Running on Clean

Woohoo! Nicola at Running on Clean has nominated me for the Liebster Award. Thank you, Nicola! Please check out her blog where she posts about health and fitness. Nicola is a fellow Girls Gone Sporty Ambassador and member of #TeamStellar!

So, what is a Liebster Award? It is basically a form of recognition from fellow bloggers. Once you have been nominated you have to answer 10 questions from your original nominator and go on to nominate another 10 bloggers yourself.

Here are the rules:

1.) You must link back to the person who nominated you
2.) You must answer the 10 Liebster questions given to you by the nominee before you
3.) You must pick 10 bloggers to be nominated for the award (with a small following)
4.) You must create 10 questions for your nominees
5.) You must go to their blogs and notify the nominees

So, here are my answers to Nicola’s questions:

1. How did you start your fitness journey?
   That’s a tough question to answer… I had dance lessons from when I was 5 until I was 21, but I was never especially fit and healthy. I was ‘up a year’ at school, so I was a year younger (and hence smaller) than all of my classmates, so I struggled to keep up with them when it came to sports, which made me feel disheartened. When I was 20, I took up gymnastics and absolutely loved it. I used to train several times a week, including for six hours on Sundays. When I was nearly 30, I took up karate, so that I could do a sport with my husband. I also took up running to increase my fitness levels and it’s gone from there.
2. Why did you start your blog?
   I wanted to document my five-year challenge – I intend to complete an iron-distance triathlon before I’m 40. I thought that writing down my goals in a public way may make me feel more accountable.
3. What activities/sports are you most passionate about and what do you gain from doing them?
   I love doing yoga as it’s very calming and gives me an opportunity to relax and de-stress. I also love running, although I’m finding the pressure of competition a bit much at the moment as I’m failing to reach my own targets.
4. Who is your fitness inspiration?
   I’m a great admirer of Paula Radcliffe and Mo Farah. I also think Chrissie Wellington is an inspirational woman.
5. Do you meal prep? If so, when and do you have any tips?
   I tend to do all of my meal prepping in the evening. I tend to cook in bulk (curries/chillies/pasta meals that serve six), so that I don’t have to cook every evening. I know that I each much more healthily when I plan ahead. When my evening meal is cooking, I make my lunch for the next day, which is always a salad (usually with 40g smoked cheese, but sometimes with humus or chickpeas). I also try to weigh out my porridge for the following day’s breakfast.
6. What is your go-to breakfast recipe?
   It’s always 30g oats, but with various extras. One of my current favourites is ground almonds, dried apricots and some vanilla extract. I don’t drink milk, so I always make it with water. 2 minutes in the microwave and it’s done 🙂
7. Finish the sentence. When I’m not running I’m…
   Swimming/cycling/working/sleeping/eating/blogging!
8. Imagine this, you are on a self-directed race and get lost. You find yourself beside a lake with no one else around. What do you do?
   I rarely run with a phone, so I wouldn’t be able to call for help, so I guess it depends on how remote the location is. If I haven’t run far, I might retrace my footsteps to a place that I recognise, or if I’m feeling confident, I might run around the lake looking for signs of where I should go.
9. List your top 2 short and long-term goals
   My top 2 short-term goals are to rest and heal my sprained wrist and shoulder and to follow the plan my coach has designed, so that I start regaining my fitness.
   My top 2 long-term goals are to complete Challenge Weymouth 70.3 and to finish an iron-distance triathlon.
10. What do you enjoy most about blogging?
    I enjoy connecting with other people and also receiving feedback from others. I really appreciate that people are willing to spend their time reading what I’ve written. On a personal level, my blog reminds me that however slow it may seem, I am making progress towards my goal.

Here are my 10 questions:

1. How would you summarise what your blog is about?
2. Which of your blog posts has generated the most discussion and why?
3. What tips would you give to anyone thinking about starting to blog?
4. What challenges/races/events have you got lined up for 2014?
5. What has been your greatest achievement in life?
6. What skill do you hope to master over the next year?
7. What is your favourite gadget and why?
8. What’s the furthest from home you’ve travelled for a sporting event?
9. Describe your philosophy for life in a six word sentence…
10. What is the most important advice that you can give to readers?

…and even more importantly, here are my 10 nominated blogs:

1.  Heather at The Tri Road
2. Marc at Run, Hemingway, Run
3. Danielle at Damn, Girl, That’s a lot of Fattitude!
4. Leanne at Leanne Nalani
5. Fat Guy 2 Tri Guy
6. Erica at Chronicles of a SAHM
7. Mike at Fat, Beared & Tattooed Cyclist
8. Stephanie at My life sucks, I think I’ll become a triathlete
9. 2 Cups ‘N Run
10. Chris at Or Die Trying

I previously received the Liebster Award back in March – here are my answers from then: http://fatgirltoironman.co.uk/2014/03/01/liebster-award/

Inspiration and Eastleigh 10k

Here is today’s IDEAfit photo a day image:

Inspiration – Graeme and Kat

The topic is ‘Inspiration’ and these two are some of the most inspirational people I’ve ever met. (N.B. The photo isn’t mine – I think it was taken by a member of the Embrace Sports team).

I’m also continuing the theme of sharing one of the Team SOAS Brand Ambassador’s images each day. Sue’s quote seemed particularly apt:

I’m with fellow Brand Ambassador Sue on this one!

