AnnaTheApple - The life of a girl who loves apples and running

November 11, 2015November 11, 2015

Rants and Raves #23

Hello! It’s the middle of the week, hurrah! I’m working from home tomorrow so it kind of feels like Friday, but only in that I get a bit of a lie-in tomorrow rather than 5am for the gym. Woop! I’m seeing my Physio again tomorrow so I hope to have another post about my injury (oh the long-standing saga that it is, I’m sorry) another day. But for now, I’m ranting but mostly raving.

Rave: Workout clothes. I can’t stop buying them. It’s becoming an issue. To be fair though, other than food, I really don’t spend my money on much else. Forever21 is my go-to place for good quality and inexpensive gym clothes. Though I do like treating myself to Fabletics some months.

I bought the below ‘muscle tee’ from Forever21 which fits amazingly. It’s perfect for my strength workouts as my arms are nice and free and the side slits help keep me cool. It says ‘No Days Off’. Not true, but still cool.

I bought another muscle tee, a crop-top, a crop-top sports bra and two pairs of Nike Pro shorts (not from Forever21 but Zalando). ENOUGH NOW, ANNA.

Rant: Planning my weekends is so tricky at the moment. I still haven’t moved. My solicitors said it could be this week but then who knows. It depends on some enquiries… This is annoying as I’m meant to be seeing my uni friends in Cardiff this Saturday but now I don’t know if I can or not. In fact, we’ve had to rearrange the whole thing because I was going to give one of my friends a lift back and can’t guarantee it anymore. *Sighs*

I’m also just living out of boxes and reluctant to buy any sort of extra condiments or bulk purchases (which I like to do to with items I use regularly to save a bit of money).

I’m not using my downstairs toilet anymore because it’s a great place to put boxes (especially food items and crockery) so Alfie can’t get to them. As you can see, my Hello Fresh boxes are very handy!

And I have nowhere to work when I work from home as I sold pretty much all my furniture (I live life on a bean bag with a £5 Ikea side table). I’ve had to use my kitchen to work in. For my standing desk obsession it works quite nicely.

Rave: Speaking of Hello Fresh (yes, I know, I’m obsessed)… I finally received the hallowed Recipe Journal. My parents, who also still get Hello Fresh, have two! I introduced them to it first! Anyway, I have one now and it’s already almost full up.

It makes me really proud how may recipes I’ve done (I’ve had 23 boxes – each box contains three recipes). I love it! I eat so many different foods each week and it makes life so much easier cooking a meal and then having another portion of it for the next night.

A few weeks ago I had a lovely warming Mexican broth…

With a good dollop of soured cream. Yum.

If you fancy £25 off your first box I have a referral code ZVUM4A (which would also give me £12 off my next box). I’m not affiliated with Hello Fresh, I just love them.

Rave: I’ve recently bought some BCAA formula, AminoX, to help with me at the gym. It isn’t a stimulant but rather it’s designed to support my strength workouts and recovery. It contains essential amino acids, L-Alanine, Taurine and L-Citrulline.

You just mix one scoop with water and give it a mix. Don’t do what I do and shake it in a bottle vigorously as when you then go to open the lid, it explodes like a foamy volcano. Gentle stirring is required! I got the green apple flavour and it’s really yummy, though luminous green. I can’t say I feel a huge difference but I am lifting heavier weights than ever before – though considering how often I go to the gym and focus on this, that’s not surprising really.

Rant: Alfie’s Halloween costume came last week. Obviously too late for Halloween…and actually too small. For a fiver though I’m not upset.

I’m wondering if I can cut the sides a bit and see if he could fit. He may never forgive me though.

Rave: This ice cream.

It’s called Oppo and has the fabulous tagline of “Eat like a whale, look like a mermaid”. I got the salted caramel flavour. The ingredients are far better looking than Ben and Jerry’s and so are the nutritional stats for 100ml:

Energy (Kcal): 77.3
Fat: 3.8g (saturates: 2.8g)
Carbohydrate: 7.6g (sugars: 6.7g)
Protein: 3.2g
Sodium: 0.1

I’m a volume person when it comes to eating (more food = better) and will happily admit I ate the entire tub in one sitting, which was around 400 calories in total. That’s comparable to a slice of cake. Though cake always wins in my eyes, this was such a nice treat for a Friday night.

