Current obsession - AnnaTheApple

February 24, 2016

Rants and Raves #27

And I’m back on the Rants and Raves again! I actually have quite a full-house today, so let’s get going.

Rave: As I mentioned in the previous post, I treated myself to a new pair of trainers. Why is it that it always requires an injury or niggle to trigger me to do something sensible? The logic of a runner I suppose… or maybe just me!

They’re Mizuno Wave Paradoxes and I believe this could be my fourth pair. I did consider buying another pair of ASICs (the Luminus ones I reviewed a while ago) but they’re very expensive and my Luminuses haven’t actually worn out yet. So why don’t I just wear them? Well, Mizunos have always been my fail safe. I’ve worn them for several marathons now – possibly all of them and I always go back to them. They are quite ‘stiff’ but I find this works for my feet. For £57 as well you can’t go wrong (I got them from www.sportsshoes.com).

Rant: The colour of said trainers. It looks like they’ve gone through the wash with a pair of jeans. My last pair were pink which was a whole lot better than this light blue colour. But after a few parkrun visits I’m sure the colour will be unrecognisable.

Rave: Crisp cold mornings are far nicer than soggy mild ones in my opinion.Yes it’s cold but it’s just so beautiful. And Alfie doesn’t get anywhere near as muddy.

Rave: And on that note of coldness, I’ve been wanting a hat for ages to wear when I walk Alfie as putting my hood up feels a bit silly and antisocial (and isn’t actually that much warmer). I found this hat in Tesco for £2!

It’s so snug and lovely. I can’t believe their winter stuff is in the sale already.

Rant: Don’t put tissues in your FlipBelt and then wash it.

Big mistake. Little pieces of white tissue everywhere! Arggh. I rarely take tissue with me on a run but I did for my failed 18 miler just in case. Then I forgot and merrily went on my way to washing it *sighs*.

Rave: One of my close friends is getting married in July and I’m really excited. It should be a fantastic day as they’re such a lovely couple. I did have a little bit of fun on the RSVP though…

She found it amusing thankfully

Rant: I’m an idiot (probably a good portion of my rants in general are down to my own stupidity I’m sure). I booked a holiday completely on a whim, paying for it and everything before realising it was the day after said wedding. I evenly smugly booked Southampton airport because “how easy would that be”. Not so easy considering the day before I’m in Gloucester and was intending on staying over in a hotel. It means no drinking for me now and a very late drive home after the wedding. Oh well.

Rave: And to segue nicely into my booked holiday (stupid timing aside)… I signed up to go on the Body Type Nutrition Retreat. It’s run by Ben Coomber, the nutritionist who’s podcast I’m obsessed with. Basically it’s six days of 3-4 hours of training and 1-2 hours of nutrition coaching (per day). There are workshops and training sessions focused on strength and conditioning so you can learn and progress in your fitness goals. It’s not running-focused, but rather overall health. As I’ve got so into the gym and lifting weights I wanted to gain better knowledge in the area, as well as nutrition in general. There’s also a lot of fun and games involved. I thought “hey you only live once!”. I’m in a stage in my life where I can do what the hell I want and this interested me. It’s also nice to know I’m going on holiday with a bunch of like-minded people.

Rave: Good food! I never used to eat much steak at all but I’ve suddenly had such a craving for it. Obviously I’ve always been a keen meat-eater so I guess this is hardly surprising.

This was a grass-fed Irish rump steak (from MuscleFood – use this code AS284829 for freebies!) with a steak seasoning, a load of veg with Saint-Félicien cheese. Very tasty and filling! Mid-week steak, can’t go wrong (unless your a veggie…).

Rant: Idiots on the road. This guy in the photo below wearing SHORTS. Not only is it FEBRUARY but shorts on a moped at any time during the year is a stupid move. If he fell off his bike he could lose half the skin on his leg at best. Rush hour on a Tuesday morning is not a good time to play dice with the traffic.

Speaking of idiots, there was another guy the other week on a motorbike zooming along the motorway with his hands OFF THE HANDLEBARS. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. He was just sat that with this ridiculous grin on his face with no hands, clearly showing off. After ranting on Facebook about it my policewoman friend questioned me about it and then later said they think they have him on camera so he’ll get done. Good! Because it isn’t just his life he’s risking.

And on that happy note…

What’s the worst thing you’ve seen someone do on the road?

Favourite type of steak and how do you like it? I really enjoy rib eye medium rare. I prefer the more fatty cuts just because they’re a bit more flavoursome.

Have you got any holidays planned this year?

