Running - AnnaTheApple

February 15, 2013February 15, 2013

Friday catch-up and Valentine fail

It’s Fridaaaay! I think my absolute favourite time of the week is Friday evening just as I get in from work. It’s that glorious moment of ‘whew the week is done’.

This week has been pretty good in terms of key dates – Shrove Tuesday and Valentine’s Day. And also, my dad’s birthday (which is also 14th February). Happy birthday for yesterday, dad!

So Tuesday evening Ben and me celebrated Pancake Day with eating pancakes for dinner. Ben had the standard egg, milk and flour pancakes with sugar and lemon. I even managed to convince him to use wholemeal flour (OK, we didn’t have any regular flour so there wasn’t much choice). I’m not a big fan of the sugar and lemon variety, but luckily I was inspired earlier in the day from the lovely Ffion from ChocolateAndRaspberries blog.

Definitely wanted to give them a go and such a simple recipe! So I microwaved some chopped sweet potato for around 5 minutes, let is cool and then whizzed it up with one egg with a hand blender and then fried a few batches in coconut oil. They didn’t quite work out as I hoped in terms of presentation – they fell apart. However, they tasted mighty delicious!!

I topped them off with some stewed plumbs (cooked in a bit of a water and sugar) and then added a good dollop of PB2. Really, really good. Thank you Ffion!

Thursday was obviously Valentine’s Day and my dad’s birthday and it was our work bake off and bake sale. I was planning on making lemon drizzle cake and some cheese scones but on Wednesday night I didn’t get back from work until fairly late…So I decided to just stick to cheese scones. I used THIS recipe and didn’t amend it at all.

In true Anna fashion, something always goes wrong with me and baking. It’s usually because I don’t read recipes properly. It doesn’t matter so much in cooking but baking is more precise and so the problems arise for me. The recipe instructions said:

“Lightly dust the surface with a little flour. roll out the dough no thinner than 2cm”

I read that to be that I was to roll it out to be 2cm, no thicker. So I got very mini flat scones. And loads of them! They were more cheese biscuits than scones. They still tasted good though – and the recipe says they’re 130 calories per each one, but as I made twice as much they’re likely to be half that

On Thursday morning I put my scones next to all the other bake goods that had been brought in and I felt mine didn’t quite living up to their peers. Ah well.

There was a carrot cake, two banana breads, chocolate muffins, chocolate cupcakes, Mars Bar crispy cakes, ginger cake, lemon drizzle, my cheese scones/biscuits, more muffins, and a marble cake.

Well, we had to stand there and watch one of the managers try a small piece of each cake to make his mind up which was going to win. It was excruciating as I just wanted cake!! And watching him stuff his face was unbearable. At this point I couldn’t care less who won!

In the end one of the banana breads came third, the Mars Bar cake came second, and the marble cake came first.

We later found out that it was actual the winner’s wife who made this cake, not him! Haha.

Anyway, though I wanted a bit of everything I went for two Mars Bar crispy cakes as honestly they were UNBELIVABLY good (I had one and just had to go back for a second), a small slice of carrot cake (very moist and yummy) and a small slice of lemon drizzle as this was my dad’s cake. I couldn’t believe it when he told me he’d baked. He never bakes. I have never known him to bake anything in my entire life.

And it was very good!

I was hyped up and full of sugary goodness by 10.30am. Can’t complain.

We then sent them down to reception to sell for charity to the other companies in the building. I was really chuffed later as I saw a woman from another office walking along with two of my biscuits.

So it was Valentine’s Day. Ben and me had previously agreed to do nothing. I’m not that sentimental in that I need a card or chocolates to know Ben cares. Now I have nothing against other people celebrating it together and sending flowers – if that makes you happy, enjoy it! For Ben and me it was important at the beginning of our relationship when I was at university and he was at home, so sending flowers and cards was lovely as I didn’t get to see him that regularly. This year we just wanted to save some money and not bother.

BUT in the afternoon I was sat in a meeting when someone came in and told me there was a huge bunch of flowers in reception for me. I couldn’t stop the huge grin on my face and feebly saying “we said we weren’t doing Valentine’s Day this year…”. I skipped off down to the reception and found a box of flowers waiting for me to unwrap. The receptionist helped me and we giggled together about how lovely it was. I opened it to find twelve beautiful roses.

