Yesterday as you know was a 30 minute easy run, I decided to go a route into town I hadn't taken before which meant going under the shopping centre and running the whole length of the high st. Whilst I was on my run I started to think about all the things I was seeing like the man who ate a pasty down SO fast that he vomited some back up on the pavement as I went past (gross) and all the things I really hate about running outdoors.
I started making a list of it all in my brain ready to tell you about and it seemed to help the time pass faster so here it is:
1. People sitting in cafes/out walking/shopping/doing nothing on street corners who shout things at you. - I might not be the best runner in the world but I'm trying! Yesterday 2 people shouted things at me (I have an iPod on but not so loud that I can't hear things as that would be pretty dangerous). This only happens when I run on the high st like its a weird sight or something? Maybe its just the town where I live but I wonder if that sort of thing happens to other people too?
2. People who take up the whole pavement despite the fact its wide enough for 2 people to pass easily. This is really annoying, I don't want to have to jump in front of traffic and nearly kill myself or have to slow down and stop until I can get around you. Usually when you do get round them they look at you like you are so rude despite the fact that you were no where near them and in the road when you came past.
3. DOG POO. If you have a dog, don't let it poo on the pavement and then just leave it there. Its hard enough for me to run and carry on without dodging round doggy treats.
4. Getting honked at for crossing a road when a car is turning in there.... clearly I wouldn't have run accross there if you'd put your indicator on or slowed down - I'm not a mind reader!!!
5. Cars that bank up on the pavement when you are running there - particularly a problem when its a narrow pavement and you don't really want to get run over.
6. Cyclists on the pavement. This really winds me up, the pavement is for people not for bikes, if you don't want to cycle on the road then you have to get off your bike to walk along the pavement. I had a filthy look from a cyclist for getting in their way yesterday.
7. Pedestrians with headphones in and music on so loud that they can't hear you coming or you saying "excuse me" super loud when you need to get by.
I sound like a right moaner but in a 30 minute run I think you'll agree all of that would get on your nerves!
Anyway the run yesterday was alright, I had to stop after 8 minutes to tie up my shoe lace which was a bit of a bummer as when I started again I realised how tight and crampy my calves were, that pain and the fact it was quite muggy aside the run was fine I didn't feel tired or very out of breath so that was good.
What's not so good is that when I finished I could feel a sharp pain in my left calf, just where the muscle meets the shin bone at the front. I don't think its shin splints as its more to the side but it is very painful. I've got a comperssion bandage on it this morning but just sitting down now I can feel it. I would say running tomorrow is out of the question so I'll get cardio in using the bikes at the gym and do a threshold cycle on that instead. I'll have to see how likely a run is on Sunday too but if my calf is still painful I'll rest and then restart week 4 of training next Tuesday. I just don't want to run through it and make it worse.
Will keep you updated.
Wednesday, 27 June 2012
Monday, 25 June 2012
Week 3 Round Up
Thursday's run was hard, 4 minute "easy" 6 minutes at threshold/hm pace to a total of 30 minutes - I struggled. My heart rate is still going up very quickly at easy run pace and I ended up with alot of cramp in my calves when going at the slower pace. When I had completed the 30 minutes and started my few minutes walk home I noticed that my feet felt sort of numb/tingly which isn't normal. Before you suggest it no my shoelaces weren't tied to tight but I have no idea why this is suddenly happening, I suspect it might be related to the calf cramps - might google it but I'll probably end up convincing myself that my legs need amputating or something so I think I'll just see how I go, hopefully it will pass.
Friday I did Yoga instead of doing it Saturday as we were busy. Not noticing any real improvement but I think I should just be patient and let my body adapt in time.
Saturday we went shopping for bits and bobs for the new house, I did go to a nike outlet hoping to get some new things for training but the selection was rubbish and I came out with one pair of running socks.
Sunday was a 40 minute "easy" run, sorry if me putting easy in inverted commas is getting annoying but I honestly can't say that any running feels the least bit easy for me and if anything it feels like its getting much harder? Last weeks 40 minute run was good, I didn't really ache anywhere too much and I didn't feel like I was going to die cardio wise either - not the case this week. I ran with Mr D again and as we were in Watford he was more confident about running ahead as he knew where he was going, that was better for me as I can't concentrate when he's running alongside me.
I didn't feel comfortable at all and I couldn't just zone out from running like I have done before and think of other things to while away the time, ever step I was thinking about how long I thought I'd been running and how much pain I was feeling in my legs. I sort of think that if anything this should be getting easier... I already knew that I could run for 40 minutes, I've done it before so why am I struggling so much now? I think some of it is me wanting to get better fast. Its only been 3 weeks I can't expect miracles but then I think that I'm a quarter of the way through and maybe I should be doing better?
Anyway lets not dwell too much, I did it and that's the main thing. This week looks like this:
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 30 min easy
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: 8 min easy 8 min threshold/hm pace x 2
Friday: Rest
Saturday: X train
Sunday: 50 minute easy
I've got a few concerns this week. First one is obviously that 50 minute run, that looks terrifying. The second problem is that I'm away for work on Thursday and Friday (big work dinner that night), Saturday its my cousins 21st Birthday and we're having lunch in the day and then going out on Saturday night and then on Sunday we have to get back home and ready for the week.
I think I'll have to do the tempo run on a treadmill which isn't ideal but at least I can run HM pace rather than HR threshold, but I HATE running on the treadmill, hopefully I'll get through it. The other problem is what time I'll end up getting home on Sunday and how rough I'll be feeling from the night out! I might not drink so I can get a run in early but I'll be staying with my sister and I am not at all familiar with the area and planning a 50 minute route where you easily could get lost is not ideal.
The other option is to swap the run to Saturday and try and run the whole 50 minutes on the treadmill - I think I'll have to see how Thursdays treadmill run goes before deciding what's best.
The last problem is that today I think I'm sick. I was up all night on the verge of vomming and this morning I have been sick, not sure what the problem is but I hope it goes away quick because I've got training to do!
In other news I've also been told about the concept of eating more to weigh less by a friend on a weight loss forum. I'm still reading up about it to get a good understanding of it all but I'll be blogging about that soon too.
