Back On Form

Hello Fudgey Friends,

I'm pleased to tell you that I'm back to my usual self and the leg is feeling pretty good.
I had a lovely day on Sunday. Mr Fudgey bought me a Wonder woman bathrobe (I'm wearing it now) , a Wonder woman t-shirt and a personal joggers alarm.

On Sunday evening we went to McKirdy's SteakHouse, we chose here as we've been a couple of times before and both really enjoyed it, but the food on Valentine's Day surpassed all previous visits.
We both started with Deep Fried Haggis filo parcels with a chilli drizzle - WOW :-)
I then had the chargrilled chicken breast with saffron mash, creamed leeks & sugar glazed carrots & Mr Fudgey had the 6oz Fillet Steak served on fondant potato with a garlic & mushroom sauce. For dessert I had Belgian chocolate & cointreau mousse & Mr Fudgey had white chocolate cheesecake.
The food was absolutely phenomenal, portions just perfect sizes - I can't normally eat 3 courses but this was just perfect. All the food was cooked to perfection and presented beautifully. So if you live in Edinburgh and haven't tried McKirdy's - you have to go. If you don't live in Edinburgh but are ever visiting you MUST check them out. I'd strongly advise that you book a table though as they are usually busy and no wonder when the food & service is as good as this.

Now some of you will be very surprised to read I ate all of that, especially those who know how careful I am about what I eat and yes most of the menu would not be on Scottish Slimmers, but you have to treat yourself occasionally. All week I made sure that I saved up calories for my meal out & also made sure I put in plenty of exercise too, and this week too back to my normal positive eating plan. Now I am at my target weight I tend to be quite strict during the week so I can have treat(s) at the weekend - this is what works best for me and I've been at my target weight for 5 months now.

As I had 2 whole rest days Saturday & Sunday, - which were great. Rest is just as important as training you know, I was back into routine again on Monday.

Monday 5km 28 mins 57 secs
Tuesday 7km 41 mins 50 secs
Wednesday: Never slept well last night & not feeling too great today but after work into the gym - I knew it would help relieve some stresses & I would feel better afterwards.......so......
10 minutes on bike to fatigue the legs & when I got off they felt like 2 dead weights
12 dead lifts superset with 12 hamstring cable thingys each leg (repeated 3 times) KMac & I have a whole language of our own for certain exercises and gym equipment!
Out to the stairwell....
30 Mountain climbers, 40 step ups, 20 side step things (repeated 3 times)
Back into the gym.... planned to get onto the cables but they were in use :-(
so ab work
15 ab extensions with 25lb plate, followed by 1 minute plank on bosu ball, followed by 20 oblique cycles, repeated twice more but with the plank only being 45 seconds each time
and then finally to finish me off
my fave ............the treadmill
Fast 1km Run 5 Minutes 28 seconds......a second off my PB of 5.27 but pretty damn good considering what had preceded it ;-D
I was a bit (actually a lot) of a pinky sweaty mess by the end of the session but it felt so good. I think I have endorphin addication!

Then I got to come home to My Fabulous Fudgey Husband & our 4 beautiful kitty's

For those who don't know this is Clyde, Dora, Bonnie & Beau.

So now I'm going to leave you & head off to bed I think, early shifts this week at work.

lots of love
Fudgey
xxx

Happy Valentines Day / Happy Chinese New Year

Hello Fudgey Friends

How is everyone? Any plans for Valentines day or Chinese New Year?

I made a Scottish Slimmers Chinese feast for Mr Fudgey & his parents yesterday.
Homemade vegetarian spring rolls with sweet & sour dip followed by 5 spice pork with rice noodles & egg fried rice.
We also tucked into the Valentine cake I had organised for Mr Fudgey. Made by Joyce of Joyces Cake Shop. We have had many many cakes from Joyce including our wedding cake & they have all been gorgeous.


Training Update
Training has been good this week. Slowly building back up after my injury. Times are consistent, but kept the distances down this week and no long Sunday run today, I wanted to spend the day with hubby and have put in a good few sessions already this week, so 2 days rest are just what I need.

Sunday: 5km Run 29 mins 14 secs
Monday: Rest Day
Tuesday: 2.5km hill run 17 mins 10 secs plus mini circuit - check out Tues blog.
Wednesday: 5km run 28 mins 50 secs
Thursday: 2 speed sessions both 3km, 16 mins 53 secs and 16 mins 37 secs & upper body workout
Friday: 7km Run 41 mins 35 secs.

