Books - AnnaTheApple

March 18, 2015March 30, 2017

Rants and Raves #11

Normally I would recap my weekend but I had a bit of a rubbish one so don’t really want to go through it. So I by-passed Monday’s post altogether.

What I will say is running over 10 miles on Sunday helped. I ran with the mentality of “sod my pace, I literally don’t care. I want to just get out and go.”

Average pace 7.51mins/mile and I happily sped up toward the end. Was this pace sensible for my first 10 miles in a while? No. Did I enjoy it? Definitely. Mentally I needed that run. And it didn’t actually feel that tough – I felt very relaxed and just let go. But my next long run won’t be like this as there’s really no point. I can push it on other shorter runs if I want to.

Onto slightly more lights things…rants and raves.

Rant: Making a tiny error when ordering our food shopping online. So this is more a rant at myself really.

Six lettuces. I’m pretty sure I only want two…how did I manage to order six?! I like salad, don’t get me wrong, but even that’s a bit much for me. Needless to say salads are going to be a big thing this week.

Rave: A while ago I mentioned that I wanted to get more into audio books as I have an hour driving commute to work and then home again. I work at the same place as my dad so occasionally we’ll share lifts but recently I’ve been more on my own and would listen to podcasts. But I’m getting through podcasts very quickly and I like to save a few for running.

So I’ve signed up to the month free trial for Audible (an audio book purchasing site) to try it out (I’m not being compensated or asked to write a review by them, I’m just sharing my experience). After the free month (where you get a free audio book), you then pay a monthly subscription of £7.99 and get one book credit a month which is equivalent to one audio book. This is a lot cheaper than just buying an audio book out-right but it is a subscription service. For me it’s something I’m willing to pay for at the moment as I have a lot of ‘dead’ time and I love books. I can listen to a book and read a book at the same time so there are no issues there (currently I’m reading Stephen King’s ‘Last Stand’ and it’s amazing).

Source

I’ve just finished ‘Still Alice’ and it was incredible. Initially the author’s voice irritated me but then I warmed to it and got quite attached to her accent. The (fictional) story itself was heart-breaking, tragic but beautiful. Completely told from Alice’s perspective and her experiences in being diagnosed and then struggling with early onset Alzheimer’s. It’s recently come out as a film (and Julianne Moore won the best actress Oscar for her role) which is how I heard about it and it was actually nice to imagine her in my head as the character. I really recommend it, though it did leave me in tears during my commute to work! The only problem is I zipped through that book in less than a week…

Rant: I ran parkrun on Saturday at Netley Abbey and it was a ‘naked’ event. This didn’t mean throwing off your running gear with reckless abandon and running free (and cold…and, er, bouncy) but rather not running with a watch or running app. There was also a competition to guess your time.

Initially I thought I’d put down ten seconds faster than the week before (so 21:50ish) as an incentive to run speedy but then I woke up on Saturday morning not really feeling it and getting cold feet. I quickly changed my time to 24 minutes and decided to run an easier pace. But then I warmed up (or at least tried to, it was so cold!) and started regretting my new time – I felt quite good and fresh. This gave me a rubbish head space just before the start and I was neither here nor there on the pace ending up somewhere in the middle with just over 23 minutes as I wasn’t sure whether to push or not. Then on the final lap I got a horrendous stitch in my side which meant I had to completely stop and sort my breathing out. This has never happened to me before. Yes I’ve had stitches but never to the point they’re so painful I have to stop. And insult to injury (or stitch), because I put my watch in my pocket to record the run but still be ‘naked’, the satellites must have ski-whiffed or something because it didn’t get the whole run recorded despite running exactly the same route as always. Ho hum. Just a bit of a pants run really!

Rave: I’m absolutely stoked about being sent a pair of some very cool looking earphones from the technologically gifted guys at Jabra to review for the blog.

Sadly they’re not the heart rate monitoring ones (yes I know how amazing is that??) as they were out of stock but they’re still pretty damn funky. They’re the Sport Rox wireless ear phones. I’m going to be trying them out on my run tonight. The lack of long cable alone makes me happy 😀 A full review will be on its way soon.