Friday I did Yoga instead of doing it Saturday as we were busy. Not noticing any real improvement but I think I should just be patient and let my body adapt in time.
Saturday we went shopping for bits and bobs for the new house, I did go to a nike outlet hoping to get some new things for training but the selection was rubbish and I came out with one pair of running socks.
Sunday was a 40 minute "easy" run, sorry if me putting easy in inverted commas is getting annoying but I honestly can't say that any running feels the least bit easy for me and if anything it feels like its getting much harder? Last weeks 40 minute run was good, I didn't really ache anywhere too much and I didn't feel like I was going to die cardio wise either - not the case this week. I ran with Mr D again and as we were in Watford he was more confident about running ahead as he knew where he was going, that was better for me as I can't concentrate when he's running alongside me.
I didn't feel comfortable at all and I couldn't just zone out from running like I have done before and think of other things to while away the time, ever step I was thinking about how long I thought I'd been running and how much pain I was feeling in my legs. I sort of think that if anything this should be getting easier... I already knew that I could run for 40 minutes, I've done it before so why am I struggling so much now? I think some of it is me wanting to get better fast. Its only been 3 weeks I can't expect miracles but then I think that I'm a quarter of the way through and maybe I should be doing better?
Anyway lets not dwell too much, I did it and that's the main thing. This week looks like this:
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 30 min easy
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: 8 min easy 8 min threshold/hm pace x 2
Friday: Rest
Saturday: X train
Sunday: 50 minute easy
I've got a few concerns this week. First one is obviously that 50 minute run, that looks terrifying. The second problem is that I'm away for work on Thursday and Friday (big work dinner that night), Saturday its my cousins 21st Birthday and we're having lunch in the day and then going out on Saturday night and then on Sunday we have to get back home and ready for the week.
I think I'll have to do the tempo run on a treadmill which isn't ideal but at least I can run HM pace rather than HR threshold, but I HATE running on the treadmill, hopefully I'll get through it. The other problem is what time I'll end up getting home on Sunday and how rough I'll be feeling from the night out! I might not drink so I can get a run in early but I'll be staying with my sister and I am not at all familiar with the area and planning a 50 minute route where you easily could get lost is not ideal.
The other option is to swap the run to Saturday and try and run the whole 50 minutes on the treadmill - I think I'll have to see how Thursdays treadmill run goes before deciding what's best.
The last problem is that today I think I'm sick. I was up all night on the verge of vomming and this morning I have been sick, not sure what the problem is but I hope it goes away quick because I've got training to do!
In other news I've also been told about the concept of eating more to weigh less by a friend on a weight loss forum. I'm still reading up about it to get a good understanding of it all but I'll be blogging about that soon too.
Thursday, 21 June 2012
A Surprise Weigh In
well obviously the weigh in itself wasn't a surprise as I decided to hop on the scales today instead of tomorrow because I quite often forget on Friday morning and end up weighing later in the day. Lately when I have been weighing I've just tapped the scales and hopped on but today I decided to weigh using the proper settings which I haven't done in a while! I can't remember what all of the stats were but here's the best bit:
Weight: 7st 11 (dead)
Fat: 1 st 13 !!!
The last recording I can find of my weight using all the functions was here when my fat was 2st2 so I'm really happy with that. Must remember to use all the functions from now on to keep an eye on that.
Anyway here's what I've been eating the last few days:
That's Monday's breakfast, 40 g oatbran and 20g trail mix, one heaped teaspoon of 4 seed mix, that was made up with 100ml semi skimmed milk.
Monday Lunch was a plate of rocket salad with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil 6 falafel bites, 80g carrot sticks a heaped teaspoon of organic hummus and a Cathedral City snack cheese.
On Monday night I do our shop for the week and here it is!
For dinner we had the stir fry we had on Friday with some chopped green cabbage added in, no rice or noddles and I made the sauce myself from Rice Wine, organic honey, and soya sauce mmmmm.
20g oatbran 20g organic oats, 20g pineapple (urban fruit) some coconut shavings from my bag of train mix and one heaped teaspoon of mixed seeds. This was lush.
Lunch was leftover chicken roast:
Weight: 7st 11 (dead)
Fat: 1 st 13 !!!
The last recording I can find of my weight using all the functions was here when my fat was 2st2 so I'm really happy with that. Must remember to use all the functions from now on to keep an eye on that.
Anyway here's what I've been eating the last few days:
Tuesday Breakfast looked like this:
That's 20g oatbran, 20g organic oats and a punnet of graze shangri la on top - it was delish.
Lunch was the same as the day before:
Still just as yummy the next day.
I had a PB bagel for a snack before my run home:
For dinner we had a Bill Grange Chicken Roast which you can get the recipe for here I don't use as many potatoes as him and I had no shallots so just used one white onion but it was still ace. We had that with green salad and one wholemeal roll each.
Wednesday breakfast:
Lunch was leftover chicken roast:
That picture isn't great, Mr D added the salad and clearly just chucked it on the top! I also had a snack cheese.
I forgot to get a picture of dinner, it was minestrone soup which is fast becoming one of my favourite meals, its delicious, fast and really easy. I'll try to remember to get a picture at lunch today.
Well that's probably enough food for one day isn't it? On Tuesday my training plan called for a 30 min easy run, now that should have been find, I managed 40 minutes on Sunday reasonably well but for some reason I was struggling, pain in both knees that wasn't really shifting and really bad cramp in both calves. Will make sure I really have a good stretch before today's run.
Speaking of which today I'm down for 4 minutes easy run/walk 6 minutes HM pace/threshold. Now I've been reading about threshold training in a BRILLIANT new book called "Real Women Run" by Sam Murphy. Threshold pace should be about 85% of max. heart rate and she describes this as "comfortably hard or "controlled discomfort". I'd definitely say that when I did this type of run last Thursday I was both hard and uncomfortable! Anyway, 85% of my max heart rate is 164 (220 - my age 27 = 193 x 85%) but as soon as I start running my heart rate is always above that or higher? Last Thursday when I trained as I ran the faster 5 minutes my HR was nearly 190!? I'm not sure what to do about this as I can't just run my "easy" pace and stay around 164bpm ..... Might need a bit of help on this one. how am I that unfit?
