Britain - AnnaTheApple

March 24, 2014March 24, 2014

Bath, Bristol, a run and lots of food

I am on cloud nine right now. Actually, maybe cloud eight. I feel exhausted! But in a good way. I had a mad but brilliant weekend.

It was one of my close friend’s hen weekend (for Americans, I think you guys call this a bachelorette party?). I drove up to Bath on Friday morning as I had Friday off of work and met up with the hen, her sister and another friend. We were staying in the very posh and lovely Windsor hotel for the night.

I shared a the room on the left with another friend who arrived later and the bottom-right picture is the view from our window

The location of the hotel was perfect. It was only a very short walk and you were right in the centre of Bath with the shops and restaurants.

The road that the hotel was on

After sorting ourselves out we headed out for lunch at Bill’s. I went for my favourite: Caesar salad and a cheeky portion of sweet potato fries.

So yummy. Then we headed for a few lovely hours at the Thermae Bath Spa.

Fabulously relaxing. It was like swimming in a huge bath! And there were these steam rooms that were infused with different scents, like peppermint (like being in a big vat of Vix) and sandalwood. Very nice. And the top layer had another warm pool right out in the open with a lovely view of Bath.

After this we hopped back to the hotel to get showered and dressed ready for dinner. We went to Browns where we met up with another friend.

I had a very refreshing glass of Prosecco and a wild boar burger with fries. This definitely filled a hole! I wanted something carby enough for my planned long run the next day…

We didn’t go to bed too late (for normal people – late enough for me!). And my alarm was set for 5.45am. Oh joy. My intention was to run 10 miles, but see how my foot felt and would stop if it hurt. I had planned a route and took a printed map with me in case I got lost. I was a super ninja in the morning getting up and dressed as quiet as possible as to not wake my friend (she was fine with me going out early – I had checked beforehand!)

My planned route had a HUGE hill to start with so I ignored it and just ran wherever. Unfortunately the beginning was still quite hilly but then I managed to find a good area to run around that was flat for the second portion of the run. I ran 11 miles! And everything felt NORMAL. No niggles. OK it was tough and I know I’ve lost so much fitness (from both injury breaks). But I am over the moon.

View of Bath on my run

It’s given me a little bit of confidence for Paris. I only stopped at 11 because I was running out of time. Though it was probably sensible to not go further if I’m honest.

The hardest part? These stairs back to the room. Yep all the way to the top. Brutal.

Then it was a quick shower and delicious breakfast of kippers and scrambled egg.

Loved this. I wouldn’t have it every day as it was overwhelmingly fishy but it was a nice change.

Then we zoomed to Bristol, picking up another friend en route and had an afternoon of quad biking and high ropes.

High ropes were stupidly scary. I was all the ‘Big I Am’ when I got there, thinking I’d have no issues but as soon as I got up the top beam I was shaking, terrified and just wanted to get down. Turns out I’m a bit of a wuss. Quad biking though was more my forté. I got the fastest lap round the course!

Later as we got back to the hen’s house we enjoyed cake and champagne while getting ready.

After getting all glammed up we headed out for dinner at Cuban in the centre of Bristol and met up with yet more people. It was funny because I got huge déjà vu when I realised where we were. This is where the race village had been set up for the Bristol half marathon!

I ate so much I’m not gonna lie. There were so many sharing starters at the beginning. And then I had a huge but lovely seafood soup thing.

Phenomenally good.

Then my least favourite part of the night…going clubbing. Ah I think I’m just too old now. Well actually I never really enjoyed clubbing that much when I was at university. I wasn’t drinking heavily, maybe that was problem.

All the tacky hen do stuff of course

Very loud, sticky floors, past my bedtime <—granny status right there. Not my thing. But the hen had a great time and that’s the important part. I tried to get into it for her sake anyway.

Anyway the weekend was brilliant but I am shattered. It didn’t help that the airbed my friend and I were sleeping on half deflated in the middle of the night and we woke up at 5am with our legs in the air going “what the hell??”. It was fairly amusing.

I got home Sunday afternoon and went to bed very early. But I still need another day, you know? All in all, a truly great weekend 🙂

Have you been to Bath or Bristol before?

Have you been on a hen do before?

