All coming together

First, thanks for all the comments. Rob- you made a good point (haha) about the safety pins in hand luggage- I had not thought of that so thanks.

Today I had a 3 mile run planned after work and I had a new snack before I went out.

This was nice and nutty- massive chunky nuts in there, but also very sweet and sugary- too early to call it carb loading I think!

I went out and found the first bit of the run hard (uphill and into the wind) but then coming back much easier (I could feel the wind blowing my legs)- I managed the whole route in 29 mins, and I think recently my quickest time for that route was 32 mins, so I am pretty pleased. Once home I had some lovely coconut water to rehydrate and also coz it tastes lovely!

I have decided to miss aerobics tomorrow for a few reasons- 1- I think I will be tempted to go a bit too high impact. 2- It saves me money as if I am going and do low impact I may as well do something at home. 3- I will do my 2 mile run tomorrow as on Wednesday I have a lot of work to do and so do not want to be more rushed for time. Thursday I am having my hair cut straight after work, and then will have more work to do in the evening (stuff that the kids are not doing til Wednesday and needs a lot of marking etc. by Friday, annoying as I can’t do it any earlier)- so might manage a walk or some yoga or something like that. Friday I am being picked up from work at 3.30pm to go straight to the airport, so nothing on that day either. It feels weird not doing much exercise after so long of doing a lot more, but I know that my leg still work. I just have to focus on one foot in front of the other. If I get there as now there is another volcano ash cloud apparently. Fingers crossed people, fingers crossed!

I am thinking that a marathon abroad is much more stressful than doing one down the road! And (how exciting) I had a reader request (oooooh sounds like a real blog) to put the link on for the Stockholm marathon website, so I will sort that out later in the week and of course I expect you all to be glued to your computers all of Saturday looking for updates as I pass the checkpoints. Or I will pretend you will as it will give me some incentive to keep going! Night for now 🙂

Final review

Ahhhhhhh!

That is how my brain feels! I keep having dreams about the marathon- about running too slow, or not passing the checkpoints in time, or not being able to see the pacer runners, or just not actually running it for some reason. I am not sure how I can take a whole week of these nerves!

Anyway, one of my main worries was breakfast- I like porridge and really thought about this aspect far too late. Not sure if our hotel does breakfast (we think it does but not 100%)- I looked on google to see if there are Starbucks in Stockholm as they do porridge (apparently one at the airport so no use for the morning), then for MacDonalds (but then when I looked on the Swedish MD site they did not list porridge on the menu). Anyway, when looking on Ocado at our shopping I spied a tub of grasshopper porridge (like the Stoats ones I tried but never see in the shops)- all you do it add hot water. Enter stage 2. Do we have a kettle in our room? If we have breakfast provided could I take the pot and use the hot water from the coffee machines? Etc. Anyway, I considered buying a travel kettle but then I rang my Mum and it turns out she has one (well, in fact 2, but I only need 1!). So now my breakfast is sorted. Phew.

Today I also did some more baking (no food processor this time). Andy requested blondies, and I saw this recipe and decided to have a go. In the end I used my normal blondies recipe from Bake by Rachel Allen, and then copied the icing idea from that blog. They look good and we had a little nibble from the offcuts when I was slicing them.

I can not slice things into even sized pieces! Dearie me. Anyway, luckily we took these to Andy’s parents so they won’t be around to tempt us.

(This was not the off-cut, it just shows the layer of blondie and icing)

Onto the review. It was a different week as I had the 2 runs last Saturday and Sunday, so I have not really done much running this week.

Monday- Yoga podcast and a walk- rest day really

Tuesday- Aerobics

Wednesday- 5 mile run after work (work was a school trip so lots of walking and stress!)

Thursday- Body pump- lower weights for legs etc again.

Friday- Rest day- was going to have a walk but went to see my Nan instead.

Saturday- 7 mile run- fab 🙂

Sunday- Yoga/ rest day

Total miles- 12 miles!

I am feeling a bit antsy now, but I keep telling myself that this is how I am supposed to feel???

Also, I am not sure about going to aerobics this week? I could go and do lower impact stuff, but then am I better to save money (and time) and go on a gentle run straight after work instead? At the moment I am leaning towards the second option, but I am not sure. I think that I will be tempted to fling myself about a bit too much if I do end up going.

Anyway, the packing has started (very slowly) and I am going to wear my running trainers on the plane to save space in my hand luggage, and have as much as I can with me (all the essentials) just in case.

Regarding the sports bra incident is that I have 2, so I will be taking the other one with me! And I have had them a while (well, since earlier this year or maybe the Autumn?) and they have not done that to be before, so I will be double checking before I leave the hotel room! 🙂

Also I got an email saying that it is going to be broadcast on-line, and also as it records our chip times every 5k approx that they will be on the net too, so I have already emailed my Mum and Dad with the details so they can sit glued to their computer for 5 hours on a Saturday afternoon, or is that being unrealistic??

Right, enough of my rambling. I am off.

Wardrobe malfunction!

Not as bad as it could have been!

I went on my last “long” run today. I say “long” because it was 7 miles, which seems short, but just what I fancied doing. I think after next weekend I am going to enjoy doing this length of run a lot more. Anyway, Andy got a Garmin for his birthday and let me try it out, so I had that on alongside my Nike+. The plan was to compare the pace and distance etc, but it was only once I started that I realised that he likes km, and I like miles, and I just was not working out the maths that well in my head. Anyway, my pace went from 6.24 per km, up to 6.28 on a steep hill, got back down to 6.20 and finished at 6.19. Each time I glanced at it the pace was between those numbers, and I did feel quite fast but also like my legs were going like clockwork. I did the 10k in 63 mins (fast for me) and overall did 11.4 K in 69 mins. That seems to be about 7 miles anyway.

