rest and tofu

Thank you for your kind comments on yesterday's post!  It's lovely to have you all along for the journey with me.  I think the next 12 weeks are going to be filled with adventure, to say the least!

Today was my rest day.  I needed it!  

And for something totally random, let me show you my lunch:

   

Smoked tofu is absolutely delicious - I've made all sorts of hot dishes with it, and always sneaked a slice while carving into slices for a stirfry or into twigs for pasta or a gratin.  It tastes so nice as it is, I thought it would be delicious in a sandwich.  And it was!!  I had it with carrots, sprouts, green tomato chutney (homemade, courtesy of my mother in law) and Japanese (kewpie) mayonnaise on my homemade multigrain bread.  It was magic when the bread was fresh out of the oven, but day old slices briefly warmed weren't too shabby neither.  Oh lord.  I was torn between wanting to inhale it because it was so yummy, and equally savour every exquisite mouthful.  I managed somewhere in between!

When I eat food as magical and fresh and delicious as this, I wonder how I ever choked down those cans of chicken soup, fistful after fistful of cheap chocolate and greasy sausage rolls that used to be my typical workday lunch seven years ago!

Raring to go for tomorrow's training!  See you then!

t is for training

Hi guys!  Thank you for all the kind words about my exciting news!

I've had a weekend filled with runs and getting fired up for the next twelve weeks....it feels wonderful to be this motivated again.  And it's also amazing what a couple of runs will do to iron out the various rolls and folds on the physique, it's like magic ;) ha ha.

The honest truth is that, 72 hours ago, I had pretty much written off my chances of doing a marathon, both this year and possibly ever.  I am well and truly in the zone with my book, and that has been my priority for the last few months.  I've kept fit with walking everywhere, a yoga class once a week, and a run when I've been bothered....about once a week and it was usually my weak-as-piss option (home to Lambeth Bridge and back, about 4km if that!).  Everything still fit, I didn't have too many chins in my Christmas photos, and even though I wasn't as toned as I was used to, things were ok and I was trying to get my head around the fact that my priorities are different now, blah blah blah.  The problem is that when you have experienced life at your physical peak, it is very hard to accept anything less!!  So there was bit of a mindf**k going on a bit there, and my poor patient husband had to put up with a few "Do I look fat in this?  Do you think I've put on weight?  Aargh!" moments.

Therefore, I had been making an effort to be more mindful over the last few weeks - getting herbal teas for my two hour writing sessions in Starbucks instead of syrup-laced chai lattes, making the evening meal less carb loaded (seeing I wasn't doing all that much to burn it off!), waking up early so I could walk to work instead of taking the tube, that kind of thing.  I started doing my weak-as-piss run a few times a week, instead of once every ten days!  I felt good and a bit more conscious, as opposed to just doing things on autopilot.  Things were moving in the right direction again.  All good.

Last weekend, Tom and I treated ourselves to an iPod Touch each - it's as though we've become the parents of twins, we give them round-the-clock care at the moment! ha ha - and one of the little add ons I got was the Nike Running kit, which included a sensor for my shoe.  I thought that I might aim to do another 10k or a half marathon this year, having assumed that my fitness was down the toilet!  I thought this might be a good motivator to help me achieve my rather modest fitness goals for the year.

And then, one innocent Thursday afternoon, I get an email from the lovely people at Lucozade.  Do you remember when I got shortlisted for a place in the 2010 London marathon when Runner's World ran a competition?  Well, basically, this was all off the back of that!  It was totally unexpected!!  I think I might have hesitated for about ten seconds, before thinking HELL YES!


I haven't got all the details yet, but basically Lucozade will be supporting me through the training and on the day - it's all very exciting!!  I'm hoping I might get to raise some money for a cause close to my heart too.  I'll keep you posted!

So yes, it's been a intense but very motivating couple of days.  I can't believe that in 12 weeks time I'm going to be running a marathon!!  This is really beyond all my wildest dreams.  The 2005 me is well and truly spinning in her grave.

I've started training in earnest, and I must be honest and say when I looked up "12 week marathon training plan" I was very, very daunted and wondered what the hell I had let myself in for!!  My wise and experienced friends have offered some great advice, and the overriding message seems to be very systematic about my training, and not to push myself too much because 12 weeks is a very tight schedule and I can't afford to get injured.  So I've been trying to ease myself back in gently.