Monday, 18 June 2012
Week 2 Round Up
It's Monday and that means its the start of week 3 of my half marathon training. When I first looked at the plan I couldn't believe that first of all I'd have to run for 30 minutes non stop in my very first session regardless of the pace and that at the end of week 2 I've had to run for 40 minutes non stop, I almost gave up before I started.
Before I get into how that run went here's how food looked on Friday:
Breakfast was 40g oatbran, 100ml semi skimmed milk, a heaped teaspoon of 4 seed mix, 20g of dried mango and a few strips of dry coconut shavings from my trail mix, it was delicious.
Lunch was the same as Thursday, one wholemeal pitta (no spread/butter) 2 slices of mustard coated ham, one mini red pepper, one mini orange pepper, a 3" chunk of cucumber and a heaped teaspoon of organic houmous.
I got halfway through my wholemeal seeded bagel with organic crunchy peanut butter and a little coating of banana coins when I suddenly remembered to take a photo so apologies for the half munched look! I wouldn't normally have something like that on a non run day but the last half would have gone rank in my office cupboard over the weekend and I needed to try and get all my calories eaten too so it seemed like a good option.
Dinner was a Chinese beef, broccoli and cabbage stir fry it was utterly delish! No noodles so I didn't have that gross tired full feeling afterwards which was just as well seeing as I had to drive back to Wales straight away.
Food this weekend has been mixed, Saturday night was my treat meal so I had 2 poppadoms, half a serving of chicken tikka masala, 2 spoons of boiled rice (incidentally did you know that pilau rice is the equivalent in calories of a portion of boiled rice with a CHEESEBURGER in it?? Bleurgh) a quarter of a peshwari naan and half a serving of chana aloo (curried chickpeas and potato). It was yum and guilt free! I also had one small white wine and soda as I was running on Sunday morning.
Sunday I had one slice of wholemeal toast with olive oil spread and a banana chopped up on top about an hour before we went running. Lunch was a roast made by my mum, I had a chicken breast, 2 roast potatoes, one yorkshire pudding, loads of veggies and a little drizzle of gravy mmmmm. For pudding everyone had some chocolate fondants I'd made and stuck in the freezer, I passed as my treat meal was Saturday, and for dinner I had the other half of the chana aloo from Saturday night.
Saturday I decided to do my Yoga dvd again as my X training session. I'm really starting to love this. Each time I do it I'm getting a little deeper into the movements and I love the feeling of bringing length and strength to my muscles whilst also having a bit of time to myself to be quiet and relax. Its brilliant I really can't recommend it enough.
Sunday was long run day.... Mr D decided he wanted to run too and whilst its so sweet that he's trying to support me it does really make me feel down that he shoots off ahead despite the fact that he's not exactly athletic or super fit. I just have to keep telling myself that yes I probably could go faster but that's not the aim of the easy/steady runs, its just to be able to run for a specified amount of time without completely knackering myself out!
Anyway I was pretty worried about running for 40 minutes especially after 5 easy/5 pace run on Thursday, put that together with having little time for warm up stretches and I started off feeling a bit pessimistic about the whole thing.
As we were in Wales this weekend at least we had a change of scenery and I'd been on map my run for ideas of where to run, we started off in the park:
Not bad is it? Then towards the high st and over the Monnow Bridge:
Along the main road, did a loop around a housing estate, back over the bridge, up the high street, past Monmouth Boy's School:
And back through the park to where we started.
I ran for the full 40 minutes and when we finished Mr D and I had a little walk around the park together and talked about how we found the run and noticed that neither of us were out of breath or in as bad a state as we'd thought! I had a few niggly pains in my knees but those seem to have gone this morning and I'm pleased to report I wasn't as purple as normal either - RESULT! Anyway, my Nike + tells me the run was 6.79km which I'm pleased about, I think that's my longest run ever and after only 2 weeks.
So lovelies here's my training plan for the week:
Monday: rest day (plan says 30 min easy run/rest but I've decided that for now I'm just going to rest on Mondays)
Tuesday: 30 Min Easy
Wednesday: Rest (might do yoga)
Thursday: 4 Min easy run/walk 6 minute threshold/HM pace x 3 built into 30 min running
Friday: Rest
Saturday: X train (probably yoga or might do a circuits session)
Sunday: 40 minute run
Well that's my week, how's yours looking?
Before I get into how that run went here's how food looked on Friday:
Breakfast was 40g oatbran, 100ml semi skimmed milk, a heaped teaspoon of 4 seed mix, 20g of dried mango and a few strips of dry coconut shavings from my trail mix, it was delicious.
Lunch was the same as Thursday, one wholemeal pitta (no spread/butter) 2 slices of mustard coated ham, one mini red pepper, one mini orange pepper, a 3" chunk of cucumber and a heaped teaspoon of organic houmous.
Food this weekend has been mixed, Saturday night was my treat meal so I had 2 poppadoms, half a serving of chicken tikka masala, 2 spoons of boiled rice (incidentally did you know that pilau rice is the equivalent in calories of a portion of boiled rice with a CHEESEBURGER in it?? Bleurgh) a quarter of a peshwari naan and half a serving of chana aloo (curried chickpeas and potato). It was yum and guilt free! I also had one small white wine and soda as I was running on Sunday morning.
Sunday I had one slice of wholemeal toast with olive oil spread and a banana chopped up on top about an hour before we went running. Lunch was a roast made by my mum, I had a chicken breast, 2 roast potatoes, one yorkshire pudding, loads of veggies and a little drizzle of gravy mmmmm. For pudding everyone had some chocolate fondants I'd made and stuck in the freezer, I passed as my treat meal was Saturday, and for dinner I had the other half of the chana aloo from Saturday night.
Saturday I decided to do my Yoga dvd again as my X training session. I'm really starting to love this. Each time I do it I'm getting a little deeper into the movements and I love the feeling of bringing length and strength to my muscles whilst also having a bit of time to myself to be quiet and relax. Its brilliant I really can't recommend it enough.
Sunday was long run day.... Mr D decided he wanted to run too and whilst its so sweet that he's trying to support me it does really make me feel down that he shoots off ahead despite the fact that he's not exactly athletic or super fit. I just have to keep telling myself that yes I probably could go faster but that's not the aim of the easy/steady runs, its just to be able to run for a specified amount of time without completely knackering myself out!