Rave: I saw this picture on Jamie Oliver’s Instagram…him with Orlando Bloom.

Be still my beating heart. I have such a crush on Jamie Oliver it’s ridiculous. I just think he’s so lovely. And I used to be obsessed with Orlando Bloom during his LOTR days. It’s like a dream come true to have them side by side in a photo… *sighs*.

Who’s your celebrity crush? Who did you fancy when you were younger?

What’s your favourite ice cream and ice cream flavour?

Do you cook from scratch every evening?

November 9, 2015

Weedy arms, weekend highlights and some escapism

I was able to work at home on Friday which is always good and bad. Bad because it’s fairly boring and I tend to work a lot later. I also always feel guilty if I do things that aren’t associated with my work…like putting washing on or walking Alfie. Good because I didn’t have to get up at 5am to hit the gym.

To be honest, I actually don’t mind getting up at 5am anymore as long as I get a decent night’s sleep. A downside though is that the night before I feel my evening can be cut short as I need to get to bed early.

Anyway, I was able to go to the gym for 7am which was awesome. I did some deadlifts, hip thrusts, assisted chin-ups, lateral pull-downs and some glute work.

Assisted chin-up/pull-up machine

On a quick side note, since I don’t do any cardio (apart from warming-up on the rowing machine) I never dread the gym. I genuinely love what I’m doing at the moment. If I was to force myself on to the elliptical machine I would hate it. And on another side note, hip thrusts are probably the most awkward exercise I’ve ever done. Awkward as in, DO NOT make eye contact with anyone when you’re doing them. But they are great for the glutes!

As I drove back from the gym in my merry, happy little world I didn’t notice the rock on the road (or giant stone, if you will) and my tyre went straight over it. Immediately I knew something was wrong. I could hear and feel the road, it was awful. Bugger. In standard Anna procedure, I rang my dad (hands-free). He told me to pull over. I told him I was wearing shorts and it was raining. He said try and make it home safely then. Thankfully I was minutes from home. Yep, flat tyre.

Luckily I was able to book someone to come over the next morning to sort it (for £80!). This meant no volunteering at parkrun. Though, to be quite honest, the state of the dreadful weather the next morning did not make me miss it. It was quite nice to be away from the running scene as well. Having to repeat myself with what’s wrong each week is tough going mentally. I appreciate everyone being so caring and sympathetic but it’s hard going when I’m left at the sidelines watching everyone run.

It also meant I got an awesome lie-in and a late morning gym session. I could take as long as I wanted with no rush to get back. As I had my physio appointment on Sunday it worked out a lot better this way – and it meant another great lie-in.

Standing barbell military press

It’s crazy how weak my upper body is in comparison to my legs. With deadlifts and leg presses I can go really heavy (for me, anyway) but when it comes to my arms…Jesus it is embarrassing. My little weedy arms were shaking trying to get in my final rep. Hey ho, it’s something to focus and work on. I’d love to be able to do an unassisted pull-up at some point. I can also carry on with this when I go back to running because it won’t really affect my training. For my legs I’ll need to be careful though.

[Yes, I take photos of myself at the gym. I’m a blogger, so shoot me 😉 Also, when there aren’t any mirrors it’s a great way to check your form out by using the camera function as a mini mirror. You just need somewhere good to prop your phone on.]

On Sunday I saw my physio. I’ll talk more in another post about the outcome (can’t you just wait! Another injury update – aren’t you guys lucky! <– insert sarcasm) but things aren’t all doom and gloom. If anyone needs a good sports physio in Southampton, I’m happy to pass on his details as he’s great. I’ve used him for over two years and he really knows me and my previous running history. I’m very lucky that I have a great physio and a great sports massage therapist who know just how neurotic I am…

From the physio appointment I had to make a mad dash to the cinema to met my parents to finally see Spectre. I was supposed to go a few weeks ago but it never happened as it was sold out. I had free tickets I could only use in person and I got there too late because of my stupid commute. So anyway this time we just paid the full price without risking it (though it hurt my soul knowing I still had free tickets…).

I really enjoyed Spectre. I’m not a huge Bond fan but I do prefer the Daniel Craig versions (what a God!). It was silly and ridiculous and there was a lot of posing and pouting but it worked for me and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Have you ever had car issues?

