than regular cereal bars, so often on a Wednesday I will have one in the afternoon as otherwise the gap between lunch (generally around 12.30) and dinner (after 8pm) is a bit too long.

The website Probikekit.co.uk recently sent some of these protein Clif bars and some nuun tabs for me to review for my blog- I was very happy to try them out. I love nuun tabs anyway, so it was great to try a new (to me) flavour. I find that after running in the heat I end up with a layer of sweat on my face, and I often used to get headaches after runs so I tend to have one after a long or hot run to help replace the electrolytes. When I was marathon training I used to take a bottle with nuun + water with me, instead of just water.

The nuun tabs are simple- add them to water and they fizz away and dissolve. They contain sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium as well as some natural flavours and ingredient to hold them together/ make them fizz.

I got home from holiday this morning (we flew overnight from Montreal and I think I managed to doze for about 2 hours) so I was feeling pretty ropey today- hungry at weird times, and super thirsty after being on the plane. So although I didn’t run today, I felt I could do with some rehydration. The lemon tea flavour was really nice- I like iced tea anyway, and it was similar. Tropical remains my favourite flavour, followed by the pink lemonade, but they are all quite faint flavours which is good too.

When I remember I like to make up a glass before I run, and leave it in the fridge so it is nice and cold when I get home.

Excuse the blurry photo- I could not get a better one!

The Clif Peanut Butter Chocolate Builders Bar was like a chocolate bar only filled with soya protein. It had a great chewy texture, and was also huge! 68g! The bar had 264 calories and a whopping 20g of protein, as well as a vitamins and minerals (and no trans fat – good for a processed product). Now, I am not saying this is a health food, but for when you are hungry and fancy something sweet it makes a nice change. I also think that I could cut them in half as it did take me ages to eat the entire one.

What little extras do you love? When I was doing yoga more frequently I bought some special grippy socks which were brilliant.

How do you get over jet lag? I tried to sleep on the plane (I have an eye mask which help) and as soon as I got home I was unpacking, putting on washing, going to the shops, but I ended up having a nap at 1pm as I was just so blurry in the head, and am going out tonight (great timing!) so could not even aim for an early night.

* I was sent a voucher for money off these products in exchange for an honest review- all opinions are my own.

The 10% rule

So, when I started running I was reading a lot of forums and magazines and generally trying to find out as much as possible.

One “rule” that was quoted at me time and again was the 10% rule- not to increase the distance of any run by more than 10% per week (or not to increase total distance by 10% per week).

At first, that seemed sensible. Of course you don’t want to increase distance by too much as your body needs to get used to the stresses of running. I was following a beginner running plan anyway, so assumed that the plan had all of this covered.

But then I started to actually work it out. For a beginner starting out, you would probably run about a mile in your first session. So the next time you can add 10%, which would equal 1.1 miles. Then 1.21 miles. Then 1.3 miles or something. Basically, the distance goes up so slowly you would take months to get to a 5K, not the 8 weeks that most plans suggest.

Or start at 2 miles. But then you have 2.2 miles, 2.42 miles, 2.66 miles, 2.92 miles…

It just does not quite work anyway.

Even if the rule applied once you were running further, say, 6 miles, you still would not increase mileage enough to keep up with most training plans.

Apply the rule to weekly mileage and because it is a percentage it still does not go up in line with most training plans. So, if that “rule” does not really work, what others do not work?

Well, the other “rule” of running I get annoyed over is the obsession with fueling runs. Magazine articles bang on about making sure you have a snack before you run, and then eating something when you get home to help replenish your glycogen stores in your muscles. But again when you begin to think about it, it just doesn’t make sense. You have enough energy in your muscles to run for hours (I think it is around 18 miles- hence the marathon “wall” when those supplies run out), so if you are going out for a 3 mile run after work then no, you don’t need a pre-run snack. Of course, if you are hungry and would have one anyway then fine, but it is not dangerous to run without food. I prefer running on an empty stomach, but I remember when I first started running I was scared of running more than a couple of miles before breakfast- I had visions of me fainting mid-run. Ridiculous! Of course everyone is different, but I have run up to 12 miles before breakfast and been fine.

The same with the post run snack. If you are eating normal meals then you don’t need a protein shake or peanut butter on toast (Runners World etc love to mention these snacks)- just have your dinner.

And don’t get me started on the obsession with drinking so much liquid…

What “rules” annoy you? The one that made sense to me was that your long run should not equal more than 50% of your weekly miles (so if you run 10 miles as a long run, the rest of your runs need to total at least 10 miles)- this seemed sensible in limiting your long run but also making sure you were being consistent with training.

Emily Fruit Crisps

A few weeks ago I was sent some Emily fruit crisps.

While Emily and her partner, Alex were travelling in the Far East, they found a way of making crisps in a vacuum that preserves all the good things in fruit while still being really crunchy.

And look how gorgeous the packaging is too.