First official marathon training run on Friday evening was a bit of a disaster.

It was my first time running with my iPod touch and the Nike sensor workout thingy, and I put the sensor in a part of my shoe where I was confident it wouldn't dislodge - under the sole.  Well, it was so safe and snug in there it didn't register my distance! I got to Battersea Park (2kms away) and found that it had only registered 0.15km!  WTF?!  I think I might have yelled at it ;)

Put the sensor in a different place, but it kept falling off.  So spent the rest of the run looking at my shoes, making sure I didn't lose it in the dark, muddy depths of the park, nearly tripping over several times in the process, and obsessively checking the iPod every minute to make sure it was collecting the distance stats, which was also distracting.  I was very grumpy.  Grumpy Phil is not a good runner!

So when I eventually got home, stamped around a bit, and sat down to collate my stats I worked out that I'd run 6.98km in total, and the pace had been about 8 minutes per km.  I was utterly spent and wondered what on earth I thought I was doing, entering a marathon, a race of 42km, when I'm exhausted after barely 7km!  Showered, grumbled, but had a nice Friday night with hubby and felt a bit more positive when I went to bed.  In fact, fell asleep easily for the first time in months.  Plot lines for my novel keep me awake, but training for a marathon sends me straight to sleep :)

Saturday's run was fabulous!  I got the iPod sensor thing working properly and took off with renewed confidence and enthusiasm.  I got back to my gate and noticed that the sensor said "8.7km".  I thought to myself, "ooh, I think you've got another 1.3km in you!".  Then I noticed the time.  It was something like 50 minutes.  That's when I thought why don't I see if I can do 10km in under 60 minutes!  That was one of my goals for the year!  I of course assumed I'd achieve it around November ;) So I sprinted around my block, up to the market and back, and achieved 10.11km in 58 minutes 20 seconds!!! YEAH!!

I couldn't wipe the smile off my face last night!!

This morning I woke up early and made pancakes:

(I am obsessed with insta.gram by the way!)

I made a batter with plain wholemeal flour, flaxseed, oatbran, 1 egg, soy milk and a bit of salt - and then added sliced banana and blueberries to the individual dollops in the pan before flipping them over.  I served mine with greek yoghurt and cherry jam.  For such a healthy powerhouse breakfast it looks quite indulgent!

About an hour after breakfast, a friend of mine wanted to meet for coffee - a week ago I would have just taken the tube to meet her.  Today I ran there!!  The pancake breakfast was the perfect fuel.  Here's today's stats:

Happy with that!! (I only worked out how to take a screen shot today!)

So yes, starting slow, and hopefully I can build on what I've done this weekend.  I'm stunned by what a good memory my body has - my muscles are slowly remembering what it was like to run distances longer than 5km!

I have a half marathon in March, and then a 16 mile race the week after.  Despite the occasional feelings of trepidation, I can't help myself.....I'm excited!!

Tom and I are (finally! Nearly five months later!) off on our honeymoon next weekend - we couldn't go away at the time because of Tom's work commitments, but I think it worked out well because this way we get some winter sun!  So we've got a week away in sunny Portugal to look forward to for the first week of February, and while there will be sunbathing, reading by the pool, winery tours and quite a few pasteis de nata (Portuguese custard tarts!), this blogger will also be marathon training!  No slacking off!  I look forward to reporting to you live from the honeymoon villa ;)

More tomorrow!

be careful what you wish for

I have a place in the London Marathon.

It's in 12 weeks!

I'm a bit scared.

But 2011 is off to a interesting start, that's for sure!!

More soon xoxo

happy yew near!

Source

Ha ha!!

How was your new year, my friends?  Mine was nice and low key, just the way I like it.  I started the new year as I hope it will continue - sober, madly in love, lots of yoga, writing, and in the company of people I love.  I think there was some Green & Black's chocolate somewhere too ;)

2010 was all about action for me - getting on with the doing part of dreaming, which I had already proven to myself I could do in the past.  It was wonderful to take some positive and decisive action in the direction of where I want to be.