What’s your ideal hen do? I like lots of activity-style things, like paintballing and go-karting.

March 6, 2014January 5, 2017

All those random things

Hello! Today feels like Friday for me today because Ben and me have a day off tomorrow. Hurrah!

This post is about the random things that have been happening that I wanted to put in the blog but it never seemed ideal.

Rain. So much rain. And the delightful experience of parking your car at work and coming back to see the river blocking your route back to it.

This was great. I really enjoyed wading through this massive puddle to get back to my car after work.
Alfie, I love him dearly (he’s our little dog if you weren’t aware). But when I get home, walk him, make our dinner, then attempt to make my way to the sofa to relax he picks up his ball and runs over to me with it and drops it right in front of me…playing ball is the last thing I want to do. He then looks up at me with the most expectant face. Oh Alfie, how can I refuse?
However, I have found a way to keep him entertained if I just want to do nothing (read or chill):Put the Animal Planet channel on! He loves the big cats programme and the cat-specific one (surprise surprise).
The gym…ahh the gym. The things you see at the gym:Can you see the girl in the pink jogging bottoms? That white thing on her head is a huge furry hat. Sometimes it can be a bit chilly at the gym…but not that chilly! And yes she was there to workout. Seeing her on the treadmill was an experience in itself.
Crazy shoe guy running on the treadmill: They’re barefoot trainers (I guess). They just looked very odd. I saw someone running in barefoot trainers at the Reading half as well. I’ve never been tempted to try it…You basically have to go back to basics with running to ‘re-learn’ how to run – like mile by mile. The guy in the race though was doing some hard heel-striking so I don’t know if his have helped him. I’d probably get injured in all new areas if I tried it.
Apparently I’ve been saying “grimace” wrong my whole life. I thought it was “grimance” with an ‘n’ in there. Quite embarrassing really.
And I’ve finally taken a photo of my medal holder (which isn’t actually on the wall yet). My granddad made it for me. He goes up to Scotland every winter to help out look after reindeers at this reindeer centre. The male reindeers ‘drop’ their antlers and he collects the ones in good conditions and makes things out of them (he was a carpenter).

Ben held it up for me and I put some of my medals on it to give it it’s full effect. I think it’s amazing!

So this weekend is going to be a busy one. With the meal tomorrow, then Karen’s (pregnant amazing runner) 30th birthday party on Saturday (afternoon tea – YES She very much shares my love of cake!) and then a meal out on Sunday for Ben’s birthday (which was on Tuesday). Lots of food…the best kind of weekends 😉

What do you do with your medals?

What kind of trainers do you wear to run?

Do you have any pets?

March 5, 2014

Inspiring runners and lots of food

Good morning! Well I’m nice and recovered from Sunday’s half marathon and feeling strong thankfully.

This past weekend was all of a bit of a whirlwind. I do love weekends where lots goes on, but it can be a bit stressful because you have to cram everything you need to do around everything you want to do.

On the Saturday Ben and me got up less early than usual as we weren’t helping set up Parkrun. My plan for the run was to just run a nice easy run without pushing it so I would be fresh for Sunday. Because it was the five laps around the cricket pitch again, they’d decided to do it in reverse to mix things up a bit. This blew my mind a bit 😉

Anyway it was nice to just take it easy and not worry about paces and times. Though I did get a little bored with the five laps. But I was running near one of the younger guys at our running club who was desperate for a PB so we were all encouraging him and pushing him on as we ran so that was nice. He got his PB in the end which was brilliant – and with such a great sprint finish.

A few posts ago I mentioned that my lovely pregnant running friend (Karen) was still running. She really is an inspiration.

Twenty-six weeks pregnant (I think – I’m not very good at remembering these sorts of things, sorry Karen if I’m wrong!!) and smashing out very respectable times.

I was very cheeky and got her to stand sideways because in the above photo (^^) she doesn’t look pregnant at all!

Honestly, when I’m pregnant (not for a few years) then I really hope I can follow her example. She has a very healthy attitude towards running as well in that she is listening to her body and will only continue running if she feels she can without causing herself or her baby issues.

After getting home and doing the boring housework bits and pieces I then headed off to see another pregnant friend. It was her baby shower. She had no idea about it and we were all at her sister’s house ready to surprise her. Her sister got her over and honestly her face was a picture. She was so shocked.

