Running - AnnaTheApple

March 13, 2013

Old favourites

I know I begin pretty much every post talking about the weather but I’m British and it’s our small talk, what can I say. It is cold. Windy, freezing. Snowing (well, a slight smattering). This is not spring behaviour.

It is, however, What I ate Wednesday. Hurrah midweek already.

Thanks Jenn.

I have to say this week has been fairly quiet. Nothing exciting has occurred. Though I’ve found a programme on TV that I’m now inexplicably hooked on. 16 and Pregnant. It’s car crash telly. I only put it on when Ben was away so I could have some background noise while I chilled in the evening reading blogs and surfing the Internet. But I got drawn in and absorbed. It’s gripping. No judgement please

Breakfast this week has been the obvious. Oatmeal, almond milk, done.

Breakfast is one of my favourite times in the day. I eat it with my book. Currently I’m reading the Eragon series…yes I know, I’m a geek. I’m a very eclectic reader; I don‘t have a particular genre that I go for. I just read a blurb and if I like it I go for it. I read Michael Crichton, to James Patterson, to chic flics, to historical fiction, to classics, to non-fiction. Anything goes as long as it’s interesting. As soon as I finish one I’m on to the next.

I’m not a big talker in the morning so this time to myself munching and reading is bliss. Ben gets the Death Stare if he interrupts. And Alfie too.

I can’t say that lunch has been any more exciting than usual unfortunately. I’ve been loving my sandwiches. No more ravishing hunger towards the end of a working day.

Turkey and cream cheese sandwich with lettuce

And of course my side salad.

Lettuce, beets, random veggies (carrots, peas, broccoli and cauliflower)

After this I have a fruit salad (chopped melon, grapes, orange segments and peach).

Throughout the day I have a few snacks and drinks to keep me ticking over. Usually this is chopped carrots, a banana and an apple. Drinks are black coffees (usually one in the morning, one in the afternoon) and ~~hundreds~~ a few herbal teas.

Last night I had one of my favourite dinners. This is the main reason I stocked up on tinned pumpkin. I love this meal.

Chicken with pumpkin and cream cheese sauce

I made this ages ago and was desperate to recreate it but didn’t have any pumpkin. Unfortunately I didn’t have any tinned pineapple but it was still so good. Plate licking good.

Then my usual chopped apples. Nothing beats chopped apple as a pudding. OK obviously a lot of things beat chopped apples as a pudding (brownies, cookies, cake, ice cream, chocolate…). Nothing beats chopped apple as an everyday-eat-it-all-the-time-run-of-the-mill-working-week-healthy pudding.

And in the evening some Snack a Jacks and a hot chocolate. And maybe some Lindt chocolate…gotta get those important antioxidants from somewhere after all!

On Friday night I finally made something I’d been meaning to make for ages. Moussaka. As you might know, I’m not a big pasta fan. And big sheets of pasta do nothing for me. So I made a pasta-less (paleo/primal??) moussaka. The terminology escapes me.

Not the greatest picture I grant you (am I always saying this?? Whoops #mustdobetter)

I followed THIS recipe, though I omitted the kale and fill as I didn’t have any and I used beef mince as I prefer it to lamb.

Basically it uses aubergine/eggplant instead of the pasta. It made three good servings (one which is currently awaiting my consumption tonight). I know the recipe says 4-6 servings but it clearly hasn’t made the Anna Adjustment whereby I am a ~~greedy~~ hungry hector and require a lot of food.

Does anyone else find that recipes say a certain number of servings and then when you make it you’re like “OK that would serve a child”, or is that just me…?

Regardless, this was a good, hearty meal. But I will warn you, it took quite a while to make. What with salting a load of sliced aubergine, rinsing, frying, then making the filling, then making the topping. It’s not an easy mid-week meal. Fiddly and lengthy. But tasty.

In terms of my running…It is getting closer to the half marathon. I was frustrated to find on my five mile run Monday morning that I had a pain in my Achilles on the last mile. I thought I had gotten over this. However, I sensibly took the next day off of running and I’m taking it very easy for the rest of the week (probably two easy 3 mile runs). And I have my last session with the phsyio on Friday where she’s going to give me a good sports massage which she claims will give me wings for the race, or at least make me feel fresh. Here’s hoping.

What are your old favourites that you keep going back to in terms of meals/snacks?

What trashy TV can’t you give up? I’m all over any reality TV. Kardashians, Made in Chelsea, The Hills, Real Housewives…I draw the line at Big Brother though.

