A Little Update

Well I've been a bit rubbish at posting lately.. I've been working a lot and working on another little project which will be lifechangingly exciting if it all works out which has left a slightly tired Laura! I have managed a few runs though, one pretty awesome and one pretty awful...

First, the awesome! I went out with Mike on my day off. We weren't sure what to do so we set off to jog and decided once we got onto the humber bridge we would mark out a mile and both run it as fast as we could. One major downside of this run, we both completely under-dressed I was freezing. I almost pursuaded Mike to do a half mile time trial instead of a mile because I felt like I couldn't bare to be out there on the windy bridge much longer but I changed my mind before he made his up so we did the full mile as planned. I'm so glad we did as we both got new PBs! Mike is down to 5.23, speed demon! I hope one day I can run a mile which begins with a 5, that would be sooooooo good!

2.5 miles at around 9.10 pace
1 mile time trial 6.35!!!
1 mile jog/walk home

Thats 8 seconds off my last mile time which was on a track... and a bit closer to my sub 6.30 goal.. I think I could have probably made that goal on a track with less wind but time will tell! It was a gruelling mile, I swear the pillar which was our end post kept moving further away haha

I went out two days after this run intending on running 10 miles and stopped after 4. Cue sad face! My right shin and left thigh have been bothering me and they were bad for the full 4 miles so 3 miles in I decided to give up and go home. I hate doing that but in reality I'd rather cut a run short now than take weeks off later so I'm not too upset. I've rested well this week and it's the Good Friday hill race tomorrow so hopefully my legs will be feeling fresh and the race will be good. Fingers crossed!

We went to Manchester over the weekend, we loved the city, it seems so much more vibrant than Hull and there was loads of choice of things to do. I ate out for pretty much the entire weekend so I felt pretty sluggish when I got home, despite trying to make mostly healthy choices most of the time.. and a sneaky veggie burger and chips... Well worth it though it was delicious! I unfortunately didn't really take any food pics... Still a bit of a wimp taking them in public hah I was going to leave you with some pictures but I can't find the camera or the camera lead dohh! Maybe I'll add them in later or do another post...

Hope you all have brilliant long weekends!

A Food Filled Post (and a little running..)

We'll start with the running! We decided to splash out and go to the track yesterday.. I love the track! My planned workout was 3 x 1600m with 1 minute rest in between, ouch!! I decided to modify it a little bit so I could test my fastest mile time. My previous fastest time was 6.53 and ... drumroll please.... It's now 6.43!! Wooooooooooohoooooooo :D

I'm so pleased with that, I thought I'd messed it up after the first 400m when I looked at the watch and it said 5.58 pace, I lost my gameplan as the track was full of teenage athletics people who were training and I was a bit intimidated haha I feel so amateurish compared to others! I felt like they were all looking at me and thinking I was slow, sometimes I wish I could shut my brain off, it's not always helpful! - Re-reading this sentence though, I should perhaps be kinder to my little brain, it has got me to the end of some horrible workouts!

Warm up - 1 mile at 9.30 pace
Mile 1 6.43 (shaved 10 seconds off!!)
Rest: 5 mins
Mile 2 - 7.40
Rest: 1 min
Mile 3 - 7.53

Damn! I missed mile 3 :-( The garmin pace said 7.40 so I thought I was ok but I actually ran 1.05 miles according to the garmin so my pacing was off! I always do this... I put too much faith in the satelites hehe.. My first mile according to the garmin was 6.32 but the track was 6.43, obviously the track is right so that's what I'm going with! The middle mile came out exactly at 1 mile... Mr garmin is confused!