January 28, 2016January 28, 2016

Training and food lately

I know I start 90% of my posts about the weather, but I’m British soo… It is raining ridiculous amounts at the moment. I realise I’m extremely lucky to not live in any part of the UK that has flooding risks or issues, or places in America that were snowed under, but I can only comment on where I am right now. And it’s soggy to say the least.

Despite the rain and wind, I went out after work and did some hill training on Tuesday evening. I’d wussed out last week to do this specific hill because it’s not lit at all. It’s a long path off the main road and there are no street lights along it so it’s actually really hard to run up it without any light as it winds and turns. I don’t normally run in a headtorch unless I’m trail running when it’s dark, but I needed it for the hill.

Despite the rain, the shorts are back in action – as is my new Forever21 ‘Focused’ top (light and waterproof)

I’ve mentioned this hill before in this post, but basically it’s a12% incline for over 0.2 miles, which usually lasts about 3 minutes. It’s a beast. There’s a Strava segment on it as well and I love to test my fitness to see how well I’m currently running.

I did a mile warm-up then ran up and down the hill three times. I’d planned on four but three was enough! I had my music going (the only way I can survive a solo speed session) and just focused on my form (swing arms, use my bum, look ahead), trying to ignore the pain. The rain was pounding down but I was oblivious to it. I then continued on with my hilly route to make a total of six miles. Honestly, this run was awesome. OK it was painful and tiring but for whatever reason I felt like I was flying. I felt like my form was on point (or as on point as I can achieve!!) and like I was cutting through the rain. When I checked back to my splits and the hill segment I found I’m doing nicely in gaining back my speed. I’m not at my fastest for the hill but I’m getting there.

I love this about marathon training (when I get it right that is…). Seeing the progress, even if it’s tiny, is just so motivating each week. For me the two important things that really help my running are hill training and long runs. I’m always a bit weary of intervals and, whether justified or not, I feel like I dice with injury with them. But with hills I feel I get stronger.

Another important factor for me for marathon training is maintaining my strength work. I know I say this so often but my glute, leg and core work are really important for me to remain uninjured. This involves lifting heavy weights to keep my body strong; big compound moves like squats and deadlifts help strengthen not just your legs but your core and posterior chain. And the more running-specific moves, like wall sits, glute kickbacks, crab walks and box jumps help too. For me the strength side of things isn’t to increase my power or speed, it’s to keep me healthy. It’s also a something I thoroughly enjoy doing – who’d have thought?!

I know my focus shouldn’t be on how much I can lift and squat but there is something so empowering about increasing your weights or reps. It’s also, in a weird way, a nice comfort to know I have the love of lifting to fall back to if running and me have another fall out (*touch wood* I don’t!).

I just need to make sure I don’t burn out. Nutrition is a big factor in this and I can assure you, I’m eating lots of good nutritious food. For one thing I’m on a culinary exploration of all the cheeses. So far I’m in love with Stilton… but Camembert and Brie make regular appearances. I’ve found some nice cheese from MuscleFood as well (the French Chevre and Lincolnshire Poacher).

Lately a lot of my dinners have been fairly simple with meat, veg and cheese. And honestly, I’m loving it!

Most of my carbs happen earlier in the day: porridge for breakfast and with my lunch at work I have my standard popcorn (home-popped with salt and pepper). I’m not a huge carb eater, as I’ve said a few times on the blog. I don’t eat a lot of bread unless it’s good stuff at a restaurant and I don’t eat pasta. It works for me though!

Tonight I have an easy 5 mile planned, then parkrun on Saturday and a 16 mile run planned Sunday. The long runs are getting longer! Speaking of long runs… In a couple of a weeks I head to my grandad’s in Wales, who I’ve visited a few times. That weekend I had an 18 mile run planned and I mentioned it to him and asked if he had any ideas of good routes. He came back with this:

He planned an 18 mile route that compared to the Boston marathon course elevation!! How amazing is that?? I’m so pleased. He’s also offered to cycle alongside me to help navigate and provide a bit of support. I mean, can you get better than that? This is my 82 year old grandfather by the way, who has his own Strava account capturing his regular walks up and down the nearby hills of Llandudno. Yep.

How do you plan your really long runs? Do you go anywhere interesting?

Carbs, protein or fat? What’s your favourite? Unsurprisingly mine is protein!

What do you prefer: intervals or hills?

January 11, 2016

Those ribs though…

Marathon training has truly begun! I’m shattered. I did my first ‘proper’ long run yesterday and honestly I can’t imagine how I was able to run 16+ miles last year regularly!! But rolling back to Saturday…

I was really not feeling the parkrun love. This is really unusual for me as I’m a self-confessed parkrun addict. I sing its praises high and low, to runners and non-runners alike. I love it. But recently I’ve just felt a bit ‘meh’ about it. It’s likely that it’s a combination of some really rubbish weather, the winter course and the fact that I just don’t seem to be improving at all.

