January, 2014 - AnnaTheApple

January 9, 2014January 16, 2014

World’s Best Sundae and heart rate monitoring

Breathe, it’s almost Friday!! I still feel so behind with everything – it’s crazy how a holiday can do that to you. I’ve been bugging Ben to write his race recap of his marathon so I’m hoping to have that coming up soon, apologies for the delay. Boys, eh!

Anyway, last weekend Ben and me enjoyed two very nice meals. On the Friday night we went to Ben’s mum’s house and had a second turkey dinner. I do love them. And some fruit salad with ice cream to finish. Yum! No photos as I completely forgot, but all the trimmings as standard 😉

On the Saturday we didn’t do a huge amount. I tested out one of my gadgets at the gym for Spin in the morning. My Polar FT7 heart rate monitor watch. I’m obsessed. I love numbers. What with no running and having weekly mileages, pace per mile, distance etc. I don’t have much to get me excited in terms of numbers. But I’ve seen these Polar watches on different blogs (Laura did a great review) and so I was quite keen to get one.

I’ve never tracked my heart rate when exercising. And now suddenly having this number on my wrist, well I was quite excited about it! So I tested it out on Spin.

While I was spinning it was telling me my HR (and it connected to the LiveStrong spin bike as well so I didn’t need to look at my watch at all, just the mini screen on the bike). Then afterwards it told me calories burnt and average HR, max HR and how long I’d spent in ‘Fat Burning’ zone and the ‘Fitness’ zone. I am aiming to stay in the fitness zone as much as possible because this is my goal, not fat or weight loss. The HR strap around my chest was very comfy as well.

It’s also great because I can see when I’m really not trying that hard – there’s no escaping your heart rate!

[**I wasn’t sponsored for this review – I just love it!**]

So the second meal we had was Sunday. We went out for lunch with my parents last minute. We chose a local pub we always go to, The Osborne View.

The sign behind my parent’s say “Impeccable: having immunity to woodpeckers” and “Heroes: what a guy in a boat does” Hehe

I was like a bottomless pit!! We shared a mezze board between the four of us and had starters as well. I got Asian chicken wings. Oh my life these were good. Crispy and sticky. For main I went for a chicken, bacon and avocado salad (I love me some chicken).

But the piece de resistance…the pudding of 2014 (seriously, this has set some high expectations for the rest of the year)…salted caramel popcorn pretzel sundae. You heard me right.

Toffee ice cream, salted caramel sauce, popcorn and pretzels

Ben got it too. It’s funny because he usually struggles with three course so I was a little hopeful I might get some of his sundae as well as my own (hi my name’s Anna, I’m the food MACHINE). But there was no way in hell he wasn’t going to finish. Damn. We both looked at each other afterwards like “that was amazing”. Needless to say I was ready to be rolled home.

Good start to 2014 😀

What’s the best dessert you’ve ever had?

What’s your favourite restaurant? I love a good traditional British pub.

Have you ever tracked your heart rate while exercising before?

January 8, 2014January 16, 2014

A late Christmas recap and running update

Hello! How hard is this week? I was back at work Thursday and Friday last week but it didn’t feel ‘proper’ if you know what I mean… What with the horrendous weather, RUBBISH commutes and just general fog of depression hanging over everyone it really does feel a bit gloomy round these parts.

I missed out on doing my Christmas recap due to not blogging over the festive period. And if I’m honest, I don’t really fancy doing such a late recap now. It’s a bit depressing. But I’ll do a quick version…

Ben holding the bean bag looking like Father Christmas

My parents and Ben’s parents came to ours. We had a traditional British Christmas dinner. My parents cooked the turkey that we’d bought from M&S as our oven was too small. So all we had to cover were snacks, drinks and all the trimmings and carving.

Nothing too crazy. Honey roasted carrots and parsnips, sprouts, broad beans (my favourite!), runner beans, sausage stuffing, apple and sage stuffing, roasted potatoes, red cabbage, cranberry sauce, gravy. Heaven.

Afterwards there were profiteroles, Christmas pudding and mince pies. I enjoyed a lovely heated mince pie. I forgot to take a photo but it was an unusual puff pastry one. I quite liked the change from the usual thick pastry ones. I love Christmas cake but I find Christmas pudding very rich.

Obviously I had Christmas cake later for supper 😉 It’s my favourite part of Christmas (well, favourite food part).

