It’s About Time For An Update
So, this is my first post for quite a while. I didn’t plan on stopping writing, it sort of just happened. I didn’t post for a week and felt quite liberated, like I had one less thing to worry about. That’s because blogging had started to become a chore, something that I had to squeeze in between getting home from work and whatever else I had to do in the evening. So, a week became several weeks and I started to think about ending the blog.
To be honest, I’m still on the fence about that. I might come back to regular posting at some point, but it seems unlikely at the moment. However, I think I might like to do an occasional post, race recaps and some training updates perhaps, so I’ve decided to keep the blog alive to some extent.
Other than not updating my blog, my life hasn’t changed much at all. I’m still addicted to reading blogs and it seems like I’m constantly glued to my Google Reader app. I might only be an occasional commentator now, but I still appreciate all your great writing.
I’m still eating healthily, apart from a week where I had at least one slice of cake every day. In some ways that was a very good week, although my trousers did feel a bit tighter afterwards. I’m still striving for a more “normal” relationship with eating after years of weight gain and dieting. I’m extremely proud that I’ve maintained a healthy weight for three years now, but in many ways I think normalising that relationship will be easier away from blogging.
Nothing has changed with regards to my enthusiasm for running and yoga either. I’ve been training for Sheffield Half Marathon on Sunday and I have other races lined up for the rest of the year, including the Great North Run.
So, what am I doing with all my free time? I’m spending some more time in the kitchen cooking and experimenting, I’ve been catching up with my favourite TV programmes, and I’m trying to work my way through some of these 1000 Must Read Books. I’ve read a pathetic 57 of them in my life so far, so it might take some time.
By the way, I’m still tweeting because I can just about cope with 140 characters. Follow me if you want! @picnicsarah
So, until next time …
Turning a Negative Into a Positive
Woohoo – it’s Friday afternoon! I can’t complain too much about this working week seeing as it’s been short, but the weekend is always very welcome. Yesterday evening I ran my second 11 mile run in as many weeks and it was extremely tough! I wasn’t particularly looking forward to it to be honest because my legs were very sore when I woke up yesterday morning, which I assume was a hangover from Tuesday’s speedwork session. Running a hilly 11 miles with a bad case of DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) is not much fun. I was trailing behind the rest of my group for most of the time and I started getting a bit disheartened, but as a natural optimist I’ve turned those negative thoughts around into more positive ones.
Negative thought
I found the run really difficult – my legs were so heavy and just wouldn’t move as fast as I wanted them to. I felt as though I was going to have to give up.
Positive spin
I didn’t give up! I finished the run and 11 miles is always an achievement. My legs were sore because I’ve been working them really hard recently and I need to give them some TLC. It *was* a difficult run, with half of it up some pretty tough hills.
Negative thought
I was slower than everyone else in my group and I couldn’t keep up with them like last week.
Positive spin
I was running with some very good runners last night, some of whom dropped down a pace group in order to have an “easy run”. I have to accept that an easy run for another runner might be a hard run for me. I wasn’t as fast as last week, but I still finished with an average 9:13 min/mile pace, which is a big step up from my training pace only a couple of months ago.
Negative thought
I’m bigger than everyone else in the group, perhaps if I lost weight I’d be able to run faster and I would find it easier.
Positive spin
This thought needs some explanation. It was actually triggered by an overheard conversation between some male runners (I wasn’t joining in with any conversations … I was too busy huffing and puffing!), who were talking about how much weight they’d lost, how much they wanted to lose before their next race, how much they’d gained over Easter, how much a very skinny member of the club weighs. They’re was something about the fact that it was men talking like this, as well as how much I was struggling, that triggered the “dieting mentality”.
Luckily, I had 11 miles to set it all straight in my mind and get back round to thinking straight. I am a healthy weight, I eat well, and I exercise. My running has improved vastly in a year, and although losing weight *could* make me faster, so can consistent training and hard work. I don’t want to diet and go through all that palaver again.
From all this I’ve learned that tough runs happen sometimes, it doesn’t mean that I’m a bad runner. I sometimes need to let go of my competitive spirit of always having to keep up or be ahead of others. I need to work with what my body can do on the day.