So I think this year is all about building on what I managed to do last year, to focus, to not let chances slip through my fingers.  I also need to get more organised and stop using my brain as a calendar.  It puts a lot more pressure on me, and why do that when I can simply write things down :) 

From a completely vain perspective, because that's always fun (!), I'd like to make more of an effort to:

1.  learn how to use a straightener and curling iron properly - and remember to turn said appliances off when I'm finished with them
2.  schedule in my next wax as I'm leaving my current appointment instead of allowing months to go by.  It's a jungle down there at the moment.
3.  sharpen eye and lip pencils when they need it instead of continuing to use blunt instruments to torture self in the manner of a Renaissance nun.
4.  file nails when they break instead of allowing them to become hawk-like talons
5.  buy another sports bra
6.  stop carrying around every lip gloss I own, because they all run out at the same time!
7.  throw out all clothes with holes in them, and make up mind once and for all whether I'm actually going to mend what's in the mending pile!

I also turn 30 this year.  I must think of a very cool and fitting way to celebrate, to send my twenties out the door and on their way to make way for all the new and exciting things.  So far, a gorgeous beach with a cocktail in hand and a cute floaty summer dress on is very, very appealing.  (looks outside!  Cold.  Dark.  Brrr!)

And of course, being happy.  That's very important to me.  If you aren't happy, then I don't think it really matters what else you might have to show for yourself.  Well, I was living proof of that theory once upon a time!

And this year it also marks five years since I got to goal!  Bloody hell!  Where has that time gone?!

So I'm hoping that this year will be fun, filled with adventure and happiness, and where I manage to tick a few more things off my list. Rich and famous being one of them ;) ha ha.

What are you hoping for this year?

Source

champagne in the snow

Hello friends!  I hope you all had a lovely Christmas, saw 2010 out with a bang and welcomed 2011 in with joy and excitement!

What a year it was.  In some ways, because I have been so busy, I feel I'm still swimming in the shallows of the old year a little, still making my way into the shore of the new year and all that it holds and all that is to come.  But more on that later!

How did you spend your Christmas?

Mine started on Christmas Eve Eve (December 23rd) when Tom and I had a special meal just the two of us and he gave me an early Christmas present:

Ha ha!!  He also got me a "Go away, I'm reading!" book bag!!

We went to bed with the alarms set, a bit terrified that our train would be cancelled and we would have to make our way into deepest darkest Wales some other way.  This was the week of travel chaos caused by the blizzards of snow across the UK, and all week Tom had been watching the Paddington departures live board online like a man possessed.  Every day the train we were meant to be taking on Christmas Eve came up with CANCELLED like some sad, morose fortune cookie.  At least we weren't camped out at Heathrow like some poor friends of ours were!  

But we showed up at the station at 7am on Christmas Eve and hoped for the best - and everything was fine!  As soon as we got out of central London, everything was a blanket of white.  Snow had formed a thick crust on every roof, every field, every piece of pavement, every tree, every train platform.  We changed trains in Cardiff and got a smaller one out to Tom's parents, and with every stop the snow grew whiter and sparkled more in the sunshine, the sea and the sand lay still, the streets were all but deserted.  

It is always lovely going out to Tom's family's home.  The countryside reminds me a lot of Tasmania - in fact, if there were gum trees dotted about the place instead of oaks, firs and birches, and kookaburras instead of badgers and hedgehogs, I would swear I was there.  It is so quiet.  The air is so fresh.  I could feel a coil unwinding inside me as we neared the house, a knot being untied.  

And, of course, there was snow everywhere.  The stream that flows through the property, babbling and cascading, was frozen solid.  

Sunshine on fresh snow sparkles brighter than diamonds.

We were able to chill the champagne and wine for Christmas lunch in the snow!  It was so deep that it went right up the bottle neck - in fact you could have easily fully submerged the bottles.  An hour or so out there and it was perfect drinking temperature.  My mother, who loves her champagne so icy almost to the point of being frozen, would have loved it. 

The snow was so soft, it was like a fine powder in the hands.  The snowball fight had to wait until Boxing Day, when it had iced a bit over night!!

