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Happy things…when I’m still waiting

I still haven’t moved. I wouldn’t mind but it’s hard to really plan ahead for weekends if I don’t know when I’m going to be moving… meaning I’m kind of in limbo. I know a lot of people have been in this situation so I’ll stop moaning. It’s just the negatives of moving house!

This weekend started really well with a Friday night movie and take-away evening with my friend Louise and her husband, Tom. They have a small person called Jacob and I got to witness the whole ‘evening routine’ with him which was quite enlightening. He’s around 17 months (I think??) old so is walking and babbling, very sweet.

The movie of choice for the evening (after Jake was safely in bed) was Silence of the Lambs. It came up in conversation a week ago that I’d never seen it so we arranged the movie evening. It’s an iconic must-see movie so I knew I needed to watch it, I’d just had a mental block on it as when I was little my parent’s had a VHS copy of it and the cover alone used to give me nightmares (I was a sensitive child…).

It actually wasn’t that scary or gory at all (the fact that it had a very 80-90s feel helped). I felt like I needed to watch it as I’m still so obsessed with the Hannible series and the film comes after the series in the time-frames. Anthony Hopkins does Hannible really well but I still prefer Mads Mikkelsen.

Lou is an amazing baker and she’d made a carrot and walnut cake for the evening as well. Look at that beast!

Carrot cake

Despite eating an Indian take-away I still had room for a slice (*cough* or two) of the cake. Superb!! She even cut me a huge chunk off to take home with me.

The next day I went to parkrun to volunteer again. My leg still isn’t better… a post for another time. I took Alfie again and headed down to set-up. Alfie absolute loves it as he races around off his lead while we set up. It’ll be a bit of a shame not being able to bring him when I do get back to running. I can’t run with him as he hasn’t run that far before and, no offence Alfie, but I’m not keen to go on one mile runs to build up his mileage. I’m not sure he’s suited to running anyway – he stops and sniffs far too often. I can’t leave him tied to a bench while I run either as he’ll get anxious and probably start barking. It’s not very fair.

It was my friend Mike’s 50th parkrun and he made chocolate tray-bake biscuit things (one Toberlone-style and one Malteser-style). I enjoyed a Malteser one while having a hot drink sat outside the cafe afterwards with a few of the running club guys (another pitfall of having Alfie with me means we need to sit outside).

Malteser tray bake

So tasty! I even got to take a few home with me! People just love to give me cake it seems hehe 😉

Then I headed to go shopping with my parents to pick up my new phone (iPhone 6s). I needed moral support as (and this is embarrassing to admit) but I haven’t really dealt with getting a new phone on my own in quite a few years. Ben had always dealt with the phone side of things. I pride myself on being an independent woman… but seems I need to get myself sorted in certain areas!!

And while passing through John Lewis I couldn’t help but look at the beautiful bags, in particular the Michael Kors ones. I am very much a saver. I rarely make large purchases (apart from holidays) unless they’re absolutely essential. Yes I have a weakness for workout clothes and good food but other than that I’d rather put money into savings, just in case.

That said, I saw a gorgeous handbag that just seemed to call to me. I was feeling down about not being able to run and not having moved yet and just thought “sod it, I’m going to treat myself”.

Michael Kors rose handbag

I have zero regrets. It’s beautiful and I love it. I do have a weakness for handbags but I’m very lucky that my mum does too. She often gives me her ‘off castes’ and I’ve been lucky to have some very nice second-hand handbags from her. But to buy my own and for it to be brand new… well it was just exactly what I needed to make me feel happier. Yes material things are a shallow way to gain happiness, but I can be sad now with a pretty handbag 😉

I’d love to say I had a jam-packed Sunday but the reality is… I didn’t. I packed, I cleaned, I walked Alfie and I rested my leg while watching TV. It was a lazy and dull Sunday, but I felt the better for it.

And my little niece, Ellie, got a Junior parkrun PB!

Junior parkrun

Look at that running form – what a pro!

Her mum (my sister) and dad are split up so she did the Junior parkrun nearest to her dad which is some distance away annoyingly. I hope at some point I can take her to my local Junior parkrun. I saw my sister on the Saturday and Ellie was telling me all about how she wants to be just like me and do lots of running. I have never felt so proud! I won’t lie, I do struggle with young children and knowing what to say or do but it’s lovely to have something in common and something I can hopefully help her with. I feel useful!

