Running - AnnaTheApple

March 30, 2015

Almost there…!

I can’t believe I’ve done 49 parkruns! Next week is my 50th, whoop whoop! If you’re not well acquainted with parkrun check out the website for more info – it’s a free 5k event every Saturday all around the UK, and indeed the world. And getting to 50 parkruns is a milestone achievement. They even send you a parkrun T-shirt with ‘50’ printed on the back. The next milestone is 100 which is just amazing (I think you then get a jacket).

When I woke up on Saturday to go to parkrun I was disappointed with the weather: cold and wet. I wasn’t really feeling it like I was last weekend so I thought I might just plod round. Surprisingly though after I warmed up I felt more alive and ready to go. Even more surprisingly I was only two seconds slower than last week: 21:07.

What was lovely to see as well was a younger guy, Robson, from our running club getting a PB. He’s literally on fire smashing every PB in sight. It’s phenomenal the improvements he’s made since last year. To put it into perspective, a bunch of us from the club had helped pace him last year on parkrun. Now he’s blowing everyone out of the water – minutes ahead in his half marathon and 10k times (times I dream of!). What’s really lovely is he’s such a nice person with a big heart so he truly deserves it. Couldn’t happen to a nicer chap.

I caught up with some friends later for a good old chinwag and then headed to my parents to, er, maybe have another Indian takeaway (bit déjà vu to last week I’m afraid). It was lovely though, even if I did have to suffer through The Voice again…damn that Rita Ora making me like her. 😉 And seriously, what is Will I am on?! He’s mental!

The next morning I woke up and walked Alfie. The weather was awful. The wind was just incredible and it was cold and wet. I did not foresee a pleasant run! I had 13 miles planned and I almost backed out as a lot of it was along the sea front. I knew I’d regret it all day though if I didn’t so I put on my capris (not shorts, ohhh no!) and my windproof jacket and got out there.

I had big plans of sticking to a strict 8.15-20min/mile pace but as I set off I just knew this would be impossible. When the wind blew behind me I sailed along effortlessly, but then when it blew at me it was like running through treacle. So I just did what I could without pushing too hard.

Because I had eaten a lot of salty tandoori chicken the night before I had been thirsty all night, meaning I drank an entire pint of water and then more in the morning. Unfortunately this resulted in my needing a pee stop two miles in. Luckily along the beach there were public toilets that were open so I was OK (despite it requiring a huge amount of force to open the damn door because of the wind).

My pace is all over the place purely because of the wind. It was definitely a tough run and I felt exhausted at the end. But I felt strong at the same time and let my mind just float away listening to a podcast, leaving me mentally refreshed and free. My hair though is another story; windswept doesn’t quite cover it.

Because I hadn’t eaten breakfast before I went (I never really do before a long run) and it was almost 11am by the time I got home I realised I needed to be sensible. For lunch we were going to head to Jamie’s Italian and the table was booked for 1.30pm and I knew I couldn’t eat breakfast straight away as I never can straight after a run. So I decided to have a shower and get ready and then have a smoothie to tide me over until lunch, rather than fill up on breakfast and not fancy lunch. I never have smoothies but as my parents have a Nutrbullet and have been spouting the wonders of it to me I was tempted.

Unfortunate placement of daffodils there…

In the mix were strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries, with almond milk, natural yogurt, a whole lot of kale and that Nutriblast Superboost stuff in the photo (it’s a blend of cacao, macha, goji and hemp).

It wasn’t overly sweet but it was tasty and it definitely filled a hole until I got something proper. My dad was chuffed as he got a glassful as well. I love that my parents drink smoothies! It makes me proud 😉

Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth was unbelievably windy but ducking into shops helped! Then we got to Jamie’s Italian ready for lunch. And I was definitely ready for food!

Yes I know I have a slight obsession with this restaurant (I can’t count how many times I’ve been there) but I just love it. And as a tip if you’re a fellow lover, get a Gold Card. It costs nothing (just register on the website) because you get lots of freebies when you show them your card before you order. Over the years I’ve had £10 off meals, free drinks, a free side, free little appetisers to try – it’s so worth it!

