So here we are, the last Monday before Christmas. I’d like to say I’m all organised and all the presents are wrapped…. but I’d be lying. So we’ll skip over the fact that a very early Christmas Eve trip to Aldi awaits me ahead of any of the festivities and have a bit of a catch up.
This week has seen a few ups and downs, I finally shook off my cold, so I’ve been back to the gym (taking it steady) working on my glutes, quads and abs (it’s surprising how much you need your abdominals) and hit out for 13km on Sunday. It should have been 15km, but as I’ve a 10km run planned for Christmas Day, pushing it didn’t seem a great idea. It did seem we runners were out in force though, I clocked 14 others during the 1.5 hours I was out and about.
I’ve also had to start eating before my runs. Always a bit of a challenge, as I discovered last year, my tummy is very sensitive to food before a run, so I need to eat at least 2 hours before. Lots of early Sunday mornings await.
Thankfully I’ve now found something that really suits my tummy and doesn’t leave me with stomach cramps around the 7km mark. Say hello to the honey porridge from Dorset Cereals. Now I have to admit, when this first arrived, I was a bit unsure – I’m not the world’s biggest date fan, unless it’s in a date and walnut cake. But I gave this a go on Sunday and it worked brilliantly. It tastes lovely and sweet, the contrast between the larger oats and the milled oats adds lots of texture. But more importantly, no stitch at the 10km point, no cramps. Safe to say, this is now on my essentials list.
On the down side to this week, my sunglasses broke. I’m furious. I don’t know how I managed it, but adding the expense of buying a new pair of these, to the new trainers I need and I’m praying the January sales are kind to me.
On another positive, I dug my old blender out of retirement. Mostly because I’ve received some beautiful coffee beans and need my grinder, but this also means I finally got to try my one of my Purition sachets out. I used the breakfast smoothie blend, along with some frozen blueberries and some milk. Ridiculously filling, but definitely needed after my run and, given I’m eating before I go out now, needed to help me balance out my eating on a Sunday with something rather light in calories.
I’ve also frozen a whole pile of bananas, so I can play with the other Purition samples I’ve bought, and my usual Real Nutrition Co protein shakes (the vanilla whey is yummy!).
So, all in all, it could be worse and with one last gym visit Monday and a 10km Christmas Day run before the naughtiness planned, at least I’ll be able to feel a tiny bit virtuous. Til I make the hollandaise sauce for our eggs benedict breakfast anyway.
So I’ll wish you a Merry Christmas and hope that Santa brings you all that you deserve, hope and wish for.
And if you’re out running on those apocalyptically quiet streets on 25 December, I’ll see you there.