Saturday morning I was woken up by the bin men at 6.30am and my alarm was set for 7am and I just laid there thinking how much I didn’t want to go. Because I’d already said I’d help set-up and clear down I couldn’t just bail though, especially as sometimes they’re really stretched for people to help. I decided to put on some proper layers to stop myself being cold and miserable at least. I decided I’d much rather be overly hot for 25 minutes running but warm before and after. I could bring extra clothes to wear before we start (remember I’m there an hour before we run setting everything up) and then afterwards but it’s so much faff and I never have that much time from setting up and the run actually starting.

Anyway, basically I wore leggings and a long-sleeved top. Annoyingly it was actually quite a mild morning so I knew I was going to be very hot running but hey ho. Despite not really wanting to go, when I got there and saw my parkrun buddies (parkrun fwends! ;)) I cheered right up and, as always, enjoyed myself. I had to laugh as well as Geoff, one of the main Netley parkrun guys, had spent three hours cleaning the cones in the week.

They looked so shiny and clean… this did not last long!!

The run itself went OK. I still find the first lap really hard and the second one is more of a mental battle. I’m definitely, without a shadow of a doubt, a long distance runner. By mile three I was feeling more warmed up and I just want to finish and, similar to last week, put the pedal down and sped up. I’m getting good at these fast finishes!

My time was 23:40. Annoyingly still not getting quicker but quicker than previous recent weeks (not sure how I managed to get 22:59 in December!! Seems ridiculously hard at the moment).

I cannot wait for warmer and drier running as well. I get so muddy it’s ridiculous (and so does the inside of my car *sighs*). I also have to strip off in the shower otherwise I cover my floor with mud and dirt.The rest of the day was standard housework stuff and then I headed to my parent’s house. I had somehow managed to persuade them to go to Coast to Coast again (we went there last week). I know, I know, I’m a little obsessed. When I like a restaurant I tend to do it to death. I really fancied the ribs my granddad had last weekend and I literally could not stop dreaming about them. As my granddad was going home the next day it did seem a good way to say goodbye as he thoroughly enjoyed himself last week as well.

I went for the BBQ platter to share with my dad to start (same as I had here) and then I ordered the ribs for main. The funny thing is when I ordered them the waiter said to me, “I have to warn you, they’re a huge portion and it could be too much for you.” Erm, excuse me? I’m a whole-chicken-at-Nandos kinda girl, I think I’ll be fine thank you very much.I went for a dry rub rather than the BBQ sauce only because I really enjoyed it on the chicken wings I had and there was BBQ sauce on the table anyway. Out of all the ribs I’ve had (and I’ve had a lot) they were pretty damn good, but next time (which I’m sure there will be at some point…) I’ll go for the sauce as they weren’t as juicy as I like. Don’t get me wrong though, they were amazing. I was in meat heaven. By the time I got down to the last couple of ribs though I was really struggling. The meat sweats were starting 😉 But I finished them, much to the amusement of the waiter. Ha!We had a bit of a break and then decided on pudding. As I was ridiculously full I decided the carrot cake and ice cream that I was initially tempted by might push me over the edge and went for the brownie. The brownie was good but it wasn’t as dense as brownies normally are so it reminded me more of a fudge cake – which isn’t a bad thing! It came with chocolate honeycomb pieces on top and honeycomb ice cream, divine.

Then sleep needed to happen. Eating so much food is exhausting! I was slightly worried about my long run planned for the next day but the food was too good not to enjoy.

When I got up Sunday I actually felt fine, though I didn’t feel hungry (obviously) which I normally do in the morning when I wake up. I took Alfie for a walk and was pleased that the weather actually looked OK. Yes it was cold but there was barely any wind and no rain. Until 10 minutes into the walk and the heavens opened up. I decided it was time to get back home before both Alfie and I got soaked so I ran with him the last bit (I was wearing my running gear). I’ve never really run with Alfie before and he loved it! He was pulling me alone and really going for it. When I stopped, as I was worried I’d puff him out, he just kept trying to go on. And he’s speedy! I’m thinking he’s a 7min/mile dog (for at least a short distance anyway). He’s definitely more of a sprinter than me.

