Running - AnnaTheApple

July 16, 2012July 16, 2012

Another attempt at Victoria Sponge

Is it Monday already? How did that happen?? Where did the weekend go?

I did not want to get up this morning at 5.30am for my run. Too dark, too tired, too cold – well not that cold, but not as warm as my lovely bed! But I forced myself out of bed and got Alfie up as well for his walk. Not that Alfie needs much encouragement to be honest. As soon as I stumble out of bed he is bang awake and ready to go. I suppose you would do if you slept 16 hours a day like he does…

I was still aching from my long run on Saturday so I took it easy and it was quite a pleasant easy-going run. I just let my mind wander and didn’t put much thought into it to be honest.

Yesterday I ached so much from my run. I might have pushed myself a bit too hard as I really felt it in my hip, which I guess is never good!

I got busy baking on Saturday evening as both mothers were coming over the next day after church to talk all things wedding. So I made some mini-Victoria sponges using a variation of this recipe. Honestly, I’m not that good at baking. Now this fully depresses me as I love cooking. I can cook up some really tasty meals (if I do say so myself!) But when it comes to baking…well, I always manage to do something wrong. Look what happened to my normal Victoria Sponge I made a few weeks ago:

In theory it was going to be perfect – homemade jam and everything *sighs*.

Anyway, so I made some mini-Victoria sponges in the hope that because they were smaller there would be less room for error:

They looked pretty good…but then I realised my error:

They were all the same size and would be far too big to make up the two sandwiches for the mini-cakes. *Sighs* So I improvised…not nearly as beautiful and wonderful as the recipe picture, but yummy none-the-less. The mothers were happy and that’s all that matters!!

Well, I hope to improve with time on the baking front. There is definitely enough inspiration out there to help me along. I’m always looking at other blogger’s websites with my mouth open going “how do they make them so perfect and delicious looking?” So please bear with me (if anyone is there at all, hehe).

July 14, 2012July 24, 2012

Fuelled by go-go juice

I do love Saturdays where you have nothing planned. It’s nice to take a day just to ‘reset’ yourself, you know? Do all those bits and bobs you couldn’t do in the week because you were too busy earning a living. Not to mention a cheeky little lie-in!

The meal out last night was good. Though I was a tad disappointed with the starter I’d chosen. Goat’s cheese crostini:

Apologies for the blurry picture: I was trying to take a photo quickly before I looked odd in front of Ben’s mum. Also, it’s one third of the way through as I’d forgotten to photograph it. I was hoping for a larger goat’s cheese to bread ratio. And they were a bit heavy-handed on the chutney. That’s not to say I didn’t clean the plate!

I went for something I wouldn’t usually go for for the main course:

Duck with butternut squash and pomegranate and mango salsa. I never go for duck but I just loved the sound of the salsa. It was very good, but I do prefer chicken or turkey. There is a sneaky chip that found it’s way from Ben’s plate on to my plate as well…no idea how it got there…

Anywho, this morning I was planning to go for a 6 mile run. But I extended it to 9.4miles as I really got in the swing of it.

Really chuffed with how it went. However, literally as my Garmin beeped to tell me I’d hit the 6mile point the heavens opened up on me and I got absolutely drenched. Not just mildly damp. Full-on soaked through to my undies (sorry, too much information?). It got to the point where I just didn’t bother jumping the puddles. I squelched all the way home. Was I being punished for doing more than 6miles?? Well, there’s nothing like a bit of downpour to get you moving. It really spurred me on to get home.

This is me post-run. Literally, I am soaked. My leggings are usually grey!! Now my best look I have to say…no judgement please.

I also tried out a new sports drink. Now, I’m more of a purist to be honest. Plain water is just fine. However, I got these water tablets free with a magazine and I thought I’d give them a go.

Though the taste wasn’t amazing (a bit like watered down squash with a weird after-taste) I really think it helped my run. Whether this is all psychological, I’m not sure. But I’m going to give them a go when I go for my 6mile-plus runs. I don’t take water with me for anything less than that but when I go out longer I always need water (made the mistake of forgetting water on a long run once and had to stop at a pub and beg for water…not my finest hour!).

