September, 2013 - AnnaTheApple

September 9, 2013

Drizzly running and weekly workouts

And just like that summer is over. This weekend just seemed like never ending rain. Lying in bed in the early hours of Saturday morning I could hear the rain pounding down. I was so tempted to just not get up for Parkrun in the morning…

But we got up and got to it. I wasn’t certain about how Parkrun was going to go, so in my perverse logic I decided to run there (4 miles) to see how I felt. Running nice and slowly. If I felt any sort of pain then I would opt out of Parkrun. I’d rather find it out beforehand then when I’m actually running Parkrun as I know I’d never stop and then I’d cause further issues.

Anyway, I felt a bit stiff to begin with and not amazing but it was alright. It just started to rain as I arrived. Ben had already arrived and everyone was huddled under the tree branches to stay out of the rain. It looked quite funny.

I decided to run with Ben instead of pursuing any sort of PB. I just didn’t think it was a good idea so close to Bristol and with my intention to run 12 miles the next day. I said I’d help pace Ben (which he was chuffed with, especially as he’d forgotten his watch). The problem was, which I only realised as we started, was I hadn’t reset my watch so it was carrying on from the 4 miles I’d just ran…so I couldn’t tell him accurate paces

But I could keep pushing him on and telling him a sort of average we were doing.

In the end we did around 24mins 45seconds which Ben really wasn’t happy with but he had only just got back the night before from Romania on work so I thought he did pretty well!

I was going to go and see my parents in the afternoon but I went to see them the night before for a sneaky Indian the night before (FYI: Indian food – not amazing pre-running fuel). So instead we did something we haven’t done in ages. We went SHOPPING. Shopping for holiday clothes. AMAZING.

Yeah, amazing until you realise that every damn shop is now selling their autumn/fall collections. Lovely big woollen jumpers. Long cardigans. Thick skirts. Not exactly what I had in mind. However, the sale stuff was still good and I managed to snag a few bargains which I’ll show in my next post. Think lovely dresses with beautiful patterns!

We were both shattered when we got home so just had a nice chilling evening (I’ve gotten into Cougar Town – anyone else a fan? I literally laughed like 10 times during the first episode).

The next morning we were up earlyish to run again. Ben’s plan was 9 miles and mine was 12. I listened to a podcast and just lost myself in a lovely run – albeit a bit wet at the end du to the rain again. I kept the pace easy and found it a lot better than last week’s long run.

I felt very chuffed with it. I feel ready for Bristol half marathon! I hope…

Last week’s workouts:

Monday: Spin (+ 3minute plank!)

Tuesday: Spin

Wednesday: Circuits (overhead squats – errr they hurt a little bit don’t they??)

Thursday: Running club (8 miles, nice and easy pace off-road)

Friday: Spin

Saturday: Parkrun +4miles

Sunday: 12 miles long run (+ 3.15minute plank!!)

I didn’t mean to not have a rest day. I was intending to have Wednesday off but I really wanted to try Circuits. And I’m glad I did because it was tough but a good full body workout. Lots of squats, lunges, press-ups, Russian twists and a few other arm exercises that I can never remember the names of. But it did kill my legs for running club the next day which was a bit annoying. So no circuits this week – I don’t want to do anything to tire my legs too much before Sunday. This week will be no pump or circuits and another easy Parkrun I think. LOTS of foam rolling and stretching too. I’m also aiming for 2 planks a week. Well we’ll see how long this goes on for…

Do you have any fitness goals? I’m really trying to get more core in (OK get a few planks in during the week). It’s always something I forget.

Do you mind running in the rain? I don’t really care as long as it’s not windy.

How many rest days do you take in the week? Usually I always have one. I think it’s important for your body to have a rest and repair itself. Bad example this week obviously!

September 6, 2013January 5, 2017

Pyjama plank time

Thanks for all the interesting comments for yesterday’s post. I really hope I didn’t offend anyone. That wasn’t my intention. Nor was it to say clean eating was wrong. Clean eating is what you want it to be, in whatever form that might be. Not eating processed food, not eating meat, not eating grains etc. My point was just that I get a bit narked with some of the attitudes around it when people become a bit tunnel versioned and dogmatic about it all. And that eating a bit of rubbish now and again won’t kill you

Moving on! Not that I want to brag…but I’m off on holiday in TWO WEEKS time. To Mexico!

But I have a confession. I’m slightly concerned with what I’ll look like in a bikini. Not in the way you might think though. I have some embarrassing tan lines going on at the moment. With all the summer running I’ve been doing and wearing my shorts and vests…well, it ain’t great. Oh I’m going to be a hottie on those first couple of days.

