Return of the red face

This morning I had some more bircher muesli (so yummy) but without the spinkles. It would be lovely with a few chopped nuts I think- might try that another day. I was very pleased to see that the rain had cleared, and so after a bit of pottering about I headed out on a run. This was going to be my longest for about 3 weeks so I was a bit worried about how I would get on, but in fact when I got going I felt fine. I ran up to the lakes, around the lakes and back through the park before heading home, and it was only when I got to within a mile of home that I suddenly felt very tired. It was much hotter outside that I had expected, and I was bright red!

When I loaded up the Nike+ it creates a little chart of your run, with a little line to show how fast you are going for each mile. Mine normally goes up and down quite a bit during a run, but this run was more or less even pace (all around 10 minute miles) except for the last mile which took a total nose-dive! It mapped exactly how I felt!

On my run I mixed it up a bit and listened to a podcast. Normally I have music, and on my mp3 player I have a folder for running music which is a big compliation of what I fancy (upbeat stuff to keep me going). But other people have reccomended podcasts instead so I gave it a go. For the first few minutes I was not sure if I would like it as I was getting distracted by hearing my breathing, and I did have to have it much louder than music because when cars drove past I missed a few words here or there. But in fact fo the first 40 minutes of my run it was quite good to have something to listen to, and I will definetely listen to more podcasts on runs. The one I listened to was a phone in on the radio all about obestiy;  “Is obesity an uncurable disease?”. It was interesting enough (one guy rang up with the theory that if you outlawed selling large sized clothes then no-one would be obese any more), and I was feeling quite pleased with myself that I was out running!

When it ended it went straight onto an old Reef album, which blared out because the podcast was so quiet- made me jump!

Since being home I had a lovely smoothie with banana, mango and some coconut water with pineapple, and then for lunch I had a wholemeal pitta with goats cheese, tomato and basil- tasty. I was still hungry so had a couple of oatcakes with Carly’s Organic Rainforest nut butter (so good- it is made of brazils, cashews and macadamia nuts mmmmmmm), and some blueberries. My legs feel fine now which is good because for the last mile they felt almost jelly like- that’s what 3 weeks off will do I suppose.

Later we are going for a family dinner, which yesterday I made some cookies for. I used the normal chocolate chip recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery book, but put some peanut m-n-m’s on top. We tried one yesterday with a cup of cinnamon chai tea (brewed in the pretty spotty teapot- its ages since I had loose-leaf tea) after a walk in the afternoon.

So I wonder if anyone has any good recomendations for podcasts to listen to when running?

Addicted to courgettes!

I think I need to confess something! I am addicted to courgettes! Not the ones from the shop, no way, but the ones from my garden. There is something so exciting and satisfying about picking something from the garden and eating it an hour later. I have had this with strawberries before (from the garden) but have never had that many- enough for some at lunch, or some to add to a smoothie.
Yesterday evening I picked one green and one yellow courgette, to add to my dinner. I sliced them thinly and put them on a baking tray with a squirt of oil and a sprinkle of oregano. I roasted them along with a bean burger and some sweet potato. I piled the courgette strips on top of the burger, and had it with a salad, gherkin and some beetroot. Yum.
I can see more growing too, how exciting!

I have been looking in my recipe books for recipes to use, and have found one for chocolate courgette muffins. I have a nice looking recipe in the Rachel Allen Bake book too- so many recipes, so little time! Something to look forward to after my holiday 🙂
I also made some pecan blondies from the Hummingbird Bakery book (for sunday tea) which made the house smell amazing!

Today I tried porridge before my long run. I left it the same amount of time after eating before heading out, and in fact I was fine, so I may try it again. I did 7 miles, but it was so hot and I was feeling very sluggish. I had to stop and walk because I was feeling so hot, and at one point had to find some shade to stand in for a bit. It did occur to me that as I have been so busy and rushed in the mornings I have forgotten to take a multivitamin for a while now. Being veggie although I do try to include iron-rich foods in my diet (especially oats, lentils, nuts) but I also normally have a vitamin with iron every other day. So I wondered if that is why I have been struggling more than usual. So I made sure I had one today. My whole run took me 69 mins, which included 3 mins of walking/ stopping, so to do 7 miles in that time isnt bad for me.

Once home I had a weird cereal bar (a fairtrade apricot and kernel bar)- it was ok, chewy and sweet and what I fancied, but not sure if I would get it again. After my shower I made a coconut water smoothie (coconut water with banana and frozen mango- served both of us).

Then on to lunch! I had a wholemeal pitta bread with dark chocolate PB in it-mmmmmmmmm amazing! Plus apple, cherries, and some almonds.

Off out for tea now, I am hoping to fit in another run tomorrow (last one before holiday) so might try the porridge again to see how it goes.

🙂

Still trying to raise money!

After work today (and after a Trek Peanut and Oat bar yum) I went on a longer run. It was great- the first bit was by a busy road but I never mind that (especially at half five when there is loads of traffic and I can overtake a line of cars). Then I got to the lakes and ran around one of them and that was lovely, I could almost feel my blood pressure dropping! I saw so many herons (loads of which flew out my way to the other side of the lake, and then promptly had to fly back when I got around the other side!), I also saw ducklings, rabbits, and also loads of people fishing. I really enjoyed that part of it. Then I had to go back on the road, which includes a bit of a killer hill (but this is good for me as I run primarily on the flat), back by some allotments (sniff, number 35 on the waiting list, my little veggie patch will have to do for now) and then home. It was about 5 miles in 52 minutes, not bad for an after work run.

