Britain - AnnaTheApple

August 23, 2013

Long weekend

I think I speak for most people…

And in the UK we have a Bank Holiday Monday. Woohoo, three day weekend! Well, four day weekend for me as I’m off today!

I have recovered somewhat from Sunday’s half marathon adventure…though my legs were hating me Monday morning. I did nothing on Monday in terms of fitness. Getting out of bed was hard enough! But Tuesday evening I thought I’d brave running club. I knew if I tried running on my own I’d really struggle with motivating myself from now just crawling along the pavement and having a nap in the gutter. It wouldn’t have been pretty.

So I ran the mile to running club at a nice and easy pace and was surprised that it wasn’t too bad. And as luck would have it it was an easy session because the club had a league run the next evening (ha! which I would not be going to – need a break from races for a few weeks!)

Anyway we did 5 x 1200m with 3-4 minutes recovery between each. I was faster than I expected! I was tailing behind the speedy bunch and ahead of the slightly slower bunch so I was all on me own running along which did kind of suck. But on the last lap the speedy bunch took pity on me and ~~forced~~ encouraged me to do a ‘snake’ lap with them (we run in a line, the last person then has to sprint past everyone to get to the front, and it continues like that until the end – there were 5 of us in total). I really appreciated the encouragement from the others so this worked a treat.

Then a two mile leisurely(ish) run home.

Definitely wouldn’t have done that on my own I assure you!

This morning I had a one hour sports massage that I got through Groupon. Ahhh I love it. I hate it. It’s painful. It’s good. As well as my legs, the lady did my whole back and as she started I was like “pfft like I need my back doing – it’s my legs that are the issue”. Jeeze clearly I have back issues. It was PAINFUL. I had to grit my teeth to stop myself from screaming. I think it’s part of being British and maybe my personality that I don’t like showing pain or making noises of pain. When she asked how it was I could only squeak.

Now we’re off to Essex to visit Ben’s dad. We’re planning on engaging in a bit of Parkrun tourism by doing the Chelmsford one, and somehow manage a 10ish mile run around where Ben’s dad lives…errr I see trouble ahead. Or at least a phone call to Ben going something like this “Ben, I’m lost. Come pick me up please.”

Right, time to go!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Sports massage: love it or hate it?

Are you OK with showing you’re in pain? Even when I stub my toe or something like that I don’t like showing I’m in pain. I get embarrassed.

How long does it take for you to recover from a race? I’m feeling pretty much back to normal now thankfully. Well, let’s see how the Parkrun goes I guess!

Do you run when you go away to different places? I love seeing new places this way but my navigation sucks.

August 12, 2013

Good times all round!

Hey guys! How are you doing? The weekend has gone and we’re back to it.

All last week my fitness-related aim was: beat last week’s Parkrun time. I needed some validation that what I was doing was going to pay off. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve found that I’m really loving spinning twice a week, and I always feel such an accomplishment after the interval session I do with my club on a Tuesday night…but they’re painful sessions. I feel like I’ve been through the mill after them! But it’s all about balance for me at the moment and focused training to keep improving without getting injured again.

I’m still doing body pump once a week and every other day I’m doing my stretches and foam rolling. And, well, everything seems to be going quite nicely! I smashed my Parkrun time by 25 seconds from last week’s time which I am over the moon about.

I have absolutely no game plans when it comes to 5ks. For me it’s just go as hard as can for as long as you can. There’s a sneaky hill which we have to do three times and it’s tough to not let the pace drop but I blasted on the downhill to make up for it. I placed second lady so I was very pleased indeed.

The rest of Saturday was getting the jobs done around the house and then chilling. My dad was over once again to watch the football with Ben in the afternoon so I got myself nice and comfy with a magazine, the iPad (with the World Championship athletics playing) and watermelon. Ahh perfect.

I’m reading the Empire magazine, I do love my movie reviews…

I might have also indulged in a slice of cake in the evening while we watched some Friends… I do love Saturdays!

