running fuel
Friday’s Fact File
Things that I have discovered or just loved this week …
Music!
So I think it’s only right that we celebrate Christmas (particularly as I am now off work ;D) so favourite Christmas songs? Some of my top Christmas requests are …
Chris Rea – Driving Home For Christmas
Mariah Carey – All I Want For Christmas Is You
Eats!
Sainsbury’s “Festive” Sausage and Cranberry Rolls!
So I have insider information about Sainsbury’s Christmas products and when I heard that sausage rolls stuffed with cranberry existed I knew I had to try them! I love a good sausage roll and cranberry sauce is a HUGE treat for me during the Christmas period! So after a long night of enjoying red wine you can imagine my happiness of walking into Sainsburys and seeing these guys and at a discounted price!!!
YUM! This was definitely a good little treat particularly as it was still warm! Potentially could do with a little more cranberry sauce for my liking but that’s just me!
Stuff, things, bits and pieces!
Ok so it’s Beyonce’s clothing line and she is talking about cake … all the cake
What’s not to love!
Friday’s Fact File
Things that I have discovered or just loved this week …
Music!
Kiesza ft Joey Bad A$$- Bad Thing
Jessie Ware – Kind Of…Sometimes…Maybe (J Cole Remix)
Eats!
Tucked away on Foley Street you can find a gorgeous little cafe filled with extremely friendly staff and pretty incredible food. I visited this place for the first time this week and I will most definitely be going back … to try their cake! They offer an extremely beautiful selection of vegetarian salads – mine included roasted beetroot, parsnip and artichoke with spinach as well as quiches and aubergine stacks and their portion sizes meant that even I couldn’t finish my plate of salad!!!!! For the coffee heads out there they even hunt down various specialty coffees which they rotate every few months! Basically I think this place will definitely become one of my new favourite lunch spots!!! YUM
Stuff, things, bits and pieces!
I am in love with this sports bra from Forever 21, IN LOVE! Definitely not one for long runs but perfect for gym sessions! Forever21 really do have a great selection of gym clothes for women and at pretty December friendly (no money) prices too ;D
Friday’s Fact File
Things that I have discovered or just loved this week …
Music!
If you haven’t already heard/seen it yet BRAND NEW BEYONCE – 7/11 (I guess we will all be buying, if we haven’t already, big pants?)
Idris Elba feat Maverick Sabre – You Give Me Love Nice, easy listening for a cosy Winter night!
Mary J. Blige / Disclosure – Follow – I think “The London Sessions” will be on my Christmas List!
Eats!
So recently I was given the opportunity to try Juiven8, the “UK’s first ready-to-drink protein Fruit Juice”. It comes as a 250ml protein infused fruit juice, made with real fruit, coconut water and a 12g of whey protein, in hope so enhancing the impact of your workout whilst supporting post workout recovery. Happy days right?
In a lovely little cool bag I received both flavours – blackcurrant, acai with coconut water and mango, pineapple with coconut water. Personally I loved the blackcurrant flavour, I found the mango maybe just a little too sweet for my taste but the blackcurrant was just right. I definitely found that it was a great quick fix after a tough work out and it helped keep my hunger at bay if food wasn’t readily available! It’s also worth mentioning that these drinks didn’t upset my stomach! Something which I am really aware of when it comes to anything including whey protein! So big thumbs up there for anyone with a sensitive stomach!
If you are tempted to get your hands on some pretty taste fruit juice or would like to find out more then head over to the website www.juiven8.com
Stuff, things, bits and pieces!
To carry on with the Christmas theme from last week now is the time for ridiculous jumpers and well out of the hundreds I thought this was a little different … and perfect for serious Christmas food feasting …
Buy it from ASOS now!
Friday’s Fact File
Things that I have discovered or just loved this week …
Music!
So Mark Ronson is going to be releasing his fourth album at the beginning of next year and well after hearing these two tracks I am pretty excited … I would be impressed if you didn’t even tap your toes to these records …
Mark Ronson ft Bruno Mars “Uptown Funk”
Mark Ronson ft Mystikal – “Feel Right”
Eats!
So there has been a bit of a debate going on recently regarding peanut butter flavoured sweets. Now as a HUGE lover of all things nut butter I have a very upclose and personal relationship with Reese’s Pieces. What I mean by that is that if I am offered them I never say no and I don’t like to share ;D! But on my recent trip to NYC I was asked if I could bring peanut butter M&Ms back so I had, of course, to try them out myself to see why someone would ask for these and not Reese’s. WELL my friends in my opinion peanut butter M&Ms win absolutely hands down! I am sorry Reese’s but our relationship is 100% over … M&Ms you are the new love of my life!
