Two Steps Forwards, One Step Back

Despite reporting that my iron tablets seem to be taking effect and the blood tests are showing some improvements I’m still suffering from “low days”.

It was pretty disheartening this week. Just as I felt I was making progress I stumble. I had a good week  last week in terms of exercise and I did make it to parkrun on Saturday. I was slow but I ran and I enjoyed it and felt as though I could get back to my previous best in a couple of weeks. Parkrun was followed by a dog walk and a 2 hour stomp through the forest with no ill-effect. Then after an hour long gym session on Monday and a bath I felt pretty dizzy. I drank some water, ate some dinner and sat down for a while; thought little of it. Tuesday was another story. I felt so tired all day, in both the sleepy and worn out sense. I cancelled my Group Kick class even though I was torn between wanting to go and try and push through and worrying that I’d push too far. I sat on the sofa and studied instead so as to feel I’d done something useful.

The rest of the week hasn't been so bad. I did some sun salutations on Wednesday, a dog walk and an hour in the gym on Thursday and I've just been out for a 3 mile run this evening.

I’ve gone back to marking these lows in my diary to see if I can make any sense of it. The thing I’m struggling with most is knowing whether these feelings of tiredness are real or just in the mind. It doesn’t feel like an illness so sometimes I wonder whether I’m just using it as an excuse not to train, even though I’m frustrated when I hold back, worried that I might do too much and annoyed that I won’t be able to make progress if I can’t push myself.

When people at work ask me if I’m ok I don’t feel I can answer honestly because they won’t understand. I mean, come on, if a colleague said to you “I’m feeling really tired” wouldn’t you most likely think they should get more sleep and that they shouldn’t let it affect their work? This last low isn’t as bad as some I’ve had before but it’s still horrible and writing about it is one of the ways I’m finding to deal with it. It feels pretty lonely.

I have a virtual 10k race (in aid of MAMA Academy, the chosen charity of the Run Mummy Run group) to do by the end of next week. When I signed up it didn't feel like much of a challenge but it does now. I think I'll pick a parkrun course and do it twice tomorrow afternoon just for ease. I won't be park running in the morning as I'm taking my godson to the cinema. That'll be quite lovely.

I'd really like to hear your tales of when you've suffered set backs and how you coped with them. The comment box is always open.

Have You Turned It Off and On Again?

My phone and I haven’t been seeing eye to eye lately. For the past few months, for no reason I could see, my phone had been gobbling my data allowance (before and after software update). In a fit of “oh FGS I’m going to get this sorted somehow” I made an appointment at the Apple store and a lovely young man resorted to resetting my entire phone. This meant having to go back and reinstall all the apps I wanted. I have never had that many apps on my phone, I mean they all fit on two pages, but it was a good excuse to weed out the ones I don’t use (only 2 games on there now). Somehow I’ve ended up with only got 8 running or fitness-related apps on my phone where I used to have about 24.

• RunKeeper (for when my Garmin is out of action)
• NTC (new favourite app)
• BUPA Fitness
• MapMyRun (actually I’ve never used this)
• RockMyRun (arguably could go in the music folder… maybe I should relocate my AudioFuel app here too)
• Speedo Fit (for pool times)
• Yoga Free (I’m optimistic I’ll use this one day)
• MyFitnessPal (for diet and exercise tracking)

Now clearly if I can’t remember the others or have bothered to reload them I didn’t need or use them but I feel I’m missing a trick so I’d love to know if there are any other apps that you guys use and recommend for running, gym, diet or anything else health related.

Breakfast Smoothie Number 2

Let's get 2014 off to an easy, healthy start shall we? I go through phases of making smoothies and shakes. I get bored of washing the blender! But this adaptation of a Nigella Express recipe is one of my favourites. It feels like a treat but isn't that bad for you at all and you can adapt it in several ways.

My basic version consists of:
1 peeled banana quartered and frozen
150ml skimmed milk
1 tbsp honey
1 sachet Apres Chocmalt
1 tbsp peanut butter

Gather your ingredients

Pop all of these in a jug or shaker and use a hand blender to blitz until smooth. I get a much smoother result this way, rather than using a blender. I often transfer this into a flask to have on the move or just to keep it cool until I get to work. There's quite a stock of bananas that were about to expire in my freezer which are perfect for making smoothies with. I used to resort to banana bread as a way to use over-ripe bananas but there's only so much cake a girl can eat. Here are some variation suggestions, most of which I've employed at some point.

• Use almond, hazelnut or soy milk instead of cows milk
• Substitute any other nut butter for the peanut butter
• Use 1tsp of instant espresso powder (or Kenco Millicano) instead of the peanut butter for a caffeine hit
• Add a tablespoon or two of oats to turn this into a more filling "thickie"
• Swap the Apres Chocmalt for chocolate powder or protein shake mix. There are loads of flavours on the market so a chocolate, banana, banoffee, vanilla, toffee, mocha or latte version would work really well. If you go for an unflavoured version I'd suggest adding 1tsp of cocoa powder too. You may need to add a little more liquid to this mix

There you have it, a delicious breakfast drink that you can adapt to suit your diet. I found that making this with a sachet of Apres gives you a really rich chocolatey drink that is very satisfying. If you try this, especially with any of the adaptations, I'd love to know what you think.

