6k run done!

As you've probably guessed I have a plan of what I want to run each day. Today my plan was 5k and a Key Toning Class at the gym. I turned up at around 12.05 and gave the receptionist my card as asked for the Key Toning class at 12.15 and she told me where to go. I could hear the music and assumed the instructor was playing the music to get everyone in the mood. I opened the door and everyone was already going for it, working their poor ab muscles on the floor with what seemed like a devil woman screaming at them. I quickly closed the door and went back to reception and said that they'd already started and I'd just use the gym instead. Admittedly, I was slightly annoyed when the receptionist said "oh yeah, I think she started at 12 cause she thought everyone was here." WHY WOULD EVERYONE BE THERE MORE THAN 15 MINUTES EARLY? Its quite a new class so I don't see why she'd do this as there wouldn't be usual regulars going or anything, and even if there were regulars, are new people not allowed to join in? Its a good job I'm a member and didn't have to pay otherwise I would have demanded a refund because to be honest, that's just unfair!

So rant over...
I went in the gym and planned to do 5k, I started on the 'wave' machine for 5 minutes to warm up and then went across to the treadmill. I actually started pretty well doing a 2 minute run 30 second walk sequence, doing some 3 minute and some 4 minute runs.I did 5k and then decided to carry on for another kilometer so I did 6k. This is the longest I've ran in one go so far! And I really enjoyed it, and I felt like I'd achieved something, and extra km was even far! I think I will either do 5k or 6k tomorrow and go for a 5k walk on Saturday. May even have chance to do a run on Sunday which I am quite looking forward to!

Stats:
Distance: 6k
Time: 47.05 mins
Calories: 432
Speed: 7.7km/h average speed

Love x

Running Round in Circles

As you may have guessed, I usually run in the gym and not outdoors; mainly because my house seems to be at the bottom of two pretty steep hills so to really get anywhere I need to run up these, but buy the time I get to the top I am shattered and want to magically appear at home again! I think I really need to get some hill training in. I was lucky with my last (and only) 5k as it was mainly flat with only a couple of very slightly gradual hills. Anywayyy.... I went out for my first outdoor run so far this year this morning and I really enjoyed it! After a bit of a stress about what to wear, its a lot milder today than it has been the last few days, I was off. I had planned a 3.5k route on MapMyRun previously and decided to do this. I had only planned to do 2k today but I was in the mood so it seemed quite pointless going out to just do 2k. I finally managed to get the GPS working on my iPod and was quite impressed with the app. It showed me where I was running, my time, my distance, my minutes per km and my current pace actually scratch that, a lovely lady TOLD me these wonderful stats! I ran slightly further than planned and ended up closer to 3.6k, I thought about running a bit further to round it up to 4k but I wasn't sure if I did the small loop by my house then it would go over the 4k mark and I'd just have to keep running in circles until it got to a round number, I would have been dizzy! I tweeted my workout and then felt bad for not having an even number so went for a quick jog around to block (500m) to make it up to 4k.

Unfortunately there are no pretty and frosty photos from my run today like others yesterday and Monday. The conditions were pretty dull, overcast sky's and damp, it must have rained in the night. It seemed pretty warm in comparison to previous days so for me and for running it was ok. The drains were damp and slippy and I nearly went flying a few times, oops, I need to watch where I'm running. Also, has anyone else noticed the amount of dog poo on the pavements? I was quite shocked, especially as every person I saw with a dog was picking it up! Might be because it is quite a residential area so no one really pays much attention. Enough talk about dog dodo....

I have planned tomorrow to go to a class called Key Toning, more like a toning class for abs and arms I think, mainly because I hate my arms and because I don't just want to get too bogged down with cardio and forget to tone my body. Hopefully it will be mainly toning and not too strenuous in cardio so I will then go into the gym and run. Planned is a 5k so I will do this and see how I feel, I may even do 6k! My planned Km's for this week is 20km. I didn't plan anything last week and I did 18 so I thought I'd slightly increase it each week. I only increased it by 2k as I didn't want to push my self too hard and thought (for me) 20km is quite a lot at the moment. I may break this target but we'll see!

With a 6.29 min/km pace I was quite pleased with this run. I have no idea what this means as the treadmill does nothing like this but I think this is faster than what I usually do on the treadmill. My idea is to do at least 1 outdoor run a week so I'll use this as a base and then try and get faster! I think its easier to keep going outside because when you're on the treadmill with people walking next to you its so easy to press to downward arrow on the speed and slow down for a little while.