Who’s your go-to person when something goes wrong?

What’s the weakest part of your body? What do you enjoy to train the most?

November 5, 2015

Rants and Raves #22 and an injury update

Morning, morning. A few rants and raves this morning and another injury update.

Rave: I’m really enjoying the gym. When I have a focus this always happens.

It makes me feel bad ass 😉 I love making my workout plans the day before and deciding what I’m going to do when I get there. There’s no way I could get a proper workout in if I turned up to the gym clueless.

I’m trying to figure out what the best split is in order to do strength training…upper body/lower body, body parts, mixed… so far I’m kind of combining a few bits and bobs. For example, this morning I worked on shoulders, chest and triceps. I’ll do one or two big compound moves (such as deadlifts, squats, bench press and military press) and then follow with accessory moves or different variations to target different muscles.

I used to hate how my arms looked because they seemed a bit too muscle-y but now I love them! But my main goal is to just feel strong, any additional aesthetic gains is just a bonus 🙂

Rant and rave: Did I mention I bought some goat meat (specifically goat shoulder)? Well, I did. Goat meat isn’t that widely available in the UK. I think people assume it’s a tough meat, but it really depends how you cook it – as with all meat. Anyway, I asked the butcher how best to cook it and he suggested slow cooking it without adding anything crazy as it was my first time having it so I shouldn’t swamp its flavour.

Well, now that I have my teeny tiny slow cooker I couldn’t put the entire thing in it so had to halve it. I seared the entire thing by frying it in coconut oil quickly before slicing it in half and freezing the other half. By searing before slow cooking it helps retain the flavour and moisture.

Slow cookers are marvellous inventions and I love mine. It does help to turn the bloody thing on before you leave for work in the morning though. I only remembered as I was half-way to work. GARGH.

Anyway I slow cooked it over the evening instead (such a lovely smell to wake up to!) and had it for lunch on Saturday. I shredded the meat and then fried it with lots of veggies and roasted pumpkin in onion marmalade (a weird choice, granted, but I have limited condiments at the moment due to the move and packing etc.).

Verdict? Very tasty instead. It’s kind of a cross between chicken and beef flavour-wise? And incidentally it has less fat than chicken.

Rant: As I can’t run at parkrun I’m still volunteering and helping set up and clear down. I take Alfie with me as well as it’s a great way for him to get a good walk in and he’s (fairly) well behaved. However with the autumnal weather and rain he gets so muddy. This means having to give Alfie a bath when I get back.

Oh just look at his face! He hates having baths but won’t kick up a fuss. He’ll just stand there looking miserable. He smelt gorgeous afterwards though.

He raced around afterwards and rubbed himself all over the carpet…lovely.

Injury update: So I’m almost 95% certain it’s not my IT band that’s causing me grief. I’m 4.5 weeks out from the marathon and my knee is still very painful. The odd thing is it’s not consistently painful. Sometimes I can walk around and walk up and downstairs absolutely fine. I get a glimmer of hope which is then promptly dashed later in the day when I suddenly get a sharp pain which then doesn’t go away until I stop walking.

The pain is intense, it’s a shooting and sharp pain inside my knee. There’s still a bit of puffiness around the kneecap. I’m icing, compressing, stretching, foam rolling…and no real improvement has happened. My muscles don’t feel tight at all. There’s no discomfort, just a sharp pain.

At the start of the week, I saw a sports massage therapist for another opinion (and he costs less than my physio and can see me in the evening at my home) and he’s pretty sure it’s an impingement of my fat pad in my knee. Massage won’t help it.

Bizarrely yesterday I was in agony walking a short distance to Tesco. I almost couldn’t make it. The pain was identical to the marathon pain (where I had to walk the last two miles). When I say agony, I truly mean agony. I was almost in tears and wasn’t sure I could make it back.

I’m hoping to see my physio again this weekend (he’s kindly seeing me out of hours on Sunday – I think he can smell my desperation) and I’m hoping he can confirm things and provide me with some light at the end of the tunnel.

At this point, I’m not going to lie, I’m panicking. I’m worried about Boston which I know is so far away but the weeks are quickly flying by. I thought I’d be running at some point in November but it seems highly unlikely. At the moment I can only dream of running at some point in December. As long as I’m running in January I can do the marathon. I’ve paid for the flights already and not mention the non-deferrable ridiculous costing race entry.

