#TWIETing again

Granny Smith apple

Yesterday, I took my lovely running group out for a hill training session. We’ve got a fantastic hill loop nearby – to the right is a short, sharp hill and then at the top, it is possible to continue round and then down a long, slow incline until you return to the start point.

How to tackle hills when running

I was focussing on the UKA’s coaching points for tackling hills:

Running downhill:
  • Controlled
  • Active foot adding force, where required
  • Arms active and used for balance
  • Upright or leaning slightly forward
  • High Hips
  • Active recovery of rear leg

Running uphill:

  • Positive backward drive of arms
  • High hips
  • Terrain guides optimum efficiency and pacing
  • Foot lands naturally on forefoot
  • Triple extension

The group ran up for 30 seconds and then back for 10 seconds. It was quite challenging, but I think the group enjoyed it.

Sweat Pink shoelaces

Afterwards, each of the ladies received a fab pair of pink shoelaces from Sweat Pink 🙂

Group of runners in the dark.
Shoelaces for all!

Everyone has been so excited to receive their shoelaces and I’ve had lots of feedback on Twitter, Facebook and Google+ about them, including some photos:

A pair of trainers with bright pink shoelaces.Very muddy trainers with pink laces.

Run Camp

Tuesday morning means a 6:30am Run Camp track session. Unfortunately, it ended before it began. My knee was still hurting from the weekend, and as I was running from my car to the track, I slipped on some ice and went flying. I went backwards and hit the ground with my hip, really hard – OUCH! I made my way to the track fairly gingerly and did a warm up lap, but decided that it would be foolish to try to run through the pain 🙁

It was cold, icy and very foggy. Coach Ant gave the instructions to the other three runners in my group (run hard for 5 minutes, then have a three-minute recovery period x3), whilst I waited with the other group.

Jenny, Liz and Max listening to Coach Ant.
Jenny, Liz and Max listening to Coach Ant

After the ladies had set off into the gloom, Ant came over and gave us our instructions…

People running on a misty running track at night.

We had to do all of the exercises three times:

  • Heel raises (10 on each leg or 20 with both legs)
  • Kettle bell swings x12
  • Single leg squats (12 on each leg)
  • Clock lunges (Forwards, sideways and back on each leg x4, so 24 in total)

As I was unable to do the running, I did five sets of the exercises before heading home.

I was meant to be running 14 miles today, to make up for my failed run at the weekend, but the sensible option was to give myself more recovery time. I am worried that I have missed my long run two weeks in a row, but I’m hopeful I can get things back in time for Brighton Marathon.

Tweet What I Eat Thursday (or TWIETing again)

Here’s my TWIET for today:

Apricot and almond porridge.

30g porridge oats, 10g dried apricots, 10g ground almond, some vanilla extract and water – soaked overnight and then microwaved for 2 minutes. I adore porridge and decided to have a change from protein powder as I think eating the same thing every day can lead to boredom. If I’m feeling naughty, I add some agave nectar.

Hot drinks machine with a sachet of galaxy hot chocolate and mars hot chocolate.

A visit to my old office for a meeting encouraged me to have my favourite treat – a Mars hot chocolate. I know this isn’t healthy, but I was feeling cold, sad and tired. I am an emotional eater, so this was a better option than many other possibilities!

 A fork on top of a bowl of lettuce.

My husband made me my usual lunch: 5 slices of cucumber, 5 cherry tomatoes, 4 radishes, 1 spring onion, 2 carrots, a couple of iceberg lettuce leaves and 40g Applewood smoked cheese. To be more nutritious, I should probably have darker salad leaves, but I didn’t make this lunch!

A green Granny Smith apple.

After my salad, I had a delicious Granny Smith apple – these are my favourites. I don’t like red apples. It’s not really possible to see the size of the apple in this photo, but it was quite large!

A Sharon fruit or persimmon.

My tweet failed to send, but at about 5:15pm, I had a delicious juicy Sharon fruit (also known as a Persimmon). I don’t like them when they are very ripe. This one was quite firm, so it was perfect.

Stirfry and noodles.

My evening meals was a stir fry of bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, cabbage, bean sprouts, peppers, carrots and onion. It was accompanied by 60g wholemeal noodles. Usually, I sprinkle ordinary sesame seeds on top, but we ate the last ones yesterday. This would have benefitted from the inclusion of some protein – maybe next time I’ll add some quorn or aduki/adzuki beans.

0% fat Greek style yoghurt.

My treat was a Greek yoghurt with a huge amount of cinnamon and some vanilla extract. I also ate four almonds! I think it’s good for me to have some dairy produce, but I try not to have too much.

Nutrition

As the main focus of my blog post is on nutrition again today, I thought I’d share an interesting article from Ben Greenfield: Exactly How To Figure Out What Diet Is Right for YOU. The essence of the article is that people in different locations have thrived on substantially different diets due to their genetic predispositions and that we’re being naïve to think that what is a good and healthy diet will necessarily be appropriate for us… which sounds reasonable, but the problem is I can’t see how we can find out what a healthy diet is for us (apart from by trial and error) without genetic testing, which isn’t readily available to most of us!

Women and body image

I also read a BT Sport survey that revealed that body insecurities are rife in women’ sport: BT Sport survey: Body image insecurities rife in women’s sport The survey struck a real chord with me as whilst most people agree that obesity isn’t healthy, the kind of ‘role models’ that the media often present us with are unhealthily thin. Judging people on their physical appearance is incredibly superficial – since when did someone need to be physically attractive/perfect to be a good sportsperson and healthy role model. I am probably fitter than most of my friends outside of my running club and I endeavour to eat healthily, but I am overweight and constantly compare myself to the unrealistic images that I see in the media. The following question and answers aligned with my views.

Do you think young women have a problem with body image, not just in sport but in wider society? If yes, what can we do about it?

Celebrate strength and fitness rather than image and clothing. Promote women from all sports, not just one or two attractive women from select sports which is what currently happens. Have a range of women broadcasting about sport, talking about fitness and health. Look at the way we educate our young women and the culture of PE in schools, which is not one of pushing young children to improve fitness. It is one of ticking a box of doing an hour of PE a week. We could teach girls to love the sport of fitness not just try and get them to do competitive sports.

Why don’t we herald Rebecca Adlington as a beauty? Joanna Rowsell? Why does Jess get the Marie Claire covers? It seems to be open season. If a man isn’t that attractive he just doesn’t get put on covers/photo shoots. If a women isn’t she is teased by comedians or made fun of via social media – as if it is part of the job description – how dare she not look gorgeous!!!

What is it going to take to force the media to change?

Team SOAS kit

This evening, I’ve had another tantalising glimpse of my Team Soas Kit:

Team soas patch.
Team Soas patch

I am so excited about it and just want it to arrive now! (I’m also hoping that when it does arrive, I’m not judged on how I look in it or my ability, but for my passion for sport and desire to support, encourage and inspire others!)

My GOTRIbal profile is live now: http://www.gotribalnow.com/content/gotribal-ambassadors How exciting!

Finally, I’ve got a great interview lined up for Friday this week, so check back then 🙂

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