So that brings me to operation recovery. Suffice to say my legs were a mess of soreness by the time I’d finished. Rose had tweeted me earlier in the day to suggest trying For Goodness Shakes immediately after the run. As luck would have it, the milk chocolate flavour was on offer in Sainsburys for £1, so I picked one up. I sipped it on the way home, along with a Nuun drink. It was delicious and went down very nicely considering my stomach had just been jiggled about for 11 miles.
It wasn’t planned, but when I got home I really fancied a cold bath. I learned my lesson from last time and wore many layers on my top, a pair of shorts, socks and gloves, as well as sipping on a cup of tea while I soaked for 10 minutes. Surprisingly it felt really good and the coolness soothed my tired legs.
For dinner I had prepared an oat and chia seed combo, made with Kara coconut milk, goji berries, raisins and protein powder. I topped with a chopped apple and then some greek yoghurt after I had taken the photo.
I ate this slowly so not to overtax my stomach. It was very tasty and the perfect post-run meal. I made sure that I drank plenty of fluid before bed and took a couple of painkillers. And the verdict … it’s perhaps too early to tell, but I did sleep well (much better than last week), and although I’m tired I was able to function at work.
How do you deal with negative thoughts, do you try to see the positive side?
If you’re a runner how do you cope with difficult runs?
Twinings Green Tea Review
Hello! Thank you for your helpful comments about evening exercise. I’m running 11 miles again this evening, so I’m on a mission to fuel right, set myself up for a quicker recovery, and critically, to get a good night’s sleep. I’ll let you know how I get on.
A little while ago Twinings sent me some Green Tea to try out and I’ve been enjoying drinking it over the past few weeks
{Disclaimer: Twinings asked me to review their product, but I have received no compensation other than the tea. My views are my own}
I first got into drinking green tea when I visited China, which is over six years ago now (time certainly flies!).
In China green tea is definitely the drink of choice, with most people taking flasks of the stuff to work with them. They mostly use whole leaves to make their tea, which means that they can refill the water all day without losing too much of the flavour. I grew to love the refreshing qualities of green tea and started to prefer it over black tea and coffee. I also tried some whacky flavours that were local specialities, such as pea tea, which was made out of green tea leaves and dried peas. I loved it so much that I brought some back to the UK with me, but I couldn’t persuade anyone else to try it!
Twinings haven’t caught on to the potential of pea tea yet, but they have got an amazing range of other flavours. I was sent the Earl Grey to try. If I’m honest, Early Grey isn’t a flavour of tea that I usually go for because I find the bergamot oil a bit sickly. However, I have to say that I’m impressed with how subtle and balanced the flavours are and the bergamot doesn’t totally override the flavour of the tea. One disadvantage of green tea bags over loose-leaf is that you can’t refill your mug and it can get bitter if you leave the bag in too long. I found it was best to take the tea bag out after 30 seconds of so, which ensures that the drink remains light and refreshing.
This tea has been a very nice addition to my collection (my work drawer is mostly full of herbal teas and not a lot of work!) and I would definitely buy it again. I’m also curious to try some of the other interesting flavours – the fruity ones look particularly good. You can find out more about the range on the Twinings Facebook page.
Do you like green tea?
What’s the most unusual drink you’ve tried? (not restricted to tea)
Easter Weekend in Bullets
Hello! It’s been a while … again. At the moment I’m trying out “intuitive blogging”, which is basically something I’ve just made up, but to me it means only blogging when I feel like it and I’ve got something to say. Over the past week I’ve been very lazy with blogging and taking photos etc., so I haven’t written anything. However, today the urge to write a post has come over me, so I will go with the flow.
I’ve had an incredibly relaxing weekend, which has been much needed. Seeing as it was a gloriously long four-day weekend I think the best way to organise my thoughts is in bullet-point format. So here’s how Easter went for me:
- Good Friday was a bit of a write-off really because I was so tired from the 11 mile run I did on Thursday night. I’ve done a quite a few runs of over 10 miles now, but I haven’t done one in the evening with running club since the summer. It felt really good at the time and we finished with an amazing 9:06 min/mile pace, which was made even more amazing by the fact that the first 4 miles were all uphill! I loved running faster and felt like I was keeping up with speedier runners. However, I did not sleep well on Thursday night and ended up getting up at about 2.30am to have a couple of painkillers, a drink, some cereal and watch some How I Met Your Mother to quiet my mind. I have another 11 miles on the schedule for this Thursday and I actually have to work on Friday – eek! I think I need to experiment with refuelling because I don’t think that eating a heavy meal late at night helped me. I’m going to try a calorie-dense smoothie instead.
