foam roller - AnnaTheApple

April 10, 2013

Trying to mix things up

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Hope you’re week’s going well. I’ve been finding it so much easier to get up in the morning because of the light. Obviously when the alarm goes off I’m not leaping out of bed with a huge smile on my face (who does that??), but it’s easier because I’ve already started to wake up gradually so it’s not as big a shock as it was in the winter. Though at the weekend I have this annoying habit of hiding under the duvets when it starts getting light and then I fall back into a really deep sleep and feel so tired when I pull myself out of bed between 8-9am. I hate sleeping later than 9am as I’m one of those people who feels like the day is wasted otherwise.

So it’s What I Ate Wednesday. Check out Jenn’s blog to get involved!

I’ve been really trying to do new recipes more often as I’m participating in Megan’s So Fresh So Clean Challenge. Basically it’s a challenge to see if you can refresh your food and fitness routine a bit.

I wanted to take part in this because honestly I am such a routine-orientated person and can get so stuck in food ruts (see below: oatmeal every single morning). It’s really helping to push me to try new recipes and mix up my routine a bit. I love trying new recipes but can find it a bit of an effort at times…So this challenge has helped motivate me that little bit more!

I know I need to work on switching up my breakfast but at the moment I haven’t quite managed that…it’s still oatmeal with almond milk *hides in shame*.

But honestly, this weekend I really want to try mixing it up. I’m more inclined to experiment with breakfast at the weekend as I have an irrational fear that nothing else will fill me up and I’ll be at work STARVING. Yes a little over-dramatic. So maybe this weekend I’ll step outside my safety oatmeal bubble.

Lunch at the weekend and lunch in the week are obviously going to be different for me as I work in an office during the week and I’m limited by what I can bring or buy. And I hate buying lunch as it’s just so expensive.

Yesterday it was a sandwich with sliced turkey and cream cheese with a side salad.

I had this with some slice melon and Greek yogurt.

Throughout the day I also snack on my Graze box.

The bottom left-hand section were oatcakes with an onion marmalade and let me tell you, they were AMAZING. I opened them fully with the intention to snack on a couple and then save for later. Oh they did not stand a chance. Those babies were gone within minutes.

I also have my usual apple and banana towards the end of the day to stop me keeling over mid-commute back home. Also prevents me from eating the first thing I see when I get home…

Lunch this weekend was something I’ve been meaning to try for yonks.

Sweet potato roasted in the oven with a blob of cream cheese with two fried eggs (and a side portion of Brussels’s sprouts obviously…) I wasn’t sure about mixing eggs and sweet potato but it went so well together.

I made dinner for Tuesday night on Tuesday morning as I was planning to go to running club literally just after I got back from work and really didn’t fancy making anything when I got back at like 8.30pm. Plus who knows what sort of thing Ben would have made himself?? Dangerous to give him so much freedom He’d have cheese on cheese with a side portion of cheese if he could.

So I made One-Pot Moroccan chicken.

I used THIS recipe. The only thing I changed was instead of honey (of which I had none) I used some regular sugar. Probably missed some of the depth of the honey flavour but I wasn’t too bothered. It was an easy recipe to whip up in the morning and then reheat in the evening.

It was quite spicy, but had lots of bold flavour and was definitely very filling with the chicken and chickpeas. Couscous would probably work well this (though I was a bit couscous’ed out from the weekend).

However, I never made it to running club. I found out it was a timed mile (for progress monitoring) and then some intervals. I really wasn’t up for that. Don’t get me wrong, I love running with other people but I didn’t fancy just doing a mile and the intervals. I know I’m being such a picky runner but I want to just run. Anyway, Thursdays are more for ‘normal’ running so I’m going then instead.

I decided to do a quick 3 miles when I got home anyway as I didn’t want to miss a run. I really wasn’t up for it so as soon as I started in my head I was just like “get this done as quick as possible and then you can have dinner”. This was a BRILLIANT motivator

When I first started I was finding it so tough and when I looked at my Garmin I couldn’t believe my pace! No wonder I was dying. I am so pleased with this run. I couldn’t have maintained it for long though – I was already slowing down considerably on the last mile.

So I’ve mixed up my fitness a bit by not always running in the stupid hours of the morning. And I’ve also been managing to use my foam roller after runs (OK some runs…not all. Work in progress).

I have a love-hate relationship with the foam roller. I like following THIS helpful guide of the exercises to do. To be honest, I never do all of them… but the one I always do because it always hurts to do it (so by that perverse logical I know it’s working) is this one:

Sweet, sweet pain.

And I’m trying to do more planks again. Ahh, back in the day I could do 3 minute long planks, but after such a break since I focused mainly on running I’m struggling to go for a minute a half. Again, work in progress

So the challenge is helping me – small steps, granted. But it’s always nice to have that extra motivation!

How do you mix things up when you get into a rut? Fitness or food-related?

What new recipes have you been loving lately?

Do you foam roll?

*** Also don’t forget to enter my giveaway – open only to US residents, sorry non-US readers***

January 30, 2013

Meat balls, running and WIAW

Hi all. Hope you’re week is zooming by and that life is treating you well

I’m feeling a certain déjà vu today…I’m off to Derbyshire again this afternoon exactly like last week. And again, I won’t be back until Friday. But it’s a good project and I’m really stretching my skill capabilities so I’m a happy bunny (a happy terrified bunny I must add, being outside my comfort level – no gain without pain I guess).