They just contain fruit (either apple, pineapple or banana) and some non-hydrogenated vegetable oil (not sure of the percentage).

I have had apple crisps before, and liked them, so I tried the pineapple first.

They were hard to photograph, but you can see the sort of size. They were lovely- a nice crunch but not break-your-teeth crunchy, and the pineapple flavour was delicious. I liked that they were a bit thicker too- some fruit crisps I have tried have been paper thin, but these were more chunky. The packet was 30g, and I saved some for later as that is a lot of crisps.

They are lovely on their own, but I think that for a treat the apple ones would be amazing dipped in some caramel sauce.

Are you a fan of fruit crisps? I tend to associate crispy things with savoury flavours, but these made a lovely snack.

Kermit, let’s begin, describe the day you played Berlin

Yup, that song was in my head for our whole trip! Luckily I loved the Muppets Movie!

Way back in May we had a trip to Norway and then Germany. Originally we were going to Norway for half term, to tour and then to run the Oslo Rock ‘n’ Roll half marathon on the final Saturday. But then it got cancelled, and then we looked at hotel prices in Norway. They were rather large.

So on Friday night we flew to Bergen (we didn’t get to our hotel until gone midnight), then were up early the next morning for a tour of a fjord. The wrong one, it turned out.

The idea was to do the “Norway in a Nutshell” tour- a train from Bergen, then a bus, then a boat, then another train. We got on the train, got off an hour later (along with everyone else) to be greeted by about 15 buses, all with the tour name on the front. We got on one bus, but then were told to get off as there were no seats. We then had an hour journey, before getting off and getting on a boat. At this point I was worried there would be no toilet on the boat, so I went quickly in the little tourist information shop, and when I came out the boat was about to leave so I had to run. I mention this because the people on the boat didn’t check the ticket…

Anyway, Andy mentioned that it didn’t look like how he imagined, and when we looked at the bus ticket we realised we had managed to get on the wrong bus. We did wonder where the other 14 buses were! This led to a rather panicked 5 minutes (we were on a boat, in the middle of a fjord, heading goodness knows where…) before Andy managed to get internet on his phone and find out where we were. Luckily the boat stopped after an hour, and we went to the tourist place there, and booked boat tickets for a return journey (and then a bus)- it was a long day!

The next morning we had a leisurely breakfast in our hotel, before heading to the funicular. It had beautiful views of the city, and lovely marked walks. We walked to a nearby lake, before heading back and treating ourselves to a cup of tea (we were tempted by sharing some cake, but it was £7 for a little slice!). You could get the train back down, but there was a marked trail so we did that instead- it was very steep in places but really nice as it was mostly paths through woods.

We then had a wander around the town and out to a little park, before getting our bag from the hotel and heading to the airport.

We were off to Berlin!

Again we arrived quite late, so the next morning decided to not set the alarm and have breakfast in our hotel. It was only after we sat down and had ordered drinks that we found out it was a buffet- 20 Euros each. Anyway, at least it had plenty of options for me, and meant we didn’t need lunch!

We walked miles! To the Brandenburg Gate, to a big park, various memorials.

We sat in the park for a bit in the afternoon- bliss.

Ritter Sport was everywhere! I fondly remember it as a corner shop staple from when I was little, and I was very excited to find this mini selection pack. I loved the chocolate with cornflakes in there, but sadly could not find a big bar of it.

We saw lots of these bears, but I only remembered to take photos of two!

And one was at the airport!

The next day we bought passes for the trains, so went a bit further afield -Jason Bourne spotting in Alexander Platz, seeing Checkpoint Charlie and looking at various parts of the Berlin wall. I found it really interesting as I didn’t know much about it. I don’t really remember the wall coming down, and I didn’t realise when it was built. There was lots of information to take in, but it was done well (although nothing was glossed over).

The final day it rained, but we only had the morning before our flight, so we went to a few indoor things- the holocaust memorial had a centre below it so we spent some time reading all the individual stories.

Then it was time for a spot of shopping before braving the rain to walk back to our hotel. By this point my jeans were wet through.

Berlin goodies

Delicious Ritter Sport (Nugat, confusingly for me, is not nougat but rather a lovely praline filled chocolate) including some special winter flavours (they were cheap too!)- caramel orange and coconut macaroon. I have had the caramel one, and that was OK, but I have high hopes for the macaroon one- saving it for a special occasion! Plus a Starbucks cup. At work we are only allowed cups like this, and Starbucks actually do dishwasher safe ones, whereas most insulated ones aren’t suitable. Plus the lids fit. I bought a pretty one in Hawaii but the lid doesn’t go on properly so I can’t really use it. We also bought magnets for both places, our fridge is getting ever more crowded.

They did a Berlin one too, but I liked the castle on the back. I would love to go back to Germany and travel around Bavaria a bit- it looks so pretty.

Have you ever been to Norway or Germany?