Rant: This is minor but at 5.30am in the morning it’s pretty major to me. People who don’t put weights back.

I won’t lie, I’m a bit neurotic and OCD when it comes to my strength training. I have certain weight dumbbells for different things (like single leg squats, Russian twists or whatever). But it really grinds my gears (Family Guy anyone…?) when people just remove them and then leave them all over the gym. My gym is a pretty big place and I hate having to walk all around searching for a single dumbbell. Just use them and then put them back in the same place!?

Rave: Even if he’s thrown up everywhere in the kitchen (*sighs* well that was a fun morning last week) I still can’t get angry at Alfie for long. I’d never get angry at him being sick of course, but tugging my arm out of its socket on a walk when he spies a cat doesn’t make me too happy! It’s that “one up, one down” ear thing that always makes me smile. I like to think it’s his pensive look.

What’s grinding your gears this week?

What’s making you happy?

Do you listen to audio books? Do you read a lot?

November 20, 2014January 14, 2015

Rants and Raves #3

I’m feeling grumpy. It can’t be helped really. It’s Thursday, when really it should be Friday.

I don’t want to moan…but I will. Sorry. I’ll try not to just rant the entire post.

Rant: With Ben being away it is quite lonely at the moment at home. I get very set in routines when I’m on my own as well. Walk Alfie, cook dinner, watch TV, go to bed. Nothing exciting really happens. I’m used to having him there to joke and laugh with, or moan and groan at…depends on the day and mood really 😉

And with the 8 hour time difference it’s a struggle to keep in contact with him. Especially as with him being in China they don’t allow Facebook or Twitter, and I need to wait for him to get access to the limited Wifi in order to either WhatsApp or Skype. Humph.

Rave: Although saying that, with Ben not being here, this means dinner can be whatever I want it to be without having to worry if Ben will a) like it b) eat it.

Looks rather grim doesn’t it? But actually it was really tasty. I literally threw chickpeas, Brussels sprouts, courgette, onions, mushrooms and kale together with cream cheese and BBQ sauce. It’s just what I fancied. For me BBQ sauce and cream cheese are big winners.

Rant: perhaps ‘rant’ is too strong a word here…but Ben does make me laugh. He goes to Hong Kong and China and he eats… Italian. To be fair, he can’t go wherever he pleases as he’s with work colleagues but still. He ate Japanese one night which I suppose is at least that vague area of the world to some extent. Though he did tell me he had the strangest Hawaiian pizza which had a sweet dough with tomato sauce, tinned fruit salad, olives and cheese on it. I did say to him he’s probably better off actually eating the local food! *sighs*

Rave: Alfie is very loving at the moment as I’m the only one there. Despite Ben’s side of the bed being free, he still cuddles into me at night. My furry hot water bottle.

But it also means I’m the one who has to clean up his sick when he wasn’t well the other day. This is usually very firmly a blue job…but currently no blue is here to help.

Rave: getting cool things in the post. I received a Fuelify goodie box which contained a lot of exciting products.

A full review will be coming soon!

Rant/Rave: a mix of the two if you like. It’s no secret that I hate my commute. It’s a fair way from Southampton to Basingstoke and can take on average an hour (sometimes more) to work and then from work every single day. It grinds on me. Even when it’s plain sailing it still takes 40 minutes. To me this is absolute dead time. The radio is OK but I despair of BBC Radio 1’s Nick Grimshaw in a morning (I was a huge Chris Moyles fan – sorry non-Brits, basically Radio 1 sucks as the best DJ left a few years ago and now it’s run by a moron) and I’m not quite ready to switch to BBC Radio 2 (which is aimed at a slightly older audience).

Aaaaanyway, long story short, I’ve signed up to Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited (30 free days) as I saw they had audio books available too. I do read a lot as well on my Kindle, but thought while I drive I could listen to another book. Normally audio books are fairly hefty in price so I was pleased this was part of the deal. I decided to go for Life of Pi.

I’ve got the book on my Kindle but when I tried to read it I just couldn’t get into it. But listening to it is fantastic! In just over two days I’m 40% into it and it’s so good. I need to see the film as well now. Listening to it in the car just makes the journey zoom by as I get sucked into the narrative.