- After an uncharacteristic lie-in on Friday I did some spring cleaning. I’m definitely not big on household chores usually, but I quite enjoyed it for some reason. I’m frustrated that everything gets dirty again though! I also did 20 minutes of hatha yoga from yogadownload.com which helped with my post-run recovery.
- On Friday afternoon I went shopping and mainly bought bras. I definitely mustn’t have been feeling myself on Friday because I usually despise bra shopping. It’s right up there with shopping for jeans and swimsuits. There’s something about trying on bras that really makes me scrutinise my body and be dissatisfied with it, especially as I see my back and sides as “problem areas”. However, I was able to see past all that and managed to find three much needed bras that fit and look ok. I was extremely proud of myself!
- Despite getting up late I was ready for bed by 9:3o! It’s an exciting life I lead.
- Peter arrived sometime in the early hours of Saturday morning. Our sleep schedules completely clash …
- I hopped out of bed bright and early-ish on Saturday to go for a very easy 5 mile run. I didn’t wear my Garmin, I just went at the speed my slightly tired legs wanted to move at.
- Saturday was spent mostly watching Season 3 of Dexter. Peter and I are completely addicted to this show and many many episodes were viewed.
- My Mum gave us some money to go for a meal for Easter, so we went out for Thai food at Thai Aroy Dee in Leeds. The restaurant was nothing to look at, but the food was good. I tried to take photos on my phone, but clearly I need more practice because they didn’t turn out that well. As a taster this is what I had for a starter:
Hot and spicy prawn soup
- On Sunday morning I went out for another run. This time I did 3 miles total with 2 miles of minute-long intervals. This was tough and I was extremely hot and sweaty when I got home. I then got out my yoga mat and did the 20 minute Yoga For Runners from yogadownload.com.
- Sunday then consisted of watching nearly the whole of Dexter season 4! Yep there’s a serious addiction going on here.
- On Monday we finally peeled ourselves away from Dexter and went to Roundhay Park in Leeds. I mainly wanted to go to Tropical World to see the new baby meerkats.
- We also saw lots of birds:
- … and butterflies:
- I think we were the only ones in there without a child, but I was a big enough kid to make up for it! We then had a rainy walk around one of the lakes and ate some chocolaty cakes.
- Although I didn’t have any chocolate eggs, I do feel high on sugar thanks to lots of cakes and rice pudding. I’m fed up of so much sugar, if that’s possible, and have been craving more savoury things today.
Thanks for sticking with this post – it’s turned into a monster!
Does anyone workout in the evening, and if so do you have any tips for sleeping well after a hard workout?
Are you a big kid at heart?
Finding Inspiration
Hello – long time, no see! I’ve had a busy week at work, which has meant that although I’ve had time to blog, my spare time has actually been dominated by staring into the TV like a zombie. I’ve been keeping up with all of my favourite blogs, although I haven’t had the energy to comment as much as I usually do.
Despite my lack of posting, a lot has been going on, most of which has been very good. Last week I made the most of the glorious weather that March brought us by going for some magnificent runs. Last Tuesday I went with my running group on a “5 mile steady run”. The first half was fantastic – we ran off-road and across a golf course while the sun was blazing down on us. Then our coach showed her sadistic streak and we ended with some very tough hill repeats. I didn’t wear my Garmin, but I’m reliably told that we did closer to 7 miles than 5! My knees still haven’t quite recovered.
I really enjoyed Thursday’s club run. It was all off-road, which is a nice change from running on the pavements. It was very dry, so I didn’t need to wear trail shoes, but at some point I might invest in a pair because I would like to do more off-road during the summer. I also ran (well crawled actually) up the steeped hill ever – it practically counted as rock climbing. It was a lot of fun though!
