Nerves and New Complete Vegetarian Review

Hello, hello.

Last night I had a dream about the Great North 10K on Sunday. I dreamt I ran it in six hours and when I looked at my Garmin I'd only covered 3.2 miles or thereabouts. Wail!

Running has been better and I no longer have stomach aches, but then I've been slacking recently and haven't been pushing myself at all. It's feeling like I've been building up to the race forever and I'm beginning to get bored of it. I think this apathy is due to being worried because I haven't received my race pack with my number yet. To my paranoid mind that means it's not going to come and I'm not going to be able to run in the race. I've been raising money for charity and if I can't run in the race I'll have to tell everyone and it'll be humiliating. Also even if I run I've been so rubbish recently I'm going to run it really slow and come in at 1 hour 30 or something because I still haven't gotten around to walking the course and I don't know what the hills are like and I'm worried that they're crazy steep and and and...

And breathe.

On to the review. A while ago I bought Rose Elliot's New Complete Vegetarian. I like it. It's clearly and concisely laid out and has some gorgeous photos, but not so many that as with some other cookbooks you wonder if the glossy photos are padding out a book lacking in recipes.
 The recipes are well written but invoke my pet cookery book peeve - no indication of how long it takes to prepare and cook the food at the beginning of the recipe. Grumble grumble.


I've tried out a few of the recipes. They tend to be on the easy and cheap side to make and favour everyday vegetables like carrots, courgettes, peppers, potatoes, and peas etc. Even the curries have ingredients you could easily find in a supermarket and won't languish unused in the back of your cupboard. Most recipes are healthy and just a touch on the 'wholesome' side of life with lots of brown rice, pulses, fresh vegetables and little oil. However there's plenty of cakes and bakes at the back of the book if you want to indulge.

I've tried peppers and macaroni (sauted peppers, onion, and tomatoes mixed with macaroni), courgette rice (brown rice cooked with courgettes, tomato and onions), and pea, potato and carrot curry. On the whole they've been quick and simple to make, although sometimes lacking in a little oomf when it comes to taste. Mr Scientist thought the peppers and macaroni and courgette rice were bland, although by 'bland' he actually meant 'not a curry containing 3 chilli peppers'. They were still nice, however, and the peppers and macaroni perfect for a quick midweek supper.

This book is not going to collect dust on my shelf, and I'm going to use it a lot.

Running Woes and What I Ate Thursday

Hello, and how are you doing this Wednesday?

I was due to do a 4 mile race-pace run and I really didn't want to do it. Earlier this evening I got caught in a rainstorm on the way home and soaked. I was debating all the way through the storm whether or not to go for a run when it stopped. It stopped, I got home, found out I only had a neon pink top and my teeny-tiny race shorts clean, but went out any way.

It was still very wet out so I opted for a run along country tracks rather than the main road because I didn't like the way drivers had to go around puddles to avoid splashing me/potential potholes. I got nettled, thistled, very muddy, and really missed my 3/4 length capris. I also wished I was wearing wellies or trainers that didn't have holes in them.

My stomach ache came back as well with a vengeance about one mile in and I had to stop due to the knotting feeling in my upper abdomen. I'm annoyed because it didn't occur at all during an intervals session on Tuesday and cross-training session yesterday. I debated turning around and going home, but decided that putting in the miles slowly would be better than not doing them at all. I think I walked about a mile in all, and feel a bit worried about how I'm going to perform on race day.

I have the sneaky suspicion the stomach ache may be due to overstraining my core muscles due to the press ups and sit ups I've been doing, so I'm going to pause the programmes until after the race. I hope this will sort it once I've gotten over them.

My weight-loss attempts have also been a bit pants lately and I haven't eaten well at all. I find that tracking everything I eat helps me lose weight and prevents me from cheating or falling off the wagon. I was going to do What I Ate Wednesday to get back on the straight and narrow, but my partner and I went out for dinner before going to see Senna at the cinema (go see it even if you don't like Formula 1 it's still a breathtaking story of dedication, rivalry, inconsistency, risk-taking and passion) and I ate a yummy hummus and tzaziki starter with lots of toasted pitta bread then even more yummy yemista, but didn't photograph it.

So on to What I Ate Thursday.

The day started with overnight muesli made from porridge oats, Tesco's low-fat natural yoghurt, a fruit and nut mix, and black cherries washed down with a mug of black coffee. Before work I had an unpictured small latte.

For lunch I had two Food Doctor pitta breads toasted and filled with Tesco halloumi with chilli, three tomatoes, some lettuce and some home-made beetroot. I also drank a couple of glasses of water. I almost forgot to photograph it, which is why one of the pita breads is half-eaten.

After lunch I marinated some tofu in a dessertspoon of sesame seed oil, a dessertstpoon of Sriracha chilli sauce, a dessertspoon of soy sauce, and a teaspoon each of crunchy peanut butter and honey then stir-fried the tofu for dinner in another dessertspoon of sesame seed oil, a Sainsbury's stir-fry vegetable pack, and some straight to wok Singapore-style noodles. It was delicious and tasted creamy, spicey and not too sweet.