Anyway I was pretty worried about running for 40 minutes especially after 5 easy/5 pace run on Thursday, put that together with having little time for warm up stretches and I started off feeling a bit pessimistic about the whole thing.
As we were in Wales this weekend at least we had a change of scenery and I'd been on map my run for ideas of where to run, we started off in the park:
Not bad is it? Then towards the high st and over the Monnow Bridge:
Along the main road, did a loop around a housing estate, back over the bridge, up the high street, past Monmouth Boy's School:
And back through the park to where we started.
I ran for the full 40 minutes and when we finished Mr D and I had a little walk around the park together and talked about how we found the run and noticed that neither of us were out of breath or in as bad a state as we'd thought! I had a few niggly pains in my knees but those seem to have gone this morning and I'm pleased to report I wasn't as purple as normal either - RESULT! Anyway, my Nike + tells me the run was 6.79km which I'm pleased about, I think that's my longest run ever and after only 2 weeks.
So lovelies here's my training plan for the week:
Monday: rest day (plan says 30 min easy run/rest but I've decided that for now I'm just going to rest on Mondays)
Tuesday: 30 Min Easy
Wednesday: Rest (might do yoga)
Thursday: 4 Min easy run/walk 6 minute threshold/HM pace x 3 built into 30 min running
Friday: Rest
Saturday: X train (probably yoga or might do a circuits session)
Sunday: 40 minute run
Well that's my week, how's yours looking?
Friday, 15 June 2012
The Importance of a Sports Bra
Yesterday's run was difficult, I've not got used to my little bum bag yet and for some reason during the run it was bouncing all over the place and felt like it was falling down. Annoying bag aside, I did my 5 minutes easy pace and then it was time to speed up. The training plan says 5 minutes jog/walk 5 minutes threshold/HM pace, now I want to run the half marathon at 6/6.5mph I think that is realistic but I don't have GPS so don't know for sure how fast I'm running so I used my HRM to work in my max heart rate zone instead and for the first 5 minutes that felt ok, then I went back to easy pace which was much harder than before and it took along time for my heart rate to come back down, it was still 176 when I had to start running faster again.
I won't lie, it was tough yesterday, lots of aching/burning in my calves and by the time I got home I was bright purple, but I did it and I know that I can do it so no matter how much it hurt or how stupid I looked I think that's a good thing.
So I've talked about what I'm eating lately and I've been taking photos for the last couple of days so here you go:
That's breakfast from Wednesday, 40g oatbran, half a graze tutti frutti punnet and a heaped teaspoon of seed mix (added milk after the picture).
Lunch was leftover falafel burger with a mixed salad:
Thursday breakfast looked a little bit like this:
40g oatbran, a heaped teaspoon of seed mix, 20g dried mango and a few slices of dried coconut from a bag of trail mix - this was particularly delicious so I'm having the same today.
Lunch was this:
One wholemeal pitta with 2 slices of mustard ham (no spread on the pitta) and a plate of veggies with a heaped teaspoon of hummus. Just realised you can see the sudoku I did in that picture - embarrassing.
Before I went off running I had a PB Bagel
(Drank that whilst watching Friends)
And because I was knackered by about 7pm Mr D made dinner for me and it was yummy:
75g (uncooked) wild rice, and the curry is one onion, some ginger finely chopped, 2 teaspoons of red thai curry pasta, a tin of chopped tomatoes, half a can of coconut milk, some large raw frozen prawns and half a pack of veg medley. mmmmm.
Oh and here is a snap of my sports bra from yesterdays run - no rain this time, all sweat - BLEURGH.
Which brings me back to the title of the blog, obviously if you are a girl you know how important it is to wear a sports bra (unless you want to be in some serious pain later!) and not just so you can track how sweaty and disgusting you are but also because of something I read in Zest magazine this week:
29 football pitches (over 3000m) is how far your breasts bounce during a half marathon if they are not supported
Terrifying!!
I won't lie, it was tough yesterday, lots of aching/burning in my calves and by the time I got home I was bright purple, but I did it and I know that I can do it so no matter how much it hurt or how stupid I looked I think that's a good thing.
So I've talked about what I'm eating lately and I've been taking photos for the last couple of days so here you go:
Lunch was leftover falafel burger with a mixed salad:
Cheeky afternoon graze snack:
Dinner I ate before I remembered to take a picture but that was cottage pie topped with swede and sweet potato mash which was nice but to be honest I prefer it with regular potato!Thursday breakfast looked a little bit like this:
Lunch was this:
Before I went off running I had a PB Bagel
Although after I took that picture I put 6 banana coins on top for a bit of extra energy.
When I got in from running I had a protein shake made up from 45g powder, 100ml organic whole milk and 100ml water.
And because I was knackered by about 7pm Mr D made dinner for me and it was yummy:
Oh and here is a snap of my sports bra from yesterdays run - no rain this time, all sweat - BLEURGH.
Which brings me back to the title of the blog, obviously if you are a girl you know how important it is to wear a sports bra (unless you want to be in some serious pain later!) and not just so you can track how sweaty and disgusting you are but also because of something I read in Zest magazine this week:
29 football pitches (over 3000m) is how far your breasts bounce during a half marathon if they are not supported
Terrifying!!
Wednesday, 13 June 2012
The Benefits of Running
So yesterday's run was good (did I just say that?) when I first looked at the training plan the idea of running/jogging 30 minutes non stop seemed unachievable, and now dare I say it but I think I might be looking forward to Sunday's 40 minute easy run. Might change my mind after tomorrows session but for now I'm feeling quite positive.
The only downside to all of this is.... I miss weight training. I know my plan says that on Saturday I can do some light weights but I do miss that ache you get a day or so after a really good session and I can't help but wonder what I'll look like in October before the half - I wonder whether I'll have changed that much, lost some of my muscle that Jillian worked me so hard for, or have even more. If running could do something about my big thighs I'd be quite happy about that. I guess we'll have to wait and see and I suppose the only way to tell the difference is to dig out the camera again. Expect pictures this weekend. Gulp.