I have to admit that the leg & knee hurt on Fri after the 7km run - though I made sure I had a good stretch & I never sat too still all day Friday so the niggling eased off well before lunchtime.

Thursday I ran so fast & so focused in my second session I never realised that I had cut the back of my heel and was bleeding all over the place. KMac's PT Andy will be pleased to hear this after his comment that my random bruise was nothing as there was no blood!

Total distance run this week 25.5km
Total running time 2 hours 30 mins 19 secs

Well that's all for today folks. It is Valentines day after all & I want to spend quality time with my fabby hubby - it's our first married valentines day.

Hope you all are having a great weekend

lots of love
Fudgey
xxx

100 Days to go / My Amazing Charity

Hello Fudgey Followers,

So the countdown tells me it's 100 days till the Edinburgh Half Marathon on 23rd May. I'm kind of excited & kind of nervous but I know I can do this and as with everything I do I'll give it my best.

Of course it's an enormous motivator that I'm running for charity not just for myself.

So let me introduce you to my amazing charity.

CCLASP
is an Edinburgh based charity that helps children and adolescents suffering from cancer and leukaemia & provides advice & support for parents

My first involvement with CCLASP was when one of my fabulous friends Eileen Norman was seeking volunteers to help with the annual CCLASP Christmas party, which is held at my office. Anyone else who works at Standard Life Investments, who has been involved in this day will back me up and tell you how much fun it is, even though it's hard work and can be emotional - it is one of the best ways to spend a day. So I signed up to help out with the party, at the time I also had a part time weekend job so I couldn't stay for the actual party the first year, but I helped out making sandwiches, getting all the gifts ready for Santa, filling helium balloons and getting everything ready.
Then in 2008 Standard life Investments celebrated their 10th Anniversary as part of our anniversary year we pledged to raise loads of money for CCLASP. Mr Fudgey & I took part in The Great Scottish Walk , a 12 mile walk round Edinburgh, this event was also sponsored by Scottish Slimmers, another very very very important part of my life - they helped me lose 6 stone ;~) but I shall save that story for another day. Mr Fudgey & I raised £500. I should also tell you Mr Fudgey did this the day before he started his new job - I hate to imagine what his new colleagues thought when he walked tentatively in the next day!
Standard Life Investments hosted a fabulous Christmas party in 2008 and this time I was able to stay the whole day. The great thing about CCLASP is that it's like a family and the whole family come to the party, every child gets a gift from Santa, not just the children who are ill. All the children are treated the same. All the families recognise each other or know each other from shared hospital time and other CCLASP events and it truly is an amazing support group. The parents can sit back & enjoy a coffee while the children run around, chase the lovely volunteers who have dressed up as TellyTubbies or characters from Monsters Inc, play party games or sit quietly & colour in. Of Course the highlight of the day is Santa's visit. Every child goes home laden down with goodies.

The Christmas Party is just one of the many many fun events that CCLASP organise. They also provide transport to and from hospital appointments, running a drop in centre, run a telephone helpline, arrange holidays, fundraisers, newsletters and the weekly clown entertainment on a Wednesday (theatre day) for those in hospital. These few things are just the tip of iceberg, Check out the website to find out more for yourself.

So this year I'm going to try & raise £1000 for my chosen charity. the main event being The Edinburgh Half Marathon. However I have now pledged to run a 1000km for £1000.

Events
The Great Winter Run - completed
Meadows 5km March
The Great Ireland Run April
The Great Edinburgh Run May
Edinburgh Half Marathon May

THANK YOU
to everyone who has sponsored me already - I really appreciate it so much & I know CCLASP will too.

SPONSOR ME PLEASE
Please please please sponsor me. Every little donation will help so much.
Your sponsorship will keep me motivated to keep training & keep blogging & will be thankfully received by CCLASP.

Please vist my just giving site, or come & see me if you prefer the old fashioned form method.

In true fudgey tradition there will be home baking to Thank you!

and you can check back to my blog regularly to see my trainign progress, classic Mrs Smith 'thoughts' and just my general all round fudgeyness

and if you don't sponsor me I can't promise that I won't show you my scabby runners feet with blisters & lost toenails......you have been warned :-)

On the Mend

Hello Fudgey Friends

I'm pleased to report that my IT Band is feeling great & I had a fabby training session this morning. I really think I'm on the mend but will continue to take things slowly to get back to full strength.