The rain didn’t seem like it was stopping any time soon and I wanted to get going so I popped my podcast on and headed out. It was tipping it down with cold rain and as I ran up the lane I seriously considered just giving up and stopping. I was soaked and cold. But I thought how much I’d regret not going and just sped up and got going. I was going too fast for my first mile but the incentive was to just get warm. Then the hail started and it seemed laughable. By the time I’d gotten a quarter of the mile up the road I was warm, into the flow and enjoying it. I saw other runners and cyclists and we all just smiled or laughed at each other at how ridiculous it was to be outside in such crappy weather – a king of “aren’t we mad??” sort of exchange.

I had a different route from normal which actually took me along the Stubbington 10k route, which I’m doing next Sunday. It was quite nice to see what it would be like on my own.

Stubbington 10k is a local race I’ve wanted to do for the past two years but haven’t been able to because of injury. The start is five minutes from my parent’s house walking so it’s perfect. I won’t be racing though as I plan to run some miles beforehand and make it into a nice social long run.

Anyway, my long run was a dream. I felt smooth running and in the zone. I’m going too fast again I know but it felt natural. I also think that this is just how I do my long runs (at least these middle distance long runs anyway). I did most of my long runs for Liverpool at a similar pace and it worked well. I find it doesn’t become such a shock on marathon day when the pace is just a little bit faster or similar. I could be dancing with injury risks I know but the whole run felt fine and I felt fine afterwards, albeit tired and, well, like I’d run 11 miles. It’s ridiculous to me how I can get into the groove and run these paces so easily in a long run but when it comes to parkrun it just doesn’t happen. I ran a 7.30min/mile for mile 11 and I can’t seem to do that easily in parkrun!!

I felt fantastic after finishing. Really chuffed with myself and strong. Fingers crossed this continues! I have to say though it was a good while until I was hungry. Those ribs certainly did a good job!

What was clear though was how unused to long runs I am. I was shattered for the rest of the day and once I was finally hungry and had breakfast I was like a bottomless pit. But it’s all part of the process, my body will adjust and the miles will increase. I do love marathon training when it goes well!

What did you do this weekend?

What’s the furthest you’ve ran recently?

Do you ever get really strong cravings for certain foods or meals that you just have to satisfy?

August 12, 2015

Rants and Raves #17

I do enjoy writing my Rants and Raves post because I often have a collection of little thoughts or events that occur during the week that I want to share but don’t always cohesively fit into a good narrative. If you’re bore of the Rants and Raves though, please let me know!

Rant: I work in an office and it drives me mad when people come in ill. I’m not a particularly tolerant person it must be said – I don’t have a lot of patience and I know I need to work on it but this is surely not an unfair complaint. When people come in and spend the entire day coughing up their lungs (not just a little cough, a real lung-blasting one) within a rather enclosed space, well it takes a lot of mental willpower to not yell “GO HOME”. Work is not that important that you need to come when you’re really not well. It’s not good for them and it’s not great for us either!

Rave: Food parcels from the parents. It’s like being 18 again and my parents are sending me back on the train to Cardiff University with a bundle of food.

Ahh university. Those were the days that I was too cheap to buy magazines, chewing gum and quilted loo roll. Small luxuries I still cherish to this day. But back to the food. This time it was more that they were going to throw away this food if I didn’t take it because it would go off.

My parents, I’m sure they don’t mind me saying, are notorious for wasting food. They both have dinners at different times in the week because of when they finish work so what usually happens is my mum randomly buys a load of food from M&S despite my dad buying a load of food from the supermarket. Not all of it will get eaten. This is a rant in itself because I hate wasting food. They do have the best intentions and never set out to waste it, but often as not something will get left behind in the week. And I’m more than happy to take if off their hands.

So I received a half roast chicken, a Cumberland sausage and two slightly iffy looking salad boxes (once the soggy cucumbers where picked out it was fine. I’m not fussy when it comes to eating food past it’s best!).

From this I had a delicious BBQ sauce chicken stir-fry (yes, I know BBQ sauce is practically just sugar…that’s why it tastes so good).

I literally put the entire half a chicken in there and it was massive. I was fairly full!

I used the Cumberland sausage to do something similar but this time used balsamic vinegar and some herbs to flavour it and included some roasted butternut squash and chickpeas.

This was so good! Definitely need to repeat it. At the weekends at the moment I tend to be eating rather random meals as I’m slowly eating my way through the freezer ready for the move (still no date). This also means the hardship of eating all the cake in there too. *Sighs* it’s tough.

Rant: I’m an animal lover through and through but I will always prefer dogs to cats. Sorry but it’s true. I’m sure if I ever owned a cat I would feel differently (though from speaking to other cat owners, you never really “own” a cat…). I own a dog though and I’m pretty sure he would not be happy knowing what was happening right outside his front door.