The only thing keeping me from falling into a dark, dark pit right now is how much I’m enjoying the gym. I’m just trying not to think about the next few months at all. Because it makes me feel sick.

What are your rants and raves?

Have you ever had a seriously painful injury before?

What’s the most exotic meat/food you’ve ever had?

November 4, 2015

Running Survey

As I can’t blog about any current running, I can do a running survey instead! This is stolen from Mary’s blog and I love the questions so thought I’d steal it…

Would you rather run along a beach path or on a mountain trail? I’d much prefer a mountain trail. This is probably because I live by the sea at the moment so I’m quite used to running along beach paths. Also I detest running against wind and it can get very windy along the coast. It just feels so demoralising to be putting in so much effort and not getting anywhere fast. You could argue that mountains are, well, hilly but at least you can get to the top and feel like superman/woman. And the views are amazing.

If you could choose the flavour of Gatorade at your next race’s aid stations, what would it be? I’ve never had Gatorade. I’m really not a fan of the sugary sports drinks. I know they work for some people, especially for those who don’t want to take gels, but they make me feel a bit sick and I don’t feel they quench my thirst. I love plain water or nuun/High5 water.

If I gave you a £100 gift card to a running store, what would be the first thing that you would purchase with it? Where do I start?? I could be sensible like Mary and say trainers…but I just love fitness clothes. For running I tend to go with more sensible gear in terms of fabric, technical spec, fit and survival in different weathers.

When it comes to the gym I like to spruce things up a bit with colours and style as I have a bit more freedom as weather doesn’t matter. But back to running, I would probably buy a couple of Nike or Adidas items as they’re such good quality and last forever. Though you wouldn’t get much from the price! Ka-ching!

Do you prefer to follow a training plan or wake up and decide then how far and how fast you want to run? I don’t follow a strict plan per se, but I do plan out the weeks in terms of what I want to achieve. It depends if I have a marathon coming up or a race of course but I will never go out on a run without knowing how far I’m going to go. But if the run goes awfully (niggles, illness, tiredness) I’ll cut it short, I’ll never force myself to finish a set of miles purely for the sake of ticking a box. Though I’m quite neurotic and like to plan ahead. I use a spreadsheet to track things. When it comes to marathons I tend to look at online plans and see where the long runs fall and then do my own thing for the other runs.

Would you rather start your run with the uphill and end on the downhill or start your run with the downhill and end with the uphill? Definitely get the uphill done and dusted first. That way I can run it when I’m fresh and then focus on the rest of the course afterwards without dreading the oncoming hill. That said, I don’t really mind as long as I know where the hill is so at least I’m mentally prepared. For Bournemouth I was well aware of two significant hills (miles 12 & 18) so IN THEORY I could have adjusted my strategy accordingly. Well, we all know how that turned out in reality.

When you can’t run, what type of cross-training do you choose to do? I like Mary’s answer of sulking. I’m getting an A* for that at the moment 😉 But, like I said in my previous post, I’m focused on building strength at the gym. I had previously been following the New Rules of Lifting For Women but I’ve put it on hold at the moment as Stage 2 requires a lot of lunges which I’m avoiding for the moment as I want to give my knee some TLC.

Cardio-wise…*sighs* I suppose spinning and rowing. Boring and purely for the purpose of keeping fit.

What is your preference—> Out and back, point to point or loop runs? Oooh I’m just not sure. I like an out and back because you get to know the course and nothing’s a surprise in the second half of the race. I also like that you can think you’re running back to the finish. But I like loops as well (Cheddar Gorge marathon was great for this, mentally I could segment the two halves). Again, the course is no surprise in the second loop. I’m not a big fan of point to points as it feels like one big trek to the finish. Mentally I find that a lot harder. Hello, Boston 😉

If you could recommend ANY running related item to a new runner, it would be a—> BodyGlide. Chafing is a bitch. It takes two seconds to put on but days of pain if forgotten. It’s small to pack in your pre-race bag and I personally find it lasts a bit longer than good old Vaseline. That said, it’s better than nothing!

Do you ever see any wild animals while out on your runs? I love how random this question is. Not really as I tend to run around residential areas. This is such a boring answer sorry!