On Saturday I think I might weight train instead of Yoga, it depends what I can fit in as I'll be in Wales for Father's Day. If my brother is home I might see if he'll train me, otherwise it'll be just me, my yoga mat and Shiva Rea on the dvd player.
To help stop getting in a funk about running vs weights I thought I'd do a bit of reading about how good running is and pop down the best bits of what I've read in here to look back on if I'm feeling disheartened with training - because I know at some point that day will come.
SKIN: I'm not sure if its the running, or all the water I'm taking on to stay hydrated for my runs but my skin is feeling really good at the moment and also looking better. So off to Dr Google and found a webpage called 30 things every woman should know about running which informed me that: "running stimulates circulation, transports nutrients and flushes out waste products. All of this leads to a reduction in subcutaneous fat, making skin clearer and facial features more distinct"
THINKING TIME: There is something really great about going out for a run with my music on and just zoning out for half an hour or so. I found that when I ran with Mr D on Sunday I couldn't do that, I was thinking about how far ahead he was and if he'd go the right route and stuff - it wasn't the same. What with work, and home life (especially with the move at the moment) its great just to have 30 minutes to yourself, I really appreciate it.
RUNNERS HIGH: I don't know if this is scientifically proven but you can't argue that when you've finished a run (or any exercise really I find) you have that brilliant sense of satisfaction and dare I say smugness? Either way its those lovely little endorphins pumping around your body that's helping you to feel that way and its ace. Must try hard to remember that feeling when its cold and wet outside and I don't want to go running.
SLEEP: I've read loads of articles that say regular exercise and in particular running can help you to get a good nights sleep and to sleep longer when you do. Since I've started the training I've noticed in the last week that I'm sleeping better and not waking so many times in the night like before. Whether its to do with running itself or the fact that I'm so knackered afterwards I'm in a post run coma is up for debate.
So I suppose I'd better tell you how the diet side of training is coming along. Yesterday was a really good day I think. An Acitmel as soon as I got up, breakfast was 40g oatbran 100ml semi skimmed milk, half a graze punnet which contained cherry sultanas, blueberry cranberries, raisins and pineapple, and a heaped teaspoon of 4 seed mix. No morning snack, not hungry. Lunch was this:
A flask of homemade Minestrone soup, a wholemeal pitta with one slice of mustard coated ham.
As an afternoon snack around 3:30pm I had half a wholemeal seeded bagel with 15g of crunchy organic peanut butter as pre run fuel.
After running I had 45g protein powder mixed with 100ml of organic whole milk and some water.
Dinner was this:
That's a homemade falafel burger, one sweet potato cut into "chips" half an orange pepper a 2inch piece of cucumber and some mixed salad. it was delish. I was meant to have hummus with that but totally forgot.
Total Calories: 1541/1767
5 a day? I'd say at least 2 at dinner, 3 in the soup, and probably a half for the dried fruit at breakie- get in.
The only downside to all of this is.... I miss weight training. I know my plan says that on Saturday I can do some light weights but I do miss that ache you get a day or so after a really good session and I can't help but wonder what I'll look like in October before the half - I wonder whether I'll have changed that much, lost some of my muscle that Jillian worked me so hard for, or have even more. If running could do something about my big thighs I'd be quite happy about that. I guess we'll have to wait and see and I suppose the only way to tell the difference is to dig out the camera again. Expect pictures this weekend. Gulp.
On Saturday I think I might weight train instead of Yoga, it depends what I can fit in as I'll be in Wales for Father's Day. If my brother is home I might see if he'll train me, otherwise it'll be just me, my yoga mat and Shiva Rea on the dvd player.
To help stop getting in a funk about running vs weights I thought I'd do a bit of reading about how good running is and pop down the best bits of what I've read in here to look back on if I'm feeling disheartened with training - because I know at some point that day will come.
SKIN: I'm not sure if its the running, or all the water I'm taking on to stay hydrated for my runs but my skin is feeling really good at the moment and also looking better. So off to Dr Google and found a webpage called 30 things every woman should know about running which informed me that: "running stimulates circulation, transports nutrients and flushes out waste products. All of this leads to a reduction in subcutaneous fat, making skin clearer and facial features more distinct"
THINKING TIME: There is something really great about going out for a run with my music on and just zoning out for half an hour or so. I found that when I ran with Mr D on Sunday I couldn't do that, I was thinking about how far ahead he was and if he'd go the right route and stuff - it wasn't the same. What with work, and home life (especially with the move at the moment) its great just to have 30 minutes to yourself, I really appreciate it.
RUNNERS HIGH: I don't know if this is scientifically proven but you can't argue that when you've finished a run (or any exercise really I find) you have that brilliant sense of satisfaction and dare I say smugness? Either way its those lovely little endorphins pumping around your body that's helping you to feel that way and its ace. Must try hard to remember that feeling when its cold and wet outside and I don't want to go running.
SLEEP: I've read loads of articles that say regular exercise and in particular running can help you to get a good nights sleep and to sleep longer when you do. Since I've started the training I've noticed in the last week that I'm sleeping better and not waking so many times in the night like before. Whether its to do with running itself or the fact that I'm so knackered afterwards I'm in a post run coma is up for debate.
So I suppose I'd better tell you how the diet side of training is coming along. Yesterday was a really good day I think. An Acitmel as soon as I got up, breakfast was 40g oatbran 100ml semi skimmed milk, half a graze punnet which contained cherry sultanas, blueberry cranberries, raisins and pineapple, and a heaped teaspoon of 4 seed mix. No morning snack, not hungry. Lunch was this:
A flask of homemade Minestrone soup, a wholemeal pitta with one slice of mustard coated ham.
As an afternoon snack around 3:30pm I had half a wholemeal seeded bagel with 15g of crunchy organic peanut butter as pre run fuel.
After running I had 45g protein powder mixed with 100ml of organic whole milk and some water.
Dinner was this:
That's a homemade falafel burger, one sweet potato cut into "chips" half an orange pepper a 2inch piece of cucumber and some mixed salad. it was delish. I was meant to have hummus with that but totally forgot.
Total Calories: 1541/1767
5 a day? I'd say at least 2 at dinner, 3 in the soup, and probably a half for the dried fruit at breakie- get in.
