An Accidental Tempo

Eight miles turned into a short tempo run when I realised I couldn't find my Mp3 player and Mike's ipod was out of battery... Music fail!

Tempo run 4.5 miles in total
average pace 9 min/mile
1 mile warm up 10.20
3 miles at short tempo (8.20-8.30) 8.28
0.5 mile cool down 4.13

Tempo portion ave pace - 8.28
Mile 1 - 8.38
Mile 2 - 8.34
Mile 3 - 8.11

It took me so long to warm up into this run. I don't know if it was the lack of music or if my legs were a bit tired but it was just one of those runs which felt really laborious. It didn't help that I had a pesky stitch for the first 2+ miles. Oh well... I got into it eventually and somehow came out with a tempo portion which was actually as it should be, I honestly thought as I was running it that there was no way I was getting my planned time. That faster last tempo mile paid off!

I was supposed to be attempting my 8 mile long run today. It didn't happen. I had another eating slip up yesterday and didn't manage to sleep til 4am which meant I just couldn't bring myself to run 8 miles before work today. It means I won't hit my February target mileage but I guess I'm ok with that. Well I kind of have to be hehe!

I'm not sure what to do about everything at the moment. I wish I was writing a positive post about the wonders of eating disorder recovery for NEDAW (national eating disorders awareness week) but I'm just not in the right place at the moment. It's really frustrating! Sorry for all the downer posts lately but thanks for sticking with me. I will get out of this!

Back on Track

I'm feeling good... my eating is working it's way back on track and I've been eating pretty much back to normal the past few days. I'm so glad that blip didn't last too long. I know it could easily drop back to bad eating habits but hopefully I can keep a hold of things.. The other issues that were affecting my eating haven't been completely sorted but they're getting much better. Hopefully they will stay that way so I don't take another knock! Sorry for still being so cryptic by the way it's just things I don't really feel too comfortable discussing on the blog plus they affect other people and it's not really my place to write about them on here!

Ok. Onwards and upwards!

My first workout back was just a quick one. I was struggling having only just started eating more again with major bloatedness and that feeling of lead in your tummy... I was going to run but Mike was doing this so I just joined in with him instead. Since my first week of half training was such a major flop half training is beginning again this week.. I had a few spare weeks in case of injury or tiredness I just wasn't intending on using one of them up so soon.. Oh well, that's life isn't it!

Anyway - here's Saturdays workout.

5 x 3 min rounds containing

30s burpees
30s constant punching 1-2
30s screw shots
30s burpees
30s constant punching 1-2
30s shadow boxing

30s rest, repeat until flopped in a sweaty heap on the floor... or 5 rounds...

Now, on to yesterdays run. It was exactly what I needed. Good fuelling and better sleep meant I was able to run double the miles I ran on my last run at over a minute per mile faster than last time.

6 miles in 50.44
ave pace 8.27
Mile 1 - 9.01
Mile 2 - 8.35
Mile 3 - 8.32
Mile 4 - 8.26
Mile 5 - 8.23
Mile 6 - 7.48

Score!

I really needed a confidence building run after my last flopped run and just after having a rough couple of weeks. This run didn't even feel too hard except for the last mile when I really just took off I was breathing fairly heavy for the rest of it but it was reasonably comfortable.. Yay! I real ready to take on my half training and rock it :D I totally gave it my all in that last mile and couldn't speak when I got in I just sat on the floor for about 5 minutes trying to catch my breath I love that feeling where you've left it all out there. I know you can't run like that all the time but it feels great to do it once in a while!

What races are you training for at the moment? Got anything exciting fitness-wise on the cards? Tell me, tell me!

Half Training Begins..

...badly... but it begins nonetheless!

My eating is still pretty iffy but I decided I had eaten enough to go for a run... this was supposed to be a tempo run at about 8.20-8.30 pace... Total run fail. I skipped the warm up and cool down miles and just went for it as I didn't have my headphones and I'm not good running without headphones, I also took Roxie who puked at the top of the hill... poor Roxie.. I think it was just that she'd eaten something funny off the floor.. I hope I didn't work her too hard anyway! I managed just over my planned 3 miles... only 'cause I was a little bit further than home and figured I might aswell jog it!

3.3 miles 31.31 - I seem to have an odd habit of getting numbers like this.. spooky!
Average pace 9.33
Mile 1 - 9.03
Mile 2 - 10.18 (uphill mile - in case you couldn't guess haha)
Mile 3 - 9.13
0.3 - 2.57 (9.52 pace)

So lack of sleep and poor fuelling = poor run. I knew it was coming so I'm not really disappointed I just hope I can get myself back to normal soon. I'm hoping to run again tomorrow but I'm not sure if I'll be able to as I may have to work late... Wasn't thinking about my run when I agreed to that one!

Anyways, I'm going to keep it short as I'm really tired and not sure I'm making much sense!

Thank you all so much for the supportive comments on my last post, I really appreciated every single one.

Windy Intervals

Sorry I've been a bit MIA, again.. I've had a really rough week..