I had some quorn in the freezer (I don’t normally like “pretend” meat as I don’t like real meat, but the fake chicken quorn things are ok now and then- this one had pesto and mozzarella on it which gave it some flavour)- added to butternut squash, green beans and sweetcorn it made a tasty freezer meal!
Now my fundraising at work is going ok (but despite taking in a big tray bake of marmalade gingerbread and 9 chocolate cupcakes I have only had 5 sponsorships so far- it appears some people are not holding up their end of the bargain!), so I made some cookies in a final bid to raise a bit more. I used the chocolate chip cookie recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook , but instead of dark chocolate I used white chocolate, and added in some cranberries. As usual I halved the recipe and still made 24 fair-sized cookies.
They are lovely and chewy, I am very impressed with the recipe as often cookie recipes are more like biscuits and go a bit too crunchy.
I have also had a nice snack; a pot of chocolate alpro with half a punnet of graze “Mount pleasant” mix, which is cranberries, coconut and apple. The coconut went really well with the chocolate, so I might just add some coconut next time. Have you ever opened a coconut? I did my first ever one the other day by smashing it on the ground in a plastic bag- did the trick after 5 times!

Frozen Yoghurt

OK well Monday I was rather busy (hence no post)- coming home from work I got stuck in a massive traffic jam (in that hot weather too)- had to shop on the way home, then I was busy doing work. I also made some Rachel Allen marmalade gingerbread and some Hummingbird Bakery chocolate cupcakes for work (to bribe people to sponsor my race for life- and so far I have raised quite a bit so a good tactic I feel!). Then I planted some plants (goji berry plants how exciting- they are only plug plants at the moment but the info that came with them says they can get to be 2 metres high if we don’t prune them! My garden isn’t big enough for that. Anyhoo it’s all quite exciting. Then I had a walk in the cooler air.

I also discovered a new fave snack perfect for the hot weather. In my mini chopper I put 80g frozen raspberries, 100g fat free greek yoghurt, and a squirt of agave, whizzed it all up and voila! Raspberry frozen yoghurt! It was so tasty and refreshing- the texture of sorbet or ice cream, yum. The raspberries worked much better than the blueberries.

Today work was busy (as usual!), I normally have aerobics but the instructor is away and they never get a good replacement. So instead I had a quick run after work. It was a good run, mostly in the shade and despite having tight calves I finished in my quickest time. Although I did see a man with no top on (why do men feel the need to walk around topless as soon as it is vaguely warm?) and a few kids who decided to run alongside me for a few metres for their own amusement. These are times when I am very glad to have in earphones- even though I can hear them as I have my music very quiet it means I can ignore them and pretend I don’t hear anything.

Yesterday I had sore shins and thought it was from the 10k on Sunday. In the shower I looked and found a massive bite on my leg- possibly a horsefly bite or something- it is huge and weird looking. Turns out that is what is sore on my leg and not my shin at all!

I have been looking more into re-hydration products and in Women’s Running mag this month they mentioned a company called “nuun” that do little tablets to be put in water to make a drink. They are vegetarian, different flavours, so I am hoping to give them a go. Watch this space!

Oat and Raisin cookies

Yesterday evening after dinner (bean burger, salad, tomatoes, sweet potato =yum) I tried out another recipe. This one was for oat and raisin cookies from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook . I love oatmeal raisin cookies but have never managed to find a recipe as good as the ones I have eaten on holiday- they always end up too crunchy like hob-nobs. A tip I have picked up (can’t remember where from) is to soak the raisins first, normally in water (but could be other liquid) to plump them up. This seems to do two things; they are lovely and moist, and they don’t burn in the oven.

So after soaking the raisins I mixed up the dough- I halved the recipe again (so in theory should have made 10 cookies) but in fact made 18 pretty generous sized cookies! I used half normal flour and half wholegrain spelt flour and I am loving this flavour in cookies- subtly nutty- it really went with the oats and cinnamon. I also used those vanilla oats which made them smell amazing!

They needed to cook for longer than stated, and once cooled I could not resist. The verdict? Pretty good. Scrumptious in fact, the texture was just right, nice and chewy, not crunchy, the raisins were sweet, you could taste the subtle cinnamon (cinnamon makes everything taste better) and the oats added a nice texture.

I will be making these again. Next time I might try an oatmeal raisin peanut combo, maybe use some PB instead of the butter (well I used olive spread but it’s the same).

Today I have been pottering around in the garden and I was most excited to see berries on my blackcurrant bush! They are little green berries, but there are loads of bunches! Compared to last year where I only had a handful (possibly 7, I can’t remember the exact number but it was hardly any) I will have a decent harvest!

I had to pot on yet more courgette plants (I have a recipe for courgette muffins which look like they would be amazing with soup for lunch)- once it all starts producing I am going to be busy in the kitchen.

I also planted some carrot seeds (some from the gardeners world dig in campaign and some that I had in the garage), some salad leaves and more sweetcorn seeds. I really need this weather to warm up so I can put everything outside, I am running out of space on all the windows!

I am off to London later to see Flight of the Conchords, which is going to be hilarious I am sure.