Look at the lovely parcel which arrived through my door on Thursday...
All the goodies! I can't wait to be doing a long run to try the gel out, it's sugar free (brown rice syrup and agave) and full of cherry juice, sounds like my kind of fuel!
First up, the pinacolada bar. Personally I HATE coconut, really hate it! So I let Mike eat most of this but I did try a bite for reviewing purposes. The texture was absolutely spot on, really chewy and decadent, it tasted like it should have a really bad nutrtional profile but it doesn't, there is pretty much no sugar, just a small amount in the rice crispie bits which is minimal overall. It is mainly sweetened with rice syrup which I really like. You can view the full ingredient list here.
Mike's review is very technical - 'it was really nice'... Good thing I'm not relying on him for any other flavours!! He did also say how cruel it was to leave them all out with a note saying he could only try one and to save me a bite while I was at work.. He said it was far too tempting, but I must say he didn't give into temptation, he did insist we opened another one pretty much as soon as I walked in the door though!

Next we tried the Hunza nut - this had a nice flavour too, the name made me expect hazelnut but the hunza nut actually refers to apricots! I preferred the flavour of this bar but the texture was my favourite thing about it again, I really love the chewiness. Sorry no pictures... I let Mike take them... he says it's the cameras fault.. I'm not convinced! They all came out blurry though! This one is one I took!
The refuel bars were both chocolate based flavours with around 14g protein per bar I liked the chocolate date bar best I only wished they were both more chocolatey.. as a chocoholic they didn't quite hit the spot.. They were really nice but I wanted more chocolate!
Again... Mike took the pictures as he ate half this while I was at work... No comment, although it is better than the Hunza nut effort!
Mike liked the chocolate banana flavour best out of these two and likened it to a banana bread nakd bar.
*Disclaimer* - Mule bar sent me these products for free to review. All the opinions are my own (or Mike's where stated) and I was not paid for the review. Regardless of being sent something for free I will always state my true opinion.

Finally, here's that pizza I promised almost a week ago! Clearly I'd never make it as a food blogger as this is how much was left when I remembered to photograph it! It's topped with tomato puree, fresh basil, mushrooms, onions, sweetcorn, pineapple, veggie ham and of course cheese!

It's all gone now!

Catch up

How's everyone's week going? I can't believe it's Wednesday already, I feel like I've been constantly chasing a to-do list as long as my arm all week! I got a bit out of routine at the weekend and it throws me right off track!!

Here is my belated weekly report...

Run 3 times per week according to the Run Less Run Faster Plan Week 1-3 done! Week 4 2/3, not bad.. Even though I didn't do as much as planned I did some tough running - slightly hilly trail intervals anyone? Youch!
Run 60 miles - (12.5 for the week) 4.8 to go
Do 120 push-ups over the month -80 done so far (0 for the week) 40 left
Do 25 chin-ups over the month - 15 done so far (0 for the week) 10 left
Do 1 core workout a week - 1 done so far (0 for the week)
Do 1 gymnastics workout a week -3 done so far (1 for the week)
Cook more from scratch - This goals been going well... Just need to remember to buy more veg, for some reason I've been lacking a little in that department!

I did a quick workout on Sunday... It was hard, I felt so sick as I'd had two drinks the night before and somehow they managed to give me the hangover from hell.. What a lightweight!! I managed to do a few bits and bobs,
Push-ups - 40
Chin-ups - 7
Frog stand - 43s
Chair dips - 30
Core - 10 mins

I was so glad to be finished.. Alcohol really doesn't agree with me sometimes!

I think the only other thing I've fit in this week is a short 2 mile run. I did that this morning.. I actually had 8 miles planned but several things got in the way.. Mike took my headphones to uni so I decided to shorten it to 6 as I just couldn't face 8 without music. Then as I was leaving my house there were two men just stood across the street staring at me. They ended up freaking me out cause I couldn't figure out why they were staring at me. I decided to go on as planned but during the first mile I started thinking what if they were watching me leave and they were going to rob me and basically freaked myself out completely. I started thinking about listening to your instinct and my instinct was telling me they were up to no good.. I decided to finish that mile as fast as I could and then run a faster mile home after a short rest.. My lungs were struggling today, as were my legs.. Even though I got my first lie in today (6.35!!) I think I'm still a bit overtired.. For so many reasons I just wasn't feeling it today and it was such a hard run.