I did do some fab intervals at the beginning of last week though. They were TOUGH!! You know that really strong wind we've been having, well nutso over here decided it would be a great idea to run intervals in it. They were immensly hard. Mike was running too and we both almost gave up more than once. I literally felt like I was running on the spot at times. I was amazed I finished them in times close to my goal times though, that felt gooood! I had 400m RI in between intervals...

200 - 0.40
400 - 1.48
600 - 2.46
800 - 3.52
800 - 4.04
600 - 2.58
400 - 1.58
200 - 0.43

I felt pretty hardcore after finishing them! Especially since I struggled to walk accross the field back to the start line hehe

Anyway I've had a pretty awful week. I don't want to get into details on the blog but it's affected my eating.. I'm trying hard not to relapse at the moment but I'm struggling.. I just have no appetite when I'm feeling like I am at the moment so.. I dunno! It's hard to explain being so cryptic.. Anyway I'm not sure when I'll be back with another workout post... I've not really been eating enough to exercise if I'm honest and I'm trying to stay as sensible as possible and not make things too bad. I'm supposed to be starting my half program on Monday so hopefully I'll be back on track by then but I honestly don't know if I will. Hopefully this is just a blip.. I considered myself to be fully recovered so to be struggling like I am at the moment has come as a bit of a surprise..

Hope you're all good and hope I'm back soon :-) I'm still reading blogs I'm just not feeling much like writing! Plus, the way I'm feeling = depressive posts which aren't much fun to read!

Homemade Sugar Free Granola

2/3 cup honey
1/3 cup applesauce
4 TBS oil
4 cups oats
1 cup chopped nuts/seeds
1 cup cranberries/raisins
4 TBS xylitol
1/2 tsp salt

Directions

• preheat oven to 160c
• mix the honey, applesauce and oil in one bowl (or jug)

• mix the dry ingredients except for the dried fruit

• mix the wet with the dry
• spread thinly onto two baking sheets

• bake for 45-60 minutes until golden brown (I stirred mine several times during the baking too)
• break up and add the dried fruit

• Try not to eat it all at once ;-)

Body Pump and Hill Sprints

I went!! Woohoo! All on my lonesome, thanks for all the encouragement, it was worth it, I went on Wednesday morning and it still hurts to sit down/raise my arms/move, but especially my triceps. man they're painful, I must have overdone the weight on something.. maybe the bench press that one seemed the one I was closest to failure on! yowza! I was quite pleased with how I estimated the weights choices though as I could finish each track but it certainly didn't feel too easy either.

Yesterday after work Mike and I went and did our favourite horrible running workout... hill sprints! We did 20 x 50m with 50m RI going back down.. Including the warm up and cool down we covered about 3 miles. Not bad since we were both so close to talking each other out of it. It was really, really windy and we went at 4.30pm after being up since 5.30am and all I'd had to eat was a bowl of porridge and a slice of toast. Not good and I really felt the lack of fuelling as I got a stitch as soon as I started the warm up. It was just one of those things though, I'd intended to go right after work but I'd got home and Mike had moved my only clean sports bra so instead of drying whilst I was at work it was still soaking. Could have been worse though as since he'd moved it we ended up running together! I was really pleased as I only ended up 1 rep behind him and he is a speed demon!

I wish I could have bottled how I felt after I finished. I love the runners high! It's even better when you almost don't run and then end up going as you feel doubly awesome for persuading yourself to go hehe. I need to remember this feeling next time I'm feeling a bit crappy and not like running!

I'm taking a rest day today, and probably tomorrow too. My arms are so painful and I'm really tired. Definitely ready for some rest!

Have a great weekend everyone!

January Recap and February Goals

Well January hasn't been my greatest fitness month but it's been good. I got out of it a bit towards the end of last year and I feel like I'm getting back into the swing of things. Everything is not where I want it to be but it's going in the right direction. I've had a really good week this week fitness wise and I just hope I can keep my motivation up when I'm tired..

Miles in January = 36

February goals
Push-up challenge
Run 3 x weekly
Start half training plan
Would love to do 45 miles in Feb... that would put me nicely on target for my yearly goals... we'll see anyway, I'm going to be careful with my increases, don't want an injury!

I had a good boxing workout back on Tuesday. I was a sweaty mess at the end of it haha. We used one of our favourite workout planning tricks and pulled out the deck of cards. It helps keep it fresh and keeps us on our toes 'cause we don't know what's coming next! Each round consists of 30s heavy bag followed by 30s random exercise repeat x 3. Exercises picked from deck of cards and included 2 x star jumps, 2 x burpees, 1 x mountain climbers and 1 x split jumps.. Luckily there wasn't a round which included both burpee cards with the mountain climber card 'cause I think that might just have killed me! My legs were dead after two rounds after the previous days 7 mile run so my punching got pretty rubbish towards the end but I finished it!

In total we did 7 x 3 minute rounds/1 minute rest

After this we did 10 minutes continuous core, including a 1.30 plank, which is pretty meagre compared to what I used to be able to do but good compared to my recent plank times which have barely got to 1 minute! It's amazing how fast you lose fitness when you're not practicing it regularly.. I need to get my core back into my routines!