What’s your favourite book genre? Or do you read anything and everything?

March 11, 2013

Mother’s Day and Cake

Hello! Hope you had a great weekend. We had a day of beautiful weather and then a day of freezing temperatures. But it was a really good weekend nonetheless.

On Saturday I ran my last long run before the half marathon next Sunday. It was a good run helped by the fact that it was a beautifully mild day and I went down a route that I really love. Isn’t that weird when you have a route that you get good vibes from? There are definitely certain routes I avoid purely because I don’t get good feelings about.

I like routes that head back home sooner in the run even though they might loop about before I’m actually home. It just psychologically feels like the run is almost at the end, you know?

Then after the run, I showered and had breakfast (usual oatmeal) and did some housework. Then I dared to enter ~~the jaws of hell~~ Marks and Spencer’s. On a Saturday. The day before Mother’s Day. Am I crazy??? And yes, it was MANIC. Dad’s and their kids racing about trying to get presents and flowers everywhere.

OK it doesn’t look so bad in the photo, but literally it was heaving.

I was only in there (thankfully) to pick up some nice flowers as I had everything else I needed for the mums. I wanted the flowers to be fresh for the next day, hence why I dared to go to M&S the day before.

Then I ~~escaped~~ got home and did some housework and had some lunch with Ben. I had my favourite butternut squash soup again.

I’m just so addicted at the moment. I should make big batches of it but I can never be bothered and I know I’d probably eat stupid amounts in one sitting that way rather than putting it in the freezer…Plus I quite enjoy making the soup rather than defrosting it and reheating, you know?

After lunch and walking Alfie, we finally got our act together and saw our wedding photographer to get our photos. How terrible is that considering we got married last September?? Oh well! I might upload some of the photos on the blog as a little memoir to wedding…watch this space.

And because we don’t have a Waitrose near where we live I forced Ben to go to the Waitrose near the photographer’s office so I could stock up on tinned pumpkin. Waitrose is the only place I’ve found stocks it!

I restrained myself in to buying only four. The lady behind the till thought I was mad. Hey, I don’t care!

Then we got ready to take both the mums for a nice meal out. We went to a lovely little pub/restaurant near us called the Jolly Sailor.

We chauffeured the mums so they could drink and relax.

It’s so lovely because Ben’s mum and my mum are friends and go out together anyway so it wasn’t odd having them both there for a Mother’s Day meal. it was just nice to spend the quality time with both of them simultaneously.

Both Ben and me get on really well with our own mum’s and mother-in-laws so it was such a good night out. We are so lucky to have such lovely family surrounding us!

For starters Ben and me went for a sharing platter. Well, what happened was I saw a vegetarian sharing platter that literally had everything I could dream on it and I really wanted to try it but Ben was convinced it wouldn’t come with bread and didn’t want to be overcome by so much veggie-ness so wanted to order a bread basket with it to ‘balance it out’. Fair enough. Until we saw this beast arrive:

Enough to feed an army! There were different cheeses, a falafel, a potato cake thing, hummus, guacamole, grilled vegetables, tzatziki, cauliflower salad, regular salad…and bread. And then our bread basket. Whoops.

Needless to say we were quite full after this. However, on days where I run a long run I’m always more hungry that normal (obviously, I guess) so this was a welcome dinner I have to say!

For my main I went for poussin and fries. This is an unusual choice for me as I’m not a big ‘fries’ fan. I prefer chunky chips or sweet potato fries

But you know what, this pretty much hit the spot. The fries with ketchup went down like a treat. Really yummy and exactly what I was craving. And I might have helped out Ben with his fries too. Hey, I need the carbs what can I say!

No pudding as seriously, no room at the inn. Such a good evening with the mums. I hope they enjoyed it; they definitely deserved to be treated. Speaking for myself, I am so grateful to my mum and everything she’s done for me. She’s a hardworking lady and juggled a lot of things when my sister and I were growing up to make sure we had happy, healthy childhoods so I’m very thankful for that. And I know Ben appreciates his mum just as much. Like I said, we’re both extremely lucky.

On Sunday I didn’t do a whole lot if I’m honest. My mum and dad popped round in the morning and we had coffee and I gave my mum her flowers and card. Once again, a lovely time with my family. Then in the afternoon, Ben’s mum dropped round with a little, delayed surprise for Ben… His birthday cake! As a surprise Ben’s mum and me decided to treat him to an amazing birthday cake from the same lady that made our wedding cake and Ben’s mum’s birthday cake.

It has a little Xbox on it!