Setting myself up for an hours work out at the gym

This Week's Reflections

For many of us it’s been the first full week of normality since Christmas. How’re you all getting on with that? I’ve been back to work and back to school. I’m on week 10 of 16 of my Nutrition for Weight Management course, half way through my case study and I started a 2 week course on Exercise for Weight Loss on Monday. I need to set aside some time to knuckle down for a couple of hours but generally feeling on top of it all.

The week got off to a fun start as I took part in the Women’s Running Great Debate. That was a lot of fun I can tell you, discussing running kit with three other lovely ladies. I think my group will be in the April edition which will be out in March. Still nervously awaiting the copy for review!

I’m not doing too badly with my new year’s goals so far. I’ve not had a protein shake everyday but I’ve tried a few new recipes and I have been doing my daily stretches. I’m taking part in 100 Happy Days and I’ve done a fair amount of decluttering; a bag of clothes went out for charity collection today, I dropped a bag of odds and ends at Oxfam last weekend and I have a package to send to A Mile In Her Shoes.

Good looking kit is definitely a motivator for me, but only as long as it's functional too.

I’ve been battling with getting back on the exercise waggon despite my enthusiasm. I wussed out of parkrun last Saturday because of the rain in favour of a gym session but failed to do anything of significance on Sunday once a proposed climbing session was shelved in favour of a lie in and brunch… it was an excellent brunch! I’ve been beating myself up about not running. Somehow I feel as though a week of exercise isn’t complete without a run so that’s what I made myself do this morning and I am doing a new-to-me parkrun tomorrow COME WHAT MAY! In addition, a gym session, Group Kick class and two mornings of sun salutations mean I have done *something* every day this week so far but I need to do more to combat all the meals out I’ve had this week (4 in the last 7 days - yikes).  

Thankfully the energy levels have been a lot higher recently. The iron tablets I’ve been taking seem to agree with me and are taking effect. That and I’ve been stuffed full of broccoli, spinach and other leafy greens. I had another blood test and review this week which revealed the iron levels are creeping back up but the B12 levels are crashing. The doctor advises I keep doing what I’m doing and have another review in a couple of months. Fingers crossed it’s all evening out.

Do any of you use the NTC app on the phone for workouts? I had my first experience of it last week and I really enjoyed it. I’ll definitely be using it more. It was easy to follow with demonstrations of all the exercises, timely count downs and the ability to use my own playlists.  Do you have any other suggestions for good apps and videos to use for home workouts, to make them a bit more interesting? I’m working my way through the Zero Calorie Advent Calendar videos but it’s always nice to have options.

100 Happy Days

“We live in times when super-busy schedules have become something to boast about. While the speed of life increases, there is less and less time to enjoy the moment that you are in. The ability to appreciate the moment, the environment and yourself in it, is the base for the bridge towards long term happiness of any human being”.

This is the block of text at the top of the 100 Happy Days website. 100 Happy Days is a project which encourages you to stop and smell the roses, appreciate the moment, think about enjoying what you’re doing, rather than just whizzing along from one thing to the next. The idea is simple. Sign up on the website, then submit a picture everyday of what made you happy to twitter, facebook, instagram or email (if you don’t want to make it public), tagged with #100HappyDays.

I found out about the project via twitter and signed up there and then. I love stuff like this. I write a diary, I reflect on things, I like playing the “three things that were good about today” game; this is just an extension of that. I’ve already lost track of how many days I’ve been doing this (I think I’m on day 6… 7?) but I am really enjoying it and I’m already seeing patterns. It’s come as no surprise that food makes me happy, as do my close friends and family and books. This could be quite a revealing exercise, not only about what makes me happy but the way I think about happiness. January can be a bit mournful and blue so finding good things about each day is quite helpful and puts you in a positive mindset.

Chocolate and candy cane covered pretzel, given to me by a colleague I didn't know on a Very Bad Day at work.

But it’s not always easy. I’ve found myself feeling too embarrassed to take pictures sometimes, or thinking that it would make a really uninteresting picture or not really capture why it made me happy. I scrabbled around on one day to find something to take a picture of that related, vaguely, to the day I’d had in order to make the midnight deadline and I wished I’d been brave and taken the photo I wanted to during the day.

The website seems to suggest that at the end of the 100 days you can receive a little 100 page book with your 100 happy days but I’m not sure how that works yet or what it costs. It’s a lovely idea though.

Book! Oh how I love books. This was my unread stack a couple of days ago (excluding hardbacks which are elsewhere). I've since shortened it by one.

I encourage you to sign up to this or carry out your own project, whether it be finding something that makes you happy each day or maybe writing down 5 things you’re grateful for at the end of each week. If you’re happy to share I’d love to hear about it.