We played lots of games (like guess how many sweets in the bottle) and ate lots of cake. I really wish I hadn’t but you know what my will power is like around cake. In retrospect I probably shouldn’t have eaten two cupcakes, a slice of lemon meringue and a lot of chocolate fondue. I don’t think this helped particularly well for the next day’s race. Duly noted for Paris 😉

Then I had to eat a pizza in the evening before the race. Jeeze I did not fancy it.

Hey ho. I ate it regardless.

Anyway so the race happened on Sunday. Check my recap out HERE.

After running the half marathon, Ben, my parents, Ben’s mum and me stumbled back to car in that ‘post-race walk’ (the parents were stiff themselves from walking out a few miles and then standing in the cold). After getting changed we headed off to Jamie’s Italian – exactly the same thing we did last year.

It was a little bit of a nightmare as I have a Gold members card for Jamie’s (I go there so often…) and as a Gold member I get certain benefits. I once got £10 off the bill! However, I’d left my card in the car and the waitress needed the number on it in order for us to qualify for the perks.

So I had to trek back to the car to get it. To be fair, everyone did offer to go for me but it was my fault I left it so I felt I was the one to retrieve it. The multi-storey car park was very close but the car was on floor three and I optimistically took the stairs. After getting to the first level I then waited for the lift. My legs basically just said “no, Anna. Just no”.

Finally after getting back to Jamie’s I fully enjoyed my peppermint tea as I was so cold and tired by this point. For my Gold membership, we each got a free little courgette thing that had been rolled in some tasty breadcrumb thing with a zesty dip (top right-hand picture).

We also got a cocktail each – Prosecco and some berry fizz thing. I opted for a non-alcoholic one as my stomach wasn’t feeling great. Obviously I got my Turkey Milanese meal which was HUGE. I swear it was never that big before. And I got a side of cabbage with prosciutto and parmesan breadcrumbs. Like I said, my stomach didn’t feel good though. I ate the turkey but Ben got my egg and I took the cabbage home with me.

I think the cakes the day before really didn’t do good things to me. I felt rough when we got home. I was fine the next day thankfully. I just think sometimes a race can hit you badly and mess things up a bit.

But there we go, apart from the dodgy tummy, it was a great weekend! Next race for me is the Paris marathon…

Have you ever felt a bit ‘off’ after a race?

Do you know any inspiring runners?

If you’re female and considering (or have had) children, will you/did you exercise during pregnancy?

March 3, 2014March 4, 2014

Reading Half Marathon

Hello lovelies. Well, I am shattered! Ben and me completed the Reading half marathon yesterday and it was great. We survived! Hurrah! Here’s my recap of the race.

It feels crazy that it was only last year I ran this half marathon and it was my first proper race. I trained for like 12 weeks for it. Now it’s part of my marathon training. Honestly, I would never have believed you a year ago if you’d told me that.

Saturday evening we both had a pizza to carb it up and had a nice early night.

My standard chicken, veg and BBQ sauce – hold the cheese

The alarm went off at 6.15am. I quickly walked Alfie, got ready, had breakfast (porridge) and a coffee. My parents and Ben’s mum arrived and we were off to Reading.

I decided to go with my shorts and compression socks again as I felt so comfortable in them and liked the extra support that I find the socks give. But I was a bit chilly and thankful for my parents so I could wear my jacket and then hand it over to them at the last minute.

The race village was cool with a huge inflatable shoe. It was very busy. We saw Tony the Fridge (top right picture) who was running the half marathon with a fridge on his back for charity. What an inspiration!

Then we said goodbye to the parents and headed to our waves. By this point I had had three pees and I would then queue up for another pee in our wave (we had a lot of time). That’s got to be a record for me.

Oh we were so cold waiting to start. It was also fairly late starting. We did the group warm-up and then we waited for another five or so minutes, by which time we were cold again.

Then we were off. I have to say mile one to mile three weren’t great for me. I felt they were a slog. It was very busy with the amount of people but this kept my speed down so I didn’t shoot off which I was pleased about. There’s a huge temptation in the big races to let the excitement get to you but luckily this was not the case. There were a few inclines and I just felt that it was a lot of hard work so soon.

