Game on!

Finally chosen a race to run for my first half. It’s going to be Dubai Half if I get out there in time, or  the Great North Run in Newcastle, UK.

Getting back into the game has been difficult; after around 2 months enthusiasm wanes, work gets in the way etc. But I’m resuming my training, and I’m currently running at my fastest. My 1 mile flat out last week was done in 7:40, so each week I plan to run one mile on the same day and see how much faster I’ve gotten.

Donations will be going to Jospice, Liverpool for my first race, a place very special to me and my family, so right now I’m hoping to ramp up the miles and the donations!

 

Happy running!

Having a ‘bad’ run day and getting over it!

So I finally reached that point in my programme today where I was scheduled to run 7 miles and had that ‘bad’ run. I’d done a 7 miler before it appeared on my schedule, and so thought that today it would be a breeze as I’d done it before.

I had a bad feeling before I got out of bed that this run was not going to be a good one.  We can all be reluctant to get out of bed to go running sometimes, but there was a serious reluctance today, my body was complaining at me telling me to go to bed, not just my mind; that always tells me to go back to bed on a Saturday morning.

I got started on my run, and I felt awful the entire time I was running. I tried slowing my pace right down so that it was just faster than walking, and still felt terrible. My GPS app, which tells me the fastest mile during my run on the day showed 10:38. I could only manage 3 miles before abandoning it.

Bad run days are something every runner reports as happening to them, and I didn’t expect to be excluded from this, but I never realised before quite how disheartening it is. So I did some research on the subject, and how to avoid such days occurring frequently.

So as not to leave this post on a downer though, I have managed to clock 46 miles on my GPS app, Samsung Hope Relay, which is £46 for charity and ended the day with a nice big steak.

Mmm, steak…

Mini Race Day – Race for Life, Aintree – Week 4

Aloha!

Despite the absolutely miserable weather in the UK on Friday, I did my best run yet. I got through seven miles, and it was done easily. I felt like I could have ran for MUCH longer, but I know at what time the hot water in the tank goes cold so compromised my run for a hot shower. I normally don’t enjoy running in the rain and was tempted to bin it for the day, but I’m incredibly happy I made the choice to man up and go. Armed with my rain jacket I managed to complete 11km (because it sounds better than 7 miles 🙂 ).

So I did Race for Life today, a 5km charity event in the UK that raises money for cancer research. It was not on my schedule because I was taking someone else’s place who couldn’t do it. I think it went well, I raised around £20 for charity on short notice and managed a 28:04, so three miles in that time is something I’m happy with!

Incidentally, if you want to sponsor me a pound, text ‘LIKE69 £1’ to 70070 or visit here http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/sponsormybreasts . Muchas love.

So to recap, I’ve completed my training plan for another week which really does make me think I may well be able to keep it up. Signing off.

How to cure a hangover – week 3 – with #hotpants

Had an awful Monday, and by that I mean had an amazing weekend. Managed to get through a bottle and a half of wine (alone) and lost £25 at a casino (overly confident about my blackjack skills while drunk).

So after feeling awful on Monday morning, I felt a run was in order. Initially I wanted to cover 5 miles, but only got to mile 4 before thinking, ‘yep, I might actually die here,’ reversing and running back home. On the other hand, it did seem to get rid of my hangover following my shower. So it seems through sheer dumb luck, I have found the cure for a hangover.

To run or eat bacon, hmm…

Also, I’ve so far managed to raise £18 for charity using the Samsung Hope Relay. Still losing out to the guy who’s on £600   from Peterbrorough (damn you!).

I’ve also managed to complete my two week challenge. This challenge technically was finished on Friday, but I forgot to take my measurements. Anyhow, here they are:

 

Waist: 28″

Top of leg: 22 3/4 ”

Hips: 38″

 

Success! Maybe I’ve not yet lost the 2 jeans sizes that people are able to and have done, but every inch lost is an inch I will never see again! Thank you Zaggora!

I’ll be continuing to wear them during my runs of course,  I’m hoping to get it down to a size 8 before August, and then I can finally show of my legs without feeling ridiculously self concious!

That’s all from me for now, me out.

Baby we were born to run! – with #hotpants

Click any of the links below to find out more!

Have had some trouble getting onto wordpress for the last couple of days, has anyone else noticed this? Comes up with an error message of some kind. Not being much of a computer whiz, the only thin I was really able to do was hit the refresh button, and after that didn’t work gave it up as a hopeless situation.

I have been trying to improve my meringues throughout this past week. We had spare egg whites on Saturday night from Spaghetti Carbonara, so I whipped up some cocoa macaroons. I don’t think I baked them long enough though, I prefer harder meringues and these had a gooey inside.

Mmm, pretty much pure sugar!

Anyhow, I’ve managed to cover 11 miles since last Thursday, which has resulted in £11 for charity thanks to the Samsung Hope Relay. It’s kinda depressing that a half marathon is longer than that in one run, but I am getting there, slowly but surely! Covered 4 miles last Thursday, 3 on Saturday, a nice easy recovery run on Sunday and another 3 miles on Tuesday.

I’m finding my Viva hotpants to be incredibly effective, but I have been running slower when wearing them. My average mile time is down by around 20 seconds, but the HotPants provide extra resistance, which means that in those airy shorts that tennis players of old used to wear, my mile time would probably be faster.

What I’m exponentially more excited about is the 2 week challenge I’ve been attempting, which comes to it’s end on Friday! I don’t think I’ll quite manage to lose two jeans sizes, because it’s going to take me a while to get to a size 6, but I am hoping for several inches of size reduction. Let’s wait and see!

Burnin’ rubber in my new @Zaggora Viva’s!

Click any of the links below to learn more.

