Week Catch-Up

Hi guys, hope you’re all having a great weekend. The rain has finally stopped, hurrah! Now it’s just very chilly. But dry, so I’m happy.

This week has been busy and long but I’m starting to feel Christmassy now. Might be because at work they have the radio on and every other song is a Christmas one…it wasn’t even December yet!! I loathe to think of what it’s going to be like now we’re actually in December…

At the start of the week I had a great (but very wet) 6 mile run, and on Wednesday I went for another run at lunchtime with one of the guys I went running with on Monday; the 6 min a mile guy. I was a bit nervous just running with him alone as I knew he was much faster than me. But actually it was great. Because he was naturally faster than me it pushed me to maintain a speedy pace. He was chatting away to me while I was on the verge of dying but it was good. Hard but good. We didn’t go off road this time due to it being a lot colder than Monday and we didn’t really fancy wading in the cold canal this time. In the end we did we did a nice 5 mile route along the roads.IMG_3065

I was shattered afterwards! Absolutely dead. But it was good to run at a good speed for a longer period of time. Just not something I’ll do many times in one week I think! I definitely felt it the next day.

Friday I ran with a woman who had a slower pace (9 min a mile) so it was a nice easy 4 mile run. Though very cold!

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I never thought I’d enjoy running with other people as much as I do. I was always so focused on my own run and hitting certain targets, but sometimes it’s just nice to have a social run! The time flies by. Maybe every run won’t be pushing the absolute limit to my capability, but it still gets me out there and I still enjoy it. Can’t argue with that!

Instead of my usual strength routines, I’m now doing one mixed strength routine and two plyometric routines. When I researched some moves and planned a routine I think I was a bit over ambitious. I thought I could do the routine three times. I barely did it twice!! It killed me. I didn’t think it’d be so hard. But more on that another time!

On Thursday I was house sitting for my parents for the night as they went off and enjoyed an evening out in London. It really stresses me out not having my own things and the same routine so I really wasn’t looking forward to it. But it wasn’t too bad in the end. Ben and me just got an Indian take-away (chicken tikka mmmm – easier than bringing food and cooking) and enjoyed watching all the dogs together. Alfie came with us and my parents have three of their own dogs.

DogsLeft to right: Lexi, Dylan, Sam and Alfie

Alfie and Lexi are the same breed (Cavalier King Charles cross with a Westland Terrier) and they go crazy when they see each other.

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They love to play fight with each other and run about the house like mad things. The other two aren’t so bothered…

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My parents were so lovely. They left Ben and me a HUGE box of chocolates to say thank you.

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Which obviously were a GREAT Friday night treat.

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Honestly, these are AMAZING. Jam Roly Pudding, Bakewell Tart, Rhubarb Crumble, Sticky Toffee Pudding, Lemon Meringue…and more!! Though after a few you do start feeling a leeetle bit sick. But so worth it.

And my new favourite ‘go-to’ meal:

Balsamic chicken and cauliflower

Balsamic chicken (chicken fried in balsamic vinegar with a touch of sugar to caramelise it into a sticky sauce) with mashed cauliflower and mozzarella cheese. Heaven. And so simple.

Oh, and the other highlight of my week…getting in from work and getting started on dinner while Ben plays ball with Alfie. Ben kicks Alfie’s tennis ball, it hits his wine glass full of red wine, red wine sprays all over our living room wall, sofa and floor. I just love my husband.

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Not sure why it went blue, but needless to say it STUNK. So we had to spend the next half an hour attempting to damage control. It needs repainting unfortunately. Though Ben loves the fact he gets to decorate. He loves doing manly things like painting and DIY. Well, there’s a silver lining for someone I guess…

What have you guys been up to?

Have you tried plyometrics before? Any tips?

Starbucks, banana bread and a very muddy run

Hurrah for the weekend! What’s everyone up to?

Work has been crazy lately. Looks like I’ll be in Reading for longer than expected. This is a bit of a pain as the commute is so long. But I’m loving what I’m doing so I can’t complain too much. I just get sick of the same roads and the same traffic. Anyone have a helicopter I can borrow for a few months…? No? Damn.

Friday was a pretty good day. My dad and me work together so we’re sharing the commute to Reading (take that as a plus and a minus Winking smile) and I persuaded him to stop at Starbucks just before we got to the office. He treated me to a hazelnut syrup Americano and a HUGE mince pie. First one of the season, wheeee!

It brought some light amusement of watching my dad drip coffee all over himself as I drove the last mile and a half back to work. This was just ten minutes after him telling me he had put his newly washed beige chinos to look smart…whoops Winking smile

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The mince pie was deeeelicious. I was chuffed for this as my Graze box didn’t arrive (*sobs*) and I needed something to fuel my run at lunchtime.