Stuff, things, bits and pieces!
So a few days ago someone brought this incredible 90s female RnB jacket, featured on The Fader website to my attention! OH MY!
Kinship have out done themselves with this one!
Race Recap: Bacchus Half Marathon
A unicorn, 2 tumbles and whole lotta wine
Date/Time: Sunday 14th September 2014
Location: Denbies Wine Estate
Distance: 13.1 miles
Before I knew my incredible friends from TNR I used to read their blog posts and always enjoyed hearing about the crazy races they were involved in. One in particular stood out, Laura‘s post about the Bacchus Half Marathon! Fancy dress, wine stops, all the food and in glorious countryside. This year there was no way I wasn’t going to get involved.
So firstly the fancy dress, after a few ideas inspiration came … I was going to run like this ….
To get to the race venue it was a quick journey to Waterloo and then onto a 50 minute train to Dorking which as the stops went by slowly filled up with people in fancy dress … and trainers! Off the train and a little 10 minute walk to the “vineyard” we were quickly surrounded by where’s wallys, brides, soldiers, wedding presents (?!), bumble bees, cheer leaders, minions … I could go on. The sun was shining, the music was pumping and everyone was in such good spirits!
After a super quick bag drop and registration (NO QUEUES and smiling helpers) we had a quick group shot
And then headed over to the start line…
This race was SURREAL! I would say about 90% of people were dressed up, varying levels of effort but still everyone was a little different and after about a mile and a half of running through beautiful rows of grapes we came to the first wine stop ….
These “fuelling” stations were incredible! A shot glass of wine, roast chicken crisps, haribo, raisins, dried apricots, jaffa cakes, borbon biscuits, fig rolls, nice biscuits, digestives, oranges, bananas, water, squash and energy gels. It was really hard not to just grab everything, in fact we are sure someone people had little bags so they could stock up for later!
So after enjoying the first stop we then carried on to the next, through a little village which is where I took my first of two tumbles…. I tripped on the pavement … no idea why … I’m a light weight but there is no way a shot of wine would do that! Anyway I picked myself up and carried on to the next stop where we came across a group of farmyard animals (in trainers) singing “wine wine dehlia”, again this race really was surreal. Stop two was also where a very kind first Aider dressed my knee, after a had to rip my tights off … apparently things had got a little bloody …
Through stop three and onto stop four we tried some glorious wine, I particularly enjoyed the rose, and the continued on a relaxed run through fields, among cows, horses, up woodland tracks, past beautiful country houses and on what would certainly make glorious Sunday walking routes.
At stop four we were greeted by bagpipers which actually seemed to be particularly fitting and after enjoying a very nice red wine Jen and I decided to carry on … Unbeknown to us, up a LONG hill!!
We were about half way through by this point and though it had been an extremely relaxed run I found the stopping and starting hard, plus I don’t really drink or eat whilst running so this was a totally different experience for me! So as the hill continued up and up this was definitely a test for the legs but of course I wanted to see if I could run the whole thing, just because I am crazy like that. I managed it but at the top I couldn’t see a wine stop (surely there should have been one by now) I was by myself and well, shattered, so I decided to walk for a little bit but of course as I ventured round the corner there it was, the wine stop! Typical ha!
This stop was one of my favourites! The volunteers were fantastic, dressed in Hawaiian gear, there were sweets all over the place, a steel band playing in the background and well the views were pretty incredible too!
From here it was back through the woods and onto my SECOND TUMBLE! Yes I fell again and this time really shredded my leg! I still cannot believe I fell…twice! Anyway, I dusted myself off and carried on through the beautiful woodland where I heard someone shout “love the unicorn costume” where I responded “it’s not a costume… Oh wait STEPH!” My incredible, crazy, friend was actually running the race as a marathon! Yes if you wanted to (?!) you could run the Bacchus Marathon and she was! Looking so incredible strong and going at a great pace it was absolutely amazing to run a couple of miles with my dear friend and I was extremely pleased to wave her off at the penultimate wine stop looking so fresh!
By this point we were onto a very dry white wine which was perfect for me as I really didn’t like it so didn’t feel too guilty at not finishing my shot glass. Seriously all the liquid and food isn’t easy to run with! The final stop had promised fizz so you imagine our absolute dismay to find out that by the time we got there it had all gone!!!!