How cool is that? Ben loves playing on his Xbox so this seemed like the perfect thing to put on the cake. He was very chuffed.

And it tasted so good

Lemon sponge and buttercream…ahh heaven.

Ben’s mum had to take quite a bit of the cake home with her to put in her freezer unfortunately as our freezer is just bursting with cake (as I might have mentioned before). There’s no way we could eat it all before it goes stale – I mean it’s a BEAST.

So lots of good food, great family time, and cake. That my friends is a damn good weekend in my books.

What did you do this weekend?

If you’re from the UK, what did you do for Mother’s Day?

If you could have any cake in the world for your birthday, what flavour would it be? I think mine would be fruit cake with marzipan and royal icing…or maybe just regular birthday cake style with jam and buttercream…

March 8, 2013

Half Marathon Training Re-cap

Yesterday I was literally cold all day. ALL DAY sat in my office cold – huddled over my laptop hoping to absorb some of its heat. This is because I work with ~~evil people~~ men who never feel the cold. Men with thick skin and beards. OK only one has a beard, but that’s not the point. It might look a bit warmer and sunnier outside but it is still March and it is still Britain. The air con does not need to go into artic mode.

To rectify this (or at least try and get a bit warmer) I was drinking herbal tea like it was going out of fashion. God forbid I touch the air con to make it warmer. I get the Death Stare from like 10 men if I dare.

So I wanted to do a recap of my half-marathon training as it is now almost one week until race day. I feel confident and ready for it, but I am nervous. Nervous in a good, excited way though.

When I first signed up for the half-marathon it was quite scary. I think the longest run I’d ever done was 9 miles once. I rarely ran longer than 4 miles regularly as I’d been focusing on my strength training and just generally trying to keep to shorter sharper runs with intervals.

**I just want to add: I am no expert and this is what worked well for me. I do hope it helps people but please don’t think I’m dictating that this is the best and only plan. There’s probably a million better ways to train than this!**

With my training I vaguely following THIS plan:

I think with all training plans you align them to what you can realistic achieve in a standard week and what works best for you. Straight away I changed the timings to be miles. So for a 40min run I’d see that as (at first) being about 4 miles and then later 5 miles. I prefer to hit miles rather than times and see how I improve through the weeks with beating previous run’s times.

I also found that I usually wanted to run more than 4 times a week so I added in another run. I think if I was to sum up what my usual week looked like it would be pretty much what I did this week:

Monday – 6 mile tempo run

Tuesday – 4 mile interval run

Wednesday – rest

Thursday – another 6 mile tempo run

Friday – 3 mile easy run

Saturday – 9 mile long run

At the beginning of my training, my tempo runs were shorter. A tempo run is basically maintaining a hard but controlled pace over a length of time. It’s not going max out but maintaining a pace which is tricky and gets you breathing hard. To begin with I could only run for a short period of time at that pace. As the weeks went on I increased the length of these runs and how long I could hold a hard pace became longer. Also the hard pace at the beginning of my training became less hard, and so my pace started getting quicker.

These are my times from Monday’s 6 mile tempo run:

I tried to maintain a difficult pace (for me this is 7.30-7.45mins/mile) for at least 4 miles of the run. On the last mile I started slowing at the end as it just got too difficult to maintain and I didn’t want to rinse myself completely.

These runs generally were the runs I least enjoyed. They were hard and mentally tough to keep going. But I know that by doing these sorts of runs now means that my race pace (just under 8mins/mile) will feel easier.

I tried to do at least one interval run a week to purely work on speed. This is basically running max effort for a set time and distance (typically 400m/0.2miles). I’d run max out for a distance (at first it was barely the distance between lampposts) and then slow right down to a nice and easy pace. At the beginning I couldn’t do an interval run longer than 2 miles. It was just too hard. As I continued though the interval distances became longer, my actual pace became faster and I could maintain a longer run with these intervals. Here is my 4 mile interval run from Tuesday:

It doesn’t look too different from the tempo run but remember these are averages. I ran flat out for around 0.2 miles at I’m guessing around 6.30min/mile, and then slowed right down again. And then repeated. I don’t use a heart monitor but the idea behind intervals is to get your heart rate up, and then down again.

These runs have been the best for increasing my speed.

I don’t think it’s necessary to have an easy run in your plan, but most weeks I had one. You could always do some other non-running work out or just take a rest day. For me, I love running and mentally I needed a run where I literally didn’t have to worry about the pace or times. I didn’t want every run to have to mean something. I certainly didn’t want running to be hard all the time. So my easy runs were just nice and simple running at a pace I was comfortable at. Today that was between 8mins and 8.30mins a mile for 3 miles.

