1 week to go

Good morning Fudgey Friends,

Well by this time next week it should all be over. The Scottish half marathon starts at 8am next Sunday.

All these weeks of training, 5 rolls of zinc oxide tape, dozens of energy drinks & gels, 3 sports massages, a Garmin, a race in the snow & -3 temp, a trip to Dublin, a couple of PBs and loads of highs and a few lows - it's almost time. I'm both nervous and excited.

Last Long Run week 11 Run 4
I was up and out by 8am this morning and was deceived by the weather. It looked cold and wet so I wore my long sleeved running top & my lightweight waterproof. Only 5 minutes into the run I had to take my gloves off and was getting warm. Though it was grey & damp there was no wind at all and it was quite humid. I didn't have a very good run today - I had a dodgy tummy - this is the first time this has ever happened to me - it wasn't good but I still managed 59 minutes & 9.32km. I'm kind of glad it wasn't a great run - it's a little like a dress rehearsal for a show - you want all the issues to happen then rather than on first night....so with my glass half full I'm hoping that today's uninspiring run has set me up for a jolly good show next Sunday.

I came home & was in my 2nd ever ice bath by 9.10am. This week I knew the trick was to jump in & sit down as quickly as possible with no procrastination. It worked. Again the first few minutes were the worst but you soon get used to it and I do feel so so so much better for it - this is definitely part of the running regime I'll be keeping up. Fantastic Mr Fudgey brought me a cup of tea which really helped too.

Stats for Week 11
Distance run this week 25.43km / 15.8 miles
Time running 2 hours 47 minutes 01 seconds

WARNING IF YOU DON'T LIKE SMALL FURRY CREATURES - STOP READING NOW!

Sunday Morning Gift
So fresh from my run, ice bath & pancakes for breakfast, I stripped the bed and put on the washing machine and let the littlest of our cats, Beau, out - the others weren't that interested. I then decided I'd sit down and blog. Next thing Beau jumps in the window with something hanging from his mouth and heads down the hall. I shout to Mr Fudgey 'what has Beau got in his mouth?' as I start to follow him - Beau is heading for the bedroom. I shout at him and he drops a 'dead' tiny little grey mouse on the floor. I think I shrieked. Hubby came to the door of the other room. Beau had ran in the bedroom so I shut the door on him. Then the 'dead' mouse moved. Hubby & I both jumped. Hubby reacted really quickly by shutting the other door - though he was inside the room, this was a swift and good move as if a mouse got in that room it would be a nightmare to catch. I grabbed one of our old tea towels & covered & then scooped up little mouse to take back outside. I shouted on hubby to go & shut the kitchen window so that the cats couldn't get back out or bring anyone else in.
I took the little mouse outside and I actually do think he is dead but I put him over the fence on the grass so if he was just in shock he can run off....or another cat or a big bird will probably take him away.
Beau is now sulking because I took his mouse off him.
Of the 4 fellas Beau was the last of them I expected to bring anything home - he's scared of his own shadow most of the time - so I'm both proud of him & mad at him at the same time.
As if the running wasn't enough Beau certainly helped elevate the heart rate this morning!
Photo is of him sulking under the coffee table, and I think he is now sulking under the bed.

Well that's all for now folks. I have a PT session and a sports massage to look forward to tomorrow so will let you know how those both go.

Enjoy your Sunday

love Fudgey
x x x

The Spar Great Ireland Run

Hello Fudgey Friends,

Sorry it's taken a couple of days - we were shattered after our mammoth journey back & I've not been feeling too great at all today - though much better now.

As promised a review on The Spar Great Ireland Run.

It was a perfect day for running on Sunday in Phoenix Park, Dublin. The previous 2 days had been gloriously sunny & on the Saturday I had even had to apply sun cream so I was anticipating it being hot on Sunday & was prepared for that, however it was dry but a little overcast, there were sunny intervals but never enough to be uncomfortable - perfect running conditions.