Right, I thought I might leave you with a photo of our little dog Alfie. After peeling off my sodden socks after the run, the cheeky beggar made a grab for it. He looked so cute I had to take a couple of photos.

July 13, 2012July 24, 2012

Fabulous Friday!

Hurrah, it’s finally Friday! It’s been a tough old week (emotional breakdowns aside). But it’s Friday and almost home-time (yes, I should be working right now…whoops). I think the best part of the weekends are definitely that second you walk through the door at home after getting back from work. The whole weekend is in front of you. More sleep, more time to cook meals, and general relaxation. Oh, and housework. But I’m on of those funny people who enjoys housework (most of the time). I’m a bit OCD like that so it fits in nicely with that side of my personality. Hey, we’re all different!

Yesterday morning Ben and me dodged the rain (a difficult task these days) and went for an early morning run. Ben has just got back into running so he doesn’t quite leap out of bed like I do at 5.30am. It takes a bit of coaxing… It’s so nice to run with someone else. A 6am run can be a lonely place when you’re running. Without being disparaging towards Ben, I am faster than him and find it easier to run as he gave up running for a period of time a couple of months ago. So running at his pace doesn’t quite tax me as much, but I don’t mind because it’s just nice to have the company! We did split off in the end as I wanted go on for a bit longer so I was able to speed up a little more.

So the run wasn’t my fastest but the enjoyment level of having someone else to run with made up for it. I’m just chuffed he’s running again

This morning I did some weights:

· 3 sets of 12 x lunges per leg (5k)

· 3 sets of 12 x bent-over row (5kg)

· 3 sets of 12 x tricep kickbacks per arm (5kg)

· 40 x sit-ups

· 3 sets of 12 x sit-ups with 2.5kg weight

· 40 x bicycle sit-ups

· 1 plank (1 minute)

Really getting into my weights again. I stopped for a while but with the wedding coming up I thought I’d best get back into it for some good toning! It’s always tough doing weight training at home though because the distractions are endless. During my 30 second breaks between sets I’m like “ooh there’s a bit of washing I can fold up” or just gaze out of the window instead. When I went to the gym I was always focused because the quicker you were done the quicker you’d get out of there and get home. Not quite the same incentive when you’re already at home!! But I set myself a time and a bunch of exercises I want to get done and try and focus that way.

I’m looking forward to tonight as we’re off out for a meal with Ben’s mum to one of our favourite gastro pubs, The Titchfield Mill. I’ve already perused the menu and know what I’m going to have…

Does anyone else do that – check the menu for a restaurant and decide what you’re having before getting there??

July 11, 2012

Yep, I’m that girl…

Terrible day at work yesterday. Do you ever get those days where everything just gets on top of you and you feel like you can’t cope? Well, that was me yesterday. Obviously a mature way of dealing with it would not be to burst into tears. However, that’s exactly what I did. You can feel it happening and there’s nothing you can do to stop it. I know it’s incredibly stupid to get so worked up about something like work but that’s just me. I’m a perfectionist and hate feeling like I don’t understand something or feel like I don’t know what I’m doing.

I guess there’s always one emotionally unstable person at work, and I’m that girl for my office!

On a brighter note… My early morning run on Tuesday was one of those ‘air punching’ runs. Maybe not right after I finished as I was close to keeling over at that point. But a few minutes later there was definitely a happy feeling. I really made the conscious effort to really push myself. It’s so easy to ‘go through the motions’ and just sleepwalk your way through a run. OK, maybe not sleepwalk but mindlessly running, if you know what I mean. Instead I found myself several times during each mile pinpointing a lamppost or a wheelie bin in the distance and picking up my pace to get to it. Then slowing down a bit afterwards and continuing on at my comfortable pace. By the end of the run I was shattered, achy and sweaty. And managed to average around 8 minute a mile for each mile (just over 5 miles in total)! My comfortable pace is around 8mins30secs so this really was good for me.

It’s always nice to know that no matter how tough work is or how much I panic over it, I can always go on an amazing run and just free my mind.