Tuesday Session
2.5km hill run on treadmill gradient 5 = 17 mins 10 secs
I need to start getting in some hill training as parts of the Edinburgh courses are hilly. It was the uphill bit of The Great Winter Run I found hardest.

Then up to the studio for special circuits just for me.

Drag the punch bag from one end of the studio to the other
Do 10 burpees
Drag punch bag back to other end of studio
2 squat thrusts & a press up x 6 - this hurt my leg so after the first set this was changed to dynamic lunges 10 each leg

I was so worn out I don't know how many times I did this circuit!

Then shuttle runs. weight plates laid out on floor & I ran up 2 & back 1, up 2 back 1, all the way to the other end of the studio
Followed by 20 mountain climbers
same shuttle run back to other end of studio
then 30 secs of pulse crunches

I think I did the second mini circuit 4 or 5 times so I must have done the same for the first but I was exhausted so I kind of lost track it all blurred into one big sweaty mess!

Then back down to the gym for some calve raises

and then hitting the showers - thankfully hot water had been restored and then I headed into work. Yes all this before work.

It was only when I got to work that I discovered....

My Random Bruise
I didn't have this bruise before I went to the gym so I am guessing this is where I got it. I went to see KMac & when filling her in on above session I realised it may be from the metal rings on the punch bag as that is how I gripped it to drag it. It still seems a really odd place to get a bruise though. I'd understand if it was across my hand, but it's up & down. Most odd! Another of lives little mysteries!

Oatcake Update

I've had 4 willing oatcake tasters at the office. Exhibit A got 3 votes though with a caveat from 1 taster of 'with less salt' Exhibit B got 1 vote. So this evening I made another batch of oatcakes. I had been at Real Foods at lunchtime and bought some pinhead oatmeal so thought I'd try it out. This time I followed no recipe they are very much 'Fudgey does what she likes' oatcakes. Mr Fudgey thought they were a bit bland but I really like these ones. I'll let you know how what the tasters say.

I'm off now to get into my pyjamas and have a cup of tea....life in the fast lane :-D

lots of love
Fudgey
xxx

Oatcake Experimentation....& some running

Following the success of the fudgey babies, I thought I would try making my own oat cakes. I love oatcakes & usually have a packet at my desk to nibble on - I usually just eat them as they come.

Exhibit A

100g oatmeal
1/2 tsp salt
pinch of bicarb of soda
1 tbsp sunflower oil
2 tbsp hot water

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add oil & water & mix. Roll out & cut out using a pastry cutter. Bake in the over at gas mark 4 for 8 - 10 mins
I thought these were very salty and not really to my taste but not bad.
But I thought I'd try a different recipe to see if I could find something more suitable for my palate.









Exhibit B

60g Oatmeal
60g wholemeal flour
1/2 tsp bicarb of soda
pinch salt
1 tbsp corn oil
5 tbsp hot water
Pretty much same as Exhibit A, except oven temp. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add oil & water & mix. Roll out & cut out using a pastry cutter. Bake in the over at gas mark 6 for 10 mins


These were really really nice.
There was a little 'dough' left so I decided to add some ginger - I love Nairns ginger oat biscuits - one of my favourites - this is where the idea stemmed from and thus behold...





Exhibit C

These were also tasty.

Mr Fudgey did a fantastic job as chief taster.

& some Running
and I was back to running today. 5km in 29 minutes 14 seconds. First 3 kms no problem, last 2 started to feel a little tense and I was a little sore after my run but I put this down to the fact there was no hot water at the gym & I had to have a cold shower....which was very invigorating but not so good for my leg. I think coupled with the fact that I then sat for 2.5 hours watching Avatar which I loved & being the emotional fudgey I am, cried at. There you go Mr Fudgey I have owned up to crying at Avatar!
Plan for this week is to ease gently back to the running and see how the leg feels.

Hope you've all have a wonderful weekend.
More soon
love
Fudgey xx

Fudgey Babies

Not the sort you probably imagine.

Thanks to JAG I have found out about fudgey babies. I'm a big fan of nakd bars and such like so these little treats sounded like just my kind of thing.

I've got up this morning & made my first batch of fudgey babies


you can follow the link to the recipe for fudgey babies if you want to try these out too.

I better go and clean up the kitchen now and get some chores done.

Have a fudgey day
xxx

Injury does not equal inactivity

Hello Fudgey Friends,

Hope you have all had a great week and have a fudgey weekend planned.

