CSN Winner

Thank-you all for entering my CSN giveaway. I drew the winner this morning....

Congratulations Alison at Running From Running To... Email me at box-run-eat@live.co.uk and I'll email you your voucher code. Happy spending!

Catching Up

Well again, it's been a long time! I hope you haven't missed me too much ;-) The snow has pretty much gone here, we're just left with ice. I'm really missing running outside.. I had a bit of a running break but now I'm wanting to get back to it.. It's not looking good even if the ice melts as the snow is coming back with a vengeance on Thursday, according to the weather men anyway...

So with the weather as it is, and with boxing out of the question for the time being we've done some stuff at home.. I can't even remember when we did this one I just remember writing it down 'cause it was tough! First you do all the exercises for 60 seconds, then 45, then 30 and finally 15. It only takes 10 minutes so it's fantastic if you're in a rush but still want to fit something in.. You can alter the exercises too, if you like.

60s/45s/30s/15s pull-up hold
60s/45s/30s/15s burpees
60s/45s/30s/15s squats
60s/45s/30s/15s shadow boxing

We also went to the gym on Sunday... I was craving the treadmill!!! We went as guests to my mum and dad's gym and got quite a lot done. I'm still feeling it today, ouch!! I wouldn't get my moneys worth out of a gym membership 'cause we do most of our training at boxing or running or at home but I really love going once in a while!

5k on the treadmill, incline 3.5. I don't know how long it took me as I kept hitting the emergency stop doh :-( I probably ran more than 5k but I'm not sure...

Assisted pull-ups with 6kg assist. About 25 reps. Did one set of 8 but most were about 5 reps.

Weighted side bends 22.5kg - 10 each side
Weighted Russian twists 20kg - 20
x3

Clean and push press 15kg 5 each arm

Wrist curls 10kg 50 reps

Bench press with olympic barbell x 8 reps

400m row - can't remember how long it took.

I enjoyed going to the gym, I even kind of enjoyed the treadmill as it's been so long since I've run!

I'm going to keep it a quicky of a post today. I've been mega busy at work and getting ready for christmas so I don't really have anything exciting to tell you all!! I have had my hair chopped off... pictures to come soon if I can take one without grimacing!!

p.s. don't forget to enter my CSN voucher giveaway if you haven't already done so it closes tomorrow and I'll aim to announce the winner by Thursday :-)

CSN Giveaway, Review and Pizza

So before I get on to the giveaway, here's how I found my experience with CSN. There was a lot of choice on the website, a lot of the stuff was more expensive than I would want to pay for kitchen stuff but it was high quality brands like Le Creuset.. Tempted as I was to go for something like that I decided to be practical and get stuff I felt I might get more use out of. After long deliberations I chose a pizza stone and some kitchen scales.






I've been after a pizza stone for so long and my old kitchen scales were horrendous and totally inaccurate. When I got to the checkout I was a bit miffed at first. It looked like they had added VAT and postage. On a second look I realised the VAT was just showing the amount in the price of the items which went on VAT oops! And the postage was under a fiver so can't really complain about that. The goods arrived pretty promptly too.

What better way to review the items than to use the scales to weigh out some pizza dough... I scribbled down a recipe I found online...




I like the scales, they seem really accurate, I weighed out a few other bits to test them out a bit more. Far better than my last set! They had a function which meant you can zero the scale at any time so no maths needed haha!

To try out the pizza stone I set out to make a few bases and cook 2 on the stone and one on a baking tray to compare them..

The dough pre-kneading

Post kneading, much smoother

Let it rise for 90 minutes

Knock the air out

Stretched out into a vague circle..

I made one with a (never home)maker inspired stuffed crust..

Mushrooms, sweetcorn and cheese

Mushroom with goat cheese and spinach

And mushroom, sweetcorn and cheese without a stuffed crust.

The above pizza after being cooked

No pictures of the other pizzas as I left Mike in charge while I was at work and he burnt them... He claims it was my instruction at fault.. I beg to differ ;-)

I liked the pizza stone.. My only problem with it was I found it difficult to transfer the prepped pizza onto the stone, I think next time I won't heat the stone first I'll just prep it on the stone and see how that goes.

Well, you've made it this far! Now the giveaway. One lucky person can win a £20 gift voucher to spend online in one of CSN's stores. Call it my way of saying happy Christmas to all my wonderful readers. I appreciate every single one of you and love reading your comments and blogs.

There are five ways to enter the contest, you get an entry for each. Be sure to post a separate comment for each too.

1. Follow my blog
2. Post about the giveaway including a link to this blog post on your blog/twitter/facebook one entry for everything you do, post a separate comment for each.
   
3. Bonus entry if you commented on my last post, 9 of you did
4. Follow me on Twitter (or let me know you already do) @boxruneat
5. Join me on Facebook (or let me know you're already there)

This giveaway is open to UK, USA, Canadian and German readers. Enjoy!