I'll try take some more interesting pictures next time but for now, its time for a good nights sleep.
Love x

Early(ish) Morning Gym Session

I had plans today at around 12 o clock so instead of having a morning procrastinating after breakfast and then having a late morning, early afternoon gym session I needed to get up early and go. I wanted to be out of the house for about 9 half 9 and have a good hour/hour and a half at the gym. I woke up in the middle of the night and my legs felt stiff! I was thinking 'oh no, I'm going to feel awful in the morning and my legs are going to feel like lead!' but when I woke up they were surprisingly okay!

Last night I went to a Ladies circuits session at the gym which lasted one hour. My plan was to go to the gym before and do a 1k run and then go to the gym after and do another 1k run. Instead I did 2k before I went to the class and then went home after the class, I didn't want to go back in the gym and push myself too much so then not manage to do much all week. I really love the circuits class, I always feel like I've had a full body workout but the only trouble is, it is only on once a week and on a Monday evening. I'm not a fan of going to the gym on an evening, especially in the winter because it is busy and the car park can be a bit dodgy on an evening. And I like to get my workouts done and dusted rather than waiting around all day to leave the house in the dark and cold. I did enjoy the class and will be going again but maybe not every week!

My earlyish gym session involved a warm up on the cross trainer for 5 minutes, 5 minutes on the arm machine and 10 minutes on the wave machine and then I went onto the treadmill. I was going to try and do 5x1k runs, seeing how fast I can do them. My aim in distance for today was 5k and I did manage it, but I seemed to lack motivation and running seemed to be really hard and tiring! My calf seemed to be really pulling at 3k so decided to stop. And then I did another 2k after, just so I got my target for today.

Hopefully do a 3k tomorrow, but outdoors and see how it feels.
I'll keep you updated
Love x

Blue Monday

So apparently today is 'Blue Monday' the most depressing day of the year, but in all honestly I'm feeling pretty ok! I'm feeling motivated with my healthy eating and very motivated with my running and gym except I haven't actually been yet today. I was going to go this morning but then one of my gym buddies text me asking if I wanted to go to a circuits class tonight and one of my other friends has just joined the gym and wanted to go too. So I'm going to do that as apparently it burns around 600 calories. My gym buddy has also asked me to go swimming after the class but when the class finishes at half 8 I think it will be too late and cold! I'm going to go to the gym before the gym and do a short run and then go after the class and so another one if my legs are feeling ok.

On Saturday when I went for a walk my right calf was hurting and then yesterday, even when I did no exercise except being at work, my shins are really hurting and still are today! I thought after some rest and a good nights sleep they would be ok but they are still hurting this morning, like right above my ankles so when I move my ankles I get a bit of a shooting pain. I don't want to not to anything today, especially running, I want to get the Km's clocked up! I think I must have weak bones because to get what seems like shin splints after one week of running is pretty bad. I did do nearly 18km last week so maybe I did too much last week? I do not eat much dairy at all to be honest so I am going to try and eat more, especially yogurts and milk, in hope that my bones with strengthen a bit. I really don't want to have to have time off from running injured because even though my 10k is just over 15 weeks away I want to be more than ready than it!

I think I will try and do 2 lots of 2k tonight, or 2 lots of 1k depending on how my legs feel but try and increase my pace slightly. I know I need to increase distance first, I have officially signed up for my first Half Marathon, The Great Birmingham Run and my 10k application is in the process of being completed. With a 10k in May and a Half Marathon towards to end of October I have a lot to train for but a lot to be motivated towards!

I am eagerly awaiting the postman to bring my race and fundraising pack from Diabetes UK!

Any tips on avoiding injury, especially in my shins? What is everyone's 10k and HM times? Would love to know!