There were apparently 11,000 registered runners but I think only about 8,200 ran in the main event - the 10k.
This was the first run that I had been to with this number of runners, not to mention all the supporters. I actually found it quite intimidating & queuing for the portaloos wasn't much fun, but hubby seems to think that other people liked the anonymity that such a large field provided.
The race was meant to start at 1.05pm but for some reason was put back to 1.30pm - this meant I had to go join the toilet queue yet again & wait about 25 mins to reach the front.
Once lined up for the start the warm up was pretty impossible, there were too many people bunched up in the start area & a wee shortie like me couldn't see the person leading the warm up - I just vaguely followed the crowd - it was still fun, it was a bit like a Mexican wave as people copied those in front of them!
Once the gun went off it took around 7 minutes for me to actually get to the start line - where I started my garmin.
A lot of people had obviously not started in the correct waves as a many people were already walking - I had been in the 55 minute to 65 minute section but was very quickly moving past people. I resigned myself to the fact that hubby wouldn't be able to get a picture of me, there were just too many runners & then I saw him - so I shouted & he got some fantastic photos. Then I was off - I felt great but was minorly concerned I was running too fast but just stuck with it as it felt good. The crowd moved really well & there wasn't too much congestion on the course, only a couple of times did I get blocked in. Just before 5km there was a water stop - it wasn't the best organised - the volunteers were trying to get the bottles out of the plastic wrapping to hand out, they were behind a railing & it got very congested & with the number of runners you can imagine that part of the course becoming littered with bottles very fast - I tried to make sure I threw mine onto the grass verge after a couple of mouthfuls. Just beyond the 5km marker I had an energy gel. I have to stress though that as always I'm incredibly grateful to the organisers & volunteers - these events just couldn't happen without them.
It was amazing looking ahead & seeing runners stretched out so far ahead it was like a flowing river of runners. I loved the fact as well that there were runners of all ages, shapes, sizes & abilities just enjoying the day.
There were supporters all round the 10km course.
I found km 8 & 9 the hardest they were slightly uphill though I hadn't realised how much till the downward section. I just dug in though as I knew by that point I was on course for a good time & that I didn't have far to go to the end.
Phoenix Park is lovely - I wish I had had more chance to enjoy the scenery but I was so focused on my running & on trying not to get blocked in, cut anyone up or block anyone else in.
When I got to the home straight I was astounded to see Mr Fudgey again & he got yet more photos of me. I started to sprint at the 200m to go marker but had to ease up a little with about 50m to go as I'd gone too early & too fast but I was still running & as I crossed the line I shouted Woo Hoo!
As with most races I've been too there was a little bottle neck getting out of the finishing / exit area but I was soon tearing into the powerade & heading off to the meeting point to find hubby.

Garmin Results
According to the Garmin the course was 10.19km & my total time was 58 minutes 27 seconds. I was delighted with my pacing as I was really concerned I'd set off too fast but I kept the pace up well till the 8th & 9th km which also happened to be the 2 steepest.
1st km 5 mins 48 secs
2nd km 5 mins 40 secs
3rd km 5 mins 36 secs
4th km 5 mins 42 secs
5th km 5 mins 33 secs
6th km 5 mins 46 secs
7th km 5 mins 41 secs
8th km 6 mins 01 secs
9th km 6 mins 02 secs
10th km 5 mins 32 secs
194m 1 min

Official Chip time
confirmed as 58 minutes 25 seconds. A new personal best :-)
The fastest I had run 10km before this was in training when I ran 58 minutes 50 seconds - so I was more than a little pleased.


The Goodie Bag

Great run as always provided a fantastic goodie bag. Every runner had received a technical running top before the event & then on the day a cute red drawstring bag with a medal, a bottle of powerade, a space blanket, a sample of vaseline healthy feet & legs. an eat natural bar, a power bar energy bar, a packet of chocolate eclairs, a packet of chocolate covered raisins & of course a bottle of water.

I'm really pleased we made the journey to Ireland for the run in spite of the volcanic ash chaos. I had a lovely few days with Mr Fudgey & a great run.
As I said in my post on Sunday - Mr Fudgey is the best - he deserves a medal too.