Speaking of my run, though in my last post I mentioned I was a bit dubious about it as it’s always weird running with people you don’t really know – and work with. Anyway, it was great! There were five of us in total and they took me on a great 4.5 mile route around some lakes and fields. We got covered in mud and at times it was more splashing than running but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

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There was a range of running ability and this was great. One guy was super speedy – we’re talking 6 minutes a mile at his best! I started off fairly easy going running with the woman I knew and then I ventured out to run with a guy who ran at my usual pace (not the 6min a mile guy!!). This really pushed me to keep up. With the rough terrine and the speed of the run, I was pooped by the end!IMG_2957It’s funny because after showering and basically inhaling my lunch afterwards, I went to stand up and my calves were aching already! I’m guessing this was the crazy terrine as I’m used to plain old roads. Anyone else find this?

Saturday morning I had my Pilates class.

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I thoroughly enjoyed this. It’s not a class to get sweaty and out of breath in but you definitely feel it in your muscle the next day. The class was quite small with a total of six of us. But it was a lovely friendly atmosphere and instructor is so attentive and ‘hands-on’. That sounds weird, but it really helps if she sort of guides your leg or foot or whatever to the right position as it can be quite complicated.

The rest of the day was filled with chores and looking after an unwell Ben. He does not have a simple cold, oh no. Nor is it flu. How foolish to think it would be something quite so simple. He has…Man Flu. Full on, at death’s door, incapacitated, can’t do anything Man Flu… He is currently a pathetic human being. We’re talking blankets, Lemsips, and constant sofa attachment. I am trying to be the caring and loving wife but it’s tricky as I’m not naturally sympathetic and, ladies, we all know about this Man Flu business. It’s a cold. Joking aside though, I am looking after him and he does have a waiver for all chores. Fun for me.

I did a bout of baking as well. Apparently one of Ben’s work friends finds the idea of banana bread crazy and Ben has enlisted me to change his mind. I mean, who doesn’t like banana bread??

24.11 Banana bread

It got rid of some dying bananas as well and it was fairly easy to whip up.

Banana bread (based on THIS recipe)

  • 75g (1/3 cup) butter, softened
  • 2 eggs
  • 4 ripe bananas, mashed
  • 110g (1/2 cup) caster sugar
  • 125g (1 heaped cup) plain flour
  • 100g (1 level cup) wholemeal flour
  • 2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
  • 1 tsp. mixed spice

– Preheat oven to 180C.

– Combine butter, sugar, eggs and mashed bananas.

– Sift flours, baking powder and spices together. Then fold into the banana bread and stir until combined.

– Bake in a loaf tin for 50 mins (until a tooth pick comes out clean).

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My little loaf tin struggled to contain all the loaf so I had to make mini banana loaf muffins as well. What a shame Winking smile

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Then we headed to Ben’s mum for dinner. We brought along Alfie as well (which is always a bit worrying as Alfie is Alfie and Ben’s mum’s house is pristine).

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Apart from an accident on the carpet he was good as gold (this was mainly our fault anyway as we hadn’t let him outside before going out as it was raining so much so we weren’t angry at him).

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How could I be mad at that furry face? And Alfie too Winking smile

The meal was so good. We had honey smoked mackerel to start (apologies, no photo I was too busy gobbling it up). And then we had roast chicken for main with a whole host of veggies and stuffing:

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Definitely a winner! Made up for enviously drooling seeing all those delicious Thanksgiving meals on many blogs this week.

And then fruit salad for pudding. Again no photo, but imagine a HUGE bowl of pineapple, melons, grapes, blueberries and strawberries. I love having meals at Ben’s mum’s house as she and I have similar tastes (big fruit & veggie fans). It was a lovely and relaxed evening.

So now it’s Sunday and I’m just watching the world go by while looking after the poorly husband. Well, as much as I can do while he plays on the XBox…

Hope you’re having a lovely weekend and for my fellow Britains, I hope the rain stops soon!!

Moral of the story

Hi guys, hope you’re having a lovely weekend. The weather has been chilly but sunny and dry here which makes for lovely crisp days.

Yesterday I can’t say I did anything terribly exciting I’m afraid. Ben and I went for a nice run. Mine was a short, sharp 2 miles as I ached from my lower body routine from Friday…

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…but Ben went for a whopping 6mile run. I’m so proud of him! He’s starting to get back into it which is great as I missed running with him. I have to say, I was a bit jealous when he told me how far he’d run.

This week’s workouts have been great. My usual strength routine’s Monday, Wednesday, Friday and a 3 mile run on Thursday. The 3 miler was really tough. I’m running a new route that hits a hill about a mile in and the hill goes on for .5mile. I think I started a bit cocky as by the end of that hill I was ruined. It really took it out of me. Moral of the story: PACE MYSELF.