We spent time opening presents, listening to Christmas music and playing board games. Good fun all round. Apart from my dad not feeling well and then subsequently passing it to Ben and me. Merry Christmas to us.

Lovely little photo of me ill in bed. Thanks Ben!

Anywho, despite being ill we had a lovely Christmas and had lots of lovely presents. I must mention these as I am SO excited to try them.

My parents got me these popcorn flavour toppers. I have popcorn every day with my lunch at work that I pop myself from plain kernels. I sprinkle salt and pepper over it. My dad found these in Lakeland and got them for me as a stocking filler. AMAZING.

And, though I do say so myself, I love this present I got Ben.

Along the side it has markers and half way says “13.1” and then at the top it says “26.2” and along the markings “Pacing yourself is everything”. Ben loves his wine and I just thought this was a perfect way to mark his achievement. Especially because he gave up alcohol for a portion of his training!

I did my first workout at the gym on New Year’s Day as we had a quiet evening in the night before. I felt raring to go and ready to get back into things. My physio had OK’ed spin so I was happy to not have to motivate myself on a machine! Honestly though it was hard work.

In terms of running – ahh the saga of my life. I’m up to 2 miles. Good Lord, I’ll have to start carb loading and properly fuelling myself soon 😉 I’m not trying to belittle anyone’s running efforts but personally for me this is such a change from the mileage of last year. I just hope I won’t have lost too much when I’m fully back into it. But at this point, as long as I can run without issue I DON’T CARE.

My knee seems to be calming down with the intense ultra sounding that’s going on and the little runs are helping in a weird way to ‘break it down’ to build it back up again stronger. It’s a cautious and slow approach but it’s what I need.

My decision about the Paris marathon will happen in about two weeks. My ultra sound will have ended and I hope the runs increased a bit. If I’m still struggling with the knee and it needs longer time off (come on, seriously??) then Paris is a no-go. Ben has agreed he won’t do it either (bless his socks). But if all things are OK…then I’ll have 10 weeks to train. Obviously this is not enough in the ideal marathon training world BUT I think I can do something with it. I won’t pre-empt things by going into more detail yet though!

What’s your on your plate at Christmas?

What’s your favourite Christmas dessert/treat? It’s all about the Christmas cake for me.

What was your favourite Christmas pressie?

January 6, 2014January 16, 2014

Strong and healthy 2014

Hello and (belated) happy New Year. Looking back 2013 has been pretty good…and bad.

In running and fitness…

At the beginning of the year I was signed up the Reading Half Marathon (my first half). I enjoyed running and I was quite rigid in sticking to my training plan. I thoroughly enjoyed the half and my love for running just sky rocketed.

I found a local running club, started doing Parkruns when I could and signed up to a zillion races. It seemed throughout the summer I was running a 10k every week (at times I was!)

But we all know how that ended. I suffered from what seemed like one injury after another…if it wasn’t my hip, it was my IT band, or my groin…and now my knee. Believe me when I say I have learnt a lot this year about my body.

I have a few regrets from this year and a few races I wish I’d never done (Great South Run I’m looking at you). But you live in and learn. My physio (who I fondly think of as my therapist at the moment 😉 ) says that it wasn’t me being entirely stupid in my running. She thinks my running really took off this year and my body wasn’t fully ready. It was a shock to suddenly be doing all this speed work and races and not backing it up with sensible strength work and stretching – I was a bit uneducated and keen. I was hitting good times and excelling in my running but it was a lot of pressure on my body. One injury leads to an imbalance or weakness and this can cause another injury…

Now I’m working my way slowly to building the running back up while also focusing on areas I would never usually focus on like my upper body to help support my legs.

To be honest, I can’t even think about past January with running right now. I’m feeling very nervous about the M word in April (*whispers* Paris marathon). It’s not guaranteed I’ll do it. Please, knee, don’t let me down!

In life…

Ben and me are strong and happy 🙂 He is my rock. How he copes with me moaning all the time about running is just unbelievable. He’s a saint. I always say he’s the nice one out of us as he’s just too damn lovely for his own good. I’m the selfish one between us for definite! And I can be sarcastic and cutting at times – something I should work on.

Skiing in February was amazing (wow I can’t believe that was this year??)…

My sister sprogging another lovely little girl in March…

Going on an ahhh-mazing holiday to Mexico…

Not too shabby! I don’t foresee any crazy life events happening this year, just more of the same: family and friend loveliness. And one of my oldest besties having a bambino and another getting married!