Ben’s never sent me roses before (other flowers, yes, but not roses) so I was surprised and initially thought it was a little bit of a cliché but these thoughts were quickly swept away with happy thoughts of how romantic Ben was in a very classic way.

As I headed upstairs I opened the little card that comes with it:

“Love you lots, love Rob xxx”

Who the hell is Rob?? They must have confused the cards! That’s all I could think. As I headed back to the office one of my colleagues saw the flowers and commented how lovely. I told him about the card and said how strange it was. He burst out laughing and said “Rob is the other Anna’s partner”.

Oh. My. God. Reception rang the WRONG Anna (there are two Anna’s in our office) and gave me her flowers. So I walked back into the office, sheepishly gave the other Anna her flowers and apologised for opening them. How embarrassing is that? The whole office thought it was hilarious. I did find it quite amusing (after my cheeks had faded from the beetroot colour). I mean, you have to laugh, right? I told Ben and he felt really bad.

As he should

So that’s my week. I’ll do a recap on my running at the weekend – it’s been a hard week! And I have a 10 mile run planned for tomorrow morning so finger’s crossed it goes well.

Did you celebrate Pancake Tuesday? What kind of pancake did you have?

Did you enjoy Valentine’s Day? Any surprises?

What would you make for a bake off?

February 11, 2013

My Skiing Adventures

Hi guys! Sorry for my lack of posts, we are now back from our week of skiing in Bulgaria. We got back late Saturday night (2am UK time, 4am Bulgarian time – which was the time that our bodies were still in) so we were quite tired!! So I’d thought I’d do a recap post to tell you all about it if you don’t mind

The taxi picked us up from our house 11ish so I had enough time to get up early to get in one last run before having a week off. Yes, I know, sounds a bit obsessive but I thought if I was just sat travelling all day it would be nice to think I got a run in the morning! So I ran my first ever 12 miles and was fairly chuffed with my speed.

It was quite a tough run, I’m not going to lie. By mile 8 I was feeling fairly tired. But I got there in the end about 8 minute a mile. This is the speed I’m planning for the half marathon and I know shouldn’t be running this speed already on my long runs but it just came naturally to me so I’m thinking I might aim to go quicker on race day. Not sure though as honestly I felt absolutely shattered at the end. I did lots of foam rolling at home afterwards!!

We got to the airport just after midday and by the time we got through security it was lunch-time. We decided on Jamie’s Italian (yes, I know, I am little bit obsessed with this restaurant at the moment!)

I had a vegetable plank to start, which was so yummy.

I loved that they put this in the middle of the table…as if I was sharing it. Ha! There was a small ball of mozzarella and a slice of fontina cheese, some chutneys, roasted vegetables and a mini carrot salad. Oh I do love variety!

Then for main course I had my standard turkey Milanese. I just absolutely adore this dish (it’s my third time having it…)

So huge! And so filling. Perfect for a long day of travelling.

We then caught our flight and then had a three hour coach journey to the resort. By the time we arrived it was around midnight. We were shattered! My legs also ached a lot from the run which wasn’t so great. It was 2am Bulgarian time and we had to set our alarms for 7am to get up for breakfast and meet our group to get our skis and boots etc. at 8.45am.

I’ll talk more about the food on Wednesday for WIAW as otherwise this post will be huge. But let’s just say I’m not a huge fan of the Bulgarian food!!

The first day was very stressful. Getting up after so little sleep, rushing to meet with our group, queuing for all our bits and pieces, then meeting with our tuition group…I felt so frazzled. Then Ben and I got split up in our groups because Ben was a better skier than me (he’s been three times before) and I felt a bit lost without him if I’m honest. This was my first time skiing on snow and I was already stressed and tired so I wasn’t too happy to start with!

However, after Ben managed to calm an emotional Anna down and I began properly skiing I loved it. After flying (read: slowly winding) my way down the first slopes, I was hooked and it no longer mattered that Ben and I were apart.

And it was just beautiful. I had to keep pinching myself when I was skiing down the slopes and just seeing the views in the distance. So beautiful.