Ever gotten lost while out on a run? Surprisingly not as much as I probably should do considering how little of a sense of direction I have. I’ve run in quite a few places that I’ve never run before and just made the route up as I went, but most of the time when I do that I play it safe and do an out and back. It also helps doing that when I have a set distance I want to hit. I hate having to think too much about my route when running which is why, unless I’m running with others, I’ll always do the same routes.

If you could have one meal waiting and ready for you each time you got home from a run for the next 30 days… what would that meal be? As much as I love planning what to have when I’ve finished a race or a long run, the reality is it takes me quite a while before I actually fancy eating anything. I have got better though with protein shakes to make sure I’m not a quivering wreck later in the day. My KFC after Cheddar Gorge marathon was pretty damn tasty but I wouldn’t want that all the time. Dream world it’d be ribs (like I did after the Southampton half marathon that I made into 18 miles), but reality porridge is one of my standards. Then cake.

Capris or shorts… what do you run in most often? Shorts. My lower body doesn’t tend to get that cold when I run. It’s more my hands and arms. I much prefer the freedom of shorts and during a marathon I like to wear compression socks and capris and compression socks aren’t a great combo (weird naked knee syndrome).

At what mile (or how many minutes) into your run does your body start to feel like it is warming up and ready to go? Probably 5 miles in, which is why 5ks royally suck for me. I think my perfect distance is 10 miles (which ironically is my worst race distance so far). I absolutely don’t understand how people can do races less than one mile. We’re all different though and I have a huge amount of respect for short distance runners. My body doesn’t just doesn’t like short speedy stuff.

What do you do with your key when you run? This is terrible but when I’m at the club I used to put it on the wheel of my car…until I realised you could leave it in a locked room. If I run from home I take the key off the keyring and then pop it down my sports bra if I don’t have any pockets.

If you could relive any race that you have done in the past, which one what it be? Like Mary said, I’m not sure I’d want to relive any races. Races are hard and generally if you got a PB it was really hard so I wouldn’t want to go back there. After getting my 10k PB in the summer I swore I’d only run one 10k a year!

If I could re-do a race to improve on it then I would definitely re-do Bournemouth.

Or at least the weeks leading up to it. I don’t want to live in regret but I can’t help feel so bitter about a marathon that was supposed to be run just for fun. As many people have said though, I was pushing it with two marathons so close to each other (and three marathons in less than 6 months) and not really recovering properly between them. I don’t regret doing Cheddar Gorge as I loved it so much…but if I hadn’t have done it and Bournemouth went well? I don’t know if I could choose between them. I do wish now that I hadn’t forced myself to finish Bournemouth. Initially I said I didn’t regret it, but now I realise that one race isn’t worth so much time off for an injury. No medal is that good. But lessons have been learnt.

What has been your biggest motivation lately to get out the door to get your run on? Generally that it will mean I have to rearrange my week’s plan if I miss a run! I’m that anal about these things. If I say I’m going to do something I will do it unless something legitimate stops me. Even if I feel really demotivated about a run I know as soon as I start going I’ll be fine. I’d rather push myself to go then spend the rest of the day annoyed that I didn’t.

When you go for a run, do you leave right from your front door or do you drive somewhere to start? Either I’ll run straight from my office, straight from my front door, or I’ll run from my club or parkrun. Depends what day it is!

When running in daylight—> are sunglasses a must or an annoyance? I have a really good pair of (cheap) sunglasses that just sit really nicely when I run. I hate getting blinded by the sun.

When you get tired, what keeps you from quitting? Fear of failure! If I have a goal in mind I will really push myself to reach it. If I don’t hit it it’s because the goal was unrealistic (I’ve set myself stupid goals many a time!) or something out of my control happened (illness, injury, weather, etc.). I’m a very driven person. Of course I have demons in my head and self-doubt but if the goal is achievable from the training I’ve put it then I will do everything I can to get there. A killer playlist as well is a great motivator for me, or crowds. Something like that can suddenly flick a switch inside me to GO GO GO despite how I might have felt 30 seconds before.

Pick a few questions and answer – I’d love to know your responses!

November 2, 2015

Coming out from the slump

Last week was rubbish, I’m not going to lie. After my fabulous weekend in Wales I came back to reality with a bit of a bump.