So happy! Finally managed to get out and do a proper workout in the new Viva HotPants by Zaggora. Ran up a total of 3 miles today, and at quite a fast speed, so I’m happy about that. Racked up another £3 for charity too. But that was not the highlight of my day.

Fastest mile for a run over 2 miles 🙂

The best moment came afterwards. Took off my Viva’s and had a little inspection.

Yes, they are sweat patches!

I can honestly say I have never sweated through my HotPants, but these Viva’s seriously up your temperature! I’ve never been so happy about visible sweat patches! I’ve been trying to get rid of the little ribbon of fat above my knee that the HotPants didn’t quite cover, so I’m incredibly excited that the Viva’s do. My skin was so smooth afterwards too, beautifully soft after I literally peeled them off!

Just to remind you of my previous measurements,  the top of my thigh measured 24″,  and I couldn’t resist so I had a quick little peek with the tape measure, and it’s already down to 23″ after one week! I haven’t taken any other measurements yet, can’t wait until next Friday to see how much progress has been made. I’ll get a picture up next week so you can check it out.

That’s 1 inch off my thighs I will NEVER see again!

Get hot, get slim, go RUNNING – with @Zaggora HotPants! – Day 8

Click any of the links below to learn more about HotPants!

By the seaside… it’s still raining!

God bless the UK weather. It’s nothing if not predictable. Armed with raincoats and various umbrellas today (which we weren’t entirely sure were not broken) we hit the Southport Food Festival. Let it never be said that the weather dampens our spirits!

Beautiful, beautiful ribs…

Had a little self restraint, only bought about 4 chutneys, 3 Jams, 4 Pie and half a kilo of cashew nuts in various flavours. Not much at all!

Chilli and Cheese Cashews, nom nom nom!

Also got around to doing a trial run in my new Viva’s. Did a round of Jillian Micahels 30 Day Shred Level 3.  Jeez, can’t believe how hot I was afterwards, had to peel off the Viva’s! Ca’t wait to measure myself next Friday and see me progress. Only one more week to go!

Every time!

 

Let’s see how tomorrows longest run of the week goes in these new bad boys!

Get hot, get slim, go RUNNING – with @Zaggora HotPants! – Day 7

Raindrops are falling on my head… continually.

Ran my furthest distance today. I was spurned on by this new app called the Samsung Hope Relay. For every mile I ran with my GPS phone, £1 was donated to charity. How lovely is that! You take a picture of your face and stick it on top of a little running cartoon. I was only going to aim for 3.5, but thought, ‘may as well get it up to £4’. Ended up getting lost because one of the paths led into a housing estate and had to ask for directions. Took off my HotPants at the end, soaked through. Awesome!

Leg warmers will be back soon!

Would also like to thank those beautiful ladies at Zaggora, as my Viva’s have arrived! I came back in after my run to find they had arrived. So excited, planning on getting a good picture when the sun comes out. They’re very snug fitting, so I’m hoping for even more fat burn!

WOOOO!

Planning on  doing a Jillian Michaels DVD tomorrow, need to give these new HotPants their first run. So excited!

Also planning on hitting the Southport food festival tomorrow, can’t wait for that either; a chocolate festival, real ale festival and a bake off. I’ll certainly be gaining back those calories I burnt off!

Get hot, get slim, go RUNNING – with @Zaggora HotPants! – Day 6

Finally got into the city centre today, spent an hour looking in Marks and Sparks for a dress with zero success. Walked out the store with a pack of Percy Pigs and some teacakes. Three cheers for Cherry Bakewells!

What, they’re only …200 calories EACH!

Had a lovely scheduled rest day today, only bit of light yoga in my HotPants, still managed to break into a light sweat though, keeping the burning going! Hopefully it will counter that bakewell.  Debated whether to go for a bike ride, but by the time I got back home it was bucketing it down (as per usual up North).

I did have a look briefly at possible races in the area. There is the BUPA Great Manchester run, which is a 10k in May next year, but I wanted something sooner and will be doing the Liverpool Half Marathon next March if I can get the time off and get down to Liverpool. This whole goal thing seems far more real now!

EDIT: Just found this now, please check out the Samsung Hope Relay at http://www.samsung.com/uk/london2012/samsung-hope-relay/. For every one mile that is recorded by the GPS app on your phone, £1 will be donated to charity!

Get hot, get slim, go RUNNING – with HotPants! – Day 5

Bish bash bosh, real good spaetzle?

I do love a good bank holiday, especially when it’s the day after another bank holiday. Bless you Queeny!

Woke up an hour before my run this morning, so that I could get something to eat before heading out. For my previous runs I’ve been running on empty and wanted to try something new. Armed with my Hotpants, I ended up running sub 10  minute miles, even though I upped the mileage by another half mile to 3.1 miles. Boo-ya-ka-sha! Sub half hour 5k. I also got a pic while running; it just looked like a really pretty shot, so I went for it.

‘A prettyish kind of a little wilderness’ – if you recognise the quote, ten points to you!

I’m getting nods of recognition in the park now,  becoming something of a regular there now!

Felt like something de-lish for luncheon, and I tried the recipe for something I saw on the Hairy Bikers Bakeation cooked by a yodeller in the Alps. After reading around, I found that the dish was called Kasnocken, made using Spaetzle. Spaetzle is small dumpling cooked in boiling water. Then to make kasnocken (from what I can tell), you sautee the dumplings in butter, onions, chives and garlic and then add lashings of cheddar cheese.

Dumpling mix, and some bacon for the sautee stuff; because everyone loves bacon.

Didn’t have any chives, so added a minuscule amount of spinach for greenery.

Really grateful for my extra calorie burning Hotpants today; those lashings of cheese were sooo good! I justify it with the spinach in there. It’s healthy, promise!