Each morning we got up early, had breakfast and got to the slopes as soon as we possibly could. We were skiing by 9am together before our tuition began at 10am. Then 12am we broke for lunch and Ben and me would try and get a couple of slopes in before the lessons began again at 1pm and finished at 3pm. Then Ben and I would meet up again and ski until 4pm. Needless to say we were shattered by the end of the day. Literally we would fall asleep at 9pm. Now for me this is no big deal (hello, I’m an old lady) but for Ben this is CRAZY talk. And in the morning our legs ached like crazy. My calves were SO tight.

But we loved it.

Thankfully I wasn’t in the beginner’s group where they were taught the absolutely basics. I was in the intermediate group and we were taught how to parallel turn and basically improve. Though my moves are by no mean perfect, I can happily say that after the first couple of days I looked like a proper skier (not an expert, but I didn’t look like an absolute newbie!) Ben was amazing. He was a smooth criminal with his skiing and he even got to go down a black run on the last day! I got to go down some reds so I’m happy

I just couldn’t believe the views. It was terrifying seeing the heights we were going when we took the different chair lifts up. I only made it to the middle of the mountain but that was just phenomenal (Ben got to the top and he said it was just another world up there). Do you know what else was terrifying? Trying to take a photo of the views when on said chair lifts. This involved a lot of careful navigating of ski poles, gloves and phone. Scary stuff.

And yes, I fell over – a fair few times I’m proud to say! Nothing major, no broken bones thankfully. It didn’t hurt at all to be honest. The snow was like a big pillow. It did dent my ego a little but, hey, I’m still learning! My instructor gave me a great compliment when he asked if I was in training for something as he said I was able to jump straight back up and carry on so easily. So there’s a silver lining!

Our hotel wasn’t the greatest I have to say. But we weren’t there for that so we shrugged it off as something to improve on next time. We already know we want to go back to the same place and we chatted around to different people and know the hotel we want to go to. So we’re putting it down to experience!

I had a couple of lovely massages though in the spa (which I definitely needed). I had a Swedish massage and an anti-stress massage. But can I just say that having a Bulgarian masseuse who doesn’t speak much English makes getting a massage a little bit awkward…

So I’m hooked! I love skiing and will definitely be doing it again. Probably next year and in Bulgarian again. It was so cheap there (all the gear and lessons) and the slopes were amazing, the snow perfect and the experience just unforgettable.

But I am knackered! We had today (Monday) off to recover and we definitely needed it. It’s back to work tomorrow unfortunately but such is life!

Have you been skiing before?

Have you been to Bulgaria before? To be honest we would have never gone there ordinarily if it wasn’t for skiing.

Do you prefer more active holidays or really relaxing holidays? I’m definitely a more active holiday fan!

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?

January 28, 2013

Moonlight running

Happy Monday all. Aren’t we all chuffed the weekend ended so quickly and we’re back to Monday again. No? Yeah me neither.

I feel shattered today. Just completely drained. I should have listened to my body this morning and not run. I did a 10 mile run (first time ever!) on Saturday morning and I don’t think I’ve fully recovered. But I pushed myself to get up early (5.45am, gargh!) and ran 6 miles.

It was hard work. Harder than the 10 miles can you believe! And because I tried a different route I ended up running down a very long stretch of road that had no street lights. Literally like running with my eyes closed. The only light came from the moon! And the occasional car. It was really quite scary. In the end I used my IPhone to light up the ground so I could see where I was running and also to make myself known to any cars flying past.

I managed to completely it in just over 48 minutes so I’m happy with the speed but I didn’t feel particularly good afterwards. I just felt drained. I had planned to run 5 miles tomorrow but I’ve decided against it. Just need to let my body recover and get back up to 100% again. I definitely do not want to have an injury.

Anyway, Maria from Running Cupcake nominated me for the Liebster Award and I know I’ve already done this but I do love the survey style blogs…So I thought I’d do this my own way and simply answer the questions Maria posed.

1. Ideal holiday destination? I like a bit of an adventure and activity, so maybe travelling around somewhere in East Asia as I’ve never been there before and I think it would be exciting. I’m not a lay-on-the-beach-and-do-nothing kinda girl so I need some sort of activity or adventure.

2. Favourite weather? Without doubt WARM SUMMER weather. Weather that you don’t need a coat, umbrella or wellies for.

3. Coffee or tea? Ooooh. I prefer black coffee in the morning but then black tea with milk later on. I think I’d have to say tea as that includes peppermint and I love peppermint.