How do you make yourself happy? 

Have you ever been to Junior parkrun?

What iconic movies do you love and recommend?

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Refuelling after a Run

Hello! Today I have a guest post from Drew Griffiths regarding the importance of refuelling after a run…

If you are training on a regular basis, then recovery is highly important.   Poor dietary habits can impact not only training, but health in general.  If the correct nutrition is not in place, and a runner cannot fully recovery in between runs, then overtraining, a stressed and weakened immune system and inflammation of the body can all occur.

With this in mind, here are some tips for enhancing and optimising recovery after a run:

Before, During & After Exercise
To optimise recovery, plan ahead –  consume fluid with electrolytes and glucose (or maltodextrin) before, during and after a run.  Bear in mind that the body can only make use of around 150ml of fluid every 15 minutes, so sipping on a drink is the best strategy to keep hydrated and supply the muscles with important electrolytes like sodium and glucose to fuel the hard working muscles.

After a long, or an intense run, insulin levels will be increased for up to 2 hours. This means that the carbohydrate will be pulled into the muscles to refuel them (a process called gluconeogenesis) at a much greater rate than normal.  For this reason, try and eat at least 50g of carbohydrate within an hour of a run. The exact amount of carbohydrate to eat will depend on the duration and intensity of the run.

Protein is also vital for recovery, as protein is required to rebuild and repair muscles.  Depending on your bodyweight, 20g to 35g should be consumed within the hour after a run.

Chocolate milk is great for recovery, as it contains sodium, sugar and protein.  Ideally however, a perfect drink for straight after a run would contain a number of electrolytes, such as sodium, potassium and magnesium; and the protein source would be whey protein, as this has been shown in research to enhance recovery from endurance exercise.

Daily Diet Tips for Recovery
Nutrition before, during and after a run is only half the story when it comes to optimising recovery.  One important thing to be mindful of is that some foods are inflammatory (or pro-inflammatory), whilst other are anti-inflammatory.   Oily fish, turmeric and ginger are all fantastic anti inflammatory foods and spices; whilst vegetable oils, sugar and deep fried foods are generally regarded as pro-inflammatory, and should be excluded from the diet or at least cut down on.

Runners should also look to consume foods that are as unprocessed and raw as possible.  For example, Himalayan salt is a fantastic source of a range of electrolytes; whereas refined table salt is of little nutritional value and contains only sodium chloride which is linked to high blood pressure when consumed in high quantities without other electrolytes such as magnesium.

Anna here again! These are great tips – I especially love the chocolate milk one as I can fully get on board with that 😉

How do you recover from a run/workout?

What do you prioritise most? Nutrition? Stretching? Sleep?

Do you eat before working out?

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Rants and Raves #21

I’m still being sensible and not running. I have another Physio appointment on Friday (ahh the joys of working from home and having a disposable income that I spend only on myself…). I’m hoping I can run on Saturday for parkrun but I’m not sure. It does feel better but I don’t want to have a period of stop-start running and prolonging the issue. Anyway, onto some rants and raves!

Rant: The new Disney Paris Half Marathon opened for entries yesterday. It sounds really cool and it’s obviously an easier option for us Brits than the Orlando ones across the pond…BUT they’re being rather cheeky about it. At the moment you can only enter it if you also book their Disney resort hotel, which makes it over £300. They’re only releasing the non-hotel entries in January. I mean come on, that’s ridiculous. They’re might not even be places left at that point.

I’m not tempted by the race I must say (I would be by a marathon but not for a half. I want to do the Orlando Disney marathon at some point), but I do think this is really sneaky and a bit unfair. It’s forcing people to purchase a bundle and spending a lot more. Not very ‘fairy tail racing’ if you ask me.

Rave: (This is just my opinion – no affiliation!) I’m signed up to Fabletics (yes, I’m a sucker), which means I need to ‘Skip the Month’ if I don’t want to pay the 40 quid every month that my ‘VIP status’ requires. However, I always have a little mosey before I do this…just in case.