Mile 1 - 7.53
Mile 2 - 7.43

I got home and everything was absolutely fine. No sign of the scary men which left me feeling a bit silly but glad! I did 3 chin-ups while the bath was running which added on to Sunday's workout brings me up to target for the month targets.. I've still got a few miles to try and fit in tomorrow but I'm not sure if that will happen as we're going back boxing tomorrow!!!! Squeeeeeeeee!! So excited!! :D

I got an award a few days ago and I've been so slow acknowledging it! The Happy 101 award! There were a few guidelines;

1. Post who gave you the award:
Embrace Nutrition gave me the award. Thank-you! Awesome blog and I love the name! Go check it out :-)

2. Name ten things you like:

1. Animals
2. Spending time with Mike
3. Running
4. Boxing
5. Blogging
6. Reading blogs
   
7. Cooking
8. Christmas (86 days...)
9. Playing clarinet
10. Trashy telly!
    

3. Give this award to ten other people and notify them with a comment (in no particular order): I'm going to continue my trend of highlighting UK bloggers..
Seeking Healthy Balance
Runner Mum
Bambi's Eats
So Much Delicious
Little Running Wife
Hotchoc26
Running From, Running To
Rambling on about Running
Caroline's Blog
Fitness and Cake

Enjoy checking them out! And happy humpday, hopefully it won't take me so long to get back here next time!

Hilly Intervals

I'm not sure how it happened, apparently it was my idea, but, in a moment of madness we ran our intervals on a hill today. This felt like the toughest workout ever. I really wanted to go run my second repeat somewhere flat but I sucked it up! It's surprising how fast your lungs recover, the worst thing was the mile jog back down the hill as we knew exactly what was waiting for us at the bottom! My flat mile time for intervals should be 7.50, I couldn't do that on the hill (+144 climb) but I wasn't tooooo far off;

Mile 1 - 8.07
1 mile recovery
Mile 2 - 8.05

I can't believe I did the second one faster! Mike was a total speed demon, his target pace was 6.01 and he ran both intervals in 5.59! I don't know how he does it! We also did just over a quarter mile warm up for a total of 3.3 miles, we were both wiped out afterwards. It was a great workout though and I'm sure it will have been great for my legs, as soon as I've forgotten how awful it felt I'll be doing it again for sure!

Anyway I'm going to keep it short and sweet tonight as I'm not very awake anymore.. Just went downstairs to feed the cat and forgot to feed the cat... She's been fed now! Before I go head on over to read my story on (never home)maker. I'm really chuffed to be featured on such a great blog!

10 Sunny Miles and 12 Rainy Miles

I had a good run last Sunday, it was soo hot though! I can't believe how much the weather has turned, my run today was rainy and cool! I was glad to get some hot weather running in as it's often hot for the half marathon I've signed up for. My water rucksack has been soo good, my long runs have been far better since I got it as I'm not spending the last few miles thinking about nothing but water! I ran over the bridge and did some of the half marathon route for this run... The hills really affect my speed, I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to hit my goal of under 2 hours!

10 miles in 1:33:28 9.21 per mile
Mile 1 - 8.47
Mile 2 - 9.40
Mile 3 - 9.19
Mile 4 - 9.01
Mile 5 - 8.10
Mile 6 - 10.26
Mile 7 - 9.42
Mile 8 - 10.30
Mile 9 - 8.41
Mile 10 - 9.13

Work update!
The regional manager came to speak to me on Thursday. As I'd written a letter to her it is being classed as a formal complaint so I was interviewed about it and so was my manager and the area manager will be too. I got my points accross and I'm hoping they will come back to me with the answer I want but I'm looking for another job and not worried about going back on the dole if they don't sort things out. I told her afterwards I would not return to work until the issue was resolved so hopefully that will speed things up. I feel bad about letting my manager down but I felt I needed to make it clear I was serious. And as I said to her, it has been going on long enough. If I stick around they could just keep me at a lower wage and fire me as soon as they find someone who will work for that wage, at least I force a quick answer this way, at least I hope I do! I hope they sort it out though as I still want to work there, I just won't if they don't pay me what they initially offered!