Oh I look all smiley there, but now I wish I’d run in a bikini…[totally joking]

Every other day I am still doing my usual injury prevention routine (clams, side leg lifts, foam rolling) and have also added core work in because you can never do too much core! I amazed myself by doing a three minute plank the other night. In my pjs…naturally.

No idea where that came from (the plank, not the pj’s– they came from my dresser). I think it was because Ben was watching TV at the time and I could distract myself. And his occasional “come on, keep it up, don’t be lazy” comment helped as well. Love him.

Then last night after running club (a crazy off-road through the countryside run of 8 miles) I spent a lot of time foam rolling my kinks out. My groin still doesn’t feel amazing if I’m honest. But foam rolling is definitely helping.

Especially will Grease in the background.

Anyway, random story time. I overheard a conversation at the gym last night that made me sad. I was in the toilets just having a final pee before circuits (too much info? I’m setting the scene!) and I overheard two girls talking. One of them said to the other “Right, we are not leaving until both of us do 400 calories. Our target though is 450 calories”.

I’m all for people having targets and it’s great people are excising but I just thought that was a bit sad. Exercise shouldn’t be just about burning a set number of calories. OK, it isn’t going to be a daytrip to the zoo. It’s tough and I hate it sometimes, but there are very frequent moments – a lot in running – where I feel ‘kick ass’. Like I’m doing something amazing and I’m hard core. In reality I’m not, I know that. But I feel good. I know that this isn’t going to be the case for everyone but maybe it’s because they haven’t found their kick ass thing yet? For example, when we were warming down from circuits, Zumba had just started. 90% of the class were smiling. And they had some serious moves. They were kick ass.

What makes you feel ‘kick ass’? Going for a long run or a fast speedy Parkrun makes me feel unstoppable. I love how strong I feel, like I’ve just climbed a mountain.

What strength and core exercises do you do? I like planks, squats and lunges. Pretty standard.

What is your aim when you workout? A specific time, number of calories, goal distance, number of reps, exhaustion…?

September 4, 2013September 4, 2013

Tasty dirty food

Hey guys, how’s everyone doing? You can really tell the summer is coming to a close and schools have begun again. Hello annoyingly long commute.

Anyway, I wanted to rant talk about this business of ‘clean eating’ today in line with WIAW (check out Jenn’s blog).

I read a great article the other day that really made me think. Honestly, go and read it.

It made me wonder. What is ‘clean eating’? You read so often in so many blogs, magazines, adverts etc. that clean eating is the done thing. The healthy thing. The right way forward.

No processed food. Lots of vegetables. No refined sugar. No white bread. No caffeine. Something like that, right?

The article basically argues that clean eating doesn’t exist. It raises some very interesting points, such as for every diet/way of eating (e.g. vegetarian, vegan, paleo, low carb, etc.) there is always a type of food or selection of different foods that are deemed unhealthy or toxic (unless you’re a veggie for animal welfare reasons I guess**). Basically, all food can be seen as unhealthy from one perspective or another.

So, by rights, this meal could be described as ‘not healthy’.

Stir fry with river cobbler fish thrown in, tons of veg, courgette noodles (or coodles as we fondly call them in our house) and a large dollop of cream cheese to create a lovely creamy sauce. [With a corn on the cob because they’re so damn juicy right now.]

Yep. Processed Philadelphia low-fat cream cheese. Not the full fat version…probably produced in a factory god knows where adding god knows what making it taste like pure heaven.

I have also been eating loads of turkey and pork sausages.

And they don’t always contain stellar ingredients. Check out the ingredients list on your sausages (pork, chicken or turkey). Doesn’t look great doesn’t it? Do I even know what half of those things are??

But they taste pretty good. I mean, they taste like sausages. If you want to remove all that other stuff out then just buy a damn pork chop or turkey breast. But let’s be honest, you’re not eating sausages for breakfast, lunch and dinner are you? Every day? Then seriously: stop worrying.

I am a strong believer that no food is bad for you. No food is going to cause you nutritional harm. Obviously if not eaten in excess. Let’s be very clear here: any food eaten in excess will cause you issues. Yep, that includes my beloved apples.

Now, you know I like my cake. I eat cake every week. I even ate this bad boy then my husband made and he didn’t even make his own icing.

He used SHOP-BOUGHT icing. Icing from a tub. OK it didn’t taste as good as normal icing but it was pretty good. He went for the quick and easy. Quick and dirty.