The most important run of the week though is the long run. This is the one run you don’t skip. Before starting bigger distances (for me this was 8 miles plus) I was really worried about them. But after doing a few of them I started to find that these were my favourite runs. I always did them at the weekend after a good night’s sleep. I set my alarm for early-ish (weekend early, hello 8am) and it was a brilliant start to the weekend.

The long runs have been where I’ve had to learn the most. Most important advice (which I am still trying to learn): start slowly. You’ve got a long way to go and though it feels good at the beginning, that pace is not going to feel as good in 5-6 miles time. But importantly, just enjoy that run. Take it slowly, this isn’t where you need to prove your speed. This is where mentally and physically you need to get used to running for such a long time.

One of my friends asked me when I told her how long it took to run 12 miles: what do you think about for that long? Honestly, no idea. I let my mind wander: I plan things for the day or the next week, I work out what I’m having for lunch, I listen to a podcast, or I just take in the surroundings. It’s perfect ‘me’ time.

So tomorrow I have my last long run before the actual race. Though the plan says 6 miles race pace I’d rather do a longer run (9 miles) but slower. I don’t want to burn out because I know what I’m like. Also, I love my long runs!

And next week is tapering. No craziness. A shorter tempo at the beginning of the week, a short interval and then two easy runs.

I hope that was helpful for anyone training or just running in general. I stress again that this is what worked for me. I’m not saying that any other way of doing it is wrong. But I’ve honestly loved my training and I wanted to share my experience. It’s been hard as hell don’t get me wrong but these past weeks have improved my running hugely.

If you have any questions, let me know!

Or if you have a different way or doing things, please share them.

Or any running advice in general is always welcome.

March 1, 2013

Friday’s Randomocities

It’s Fridaaaaaaay. This week went by stupidly fast. I vividly remember those feelings of post-weekend blues and suddenly we’re back round again. I’m not sure this is a good thing to be rushing through life so quickly…But who cares because it’s Fridaaaaay!

I’m afraid this post is going to be a collection of randomocities. Not a word? Don’t care.

Randomocity #1: I work in a shared office block so there are other companies sharing the building. So there’s a lot of people I don’t know floating about the place (and stealing my mug, AGAIN). However, I know for a fact that someone famous has a sibling who works in one of the offices [I won’t reveal the famous person as I don’t think that’s fair on them]. Anyway, I went to get a drink and that person (not the famous person, the sibling) was there and they were talking to someone else and they mentioned their famous-sibling’s name. Does it make me a bad person that I took ~~a lot~~ longer at making my drink purely to hear this unadulterated bit of gossip? OK, it wasn’t actually that good but it was quite nice to hear about a famous person spoken in such a way that only a family-member could speak about them. Sorry that’s vague. Imagine: “Oh Brad now lives there with Angie” kind thing.

Randomocity #2: Do you have a person at work who is just annoying to everyone? So annoying it’s awkward. They don’t realise no one cares about their ‘ever so fascinating life’ and they do that lingering thing where they expect you to comment and acquiesce on their amazingness. Then you do that nodding thing while smiling and there’s an awkward silence and they’re STILL stood there.

Randomocity #3: I love to listen to depressing music sometimes just because sometimes it’s nice to feel a bit melodramatically sad. Lana Del Ray, Damien Rice…all good sources for melodrama. I think this also goes hand-in-hand with watching films that you know make you cry: City of Angels (all she did was go and buy pears…*sobs*) and Time Traveller’s Wife are perfect examples for me.

Randomocity #4: I am excited about the next three consecutive meals. Dinner tonight is meatballs. Breakfast tomorrow is oatmeal (OK I am always excited about this). And tomorrow’s lunch is Nando’s with friends. I love me some chicken!

Randomocity #5: My oatmeal sludge (aka savoury oatmeal) looks ~~a lot~~ better in a bowl.

Randomocity #6: Today I had an appointment with a physiotherapist as my knee has been painful while running. I find it amazing that she looks at the bottom of my running shoes and can judge how I run by the wear on the bottom. In my eyes it’s like reading tea leaves! I am always so impressed about how good these people are at diagnosing things. Thankfully she said it wasn’t serious, gave me a sports massage (so painful but so good) and has given me some exercises to do (apparently I have a very tight quad). And I can still run! Woohoo. Just no more stupid running.