The absolute audacity of this cat. And when I (gently) shooed it along before opening the door, it sloped off slowly with an indignant air. When I later walked Alfie it was still within proximity to the door and Alfie attempted to do the Big Dog thing of barking at it but then, when the cat simply glowered back, Alfie quickly backed off into the road. *Sighs* My little hero.

Rave: Ahh watermelon. How I adore you.

Such a refreshing and tasty snack. And you can eat so much without filling up as it’s practically water! And it’s so good for you with it’s great anti-inflammatory and antioxidant support.

Rant: I wore a dress to work yesterday. Big mistake.

Bargain dress from H&M; cardigan from New Look; belt not sure

My bare legs were rather chilly. But I refuse to accept that summer is over. I realise I can’t stay in denial forever but it’s August.

And finally this really made me laugh:

Quite amusing! I relate most to Belle I think in terms of nerdiness and book-reading. And I did used to have a boyfriend at college that my friends weren’t keen on – though I wouldn’t have called him at beast!

What Disney character do you most relate to? I think we all knew a Jasmine at school!

What’s your favourite summer food?

Do your parents give you food parcels? One birthday when I was at university my parents surprised me with a hamper of goodies, like sweets, beauty products, chewing gum, magazines and food. It was one of the best presents I’ve had, so random but so useful and appreciated.

June 4, 2015September 18, 2020

Portlebay Popcorn

It’s no secret that I’m a bit of a popcorn addict. I pop my own salt and pepper popcorn and have as part of my lunch every day at work. My office initially thought I was bonkers but now they’ve come to accept my weird little obsession.

Along with my more simple popcorn, I love trying the different flavours that have come out as well. There’s definitely been an explosion of popcorn in the past few years. No longer is it just the butter and sugar drenched stuff you buy to pop yourself and eat at home while watching a film or buy jumbo buckets of at the cinema. Recent flavours out there have also fully embraced the salty sweet flavour combo that is in full force at the moment too. It’s a match made in heaven in my eyes!

Portlebay Popcorn do a range of popcorn flavours called Kracklecorn which is “hand popped” in Devon.

Kracklecorn is where they’ve added raw cane sugar as the grains are popping which makes the popcorn more brittle and crunchy. They sent me a fabulous selection of popcorn flavours to test out and review. Honestly, I was blown away by the variety they had!

I’ve previously tried the Crispy Bacon and Maple Syrup flavour and adored it so I knew that flavour would be fine. But Lemon Sherbet? Very Berry? That sounds mental! The three new flavours that Portlebay have released are Very Berry, Cinnamon Swirl and Lemon Sherbet.

The Lemon Sherbet flavour was fairly subtle – don’t expect to get your head blown off. But it did have that tangy lemonness and fizziness you’d expect from the original sweet and it went so well with the popcorn. It tasted delicious!. It was my second favourite flavour (the maple bacon still has my heart).

The Very Berry flavour was equally as subtle and extremely tasty. There were hints of berry-ness without it being overwhelming.

The Cinnamon Swirl I was initially not sure about. It tasted very “American” if you know what I mean. It smelt quite synthetic. Cinnamon isn’t a huge flavour in the UK (unless it’s Christmas), unlike the US, and it reminded me of the sweet cinnamon things you can easily eat over there but not so much here. After a few bits I decided I did like it. Again, subtle flavours.

The one flavour I wasn’t sure about was the Smoked Cheddar. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t awful but it was just odd. It had a cheesy flavour but was still slightly sweet. I don’t think I’d have this flavour again, but I wouldn’t throw it back at someone if they offered me some!

I won’t go into the nutritional details for all the popcorn but I’ll give you an example.

Cinnamon Swirl (per 25g)

Calories: 111 calories
Protein: 1.3g
Fat: 4g
Of which saturates: 0.3g
Carbohydrate: 16.2g
Of which sugars: 7g
Fibre: 2.7g
Salt: 0.1g

The range of calories per bag for the flavours is around 110-115 calories, so less than a packet of crisps and nice and filling with the fibre. The ingredients lists are also fairly clean without any nasty, strange sounding chemicals. They’re not vegan (they contain lactose) but they are gluten free.

By far Portlebay are the best range of popcorn I’ve had. The crunchiness of the actual popcorn gives a nice eating experience (does that make sense?) and the flavours are really good. Big thumbs up from this popcorn addict! I just cannot buy bigger bags though as I won’t stop eating.

What’s your favourite popcorn flavour?

What do you snack on when you’ve got the munchies?

What’s the weirdest flavour you’ve tried (of anything!)?

***Full Disclosure: I was sent the popcorn for free to review. All opinions are my own honest ones.***