This time we had a free tester of a risotto meal.

It was only a very small portion (on a saucer really) but it’s lovely to have a taste of something random. It was so tasty and rich – though I’m not sure I could have had a full meal of it.

For main…oh I know I’m so predictable. But this is literally one of my favourite meals in the whole world (aside from ribs obviously). I don’t even know why! I just love the Turkey Milanese.

It’s such a huge portion that I need nothing else with it. Though we did get a free side of polenta chips as part of being a Gold member so a couple of those helped 😉 And it tasted just as good as usual (well, better as 13 miles really heightens the taste of everything!)

And for pudding I had the Epic Brownie.

A delicious warm brownie with caramelised popcorn and vanilla ice cream. Heavenly. I was beyond stuffed, but so very satisfied.

A bit more shopping commenced (hello Nike shop – outlet prices with a 30% off on women’s clothes!) and then time for home. I gave Alfie a walk (to also help with digestion…) and then plonked myself on my sofa and watched Masterchef (love that programme) and some horrific show called Rich Kids of Beverley Hills. Car crash telly but for my tired body and brain it was all I needed! 😉

How was your weekend?

What’s your TV guilty pleasure?

Are you a smoothie fan? I’m pretty sure I’m in the minority with not being that big a smoothie fan, but I did enjoy it on Saturday so who knows!

March 26, 2015March 30, 2017

Finding the small things

I don’t know about you but when I get stressed, or angry, or sad sometimes I can find myself wallowing in the emotion. This isn’t good to do for long periods of time obviously. It’s not good for your mind, your health or you spirit.

Pardon my French, but when the shit hits the fan I just want to run away and hide. I want to moan, cry and beat my fists: “why me?”. But what good does this do really? OK sometimes it’s very cathartic and I’m not saying to have a good cry is wrong from time to time. But you still have your life to live and things to get done. So when I’m feeling this way I try and find stuff to keep me smiling and make me happy.

As I’ve mentioned before, I love reading. I’m a self-confessed book worm and I am not ashamed! After the very sad death of Terry Pratchett I realised I hadn’t actually read many of his books (possibly just one, The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents which was one of his younger books). My dad is a huge Terry Pratchett fan so I asked his advice about where to start because the Discworld (where most of the books are set) is massive. I was slightly dubious as I’m not that into fantasy but I thought I’d give it a crack. My dad leant me Going Postal and I’m hooked.

Source

It’s exactly what I need right now – a story about a world far enough from reality that I can forget any problems I have and just sink into the story. For me reading is a brilliant escape and perfect to help you relax just before you go to bed (that terrible time when the demons always appear).

And in daily life seeing the hints of spring always makes me feel good. Knowing that better weather is round the corner, lighter evenings, lighter mornings and wearing less layers.

Let’s not think about losing an hour this weekend though! Meaning my 5am gym wake-ups might feel like 4am for a bit. Dear lord.

And spring time means my motivation to walk Alfie is far higher. It’s no longer a trudge through the cold, but sometimes the sun is shining and it’s just perfect. I know I keep going on about them, but the Jabra ear buds are also making walks with Alfie easier.

Having a dog lead and ear phone cables to contend with makes things a bit stressful and occasionally I’ll accidentally catch the cable and yank one from my ear, which is always painful. But as the Jabra ones are wireless it means just one thing to contend with – Alfie…who’s hard enough on his own with chasing birds and pooing in bushes!

Obviously running makes me happy and is a fabulous escape and refresher of the mind. I’ve been running the same very hilly 10k(ish) route every week around Basingstoke where I work before I go home on a Wednesday night. Strava is brilliant because it let’s me compare runs when I do the same route. I’ve now done this route five times and so far I’ve just kept improving slightly.

To be honest though I don’t think I can continue this trend. It is a hard run and I’m not sure how much faster I can do it. But it’s not necessarily just about the speed for the run – it’s about those horrific hills and the strength I’m hoping I’m building up in my legs.