I haven't blogged this week so far for a number of reasons. I've been really busy at work again this week & been so tired when I've got home in the evening. I've been out 3 nights of the week too.
I also have had no running to blog about what so ever as I picked up a little injury on my long run on Sunday.

Illiotibial Band :-(
The Illiotibial band isn't a muscle it's a piece of connective tissue that runs from the Ilium (hip) to the Tibia (shin bone) & I've hurt mine. This is a really common running injury apparently. Nice to know I'm now a real runner what with my ITB (click link for more description on injury), and the loss of my toenail. Yes I am now officially a real runner!!
Being a qualified First Aider, massage therapist & sometimes a sensible fudge I knew I needed to stop running for a few days at least & initial treatment was R.I.C.E. (Rest, Ice, Compression & Elevation) I was not a happy fudgey on Sunday evening.

Injury doesn't need to mean inactivity though. I've recently read a couple of books on running in general & on training for a half marathon and if you should get a niggle or get injured - even if you can't run you can find alternatives to keep up your fitness.

So on Monday I went for a swim at lunchtime. 50 lengths of our wee pool = half a mile & I did that in 25 mins. I'm not a great swimmer but I forgot how relaxing it can be. BTW This is not a picture of me! Monday night I was out at my Scottish Slimmers class - even though I reached my target weight in September I still regularly weigh in to make sure I am on track.
On Tuesday I had a quick warm up on the cross trainer & tried out the new cardio wave machine in the gym - my leg wasn't so keen on the range of movement on the cardio wave machine but my goodness when I'm back to full fitness I'll be trying it out again, great workout & calorie burner. I then concentrated on my upper body. I did 3 sets of 15 reps wide grip assisted chins super set with 12 reps bent over row with 15kg bar, 3 sets of 15 reps of swiss ball chest press with 5kg weights superset with 12 press ups, 3 sets of 12 reps bicep curls with 5kg weights, 3 sets of 12 reps of tricep extension with 3kg weights & finally 3 sets of 15 reps ab extensions with 5kg medicine ball. I also had a leisurely 20 minute swim.

The hill are alive.....
with the Sound of Music. On Tuesday evening Mr Fudgey & I went out for dinner with his Mum & Dad & then his Mum & I went to see The Sound of Music at The Edinburgh Playhouse. The meal at Giulianos was good but unfortunately we had to cancel our dessert order as it was too close to the show time and they hadn't arrived :-( I was really looking forward to my wild cherries, ice cream & whipped cream....this would have been a real treat for me as I am usually so strict about what I eat. The show was Fab. A enormous Thank you to Mum Fudgey Smith for getting tickets & taking me. The boys - Mr Fudgey & his Dad went to see a movie 'Edge of Darkness'. A great night was had by all.

Wednesday I had a total rest day & felt so much better for it.

Thursday morning back in the gym.
13 minutes on the cross trainer, weighted steps ups using 20lb weights 10 each leg superset with medicine ball lunges 10 each leg x 3 sets, 3 sets of 15 reps romanian dead lifts with 20kg bar, 4 minute rowing challenge and 3 sets of 15 reps ab extensions with 25lb plate...all closely supervised by Colin my lovely PT....who is also injured....hope your knee is better soon too.

On Thursday night I went for my first ever sports massage to see if it would help my leg. It was the best massage ever. OK a little painful at times but afterwards I felt I could have run home! The tension in the muscles was really released & I felt an immediate difference. £30 well spent. If you workout regularly, are carrying a sports related injury or are training for any kind of sporting or endurance event I would seriously recommend you consider including sports massage into your training plan.

Today I woke up feeling really exhausted and I knew that I had a lot to get done today. Thankfully the fact it was Friday & having plenty to keep my mind busy meant the morning whizzed by. I decided to head down to the gym at lunchtime and did 10 minutes on the cardio wave machine and then 10 minutes on the treadmill. I didn't run fast or far or have an incline on - in fact it was probably more of a jog than a run and it felt OK - not great just OK, but it was great to be back running. All being well I'll start building back up very gradually over the next week or two - but I think I am on the mend.

My fitness regime is so important to me and such a huge part of life now that I'm not going to do anything daft to jeopardise my health and well being and end up being badly injured. This lead me this afternoon to question....when did I get so sensible?
It is vital though to listen to your body.

I managed to get through all the things I has set out to get done at work by the end of today and a few wee extra things so it's been a positive end to the week.

So on that note this little fudgey is going to leave you & go & make my wonderful husband a nice cup of tea.



Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.
I'll be back again soon

lots of love
Fudgey xxx