I’ve also downloaded Great Expectations to listen to next as I’ve never read it. I’m aiming for the more ‘dense’ books as I’ve found I can get into it easier than if I tried to read it. I’m still reading another book at the same time as well. Will see if I’m swayed by this Kindle Unlimited business by the end of the 30 days I think!

And that’s all I have in my current lonely, empty existence…well it’s not all bad. The house is extremely tidy and I’m only using one loo in the house (we have three) so that means only one bathroom needs cleaning this weekend! Wahay it’s the small things, right? 😉 I’m going to my parent’s house on Friday night for an Indian and staying over with Alfie so that should be good. Then really it’s just one week till Ben’s back! Hurrah!

What have been your rants and raves this week?

How do you cope when you’re alone in the house?

Do you listen to audio books?

October 29, 2014October 28, 2016

Running, poo and a failed recipe

As I mentioned in my previous post, I’m back running finally. I will hasten to add though: for how long, who knows! I’m still not entirely convinced I won’t remain injury-free. My shin issue is something I need to keep a beady eye on as I’m not sure it’s gone for good. But this is similar to my IT band where it needs to be managed, meaning regular single-leg squats and resistance band work. For my shin….I’m not so sure really. Compression socks and keeping the calves loose?

So last week I started with Kyle coaching after a bumpy delayed start due to my foot. We worked very closely to make sure everything was OK. He gave me lots of exercises and advice.

And lots of stretching!

When I began running (last Tuesday) it was under the instruction to run 20 minutes easy and to stop if I felt any pain or major discomfort. The day before my foot was feeling almost fine so by Tuesday evening I was feeling happy to run. Apart from a little stiffness it was perfect. Again under Kyle’s instruction, I ran Wednesday and Thursday (all easy, gradually building up the time) and then took Friday off, parkrun on Saturday and 6 miles on Sunday. All easy paced and all with no foot discomfort. Hurrah!

I do struggle though with what I class an “easy” pace. I probably should run it slower, but if I’m only running a short distance then I think easy is a relative term… and I will admit I find it very hard to slow myself down. Whether it’s a mental thing that I feel I need to go faster or a physical thing where I just don’t realise I’m running faster, I find it tough for the shorter runs. For longer runs though I will be very strict with myself and aim for a slower pace, and for recovery runs after harder sessions.

I have no idea what’s to come though in terms of running as it’s out of my hands! Something which I find hugely scary and hugely relieving. It’s also nice to have someone I can hassle ask questions and get advice regularly and specifically for me and the concrete goals I want to achieve. The internet is great but it’s all very vague.

Away from running and onto things more amusing. I just have to share this book that Ben and me found in a little trinket shop.

Because really these are the big issues we face 😉 First world problems and all that… It is very amusing and definitely Ben and my type of humour (we are children). There was also “How to Poo on a Date” – I mean, really?? Plan these things, people. Maybe there should be a book “How to Poo in a Portable Loo” or a “A Guide to Pooing for Runners” judging by the horrific portable loo experience I had in Berlin.

Moving swiftly away from toilet humour to recent dinner adventures! I haven’t posted any recipes for ages as my food is very dull and samey, so thought I’d motivate myself by trying a new recipe every week. Now I will preface by this by saying this isn’t really a recipe more like a “don’t do what I did” kind of warning.

I saw the below recipe for sweet potato and halloumi burgers and thought it looked amazing. I knew I could win Ben over because it contained cheese and I mentioned the word “burger” so I felt confident.

Source

I made the patties at the weekend and thought I’d freeze them so I could have a handy quick meal one day after work. This was a big mistake. I’d advise you not to freeze them! Maybe fridge them to firm them up for an hour but do not freeze. They just fall apart completely when you defrost them, which slightly devastated me.

I tried to flip each patty and, well, it just fell apart. So I just stirred the lot and cooked it as kind of a bubble and squeak *sighs*. However, it tasted really good and even Ben was a fan. I’m sure as actual burgers these would be terrific but they are rather delicate!