I’ve decided I don’t do resolutions. I have goals which I’d like to achieve – things like PBs and races – but I’m focusing instead on what is really important to me:

Become injury-free and strong in my running. Wow did you see this coming? This will involve my continued rehab of my current injury and then consistent effort every single week to strengthen my weakness (glutes, hips, hamstrings). Becoming a BALANCED runner.
Run a marathon. I want to achieve this SO much this year. It’s my absolute dream. But I’m only content to run a strong and healthy marathon that I’m proud of. If that means waiting, I will just have to wait.
Go to the cinema more and have more date nights with Ben. I love films and I love the cinema and I love Ben. This makes sense.

There are smaller things that I want to achieve day-to-day like trying to be less selfish and less sarcastic but I think these will be life-goals 😉

Quick fire 2013:

Best film: I think Wreck It Ralph. We really loved watching it.

Best book: The Stephen King book 11/22/63. I knew next to nothing about JFK’s assassination and this book blew my mind. So clever.

Best song: Tom Odell Another Love. Really sad but really lovely. Sit in a dark room and mope to it.

Best race: Without a doubt Cheddar Gorge Half Marathon. No where near my PB but this was an experience I’ll never forget. I loved every second. Body-willing, we’re doing it again this year.

Best meal: too hard to narrow down so I have top contenders:

From left: the amazing meal in the Brazilian all you-can-eat. I wish I had two stomachs. The Caesar salad after the Bristol half marathon. I tell you, nothing tastes as good as running 13.1 miles first. Jamie Oliver turkey Milanese meal after the Reading half. I could eat this every single day (I have eaten it four times). The burger and chips after the Cheddar Gorge half (that relish…oh!) and the Caesar salad at my mum’s surprise birthday meal.

Here’s to more good food, happy family and friends, strong and healthy running and (please!) a successful marathon.

Was 2013 good to you?

Do you make resolutions? What are yours?

What’s your favourite film/movie/song this year?

January 2, 2014

Whoops, I disappeared for a bit…

Woah, where have I been?? It was never my intention to take such a long break from blogging over the Christmas holiday. After Ben’s marathon (he survived! – more on that in another post) it just seemed Christmas crept up and I enjoyed taking the break from the blogging world to just be lazy and enjoy the family and festive time.

Then after Boxing Day both Ben and me were struck down by the plague…or at least some horrible virus. It was awful. The first day we were really sick. I spent the entire day in bed just sleeping or reading. Food was just not happening. The next few days we gradually improved. Lots of watching films under blankets all day. We watched so many films (Django Unchained, Shawshank Redemption, The Hobbit, Now You See Me, Despicable Me 2, all three old Star Wars). In a weird way it was quite nice. But food was a real issue. Food made me so full so I’d have one or one and a half meals a day – which is just unheard of for me! Lots of leftovers from Christmas had to be thrown 🙁

Then my laptop stopped working. To me it was just fate saying I needed some time away. And it’s done me good as I’m now feeling all fresh and ready to jump back into things!

Also I unintentionally took the Christmas/New Year period off of the gym. After standing around watching the marathon in the cold my knee felt really niggly – like it had regressed a bit. I went to the physio and she said it was inflamed a little probably from me bouncing a lot to keep warm while standing around waiting for Ben – it was such a long, cold day. So the time off from the gym was probably quite good. I did lots of walks though with Alfie to keep me sane.

Just before Christmas I felt very low. The whole knee and not running thing was wearing my spirits down. And the run up to Ben’s marathon, as excited as I was for him, was just a big reminder that I wasn’t doing one. 2013 was ending in a way I hadn’t imagined. December was feeling like a pretty rubbish month. I also (naively?) thought that I’d be ‘fixed’ by now.

My physio is my absolute saviour. Starting next week she is going to get me in for 10 minute ultrasound sessions three times a week to really go to town on my knee and heal it – without charge! She’s just down the corridor from my office so it’s very easy to pop down. She definitely understands my despair and is going above and beyond to help me. I can’t praise her enough.

Anyway, stay tuned as I have a (late – sorry) recap post of my Christmas and also some updates on my personal training sessions which have been on my to-do list and my goals for 2014.

How were your holidays?

How do you cope with being ill? I always seem to get ill over Christmas. I’m so annoyed because I had a flu jab to stop this! But it was more of a sickness/stomach thing than a flu thing *sighs*

What films did you watch over Christmas? I love watching a good movie. With lots of snacks!