P.s. even though the snow seems to be melting I couldn't help but share one more snow photo..

Good luck in the giveaway!

p.p.s... I forgot to say the giveaway closes on 15/12/10 and I will pick a winner with a random number generator.

Christmas Decorations

I'm in such a christmassy mood now, I put all my decorations up on my last day off and the house looks so pretty (if I do say so myself...). I couldn't help but take lots of pictures... I hope you're all enjoying my picture heavy posts, I can't seem to put down the camera lately! P.s. this isn't a food or fitness post it's just my tree pictures so if you're not interested stop reading now! I won't be insulted ;-)

Almost finished...

Tia clocks her new climbing frame....

Ta-da!

Our little window display...

The fireplace including stockings and lots of candles :-)

And some of my favourite decorations....

This one was a present my mum and dad brought us back from Amsterdam

This is one my mum and dad had on their tree when I was a child..

as is this..

and this!

And this is one I liked 'cause it looks kind of rustic!

If that didn't get you into the christmas cheer I hope this does.. I'm finally doing my CSN review and giveaway - just in time to treat yourself to some new cooking gear for christmas or buy a pressie for someone else. Stay tuned I'll be posting it tomorrow afternoon and it will be open until 15/12/10 so whoever wins can use the voucher in time for christmas.

Hope you're all enjoying your weekends and decorations if you've got them up... When do you like to put them up? Are you an early bird like me?

Dedicated or Insane?

This morning Mike and I went for a snowy run.... We took Roxie and covered about 3 miles in 40 minutes!! That did include 3 toilet stops for Roxie a few minute discussion on whether or not to try running on the field and some walking where the snow was just too deep to run on....

We considered running intervals on this field... We decided it was far too deep and gave up on that idea..

Here is a little snow trench I ran through, these bits weren't so bad to run on.

I think I need some better cold weather running gear! Look how deep the snow is here... I'm not sure what we were thinking attempting to run on it! Around this point a woman told me I was very dedicated... I thought dedicated or insane, I'm not sure!! Most people looked at us like we were totally crazy and I can't really blame them!

We ran through a snowy tree cave... not sure that's the technical term ;-) The street lights were still on even though it was light and cast a really eerie glow

Sunrise in the snowy tree cave

Mike and a slightly blurry Roxie

Poor Roxie was covered in snow when we got home. We dried her off with the hairdryer and I made her some hot breakfast. She's a trooper :-)

After we'd had a bath and some breakfast - porridge of course in this weather - we decided we should tackle the roof and the gutters in the garden.. Not a fun job. I got so cold I was getting really ratty at poor Mike who was probably even colder.. (I was only clearing the snow he was getting off the roof..) Anyway I had to take some more pictures, I just can't remember ever seeing snow this deep!

More snow fall in the garden - that inch thick snowy thing is our washing line!

One burried garden chair..

up to my knees

snow in the roof

Mike clearing the roof

Pretty much done! Phew!

Well I'm off to go put the christmas tree up, in my really warm christmas pajamas. Yes I'm having a pj day! I've already done my run and my outside jobs so I'm unashamedly donning the pjs and loving it hehe. Hope everyone's having great days and keeping warm.

Winter Wonderland!

Ahh sorry it's been a while guys! Work has been hectic and my laptop is on its last legs so I haven't been able to go on it for long... Lets hope father christmas reads my blog haha

I haven't been doing much in the way of fitness the past week, I've had a really nasty cold/sore throat and only just managed to stay at work so it's been feet up at home! I did do my push-ups though,

16-17-14-14-26

26 is my new max! It's going up!

All you Brit bloggers will know about the snow! My town has pretty much come to a standstill, uni is closed for Mike and most people are working from home. Of course I can't do my work from home - not sure the home would like take a dementia patient home for the week.... Luckily it's within walking distance for me so I have been able to get in without too much difficulty, just cold wet feet!

Mike and I were considering running today but we decided the snow was too much.. It's up to our knees in places and really slippy in others... don't think we would have got very far. It's now I wish we had a treadmill. We couldn't even get to the gym with my mum and dad on a guest pass as they're completely snowed in! We did some strength at home...

Towel pull-ups 3x2 totally amazed I managed these!! The 2 weren't consecutive, I had to have a quick rest between reps I took a picture of this but I look horrible!! Maybe I'll get one next time hehe.
one legged squats wall assisted, these absolutely fried my legs 4x3E/L
14-18-13-12-10 push-ups did not go well today, I think I'm going to blame the pull-ups...
15 minutes core

Before I go, I'm going to leave you with some of my snow pictures... Roxie has been loving it!

Before it got heavy

What I woke up to..

Mike is in shorts?? My boyfriend is insane! Think he just couldn't be bothered to get changed haha.. still, insane!

Even Tia wanted in on the snowy fun.. although she didn't stay out for long!

Well that's about it for today. I have another day off tomorrow so hopefully I'll be back with my christmas decorating pictures! I can't wait to get the tree up!