I don’t know about you but when I get stressed, or angry, or sad sometimes I can find myself wallowing in the emotion. This isn’t good to do for long periods of time obviously. It’s not good for your mind, your health or you spirit.
Pardon my French, but when the shit hits the fan I just want to run away and hide. I want to moan, cry and beat my fists: “why me?”. But what good does this do really? OK sometimes it’s very cathartic and I’m not saying to have a good cry is wrong from time to time. But you still have your life to live and things to get done. So when I’m feeling this way I try and find stuff to keep me smiling and make me happy.
As I’ve mentioned before, I love reading. I’m a self-confessed book worm and I am not ashamed! After the very sad death of Terry Pratchett I realised I hadn’t actually read many of his books (possibly just one, The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents which was one of his younger books). My dad is a huge Terry Pratchett fan so I asked his advice about where to start because the Discworld (where most of the books are set) is massive. I was slightly dubious as I’m not that into fantasy but I thought I’d give it a crack. My dad leant me Going Postal and I’m hooked.
It’s exactly what I need right now – a story about a world far enough from reality that I can forget any problems I have and just sink into the story. For me reading is a brilliant escape and perfect to help you relax just before you go to bed (that terrible time when the demons always appear).
And in daily life seeing the hints of spring always makes me feel good. Knowing that better weather is round the corner, lighter evenings, lighter mornings and wearing less layers.
Let’s not think about losing an hour this weekend though! Meaning my 5am gym wake-ups might feel like 4am for a bit. Dear lord.
And spring time means my motivation to walk Alfie is far higher. It’s no longer a trudge through the cold, but sometimes the sun is shining and it’s just perfect. I know I keep going on about them, but the Jabra ear buds are also making walks with Alfie easier.
Having a dog lead and ear phone cables to contend with makes things a bit stressful and occasionally I’ll accidentally catch the cable and yank one from my ear, which is always painful. But as the Jabra ones are wireless it means just one thing to contend with – Alfie…who’s hard enough on his own with chasing birds and pooing in bushes!
Obviously running makes me happy and is a fabulous escape and refresher of the mind. I’ve been running the same very hilly 10k(ish) route every week around Basingstoke where I work before I go home on a Wednesday night. Strava is brilliant because it let’s me compare runs when I do the same route. I’ve now done this route five times and so far I’ve just kept improving slightly.
To be honest though I don’t think I can continue this trend. It is a hard run and I’m not sure how much faster I can do it. But it’s not necessarily just about the speed for the run – it’s about those horrific hills and the strength I’m hoping I’m building up in my legs.
There’s no point just running easy flat routes all the time. Make your training hard to make racing easy is my plan. Though always remember to make it easy when your body tells you to – we’re not superheroes!
As I run from work on a Wednesday night it means I’m not going to get dinner until I get home. So by the time I’m home and dinner is prepared it can be at least an hour and a half later. I do need something to refuel me to make the next day not feel like hell. The people from Upbeat sent me some protein smoothies to review for my blog.
So I’ve been taking them to work and having them post-run on a Wednesday night when I drive back home. Luckily we have a fridge at work so I just grab it as soon as I’ve finished my run and drink while I do some stretching in the mini work gym.
Post run stretch and refuel
Upbeat drinks are dairy protein drinks. They’re high in protein (20g per bottle – and this comes from whey protein from the milk), low in fat and relatively lower in sugar than most smoothies. Each bottle also has less than 150 calories. The available flavours are Strawberry, Blueberry & Raspberry and Mango & Passion Fruit. The ingredients list reads very nicely without any crazy artificial flavourings or chemicals.
My thoughts? I actually really enjoyed these, which I was surprised about as I thought “ooh whey protein and a smoothie? Hmm”. The consistency was fairly thick (like a smoothie) but lovely and, well, smooth. I definitely felt like I was being filled up when I drank it. It didn’t feel like “empty calories”. I never want actual food straight after a run but the length of time between running and dinner is too long to not have something and this fits the bill perfectly.
They also sent me a lovely material bag for life and notepad as well, which just made me smile. Maybe I’m not feeling that upbeat right now, but it helps to have a reminder to at least try!
And if all else fails, just have a bit of what you fancy. I don’t believe you should eat for your moods all the time but I do believe sometimes you just bloody well need chocolate.
How good does that sound?? Salted fudge! It’s currently sat in my fridge just waiting…I’ll crack into it soon (no pun intended…) but just knowing it’s there like an old friend ready to help me when I most need it is just wonderful.
How do you get yourself out of dark moods?
What is making you smile lately?
What is your perfect East egg?
***Full Disclosure: I was sent the Upbeat protein smoothies for free to review. All opinions are my own honest ones.***
I get my mood lifted from a run, or having a big rant to somebody- it helps to get it all out. Or reading- I have real trouble sleeping if I don’t read before bed.
That egg sounds rather delicious- Montezumas do mini eggs (but they are more than one bite) filled with salted peanut butter and they are just amazing- now I have found those I want no other Easter egg!
Wow that run is indeed hilly- but good. I think I saw a thing that said “hills are speedwork in disguise”- any anyhow it’s all good for you (so long as you don’t get injured….)
It’s nearly the weekend 🙂
Maria @ runningcupcake recently posted…New cookery books!
I’ve those Upbeat smoothies at the Be Fit show last year- they’re quite nice especially the Mango & Passionfruit.
I don’t think I’ve read any Terry Pratchet books, but I saw the TV series of Going Postal on a few years ago a Christmas, that was really good.
Lucy recently posted…Triathlon Training Camp (Part 1)
A salted fudge Easter egg…hell yeah! I love salted chocolate so that is right up my street. I’ve never read a Terry Pratchett before, but since his death I have been more curious about them.
Jemma @ Celery and Cupcakes recently posted…Beating your exercise excuses*
Sorry to hear you’re still not feeling too jolly Anna. Athough I’m sure that salted fudge Easter egg should be able to bring a smile to anyone’s face. I might have to drop some hints to Dan this week!
I do really like that comparison feature in Strava and use it to see any improvements each time I run the same route. My Strava doesn’t work quite like it should though unfortunately. Because my watch is meant for long distances it doesn’t record data as frequently as most Garmins do which is why my runs on Strava show random paces for miles. Apparently sometimes I’m running sub 5mm on my long training runs! I can adjust the frequency of data storage but this would mean I’d have to keep swapping it back for long distance events as then the battery life wouldn’t be so good and it would be pretty annoying to have my Garmin die a few miles before the end of a marathon!
I do like the sound of a mango and passion fruit Upbeat drink. I struggle to eat after a run as well so usually stick to drinks for straight after.
Mary recently posted…The good, the bad and the ugly
Just found your blog and it’s great – I totally agree on focusing on the small wins. I’m a fellow apple lover (seriously, *several* apples a day, I am eating a Pink Lady right now!) so I’ll definitely be checking back in.
Alyssa @ Renaissancerunnergirl recently posted…Snow and Signs of Spring