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I was going to run on Friday as well but I just didn’t have the energy.

In a slightly related story…When I said I was running the other week a guy I work with seemed keen to join me. He goes to the gym and kept bragging about how many miles he’s run and how fast he goes la-de-da so I was really excited about running with him as (and please don’t take this as me being big headed or anything like that) I haven’t run with anyone who runs at my pace before. OK I don’t really run with many people so that’s probably why!

So anyway, I was looking forward to it. We started off at a nice pace of 8.10mins/mile. Then we hit that hill I mentioned above. Suddenly all that bragging and hot air disappeared very quickly. The pace dropped to over 9 mins and he was dying. I felt quite chuffed with myself as I was OK. By the end of the run, he was done for. Now, I might be a leeeeetle bit too competitive for my own good and we weren’t racing. But if we were…I would have won that race. Just saying.

So my run on Thursday was the same route but me on my own to see how fast I could do it alone. Hence why I ruined myself.

I have to mention lunchtime yesterday. It was amazing. Now I realise that this may seem gross and wrong and random, but it tasted gooooooood.

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Three egg omelette with chocolate peanut butter (PB2) and Brussels sprouts. Before you judge me, you need to try it. I love it when lunch tastes a little bit like a dessert. With vegetables. Win-win situation. Basically I ran out of my plain peanut butter and had to improvise quickly before the hungry beast that is Anna at lunchtime took over the world. Not my finest hour, but definitely one of the tastiest.

Then last night Ben and I went out for a fireworks night at a friend of the family’s house. It was Ben, my mum, my dad, my sister, brother-in-law, niece and me in convoy. The house was packed full of people and it was all very relaxed and fun.

The fireworks were brilliant. A home-made affair in the back garden. Ellie, my niece (on the right), and her new found friend Abbie loved it. Abbie kept asking her dad to turn it down though haha.

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There was a slightly unsafe feel to the fireworks when two fireworks clashed together and made a huge explosions. Cue all the mum’s grabbing the small children and running inside (yes, that might have including me. I’m small and I was scared).

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But otherwise it was great! Seat of your pants stuff.

The hosts provided a mass of food and drink – amazing punch (the bottom one was apple and ginger – with marinating apples floating about, the top one was tropical punch):

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And I happily tucked into a bowl of hearty chilli.IMG_2858

Followed by pudding.

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Look at those home-made cupcakes! The were sparkly and everything.

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Ah yes, that is a piece of rockyroad. To be honest, I’m not sure how that got in my bowl. Think it fell in there by accident…

As amazing as the cupcake and rockyroad was I think I was too quick for my own good (yes I’m one of those people who’s pretty much first in the queue at buffets). After stuffing myself full they brought out crumble. I was devastated. I did contemplate having crumble as well but I’m not sure I could have driven us home afterwards without being sick. Moral of this story? Wait until they’ve finished putting all the food on the table before stuffing yourself.

So, a pretty good evening!

And we woke up this morning to this furry, scruffy hound:

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I really need to get his haircut sorted. He is a mess, bless him.

What’s everyone up to this weekend?

WIAW #4 – and the beginning of a change?

Happy WIAW! Wow these things come around so quickly, don’t they?

This week I’m feeling really good. Really positive and happy. Things with the wedding are ticking along nicely. I’ve not woken up in a cold sweat worrying or struggled to get to sleep for ages. Everything seems to be in hand. Hurrah! I’ve got my hen do to look forward to [dread?] and then the weekends aren’t as jam-packed as they previously were. Whew.

It’s my fourth WIAW (my little blog is getting a bit older!).

I love being involved in this, it feels like one massive community. During my lunch breaks at work (and maybe a few times through the day sneakily if I feel my concentration waning) I love perusing other blogs that I don’t usually read or just checking out people’s food. It always makes me think I eat such boring food and I’m always inspired to change things up a bit or try a new recipe. So thank you Jenn!

Sooo…breakfast:

15.08 breakfast

My porridge made with oats and hazelnut milk and a tsp of wheatgrass. It looks like sludge, I know. It’s the mix of wheatgrass and the brown hazelnut milk. Still tasted good though (I promise!).

Lunchtime (at the weekend) was a bit samey I’m sorry, but I’m really enjoying my salads right now (*desperately clings on to the last dregs of our British summer*):

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Chicken fried in a Moroccan spice blend, mozzarella, cashew nuts sliced pear, beets, tomatoes, cucumber and leaves. Whew! Quite a variety I guess. I love meals like that though where you just bung everything in them. It’s great that every forkful is slightly different. [Although Ben, the strange guy that he is, leaves all his mozzarella to the end – apparently he likes to get through the ‘boring’ healthy stuff and leave the good stuff until the end *sighs*]

And dinner last night was my favourite meal of the week.