Yesterday I ran some awesome intervals! What better way to begin an impromptu day off! I started my intervals off by testing my mile time, I was hoping to get it under 7 minutes... 6.53 Hell yeahhhhhhh! There was a time not very long ago when I thought my body was just not capable of getting a mile under 7 minutes cause I could only just get it under 8.. I was so happy to get it under 7... Next goal, under 6.30? I hope so! After that I did 400m repeats, I thought I had done 4 but when I checked the garmin I did 5! Yay!

1 mile warm up 9.30
1600m - 6.53
400m - 1.45 (1.53)
400m - 1.42 (1.53)
400m - 1.39 (1.53)
400m - 1.41 (1.53)
400m - 1.34 (1.53)

400m RI between 400m, 4 minute rest after 1 mile. Total of 4.25 miles. I love interval days!

Today since work still haven't rung me I had another day off so I decided to make the most of it and do my long run since tomorrow I'm going to a BBQ at Mike's sister's house. It was totally different to last Sundays sweltering run it was raining the whole time! Come back sunshine!

12 Miles - 1.53.45 9.29 per mile
Mile 1 - 8.33
Mile 2 - 9.30
Mile 3 - 9.09
Mile 4 - 9.25
Mile 5 - 8.39
Mile 6 - 9.53
Mile 7 - 9.37
Mile 8 - 9.42
Mile 9 - 10.00
Mile 10 - 10.18
Mile 11 - 9.58
Mile 12 - 9.04

It ended up being a pretty good run, I had to change my planned route half way through though as I got on to the bridge and there was a sponsored walk going on! There were masses of people in pink hats so I quickly turned around and ran a different route. At least I got some hills in before the route changed.

Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend! Lets hope for some sun in England tomorrow. I'm looking forward to catching up on all my favourite blogs tomorrow before the BBQ, for now Mike and I are watching Prizefighter, there have been some great fights so far!!

01/03/10

AM
These intervals don't get any easier! Todays workout was sooo tough! But I got a new PR on my mile time!!! I could not believe it, I guess part of it must be because it was on a track and less windy than last time but still I'm pretty chuffed! The workout today called for 1 x 1600m, 2 x 800m, and 4 x 400m. It was supposed to be 400m rest intervals but I took walking time in between. 3 minutes after my mile, 90 seconds after the 800's and 60-90 after the 400's... it started off as 60 but I was so beat up by the end of this workout it just wasn't enough after some.

1 mile warm up - just under 9 minute pace, a bit faster than my normal warm up pace cause we were jogging to the track so Mike went slower than his usual pace and I went faster.. It's such a shame our paces are so far apart cause I'd love it if we could run together more often.

1600m - 7.16 wahooooooo
800m - 3.51
800m - 3.48
400m - 1.50
400m - 1.58
400m - 1.56
400m - 2.00

I got really dizzy in one of the 400's I felt like I might pass out so I went slowly until it passed, has that happened to anyone before, would you carry on, should you stop if you feel like that? Mike thought I should have stopped, and I might have if I'd been running on my own but since he was there I figured if I did pass out he could come and rescue me so I carried on and I was ok, maybe my HR was just a bit too high, wish I'd been wearing the garmin...ohh I wish I had my own garmin haha!

PM
Tempo chin-ups 5 x max (partially assisted by Mike)
Tempo push-ups 5 x max (wide, normal, close = 14 those close ones are hard!)

Right, off to get a snack before Glee! I'm hooked!