Sunday morning I had planned either a 10 mile run or a 12 mile run. I was going to decide how I felt as the run went on. And from the get-go it felt like a great run. I had Marathon Talk on my iPhone (can’t recommend this podcast enough to runner-lovers out there) and it was raining on and off. Made a lovely change from the heat.

So I made it 12 miles and just really enjoyed it. One of those runs you kind of relax into. The miles flew by. I decided to pick up the pace towards the end just to challenge myself a bit as well. Now fingers crossed next Sunday’s half marathon goes that way! I’m thinking that’s unlikely considering the hills…(“super challenging terrain” says the description. Oh joy).

Despite the rain in the morning, it cleared up beautifully to be a lovely sunny day. Alfie and me went for a nice gentle walk after lunch.

We’re so lucky to live within a five minute’s walk from these lovely trails. Though considering Britain’s usual weather we don’t get to utilise them as much as we’d like

So this week has been great for my workouts. One of my best in a while.

Monday: Spinning

Tuesday: Interval session with running club (2 miles warm up, intervals, 2 miles cool down; total 7 miles)

Wednesday: Off

Thursday: Trail run with running club (9 miles total)

Friday: Spinning

Saturday: Parkrun (5k)

Sunday: Glorious 12 miles and body pump

Amongst this, as I said, lots of pre-run stretches, post-run stretches, foam rolling and my strengthening stretches. I’m like a stretching machine. And it really isn’t that much hassle. I used to be so blasé about the whole warm-up and warm-downs, but now I’m like the golden girl of following running best practice. I’m boring myself talking about this sorry!

Hope you all have a lovely week

What has been your favourite workout this week? Mine was my long run. PBs and great speeds come and go, but that mental peace you get from a slower, longer run is just incomparable to anything else I find.

Do you have a dog? Or enjoy going for walks? Like my long runs, I enjoy just popping a podcast on and taking Alfie for a lovely walk to just chill out.

What magazines do you love to read? Empire magazine, BBC Good Food or Runnersworld are my favourite!

July 24, 2013

A Day Pretending to be an Olympian

Hi guys, so in continuing with my last post on my weekend catch-up, here is Part 2. (See Part 1 HERE).

Sunday morning – race day at the Olympic Stadium! We stayed with friends in Clapham in London so it was fairly easy to get to Stratford via the tube in the morning. I say ‘fairly easy’ because Ben knew where to go and what tube to catch. I obediently followed, bewildered by all things public transport and London.

On the tube journey there was another race goer with her National Lottery race t-shirt and bib on. I decided to wear my running club vest instead because the t-shirt (despite being a small) was HUGE. It fit Ben perfectly though so he now has it in his running wardrobe. At each tube stop, more and more runners got on-board and there started to be a buzz of excitement.

Then we got to Stratford and a sea of blue people flowed out and we were whisked along with the crowds of people heading towards the stadium.

We walked past the huge shopping centre, Westfield…

It was just streaming with blue shirted and Lycra-ed people. It was fairly overcast but that was fine; nice and cool for running I hoped!

Then finally, after security, we got within sight. I was so excited by this point and it really was quite a spectacular sight.

We got there around 8.30am which was perfect really as we got to mosey about before the race (which started at 10am). I stood in the queue for the first toilet I saw and waited for ages. Then afterwards we headed towards the area that Ben would spectate (it was all divided according to the colours of the bibs; I was a red wave). I noticed a million more toilets and realised my initial error of panicking and going to the first toilet I saw. In the end I literally went to the loo three times before the race as I was so nervous and there were so many loos.

I got goose bumps when we first walked in the stadium. It was amazing. It looked a lot smaller than it did on TV but it was very impressive.

We met up with a girl from our running club and her hubby (who also wasn’t running) and little daughter and chatted for a bit just waiting around. Then me and my friend headed to our start area. We were both in the red wave and this was the first wave to start.

Sir Chris Hoy (British Olympic gold medallist cyclist) opened the race and also introduced Victoria Pendleton (British Olympic gold medallist cyclist), Mel C (aka Sport Spice) and Paula Radcliffe (hero! Long distance legend) who were right at the front. Me and my friend were in the middle.