A Day in the Life

Well in one of my recent posts I talked about different directions and one of the things I would never do full time but a few people seemed interested in was a daily eats post with reference to refuelling exercise. So, here goes! My diet is far from perfect but I like to think my attitude towards food is healthy now, I try not to get too obsessive over things which is why you'll see some white flour and white rice noodles, both of which were banned from my diet for several years when I was suffering from anorexia and in the early years of recovery. I feel totally exposed posting this random days eats so please no judging! It's a day off from work today so I've been fairly sedentary apart from the run and Roxie's walks.. I'll perhaps post a work day as a comparrison at some point...

0830 Breakfast of porridge with peanut butter, xylitol and honey, topped with homemade granola, recipe to come...




0930 Take Roxie on a short walk to go to toilet

1130 Set off for my run it takes ages for my breakfast to digest enough for me to feel like running. Was planning on taking Roxie but she was in a naughty mood so decided to leave her at home as I can't control her when she's not behaving, especially not on a run! (She has come on heat today for the first time so that might explain things...)

I set out to do 6-7 miles at a pace which felt fairly comfortable. I was really hoping for 7 but I wasn't sure how my legs would hold up due to my low mileage of late. Luckily at the 3rd mile I felt strong and decided the 7 was well within my reach! My pace is all over the place due to hills and wind...

7 miles in 1.05.00 ave pace 9.17
Mile 1 - 9.33 uphill and some downhills towards the bridge
Mile 2 - 9.53 uphill onto bridge
Mile 3 - 8.44 flat!
Mile 4 - 9.10 downhill off bridge
Mile 5 - 10.10 uphill back onto bridge
Mile 6 - 8.54 downhill off bridge
Mile 7 - 8.37 started this mile off at 10ish pace while it's up and down for the first half then was helped by a nice downhill

I felt really good when I got home from the run, the distance didn't feel like it was my longest run since last September... I only just realised it was that long ago when I checked my blog posts! Wow.. I may not be able to walk tomorrow!! (ETA My legs feel great today! Amazing!)

1240 Get home, stretch, start running the bath whilst microwaving last nights curry.. this isn't a typical days eats but it was in the fridge calling my name and it was worth every bite! Probably not the best recovery fuel but at least it was full of veg right...? It was a veggie rogan josh with rice and vegetable stuffed naan bread.


1400 After a reeeeeeeally long soak in the bath (what are days off for?) Mike and I sat down and watched some comedy DVDs Lead Balloon was the choice today. It's kind of like Curb Your Enthusiasm only with Jack Dee instead of Larry David. I also had some unpictured grapes here... I totally forgot to photograph them.. only doing it for one day and forgot... but you all know what grapes look like so I'm sure you'll forgive me!

1500 Still watching Lead Balloon we both had a sandwhich, mine was cheese, tomato and some salad cream on a crusty granary roll, I put some nuts on the plate for crunch and protein but unfortunately they were stale... guess I didn't tie them up properly..


1530 I took Roxie for a longer walk to make up for this morning.. She decided to poo right near the persons drive who'd put literally 10 signs saying to clean up dog poo (our council lend out the yellow spray paint and stencil to anyone who wants to use it) and I almost didn't notice!! I hate dog poo as much as anyone but 10 signs is so excessive so I had a silent chuckle about her choice of poo area!

1700 Come Dine With Me... ahhhhh I love this program, it's the narrator who makes it for me, and the absolute loons it attracts to go on it! Anyway, the woman cooking today made brownies for desert and jogged my memory that I'd been meaning to make some sugar free brownies...

1800 We went in the kitchen and Mike cooked tea whilst I made brownies. We had a vegetable stir fry with tofu, rice noodles and black bean sauce. Really quick and easy one pan meal. I might have pinched a few bites of brownie straight from the pan too...

Sorry for the terrible picture... I hate taking pictures of food without natural light.. it looked nothing like that!!


1900 Tidied the kitchen then played Mario on the Wii... told ya it was a lazy day today!

2100 Begun my Monday night TV marathon... Biggest Loser UK and Glee accompanied by nachos! The nachos were good but a bit too rich too late at night, made my tummy feel a bit iffy! I make my own tortilla chips by baking wraps in the oven with some salt, they're almost as good as the real thing but a lot healthier. Be careful when you're cooking them though as they go from uncooked to burnt very quickly! We had them with sainsburys basics salsa which is actually really good, I always keep some in my cupboard, from memory it doesn't have added sugar in either which a lot of salsas do!



Well I hope you enjoyed reading this! It wasn't a completely typical day I just got up and decided why not do it today! It looks like an awful lot of food written down all together but I guess that's one thing running does is make you really hungry! I also want to add... I didn't document drinks which in hindsight was a bit silly... I made sure to rehydrate with LOTS of green tea and water... My hand was rarely without a mug of green tea! I like to brew a pot and keep topping it up with boiling water until it's gone too weak, then I brew another!