Delicious drinks

 

Vita Coco Coconut Water
This has 20 cals and 4g carbs per 100 ml and has more potassium than sports drinks, so it is a good drink for after exercise to stop dehydration. The water does have a faint hint of flavour, slightly sweet, but does not really taste of coconuts. Once it has been in the fridge it is very refreshing. I get it from Holland and Barrett but I have seen it online from a few places too. I really think it is lovely as a post-run drink.
8/10 cherries

Vita Coco Coconut water with Mango and Peach:
This has 25 calories per 100ml, and is made of coconut water with mango and peach juice/ puree. It is so delicious and refreshing, the mango and peach flavours come through and make it much more fruity and flavoursome. Perfect for a hot day or after a run.
10/10 cherries.

Vita Coco Coconut water with Pineapple:
To see it being used in a smoothie look here
This is made up of coconut water with pineapple and coconut puree, and some vit c (probably for a natural preservative). It has 25 cals per 100ml, with 6g carbs, and 15mg calcium among other things. This is much nicer than the plain coconut water(it has more flavour), but not as good at the coconut water with mango. I prefer to use it in smoothies now as oppose to having it on its own.
9/10 cherries

Innocent Lemon, Honey and Ginger Smoothie
Refreshing, not too sweet, nice warming kick with the ginger.
Plus you get some seeds for the bees so what’s not to love?

Whitards Spice Imperial Loose Leaf Tea

I am a big fan of tea, but normally have (fairtrade) sainsbury’s black tea. I have tried a few herbal teas, and rooibos tea, but am not keen. I recently discovered chai tea (black tea with spices like cardamon and cinnamon) and saw this in Whitards last week. It is black tea with orange, vanilla, cinnamon and cloves, and it is gorgeous, it smells like christmas and tastes amazing.

10/10 cherries

Garden excitement

I had my usual pre-run breakfast of cornflakes and raisins, and headed out at about half ten. I wasn’t sure how far I would go, because it has been so warm and it was heading towards midday. But in fact there was a strong breeze which helped keep me cool. I headed up to the lakes, ran around them both, then up in a loop around the park and back around one of the lakes. At one point I have to cross a narrow bridge and when I got to it there was a big white goose there, but I was going too fast so I ran past it with my arms high up (it seems nearly as tall as me- at least it could get my fingers) and luckily it didn’t seem bothered. In the end I did just under 7 miles in 67 minutes and I really enjoyed it. Although I liked training for the half marathon, at the moment I really enjoy 6-8 mile runs, as they feel like I have done some “proper” exercise, but not so far that they wipe me out for the rest of the day.

Once home and stretched I had some Graze Bounty Hunter mix, which is coconut cubes, cranberries and chocolate drops. I had a shower but I was still hungry so I had a delicious lunch; a carrot and apple muffin (made these back in May and froze some) which I warmed in the microwave and spread with smooth peanut butter, a massive bowl of strawberries, raspberries, yoghurt and a sprinkle of treacle granola, some hazelnuts and a glass of coconut water with pineapple. A very fruity lunch indeed!

I also had a walk and was surprised how warm it was even thoiugh the breeze has really picked up and dark clouds were blowing over.

I made some cupcakes for tea later- Black bottom cupcakes from Hummingbird Bakery . These are a dark chocolate cupcake marbled with a vanilla cream cheese chocolate chip cheesecake mix, and they were so good! I had one after tea today- delish. The chocolate cupcake is very dark and rich, which is a good contrast to the sweet cheesecake swirl. A fab post-run treat.

I have also been so excited about my garden. I went out there this evening and have collected my first “wave” of blackcurrants. Seriously, last year I got 6 or 7, but this year it has got massive and there are loads of bunches hanging from it. Now I need to decide what to do with them- any ideas?

I have also found some tiny green tomatoes on the tomato plants, some tassles on the sweetcorn, and a few more little courgettes. The pumpkin plant has grown all over the other plants (I did tie it to some canes but it has gone crazy) so I have tied it up some more, and also tied up the butternut squash plants as they are getting tendrils so they seem to be climbers too.
It is looking great out there at the moment; all this sunshine has been doing them the world of good.

Bad bad run, fun food shopping

Apologies for not being around this week. It was going to be fab- I was going to have a short run after work Monday, aerobics after a late meeting on Tuesday, get up early for a run Wednesday before work (so I could leave and watch the second half of the England match- then out for celebration meal with work in the evening), body pump Thursday and a rest on Friday. What actually happened was this: Monday break-time we all got called into the staffroom- Ofsted were on their way for Wednesday and Thursday. Cue being at work from 7am, not leaving til 7pm, plus lots to do at home too. (As an aside this is not because our plans etc are rubbish, but Ofsted expect perfection- they may only observe for 10 minutes but in that 10 minutes expect to see everything!- also I usually have PPA time (time out the class for planning etc) but this was taken away so the children had continuity of teachers- so more lessons to plan for than usual. Plus I get everything ready in advance instead of leaving some things until the morning just in case!). That was a long bracket! So anyway all the runs and classes went out the window, and the week was full of work, worry and little else!

So this morning I was really looking forward to a run. I had breakfast as usual, a big drink of water and headed out. After ten minutes I had to stop to cross a road and felt so dizzy all of a sudden I had to hold on to the push the button post thing. Not good, but it went away so I carried on. Five minutes later I got to the park and felt so bad I sat on a low fence. I was feeling more and more dizzy and in the end sat on the grass for 5 minutes, drinking more water and trying to get the normal feeling back into my legs. At that point I knew I had to cut my run short, there was no way I was going any further. I then did a combo of walking/ slow jogging/ stopping until I got home. It really was the most awful run I have ever had. I think it must have been a combination of being a little dehydrated (it was so hot at work and although I have been drinking more water than usual it is maybe not quite enough), plus the stress of the past week. When I got home I was all clammy and had to sit with my head between my legs for a while. I had some coconut water as I thought it would do me good as it’s good for re-hydration, and then a cool shower. All day I have still been feeling dizzy, I have drunk so much water today and tried to take it easy, so fingers crossed I will feel better tomorrow.

On the plus side I have finally added the photos from the last few weeks (although not sure how to get the ones off my phone so may take some more next time I make bread).

I also popped to the shops and had a spending spree on healthy food! A post-ofsted treat! Holland and Barrett were doing buy one get one half price so I stocked up on coconut water (including some flavoured ones- mango and peach, and pineapple).

I also tried out a new health food shop (http://www.naturalhealthwelwyn.co.uk/store/ ) and got a few treats including rainforest nut butter (brazil, cashew and some other nut- have seen it on the net but never in a shop). I was impressed with the shop; from the outside it looked like a supplement shop, which normally puts me off, but inside it had a big selection of groceries; cereals, cooking things like maple syrup, agave, pesto etc, snacks and treats, all the gluten free nak’d bars (hooray! including gingerbread so I got a couple!!), and even a fridge and freezer section. They also sold tempeh which I have been reading about (it’s a soya protein but higher in protein than tofu), I think I will look up some recipes before I buy it though. Although when I paid the lady asked if I had a loyalty card and I said no. I am not wondering how you get one and maybe I should have asked! Silly me!

This evening I have made some peanut butter and white chocolate cookies (with some agave instead of caster sugar)- they are very gooey at the moment but I love chewy cookies so am hoping they will be ok. I also got very hot in the kitchen making a vegetable quinoa bake for the freezer (onion, pepper, courgette, spinach, tomato, quinoa, black beans, sundried tomato, herbs- all mixed up in a pan and simmered) so I had a walk too to cool down . Fingers crossed I am back to normal tomorrow!