There’s no point just running easy flat routes all the time. Make your training hard to make racing easy is my plan. Though always remember to make it easy when your body tells you to – we’re not superheroes!

As I run from work on a Wednesday night it means I’m not going to get dinner until I get home. So by the time I’m home and dinner is prepared it can be at least an hour and a half later. I do need something to refuel me to make the next day not feel like hell. The people from Upbeat sent me some protein smoothies to review for my blog.

So I’ve been taking them to work and having them post-run on a Wednesday night when I drive back home. Luckily we have a fridge at work so I just grab it as soon as I’ve finished my run and drink while I do some stretching in the mini work gym.

Post run stretch and refuel

Upbeat drinks are dairy protein drinks. They’re high in protein (20g per bottle – and this comes from whey protein from the milk), low in fat and relatively lower in sugar than most smoothies. Each bottle also has less than 150 calories. The available flavours are Strawberry, Blueberry & Raspberry and Mango & Passion Fruit. The ingredients list reads very nicely without any crazy artificial flavourings or chemicals.

My thoughts? I actually really enjoyed these, which I was surprised about as I thought “ooh whey protein and a smoothie? Hmm”. The consistency was fairly thick (like a smoothie) but lovely and, well, smooth. I definitely felt like I was being filled up when I drank it. It didn’t feel like “empty calories”. I never want actual food straight after a run but the length of time between running and dinner is too long to not have something and this fits the bill perfectly.

They also sent me a lovely material bag for life and notepad as well, which just made me smile. Maybe I’m not feeling that upbeat right now, but it helps to have a reminder to at least try!

And if all else fails, just have a bit of what you fancy. I don’t believe you should eat for your moods all the time but I do believe sometimes you just bloody well need chocolate.

How good does that sound?? Salted fudge! It’s currently sat in my fridge just waiting…I’ll crack into it soon (no pun intended…) but just knowing it’s there like an old friend ready to help me when I most need it is just wonderful.

How do you get yourself out of dark moods?

What is making you smile lately?

What is your perfect East egg?

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

March 23, 2015March 23, 2015

Running and cake

I know this is so damn clichéd and boring to start with but I don’t care – how amazing is the weather right now?? I’m not sure what it’s like elsewhere in the UK (or world in general I suppose) but in the South Coast of England it is SPRING. The weekend’s weather was beautiful. This is my favourite time of year – such hope of things to come and better days.

My weekend started with a fabulous parkrun at Netley Abbey. It was Netley’s third parkrun birthday so it was all very festive and fun with a Hawaiian fancy dress theme.

I was devastated when I couldn’t find my grass skirt – I love a good fancy dress run! I loved how everyone really got into the theme (though I failed miserably).

And it was lovely weather – a little chilly but beautifully sunny.

We were on the same course but a slight variation. Well, I say slight but really this meant instead of having to deal with six hills (two hills three times) we only had to deal with three hills (one hill three times). I decided to see what had to give on a less hilly course.

I wore my new Jabra Sport Rox ear buds on this run and though I do find them a bit fiddly to fit in my ear snugly (it takes a bit of patience, of which I’m not known for!) when they’re in they are IN. It is great to run without having a wire dangling about you and getting caught on your arms. The sound quality is amazing as well (they’re made with Dolby). I’ll do a thorough review of them soon.

Photo credit to Kookie51

I can’t believe how good I felt on this run. Yes it was tough in terms of keeping the legs and breathing going but I felt like I was gliding. I also only looked at my watch three times (once per bleep of the mile) – this is MASSIVE for me. Normally I watch my watch like a hawk. I clung on to a running club friend, Mark, who had overtaken me at the start and I vowed to keep in my sights.

Photo credit to Kookie51

On the last lap I managed to overtake him and speed off but I’d judged it badly and had kicked too soon as he pipped me at the finish when I had nothing left. I might have shouted some abuse at him as he sped past (all good natured of course) but he played it well so kudos to him!