Talking about women and inspiration, I’m hoping that I’ll get to see this movie when it’s released: http://halftheroad.com/ It’s outrageous that in this day and age, such inequality still exists. The film features Chrissie Wellington, who is another inspirational figure for me. Whilst I was away, I read her autobiography (“A life without limits – a world champion’s journey“) and was blown away by her journey. She’s also a patron of GOTribal, so that’s a common link for us!

I’ve now got a Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/fatgirltoironman – please feel free to pop over there and follow me 🙂 I’ve been doing really badly at keeping up to date with my blog – I’m determined to get myself back on track, but if you want some brief updates, Facebook will let you know what’s happening!

I’ve also realised that it’s now two weeks until Brighton Marathon. I feel more stressed about this marathon than any race I’ve ever done before. I guess this is for several reasons – my illness and workload mean that I’ve not managed to keep up with a good training schedule and I’m not feeling fit and healthy. I also don’t know anyone who is running at my pace, so I will have to do the whole 26.2 miles without chatting to anyone. Can I remain silent for 5 hours?! When I entered the race, I was feeling strong, so I’m in the blue corral with the 4:00-4:30 hour runners – I’ve only managed that time once and I was on form then! I’ve booked the Friday before Brighton Marathon off work, so that Stu and I can go to the marathon expo to pick up my race number (and maybe do a bit of shopping). I’m hoping it will give me a chance to relax before the race, so that I’m not rushing around doing everything on race day. It is possible to download an app to follow me – just search for ‘Brighton Marathon’.

Anyway, today’s big event was Eastleigh 10k, which I planned to follow up with a run home, so that I got my final long run as marathon preparation in. I arrived at Fleming Park leisure centre nice and early, which gave me a chance to pick up my number, chip and tshirt.

My Eastleigh 10k number

This year’s ‘vibrant’ tshirt design

The unflattering photo below shows that I wasn’t feeling particularly enthusiastic about the race.

Preparing for Eastleigh 10k (Paul A. Hammond)

I pinned on my number, but then had a lot of time to kill before the start of the race.

Pinning on my Eastleigh number (Paul A. Hammond)

I aimed to complete the race in about 55 minutes. I think I did it in about 53:30 last year and it’s the race where I got my 10k PB of 51:06 back in 2012… one day I’m determined to get back to that!

I started the race with Teri and did about 3.5km with her, but it was quite warm and I didn’t want to hold her up. As it’s a local race, there were quite a few spectators who I recognised and conversely they recognised me. My favourite local photographer (Paul Hammond) was in attendance, so I blew him a kiss as I ran past.

Eastleigh 10k

At about 7km, I saw Luana, one of the ladies from my running club up ahead. I know that I run better when I have a challenge, so to make myself push I tried to catch up with her. I was starting to feel better as I’d been able to take on some water and also threw two cups over myself, so I was no longer over-heating. Eventually, I managed to catch up with Luana, but she wasn’t going to give up without a fight, so we ran almost 2km neck and neck. Finally, I was able to edge ahead as we made it to the last stretch of the course which is in the grounds of the leisure centre.

I wasn’t particularly pleased with my time as I came 1551st today in 55:48, but I don’t think this week’s travelling, unusual food and lack of sleep were ideal preparation for the race.

After the race, I met up with Teri, Luana, Steve, Sarah and Loraine who all wanted to extend their run. The images above show that it was a sunny day, and as I mentioned, I was worried about overheating. This all changed very swiftly on the way home, where we were pelted with hail – ouch! I was still wearing the same outfit (minus my race number), so I was absolutely freezing. Fortunately, the sun came out again, just after Loraine and Luana left us.

Long run after Eastleigh

We headed up to The Common where we did a little circuit before heading past Teri’s house and down towards my home. I had intended to run 24km today, but I was feeling tired and the sky had turned black again, so I decided that the 22km that we had done when we got to my house would be enough. It was definitely the right decision as it hailed again. The hail stones were enormous and Teri and Steve had to find shelter as they were still running.

The rest of my day has been spent unpacking and recovering – I feel shattered by today’s race and although I’m disappointed with my performance, I know I put some effort in as my chest muscles are aching and it hurts to breathe, which only happens when I’ve been trying hard!

My final thought for today… If you’re interested in learning more about stretching, check the videos that my coach has made: http://www.runcamp.co.uk/stretching.html

Sometimes you just have to have a day off

Here is today’s IDEAfit photo a day image on the theme of ‘inspiration’ – it’s Chrissie Wellington’s autobiography.

Chrissie Wellington’s autobiography

I should have gone to Run Camp this morning, but I made the decision not to go. I felt guilty about it, but I was also feeling exhausted and was aware of how much I had to get done. I spent a busy morning at work and then came home in the afternoon to finish packing before driving up to Dorking. Why are you going to Dorking, I hear you ask… well, I’m heading off to Paphos in Cyprus tomorrow, for work 🙂 I hope there’s a chance for me to have  bit of a break whilst I’m there, as well as getting to network with lots of interesting people.

I’ll also have some time on the plane to finish reading Chrissie’s autobiography – there are so many inspirational quotes in it, including:

“When things are tough, you get tougher.”

“Pick your battles, and accept yourself for who you are.”

“Just seize every opportunity you have, embrace every experience. Make a mark, for all the right reasons.”

“…some sessions are stars and some sessions are stones, but in the end they are all rocks and we build upon them.”

I also like Chrissie’s life goals:

“To be happy with myself and always make others happy. To be confident and give others confidence in themselves. To smile, to surf, to laugh and make others laugh. To read more widely. To try to be more tolerant of my weaknesses and of others, and not to be so hard on myself all the time.”