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In comparison to lunch, this is obviously a lot less varied. However, I love love this meal right now. Crunchy no-added sugar peanut butter, sweet potato, Brussels sprouts and broad beans. Usually I have carrots alongside this but I forgot. I was a little bit devastated when I sat down and realised my mistake. I almost ran back to the kitchen in a deranged panic. But then calmed myself down and convinced myself it was fine without. But carrots and sweet potato are a match made in heaven… Sad smile

Snack-wise I have been loving my smoothies (still).

Smoothie at desk

I take my green monster smoothie to work with me and drink it surreptitiously, hoping no one will see. Though sometimes when I make the smoothie too thick it’s really hard to sneakily drink it. It has the consistency of sludge, meaning I have to tilt back my head so far to drink the damn thing…It’s cool, no one’s noticed. All is fine. *Looks round furtively*

And in the evening I’ve been experimenting with different chocolatey-style smoothies:

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This one contained a handful of frozen berries, 100g (1/2 cup) of Alpro Soya yogurt, 1tbs P2B and 1 tsp carob powder and a little splash of hazelnut milk.

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I ate it straight out of my blender container to save washing up (yep, presentation score of 10/10). Yum! I always need a snack in the evening. Even if I’m not hungry (a cardinal sin, I know). I just have to have something. I can’t bare to think that dinner is my last meal before breakfast (that’s hours away!! I’ll die of starvation in my sleep!)

And for fitness side of things. My usual running.

13.08 run

I love running (you might have guessed) but I’ve started to have a think. Nothing dramatic as of yet, but I’ve been reading quite a few blogs and the benefits of doing more strength training. I enjoy using weights as you really feel the burn the next day. The thought of reducing my running down makes me nervous (I’ve always done something cardio-based) and I couldn’t not run. I love the feeling, the effort of pushing yourself (OK maybe I enjoy that afterwards) and the feeling of accomplishment at the end of a long run. But something keeps niggling me at the back of my mind that running isn’t everything. Reading Meg’s blog and Sara’s blog and hearing them reap the benefits just makes me think. I’m a fairly healthy person, I’m a fairly fit person, but I (like all girls) I know there are some improvements I could make (call me a perfectionist, I know). A bit more toning maybe. And running just doesn’t seem to help. My thoughts are all over the place at the moment, but I’m starting to wonder if I should give it a one week trial of doing less running and more weight training…

Oh I’m in such a quandary! Any advice would be much appreciated!!

P.S. I just had to upload this photo of Alfie:

Alfie TV

He just loves Smallville!

Time is flying by

Hello! Was that the weekend? It whizzed by.

I went for a manicure. I decided to go for simple and elegant for my nails. Just a plain French manicure:

Nails

I never get my nails done (I’m so clumsy that there really never seems to be any point) so this was a nice treat. And sitting there and talking to a lovely lady while she did my nails was like therapy! It was great.

And I got my hair cut. I tried to sneakily take a photo (I was quite embarrassed about doing this) but I only managed to get this:

Hairdressers

But I think it looks rather cool! To be honest, I didn’t have much done to my hair. Just a trim. My hair is so long that I usually just forget about it and then have it cut like twice a year, whoops. And it was long past a cut!

On Friday night, I had my close friend over and she brought over some delicious cupcakes:

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And they will be perfect. Delicious and beautiful!

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And my little niece, Ellie (who’s going to be my flower girl) enjoyed them too!

Ellie

So I’m very chuffed that they’re sorted (or at least organised!) And we’ve selected our music for the church as well.

Then Sunday my sister and me were on Mission: Find Bridesmaid Dress. And it was Mission Accomplished. We found a beautiful dress that fits her perfectly. It ticks all the boxes. And we got shoes!! *Breathes sigh of relief* Hurrah!

I did however, have a tough run which ended in me feeling extremely sick. The problem was that I got up later than usual (10.30!! But I had gone to bed at 2am as we were out with friends the night before) and had decided to not have breakfast as it was already fairly late. And because it was mid-morning it was quite warm. So as I got into my stride during my run I started to feel a bit sick. When I finished I felt really sick and very faint. Not good. Very stupid. Lesson definitely learnt. On a plus note…I did run a personal best!

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Six miles in less than 50 minutes! Probably the reason I felt so rough after finishing…

And following from a not so good feeling run, I managed to have a porridge-related disaster:

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It over-flowed!! It looks like something out of a horror film. What a waste Sad smile I got distracted while it was in the microwave. Whoops.

So in all, a very busy weekend! And I thought I’d leave you a picture of my parent’s dog, Lexi:

Sleeping Lexi… and our dog, Alfie, snooderling away. Basically, how I felt Sunday night!

Alfie sleeping

Hope your weekend was good Smile