We got into Reading University and I started to get into it. My paces were coming down and I felt comfortable and strong. I grabbed a water from the water station. It might be because I’m a bit slow but I serious issues with these water things. I say ‘things’ because they’re not bottles, they’re like pouches of water. I didn’t really know how to get the water out so squeezed it in my mouth and then got choked by a gush of water. I spent the next 30 seconds almost dying.

I’d say miles four to eight I was happy. I was enjoying the crowds, my music, the bands, the atmosphere. It felt comfortably hard but I was in the racing zone.

I saw the parents at mile seven which was lovely.

Miles nine to the end were when I had to put my head down and push on. I had had a gel at mile eight and was now counting down the miles.

The stretch at mile 11 down the dual carriageway was hard going. The wind was in our faces.

Hilarious side story: a man (I say man because he was at youngest 18, but potentially early twenties) was running alongside me. His family were ahead and cheered him on. His mother (probably in her late 50s) starts running alongside him yelling encouragement at him. This continues for about 30 seconds to a minute. The guy just looks like he wants to die. It was hilarious. I think everyone around thought it was somewhat amusing.

Then that horrible incline into the Madejski Stadium and a great finish into the crowds cheering.

My official time was 1:39:35, 2275th. I’m quite happy with that. My two goals were to beat last year’s time and hopefully to get a sub 1:40. There was no way I could get a PB at my current fitness level and also Reading was never a goal race.

Ben got 1:46:12, 3847th – a PB by six minutes. That boy is on fire!

We went to the lovely Jamie’s Italian for lunch (more on that in another post) after getting changed. Ahh the great joy of getting changed in the back of a car…

Then when we got home I had a lovely hot shower (nothing quite like it after a hard race where you’re freezing afterwards). And then a horrific ice bath.

But with a cup of tea and good reading material it wasn’t so bad…ha.

I think I’m done with Reading now. I’d like to do Silverstone or Bath next year I think. I’ve enjoyed running Reading but it’s not that scenic and when you’ve done it a couple of times it’s sort of done and dusted. I’d definitely recommend it though: great crowd support pretty much all round, very popular so you’re never running alone, brilliant finish in the stadium, nice goodie bag (snacks and cotton T-shirt) and the best medal I’ve had in a while!

Thank you Reading, it’s been great 😉

What did you get up to this weekend?

What’s your favourite half marathon (or race)?

How do you recover from a race? It’s all about food for me, then showering, then ice bathing. Then NOTHING.

February 12, 2014

Marathon Talk Weekend – Part 2

Hello! Hmmm I did say I wouldn’t focus solely on Marathon Talk for a post…but I kind of did sorry. I won’t be offended if you skip this if you’re not interested!

To catch up, check out Part 1

So after breakfast/brunch and getting showered and sorted we headed to meet up with everyone for 1pm.

I tried to discreetly take a photo of Martin talking

They did a little “hello” sort of welcome chat (some people had only just arrived as they couldn’t make the Friday night or Parkrun). I have to say that Tom and Martin are so friendly and so lovely. There was lots of banter and they were exactly like they were on the show. It wasn’t like an “us” and “them” experience – it felt very relaxed and they were very easy-going and ‘normal’.

Then there was the Marathon Talk quiz. We were split into teams (by our birth month). Tom ended up in my team. The quiz was solely focused on Marathon Talk. It was great – Tom knew a lot of the answers which helped, but I was surprised at how much the rest of the team and I knew and that he couldn’t remember!

Tony was the quiz master and he was brilliant. He’s exactly like he is on the show – hilarious, witty and fun. The quiz was such a laugh.

And we won!

In true runner’s style, we won cakes

Everyone on the weekend also got given (for free) a very swanky running T-shirt with “Run Camp 2014” printed on it. These were from Adidas (who sponsor the show) so they were of very good quality, and in a range of sizes. My T-shirt actually fits for once.

We’re on the far left (as our Tom and Martin, Tony is hiding at the back)

Then we were told the next part was an interval session. 6x3minutes with 3 minutes recovery. As jubilant as my Parkrun was and as desperate as I was to take part in this I didn’t think it would be sensible. I’m trying to be gradually get back into things and a hard Parkrun in the morning followed by a hard interval session (because let’s be honest, I’d never do it half-hearted) and then a long run the next day…probably not sensible for me.