My point is I’m tired of hearing about clean eating all the time. I understand that for some people that’s their life and that’s their prerogative. I don’t mean to offend anyone so I’m sorry if this is how it’s come across! But it really annoys me the tone that some of these blogs or articles etc. can come across. The ‘holier than thou’ tone. I agree that eating a balanced diet with lots of fruit and vegetables and whole foods is a great approach, but it’s not the only approach and it’s not mutually exclusive with eating foods that, let’s be perfectly honest here, taste amazing but have been in some way been processed.

Those tasty dirty foods. Ice cream. Chocolate. Cake. Sweets. BBQ sauce. Steak. White bread!! Stuff that we can turn to when life just sucks a little bit or we just fancy eating.

Let’s not feel bad about not eating clean! Let’s enjoy the balance of life. Don’t banish those cupcakes (*cough* cupcakes with ACTUAL sugar in them and actual WHITE flour). Enjoy your food, whatever it is your eating.

*Jumps off her soap box* Have a great Wednesday!

**I know that some people can’t eat some types of food for medical reasons as well. My aim is not to offend anyone!

Clean eating: what’s your opinion?

Do you avoid any foods? Why?

What’s your tasty dirty food preference?

September 2, 2013

Weekly workout and weekend catch-up

Hello September! I think September is my favourite month. It’s the month where I feel everything is starting again. Does that sound weird? When I was at school, college and university the new year would begin in September. It was the month Ben and me got married (it’s almost our one year anniversary!) And it’s the month where you can see summer disappearing and the colder weather creeping it.

Don’t get me wrong, dark mornings and dark evenings can be so depressing. As can cold blustery winds and relentless rain…but there’s something so lovely about curling up in bed hearing the wind outside and being snug and warm inside. And runs that aren’t stupidly hot!

This weekend has been great. A nice quiet one, while also having dinner with friends and seeing my mum for a coffee and slice of cake. Unfortunately Ben has come down with a cold. SORRY – man flu. So I’ve been making him lots of hot lemon with honey drinks and giving him some TLC.

And I finally went for a run! Hurrah! This whole week has all been about avoiding running and mending myself. This is what my workouts this week have looked like:

Monday: LBT (due to spinning fail) and circuits

Tuesday: Spinning

Wednesday: Spinning

Thursday: Pump

Friday: Spinning

Saturday: 4 mile easy run

Sunday: 11 mile long easy run

Yeah I sort of went spinning crazy. I really enjoyed it. OK it wasn’t the same as running but it was still good to get that “oof that was tough” buzz afterwards and sense of accomplishment. Don’t get me wrong, I will always choose running over spinning though.

One thing that annoyed me about spinning was one of the instructors kept talking about weight-loss and fat-loss – “burning those calories”. That is not why I go to spin. I go to spin to help compliment and improve my running without actually running. Spinning is a tough workout and really works my legs and works muscles that I don’t use when I run so I become stronger overall.

It just annoys me when people can be so narrow-minded. The gym is not all about losing weight! I get a lot of judgements from people as well when I tell them I go to the gym. Comments like “you don’t need to go to the gym!”. It just irks me that that’s all people think I’m doing.

Moan over. So as you can see I did go running eventually. I decided not to do Parkrun because I couldn’t guarantee I wouldn’t go into ‘race mode’ and do something stupid and reignite my groin problem (hmm, maybe I should call it something different? That sounds weird haha). Instead I ran the 4 nice and easy miles to Parkrun (while Ben drove) and then marshalled. I love marshalling because it’s great to cheer people on and a few people afterwards said it really helped

Later Alfie and me had such a lovely long walk while I listened to an old MarathonTalk podcast (interview with Nell McAndrew one running a stupidly fast marathon – she is amazing and sounds lovely).

Then we had dinner at my friends house which was great. Felt like proper grown ups having a dinner party!

Then Sunday I tentatively went out for my long run. I was so worried it wouldn’t happen. That I’d aggravated things the day before…but it went fine! My groin didn’t hurt but it didn’t feel completely sorted, still an annoying niggle, so I kept things nice and easy.

I don’t think I’ve ever run at such a consistent pace! It didn’t hurt and it felt amazing to get out for a long run. It just cleared my mind wonderfully of any stress.

This week I’m still going to take it easy on the running front. Probably keep going to spin but see how I feel for the Thursday running club session and then maybe Parkrun Saturday.

It’s two weeks until my next half marathon (Bristol)!! So I’m glad things are getting back on plan…finger’s crossed!!

How was your weekend? What did you get up to?

What’s your next race or big event your planning for?

What’s your favourite time of year and why?