We did a crazy warm-up from some seriously enthusiastic guy and then we were off. Well, after a good minute as we shuffled towards the start.

Mile one was tough because there were so many people and the path was quite narrow at points. It was tricky to get ahead and was a bit of a nightmare trying to get past people.

Mile two the path became wider and we found our stride. I think a water station appeared around 2.5miles but I was OK so kept going. There was also a mist thing that you could run through to cool down. Though the weather wasn’t as hot as it has been, I was still quite hot so I ran through the mist. Lovely. I started to struggle though.

Mile three and it felt really hard. Psychologically it was tough because you could see the front runners doing a further part of the course. You knew what was to come. It also wasn’t a pancake flat course.

Mile four and I was really struggling. My friend was starting to get further away from me. We had both agreed that if one of us felt like stretching it out they should just go. Though it irked me that I couldn’t keep up. We’re around the same speed normally I think and it wounded my pride a little that I had no energy to catch her.

Mile five and I just wanted it to be over. I finally got into the stadium (albeit in a tunnel underneath the stands). They were playing out cheers and moments from the Olympics (from what I can gather) and it helped motivate me on. Then I got into the actual stadium onto the track and think I said out loud “thank God”. I had no oomph left for a sprint finish. I just wanted to get there.

I’m really happy with my time. It’s not a PB – it’s around a minute off. But I feel like it was a good effort considering I think I’ve lost a little bit of my speed since being injured (I know, I know: excuses, excuses!!) My only disappointment was not catching up with my friend. She finished 20 seconds ahead of me. Hey ho!

I was 66th girl so I’m really pleased with that considering there were around 7,000 females!

And the best part? I met Mel C! She finished just after me and in a really embarrassingly ‘OMG-I-love-celebrities-I’m-so-uncool’ kind of way I grabbed her for a photo. I’m mortified now looking back because when I asked her she was like “Can I just catch my breath first? I might throw up on you otherwise”. I die of shame. I like to think I’d be cool around celebrities. Wrong.

The 12 year old Spice Girl obsessed girl inside me is doing a dance

I even said afterwards “you have the same shorts as me!” *Shakes head in shame* Oh Anna, you’re so uncool.

I found Ben afterwards and we watched more runners finish and it was just brilliant. And there were so many did crazy sprint finishes!! As we headed out in search of the Mo Farah cardboard cut-out I spotted Maria from Running Cupcake with her partner. I felt a little bit like a stalker if I’m honest but I really wanted to say hi so I tapped her on the shoulder. (We had messaged each other beforehand to try and meet up at the stadium but we weren’t sure how it would work out considering it was such a big event).

It was lovely to have a quick chat with her – catch her recap of the race HERE. It’s always nice to actually hear someone’s voice after reading so much about them on their blog – does that sound weird? I quite like vlogs in that respect. Well, I can confirm she is as lovely as her blog is

And then we saw the Mo Farah cut-out.

Then we headed home! We checked the train times and found a train leaving in 40 minutes, so we got our skates on and aimed for that one. It was a bit stressful and we hadn’t eaten but we wanted to just get home. Rest assure though I snacked well on the train home to keep me going until lunch.

The event was brilliant. I loved the atmosphere, the hype and seeing the stadium. I didn’t enjoy the running part so much. It felt like a struggle and the scenery was a bit rubbish (it was kind of a building site) but running in the stadium was epic. I did feel bad a lot though as I knew Ben wanted to run but he couldn’t because I forgot to get him a ticket when I applied for mine. I KNOW, worst wife ever. Though in fairness, he is still injured…

So over all, a brilliant weekend!

Did you watch the Olympics when it was on? Have you been to the stadium before?

Who’s your favourite Olympian or athlete? Mo and Paula are high on my list!

Have you ever met a celebrity and/or been star struck?

July 22, 2013

A little slice of a great weekend

Ahhh what an amazing weekend! I love weekends where you know the memories will last forever I’ll have to split it into two because honestly this will be a beast of a post otherwise!!