I decided to not go to the gym at all during the week to see if that helped my leg. By Thursday (a week since my last gym visit) I was going a bit stir crazy and my knee felt no better so I decided to go to the gym on Friday morning. But I arrived demotivated and feeling crap. I did some deadlifts and half-hearted core work before deciding I couldn’t be bothered. I left in a foul mood.

My dad picked me up to go to work that morning and he asked how I was… and I just burst into tears. Pathetic, I know. I just felt so down about not being able to run and the pointlessness of going to the gym to do injury prevention strength work when I’m injured. I felt so direction-less. OK I don’t need to worry about the Boston marathon (YET) but it’d be nice to just be enjoying my running without pressures or training plans and using the gym as a supplement to my training.

My dad, bless him, went through the problem with me step by step. Can I run? No. When can I run? I don’t know. Is it in the next few days? No. OK then forget about running. What’s the point in every day wondering and worrying about running if it’s clear my injury isn’t going to magically heal over night? My initial estimate of six weeks is proving to be correct, even perhaps optimistic now. For my mental sanity worrying about running isn’t going to help. I need to do exactly what I did last year and focus on something completely different.

On Saturday morning I still went to parkrun and I still felt a bit down.

It’s depressing everyone asking how the injury is…and the look of pity of fellow runners when you say “yep, four weeks and counting of no running”. But I enjoy seeing everyone and the social side of parkrun so I’ll continue to go and volunteer (trying my hardest to not be the bitter grumpy injured runner).

Alfie, as usual, loved racing around and got himself thoroughly wet and muddy. After closing down parkrun, a few of us went for a hot drink in the cafe. As I had Alfie I couldn’t go in to the cafe but Mike said he’d get me my drink, which is usually a peppermint tea. Bless him, he came out with a green tea… I’ve had green tea quite a few times and every time it’s made me feel really nauseous, despite really wishing I could drink it. But never look a gift horse in the mouth I thought I’d give it another go. It tasted nice… though I did feel queasy driving home, but not as bad as usual so this is progress!

I had a Halloween party that evening but I was in such a bad mood, being all grumpy and just wanting to slob out, I decided to not go. I did feel bad but the last thing I wanted to do was dress up and try and be sociable. You know when you just want to hibernate away and watch rubbish TV? Well that was me Saturday night.

It was the best thing I could have done because I watched, and was seriously inspired by, some YouTube videos of health and fitness vloggers (I’ve never really got into YouTube but now I’m hooked, it’s like reading blogs for the lazy!) and decided to pull myself together and get my pathetic grumpy bum to the gym the next morning and get a new focus.

I planned out a heavy leg routine and just went for it:

(No judgements on the weights please, this was hard for me)

I literally spent an hour and 45 minutes in the gym just going through these leg exercises, taking the adequate break between sets and monitoring my knee carefully. The ironic thing is, my knee doesn’t bother me in squatting or deadlifting at all so I could do all this without any pain.

I also got one of the fitness instructors to show me how to use a machine (the leg press). He was very helpful and I didn’t feel like just a “stupid girl” for asking – better to have proper form and complete exercises the way you should than be too embarrassed and injure yourself. Plus, this is what they’re paid for! You don’t need to pay a personal trainer to explain how to use a machine/perform an exercise.

I came out of the gym pumped and in such a better mood. I know I’m a broken record and I’m sorry about that but it is hard when you love something so much and suddenly you can’t do it. But I thoroughly enjoyed the gym and now I’m just going to continue strengthening my body, not just for running but in general and for my mental sanity. I enjoy lifting weights. It’s not running, but it’s the next best thing right now. I detest cardio machines and think the best way for me to spend my non-running time will be doing something I love, not desperately slogging away on a machine in the hope that my fitness won’t decline (that ship has sailed anyway). Plus one of my gym days is going to include some strength-based cardio, like my own version of Body Pump, where I’ll use high reps and low weights to get my heart rate going but keeping things interesting. The other days will be focused on my legs & glutes, shoulders & arms and back & chest. Though I’m just seeing how it goes and what I fancy doing right now.

Basically I’m feeling more happy about things. I hope I haven’t droned on too much about not running… Onwards and upwards to a more positive place!

How was your weekend? Any Halloween events?

When you go to the gym, what do you focus on? Cardio or weights?

Do you watch Vlogs? Any recommendations?