We had a lovely dinner on Christmas Day - Tom's family feed us so well, and one thing I love about going to visit family is that I very rarely have to cook, it's all done for me, it's like being on holiday :)  I remembered last year when we hosted Christmas dinner in our tiny flat, and how tired I was afterwards, so it was nice to have a year off, as it were!  We had all manner of treats and delicious things.  These were some of my favourites:

Hotel Chocolat chocolates!  Fast becoming my surrogate Koko Black (my favourite chocolate shop when I lived in Melbourne)

Port!  A compulsory Christmas drink, surely?!

Sainsbury's Free From Mince Pies and Fruit Cake slices, which were dairy free, wheat free and gluten free.  I didn't think that sounded like a recipe for deliciousness, but I was mistaken.  My mother in law has a mostly dairy free diet and has also been cutting out gluten recently, so when the kind people at Sainsbury's sent me some of these to try for Christmas, I was thrilled to be able to bring something she could enjoy too.  There's the whole "what about just making your own Phil?" argument, but I can't even make normal pastry, let alone a dairy free, wheat free, gluten free one!  I leave that to the pros!  I was a bit dubious because whenever I've had wheat or gluten free baked goods before, I find them a bit sandy in texture and I've never been all that bowled over by them if I'm honest.  But on this occasion I was proved wrong!  My in laws, for whom Christmas is never complete without a mince pie, loved the mince pies.  

Sis-in-law gives the thumbs up!

I have my mouth full!

And I loved the fruit cake.  For me, it's always about the fruit cake at Christmas.  At my first job at a homewares store in Hobart, one of my duties was to slice up a cupboard full of Lion's Christmas Cakes and walk around the store offering them to customers.  I loved the smell.  And usually snuck a few slices on my way back to the tearoom to replenish. The only time I have ever made a fruit cake myself it was a disaster.  

Oh, these little slices were so yummy!  Full of fudgy, scrumptious fruit!  Having been doubtful about the deliciousness, I was happy to be proved wrong.  If you can't do the whole homemade thing, then I think these are a great option, and free of all the yucky E numbers and stodge factor you usually associate with festive food.  We'll definitely get these again next year!  Thank you Sainsbury's!

And finally.......the yuletide sundae!

Again, dairy free so everyone could enjoy.  I crushed up some Lebkuchen gingerbread biscuits I bought in Germany, and layered those with vegan vanilla ice cream, fresh raspberries and a little Hanuta wafer at the top.  Oh my goodness, this was so delicious.  

Right, I hear you saying "Phil, was your gut the size of Santa's after all this food?"

Well, kind of.

Ha ha.

But, I kept active!  

I did yoga in the snow....ish.....

We went for long walks in the snow nearly every day - and when you're almost up to your knees in it, it's hard work!  Especially with about five layers on - brr!  And we also went sledging in one of the fields, which was almost at a ninety degree angle - I spent an afternoon marching up the hill, sledging down it, and then climbing up again.  My thighs ached afterwards, and I couldn't feel my nose or ears, but it was So. Much. Fun.  I love the snow!!

I also had to try out my new Christmas present:

The Manduka Pro Lite Yoga mat!!  I've heard Mary praise hers to the skies for years, and my old turquoise Toronto mat, which has been my old faithful and been to every class with me for over three years, was getting a bit tired.  When my in laws asked what I would like for Christmas, I put this on the list, not really expecting to get it, so I got a lovely surprise when I saw a yoga mat shaped package under the tree with my name on it!!

It is wonderful.  No slipping!  No gathering in messy folds when I try to do a Warrior 1!  My practice has already been transformed.  For some reason, yoga has really become more of a focus for me since the onset of winter, with it being so cold outside.  Perhaps it is an outward expression of my desire for balance?  Regardless, I am enjoying making it a focus in my life again.  

And so we came back to London a few days before New Year, as I had to go back to work.  We had a six hour train journey, which turned out to be quite wonderful.  We were in a near deserted first class carriage the whole way, and were kept satisfied with lots of hot tea, and I took advantage of the stretch of time ahead and ploughed through a difficult part of my novel and reached a bit of a milestone by the time the train rolled out of Banbury.  Yay me.  My aim is to have a complete first draft by my 30th birthday.  Five and a half months to go :)  Even if it ends up going nowhere, I just want to have finished it.

And so we rolled back into grey, slushy, but still beautiful London, into the limbo period between Christmas and New Year, and prepared to stock the wine rack and larder for more festivities, and I tried to get back some semblance of routine!

More to follow...............