THANK YOU AGAIN
We also need to say Thank you again & again & again to Mr Fudgey's dad for taking us to & picking us up from the ferry - it wouldn't have been possible without him. Thank you xxxxx

So that was the end of week 7 of the EHM countdown, less than 5 weeks to go till the half marathon now.

So the Stats for Week 7
Distance run this week 36.13km / 22.45 miles
Time running 3 hours 45 minutes 27 seconds

I should have ran 35 minutes easy today but as I've been feeling quite sicky & never ate all day I didn't even attempt it. I'll be back on the training regime tomorrow though.

Take Care everyone
love
Fudgey
xxx

Wind swept end to week 4 training

Hello Fudgey Followers

I'm back! Did everyone remember to put their clocks forward?


Week 4 Run 4
I was keen to get up and out as soon as possible this morning as the planned session was a 90 minute easy run. With the clocks going forward if I didn't get out at a reasonable time there was the potential of eating too much into the day, I'm also finding I enjoy running better early on a Sunday before most people are out and about & there is less traffic. So I was pleased to be out the door by 9.10am.
I had no route planned today as Mr Garmin tracks my distance so I was looking forward to an element of freedom.
It is really windy here in Edinburgh today I checked the BBC weather when I got home and apparently it was 20mph - such a pity it had been going in the opposite direction to me, and at one point was battering me from the right side so hard that I had to really lean in not to been blown into the road. But I loved my run today, it was really challenging and by experiencing all seasons in training I should be well prepared for whatever happens on the half marathon day.
I loved the freedom Mr Garmin allowed me too & I took a detour round Inverleith Park & round the pond where a swan started to chase me but thankfully changed its mind!
Since today was long run day I tried another sports gel, this time Science in Sports Go gel I had the tropical flavour and like the smart gel last week thought that it was less viscose than others I've tried, it wasn't as sweet and also quite a pleasant taste - so I will be checking out their blackcurrant & orange flavours too. Sticking with Science in Sport, a fellow runner recommended their rego recovery, so when we were at asda I picked up a couple of the sachets to try & also their easy mix bottle. I had the rego recovery when I came home and thought it was lovely, mixed really well, no lumps & tasted delicious, so I'll be buying a tub. My only gripe with Science in Sport is that their easy mix bottle has no ml markers on it - this was a little disappointing, but won't stop me trying more of their products as they are the ones that I have liked best so far & found most effective.
Back to today's run, as many of you know I'm a bit of a data geek so I'm going to bore you with some of the breakdowns from Mr Garmin.... please feel free to skip on

1st km 6 mins 52 secs
2nd km 6 mins 37 secs
3rd km 6 mins 42 secs
4th km 6 mins 52 secs steepest km
5th km 6 mins 39 secs also steep
6th km 6 mins 05 secs
7th km 6 mins 22 secs
8th km 6 mins 42 secs another steep one
9th km 6 mins 23 secs
1oth km 6 mins 10 secs
11th km 6 mins 22 secs
12th km 6 mins 48 secs
13th km 6 mins 29 secs
14th km 6 mins 16 secs

In total I ran 14.21 km in 92 mins 37 secs. I was pretty pleased overall given how windy it was and the hard training week I've had. I'm getting more confident that I can run the half marathon now as long as I stay injury free & continue to train.

So the Stats for Week 4
Total distance run this week 41.23km
Total running time 4 hours 37 mins 24 secs
8 weeks today till the half Marathon :-)

I've also managed to spend some more time on my blog this week and have added a couple of pages at the top so you can see my half marathon training stats & my progress with 1000km in 2010, both looking pretty fudgey.

Well I think I'm going to brave the elements again as we need milk and I'd like to make a pot of soup but require a little inspiration so will see what veg I can find.

I'll be back soon to fill you in on training week 5, and the latest from the fudgey kitchen.

Hope you have all had a lovely weekend
Take Care
love Fudgey xx

Monday Moan

Good Evening my fudgey friends,

I've actually had a good day. Today was the first day in my new role as business analyst, it was very odd not going to my old desk this morning, but it was exciting to be finally moved it seems like ages since I had the interview & got the the job. Since I've only moved departments & a few hundred yards & have been with the company almost 5 years it wasn't like being totally new, but it was still a little bizarre. Everyone made me feel really welcome though. Today was a mammoth reading session as I have loads to get up to speed on so my brain was fried by the end of the day but I'm looking forward to getting down to the hard work and making my usual fudgey impact!

