WIAW and Fabulous Blogger Meetup!

Yesterday 10 healthy living/fitness bloggers headed to Manchester for a fabulous meetup! In attendance was Jemma (Celery and Cupcakes), Laura (Keeping Healthy, Getting Stylish), Jess (Almost Over Now), Ali (Almost Athletic Ali), Leigh (Peanut Butter Nutter), Emily (Sparkle and Shade), Sarah (Sweet Potato Sarah), Sarah (Everyday's a Picnic), Ffion (Chocolate and Raspberries)

Also, this is my first WIAW post! Hurrah, I've finally hopped on the bandwagon!



There were some issues with the trains so while we were waiting for everyone to arrive a few of us grabbed coffees/teas/juices at Cafe Nero... I thought I had taken a picture of my coffee but I either imagined that or my camera ate it... Anyway I just had a black coffee... Had it been a bit warmer or at Starbucks I might have treated myself to a caramel frappucino.. I love those! But they're so expensive/nutritionally void I don't get them often..

Once we had met everyone we headed to the Eighth Day Co-op for lunch and some shopping. I was absolutely starving by this point, I hadn't eaten breakfast 'cause I'd set off so early for my train! I ummed and ahhed at the counter for ages going back and forth between Mediterranean stuffed peppers and goats cheese spinach roulade.. I love goats cheese and spinach but in the end the peppers won out! They were absolutely gorgeous!

I also had a sneaky brownie for desert... it was massive and I'm not sure how I ate it all but I did!

l-r Leigh, Ffion, Ali, Me

l-r Ali, me, Laura, Emily... Ali and I are wall squatting!! Which perhaps explains the slight grimacy smile on my face...
l-r Sarah, Jemma, Jess, Sarah
l-r Sarah, Jess, Ffion, Ali, Me, Sarah, Jemma
After we'd eaten and chatted for a while we headed on upstairs to the food shop! We were like a bunch of kids in a candy shop! I haven't taken pictures of my fabulous haul yet so that will have to be another post!

We went to look round the Harvey Nicks food hall after we'd finished in eighth day.. That was filled with lovely treats, most of which I could not afford! I would have bought some peanut butter chips but they had hydrogenated oil in and I won't eat that so sadly they remained on the shelf.. I also looked at some chia seed cookies but they were out of choc chip, and they were out of oreo cupcakes which I also would have been totally tempted by! Oh well... That gives me a good excuse to go back!

After Harvey Nicks we headed to Kro bar for cocktails... They were yummy, I considered working my way through the menu ;-)

Laura and I shared as it was BOGOF, we chose the Caipirinha first but for some reason they couldn't make that so...
French Martini it was!

l-r: Laura, Ffion, Me, Sarah, Emily, Ali, Jemma, Leigh, Jess
Not sure why I didn't huddle in here! I stand out like a sore thumb!
Before Laura and a few other bloggers had to dash for the train we shared another cocktail deal.. Passionfruit martini... wowsers this was strong! But tasty!

Sarah and Emily
Sarah and I then shared a Bagpuss, mainly 'cause we liked the name! But also we had celebrating to do, Sarah had just found out she got a job at waitrose... I'm so jealous of her staff discount!
And it turns out Bagpuss was rather pretty...
I also finished this one off as Leigh wasn't keen, it was rather sickly but I have a sweet tooth... I'm not sure what was in it anymore, despite it's appearance it tasted a bit like a frappucino so I liked it!
Ali, Leigh and Ffion
Ali, Leigh and me
After Ffion and Ali headed to the train station Sarah, Emily, Leigh and I went in search of food and wine and went back to Sarah's swanky Manchester flat. You bet I had some alcohol fuelled greasy chips... I did miss the chip spice though... not sure why that never caught on outside of hull!
I also had a spicy bean and veg burrito from barburrito... love that place wish we had one in Hull

And one or two (*cough* half a bottle *cough*) glasses of very tasty cheap wine... which I got id'd for and we were almost unable to get it, despite me being 26 and the oldest person there!
Bloggers tweeting! I was rather gutted to not have my phone and be able to join in


So yeah... bloggers kind of fail at self portraits... best one I had guys haha!

And then feeling slightly worse for wear made a mad dash for the last train home and just made it! I kind of feel like this post should be WIDW (what I drunk Wednesday) due to the amount of cocktails and wine consumed hehe, fun times! Can't wait to see you all again!

Roadwork

Thanks everyone for the comments on my last post. I got some good advice and like Sarah has mentioned on her blog it's easy to feel alone in food struggles so thanks for reminding me I'm not a crazy weirdo for feeling the way I do sometimes!

The boxing session I went to yesterday was tough! Something the runners will appreciate! We went to the docks to do roadwork on a bridge with LOTS of steps!!

• Sprint up steps (one at a time), skim down x 5
• Sprint halfway across bridge (200m? ish) jog back x 5
• Sprint halfway across bridge (200m? ish) jog back x 5
• Stride up steps (as many as you can at a time), skim down x 5
• Steady paced run approx 3 miles
• Sprint up steps (one at a time), skim down x 2
• Jog across bridge
• Sprint up steps (one at a time), skim down x 2

Wobble back to gym!!

3 x 3 minutes on heavy bag with 1 min rest

Enjoyed this but my legs are feeling it today, I've got really sore shins, I'll have to be careful, I didn't have my trainers so I did all this running in my boxing boots which wasn't exactly ideal... need to remember to take my trainers to the gym!

Runners: do you incorporate steps into your training? I'd love to have access to a big stadium where I could run the steps!