Monday, 11 June 2012
Week One Round Up
Well week 1 of the training plan is done, I didn't die, or have to stop so I'm seeing that as a positive. I won't lie to you, although I an running (probably should call it jogging) for the 30 minute "easy" runs I'm so slow its unreal.
For Sundays run Mr D said he wanted to come, I had to tell him to run ahead of me because watching him go at my pace was painful and a bit embarrassing, and seeing him go off so much faster made me worry that the same thing will happen on the day of the Half and it'll just be me right at the back going about 4 miles an hour or something. Right now I can't honestly see how I'll ever get any faster or be able to run for 2 hours plus.
Still I guess I've got enough time to work that out as I go and for now I'll just do as the training plan says.
Saturday I got my yoga in whilst Mr D had a nap on the sofa in between rugby games (Friday was a late and boozy one). Even though the dvd is beginners yoga I got a good sweat on and felt great afterwards so I might see if I can fit that in again on a rest day as well as the X train days.
In better (less whingy) news, after doing those stretches I posted about on Thursday, then yoga Saturday, then stretching pre-run yesterday my legs aren't achy today and didn't get so crampy when I was running either so that's great progress! Big thanks to Momentum Sports for putting those up on your website.
So what's the training plan got in store for me this week:
Monday: Rest/very 30 min jog (am having a rest today)
Tuesday: 30 min easy
Wednesday: Rest ( might do yoga dvd or go to yoga class at the gym if there is room in the group)
Thursday: 5 min easy run/walk, 5 min @ threshold/HM pace x 3. All built into 30 min running
Friday: Rest
Saturday: X Train
Sunday 40 min easy
Just realised that Sunday's easy run has quickly jumped up to 40 minutes, fear that might be to ambitious for me! Also might be tricky as I'll be away at my parents for Father's day and have no idea where to run around there. Will have to research on google!
I'll also have to dig out the HRM for Thursdays run, or head to the gym so that I can control the pace, although I hate running on the dreadmill now, running outdoors is so much better (even in the rain) because you are heading for something and the surroundings distract you a bit, staring at a wall or even worse the treadmill display and watching the seconds take ages to tick by is not very motivational!
So I guess that leaves me wondering - If you're a fan of running on the treadmill and not outside, how do you make it easier for yourself? Great playlist? Towel over the display?
Actually that's reminded me, if anyone is reading this and they want to give suggestions for really good songs for running or the gym then I'd love it if you gave me some suggestions you can either leave a comment on here of tweet me @amydennies
Think that's enough for today, see you tomorrow!
For Sundays run Mr D said he wanted to come, I had to tell him to run ahead of me because watching him go at my pace was painful and a bit embarrassing, and seeing him go off so much faster made me worry that the same thing will happen on the day of the Half and it'll just be me right at the back going about 4 miles an hour or something. Right now I can't honestly see how I'll ever get any faster or be able to run for 2 hours plus.
Still I guess I've got enough time to work that out as I go and for now I'll just do as the training plan says.
Saturday I got my yoga in whilst Mr D had a nap on the sofa in between rugby games (Friday was a late and boozy one). Even though the dvd is beginners yoga I got a good sweat on and felt great afterwards so I might see if I can fit that in again on a rest day as well as the X train days.
In better (less whingy) news, after doing those stretches I posted about on Thursday, then yoga Saturday, then stretching pre-run yesterday my legs aren't achy today and didn't get so crampy when I was running either so that's great progress! Big thanks to Momentum Sports for putting those up on your website.
So what's the training plan got in store for me this week:
Monday: Rest/very 30 min jog (am having a rest today)
Tuesday: 30 min easy
Wednesday: Rest ( might do yoga dvd or go to yoga class at the gym if there is room in the group)
Thursday: 5 min easy run/walk, 5 min @ threshold/HM pace x 3. All built into 30 min running
Friday: Rest
Saturday: X Train
Sunday 40 min easy
Just realised that Sunday's easy run has quickly jumped up to 40 minutes, fear that might be to ambitious for me! Also might be tricky as I'll be away at my parents for Father's day and have no idea where to run around there. Will have to research on google!
I'll also have to dig out the HRM for Thursdays run, or head to the gym so that I can control the pace, although I hate running on the dreadmill now, running outdoors is so much better (even in the rain) because you are heading for something and the surroundings distract you a bit, staring at a wall or even worse the treadmill display and watching the seconds take ages to tick by is not very motivational!
So I guess that leaves me wondering - If you're a fan of running on the treadmill and not outside, how do you make it easier for yourself? Great playlist? Towel over the display?
Actually that's reminded me, if anyone is reading this and they want to give suggestions for really good songs for running or the gym then I'd love it if you gave me some suggestions you can either leave a comment on here of tweet me @amydennies
Think that's enough for today, see you tomorrow!
Friday, 8 June 2012
Rain Rain Go Away.....
Well the second run of this week is done, I finished work at half 4 and went straight out after completing some dynamic stretching (more on that later). As soon as I got into the foyer I could see it was raining, the sky was really grey but it didn't look too heavy and seeing as I didn't have the car I had no choice but to run home.
On the training plan the run was listed as 30 minute easy so I took it nice and steady again and to be honest at the end I didn't feel very out of breath what I did feel was DRENCHED. I decided to run out of work and left (away from home) and in the rain that felt horrible, it wasn't until I got onto the side of main road where I realised quite how hard the rain was coming down. I turned back for town, ran up the high st and the over the road and into the park.
Even on Tuesday when it was drizzling as I ran there were people in the park, dog walking, cycling, running or just having a stroll. Yesterday there was no-one, I've never felt more like I should be at home under a blanket and by now the rain was so hard it was dripping from my eyelashes but I carried on and by the time I'd got back to the main road for home my Nike+ told me I'd completed the 30 minutes!
Here's where I had a bit of a dilemma, the training plan says 30 minutes and so that's what I'm doing, no less and no more, I don't want to get over confident and injure myself by doing too much too soon..... but it was raining so the option of walking home and taking longer didn't appeal. I did walk though, to try and give my legs a stretch out for a few minutes.