If I'm hungry later I may have some Kallo hint of chilli mini rice cakes and an apple.

Toodle-oo.

Quattro (World Drifts In)

I can't believe I haven't featured one of my favourite bands, Calexico, yet. The driving drums but laid back feel to the song were perfect for my easy recovery run. I should have run it yesterday, but went to the beach instead, so I swapped the days around. I headed out of the village and into the countryside. I love running outside in the summer. No stomach ache, but then I didn't run fast at all.

Time: 45:04
Distance: 4.22 miles
Avg Pace: 10:41

Glorious

On Saturday I ran the longest I've ever run. A long slow 6 miles along the high street, through the retail park dodging afternoon shoppers pulling out of the carpark, down the hill on a lane that runs between fields of oats and cow, over the river and the sportsfield and along a trail through the wood. Then I turned around and came back, I'm not very good at working out circular running routes. I ran later than I usually do, starting at 5pm because it was so warm up here in the usually frozen north. The air smelt of cut grass and the trees were a deep green tinged with blue in the late afternoon haze. I was glad to be outside.

My run wasn't so good. I've been suffering from mildly uncomfortable tummy aches over the last few runs. They're worse when I push myself, but even my long slow run was tough. I had to stop about 6 times in order to alleviate it. I'm not sure what's causing it and the internet is no help. It could be drinking too much water before running, not drinking enough, eating too much or not eating enough to fuel my body, not having enough core strength or straining my core with the pushups and situps I'm doing, etc etc etc. It could also be due to some pills I'm taking which can cause nausea and stomach aches as a side affect. Last week I also did more exercise than I usually do, so it could also be due to that.

It's worrying because it means I couldn't push myself as much as I'd like to, and if it continues it will badly affect my run on 17th July. I just hope that like the and hamstring calf twinges I had a few months back these aches will pass. I got the advise to try to keep my breaths in sync with my feetstrikes, so I'll try this today.

I'm still pleased I ran 6 miles. When I first started going to the gym I could barely run a mile, and when I first started losing weight I couldn't run for the bus.

Distance: 6 miles
Moving Time: 57:06
Elapsed Time: 01:01:44
Avg Pace: 09:39
 
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On Saturday The Guardian had a few articles about fitness and specifically running.
I read the article about tips from Olympic coaches for advice on how to deal with stomach aches, but no love.

One of them had short pieces about why people run. One journalist said they run to look as fit as George Clooney, another said she runs to have some time to herself, and the last said he runs to help his mental health. I'm a mixture of the first two - vanity and space. Running and exercise help me lose weight, and when I reach my goal weight they'll help me maintain it.

I also run to get fitter and improve just like you'd practice an instrument.

Running helps me if I'm in a bad mood or upset. I was in a foul mood on Friday and, frankly, being a right mardy cow for very little reason. I started off angry and running fast before I physically told myself to slow down or I wouldn't finish the run at all. I slowed my pace, got my breathing under control, and I could feel myself calming down. I completed the run despite having to stop frequently to ease my stomach ache and was a much nicer person by the end of it...

The only problem I had with the article was the response of some of the commenters below the line. I know the internet is full of nutters and malcontents and that opinions are like bumholes but some non-runner commenters seemed to feel that they were somehow superior to runners for not doing something they don't enjoy. I may need to be called a wahmbulance but this smug attitude of denigrating someone else's hobby or choice because you don't understand the attraction of it is one I find intensely irritating. I think it comes from insecurity, but also from plain narrow-mindedness and it's something I find baffling. Surely as an adult it should come as no surprise that different people have different hobbies, and that it's pointless to feel smug about not doing other people do enjoy.

Anyway, whinge over. I also discovered parkrun and there are a few nearish to me, so I can use them to work on getting that sub-25 5k without having to pay to enter loads of races, although I'm probably going to enter a race on 20th July.

Another thing - there's a running club that meets within walking distance of where I live. I'd like to join to improve my running with people who know what they're doing as well as to meet new people. , However I've seen them out and they all look impossibly fit and slim.

Should I join now, or wait til I'm a slightly less blobby and slow runner?

June Goals Review and Goals for July

In June I set myself some tentative goals for the month.

• Lose 4lb 

3.4lb lost. Not bad, I'm a bit disappointed but I haven't eaten particularly well this week, nor have I stuck to my no-alcohol goal, so to be honest I'm lucky I've lost this much. Hurray for running!

•  Complete every 10k training session 

I missed an interval session on Tuesday because I had the wrong shorts on. I had accidentally packed the shorts that creep up my legs and I hate them but I only realised when I put them on at the gym. I'd planned an interval training session but decided to go for cross-training instead, and was too busy to make up for it on Wednesday or Thursday.