I managed to get first lady (though a lot of people were saving their legs for the Eastleigh 10k the next day) and a time of 21:05 which is the fastest parkrun time since October 2013 according to the parkrun website. Jeeze somewhat depressing but also great to know I’m getting back on track. It’ll be interesting to see how I perform on a flatter parkrun.

After parkrun and usual housework duties, I headed off to my parents to spend some quality time with them. We had a lovely walk down the beach with their three dogs and my Alfie (madness, absolute madness walking four dogs) and enjoyed the fantastic weather.

Lee-On-Solent beach

We enjoyed a nice Indian take-away that evening and I even suffered through The Voice (*sighs*) though I did have my Runner’s World Magazine and my iPad!! I’m not sure I would have survived otherwise.

The next morning I got up and set off on my 12 mile run. I ran along the beach path which was wonderfully quiet with just the odd dog walker and fellow runner. My run just felt fantastic. My legs felt good and my pace felt easy. I’m getting highly confused with how I should be running these runs at the moment – terrified I’m dicing with potential injuries.

Average pace 7.52min/mile with a total time of 1:37:42. I attempted to slow down but when I looked at my watch later on the pace had crept up again. I’m just going with it. I won’t be able to sustain this pace for the longer runs so I might as well enjoy it now. I know this might sound ridiculously stupid but honestly that run felt brilliant and today I don’t feel ruined or exhausted. But I know my main issue is not keeping these runs slower.

After this I got home, stretched and foam rolled and had breakfast. A bit later on I went out with my mum and enjoyed a lovely walk, again down the beach. I feel so bad for my mum at the moment as she had such a painful back. She’s been seeing a physio and he’s had to refer her for an MRI as he thinks she has a bulging disc. She has such bad nerve pain all down her back, hip and leg. She finds sitting down for too long excruciating and has to take strong painkillers. It’s awful to see someone you love in so much pain, and you can’t do anything to help. As she said walking helps a bit, we walked down the beach and then cheered ourselves up with a lovely afternoon tea. Oh it’s been too long!!

The Tea Room in Lee

We umm’ed and arr’ed between the Victoria sponge and red velvet and in the end decided to go for the Victoria sponge. My mum went for a scone and slice of cake as she didn’t fancy the sandwiches but I went for the whole hog, so to speak.

And it was fabulous. The scones are so huge and tasty, they really are the best part I think (slathered in jam and cream). I had delicious chicken sandwiches as well.

Very scrumptious indeed.

So all in all: good running, good cake and lovely time with my family.

How was your weekend?

Have you ever had back pain?

Do you enjoy fancy dress’? Running or otherwise!

March 18, 2015March 30, 2017

Rants and Raves #11

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

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

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

Onto slightly more lights things…rants and raves.

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

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

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

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

Source

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What’s grinding your gears this week?

What’s making you happy?

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

March 12, 2015March 30, 2017

My baby T-Rex and fashionable fitness ##HHCatwalk

OK I know, I know, weather introductions are boring and samey – but seriously, yesterday I almost left my coat at home!! This makes me so happy!

I got to wear just a T-shirt and shorts for my run last night and even finished still in the light!

Post-run selfie

What also makes me happy is going out on a school night to go eat stupid amounts of ribs with friends. On Tuesday night we went to a place called Rancho Steak House in Southampton and it was amazing. The whole day I was hungry (in my head I ’m pretty sure) and just couldn’t wait to leave work and get there.

I already knew what I’d be having – especially as I found out that Tuesday night’s were unlimited rib night. Ben and me shared a plate of cheesy nachos to start. The service was dreadful which was such a let down and so our food took ages. This meant I was ravenous so those nachos went down quite nicely, despite their rather unappealing presentation.

You can barely see the nachos under the melted cheese – Ben was in heaven

For mains, I went for the £14.95 unlimited rib meal which came with a side salad and chips which I subbed for corn on the cob (because I’m obsessed and chips would have filled me up – stomach space was all for the ribs).