Starting off on Friday, I enjoyed a ‘lovely’ hot and sweaty 10 mile run in the morning. I was so pleased with how this went as it was niggle free! I literally felt normal running; no discomfort, no slight twinges…perfect. The only thing hard about it was the heat. I can live with that! I even randomly decided to make the second to last mile a speedy one. I just felt the urge!

Then I ate a nice big bowl of oatmeal, showered and set out on my bike for a very leisurely 7 mile cycle to a local coffee shop/garden centre/farm shop to meet up with my mum, sister and little niece, Megan for a lovely coffee.

How cool do I look? I am rocking that helmet!

We nattered and caught up and I even got to hold Megan for a little bit.

That, my friends, is the look of sheer panic. I’m not very good with babies or small children…or children in general. Megan is absolutely adorable…but I’m just terrified of doing something wrong. She did fall asleep on me which was lovely.

Anyway we moseyed about and I bought some more kangaroo burgers and also some wild board burgers. Love trying new food!

There were loads of baking, cooking and crockery bits and pieces in the shop and I couldn’t help but take a photo of this cool tea pot.

So true

Then we parted ways and I cycled back a slightly extended route to avoid all the hills I coasted down on the way there. In the end it was a 16.9mile cycle in total! I tell you what, I was pooped.

My lovely sister drove round a bit later and dropped the burgers off (as I had no proper bag on my bike) and she also had made an AMAZING red velvet cake for Ben and me….maybe because I’d pestered her obsessively for ages as she’s strangely got really into baking lately.

Unfortunately I had to wait until Ben got home from work until I could slice and dice that baby. It was tough. A real stretch of willpower I assure you. I can now report though that it was delicious. I’m not even embarrassed to say I went back for seconds.

The next morning, Saturday, we got up early and caught the train to London to meet up with my university friends for a little social gathering.

I love seeing my friends but I’m really not a big fan of London. I find catching trains and tubes really stressful so I was glad Ben was there with me. We even had to buy and work the Oyster card machine. Hard times.

After meeting up with them all and catching up we headed to a lovely quirky pub for a drink and food.

The pub was really vintagey with bunting hanging from the ceiling and random old chairs and ornaments everywhere. It was cool! And the food was pretty darn tasty.

I had chicken with roasted vegetables, couscous and a sour cream dressing. And for pudding? Well, let me just tell you. It was immense. It was a tough decision because there was a semi-freddo honeycomb dessert with ore cookie crumble. I was tide. I had a lengthy discussion with the waiter and in the end deciding on the dark chocolate tart with clotted cream ice cream. What pushed me over? He said the tart was bigger. Haha. What am I like??

Then we chilled out on the grass in a lovely park and just enjoyed each other’s company and the sunshine.

There did end up a massive grass fight as there was all this dried hay-like grass around where we were sat. Luckily I avoided being targeted!

I’m sure there was a lot of grass in unwanted places by the end!! Haha.

Then after another drink in a pub, a few of my friends headed back to their respective train stations to head home. Ben and me were staying over at the flat of one of my friends and her partner as we were off to Stratford the next day for the Olympic Stadium 5 mile race.

We enjoyed a nice easy pizza, watched some Friends, ate some home-made cheesecake (hey, it’s carbo loading!) and went to bed at a reasonable time as we were up early the next morning. More on that in my next post

Such a good weekend – and it’s not even finished yet!

What did you get up to this weekend?

What do you prefer: pubs/bars or cafes/coffee shops? I much prefer cafes or coffee shops as I’m not a big drinker. I like to have a nice cup of coffee of fragrant tea and maybe a sneaky slice of cake. But a pub is nice too when it’s hot and you can sit outside with a nice cold Coke!

Are you a baby person? Or a mum/dad already? I know I want to have a baby at some point but I am so clueless with kids that it really scares me!

What’s your perfect pre-race meal? I like a good pizza with not too much cheese as I find the cheese sits heavy on my tummy.

July 15, 2013July 15, 2013

Survived

Oh man. I am tired. Yesterday Ben and me ran the New Forest 10 mile race. At 11.15am. In stupidly hot weather. It was tough.

