Maria Runs

Yup, that was yesterday. Perhaps it was some kind of payback for Laura commenting that she learnt that running in the rain was not so bad- I agreed, and then of course, it tipped it down! As I was about to leave the clouds were black and Andy told me to take my phone (but I was not taking my belt so it would not fit in any pockets)- so I said to him that if it hailed he could come and get me! As I left it started raining really hard- the rain was going sideways as the wind was blowing so hard and it was stinging my eyes, and it was so hard to run in time as the wind was so strong! I also felt a bit tired, in a can’t-be-bothered mood. After a while the sun came out and it was a bit better, but I really felt like I had heavy legs and the last set of 185 steps per min was really tough. I had nearly talked myself out of yoga, but then I realised I would have to do it another day, and put that on here, so I did it!

I had a tasty dinner of half a baked aubergine with cannelini beans, passata and herbs and stuff, cooked beetroot on top of spinach and sprinkled with food doctor seeds (and topped with nutritional yeast). Yum. The beetroot turned the beans pink too! 🙂

I also had a snack of vanilla alpro, strawberries and some mango macadamia granola. Delish 🙂

Today after seeing Sarah using other dried fruits in her overnight oats, I decided to go with dried apple in my porridge instead of the usual raisins.

OK so it looks horrible, but really it was tasty- the apples plumped up overnight, and of course after being sprinkled with cinnamon everything tastes lovely!

Today I have an early dinner (so eat before body pump, as I did try eating after but by the time I got home it was 9pm and I was starving and felt a bit too weak at pump) so I never normally plan a snack between lunch and dinner. But, this means by the time I get home I am starving, and also get tempted by biscuits in the staffroom,  so today I was being prepared (and having never been in the guides it must be impressive that I can be):

The nakd bar was for my morning snack, and the Eat natural mini bar was to have before I came home (to stop me being tempted by goodies in the staffroom- and it worked hooray).

Once home I had some chai tea (called “Baby it’s cold outside”- what a fab name) and an apple to keep me going. 🙂

So, I am already looking forward to the weekend (Silverstone yay!)- Andy is going with his Dad tomorrow to watch the practise sessions, and I am off to the waffle house (hoping that more people turn up this time hee hee)- it is going to be brilliant! Ear plugs at the ready 🙂

So, any exciting weekend plans ?

OK, so for a while now my goals with regard to running have mainly been to go further. A few years ago I started with a 5K, the following year I did a couple of 10K’s, the year after a couple of half marathons, and this year the full marathon. During that time, I have got a little faster, but I have not really focused on it much- I am getting ever closer to the 1 hour 10k, but have not made it yet. I have been reading (and listening to marathon talk of course) about this subject, but the bottom line is, in order to run a faster race, I have to train faster.

So Friday after work I did another audiofuel interval workout. I did the middle one again, which tops out at 180 steps per min. Although the recovery parts are slower than I normally run, I have come to realise that I need to have them slower in order to be able to run faster in the other parts. The first intervals feel a little fast, but fine. The second ones feel comfortably hard, and the fastest ones feel very hard (like, I want to stop and have a little trouble breathing but in a good way). Without access to a track I have always found doing intervals hard- it would be a combination of looking at my Nike+, flipping between time and pace to make sure I kept it up, or running fast between lamp-posts etc, so really more fartlek style. I like the fact that these tell me how fast to go and I manage to maintain that pace consistently, as oppose to my fake interval training where in realilty I must vary my speed all the time.

Anyway, the run was good,but I was glad to get home!

Time for some refreshing coconut water! My face does not look at all red, or in fact that sweaty and I have no idea why, as I was baking and dripping yet again!

Anyway, I am going to keep this up as I can see that it forces me to run faster than my comfort zone, which can only be a good thing.

While I am on the topic of running faster, I have a little plug for my beloved marathon talk. At the end of every interview they ask the question “if you could have 6 months of guaranteed perfect training dedicated to this, how fast could you run one mile?” and they have a little magic mile leader board. They are having a little magic mile summer challenge– basically you register on the site, and then between 1st -14th August you have to run one mile flat out, and log your time. There is some kind of complicated age ranked scoring system, and it is basically UK vs the world,with participation ranking higher than speedy times. So go on, sign up! I am! They even have a training plan, if you want to take it super seriously. 🙂

On Thursday it was body pump, and I did like the music a little more this time (phew). I found a couple of tracks a little easier (squats being one, although that may be because I have cut back the running miles for the moment) so I went a little heavier (although the lunges track is a killer)- I also went crazy and did full push ups! Well, we only have 4 at the start of the shoulder track (I normally do half girly ones- you know, on your knees but with hips low but I did used to be able to do full ones ages ago so I knew I was capable)- no going back to girly ones now!

Friday night we went to friends’ house for dinner, and I provided dessert. So, if you do not want to see cheesecake, STEP AWAY FROM THE COMPUTER / scroll down a bit as healthy stuff resumes further on.

It was a chocolate, caramel and hazelnut baked cheesecake from the new Hummingbird book. You made the base, chilled it, made the cheesecake mixture and then mixed half with caramel sauce, and half with melted chocolate- you can kind of see the layers. Then it was baked.

After chilling overnight it was topped with caramel sauce and roasted hazelnuts. Yum. My friends actually discussed kidnapping me and keeping me tied up in their kitchen- to be honest I would love to be baking all day haha!

OK- healthy stuff resuming alert!

I have had some tasty dinners, including lovely pasta with roasted veggies and pesto (one of my fave meals).

I topped this with a little reduced fat cheddar (which was on offer and it actually pretty nice- I do not normally go for the reduced cal/fat stuff, but it tastes nice). Yum.

This was lovely banana-cocoa-pb pudding topped with raspberries. Delicious.

Today I went out on a run- I did the route from 2 weeks ago, and actually 2 mins slower, but my legs felt really heavy. I think the extra weight from body pump and also the harder run yesterday probably didn’t help that. I did though have water with me (well, water with a nuun tab) which did help a lot. It was lovely, but I was in a hurry after as I had to get to my school summer fayre. Anyway, before I left I could not resist trying a Clif bar from my bloggie swap!

Yummy! It was scrumptious. Andy had a bite and said “will we be living on Clif bars this summer?” (as we are going to America) and then “do they sell them in supermarkets over there?”- US blog friends- where do they sell them?? And thanks again to Britt- what a super tasty parcel 🙂

Anyway, as it was hot I took some water with me to the fayre and then spent a few lovely hours, first manning a bouncy castle, and then wandering aboutin the sunshine. Love it. 🙂

So, how do you runners out there get faster? And have you signed up for the magic mile challenge? Go on, you know you want to!

🙂