Love x

Frosty Under Foot

I planned to go for a run today at my local country park but my mom asked if she could come with me for a walk and I didn't want to leave her so we went for a brisk walk instead. It was so beautiful, the sun was going down and the water and the frost was glistening. Some parts of the park were fine, some really muddy and some really frosty under foot. I tried to use the Nike+ app to see how far we were walking but it just kept saying 'Walk around to start your sensor' and never actually did anything! So I tried to iMapMyFitness app instead and that too wouldn't connect, we must have had poor GPS signal. It still timed how long we were walking for and it was 44 minutes. According to the calorie counter app on my phone this burnt 224 calories. I never usually do anything on a Saturday so I was happy with this, and everything is better than something. Walking around I also came up with some good ideas for where to run so I think I might be visiting more often. I think I'll start by driving down there and running around and gradually run there and then run around as its not too far away from home.

A few photos of the gorgeous views and park not even 5 minutes drive from my house! And a sneaky picture of mine and my mom's shadow!

Walk: distance 1.8m 2.9km-224 cals  44mins

One of the worst parts of eating healthily for me is having something sweet for a snack that isn't too high in calories. I decided to adapt the Chocolate Swiss Roll recipe I previously posted to just a plain Swiss roll. Instead of 75g flour and 25g cocoa powder, I just used 80g flour and a splash of vanilla extract and filled with Diabetic jam rather than butter cream or cream. I've cut it into 9 slices and worked it out at 94 calories a slice. I know you can get snacks for less than this such as Muller light yogurts and Snack-a-Jacks etc but sometimes nothing beats a slice of cake and a cup of tea!

Here is a low carb carrot cake recipe that is lovely! I made this when I was doing low carb last year, I don't think its particularly low calorie or low fat but most of the calories and fat come from using ground almonds as opposed to flour, this decreases the carb count significantly.

Carrot Cake Recipe

FOR THE CAKE 
* 1 medium orange
* 80g chopped walnuts
* 75ml olive or vegtable oil
* 230g ground almonds
* 2 tsp baking powder , plus a pinch
* 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
* 1 rounded tsp ground cinnamon
* 40g splenda
* 170g finely grated carrots (about 200g carrots before peeling)
* 2 eggs

FOR THE FROSTING
* 100g light soft cheese , straight from the fridge
* 100g Quark
* 12g splenda
* 1 finely grated orange zest
* 1 1/2 tsp lemon juice

1. Heat oven to 160C/fan 140C/gas 3.
2. For the cake, finely grate the zest from the orange and squeeze 3 tbsp of juice. 
3. Pour the juice over the walnuts in a bowl, stir in zest, then leave to soak while you make the cake. 
4. Grease 2 x 8” cake tins. 
5. Mix the almonds with 2 tsp baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon.
6. Separate one of the eggs. Put the white in a small bowl and the yolk in a large one.
7. Break the remaining whole egg in with the yolk, then tip in the splenda. 
8. Whisk together for 1-2 mins until thick and foamy. 
9. Slowly pour in the oil and continue to whisk on a low speed until well mixed. 
10. Tip in the almond mix, half at a time, and gently stir it into the egg mixture with a rubber spatula or big spoon. The mix will be quite stiff.
11. Put the extra pinch of baking powder in with the egg white and whisk to soft peaks.
12. Fold the carrot, walnuts (and any liquid) into the almond mixture.
13. Gently fold in the whisked egg white, then spoon half into each tin. 
14. Jiggle the tins to level the mixture. 
15. Bake for 1 hr until risen and firm or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin 5 mins, turn out onto a wire rack, then leave until cold.

16. To make the frosting,

17. stir the soft cheese, Quark, splenda and orange zest together - don't overbeat. 
18. Stir in the lemon juice. 
19. Spread the frosting over each half & place one on top of the other. 


Total carbs for cake = 100 so divide by the number of slices. 

I never actually made the frosting for this cake as the cake was gorgeous and moist as it was and I felt it didn't need it. I did get this recipe off another website, I think it may have been a diabetes website but I can't find where I got from, when I do I'll post the link. 

I've decided if I'm going to start running outside more, which I need to, I need to get a coat. I was looking on eBay but nothing really jumped out at me so I decided to look on sportdirect and found loads of stuff I want! In my basket at the moment I have a coat, some running socks, a running t-shirt and just an addidas top, I'll let you know what I actually purchase and how I get on with it. I found a gorgeous Addidas running windproof coat that matches my bright blue running trainers for £11! I clicked on it and they had size 12,14 and 16 left, I thought well if I've got to fit a hoody underneath it then the 12 would be fine, I clicked on the 12 and it came up £21, only the size £16 was £11! Which has annoyed me, because I don't really like pink clothes and would prefer a blue coat rather than a pink one! 