Hopefully I’ll have better luck with other recipes but hey if it taste good that’s all that matters right??

Have you had any baking or cooking failures recently?

What kind of sense of humour do you have? I think mine is very dry and sarcastic – but also quite childish and silly.

What’s your favourite veggie burger flavours? I’m a big fan of sweet potato!

October 10, 2014October 10, 2014

Books I’ve been reading

Recently I’ve been a bit obsessed with reading running books. It’s become a problem. What can I say, I love running. Here’s a review of some of the books I’ve been enjoying lately – though not all to do with running!

Eat and Run – Scott Jurek

Scott Jurek is an incredible athlete blessed with some very nice genes and some great determination and skill. He regular runs 100 mile and above races and wins them. He is incredible and a great inspiration. He’s also vegan and at the end of each chapter gives a vegan recipe. The books is very interesting and you are literally going “wow, seriously?” the whole time.

While the facts and information were great, Scott himself and the tone the book didn’t appeal to me. He came across quite arrogant and made it all seem a little too easy. There was really no grittiness and any hardship he has had was skimmed over. He made me believe that running an ultramarathon was something quite easy and well within anybody’s capabilities. While this is great, I don’t think it’s realistic. He is clearly on the gifted side of the fence when it comes down to running and this skews his perceptions of realistic training. Also his ‘easy’ vegan recipes do indeed seem very easy, if you have a 1,000 of the strange ingredients he lists.

Running and Stuff – James Adams

I would absolutely recommend reading this book straight after reading Eat and Run. Perhaps this man appeals more to me because he’s British and has more of a British tone than Jurek (no offence to any Americans out there but us Brits have a slightly less optimistic outlook to life).

If you were under any illusions that running an ultra would be easy this book will fully reset those expectations. All the gory details of running stupidly far (like across America far) are laid bare in this book – peeing, vomiting, pooing, bleeding. Unlike Scott bounding along through his ultras like a galloping gazelle, this man pretty much crawls to the end of his ultras in a broken, bloody, sweaty heap. But it’s a brilliant read. It by far gives a more realistic idea of what an ultra-marathon is like (not that I would know of course). Another interesting contrast to Jurek’s book is the amount of rubbish food that Adams eats. We’re talking regular MacDonalds, sweets, sugary drinks, fast food…which is vastly different to Jurek’s slightly unrealistic clean vegan (and at times raw) way of eating. I don’t have anything particularly against Jurek but it’s just Adams strikes me as you’re every day guy so easier to relate to.

824 – P J Robbins

This book focused more on a journey towards the so-called ‘hardest race on Earth’, the Marathon des Sables (a six day ultra across the Sahara Desert). Again, kind of similar to the previous book, a British guy going from being a regular runner to suddenly going for the big one. It’s a fascinating read to hear his experiences and the ins and outs of this race. Funnily enough the previous author, James Adams, also writes briefly about his experience with this race and they have polar opposite experiences and opinions on the race. Again nothing like Jurek’s ease with running such long distances, it’s a very gruelling and honest account.

Into the Wild – Jon Krakauer

Not a running book, but an account of a young man who went on a crazy trip and sadly didn’t make it out alive. He gave up his normal life (college, family, money) and literally just decided to, what I can only describe as, “find himself”. He walked, hiked, canoed through the tough terrain of Alaska on his own. I won’t lie I did question the boy’s sanity many times during the book but I also envied his ability to just let go and live the adventure he was desperate for. How liberating that must be, but also terrifying. It’s a non-fiction account of what’s known about the boy and at times can seem a bit tedious with some meanderings off into other historical accounts of people doing similar things, but it is an eye opening read nonetheless.

Wild – Cheryl Strayed

I found out about this book because it’s very soon to be a film with Reese Witherspoon, of which I now really want to see. This book is fantastic. I much preferred it to the previous book. It has a similar idea of dropping everything in one’s life and going to find yourself but is easier to read because it’s from the lady herself. I’m not joking when I say the temptation to suddenly going camping and hiking in some remote area of America was strong as I was reading this! It’s raw, real and very engaging.

Do any of these books appeal to you? My favourite was Wild out of them all.

