chia co
Rain, raving and racing!
… “Run, eat, rave, repeat” …
Monday
So staying over at Lissy’s meant I had the pleasure of doing my circuits over looking the beautiful canals around Wapping so it all started well – 3 rounds of full body circuits. This, if you read my previous work outs, is usually followed by a run however, if you can remember the weather on Bank Holiday it was awful and I mean AWFUL! But because Lissy and I are crazy and had originally planned to be in Shoreditch for around 3pm we decided to brave it, Lissy on the bike (so she could enjoy shouting abuse at me to run harder) and me, well I was the idiot in shorts and my Games Maker jacket. This run was hilarious, we got absolutely soaked, couldn’t hear each other to talk to as I had my hood up and Lissy had her helmet on, and by the time we got to Shoreditch we were so unbelievably drench thanks to a car purposefully driving quickly through a puddle we just went home. Still we got a run in ;D
Tuesday
A killer 6.5mile run with the crew! I actually think this was one of the most epic runs yet! Led by the machine that is Chris we straight away hit an awesome pace tearing our way through the streets of London headed for Trafalgar Square. Once at Trafalgar Square we of course stopped for a few photos and met up with the rest of the crew. From there we headed down to the river and then RAN … and ran and ran all the way until the path stopped and it was time to head back North towards 1948. It was a long, hard slog but the sense of achievement at the end of it was IMMENSE. I know I say this every week but I LOVE Tuesdays!
Wednesday
Morning Gloryville RAVE!!!
Bouncing about for 2 and half hours definitely counts as a work out!!! Kicking off a 06:30 in the morning Lissy, Steph and I made our way across to East London to be welcomed into a space full of leotards, glitter and killer leggings!!! With live DJs at the decks playing some killer tunes we bounced, giggled and sung along from 06:30am – 08:45am having the time of our lives … and then quietly made our way to work.
LITERALLY THE BEST WAY TO START YOUR DAY!
Thursday
Bring on those 10 x 1 repeats and of course the double helping of granola!!!! This week a bizarre thing happened … I started my sprints and don”t get me wrong they were hard, but not as hard as last week. In fact I managed to go further in each minute! Keeping in mind consistency rather than killing my legs (and myself) and well it worked! I hit my targets every single lap, even managed to go a few strides further on my last couple of sets … I think this is what you call “winning” at sprint sets. As you can imagine my celebratory portion of granola was pretty EPIC!
Friday
Oh hello rest day … all the protein and GBBO …
Saturday & Sunday
A casual 30 mile run, in a team, during the afternoon, just after midnight, in the dark hours and in a glorious, sunny morning! I got scrambled …to be continued… #spitfirescramble
New routes, oats and CARNIVAL vibes!
So it’s been another week of training this time with a few familiar faces!
Monday
3 rounds of full body circuits followed by a lovely 30 minute RUNcommute to work … looking oh so cool in my commuter gear
PS notice I was still wearing shorts at this point! Summer had not completely finished!
Tuesday
All about the cross training ready for sprints (and of course celebratory granola) the next morning. So it was 20 minutes on the x trainer and 15 minutes on the bike. Both at a steady pace .
Wednesday
Morning – Second attempt at pretending that I can maintain a fast pace doing 10 x 1 minute repeats. Started with a 10 minute super slow jog to warm up and then got to it. The first four went really well, fast (or at least fast for me) and I managed to get further in the minute than last week but then 5 hit … from the 5th repeat my legs were getting tired so I think it’s fair to say that I need to work on consistency!
Evening – An absolutely gorgeous Yin Yoga session with Cal from Yoga In The Big Smoke over in Fulham Broadway with a few familiar faces …
I really enjoy Yin Yoga because, like many runners I know, I get impatient holding stretches for too long so probably don’t do each one for long enough. Yin yoga makes you hold every position for at least 2 minutes a go so no escaping!!! Ouch ;D!
Thursday
Due to the location of Yin the incredible hostess that is Steph very kindly offered me a bed for the night and even better she offered to do my morning workout with me! So after a late night of chatter our alarm sounded at 06:30 and together we got through 3 rounds of my full body circuits and then she took me on a tour of her local 5km route. It was so so lovely to be running with Steph and in totally new surroundings. Exploring, running and chat is just a perfect way to start a morning… oh and then throw in a packed, homemade breakfast and well honestly there is NOTHING better!
NUTELLA CINNAMON BUN with my name on!
Friday
Oh hello rest day … and cocktails with these beauties …
Saturday
After learning some serious lessons last week with my first attempt at 6x1km repeats I got my game face on, starting with breakfast! I had very kindly been given oats by The Chia Co in a goody bag and well we all know oats make a good pre run breakfast so …
All you need to do is empty the sachet, add water and stick it in the microwave for a minute or two and BOOM! Super quick, super easy, yummy pre-run fuelling DONE!
So after a very slow warm up to Highbury Fields (VERY SLOW) I got myself ready focusing on the fact that yes each 1km needed to be an effort but they also needed to be consistent. I had a time in mind, based on my average last week, and so set off trying to keep a relatively steady pace. My first loop I came in 10 seconds slower than the time I had in mind so on the second I picked up a little and then the following 4 laps I managed within 4/5 seconds of each other! I was absolutely exhausted and my legs hated me but at the same time I felt so so much better than last week and was a little smug about not completely collapsing by the 6th lap!!!!!
Sunday
Another opportunity to run in new territory! I am very lucky to have amazing friends who will put me up for the night and then come running in the morning! Lissy and I had an AWESOME 50 minute run in the sunshine around the canals onto Mile End. 50 minutes of slow and steady running followed by an epic breakfast of granola and french toast.
Oh and then we hit Notting Hill Carnvial for hours and hours of bouncing with friends!
Friday’s Fact File
Things that I have discovered or just loved this week …
Music!
Eats!
Back in April (you can see here) I mentioned tasting Chia pods, describing them as “little pots of yumminess”. Well this week I was very excited to get an invite to the Chia Pod Garden Party to celebrate the “Chia Pod Breakfast Bar”! Basically the wonderful people at The Chia Co are going to be popping up around London offering us Londeners yummy pods and oats+chia pots!
If you aren’t sure what I am talking about Chia pods are jammed packed with chia seeds, coconut milk and real fruit, so no added sugar, no diary and no gluten! The Oats+Chia are all about wholegrain oats, chia, more real fruit and coconut oil! Basically just lots of good stuff :D!
The Pop-Up Breakfast Bar will be at Tower Bridge on the south bank of the river until Sunday 6th then moving onto Regent’s Place Plaza from 7-11 July, followed by Old Spitalfields Market from 19-20 July.
I know the texture isn’t for everyone but personally I love the stuff so I am very happy to try EVERY flavour all over again :D!
Stuff, things, bits and pieces!
Adidas Print!! Nothing says summer like this hot pink!!!! Yet more stuff to add to my “workout” gear collection then ….
Run Round Town 