The weekend was perhaps one of the most random ever. I was invited back to my old college to celebrate 10 years since I started there. Every year they invite alumni that started 10, 25, 40, 50, 60 and 70 years ago, so there was a real mix of ages! The main event was a dinner on Saturday night. I didn’t take any photos, but it was quite good compared to some of the food we got served when I was there 10 years ago. We started with pea, watercress and basil soup; the main course was lamb with roast potatoes; and dessert was a chocolate and raspberry tart. One thing that really had improved was the wine. College wine had a reputation for being corked, but the stuff we were served on Saturday was really quite good and our glasses were topped up frequently. Back in the day we were only allowed half a bottle at dinner, probably to prevent too much carnage … I could tell a few stories!
After dinner we completed our journey back in time by going to our old clubbing haunt. It was good fun, even though I felt O.L.D. I ended up dancing for around two hours and oh my goodness I’m broken now! I have more DOMS this week than I did after the half marathon.
Saturday started with the AGM of the college alumni followed by a lecture about the physics of “booming” sand dunes and avalanches. Physics is definitely not my subject and I dropped physical geography as soon as I could, so much of the lecture went a bit above my head. It was interesting to get an insight into some of the research going on though. As far as I can gather, in a nutshell some sand dunes make a low frequency booming noise when you slide down them. Most of these dunes are in California, so I need to head out to the Mojave Desert and slide on my backside down a few.
Random event number two was a concert of chamber music. Every year an alumni of the college, who is now a musical director of an orchestra, comes back and holds a three day workshop with students. There are no auditions and she doesn’t know which instruments there will be in advance. I don’t play any instruments and I’m not talented musically, but I loved listening to the work that they’d done. The highlight was a Chinese student who played the Chinese flute. I can honestly say that it was the most beautiful sound that I’ve ever heard. She also had a lovely story about how she learned to play, involving climbing up a mountain every Saturday morning to meet with her teacher.
The college is women only and as I mentioned, there was a large range of ages, so I found it a very inspirational weekend. These women did so many different things with their lives – some were academics, journalists, scientists, full-time mothers, lawyers, and a whole host of other things. Looking around the room while I was listening to the concert I admired how beautiful every single one of the women looked. There were all sorts of shapes and sizes, many of them were greying, and there was a whole range of fashion. However, the focus was on friendship and making a contribution to the community. It suddenly struck me how little physical appearance really matters to living a truly happy and fulfilling life.
I came away thinking that life is too short to be worrying about the idea of a “perfect” body. I want to be healthy enough to be able to live the life I want to, and that does involve eating well and exercising, but even then good health is never a given. I also want to make an effort to look good by taking care of my appearance. However, this is all very much secondary to enjoying life and making the most of any opportunities that arise.
I realise that this post is a bit all over the place, but I guess that’s how my week has been!
What’s the most unusual thing you’ve done lately?
Have you met anyone inspirational? What was it about them?
Cookie Exchange
Look what arrived in the post today!
Cookies!
Marijke @ Beauty in the Balance sent me these delicious-looking chocolate chip cookies as part of the cookie exchange organised by Tamzin. I ripped into the parcel as soon as I got in from work and one of these lovelies very quickly found their way into my mouth. It was so soft and sweet – I’m going to have to be very careful not to consume them too quickly!
Of course it was an exchange, so I had to get baking to send some goodies to Marijke. If you’ve been reading for a while you’ll know that I don’t “do” baking, even though I gawp at all the lovely recipes that my blogger friends make. I thought this exchange was the perfect opportunity to have a go. I trawled the internet for recipes and ended up making blueberry and pecan oaties using this recipe.
And cranberry, cherry & almond flapjacks based on this recipe.
I used almonds instead of the suggested hazelnuts and left out the coconut. They lacked a bit of structural integrity, so hopefully they got to Marijke safely and didn’t turn into granola.
I really enjoyed baking and I’m already planning what else I can make. I never really baked as a youngster because my Mum, by her own admission, doesn’t enjoy cooking and has never baked. Occasionally I would bake fairy cakes with a relative, but I didn’t do much more than lick the bowl clean. I had a brilliant food technology teacher at school who did get me quite excited about bread and cakes, so I baked a bit while I was in high school, but then I got out of the habit.