Though I kind of disagree with this system of potentially forcing you to pay money every month (though it does go towards clothes, it’s not like it just disappears and you get good discounts on all the items) I’m a big fan of the Fabletics gear. I’ve not had a single item from there that hasn’t fit me or I’ve regretted buying. I’ve had a pair of capris, hair bands, a hat, sports bras, shorts, tops…all of really good quality. I can’t fault them. And I love the styles they have.

I recently bought the Fenway Vest (which I’d been lusting over since Claire showed hers off).

It’s really lightweight but lovely and warm. It’s nice and casual so perfect for going to parkrun in or popping down the shops. Or wearing around the house when I’m slobbing about a bit.

I also bought the Katana Longsleeve Tee which is perfect for running when the weather gets colder. It has little ventilation holes in the arms and back.

The Kemi Bra which is a ‘low impact’ sports bra so perfect for the gym (it’s so comfortable and has removable cups for that added extra). I adore the bright colour and pattern.

And finally the Orchard Tank which is great for the gym but also running (in summer anyway) as it’s got all the holes in it. I’m really pleased, and to be honest it wasn’t that expensive. Considering the prices of Nike or Adidas…or Lululemon (jeeze, remortgage the house why don’t I) I think I did well!

Rant: On the subject of workout clothes…it always amuses and confuses me what guys think is appropriate gym wear (I say “guys” because invariably it is the men, but women are not guiltless either). OK it is stupidly early in the morning when I go and, let’s be honest, who the hell cares what other people wear? But a guy was literally wearing a full-on painters/decorating outfit. It was like he’d come straight from work (which would be odd considering the time). He had paint all over his white overalls and was just casually lifting weights. As you do.

Another guy was wearing an entire velour tracksuit in lime green – I’m not making this up I promise you. Though you can always spot the runners…with their specialised kit on, as if they got lost on their run and ended up in the gym instead.

Rave: I spotted this in Tesco and decided to give it a go. I’m always concerned that my running and gym gear never gets the proper wash it probably needs and this was quite cheap.

I’m not saying I stink, but it’s nice to have a washing liquid (supposedly) aimed for sports kit. Plus they say you shouldn’t wash your sports stuff with your normal stuff…sweat transference or something 😉 I’ve never had an issue (though saying that, who’s going to tell me I smell? Now I’m panicking…) but I’ll give this a go.

Rant: I still haven’t moved. And I’m still sitting on a beanbag trying to eat dinner each night. What a sad image, eh! I’m too cool for school (just by saying that sentence eliminates me from the Cool Group). Anyway, Alfie has been a bit unsettled by the lack of sofas and furniture. He’s been lying on his blanket on the floor…despite having a bed!! A bed he has never used in the three years we’ve had the house. I think he then overheard me telling my mum I was going to get rid of it before I moved because he suddenly decided to start using it. Or it might be because I moved it closer to my beanbag…

Ahh what a mummy’s boy.

Rave: I’m still really enjoying listening to audio books on my walks with Alfie and when I make dinner. I’m currently listening to Me Before You and it’s really good. I wasn’t certain I’d enjoy it as it’s a tough subject matter, but it’s honestly such a lovely and realistic story. I fully recommend. I’ve just Googled it and, unsurprisingly it’s going to become a film. I just hope it doesn’t lose it’s very British charm and become Americanised. Absolutely nothing against Americans or American movies, it’s just this has so much Britishness in it it would spoil it to lose that.

Rant: The night before I left for Iceland I was casually watching TV when a GIANT spider ran over to me – I swear it ran AT me (with menace in its many eyes).

I’ve never moved so fast in my life I can tell you. I evacuated the lounge ASAP. Alfie, my resident spider-eater, wasn’t there because he was at my parent’s house as I was flying the next morning. So I barricaded the door as I was genuinely scared it would come and find me.

When I came back from Iceland I waited until Alfie was back before venturing into the lounge (yes, really). But I haven’t seen the spider since. I sit on my little beanbag every night in genuine fear that the spider is going to reappear and come for me. If I stop blogging…you know why.

What book are you reading currently?

Will you watch a film of a book you enjoyed?

Spiders: fear and flee, leave be, or find and kill?

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Alfie’s first parkrun and some favourite things

I still have no date for moving. This seems somewhat of a reoccurring theme. For me it’s not too much of a bother aside from not knowing what weekend is going to be affected and not having any furniture in my lounge aside form a TV and a bean bag…For Ben it’s tricky as he moves to Switzerland at the end of the week and the money from the house sale would help for his side of things.