When I got in this is how my sports bra looked:
That's not sweat (I wish it was!) but rain, I also had a long sleeve top on over that which was completely soaked through - not ideal conditions but I didn't die and I can't choose the weather on the day so I'll just have to accept it!
Anyway back to the stretches! I completed all of the suggestions on the website I posted yesterday and I'm not sure if they helped, my legs still ache today but maybe they would have been worse if I'd not done the stretches first?? Anyway, today is a rest day and tomorrow I'm going to do an hour of yoga so hopefully by Sunday the aches will have gone and its business as usual.
Food yesterday..... hmmm Well I had oatbran, organic semi skimmed milk, half a graze apple cosmo punnet and a heaped teaspoon of 4 seed mix, no morning snack, lunch was a flask of pea and lettuce soup, one mini pitta, a box of raw veggies and half a pack (80g) of chargrilled chicken with a tablespoon of hummus. I couldn't eat all the veggies/chicken/hummus because I was too full but I had a good go.
Afternoon snack about 3pm before run was 1/3rd of a punnet of graze fruit and seed flapjack, nothing when I got in from running I was in too much of a rush to go out shopping. Whilst dinner was cooking I had an organic cheese stick (20g) and dinner was.... sausage beans and chips. Oh dear, not clean and lean but not totally horrendous and I was within my calorie allowance on MFP.
Tonight some friends are coming over for dinner and I can tell you now that won't be clean and lean! Breakfast will be the same as yesterday, lunch is chicken, salad and the rest of the vegetables from yesterday, for dinner I'm making:
Parmesan twists
Mini Calzone
Olives (not making these merely opening a jar)
Then:
Sticky BBQ ribs (cooked the ribs and made the marinade myself so not as terrible as buying some with ready made sauce to cook or as bad as buying them from a takeaway - but still not great!!)
Spicy Chicken wings - deep fried (oh dear) and then drizzled with olive oil and chilli
Coleslaw - Made by moi, 61 calories a serving made from red cabbage, white cabbage, carrot, red onion and nigella seeds. The sauce to go with is made from natural yoghurt, lemon juice, english mustard and wholegrain mustard so not terrible.
Potato Salad - yeh I know, I didn't even read how many calories was in the recipe because this is my meal off, plus I normally only have 2 new potatoes cut in half so damage limitation is key!
Salad - tomato salad (yum and c&l) and then some salad leaves dressed in olive oil - will eat lots of these!
Pudding is a chocolate and salted caramel tart. Had a few problems with this last night and ended up burning my finger on some seriously hot caramel but hoping it will be alright as I've got no other options!!
I'll try and check in over the weekend but thought I'd fess up to all of that now.
Have a good weekend blog land!
On the training plan the run was listed as 30 minute easy so I took it nice and steady again and to be honest at the end I didn't feel very out of breath what I did feel was DRENCHED. I decided to run out of work and left (away from home) and in the rain that felt horrible, it wasn't until I got onto the side of main road where I realised quite how hard the rain was coming down. I turned back for town, ran up the high st and the over the road and into the park.
Even on Tuesday when it was drizzling as I ran there were people in the park, dog walking, cycling, running or just having a stroll. Yesterday there was no-one, I've never felt more like I should be at home under a blanket and by now the rain was so hard it was dripping from my eyelashes but I carried on and by the time I'd got back to the main road for home my Nike+ told me I'd completed the 30 minutes!
Here's where I had a bit of a dilemma, the training plan says 30 minutes and so that's what I'm doing, no less and no more, I don't want to get over confident and injure myself by doing too much too soon..... but it was raining so the option of walking home and taking longer didn't appeal. I did walk though, to try and give my legs a stretch out for a few minutes.
When I got in this is how my sports bra looked:
That's not sweat (I wish it was!) but rain, I also had a long sleeve top on over that which was completely soaked through - not ideal conditions but I didn't die and I can't choose the weather on the day so I'll just have to accept it!
Anyway back to the stretches! I completed all of the suggestions on the website I posted yesterday and I'm not sure if they helped, my legs still ache today but maybe they would have been worse if I'd not done the stretches first?? Anyway, today is a rest day and tomorrow I'm going to do an hour of yoga so hopefully by Sunday the aches will have gone and its business as usual.
Food yesterday..... hmmm Well I had oatbran, organic semi skimmed milk, half a graze apple cosmo punnet and a heaped teaspoon of 4 seed mix, no morning snack, lunch was a flask of pea and lettuce soup, one mini pitta, a box of raw veggies and half a pack (80g) of chargrilled chicken with a tablespoon of hummus. I couldn't eat all the veggies/chicken/hummus because I was too full but I had a good go.
Afternoon snack about 3pm before run was 1/3rd of a punnet of graze fruit and seed flapjack, nothing when I got in from running I was in too much of a rush to go out shopping. Whilst dinner was cooking I had an organic cheese stick (20g) and dinner was.... sausage beans and chips. Oh dear, not clean and lean but not totally horrendous and I was within my calorie allowance on MFP.
Tonight some friends are coming over for dinner and I can tell you now that won't be clean and lean! Breakfast will be the same as yesterday, lunch is chicken, salad and the rest of the vegetables from yesterday, for dinner I'm making:
Parmesan twists
Mini Calzone
Olives (not making these merely opening a jar)
Then:
Sticky BBQ ribs (cooked the ribs and made the marinade myself so not as terrible as buying some with ready made sauce to cook or as bad as buying them from a takeaway - but still not great!!)
Spicy Chicken wings - deep fried (oh dear) and then drizzled with olive oil and chilli
Coleslaw - Made by moi, 61 calories a serving made from red cabbage, white cabbage, carrot, red onion and nigella seeds. The sauce to go with is made from natural yoghurt, lemon juice, english mustard and wholegrain mustard so not terrible.
Potato Salad - yeh I know, I didn't even read how many calories was in the recipe because this is my meal off, plus I normally only have 2 new potatoes cut in half so damage limitation is key!
Salad - tomato salad (yum and c&l) and then some salad leaves dressed in olive oil - will eat lots of these!
Pudding is a chocolate and salted caramel tart. Had a few problems with this last night and ended up burning my finger on some seriously hot caramel but hoping it will be alright as I've got no other options!!