A few workouts and Italian food

It's been a while! I think this is the longest I've gone without updating! I missed writing Mondays workout cause it was my mum and dad's birthdays (they are both exactly the same age!!). We all went out to an Italian restaurant which was really nice and very indulgent!

Mike, Me, Gran, Grandad

A few (bad) pictures of the restaurant... my camera does not like low lighting!! - I loved the decor in this place, really quaint!

The waiter brought out olives and bread for the table, I had half a slice of bread and loads of olives, 2 slices of garlic bread, one normal and one tomato, some mozarella caprese.




For the main course I ate most of a vegetable pizza - gave three pieces to Mike, my brother and my dad otherwise I wouldn't have got through it hah! And I even had a desert, tirimasu, I was so full but it was worth it, the food was great!
My pizza
Mikes pasta
The best tirimasu I've ever eaten!
After the meal we all went back to my grandparents for some drinks, I didn't have any, much to my grandad's disappointment as I'd already had two with my meal and I'm a complete lightweight! Anyway all of this meant I didn't get home until 1 so I didn't feel like blogging then, just sleeping! Since then I've not had much time on the computer but hopefully that will change soon as mine should be getting fixed *fingers crossed*

Monday
I went running again!! So glad to be back out there! I did three 1 mile intervals..these interval workouts don't get any easier!!
1.2 mile warm up at 9.40 pace
mile 1 - 7.28!! new years resolution of a >7.30 mile check!! best aim for under 7 now!
mile 2 - 7.56
mile 3 - 8.19
0.83 mile cool down
Mile 3 was so frustrating, I'd hoped to get them all under 8 but I was just too tired. It would have been faster but some idiot driver drove onto the pavement in front of me so I tried to go around her for her only to drive back in front of me where I was going then. I think she was trying to park or turn around but she was making a right pigs ear of it and just got in my way completely. I wouldn't have been under 8 minutes if this hadn't happened but it would have been more like 8.10 I think. The second annoyance was my knee. It started hurting in the cool down.. I didn't think much of it until Tuesday when I could barely put my weight down on it. I'm getting seriously fed up with my body. It just keeps letting me down my shins fine and it's something else.

Tuesday
AM
I was really tired after the late night on Monday and just not feeling very motivated. I wanted to do something but I didn't really feel up to much.. I suggested to Mike we give swimming another go since it would be easy on my joints. We did a little jog on the way there but nothing much (my knee felt fine here). We did 20 laps of the pool with a small breather between each lap which equalled to 1km in 30 minutes- not bad for the second time swimming in about 10 years! On the way home is when I started having problems. We had about 2-3 miles to walk home and about a third of the way home my knee started hurting so much I could barely walk.. WTF?? Jogging part of the way there is fine but walking is not? Body what are you playing at?

PM
Strength - upper body only.
Dumbbell bench press 2 x 6 (7.5kg)
Dumbbell bent over row 2 x 6 (13.5kg)
Dumbbell curl 2 x 8 (6kg)
Push-ups on handles 2 x 4 (Sooo much harder on the handles!!!)
Wrist curls 35, 15 (17.5kg)
Reverse wrist curls 35, 15, 10 (10kg)

During the pm workout I got really stressed out with myself. The worst bit was the push-ups, I couldn't even do 5 on the handles and that got me. My body just felt exhausted, I feel like I keep adding rest to my workouts but keep feeling more run-down and fatigued. I'm getting so frustrated with myself.. During the workout Mike suggested he thought I would benefit from taking an extra rest day a week. I don't really want to cause it feels like taking a step backwards but it's just not working out the way I'm working at the moment. Like he said 5 good workouts a week are better than 2-3 good with the rest limited by fatigue...

I had a rest day today and I've devised yet another new plan which I'll post tomorrow... maybe this will workout better.. I hope so!! I've just re-read this quickly and I'm sorry how grumpy I sound today!!Cheery Laura is back tomorrow!