Ten miles planned today and the weather is hot! I had a yummy breakfast (cornflakes and Dorset Delicious Muesli, plus half a banana) and then made some dough before I went out. By the time I left it was half ten which wasn’t so great as I knew I would be ending my run in the heat of the day. Oh well, I need to get used to it as my next half marathon is in June, pretty sure it will be hot on that day! I felt good on my run; my legs had recovered from body pump and I managed to keep up a consistent pace, finishing the ten miles in 109 minutes (so about one mile per 11 minutes); if I manage that for the half marathon I would be very pleased with myself. I was brave and wore my vest top with running trousers; it takes me a while to move over from taking my jacket with me- it’s a bit like a security blanket and having it tied around my waist doesn’t bother me. I feel quite exposed with bare arms as I would not normally wear vests, especially at this time of year. But I got no horrible comments or looks (one car toot but that tends to happen on most runs and doesn’t bother me- today it was when I was a few hundred metres from home so I had a bright red face!) and I was cooler than I would have been in a t shirt.
To combat the headaches as soon as I got back I had some water (but it felt like I had too much in my tummy as I had drank on my run), the other half of the banana and half a Trek Mixed Berry energy bar. I also sprayed myself with cold water after my normal shower; not quite an ice bath but I find it does help my muscles. After my shower I made some more foccacia bread with sundried tomatoes and basil (I didn’t take a picture as it looked the same as last weeks one), and had it with Covent Garden Butternut Squash soup, yum. Plus the other half of the Trek bar.
Those people at Natural Balance Foods were so kind to send over all those samples so here is my review:
The bar has a good short list of ingredients; dates, oats, soya crispies (soya, tapioca starch, salt), raisins, apple juice, maize starch, raspberries, strawberries, ginkgo biloba extract, ginseng extract, natural flavours. The bar is 68g and had 204 calories, 11g protein and 38g carbs, so a good balance of nutrients. The bar is fairly moist but not squidgy, and has a nice berry flavour that is quite sweet. You can see little flecks of the strawberries and raspberries all through the bar. Compared to a flapjack it has way less fat but still moist (due to the dates I suppose). I definitely recommend you to try one if you haven’t already.
As for the rest of today I have made some pasta sauce (roasted vegetables; I make a big batch then freeze it in little tubs to defrost when I want it) and might potter about in the garden. Even more of my courgettes need potting on, plus the tulips are flowering so I might cut some to have in the house. If I do any baking I will post later on!
I may have a nice afternoon snack to try and keep a headache at bay; my Graze box came today. One of the mixes (Aztec gold) has green raisins, almonds and dark chocolate coated cocoa beans- sounds amazing so I may have to try. (Code KKJX34J for a free box).