Week 4 Run 1
I decided to try something different today & run home from work. It normally takes about 30 minutes by bus plus usually at least 10 minutes waiting for it in the first place. I packed my running gear this morning & didn't take my handbag just the essentials, phone, keys & money and of course pass for the office & ipod......& how could I possibly not take the fabby Mr Garmin. The run was challenging, not the actual running but the frustration of getting stopped at busy junctions waiting for the lights. I'm not very good at road crossing in general & am the bumpkin you see waiting for the green man even though there is not a car in sight, however to be fair Edinburgh city centre at 5pm is a bit chaotic.
wait for it.....here comes my Monday moan....
WHY WHY WHY do some people have absolutely no spatial awareness whatsoever, do they think I can just run through them? Aaargh some severe people rage this evening.
Though to look at it positively if this is all I have to complain about life must be pretty good.
I managed the 4km home in approx 28 minutes though about 3 minutes were spent waiting at various lights and negotiating immovable persons. I went for a wee loop just round about home to take my time up to 40 minutes as today's run was to be 40 minutes easy. It wasn't the best run ever as I never got into a good rhythm due to the stop / start pattern, it was a little staccato but it felt good to be out running and I would have got home quicker than if I'd taken the bus. I have also discovered that Mr Garmin has some pretty cool functionality that can pause the timer automatically when you stop moving or when your pace drops below a certain value so I think I will be switching that on for next time I run at a busy time of day. Yes I know I am a geek.

Well it's getting late for little fudgey people and tomorrow I'm thinking of torturing myself with some hills so I'll say night night to everyone.

Sweet Dreams
love
Fudgey
xxx

Excuses

Hello Fudgey Friends,

Hope you have had a lovely weekend. We have had a fairly productive one.

Saturday
Yesterday we were up early & I wrapped my wee niece's birthday present, Mr Fudgey very kindly took it round to the post office. Mum and Dad Smith dropped in for coffee and to deliver a couple of parcels for us.
I had made another batch of plum chilli sauce for them to take away with them. Mum Smith served it with scallops & mussels & I hear it went down very well. In fact I am making another batch now & Mr Fudgey & I are going to have it with some pork fillet this evening. I also made another batch of my. homemade cereal bars, but this time I used cranberries instead of apricots & almond butter instead of peanut butter - they turned out great.
I then spent the afternoon doing housework, while Mr Fudgey was busy with the pc's & a few technical difficulties. An ENORMOUS Thank you to Paul for getting us up and running - very very much appreciated. Clumsy Fudgey then tripped on the hoover cable & came down hard on my knees - the right one taking most of the force & my right shoulder also hurting from trying to put my hands out to save myself. I really am a numpty sometimes. I spent the evening limping about being fed up with myself, though our lovely dinner of chicken & roasted vegetables did make me feel a bit better. I LOVE roasted veg....today I used red & white onion, chestnut mushrooms, courgette, red & green peppers, cherry tomatoes, garlic, a small tin of new potatoes, some extra virgin olive oil & of course my favourite Oil & Vinegar shop wild garlic mix. Chopped everything up & roasted in the oven for about 40 minutes. After dinner we watched a hilarious film called Zombieland.

Excuses
Do you ever find yourself making up excuses to yourself for why you can't do something? This is the frame of mind I went to bed in last night. 'I don't think I can do my long run tomorrow....my knee, shoulder and head hurt' I told myself. Then I realised 'Oh No I can't do my long run because I've left both pairs of my running shoes in my locker at the gym' But then I got into solution mode...wait & see how the knee etc feel in the morning, I could go up to the gym early & collect my shoes - in fact I could go in my kit put my shoes on & run back, or I could run wearing my non running trainers, it was a right battle between yes you can / no you can't parts of my brain.