And then Saturday Ben and I fly to Bulgaria to go skiing for a week! I might have mentioned this a few times already so please forgive me, but I am SO excited. I have images of myself gliding effortlessly down huge vertical mountains with the wind in my hair. I’m guessing that reality is going to be a leeeeetle different. More like me looking like Bambi on ice. Hey, a girl can set her expectations high can’t she!?

So it’s What I Ate Wednesday. As always thank you Jenn for hosting the party!

This is what I ate Monday. It’s a fairly typical day of what I eat at work, with a rather adventurous (for me) meal in the evening.

Breakfast: no changes here I’m afraid. Oatmeal cooked with almond milk. It. Never. Gets. Old.

I have about 2/3 cup (60g) mixed with water and almond milk (more almond milk than water). I am comfortably full after this. I always think that I’m a greedy beast with this portion as other bloggers seem to always go for 1/2 cup…but it’s not about comparison!

Though last week at the hotel I did shake things up a bit and enjoyed a bit of a fry-up (bacon, mushrooms, scrambled egg, tomatoes and a black pudding). And I imagine I’ll be eating the same Thursday and Friday this week as it’s the same hotel we’re going to.

Lunch: this is my usual go-to lunch for work. Tuna salad (leaves, beet, tinned tuna, tomatoes, cucumber, steamed random veg).

It’s a monster of a salad and I love eating it at work while reading blogs. It’s like my down-time of chilling. I hate it when people interrupt me during this time. I give them the ANNA STARE. Or at least I mentally give them the STARE while I pleasantly smile at them and hope they’ll hurry up their interruption

This is following by a goat’s cheese Babybell – best flavour EVER. Sorry no picture. Imagine a little circular wedge of deliciousness.

And then fruit with plain yogurt.

This time it was two kiwis. And thanks to a post from Jemma from Celery and Cupcakes ages ago I know I can eat the skin! Lovely.

And then mid-afternoon I snacked on these:

A re-used photo, but basically exactly the same; carrots!

Then an apple and a banana about 4 o’clock to tide me over until dinner (apple and banana o’clock I fondly call this time as it’s always the same at this time).

Dinner: I was torn between making meatloaf and making burgers with some beef mince that I had. In the end I based it on THIS recipe and instead of making meatloaf (as frankly I was HUNGRY and didn’t want to wait 45 mins) I batched up little balls of the mince mixture and put them in a muffin baking tin.

Beef Chunky Meat Balls (serves 2)

500g extra lean beef mince
Half bell pepper, diced
Small zucchini, grated
Small white onion, diced
2 egg whites
2 beef stock cubes, crumbled
1 garlic clove, diced
2 tbs. Worcestshire sauce
2 tsp. dried rosemary
2 tsp. dried thyme
Pepper (don’t need salt due to stock cube)

– Preheat oven to about 180C.

– Then combine it all in a large bowl, and then make individual little balls to pop into a muffin tin.

– Cook for at least 20 minutes, or until browned all over.

Mince never really photos well…but basically you can sort of see the little meatballs. Ben and me are not usually big beef eaters, we prefer chicken or turkey. We never eat steak just because we don’t like how chewy it is. These though were AMAZING, really nice flavour.

I had cauliflower mash (with a bit of Philadelphia mixed in) and steamed veg with this. Really good filling, hearty meal. Ben loved them as well. Though he had his with ketchup. I just had mine on their own and they were a flavour sensation

Fitness: So I was really proud of myself last week because I had a great week of running. And, to bore you all to hell and back, with my Garmin on the laptop now I can really analyse my runs. Apologies now if this is too much info!!

Monday: 6 miles tempo run. I kept it slow on the first mile, then tried to keep around 8 mins/mile for the three middle miles but slowed down again at the end.

Tuesday: 4 miles interval running, with my intervals aiming at 6mins/mile.

Wednesday: rest day.

Thursday: 3 miles interval running (no details as I was a total treadmill dunce).

Friday: I had intended to just do an easy run or some rowing but I got into it and did another 3 mile interval run (and figured out how to view the summary of my run!)

Saturday: my first 10 miler. This run was one of those amazing runs when you enjoy the whole damn thing. I started off running with Ben to ensure I kept my pace down at the beginning. Then I naturally found myself speeding up after we parted (2 miles in) and I was comfortably running between 8.30mins and 8mins a mile. I didn’t feel that I was even pushing myself, it was just perfect. So I’m fairly pleased with my overall time:

My legs ached a lot after this. I went to Pilates afterwards which was really nice as it stretched my muscles out soo well. I also recently purchased a foam roller…

This was SO PAINFUL. Like good pain, but PAINFUL pain, you know. Ben thought it was hilarious but I made him have a go and that stopped his laughter. Ha. Definitely going to try and use this more as it really felt like it helped my muscles.

Though I’m enjoying my little business trips and having a change of scenery I just want the next few days to speed up so I can go on holiday!

Have you used a foam roller before? Love or hate?

Which do you prefer, meatloaf or burgers?

Do you over-analyse your work out stats?