Tonight Ben and me are looking forward to an evening of yummy meat balls and we’ve also bought some Ben and Jerry’s for an ice cream and movie night. The film of choice is Looper. The ‘ice cream’ is the Frozen Yogurt Chocolate Brownie – my absolute favourite. Ben has gone for the Vermonster – yeah like we were going to share!!

What are your plans for this weekend?

What’s your favourite Ben and Jerry’s?

Have you got a randomocity you wish to share?

February 27, 2013

A Little Change – WIAW

Hi guys, hope you’re all well. As usual, it’s What I Ate Wednesday. Check out Jenn’s blog to get involved or peruse other people’s exciting eats. I can’t promise mine will rock your world, but I certainly enjoyed them

The theme is to get your veggies in and, to be honest, I never really have a problem with this. I’m a big vegetable fan (not you though, celery, you can stay back). Usually every evening meal is accompanied by a big serving of veg. Ben used to be shocked, but now he just expects it.

Breakfast is where I draw the line with veggies though. I just have my bog standard bowl of oats with almond milk, zapped up in a delightfully stodgy heap of deliciousness.

Are you surprised? I literally don’t change. I literally haven’t changed this for about 8 years. I think I just like how simple it is to make, how filling it is and how much I love eating it. Why would I change?

Lunch has been a different affair at work recently. Last week I had my usual monster tuna salad, Babybel and yogurt with fruit at work. It’s easier to throw together and I like it.

However, I’ve been finding that I hit the afternoon and find myself feeling FAMISHED. I tend to have a banana and apple to bridge the gap between lunch and dinner and that used to be fine, but recently this hasn’t worked. I would drive home feeling not so great and in need of food. LIKE NOW.

I’m thinking it’s because I’m running more. I never used to run 5 times a week and never the mileage I’m doing now. Because I’ve crept the mileage up quite gently I haven’t really thought about increasing my food as well. Typing this now actually makes me feel stupid. It’s another “well duh Anna” moment.

Now you might have noticed, I’m not a huge carb lover. You can take your bread, your pasta, your rice…I’d much rather have protein or fat. Salads piled high with veg, cheese and chicken. Roasted vegetables with melted cheese. Chicken stews with a side portion of veg.

However, this isn’t working for me right now.

It’s annoying because I like what I eat. I don’t want to change, but let’s be sensible here. So for lunch at work I’ve swapped the tuna salad for a turkey bacon and cream cheese sandwich…

…With a side portion of salad. I can change some things but not all! I also had fruit with Alpro soya yogurt and frozen fruit salad (that had nicely defrosted by lunch). This has definitely made me feel a bit better. I also adore the combination of bacon with cream cheese.

Then for dinner I tried something crazy (in Ben’s eyes). I attempted…savoury oatmeal. I was dubious going into this if I’m honest. I mean, I eat porridge every single morning and suddenly having it with chicken and vegetables. Well, that’s just weird…or is it?

Yeah OK it doesn’t look great, does it? It looks pretty much like sludge. But! It tasted so good. It didn’t remind me of breakfast at all. It was just a completely different meal.

I based it on THIS recipe but added a few bits and pieces to make it a bit more filling for my new found hunger.

Chicken Savoury Oatmeal (aka Sludge for Dinner) (serves 1)

1/2 cup (40g) quick-cook oats
Garlic clove, diced
1/2 onion, diced
2 small mushrooms, chopped
1/4 zucchini, chopped
1 chicken breast, cut into chunks
350ml (1 & 2/3 cup) chicken stock
1tbs nutritional yeast

– Fry onions in a little oil for 5 minutes, then add garlic for a minute.

– Add chicken, mushrooms and zucchini and fry until chicken is cooked.

– While this is happening, cook the oats on the hob with the stock. Add more water if it looks too thick.

– Then combine all the ingredients together and add the nutritional yeast. Then serve when at the consistency you want.

Yep, still sludge. But it tasted so good and was so filling.

Another meal I really enjoyed was Monday night. We had a lentil meal which we both loved (BBC Good Food recipe: Middle Eastern Chicken and Apricot Stew).

Very simple to make and really flavoursome.

So, more carbs I hope you noticed. OK I didn’t go crazy – I didn’t chomp my way through a full-sized French baguette obviously. But I’ve been adding bits and pieces and adopting this pattern now throughout the week and my energy levels are so much better. I’m not a horrific beast when I get in after work (can you hear that sigh of relief from Ben??) Small changes!

Have you found that you needed to change what you were eating to compensate an increase in exercise?

What’s your favourite carb?

Have a great Wednesday!