4. What magazines do you read? Runners World, Zest, Good Food, sometimes Glamour. I don’t tend to buy a lot of magazines though on a regular basis.

5. Favourite place to eat out at? A Jamie Oliver restaurant. But normally a nice pub with a good menu (ideally with a mezze platter…mmm hummus).

6. Favourite show to see? Erm, I’m not sure. I don’t tend to go to see shows that often. Maybe something like Billy Elliot would be good.

7. Would would you order in my cafe? (Bearing in mind I mainly serve tea and baked goods). So I would obviously have tea then! Haha. White, no sugar. And a big slice (unashamedly HUGE) of Victoria sponge cake. Or maybe a big scone with a dollop of jam and clotted cream.

8. Do you prefer to exercise alone, or in a class, or with other people? I like having a run on my own and setting my own pace for most of the time but I do enjoy running in a group. The time passes quickly and it’s nice to keep each other going. But in terms of meeting certain targets and pacing myself well, it has to be by myself.

9. Favourite meal? Arghh, this is too difficult! OK, probably a big rack of sticky BBQ ribs and sweet potato fries. Inside me there’s a fat girl trying to get out But a ‘normal’ everyday meal at the moment is my new found pumpkin and pineapple chicken meal.

10. What is your favourite thing about blogs (writing or reading)? I love the community and the knowledge share. I would never have found out about cauliflower mash or foam rolling or pacing for runs. I love it when you get some lovely comments as well. I am always so chuffed when someone writes something lovely on one of my posts.

11. What will do to celebrate your birthday this year? Probably go out for a nice meal with my family. Good food, good company.

Oops just realised this blog has no photos. Hmmm. Let me see.

There we go. That’s better. A tired Alfie after a long day of doing nothing. It’s a hard life being a dog!

Do you avoid running when it’s dark?

Answer one of the questions above if you like, I love finding out more about my readers!

January 26, 2013

Up ‘North’ on business

Happy weekend all! I’m so glad it’s the weekend. This week has been fairly busy. I left the office on Wednesday afternoon to drive up to Derbyshire as we had a customer workshop Thursday and Friday. Now I live in the South (of England), Southampton to be exact. I would class myself, obviously, as a Southerner. And I know Derbyshire isn’t actually in the North, it’s in the Midlands. However, anywhere past Reading is pretty much North for a Southerner. So it felt quite northern to me! I love the northern (and midland!) charm that people have – the more-willing-to-help and polite people seem to be. Southerners can get swept up in the rat race and become a bit impersonal. So it was nice to be there.

But anyway, we got there around 7ish, checked in and then headed out to find some food. I Googled the area and found there just so happened to be a Jamie’s Italian nearby… After a nightmare of driving around trying to find a car park nearby (literally seeing the restaurant but not actually being able to get to it). Finally after parking and walking in the FREEZING cold (it’s colder up north ) we made it!

I straight away needed a hot drink so ordered a peppermint tea. It came in this beautiful heavy little tea pot. I asked the waitress where I could buy one but she couldn’t remember. Ahh well.

Sorry for the terrible photos, the lighting was terrible and I only had my IPhone.

And then we were seated. I ordered mini chilli’s stuffed with tuna and herbs with the starter.

Now call me boring but I already knew what I wanted for the main as I’ve already been to Jamie’s before for my hen do and I loved what I ate then. So I went for it again: the turkey Milanese.

Again, appalling photo. Basically it was turkey with a light crumb topping with mozzarella in the middle and an egg on top. Ohhh it was just as good, maybe even better, than I remembered!

Then we went back to the hotel and to our rooms.

Though the bed was lovely and comfortable I just couldn’t sleep. It’s really hard without Ben and without my usual home comforts. And what was really annoying was in the morning I could hear other people’s alarms going off, like the vibration and standard IPhone ringtones. I’m such a light sleeper it woke me up (30 mins before my own alarm). And what was worse was that one of the people was clearly having issues getting up as they kept snoozing it. I wasn’t happy.

The hotel had a gym so I thought I’d keep up with my running schedule and run on the treadmill.