But anyway, another weekend gone by and I’m still in the house. On Saturday morning I still got up to go to parkrun, despite not being able to run at the moment. I like the social element to it and getting out in the fresh air so it was nice going down there, even if I was in “civilian” clothes.

parkrun selfie

 

It was a chilly and crisp morning so I bundled up nicely, knowing there would be no lovely run to heat me up. I took Alfie as well as I’ve always wanted to take him to a parkun but wouldn’t feel I could leave him tied to a bench while I ran and it wouldn’t be fair to see if he could run 5k if he’s never done that distance before.

IMG_5197

Annoyingly we were on the cricket pitch, the last for the year before the winter course, which was a pain to miss as it’s a great time to test the speed out. But to be honest I’m not in shape for a PB attempt anyway!

It was great cheering everyone on and seeing people looking strong so soon after the marathon last weekend (which so many from parkrun had done) and I didn’t feel sad I couldn’t run. I saw my physio on Friday and she wasn’t concerned. She said my muscles were very tight, especially my left leg, which with the wrong trainers probably just built up during the marathon a bit of a niggle that I then exacerbated by continuing to run further on until the end. I’ve been severely neglected my foam rolling (which I always do when I’m no longer injured…) and I’m one of those people who needs to do everything in my favour to avoid injury. Whoops.

She said it’s likely it’ll only be another week as long as it continues to heal as quickly as it is. I’m still a little dubious that it will be OK in a week but I’d rather be cautious than overly optimistic. I can go to the gym (but no squats) so that’s cool. I miss running but it is nice to have a break.

My weekend was really very quiet if I’m honest. Lots of cleaning, sorting stuff in the house and catching up on Dr Foster (did anyone else watch?? SO good). And I saw some friends on Saturday afternoon and had a nice catch-up.

With no real plans for Sunday I had a nice lie-in. I floated the idea of going to the cinema with my dad to see The Martian as I’d seen a trailer on Friday which looked really good and had heard it was a good film. He was keen and suggested lunch as well…with my mum declining to come we decided to go to Ranchos (which my mum would hate).Ribs Ranchos (1)

Ribs are pretty much my favourite meal. I had the ribs with a parsley and garlic sauce which was divine. My dad had steak.

IMG_5220

He had chips with his. I had nothing because did you see the size of my portion?? I don’t like things crowding my ribs experience 😉 As you can probably tell, we were both rather pleased with lunch!

The table next to us was an Asian family of three petite girls and, I assume, their dad. The amount of food they ordered (and the SIZE of the steaks the girls ate) was unreal. They had a large plate of ribs to share in the middle alongside all the sides, chips, mash potato, rice, and they just absolutely demolished it. I was quite impressed!

Anyway, we saw The Martian. I had a brief moment of embarrassment as after we sat down I headed back out to the loo (I like to get my seat first). I went towards the wrong side and stood, pretty much in front of everyone in the cinema, attempting to find the door in the wall (feeling my hands all over it to find the way out…)…then realising it was on the other side. In my defence, there was one of those Fire Exit signs in that area which I assumed meant exit. What an idiot.

I was a bit worried the film would be a bit dry and science-y (I enjoyed Interstellar but I found it dragged a little on the ‘science’ side – however unrealistic that science was!) but I was pleasantly surprised.

The Martian

It was really quite funny and I felt like the storyline didn’t drag at all. The music was great as well. Fully recommend! (I also loved when they talked about Project Elrond and Sean Bean was there – aka Boromir from Lord of the Rings!). I also found it amusing when at the start they were talking about “preparing for launch” and I heard “preparing for lunch” and I was thinking, come on guys there’s a time and place for that surely – you’ve got a criss going on?! Hehe.

I love going to the cinema and need to do it more often. And if there are ribs involved, well so be it! 😉

What film have you recently seen?

Do you enjoy going to the cinema?

Do you still like to be involved in running stuff even if you can’t run? I think for me it depends how long my injury lasts. If I’m going to be out for months and months then I’ll probably take some time away from running-related stuff because otherwise it can get a b it depressing to see what you’re missing out on. But short-term I like to stay involved.