Après Chocmalt Drink

There were a few brands at The Running Show that particularly impressed me. These tended to be the ones that had chatty, friendly representatives and a really great product. In most cases the people at the front of the stall were the people behind the product. Après is one of these. 

The product is a hot chocmalt recovery drink, in essence a hot chocolate powder that you mix up but one that is made with sustainably farmed, non-GM milk, sugar and cocoa has the magic 3:1 carb to protein ratio, and electrolytes. The company was founded by brothers Luke and Mat Farren, who I met. They’re passionate about their product. They cycle competitively, amongst other things and wanted something to warm them up and recover after hard, cold sessions.

As someone who really feels the cold I can get on board with this. I cool down remarkably quickly after long cold training sessions. During marathon training I would change into layers of warm, dry clothes as quickly as possible, have a hot bath and drink tea after my (cold) chocolate recovery shake and still feel cold for a while. Anything that warms me up more quickly is good as far as I’m concerned.

The powder mixes really easily and the resulting drink tastes lovely. Products that do not taste great or are a faff do not make it into my routines. I’d not save it to drink as a “sports drink”. Although it’s marketed primarily as a recovery drink I had some before a race and got a new PB and it didn’t upset my stomach at all, as some sports drinks are want to do. I was reliably informed that it tastes great cold too so I gave that a go and can confirm that it does indeed taste great. I used a protein shaker to mix one sachet with 200ml skimmed milk. It dissolved really easily and tasted just like a chocolate milkshake.

I’m keen to try using it in a breakfast smoothie recipe I often make. If it works you’ll be seeing a post about that in the not too distant future.

Delicious mid-morning snack for me!

Après are also involved in a series of events called Longman on the South Downs Way. In February and September you can run or cycle a number of distances and refuel with Après… après! The brothers talked about wanting to grow the series so keep a look out. You can follow the brand on twitter and find out more about the current events here and follow them on twitter here.

Getting Back on Track with Goals, Resolutions and Patrick Stewart

Greetings, greetings, one and all. Welcome to your New Year and to my first post of 2014. I hope you all had a fabulous holiday period, whether you celebrate or not, and that you were able to share NYE with people you care about. Pleasantries out of the way, let's crack on!

You don't really need to know what I got up to over Christmas and NYE… suffice to say there was a lot of food, some awesome presents including book tokens, new gym kit, a whole stack of chocolates (I'm getting mixed messages mum) and a gliding lesson. I spent about 9 days constantly in the company of people I adore but I must confess it's quite nice to have a little time to myself again, not least to start reading the books I bought.

This is how I roll in the kitchen on Christmas Day

A veggie Christmas dinner. And very tasty it was too.

Anyone would think I like James Cracknell

From reading other people's blogs and twitter I see that a large number of you are taking part in Janathon, Jantastic, starting marathon training and going out for parkruns in the rain and wind. I commend you all. I haven't been. Oh I had the *intention* of going to parkrun on New Year's Day, but I didn't make it. The only exercise I did over Christmas was a brisk 4.5 mile walk on Christmas Day and an afternoon of climbing which I absolutely loved.

I was actually signed up to do Janathon and I forgot, until I saw everyone posting, by which point it was too late to do anything except for some sun salutations (which I did). I'm not going to play catch up as such, and you won't see me blogging everyday about it but I am aiming to workout everyday from now on and I even went down to the gym yesterday to make a proper start on what turned out to be a thoroughly enjoyable and ache-inducing workout. As was to be expected, it was absolutely swamped with determined people on a fresh wave of New Year's resolution enthusiasm. And good for them, I hope it lasts and that everyone they encounter encourages them. I'm going to make an extra special effort to be positive in the gym and not huff and puff at the crowds. Lord knows it's hard enough to stick to a resolution without feeling victimised for it.

Clearing off the medal rack for the coming year's races...

I stopped making resolutions a few years ago and instead took up the practice of making goals and coming up with a word for the year. I use Susannah Conway's workbooks for this and I find the whole process really therapeutic. My word for 2014 is "Possibility". I have a few goals that I'm willing to share… amongst the new PB's I'm got in mind and the continuation of my studies are a few daily goals; stretch, find something amazing about each day and document it, come up with one "will do" for each day instead of having a whopping "to do" list. That way I won't be thinking about all the things I didn't manage to do from a never-ending list.

Annual ritual. Looking back, and forwards

In January I'm focusing particularly on being kind, decluttering and getting more protein into my diet. I've got a stack of protein powders to be getting on with so it'll probably involve a shake every day. So that's me. I'm feeling quietly positive and excited about the year ahead and looking forward to trying an NTC workout tonight before settling down with one of my new books.

But what about you? Any goals or resolutions you'd like to share? Did you stick to your fitness goals over Christmas or are you trying to get back into the habit, like me? I'd love to hear from you on that.

I'll be back to posting here regularly now with the usual mix of updates, recipes, race reports and reviews but for today I'm going to leave you with a picture of Patrick Stewart being awesome. Have a great week all!