Making these cookies reminded me of the therapeutic benefits of baking. I think I’ve mentioned before that I used to be the bakery manager at a large supermarket. It was a really stressful job that I hated, so when it all got too much and my evil boss had made me cry again (sadly a regular occurrence) I used to hide myself at the back of the bakery and bake cookies. They came in frozen (shhh … don’t tell anyone the secret) and I would spend hours traying up hundreds of cookies and then filling the store with the sweet smell of cookies baking. After that, another customer shouting at me didn’t seem too bad.
Thank you to Tamzin for organising the exchange and thanks again to Marijke for the delicious cookies!
Do you like baking? Do you find it relaxing?
On My Travels
Hello! Today’s post might be a bit random because I haven’t posted for a week, so I have lots of thoughts running around in my head. Plus, I’ve just been baking for the cookie exchange that Tamzin has organised, so I’ve got some crazy baking endorphins in my blood – honestly, I think it’s better than a runner’s high.
I’ve been travelling the country this week. I started out in Chester on Monday, recovering from Liverpool half marathon. I then drove down to Cambridge to meet up with Peter, and on Tuesday we drove over to Wiltshire to stay in a cottage for a few days. I didn’t take as many photos as I should have done, but we were so lucky with the weather because the sun shone the whole time, and continues to shine now. We were able to go out in short sleeves, which is amazing at this time of year!
I think I’ve mentioned that as I was growing up my parents wanted me to explore as many parts of the UK as possible and learn about the country that I live in. It’s something that I continue to do, so I chose to go to the Wiltshire/Somerset area because it’s a place I’ve not really been to before. I dragged Peter to Bath and went to the Roman Baths.
I really enjoyed the museum and the audio guide, but Peter wasn’t so enamoured, which goes to show that your experience of museums is so very personal. He doesn’t like listening to audio guides and there wasn’t enough information about the engineering side of the baths. He loves to know how things work and there really wasn’t any explanation. We both enjoyed basking in the sunshine though, although I got a bit warm!
You probably know me well enough by now to know that I sought out as much tea and cake as possible.
This was a delicious slice of orange polenta cake from a local tea rooms in a walled garden.
On our way home on Friday we stopped off at the New Forest Wildlife Park. Peter took some amazing photos that might need a post for themselves! It was only a small park, but we managed to spend five hours there, at least two of which must have been looking at the lynx, because they are one of Peter’s favourite animals. Personally, I liked the otters because they were so boisterous and playful.
I took the whole week off from exercise, apart from walking around the various sights and a few short walks in the countryside. I think I needed it because I was feeling a bit beaten up by the half marathon. I felt sore for a couple of days after the half, particularly my backside and my quads, which is a bit strange because my quads never normally cause me any bother. I know that my glutes are weak though, so I’m going to search out some strengthening exercises to incorporate into my routine.
I was desperate to go on a run yesterday after six days without, especially since the weather was so good. I didn’t measure my run, but I think it was about 5.5 miles. I felt really good for the first half, and then my backside began to ache a bit, but nothing too bad. I also found that my breathing was a little bit laboured, but I think that was the warmth combined with my short break from any cardio.
What has been weird over the past week is my appetite. I would say that I usually have a very healthy appetite and I’m usually hungry for three meals and at least two snacks a day. I wasn’t very hungry after the half, which I was expecting, but my appetite never really came back. That really screwed with my mind because I wanted to eat as I normally do, and I actually ended up overeating a couple of times because I was trying to override my hunger signals. I didn’t eat that well while I was away, and had cake for lunch on at least two occasions, but I think that’s ok as long as it doesn’t turn into a habit.
After yesterday’s run, thankfully my appetite is returning back to normal. All I could think of while I was running was Greek food, so when I got back I made a salad of mixed leaves, cucumber, sweetcorn, hummus, stuffed vine leaves (shop bought) and pitta bread.
This really hit the spot … as did the Domino’s pizza I had for dinner, but it’s all about balance, right?!
On a random note, I really want to swap kitchens with Peter because the lighting is so good!
Do you like visiting historic places and museums? Which one is your favourite?
Do you find that your appetite is closely related to exercise?