Still thinking of fundraising ideas but I think I've come up with one I love, A PARTY!

Love x

Updates

I haven't blogged for a couple of days so I thought I'd give a few updates.

1) I like to weigh myself on a Wednesday so if I have had an indulgent weekend then it gives me chance to try and recover on Monday and Tuesday. So I weighed myself on Monday when I started and then re-weighed myself on Wednesday so I can weigh myself every Wednesday. From Monday to Wednesday I had lost two pounds, but I'm sure most of this is water weight and not actual fat but it gave me a boost and I was pretty happy!

2) I was planning on going shopping and then going to the gym but by I was out shopping a lot longer than planned. I didn't get home until 3 so by the time I'd had lunch I didn't fancy going, more because I know if I exercise straight after I've eaten then I'll feel sick, get stitch and give up. So instead of going to the gym I was going to use a magazine article on home exercise to do half an hour of small circuit training, apparently burning 400 calories. I did what it was in about 20 minutes and no way did I feel like I'd burnt 400 calories, more like 100! So I jumped on the cross trainer we have in our spare room, aiming to do 10k on there and did 15.5! I burnt 353 calories so I know this distance is no where near accurate but it gives me something to aim for next time I go on.
http://www.running4women.com/how-aerobic-x-training-can-boost-your-running/

Here is an article about how Cross Training can boost your running by boosting your fitness and creating a better athlete!

3) Today I did manage the motivation to go to the gym, I wanted to give the little box on the right higher numbers to show you as I'm not really running very far! I started off in the gym and did 0.7k and the treadmill stopped. Que attempt two; I got to 0.84k and decided I couldn't be bothered and wanted to use another machine. So I got off and went on the bike, then decided to round up the treadmill number to 2k (by doing 0.46k) and then going on another machine and getting back on the treadmill a-fresh and starting again by doing 3k to make my total 5k. (Read enough numbers yet?)

I used the internet to look at a couch210k plan and see what kinds of things they recommend. The first week was run 2 minutes walk 2 minutes, eight times creating a 34 minute run. I thought I'd do this but for a 5k distance and see how long it took. I stuck to it, kind of, adding the odd 15seconds to my run and the odd 5 seconds to the walking and I did the 5k in just under 39 minutes on a 1/5% incline. Running for two minutes sounds easy but after one and a half minutes I felt like I needed to slow down I kept going. Next time I go to the gym I'm going to do 2 minutes 30 seconds run and 45 seconds rest (walking) and try to increase my time running and the pace and decrease the rest time. Hopefully soon (maybe next week or the week after) I can be running 5 minutes and walking 1 minute and keep increasing so I only need a couple of rests through the 5k. And then increase my distance so that I can train more specifically for the 10k in May. I am going to sign up for that this afternoon and maybe complete my Great Birmingham Run application too!

I'm going to come up with fundraising ideas and sponsorship ideas this afternoon! Any ideas? Comment on the blog or tweet me on E_ninetytwo 


Love x

Inspire..

“It's very hard in the beginning to understand that the whole idea is not 

to beat the other runners. Eventually you learn that the competition is 

against the little voice inside you that wants you to quit.” 

― George Sheehan

I loved this quote when I read it, I think it's really true! I don't think that everyone is natural runner, everyone needs some inspiration and motivation once in a while, or everyday in some case. Not everyone wants to jump out of bed put on their running shoes and go off for a run!

I don't really have much to update today, my eating hasn't gone too badly, I have snacked more today than I have previous two days but that's because I had work tonight 5.30 until 9.30 so I don't have tea until late so need a snack before work to keep me going. 

I didn't go to the gym today, my legs and my stomach ache from yesterday so I thought it wise to leave it today because I really want to go tomorrow so I gave it a miss. I'm going to try and do my best to increase mt distance again tomorrow, even if the extra Km is walking, I want to Km's to start adding up on the right hand side of this blog.

plankaday# attempt today was a measly 31 seconds, but my stomach seriously aches, like my upper abs. I just coughed and it really hurt haha

Hats off to everyone doing Janathon! I don't think I could do it in my current level of fitness but fingers crossed I will be able Juneathon. Probably not run everyday but doing something everyday! 

This post has turned out to be longer than I thought so I am off to paint my nails and read my book before bed! 

Love x