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Mio Skincare review

I am a low maintenance female when it comes to beauty regimes. I’ll do the basics but when it comes to make-up, cleansing, toning, deep conditioning, face masks, facials…nope.

I got in to a really good routine a few weeks ago of painting my nails, but then that sort of stopped. It’s just so hard to sit still for the time it takes for the nails to dry. No snacking, no fidgeting, nothing! I pluck my eyebrows and straighten my hair – I’d say that they’re my ‘superfluous’ beauty things above and beyond the basics society requires of me. And straightening my hair takes one minute as really is more an OCD thing of neatening things up as my hair is dead straight anyway…it sadly never curls (don’t get me started on blow drying though – takes forever!).

So when Mio Skincare contacted me to review a few items of their range I thought, “Me? Really?”. I had a look on their website and surprisingly wasn’t confused by the different products, which for me is a great start (BB cream anyone? What even is that??), but quite intrigued. This looks like my kinda stuff!

I was sent the Boob Tube+ Multi-Action Bust Firmer, the Workout Wonder Invigorating Muscle Motivating Gel and the Natural Dry Body Brush.

Boob Tube+ Multi-Action Bust Firmer

OK so when I first saw this product I was a bit like “well, this isn’t going to be that useful to me”. I’m not exactly the most blessed of women in that area. Cleavage – what’s that like?? But actually it’s not aimed at big breasted ladies looking for a cheap lift. It’s more to do with the skin quality around your boob-area – as in your chest and neck (décolleté if you will).

That area of the skin is very delicate and usually sees quite a bit of the sun, so wrinkles and lines (especially on the neck) are quite common. This product (from their website), aims to:

  • Keeps lines and crinkles at bay so thin skin stays smooth
  • Visibly healthier, fitter, glowing skin within days
  • Skin brightening actives take years off sun damaged skin

It has a whole bunch of rather impressive ingredients…

Thoughts? It smelt amazing and it absorbed into my skin like a dream. It left my skin feeling lovely and soft. I can’t confirm or deny my boobs are any more perky (I’m 27, small-boobed and have no kids, I can’t say I’ve had any issues in this area) but I do love this. It made me feel like I was doing something good for my skin.

Workout Wonder Invigorating Muscle Motivating Gel

This definitely got me excited. A moisturiser that helped relieve sore muscles?? Sign me up!

The idea is that it cools and ‘revs’ up your muscles, either pre or post workout. It has ingredients such as V-Tonic TM, extracts of Arnica, Horse Chestnut, Murumuru Butter, Spearmint and natural Magnesium to to help increase circulation, reduce inflammation and speed up recovery.

Thoughts? It smells lovely and minty and it definitely feels very cooling when you put it on. My legs were tingling, but in a very pleasant way. Again it absorbs easily without being greasy. I am a big fan of this. I used it after the marathon and it was a dream.

Natural Dry Body Brush

I’m sure all us females have tried using a body brush before in the desperate hopes of reducing/eliminating cellulite. Anyone succeeded? Yeah didn’t think so. Cellulite is the curse of 99% of women, whether it’s a smattering of tiny dimples or the full-blow orange peel, cottage cheese effect. It sucks but it’s life. This body brush is aimed reduce cellulite by helping with lymphatic drainage and removing toxins. It’s also aimed to exfoliate the skin making it softer and smoother.

It’s made of natural boar bristles and has rubber massage nodules so gives a nice feel to the massaging. You can brush dry or wet though I preferred dry, just before I got into the shower.

Thoughts? I liked using it on my legs mainly to get rid of dead skin cells. It left them nice and soft. I had to make sure I moisturised afterwards though as I found it can dry out your skin. As for smoothing…the jury’s out. It did liven up my legs a bit and increase blood flow but as for giving me Victoria Secret-esque worthy legs, doubtful. But it was a nice treat that I’ll probably do it once every week at the weekend to keep myself nice and exfoliated.

Overall, very high-quality feeling products that made me feel like I was treating myself.

What are you absolute musts for your beauty regime?

Would you say your high or low maintenance?

What is your least part of your beauty regime? Mine is blow-drying my hair. I’d happily pay someone to do it for me while I did something else.

**Full Disclosure: I was sent these products for free in exchange for a review. All thoughts are my own honest ones.**