Have you ever been influenced by a book to do something or try something new?

What’s your favourite genre? I don’t have a favourite, I tend to read anything that sounds good, whether that’s fiction or non-fiction.

**Don’t forget to enter my giveaway for TWO FREE tickets to the Yoga Show in London – you have until the 12th October**

**These are affiliated links but all the opinions are my own as usual!**

July 1, 2014

Week #3 Marathon Training

Another week passes… Apologies if you find these posts a bit dull as they’re so running-focused, I’m finding it a great way to track my progress and also something I can look back in future.

The week went OK. Running on my own, though not as fun as running with the club, is helping me stay focused on my goal and also avoid pushing myself too hard or doing more mileage than I should.

Monday – no running. Strength workout after work:

– 3mins calf raises
– 4mins bridge
– 10×3/leg bridge with leg to chest (see below)
– Marching bridge (Demo –> careful it’s loud when it starts!)
– 4x 10 running man (Demo)
– 3x 15 single leg dead lift (Demo)
– 100/leg clams with resistance band

Tuesday – strength routine at home when I got back from work day in London:

– 3mins toe lifts
– 4mins bridge
– 10×3/leg bridge with leg to chest (see below)
– 4x 20 running man
– 3x 20 single leg dead lift
– 100/leg clams with resistance band
– 15 press ups

Wednesday – I got up ridiculously early to do a hill session on my own. There are two great hills near me and I’ve been wanting to train on them for ages. I ran one mile to warm-up (8.22 pace) then alternated between the two hills. I ran over the first one as fast as I could, then jogged slowly down as a recovery. I then ran back over the hill and repeated the jog down. I then did exactly the same on the other hill. All in all, I ran eight up hills. This equated to just over two miles. I then jogged a mile back home. I was absolutely beat!

Thursday – I got up again early (we’re talking 5.10am) and went out for an easy recovery run. My problem is that my ego is getting in the way of these easy runs. Though I find it easy and I’m not exerting huge amounts of effort, it still isn’t easy-easy you know? I can’t seem to get it into my head I should be running 8.30s – which are really easy for me. This would be a far better recovery for me and less stress on my body. But my ego keeps whispering saying “you don’t want 8.30s on your stats for this run do you? People will think you’re slowing down and are a rubbish runner”. I know this is ridiculous though. I know I need to keep my easy runs EASY and my hard runs HARD. Otherwise it all merges and I’m unable to completely blast my harder ones. Need to work harder at this.

Strength workout in evening:

– 3mins bridge
– 2mins calf raises
– 4mins toe lifts
– 2mins bridge march
– 4×20 single leg dead lift
– 150/leg clams with resistance band
– 4mins crab walk
– 4x20secs/leg balancing on one leg with eyes closed
– 15 press ups
– 20 diamond press ups

Friday – off.

Weekend – Endure 24 (I’ll do a whole recap post on this as it was EPIC – but I only did two laps of the 5 mile route).

Just to talk quickly about some of the strength workouts I’ve been doing. I’ve been reading a great book called Anatomy for Runners by Jay Dicharry. Basically it helps you identify your weaknesses in running and the ways to improve on those weaknesses to avoid injury and become a better runner (sounds like something I definitely need to read, right?)

Leg to chest bridge

So like the geek I am, I took the book to the gym and followed some of the exercises. It’s a great book. Very interesting, though there could be more photos as some exercises were tricky to understand what was going on!

And I’m also incorporating different things like the running man, single leg dead lifts and balances, as well as lots of different stretches from Kinetic Revolution (<- love this guy, so many great articles and advice for runners). You can sign up to a free 30 day challenge and each day you get given a list of stretches and exercises to help you improve as a runner. I haven’t been following it to a tee I must say as I just don’t have time with everything else but I’ve been picking specific ones that I think might help me.

Do you do hills for running training? I’ve been fairly anxious because it’s quite a tough workout and I’ve only felt strong enough now to do it (ironically it should increase my strength).

Are there any fitness books you swear by that have helped you?

Have you ever done any crazy fitness thing, like running for 24 hours? Or being part of a relay team?