I am hugely impressed with anyone who runs regularly on a the treadmill, and for long distances. I forgot how much I hate it. I like to zone out and just run, occasionally checking my Garmin for pacing and times. I hate having the stats right in front of me. I find myself counting down either seconds or 0.1 of miles. Seriously I couldn’t run further than 3 miles, and that was hard work.

So I pretty much ran 3 miles, starting at a pace of 8.30mins/mile and then jumping it up to 7.30min for around 1-2mins throughout to get some intervals in. Normally I find this absolutely fine outside, in fact I tend to run faster intervals. But honestly, I just couldn’t bear it.

Then it was shower and, because we were with a customer, time to look smart!

And then breakfast time.

No porridge for me. All they had was the makings for a full English, cereal, toast and fruit. So I had a plate of bacon, scrambled egg, tomatoes, mushrooms and a cheeky bit of black pudding. And then had a bowl of fruit salad afterwards. It was good but it definitely didn’t fill me up as well as oatmeal usually does.

Then on to our meeting in the world’s warmest room. I’d much rather be too warm than too cold but even I was starting to get a sweat on in this tiny room where 12 other people were crammed in. And then a buffet lunch. I hate buffets. I love them, but I hate them. I like to have a plate full of food and leave it there but with a buffet you go for a little bit and then a little bit more and before you know it you’ve had about two large platefuls! Well, maybe you have more restraint than me?

This is the only photo I could sneakily take without my fellow colleagues looking at me like I’d lost my mind. Believe me when I say this really wasn’t it…I said last post I’m more of a protein lover than a carb lover and I felt quite bloated and uncomfortable after eating so much bread as I’m just not that used to it. OK the above doesn’t really show much of a carb fest going on, but bare in mind this was one of the plates I had…

Then after a long afternoon of a continuation of the long, warm meeting we headed back to the hotel and decided to just eat there as it was a lot easier than venturing out into the cold again and going through that painful process of parking and walking miles.

For starter I had salt and pepper squid with a chilli jam sauce. Again poor photo due to trying to be inconspicuous.

And for main I had a Moroccan chickpea stew with couscous.

Both courses were really good, surprisingly good actually as I usually find restaurants at standard hotels aren’t that good. I was missing my normal food from home though. I know that sounds silly but though I enjoy eating out and eating different food from usual, I find it quite taxing (maybe not the right word) when it’s every single meal. I don’t usually eat a big meal in the evening and so when we parted to go to our rooms I needed to stay up to just digest. Which actually wasn’t an issue considering my room had Sky! What a luxury! Actually my room was pretty darn good. All the coffee and tea was Starbucks! So obviously I took some home with me…

How generous is that??

I wasn’t planning on doing another run at the gym the next morning but just wanted to mosey around at the weights and maybe do some rowing as I quite enjoy that and I never usually get the chance to go to a gym. However, I woke up raring to go and jumped on the treadmill (OK maybe not jumped) and did some really good intervals (7min/mile!) for three miles with a warm down. Still boring as hell but I had the energy to fuel me (all those carbs I expect).

Though I wasn’t in the gym mega early – only 7am, it was still a surprise to see so many people at that time in the morning. Normally in the week when I go out to run in the morning no one is about and it’s dark and quiet. It was a shock getting into the gym and it’s practically pulsating with all this energy and movement going on. I just wasn’t prepared. I barely say good morning to my husband at this time in the morning let alone have full on conversations about what I go up to last night.

I had some time so I thought I’d have a look around as it was quite a big gym with loads of equipment. I found myself a Power Plate! I’ve never used one before but had always been intrigued.

It was the strangest feeling, all that vibration going on and trying to do squats and lunges. Not entirely pleasant I must say. I managed two sets of squats and lunges and called it a day. Maybe I’ll try again some time but I just wasn’t sure about it.

Then another day of meetings (and another buffet) then a long drive home. I was so glad to be back home with Ben and Alfie. I just made myself a quick omelette for dinner and went to bed.

I do enjoy going away for business and staying in hotels and eating out but it gets tiring. You miss the comforts you’re so used to at home…that night-time hot chocolate, good night kiss from the husband and the furry dog lying on your chest in the morning staring you down waiting for his walk. You forget how lovely home until you’ve been away

Do you go away on business a lot?

Do you enjoy staying in hotels?

What do you prefer: running outside or on the treadmill?