But, the worst bit- at exactly 5k I felt a ping! One of my bra straps had come undone. For the ladies, I have a Shock Absorber Run bra- it is brilliant, and has 2 straps- one across the back of the neck, and one normal one. At first I thought the top one across my neck was what opened (it is like a bikini clasp) but I soon realised that I was wrong. The straps adjust (again like a bikini) by sliding a plastic loop into slots of fabric. I am not sure if I just rushed to put it on, but that was what had worked its’ way loose.  The one that goes down along the left shoulder-blade. Not sure if I have explained it right. Anyway, I tried but there was no way I was able to do it back up while running (and I was not going to stop and take it off to sort it out) so maybe that was why I ran faster??

Anyway, I enjoyed that run and glad that I felt strong and speedy- I have been feeling like a plodder of late so I am glad my legs still work. Those 20 miles seem ages ago now! This week I have a 3 and a 2 miler, so I might do a few fast paced bits on Monday, but the other one will be gentle to keep the legs ticking over.

Also, exciting news, I tried my new food processor today! It did take me about 20 mins (and then it took Andy to actually work out the problem) to get it to work. Turned out I was not quite putting the lid on properly. Anyway, after seeing these amazing looking raw brownie slice things on Emma’s blog, I knew I had to try them! The original recipe is here (I book marked it already!) but I changed it up a bit and only made half, so my recipe is below.

And of course any excuse for me to use my new measuring cups! This is the base + topping waiting to go in the fridge.

And this is a slice on my plate (spoonful so you can see the base).

Mmmmmmm it is amazing!

So, for the base, whizz 1 cup pecans and 1 cup chopped dates in a food processor. Then add 1/6 cup cocoa powder and a tbsp agave, and mix some more. Press this into a small pan lined with baking paper (pressing it with the hands was much more successful than with a spoon) and leave in the fridge to set.

Then melt 1.5 tbs coconut oil. Put into the food processor 1/6 cup date syrup, 1tsp agave, (I had no maple syrup), 1tsp rice dream milk, 1 tsp cocoa powder and blend it up. Then pour in melted coconut oil and 1 tbs almond butter (this has salt in it, which is why I missed out the salt from the original recipe). Pour this over the base and leave to set again.

Just in case you did not see before, here is the exact same picture again!

It really is that good! 🙂

So make some if you have not already!

Counting down

So, last night was my last body pump before the big day itself! It was good fun- I kept weights lower for squats, lunges and back, and all was fine.

I do at the moment keep imagining injuries- my knee was sore for a bit and it has not been sore for years, at one point at work yesterday I convinced myself that my back was sore (I think I was just sat badly and then got up quickly and it felt weird for a minute which normally I would not even notice)- possibly this is the paranoia about making it to the start line in one piece. I am starting to feel a little out of control, so I have started to make myself think about the things I can control (e.g. taking my training easy, food in the final week, packing, thinking about all those good runs that I had) to calm my nerves. It suddenly seems so close, and the last week of a half term is always so busy so I think next week will fly by! We fly out Friday night, and Andy is going to pick me up from work so I only have at home until next Thursday. Eeek!

Anyway, when I got home I had half a bag of spinach that needed using up, so I went for a green smoothie. In the blender went the spinach, a small frozen banana, some frozen cherries, 2 tsp cocoa powder, xanthan gum and some rice dream milk.

It turned out so thick it was more like melty ice cream, so I had it in a bowl instead!

I put some pb on there, but I think I should have made a sauce instead as of course, the smoothie being freezing cold, the pb did not melt! Duh. Anyway, this was delicious.

Right, catch you guys later 🙂

I would run 1000 miles

Ok, so I realise that the song is actually walk, and possibly 5000 miles. But still, it is in my head after I logged on to my Nike+ today. 1000 miles since last May. Not bad going. Paula even had a little video clip for me!

So first up today was our school trip- walking around a model village all day is actually very tiring! Making sure you do not lose any children is quite stressful! It was a lovely day but they were so excited (even about going on a coach) so it was tiring. I even had a cup of tea right after the kids went home which is very unlike me, but I was shattered. Then home for a run in the drizzle. Nice. Well, actually it was quite nice. I had a 5 mile run, and as I mucked up my weekend runs I missed the interval run on Monday. So I had considered doing some of that while I was out, but after about 2 miles I think the tea wore off and I felt so tired, so in the end I kept it very gentle. I feel like I am totally easing off more than I should, but hey-ho.

Dinner was fab- some of my lentil tofu veg bake with some crunchy food doctor beans on the side, and a massive pickled onion 🙂

Thanks for the comments about the carb stuff- I have been reading different things and the idea now seems to be that just to make sure you get enough normally, and not to go crazy. I think we might make some pasta to have cold on Friday evening on the plane (I am going to the airport straight from work- Andy is going to pick me up, and as our flight is at 8 we do not want to wait until we get there for dinner. And I love the bagels idea- we have some in the freezer so I might dig them out for snacks at the end of next week. But I had a look over my food diary on WLR and I seem to be getting enough at the moment anyway- I suppose I do not follow a low carb diet or anything like that- I tend to have them at most meals.

I feel like I am on the final countdown now- on my run today I thought “only 3 more runs after this before the big one”- and tomorrow is my last body pump (as I am not going next Thursday). I am kind of excited but also very very nervous.

Right, off for some blog perusing now 🙂