Strange Exercise Names

I've been boxing four times since I last blogged! Eeep! The first three sessions were fairly standard and went a little something like this... The bodyweight circuit is full of weird and wonderful sounding exercises... where do people get the ideas from when they name an exercise!

Warm up

Bodyweight circuit

• Mule kick to tuck jump
• Alternate lunge jumps
• Dirty dogs
• Superman surfers
• One legged burpees
• Crab roll push-up
• Reverse lunge to hop
• Pike push-ups
• Kangaroo jumps
• Breakdance push-ups
• Mountain climber push-ups

If anyone wants a description of any of these strange moves let me know!

Bag rounds
7 x 3 mins 30s rest

Core circuit... you know how that one goes!
Cool down

The one last night however, wow! I am aching all over, my body just hurts! I even felt like I was going to faint during the team drills! Can definitely tell we're getting ready for the season, I'm hoping to get my medical in the next few weeks and as soon as that's through I will be getting fights booked!! Exciting and terrifying all at the same time, I can't wait but I know I will be nervous, not about getting hurt per se but about losing or not doing as well as I can! Anyway.. last nights killer session!

Warm up
Run 1.5 miles ish

Team drills in groups of 3
* person a runs to ring, picks up bag, runs back hands bag to person b who takes it back to ring and runs back, person c runs to ring, picks up back runs back hands to person a... etc....
* run to ring jump on to side of ring 10 times, run back to half way line, do 10 reverse lunge to hop, next person goes, each person did it four times
* run to ring pick up bag, run to team and back to ring carrying bag, run to half way point and do 10 mountain climber push-ups, run back to team, next person goes. Each person does it 3 times.

Carrying the heavy bag and running with it is so hard, I can't always position it quite right on my shoulder so it always bashes on my leg and gets in the way! It was the last drill where I felt all dizzy but I didn't stop, I did think about it though!!

Heavy bag pyramid
5 mins on - 1.20 mins rest
4 mins on - 1 min rest
3 mins on - 45s rest
2 mins on - 30s rest
1 min on - 30s rest
30s on
3 mins rest
30s on
1 min on - 30s rest
2 mins on - 30s rest
3 mins on - 45s rest
4 mins on - 1 min rest
5 mins on - 1.20 mins rest

Cool down

I'd been panicking every night about getting weighed and I did get weighed last night, I have put on weight and I'm really frustrated about it. I feel like I can't stop eating at the moment and I feel really out of control with it. I've been trying really hard not to throw up and doing really well for the most part but I cannot stand this weight gain, I feel huge all the time. I hope it evens out back where it was and that I can get this under control. I'm so sick of feeling like this. It's on my mind constantly, I even dream about it some nights I feel like I'm completely crazy sometimes. Ughh I wish I could just eat normally, it's either too much, too little, or too much and end up making myself sick... Mind you today hasn't been too bad I feel ok about it, probably a little less than I perhaps should have but enough to function and not so much I'm freaking out! I need to try do WIAW then I might have a day of good eats and no ed behaviour as I'll be baring all on the blog!

Well I think that's enough confused rambling for one day! I'm hopefully off boxing tomorrow morning before work, hope you're all having a good weekend!

Vegan Roast Vegetable Paella

A lot of you will probably already know I spent my Saturday night making a roast vegetable paella with my dad who had just got home from a holiday in Spain... Just realised I maybe should have took some pictures of me and dad but being in food blogger mode I only got food pics... On the other hand clearly not being in food blogger mode I forgot my camera so these are pictures from my blackberry so they aren't as good as I'd like but you get the idea!

First we prepped the veg, courgette, aubergine, sweet flame red pepper, onion, butternut squash and a clove of garlic in foil to add to the rice.

Then, and this step is essential, poured a glass of wine..

Put the paella rice on to cook in a frying pan with salt, pepper, veg stock and saffron

add in peas and chickpeas

and some sliced mushrooms

Simmer until cooked, squeeze in some of your roast garlic and serve buried in roast veg

I didn't take a picture but I then mixed it all together..

I recommend this rose, was yummy! From M&S and suitable for vegans, went well with the paella (in my non wine buff opinion!)

Also some very easy to drink apple schnapps my dad brought home from Spain... this went down far too easily!

Some of you following me on twitter may also know this meal was followed by my gran's home made apple pie and custard... I enjoyed it too quickly to photograph though.. oops! Sorry guys!

The only changes I would have made would have been to roast the veg a bit longer and to have fried the rice off in some tomato puree before adding the stock, I think that would have added to the flavour quite a lot! Hope you enjoy it if you make it, it was yummy!

Tire Flip

Last weekend I did a tire flip in aid of new boxing kit to wear next season. My mum and dad picked me up and we took Roxie for a walk before it started.

The team waiting to get started

I ended up doing it with one of the junior boxers as we were the smallest.. I kind of wanted to go it alone but it was really hard in a two so after a few flips I was glad for the help! I later found out some of the guys had done it in twos too so I didn't feel so bad!

We came right from where the road is and this was still fairly close to the start! It was hard - about a mile at least half up hill!

My dad stopped taking pictures then... I suppose there are only so many variations of a tire flip haha I think it took us just over 30 minutes and the fastest time was 28 something I think but that was someone going it alone! Hope we do it again next year, even though it did leave me in pain for two days hehe.. it was that good kind of pain where you know you've worked hard!

Had to include more Roxie pics, she loved the car ride!

Tired out!

Well goodness me! Two posts in one day after nothing for a week! Hope you enjoyed the pictures :-)