Week 3 Run 4
I woke up this morning and just didn't want to run. I then also mistakenly thought it was an hour later than it actually was as we somehow thought the clocks changed this weekend...Doh. I hauled myself out of bed without even the energy to chat to hubby, pulled on my kit, ate one of my lovely cereal bars, put on my gorgeous new Garmin & headed out the door. I opted to try & run in my non running trainers. There is nothing wrong with these trainers - Nike Dart, it's my feet that are the issue - I'm a very severe over pronator so I have a pair of motion control shoes & a support shoe that I alternate for running - these help to balance my over pronation & prevent injury. This is a piece of Fudgey advice for all fellow runners out there - if you can, do get your feet & your gait assessed and get the appropriate shoes for you - it really does help. I'm a real girly girl & I would just buy things because they look nice or have pink bits :-) but when it comes to all my running kit I'm a a very sensible Fudgey.....though loads of it does have pink bits!
The run was awesome, the training plan had 80 minutes easy & I ran just over 81 minutes and managed 13.14km. This is my furthest run to date. I had set the garmin to autolap every km so was able to check my pacing which was pretty good today. When I got back home I uploaded all my garmin data to the garmin training centre....I am such I geek I love seeing my splits, calories burnt & my max speeds etc broken down over each km. I was also flying high from running 80 minutes with no stopping or walking at all - in fact I am positively looking forward to next weekends 90 minutes. I also had no aches, pains or niggles though now I do feel like I've run 13km but it feels good ;-D
Today I also tried a different energy boost gel. This time Science in Sport Smart 1 Now to say I actually like this would be stretching it slightly however this is the best I have tried so far. It was a lot less viscose than the others I've tried and a lot less sickly sweet. I took it after about 40 minutes and I think it did help as I'd only had my cereal bar before heading out. I need to start getting up earlier so I can eat a little more ahead of my long runs especially as they get longer.
There are a couple of minor issues to report - not injuries I don't know what to call them - annoyances really. I have cut my arm from my Doberman alarm rubbing the skin & I had a not very nice blood blister on the toe that has already lost a nail - I don't see these as bad things - I see them as proof that I'm becoming a real runner!

So the Stats for Week 3
Total distance run this week 36.11km
Total running time 3 hours 52 mins 16 secs
9 weeks today till the half Marathon :-$


and all this was by 10am this morning!!

After a well deserved muscle soak bath & some scrambled eggs, Mr Fudgey & I went into town and had a wee wander around the shops and stopped for coffee and cake - again well deserved I think.

We've also been & done a food shop and I have made a lamb chilli for tomorrow and the plum sauce for tonight.

Well time is marching on and I still have plenty to do so I guess I better leave you here and get on.

Take Care everyone

lots of love
Fudgey
xxx

So Much to Blog about… so little time

Hello all
I’ve had a busy few days since I last blogged on Saturday and so much I wanted to blog about but not enough time to sit down & get typing. So here goes I’ll try not to bore you too much.

Saturday:
We had Mum & Dad Smith over for dinner. I think it’s fair to say it was enjoyed by all.

Starter: Baked Haggis Filo parcels with plum chilli sauce
For the haggis filo parcels I took 4 sheets of filo. I sprayed one sheet with spray oil & then put another sheet on top. I cut this into quarters. I put approx a teaspoon of haggis in the centre & then scrunched up. I did the same with the other 2 sheets of filo. I then put the parcels on a baking tray sprayed with spray oil & baked in the oven at gas 4 for 20 minutes.
This made 8 wee parcels. You could also try this with vegetarian haggis.

The plum sauce was a bit of classic fudgey experimentation of just chucking stuff in but it turned out amazing:
4 plums stone removed & chopped up
60 ml water
30 ml white vinegar
Generous pinch of ground ginger
2 tablespoons of granulated sweetener
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
Wee bit of lazy red chillies

I put everything in a pan, brought to the boil & then simmered for 12 – 15 minutes. I removed from the heat & once cool blended till smooth. I made this in advance & simply reheated later when I wanted to use it.

Main Course: Roast Chicken Breast, Stuffed Tomato & pearl potatoes.
Decided to keep it simple & roasted my 4 chicken breasts in the oven.
Cooked 500g of pearl potatoes & drained & added a little bit of butter..