Let’s roll it back a bit to Saturday. I did the 5km Parkrun in the morning as a shakeout run. I took it steady and used it just as a nice easy run the day before ~~hell~~ a tough long race. Annoyingly, it was hot and hard work – it did not feel like an easy run. I managed it in 22.49 which I was chuffed with, and amazingly I was third girl.

Ben decided to marshal at the Parkrun instead

For the rest of the day we got the chores done and I persuaded Ben to ~~spend a small fortune~~ go to Halfords so we could sort our bikes out as they’ve both got punctures. I really want to balance things up a bit with the running and do some cycling the odd day in the week. It’s a half-formed plan at the moment so I’ll let you know how it goes later on.

Then my loving husband got to work.

He complained a bit to start with but then he got into it. It was all manly and DIY-ish so he loved it.

Then we chilled for the rest of the day had started getting nervous about the race the next day. We prepared ourselves by having a nice ice bath…

…and carbing it up with a good dinner.

Good old pizza. Chicken, stupid amounts of veg, BBQ sauce. A tried-and-tested meal that never fails me pre-race day.

Early to bed and early to rise. Ben and me both felt so nervous. It was hot. We drank lots of water (and coffee, sshhh!) and ate a good breakfast of oatmeal. Then my dad showed up and we convoyed over to the New Forest.

Over 800 people took part

It would have been a beautiful day for a BBQ, relaxing down the beach or in your garden with a glass of something chilled. Not running 10 miles.

I spent the best £5 I’ve ever spent on a 10 minute sports massage. It was so necessary. My IT band was tight. So tight it was almost agony when the lady dug deep on it. I now have bruises.

Then we lined up and three, two, one we were go, go go.

Mile one I took way too fast. I was optimistic and just enjoying the atmosphere and flow. But it was right in the sun. Mile two I was slowing down (the story of this race) but we were hitting some shade which was nice. Mile three was my first milestone to celebrate. I felt like I was properly into the race then. And we hit our first drinks stop. I threw two waters over myself and enjoyed the coolness. I had a water with me with an electrolyte table in it (Zero High Five if you’re interested) that I kept sipping slowly.

Mile four I was feeling the heat. The water that had been cooling minutes earlier had evaporated so it was back to being hot. My time was consistently slowing. Mile five I hit a low point. The course was pretty flat but there were the occasional gradual inclines and they felt like mountains in the heat. I felt extremely hot, a bit sick and I was tempted to stop and walk. Luckily another drinks point appeared and I was squirted with a hose (I almost stopped and said “can I just stay here now ~~in the foetal position~~?”). Mile six and I was pushing through, still slowing, but I had come back from my darkest hour and celebrated another milestone (firmly over half way). Just before mile seven there was a stone path for a good .2 of a mile. So hard to run over.

Mile eight and I celebrated another milestone in my eyes – you’re almost at mile nine and then you’re almost finished (make sense?). I saw a man walking and I helped push him back to a run with some encouragement and that felt great. He thanked me and pushed on.

Mile nine just couldn’t have come sooner. I stared a little mantra in my head, something like “less than a mile to go, la la la”. Yep madness was slowly creeping in. Then we were on the home-stretch. I saw the finish. I pushed the speed and finished!

I pretty much dropped around 10 seconds per mile until the last mile – almost a perfect positive split. Whoops.

My official time was 1:18:24, fourteenth girl overall, fifth girl in my age category, 120th overall. I suppose it’s a PB as I’ve never run a 10 miles faster than 1:19 but I’ve never actually raced it. Considering the heat I’m over the moon with this time!

I then drank a gallon of water and queued up to be showered with a cold hose pipe. BLISS.

Ben came in a bit later (this was his first ever 10 mile and he was still recovering from an ankle injury).

We got a lovely horse brass as our medal as well, which was a lovely touch.

On getting home I showered, ice bathed, devoured piles of food (and my body weight in watermelon) and then just relaxed. I couldn’t even be bothered to get dressed.

Alfie’s like “Girl, that is not a good look!”

I was pooped. Still am.

What did you get yup to this weekend?

Did anyone run any races in the crazy heat?

What’s your best/favourite medal you’ve ever got from a race?