Smothered in a delicious costa picante glaze

I was in rib heaven. They weren’t the best ribs I’ve ever had but they were pretty good. It was also great to know that I could have more if I wanted…which I did.

Half way through this portion I should have stopped as I was full. But the glutton I am continued and I was uncomfortable by the end. No regrets though – I was fully satisfied. I honestly believe there’s a baby T-rex inside me trying to get out.

I’m also loving that my mum and dad are getting into the whole Hello Fresh scene. They signed up after I raved on about it.

My mum cooking one of the recipes the other night

It’s great because I can compare notes with them on how things went and what he liked or didn’t as we’ll get the same recipes each week (though they get theirs on Tuesdays whereas we get ours Thursdays).

I promise I will do a Hello Fresh post soon, I just have a bit of a backlog at the moment!

As you might know, I run three times a week and go to the gym four times a week. Three of those gym seshes are purely strength focused (deadlifts, single leg stuff, squats, box jumps, core work…etc.) but the other gym sesh is what I call my “good for the soul” cardio. I love the rowing machine (is that weird?). Not as much as running but I just love the rhythm of it and can let my mind wander.

It’s usually the time I catch up on MarathonTalk podcasts as well. Usually I’ll spend 45 minutes on it and just row however I feel. I’m no expert and have no real idea what speeds or distances are good, but I enjoy it and see it as a good way to help my fitness without adding in another running session (which I’m loathe to do right now considering I’m being all gradual in my build up and remaining injury-free).

Speaking of fitness…as I’ve mentioned a couple of times now, the guys at the The Running Bug sent me some really cool Helly Hansen running gear to try out and to help spread the word that working out and looking good does not have to be mutually exclusive.

Leggings and technical fitted T-shirt

As I’ve said so many times, I like looking good when I exercise. So kill me. It’s no different from deciding what to wear to work or what to wear when I go out with friends. I want to look nice. It makes me feel happy and confident. And those two things are so important for when you’re working out. Whatever gets you motivated, confident and in the zone is worth it to me.

The Helly Hansen gear is honestly amazing. The T-shirt (above) is nice and loose fitting. It’s quite thin and slightly see-through so a white sports bra is best. It’s a great top to run in!

The capri leggings fit like a glove. They’re a good thickness, they move with my body and don’t slip down or feel too tight. They’re also great in wet weather!

My only slight sadness is they don’t have a mini pocket for a key.

I also received a technical vest. I love that it has a hole at the back (though this does mean wise sport bra choices). And like the T-shirt it is also slightly see-through.

It’s a mesh material so cool, breathable and quick drying.

I was also sent a hoodie. It’s a strange material – kind of a thicker technical material and is very warm. So ideal for either a very cold run or for just after a race or parkrun.

Appalling posing faces sorry – it’s so very awkward

I love that it had the thumbholes and it also has a fitted waist bit so hugs you at the bottom keeping you warm and doesn’t ride up. My only issue is the head hole is quite small so when I have a pony tail it tends to snag it down when I put it on (#longhairproblems).

And finally, my absolute favourite item (no wait the leggings are my favourite…second favourite), the jacket!

I adore the colour and it goes nicely with the other bits as well. It was brilliant during a very wet and windy run the other week. It’s comfortable and water-proof. The hood was a bit annoying in the wind and there’re no pockets again, but this doesn’t detract my love for it.

Helly Hansen has a great range of funky running gear and fitness apparel. It is expensive, I won’t lie, but unlike some brands that you pay more for you get really good quality. I can see these items lasting me a very long time and they’re already some of the favourite fitness clothes I have.

Also just so you know, if you Tweet pictures of yourself in your favourite fitness gear (tagging @therunningbug and using #HHcatwalk) one lucky person will be selected to win a very exciting Helly Hansen prize!

[Full Disclosure: I was sent the Helly Hansen gear for free as part of the Running Bug’s fashion fitness campaign. All opinions are my own honest ones.]