I made my stuffed tomatoes with light Philadelphia with basil, spring onions, red onion, a couple of cherry plum tomatoes, a little chopped red pepper & some wafer thin ham & of course not forgetting my oil & vinegar store wild garlic mix– pretty much per my previous blog on these. The plum sauce also got used with the main course as there was some left & everyone liked it :-)

Dessert: Chocolate Peach Flan
This is an adaptation of a favourite Scottish Slimmers Recipe of mine. So easy to make.
1 small flan base
1 small tin of peaches in juice
200g quark
Drop of vanilla essence
1 tablespoon granulated sweetener
Sachet of options hot chocolate

Remove sponge flan case from pack. Take a tablespoon of juice from the fruit & drizzle over flan. Mix quark with sweetener & vanilla essence. Spread this over flan base. Drain the remaining peaches & arrange on top of flan.
Mix the options hot chocolate with 1 to 2 tbsp of water to make a smooth fairly thick paste & then drizzle over the peaches. Put in the fridge and serve when ready. I served with a spoon of half fat crème fraiche.

You can vary the fruit, you can use any non flavoured soft cheese (eg Philadelphia) & you can experiment with the flavoured hot chocolates.


Week 2 Run 4
This should have been Friday’s swapped Run 3 consisting of 5 minutes easy run, 10 minute steady run, 10 minute temp run, 5 minute faster run, 10 minutes easy run = Total 40 minutes, however I find it quite hard to judge my pace outside so decided to just run. This will change soon though as I bit the bullet and ordered a Garmin :-D which I hope will really assist my training
It was a beautiful sunny Sunday morning and for the first time this year I ran outside without long sleeves or a hat. 8.16km and 49 minutes 16 seconds later I returned home a happy energised little Fudge. Mr Fudgey was amused by my co-ordinating pink & white top, pink watch & pink joggers alarm….I probably had a matching pink face too!
We headed out to see Mum & Dad Smith so we could deliver the Mother’s Day gift we forgot to give her on Saturday evening.
Then we headed over to Glasgow to meet some friends for a fabulous meal. It was great to catch up and a lovely evening was had by everyone, we weren’t even too late home and I am still on the half marathon training wagon ….though the wine did smell amazing.

So the Stats for Week 2
Total distance run this week 32.83km
Total running time 3 hours 29 mins 06 secs
10 weeks Sunday till the half Marathon :-$

Week 3 Run 1
Well a new week, a step closer to the half marathon, I was feeling positive that I managed 4 runs last week – yet I was not in the mood to run today! Training plan has a 35 minute easy run. Monday night is my weigh in night so I got home from work and started to get my stuff together and get ready to run, much procrastinating later I finally left 20 minutes later than I should have which meant either a) running or b) catching the bus, since I was in my running gear option a was the winner. I had to add an extra loop onto my route as I can make it to ‘fat club’ in a round 23 mins so I added an extra 2.76km on & managed to run 6.16km in 38 mins 31 seconds. 2 minutes 19 quicker than I ran the same route the previous week – so much for lack of running mojo. So this is my tip – even if you don’t fancy training – give it a try – you might be surprised – but if it’s not working for you don’t beat yourself up over it either. I find that I normally run best when I’m not up for it – I think it’s because there is no expectation and once I start running I unwind and all my frustrations / annoyance / stress get relieved even if just a little.

Week 3 Run 2
Interval Training day. 10 minutes easy run followed by 5 x (4 mins at tempo pace & 2 mins jog) finishing with 10 mins easy run. Another 8.48km clocked up.
I was so invigorated I also went on the cardio wave machine for 10 minutes
Then 3 sets 12 reps bicep curls 6kg dumbbells
3 sets 15 reps bosu squats
And then a lovely triset for my abs 3 sets of (15 ab extensions with 8kg medicine ball, 12 Russian twists with 8kg medicine ball & 15 reverse curls)

Well that’s my training right up to date so I’ll say cheerio for just now and will be back soon with more chat

Lots of love
Fudgey xxx