The last two miles were, as Steph promised, down hill and gave us the most incredible views! And coming back onto the estate smiles were all around!!!!
On crossing the finish line I had Steph screaming my name and then proceeded to cry in her arms upon hearing she had absolutely smashed her marathon times! SERIOUSLY PROUD FRIEND MOMENT!
From here things got really exciting, the medal was a beast! And around the corner … ALL THE CAKE, chocolate tray cake, lemon cake, chocolate Swiss roll, vanilla Swiss roll and my favourite fruit cake with a marzipan layer! They also had loads of yummy fruit laid out too! These organisers know how to make a runner happy! This was then followed by what we had all been looking forward to! The hog roast! So as we all came across the finish line we sat and enjoyed our free HUGE hog bap in the sunshine and of course a glass of complimentary wine ;D …. I may have found the self serve ice cream too ….
All in all Bacchus Half Marathon is a fantastically fun race. Personally for me I’m not great at stopping and starting as my legs get a little achy but this race is definitely one to be experienced and enjoyed! BOOK YOUR PLACE FOR 2015 NOW…
…whilst I sit in unicorn socks icing my knee ;D
Race Recap: Spitfire Scramble
Date/Time: Saturday 30th – Sunday 31st August
Location: Hornchurch Country Park
Distance: As many 10km laps as possible in 24hours
When Leah asked whether anyone would be interested in entering a competition to win a place in a 24 hour race weekend I, of course, jumped at the chance and put my name down and then forgot about it. Then a couple of weeks ago we got an extremely surprising email confirming that we had won! Team Naturally Run would be the VIP team at the first Spitfire Scramble, 2014!
The Spitfire Scramble is a multi-terrain race where, as a team or as a solo runner (!?), you attempt to complete as many (roughly 10km) laps as possible over 24-hours! So on what started out as a very rainy Saturday morning (thankfully the weather got a lot better the further East we went) Jen, Leah, Katy, Becs, Becki, Emma Nikki and I made our way, along with roughly 200 other runners, to Hornchurch, Essex to set up camp!
Kitted out in predominately BLACK (personally the brighter the better for me when it comes to kit), BUT extremely comfortable Crewroom kit we had a quick photo shoot (and a costume change) and then got down to business deciding the order in which we would run … roughly thinking that each lap would be around an hour …
First out was Becs, a tactical move as she is easily one of the fastest women I know and so would put us in a good place for the race!
Following Becs, Nikki headed out and then before I knew it I was being called up!
When my first lap came around I have to admit I was pretty nervous. Hearing that I was going to have to climb over things was definitely going to be a new experience for me during a run, and well this obviously wasn’t your typical race, start – run – finish and then go out for celebratory food, but I wanted to do well for my team so I set off and settled into a relatively steady pace.
The route took you through various terrains, uneven field track, gravel paths, muddy paths, around lovely lakes and then my favourite, woodland paths!
I was loving the off road route! It was definitely a little different for my legs who had a few wobbles, but it was just so much fun, though having to stop to climb over things and then start running again is not the easiest! On seeing the finish line I sprinted to the finish, passing on the illumious slapband! Yes a slapband! Checking my watch I was over the moon and ridiculously surprised, my first lap was sub 50!!! Literally beaming!
Whilst all the other girls one by one went out for their laps the rest of us just chilled out around our tents, eating, catching up, eating more and just enjoying spending some time together.
We were extremely lucky to have some of the other TNR girls pop by for support too. A huge thank you to Lucy and Glen who made this gorgeous sign …
The lovely Laura who brought homemade cheese straws! Err amazing! And then of course …. LISSY!!!! The most amazing friend in the world for bringing my favourite thing ever, her DARK CHOCOLATE BANANA BREAD (if you want to make someone’s day head to her site for the recipe! (Seriously it’s a game changer)
My second lap came at 21:30. At this point I was nervous, it was dark, and I mean reallydark. I am super conscious about walking alone at night due to boring events when I first same to London and now I was about to run for 6miles by myself with just a headtorch through fields, parkland and woods!!!!! WTF! This is where I have to give a HUGE mention Lissy (again) and the RDC team who gave me an amazing pep talk and assured me all would be fine!
