WIAW Super Sprints Edition

Welcome to my second WIAW post!

Wake up at 6am.... a bit later than planned... hello snooze button!
Forced down some wheatabix made with boiling water, honey and cinnamon, a matcha shot, and a huge mug of coffee... sorry mostly, not pictured... I forgot it was WIAW! I don't always manage breakfast this early but my throat was really hurting and I wanted to take my vitamins and some ibuprofen.. Coffee and Matcha shot from another day... sadly it's nno longer that light in the morning :-(

 

I ate 2 handfuls of mixed dried fruit at work (cherries, cranberries and raisins), I love that combo, I probably would have had more but my shift was so, so busy I didn't have time for a break, I was the duty manager on shift for the first time and it was rather stressful, especially since they decided to spring a fire drill on me... hello heart failure hah! I was so nervous! I didn't know it was a drill at first either, I felt physically sick! I did ok though, stayed calm and was only one problem which wasn't really my fault and nothing bad came of it so... yeah, not too bad! I also drunk quite a few cups of coffee at work and had 3 crunchie rocks a residents family member gave me... yummmy! Can't beat a bit of chocolate when you're tired and a bit stressed!

When I got home... a little later than planned (3.30)... had too much work to finish at the end of the shift! I ate a choc chip pizzert as some pre-boxing fuel! Those things are amazing and work pretty well as pre workout fuel, hello carbs! (btw.. I totally ate the whole thing not just the pretty slice pictured...)

Warm up inc 20 press-ups

Sprints - ouch!
Went and did 3 or 4 sets of sprints/jogs, it was random, the coach shouting sprint/ jog.. trying to emulate fight conditions where sometimes you need to be punching rapidly and sometimes you can dance around and catch your breath a bit.. I was really trying to keep up with the super speedy guys next to me and one of them really pushed me through the last repeat! I was so tired after though, my legs were moving but I wasn't sure how.. totally felt like they were just going to collapse under me haha

Bags
6 x 3 minutes (1 min rest)

Footwork
Just a few footwork drills working on punching whilst moving forward and backwards... good to go back to basics, it's easy to forget them!

Shadow
Practicing the footwork drills

Cool down


When I got in I ate this fantastic yummy salad, the picture does not do it justice, it is mixed leaves with loads of cucumber, tomato, pepper, olives, chickpeas roasted with garlic, chilli, nooch and a little stock and loads of feta! Absolutely scrumptious!

I also had some PB mixed with honey... aka crack!

Then I went to bed, shattered! My cat woke me up this morning at 5am though... I've had a serious lack of sleep lately! Oh well, gotta get through tonight at the gym then tomorrow I can have a lie-in and hopefully shift this niggly throat!

Busy Little Bee

Wooo it's been a while! I have been working like a mad woman. There has been a nasty diarrhoea and sickness virus going round the home I work at and I have been doing lots of overtime, including a 15.5 hour shift on Monday, my day off... I must be mad it was a gorgeous day should have sat myself in a beer garden and worked on my tan haha.. but the money will be good when it comes in and plus I might still end up catching this virus and having to take unpaid sick days... How bad is that I would have to take unpaid sick days for a virus I would have caught at work... Anyway... My body had been strong so far against it. I really feel like a ticking time bomb though haha. In all this I've actually just had a stonking cold... nothing to stop me working or getting to the gym though, just a bit tired and run down, probably from working too much and still not sleeping well. I'm up at 5.30am tomorrow and I'm writing this post wide awake at 11.15pm.. and that's the time now... Goodness knows what time it will be when I finish writing!! (ahhh only 11.30... is this full of mistakes?)

Anyway... you don't come here for my rants about how hard I'm working or to hear me feeling sorry for myself! I'll share with you my latest boxing workout instead!

Warm up 20 mins of the usual, jogging, stretching, tuck jumps, push-ups etc

Running team drills - this consisted of a few drills which we each did 3 times

• run to the ring (approx 50m) pick up heavy bag, run back to team then back to ring, drop heavy bag and sprint back to team.
• run to ring pick up heavy bag, run back to team, run back to ring, drop heavy bag, run back halfway to team and do 20 jumping lunge type things off a high step, sprint back to team.
• run to ring, back to team, back to ring, back to half way, step up onto steps with med ball when you reach the top fully extend arms then bring back to chest, repeat 10 times for speed, jump sideways over steps 10 times, sprint back to team.

6 x 3 min heavy bag (1 min rest)

7 mins continual skipping

Partner drills with medicine ball

• Person A throws medicine ball to person B who is sat on the floor, person B lies down, touches medicine ball on floor behind head, does sit-up and throws back to person A. Repeat 15 times then swap. x 3
  
• Person A throws medicine ball to person B who is kneeling on the floor, person B throws back, drops straight down into push-up then back up ready to catch again. Repeat 15 times then swap. x 3
• A & B stand back to back and pass the medicine ball from side to side 15 times each side x 2.

Weighted hooks with olympic barbell plus 15kg (3 x 12)

Cool down, 10 mins of stretches.

Plus I biked there and back... I'm not keen on road biking (always feel like I'm going to die on the roads or be fined massively if I go on the pavements..) but I'm trying to save money on bus fares. It costs me 2 pounds a night to box but would be over a fiver including bus fares, now if I go three-four times a week thats 15-20 pounds gone when it could be 6-8... Big difference if I suck it up and bike! Plus it's an extra little workout, it's about 25 mins each way, not sure how many miles but it will be good for leg endurance so... thinking of the positives!