Ben and our running club friend decided the same. Ben is only just getting back into running after his hip issues (marathon recap will happen – I am still pestering him). So we wandered over to Tom and asked if we could help out. He was more than happy for us to help him keep the timings as the entire group would be split into two (the speedsters and the not so speedsters). Another lady who had hurt her ankle also wanted to help out.

Everyone got ready and then ran to the interval location (about two miles away). Whereas we followed Tom’s car in our own car. Hilariously Tom took us the wrong way and then had to do a crazy dodgy 7 point turn on some steep dirt hill track. It was so funny (and quite scary…). Ben had a lot of jokes with him about that haha.

After some explaining of the time-keeping and lapping of stop watches (my god my tiny little brain really struggled) we each headed out to a certain distance away from the start.

This is us heading out to our spots – Tom in the bright cap, Martin next to him//There’s the log I stood on to watch the runners pass

I’m glad I’m not great at maths as I didn’t realise I’d be stood there for 40 minutes in the cold!! Every three minutes the speedsters would zoom past me and then back.

The lead runner is Steve Way – stupidly fast!

Then three minutes I’d be on my own again so I did a lot of pacing to keep warm!

Then we were done. Everyone ran back and we followed Tom back again. He seemed really grateful we helped so I felt chuffed despite how cold and wet I was.

After getting back and sorted we then headed to the meeting spot again for a buffet meal. It was quite funny because I was chatting to one of the other runners and we were wondering what we’d get. I jokingly said “probably sandwiches and pasties”. The other runner laughed and said “nah it’ll be a hot buffet of course.” Famous last words. Everything was cold. I hadn’t eaten since my brunch in the morning (11am) so I was absolutely starving (it was now 6.30pm). As you can see, I had everything and lots of it.

After our very cold but filling dinner, Martin did a sort of interview with Steve Way (an 100km ultra champion). I had no idea who Steve Way was before the interview began. But I can now say I’m a big fan. He started running at 33 – going from an overweight smoker to an almost elite athlete; just seconds from qualifying in the elite category for a marathon. He “dabbled” with training for his first marathon and ran a 3:06. This blows my mind. Then after putting in some ‘proper’ training he got down to 2:19. Jesus.

I could say a huge amount about this interview – a lot of useful and interesting information –but it would take up a lot of the post. Unless people are very interested I’ll leave you with just a few tidbits:

He said though he gave up smoking, he is still a smoker. He just doesn’t smoke because it would “affect his running”. He has a cigar after every marathon to celebrate though.
He can run up to around 150miles a week.
The average pace of all those runs (recoveries to speed sessions) is 6.30mins/mile.
He talked a lot about knowing the limits of his body – knowing he couldn’t go over 150ish miles a week as he’d start to break down or become over-trained.
He takes his HR every morning. It sits around 30 beats a minute.

It was very inspiring but a little ‘out there’, you know? Like all I kept thinking was “how can I relate this to myself?”. But you sort of can – the focus, perseverance, the drive…though it was beyond most of the people’s ideas of a usual training week we were all nodding along. It was inspirational.

After the interview (which went on for a good hour with us being able to ask any questions), Martin explained what was happening for the long run the next day. He handed out maps and explain that there was an 11 mile route, a 16 mile route and a 19mile route. We needed to decide what distance and what pace we’d like to do so the next day we could get into groups. I already knew I’d be doing the 11 miler. No way would I be attempting more at the moment. Especially considering the terrain was off-road, challenging and the route was, in Martin’s words, “f***ed” with all the rain water. Haha.

Then we headed back to the lodge where I had a lovely hot chocolate in bed and a fairly early night.

We fell asleep fairly quickly. We were shattered!

I will save the next day until another post (another interesting interview, long run, carvery and Q&A session with Martin and Tom).

Do you listen to Marathon Talk? Would you want to go on a trip like this?

Do you know your limits for exercise? Number of days, level of mileage?

Do you do interval sessions? I will be incorporating intervals in my training soon but for now I’m just doing regular runs and tempo runs to not stress my body out too much –> interesting article on exactly this: Returning to running after injury