With my amazingly strong headtorch (courtesy of LED Lenser) switched on, blinding everyone in the process, I plugged my headphones in and got going. It was dark, the route was empty and my headtorch was my only source of light but this my friends was one of the most amazing running experiences I have EVER had. There is something quite incredible about being alone in the countryside with just a headtorch and the stars, plus running in the dark meant that the hills, and there were a few sneaky ones along the route, were over before you knew it! I loved it, I absolutely loved it and I obviously had so much fun even the Marshall’s were laughing about how much of a runners high I was on as I bounded across the finish line!
My third lap however was tough. Orignally due to happen around 3:30 ish by about midnight I settled into my tent for a few hours sleep but at 1:30 I was woken up to hear the sad news that Jen was out due to a poorly leg and asked whether I could run sooner than planned … in 30 minutes! Now this race was all about the team and well there was no way I was going to let the team down so I quickly got dressed and joined Emma at the change over point and then with very little sleep and fuelled by half a Mars Bar – thank you so much Emma I still owe you for that – I ran from roughly 2:15-3:15 and I definitely felt my legs falling asleep whilst going down the hills!
When I got back Beki was there ready to go and explained that if I could would I be able to go again when she got back as both Jen and Leah were now officially out due to injury 😦 and Emma and Bex were catching up on some seriously well deserved zzz. I figured as I was up why not and it would mean I could get a solid couple of hours once I was done so I headed to the food tent for some slightly better post run / pre race fuelling, a Nuun and my Bounce Ball whilst enjoying late night ramblings with some of the other runners!
The fourth lap was a bit of a blur to be honest, somewhere around 4:30, the sun was definitely on it’s way and once again it was just me, my headtorch and Ronnie Herel’s old skool mix. I was pleased to see I got through it quicker than my third lap but by the time I crossed the line I was ready for sleep and so after a very sorry looking little bowl of oats and raisins I tucked myself in for a snooze.
Now originally we had all planned to do 3 – 4 laps each but due to some of the team being injured plans had gone a little awry. When I woke up after a couple of hours sleep the team incredibly were still running but had said that there was no pressure to so anymore. We had all gone way above expectations and we had all done each other proud but well … I wondered if my legs could do any more….
Doing a fifth lap would mean doing just shy of 30 miles, the furthest I have never run, it would mean getting another lap in for the team, and it would mean I could eat even more food! My team were incredible and without hesitation told me if my legs were up for it I could do it! So I did.
It was tough, I was tired, I was smelly, it was hot and the hills felt steeper in the daylight (hence the worn out face) BUT I did it and well I felt AMAZING! I would not have got through that lap without knowing I had my teams’ support so thank you so so much ladies!
Incredibly Nikki was there at the finish line ready to go! It was 11am ish and we had achieved our 24 laps but determined to get a 25th in Nikki set off to walk the final lap alongside Emma who on realising what she was up to ran to catch her up. (It’s worth noting here as long as you cross the start line before 12 the lap would count.)
On seeing the girls coming round the corner towards the finish line we of course joined them to cross the final line as a team …
This race was such an amazing experience for me. It was the Spitfire Scramble’s first year and I will definitely be signing up for next year! It attracted a really lovely mix of people and the atmosphere throughout was extremely supportive and friendly! The marshals along the route were smiley and the organiser himself, Danny, was extremely personable and made you feel very welcome! A word of warning the catering wasn’t exactly ideal (unless you love salty bacon (which will repeat on you whilst running) and jacket potatoes for every meal over 24 hours) but fueling for this sort of thing was always going to be tricky! Overall however it was fantastic and an experience I am so grateful to have shared with 7 other incredible running ladies :D. We even came in the top 50% out of all the teams that took part!
Oh and it’s worth mentioning that we actually came first in our division “All female team of 8”! That’s right we won trophies as well as medals!!!
So of course we used these to drink our celebratory fizz out of on the way home ;D!
A HUGE THANK YOU TO EVERYONE INVOLVED IN SPITFIRE SCRAMBLE! Us TNR ladies had a truly fantastic 24 hours!
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!
Ed Sheeran ft Rick Ro$$ – Don’t
Labrinth – Let It Be This link takes you to a live recording from Camden! He is pretty epic!!
Blak Twang ft Rodney P, Jehst & Samson – Dettwork Southeast Remix Link is to the original as I cannot find the re-release yet … but if you want to check it out head over to 1xtra & listen back to MistaJam’s show on 19.08.14
Eats!