Last bit of good stuff, I got my Matcha powder from Teapigs you can expect a proper review but so far all I have to say is LOVE IT! I had some the day I got it and really felt energised, moreso than my beloved coffee! Shock!! p.s. ETA just noticed they have an offer on the matcha at the moment, 2 for 40 instead of 25 each (sorry my pound button doesn't work!!) it ends 30/06/11 so get in quick if you want to save a bit! Enter matchabod at the checkout!

Hope you're all having a good week, hope I get to post more regularly this week I miss blogging when I'm busy!

Lost: One Motivation

If found, please return to Laura.

I've been feeling really lazy since the move. I'm not sure if I'm just still a bit tired or if it's the cold weather but I've been really struggling to motivate myself to do any kind of training. Yesterday I managed my push-ups W2D1, 14-14-10-10-15 and some gymnastics but it was one of those workouts that just kind of felt really difficult.. I don't know if it's all in the head!

I opted for an equally lazy tea, pasta alla anything!! It will not be seen in any Italian kitchen I'm sure but it's a really nice one-pot meal we enjoy from time to time. It only takes about 15 minutes to make so it's perfect when you're feeling a bit tired or in my case, lazy! (sorry for the bad photos btw, it was going dark.. my camera does not like the dark.. or I have not figured out how to successfully use it in the dark)

I even had my handy floor cleaner on hand for any bits of veg I dropped ;-)

Get all your ingredients out ready to throw carelessly into the pan... Of course the pasta also includes pasta but I seem to have forgotten to photo it...

To your simmering pan of pasta add whatever frozen veg you happen to have, chickpeas, and any other veg you fancy

When it's all cooked add a tin, or packet of chopped tomatoes and a generous amount of hummous to make it lovely and creamy.. This dish is vegan until you top it with feta.

Top it with feta, or not, and enjoy!

Not very authentic but very tasty and very simple, packed full of veg and beans for protein it's healthy fast food!

Afterwards I had a nice cup of tea

I tried to have two nice cups of tea but spilt the second one.. ahh well :-(

What's everyone up to today? I'm heading out for a run soon. I've told you all now so I can't chicken out 'cause of the cold... What is up with me lately, I ran in snow regularly last year, this year I'm a full blown wimp!

I'll be back later to let you all know how far I went, also I recieved another fab tea prize in the mail this morning.. more of that later!! Aaaand CSN giveaway and review is coming up this week :-)

Hill Sprints are Back

Thanks for all the lovely comments on the new house! We're settling in well and I'm starting to get some energy back after a tiring few weeks.

Since we moved I've only really done a bit of running and some push-ups.. not as many as I should have done though, I think I'm going to start week 2 again, last week was a bit of a write off. My running has felt really labored too, I hope it's just 'cause I was tired from all the lifting and moving related sleepiness.

I took Roxie for her first run last weekend. We did 2 miles and it was one of the hardest 2 miles ever! She kept tripping me up and she pulls on the lead badly... I hope she will learn not to pull soon.. We did 2 miles in just over 20 minutes and I felt like my arms got a workout too.

Mike took Roxie's lead the next time and we did another 2 miles, faster this time. The first mile was about 8 minutes and it was uphill. Well I totally burnt out and slowed us all down for the second mile which took about 10 minutes. Ooops! Rather annoying really as we had planned to do 3 but I felt horrible and had chest pains so we cut it short.

We ditched Roxie for yesterdays run and went to do an old favourite. Hill sprints! 1 mile warm up then 20 x 50m sprint uphill, 50m recovery jog downhill... An old lady said she wished she could still do that as she walked past us, then the second time we ran past she told me off for lagging haha. I mainly kept up with Mike for the first 10 then he got 2 reps ahead of me in the final 10.. His endurance is much better than mine.. That's something I really want to work on before I do another half marathon... Any tips?

Yesterday, just before we set off running a lovely parcel arrived... My Teapigs goodies which I won on Maria's blog, Running Cupcake, thanks Maria!! I so wanted to stay at home and make a big cuppa instead of running! I won the Christmas Cheeky bundle and they sent some peppermint and green tea samples too.

I tried the spiced winter red tea first...

Waited patiently for 3 minutes for it to brew

And then burnt my tongue...Not so patient...

Yum yum! I made my dad a cup too and he loved it, really nice on a wintry morning and definitely christmassy sort of spices. Delish! I'd pick this over mulled wine any day! Although I did for a moment wonder what it would be like with baileys instead of milk!! I only tried rooibos tea recently as my mum and dad bought some vanilla flavoured rooibos back from Amsterdam. I've always been a green tea girl but I could see rooibos featuring more often in my cuppa!

I could spend rather a lot of money on the teapigs website! Must be restrained, the prices mean they would have to be special treat teas on my current budget! I've already made a wish list as long as my arm though... Rooibos creme caramel, popcorn tea, oriental special brew bundle, and of course the matcha all feature on it... Please father christmas!!

How has everyone elses weekends been? Hope you've all enjoyed a break :-)

*disclaimer* Teapigs have not paid me for my review or sent me the teas to review, all opinions are my own and I featured the product on my blog because I enjoyed it.