I'll try and check in over the weekend but thought I'd fess up to all of that now.
Have a good weekend blog land!
Thursday, 7 June 2012
Help
Ok so I'm starting to freak out a bit about the half marathon ..... I know that sounds ridiculous seeing as I've only done 1 run of the 12 week plan, but its true. My legs are a bit tight today which I suppose is to be expected having not been out for a run in ages but it makes me worry that today my run will be crap.
I'm going straight from work around the town then through the park to home, it needs to be another 30 minutes, which sounds like nothing and loads all at the same time - when did I get so unfit?
Food yesterday was much better. I'm back logging on MyFitnessPal and if you want to add me on there to check up on me then you can my username is MrsDens (original don't you think?). Breakfast was an acitmel, one braeburn, 6 almonds and a cup of green tea, for lunch I had a jacket potato with baked beans from the sainsburys deli counter with half a pack of chargrill chicken breast on top, afternoon snack was a 20g organic cheese stick, when I got in from work I had a rice cake with organic peanut butter, dinner was homemade pea and lettuce soup which is delicious, (might post that recipe if anyone wants it - let me know) and one mini wholemeal pitta. Personally I think that sounds like a lot of food but I must be out of the habit of logging because at the end of the day when I put it all in it only came to 1020 calories ... 500 under goal. Not good enough and I'm trying harder today, especially as I've got a run to do.
So after logging the good/bad day of food I spent some time researching stretches for before and after running and found this website: http://www.momentumsports.co.uk/TtDynamicStretches.asp after that I had a read of my newest copy of Women's Fitness which typically contained an almost identical article so I'm taking that as a sign that I really need to start taking this half marathon business seriously!
So I'll let you know tomorrow how the stretching goes!!!
I'm going straight from work around the town then through the park to home, it needs to be another 30 minutes, which sounds like nothing and loads all at the same time - when did I get so unfit?
Food yesterday was much better. I'm back logging on MyFitnessPal and if you want to add me on there to check up on me then you can my username is MrsDens (original don't you think?). Breakfast was an acitmel, one braeburn, 6 almonds and a cup of green tea, for lunch I had a jacket potato with baked beans from the sainsburys deli counter with half a pack of chargrill chicken breast on top, afternoon snack was a 20g organic cheese stick, when I got in from work I had a rice cake with organic peanut butter, dinner was homemade pea and lettuce soup which is delicious, (might post that recipe if anyone wants it - let me know) and one mini wholemeal pitta. Personally I think that sounds like a lot of food but I must be out of the habit of logging because at the end of the day when I put it all in it only came to 1020 calories ... 500 under goal. Not good enough and I'm trying harder today, especially as I've got a run to do.
So after logging the good/bad day of food I spent some time researching stretches for before and after running and found this website: http://www.momentumsports.co.uk/TtDynamicStretches.asp after that I had a read of my newest copy of Women's Fitness which typically contained an almost identical article so I'm taking that as a sign that I really need to start taking this half marathon business seriously!
So I'll let you know tomorrow how the stretching goes!!!
Wednesday, 6 June 2012
Jubil-urgh
Any attempts to remain clean and lean were futile this weekend. Friday we were down in Sussex for a friends wedding and had lunch in a pub, same for dinner, shame chips don't count as one of your 5 a day really. Saturday was the wedding and I went into carb overload!!! Sunday we came home attempts were made to get back on track with a bowl of minestrone but Monday was another fail with pizza for lunch (only had half but still!) and neighbours over for dinner which mean relatively health meal, of salad, marinated chicken and falafel burgers all ruined with a big slice of cheesecake for pud and a few more glasses of pimms than necessary!
In better news this week is the start of my half marathon training, Monday went well.... mostly because it was a rest day. Yesterday the plan said "30 minute easy run" This annoyed me a bit because running is never easy for me, I go bright purple and my legs hurt after about 5 minutes. I was doubly not feeling it as we'd been to Ikea and lunch was a hotdog and fries, not sure that would be included in many runners diets? And to top it all off just as soon as I'd got outside and to the end of the road the heavens opened.
In a way its good really, I went quite slowly, more jogging than running (but still moving at least!) I lasted for 30 minutes without stopping, I ran in the rain which I guess is good seeing as come half day I won't be in control of the weather and seeing as its October I doubt it will be dry or warm. So from here on out here's how my weeks will look:
Monday: Rest (or very easy runs)
Tuesday: Easy run (30 mins minimum)
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: Easy run 30 mins (this week) then interval runs after that.
Friday: Rest
Saturday: X Train (plan suggests yoga, pilates or light weights)
Sunday: Easy run
Right now I feel quite optimistic although remind me to look back at this post in a couple of week when I'm expected to do 60 minutes of "easy running" (yeh right).
Oh and I'll try and blog more often to keep you up to date with the training and if I miss any of those runs without a SERIOUSLY good excuse you have permission to give me a great big kick up the bum.
In better news this week is the start of my half marathon training, Monday went well.... mostly because it was a rest day. Yesterday the plan said "30 minute easy run" This annoyed me a bit because running is never easy for me, I go bright purple and my legs hurt after about 5 minutes. I was doubly not feeling it as we'd been to Ikea and lunch was a hotdog and fries, not sure that would be included in many runners diets? And to top it all off just as soon as I'd got outside and to the end of the road the heavens opened.
In a way its good really, I went quite slowly, more jogging than running (but still moving at least!) I lasted for 30 minutes without stopping, I ran in the rain which I guess is good seeing as come half day I won't be in control of the weather and seeing as its October I doubt it will be dry or warm. So from here on out here's how my weeks will look:
Monday: Rest (or very easy runs)
Tuesday: Easy run (30 mins minimum)
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: Easy run 30 mins (this week) then interval runs after that.
Friday: Rest
Saturday: X Train (plan suggests yoga, pilates or light weights)
Sunday: Easy run
Right now I feel quite optimistic although remind me to look back at this post in a couple of week when I'm expected to do 60 minutes of "easy running" (yeh right).
Oh and I'll try and blog more often to keep you up to date with the training and if I miss any of those runs without a SERIOUSLY good excuse you have permission to give me a great big kick up the bum.
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