• Do weeks 1-4 of the 100 pushups programme 

I did weeks 1 and 2, then decided to go back to week 1. By the end of week 2 I was cheating a bit by doing shallow pushups or collapsing to the ground on the last pushup of the set. I knew I wouldn't be able to move on to week 3 and didn't want to cheat so decided to take a step back and repeat the weeks to build up my strength. It worked and I did week 1 very easily, but then life somehow got in the way and I didn't do any more. All the same I completed 130 pushups in June. I don't want to come across as smug, because there are people out there able to do a lot more than this, but I'm still pretty chuffed! Also, I'm getting some muscle definition in my back and arms and losing a bit of the fat in that area.

• Do weeks 1-4 of the 200 situps programme 

Life somehow got in the way and I've just completed week 3. My situps are strong, fluid and with good form. It hasn't been easy, but I feel confident I can work through the programme without having to repeat weeks. I think I can see a bit more muscle definition on my belly as well, although this could be due to weightloss. I completed a total of 631 situps in June.

• No alcohol till me 10k run 

 I didn't drink at all until last Thursday, when I had a glass of wine. Then a few more wines and beers over the weekend at my parents, then another glass or two with a friend on Wednesday. This may be why I failed to lose 4lb this month...

 My goals for July are going to be very similar.

• Lose 4lb
• Do weeks 2 and 3 of the 100 pushups programme twice
• Do weeks 4-6 of the 200 situps programme
• Do not skip a training session. NOT EVEN INTERVALS.
• Complete the Great North 10k in under an hour
• No alcohol until the Great North 10k

Sheep

On Sunday morning I went for an easy 45 minutes active recovery run. I headed down a disused railway track near my parents' house in a rural village. It was hot, I toddled along passing dog walkers and families on bicycles. Just as I was coming off the railway track at the end and turning down the main road to the close where they live I spotted a sheep trotting down the road in front of me and slowing the cars down. It looked like one of this year's lambs and had obviously squeezed out of the field where it lived. I shepherded it down the close, into a neighbours' garden (I was aiming for mum and dad's) where it ate their veg patch for a bit then my dad and partner managed to somehow scare it into another neighbour's garden while I went for a shower.

We stood there looking at it, when the neighbour drove up and asked if we'd like to put it in her field. We had no idea, but the week before they had asked to buy partof the field adjacent to their house. The farmer had said no because he was seeking planning permission for it, but allowed them to fence a bit of it off. So we popped the sheep in there and eventually the neighbour found out which farm it had come from and it was taken home by the farmer.

Distance: 4.05 miles
Time: 55:11
Avg Pace: 10:29
 

Carmen - Overture

I procrastinated loads before today's run. I'm off work at the moment, which is why I was able to procrastinate loads before 4pm. I think it was because I needed to take my car to the garage to fill it up, hoover it and possibly put it through the car wash so putting off my run was a way of putting off doing that because I couldn't possibly sort my car out before I went for a run. Let me explain: I have a car, however I have an irrational fear of garages. Everyone's in a rush at the because seriously who wants to take their time when they are only stopping off on the way to somewhere else they want to or have to be? So I get stressed about messing it up somehow and delaying people. I'm terrified I'll accidentally put diesel in my car instead of petrol - even though I'm pretty sure this is impossible nowadays because they have different nozzles or something. I'm also scared I'll accidentally drive into a bollard or a pump.  I guess since I'm a new driver I'm just scared that somehow, somewhere, I am going to fuck it up for me and everyone else and someone will yell at me for it.

So delaying going for a run meant I could delay going to the garage.

So I sat around. Then I rang Mr Scientist to ask him how much it costs to vacuum your car out at the garage, because somehow it made me feel better. His answer, "I didn't know you could do that." Then I rang dad since we're visiting this weekend to tell him what time we'd be arriving and asked him if I needed to take my aerial off if I put the car through a car wash. His answer, "Maybe, why don't we jetwash it with my jetwash when you get here?" Dad bought a jetwash a while back. He loves it. It's like a grandchild to him. He's jetwashed his and mum's car many times. He's jetwashed the path and the patio. Like the Daily Mail's never-ending quest to split the world into things that either cause or cure cancer, world is now split into things you can jetwash, and things you can't. Then I cleaned the inside of my car and sat around some more.

Then I womanned up, got in my car and drove it to the garage and filled it up and put it through the car wash.

After that I still didn't want to go for a run. So I got into my running stuff, sat around a bit more, then went.

4 miles through the housing estate and onto the old railway line. I had a wind at my back on the way out and was running into the wind on the way home. We had a torrential downpour yesterday so I was splashing through the odd muddy puddle as well. It felt wonderful, like I was a proper runner and everything. My tummy ache turned into proper cramps that I had to stop for 3 times, and on the last 3/4 miles I was really flagging... until the overture from Carmen came on.

Brilliant.

Lesson from today's run: Just get off your bum and do it. Everyone else does it. It's not scary or difficult. It's just life, so get on with it and stop worrying.

What things do you do to procrastinate? Do you use exercise to procrastinate, or do you procrastinate before exercise.?

4 Miles 34:29
Total time: 35:31
Avg Pace: 08:27