If you were asked whether you would like to try some “tasty, gluten free, 100% natural protein flapjacks” would you say no?! Of course NOT, I jumped at the chance to try some! Flapjack = yummy, protein = I am all about my protein at the moment! Provided by a young start-up company by the name of “Battle Oats” I was sent two of their brand new bars “Cranberry and Blueberry Fusion” and “Dark Choc Chip”. Here’s the low down – they are free from wheat and gluten, high in protein isolate (22%!!), made with coconut oil, high in fibre, GMO free and most importantly … THEY ARE YUMMY. Personally my favourite was the “Cranberry and Blueberry” as you could really taste the berries, but for those of you who like a chocolate fix then you know where to go! I found the bars extremely tasty and extremely filling, they will definitely keep you full til lunch or would be great after a loong run/work out! Thank you “Battle Oats” for sending the bars through, I shall definitely be looking out these once they hit the stores however, if you want to get your hands on them now and support a UK based company then head to the website now and buy buy buy! :D!
Stuff, things, bits and pieces!
We all know we love a pair of jazzy leggings and well these are pretty bright …
Circuits, running, diving and cinnamon rolls …
So it’s been another week of training with a few random elements thrown in for good measure of course ;D!
Monday
Had the pleasure of working from home so kicked the day off with 3 rounds of full body circuits, did some work, went for a steady 30 minute run in the sunshine, came back and did more work, went to a casting and then came home to build my new bed with an extremely handy friend. You know, just another normal day ;D!
Tuesday
20 minutes on the x trainer and 15 minutes on the bike. Both at a steady pace ready for tomorrow! (No RunDem run as had an event in the evening)
Wednesday
My first real attempt of channeling Bolt in a run. I think he still might beat me. So Wednesday was all about 10 x 1 minute repeats, but not only did they need to be at full effort they also needed to be consistent. So using a quiet path which I found whilst doing my warm up I used a tree as my starting point and ran at full effort for a minute which roughly took me to a bin at the end of the path. With 1 minute recovery in between I then ran back at full pace in attempt to get back to my starting point! By the end of it I definitely felt like the bin and the tree had grown legs and were moving about to tease me … either that or I was just getting tired ;D!
In the evening, well it was just another normal evening catching up with Charlie … a normal evening where you get a personal diving lesson with the Tom Daley Diving Academy! Spogo kindly invited us down to the London Aquatics Centre and well we couldn’t say no! More details will be up on the blog in a couple of days but for now here’s a couple of pictures ;D!
Thursday
Three rounds of full body circuits and a gorgeous 30 minute RUNcommute to work! I forgot how convenient it can be to run to work, easily the most efficient way to get to the office!
Friday
Oh hello rest day! I generally find rest days quite tricky as I am not very good at sitting still but this rest day was seriously appreciated … my legs are definitely feeling the speed work so instead I had an early night and cooked some of my favourite things 🙂
Saturday
Disgusting 1km repeats. And when I say disgusting I mean disgusting! Who knew that Highbury Fields had a few sneaky inclines! And where on earth did that wind come from?! So once again speed and consistency were key for this so after an extremely slow, almost horizontal, run to Highbury Fields (about 1.4 miles) I set off on my first of six 1km laps around Highbury Fields. My first three laps were relatively similar, my fourth was WAYYYY OUT and then I brought the fifth and sixth back to a similar time to my third lap. This was hard, really hard, particularly as my double helping of granola before this apparently wasn’t the best fuelling! Lots of lessons learnt on this run, no granola before speed work and definitely need to slow it down on my first lap to keep the consistency up!
Sunday
So after missing out on Stephanie Muzzal’s infamous homemade cinnamon buns on Saturday due to over fuelling and late running I knew I would somehow have to get across London to get my hands on one! I had a 45 minute run on the plan and it had to be super slow (holding back on my “super slow” runs is something that I am struggling with at the moment but I know they will help when it comes to speed work so I am just gritting my teeth and getting on with it) so figured why not jog on down to Waterloo Station and jump on a train to meet her after her incredible 20 mile run?! So that is exactly what I did! Apart from having to remind myself to go slow this run was lovely, I knew the route so could hide my phone away and instead I just enjoyed the sights and sounds whilst running down through central London. It has to be said that the amount of “walk of shames” I past was INCREDIBLE and extremely entertaining! Once I got to Putney the moment came … those cinnamon buns are like no other! Yes Steph it was hugely impressive that you ran 20 miles today but personally nothing tops how incredible your baking is. Cinnamon buns like no other!!!
Run Round Town 