That needs an explanation, right?

Well – for a week my left knee has felt a bit funny. Not when walking or running, but painful when sitting cross-legged or kneeling. Having little kids means I’m constantly down at their level in either of these positions and at first it was just painful to get up, but then it started hurting even being in these positions.  The pain seems to be somewhere behind the knee, it’s not something I’ve had before so I have not idea what could have caused it or what exact muscle/ligament/wheateverelse it is that’s not cooperating at the moment.

Added to the knee issue, I had to run in my Converse yesterday morning. As I was taking my oldest son to school, he remembered half way there that he didn’t have his blazer in his backpack. Usually I would have just let him go to school without it but he had an assembly that morning and was meeting his year 4 teachers in the afternoon – both events required his school blazer. Without it he’d get a disorder and to him getting a disorder is THE END OF THE WORLD.

So I walked him to school and then ran back to the bus station, ran home from the bus stop close to home, grabbed his blazer and ran/bussed back – all in 30 minutes with morning traffic and in jeans and Converse :|  I made it to his assembly totally sweaty and panting but only a few minutes late and just in time to see him get his end of year certificate.  Something in my left ankle was hurting though AND the top of my right foot was sore too.  Running fast in Converse = not.a.good.idea.

I quickly booked a sports massage for the evening – I’m sore from CrossFit all over anyway and I thought these legs of mine really need some attention asap.  The massage was excellent and a lot of painful spots were ‘ironed out’ – they were everywhere from my neck to my bum (from CrossFit), to my ITBs, hamstrings and calves (from running + CrossFit). It hurt so good and I was ready to do a short 10km run this morning.

The knee that doesn’t let me kneel doesn’t hurt at all when in motion so that part of running was ok, but my left ankle was too sore to be comfortable. At first I thought I’d do 8km, then I thought maybe 6. A minute later I thought 5km would be enough. A few minutes later the pain got worse and I stopped and walked back home.

I’m not too bummed or distraught at the moment. I know it’s just a little niggle that will heal if I give it time.  Today is another warm summerish day so I’ll do a lot of walking like I did yesterday (kids, school, nursery, errands). I probably won’t run until my next 10k race on Sunday. I’m optimistic that I’ll be ok by then.

As for this morning – more time to drink coffee in the sunshine while the kids are out of the house :D

Hopefully the house won’t fall down on me, we are missing a few walls downstairs:

The view from the door that used to lead to the dining room and kitchen.

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The post A little bit injured appeared first on Mind over Matter.

I knew that the first 2km would be mostly uphill so once that distance was covered I was hoping to fly and finish the run in super quick time. The legs, however, didn’t really want to sprint so I just kept up a good enough pace so that I was feeling uncomfortable but not totally hating it.

I realised at 5km that I was going to finish in about 49 minutes. Annoyingly my Garmin only shows me my current average pace, not the average pace for the entire distance already run so I don’t really have an exact idea of how I’m doing until I’m close to the end and can actually do the math on my own.

There was a guy who was breathing down my neck most of the way. It’s mind boggling how he managed to run 10k panting like that. I was hoping to get away from him but every time I lost him, he reappeared after a few minutes. Geez.

After 8km it all went downhill. Literally :)  I didn’t put on the breaks and just sped down as fast as I could running the first downhill km in 4 minutes 16 seconds. I actually lost the heavy breather on this downhill bit. Whew.

The last km was not too bad either since coming downhill gave me some momentum for a while. I wish there had been signs though for 800m to go, 500m to go, etc. – without them I don’t properly speed up until I can actually see the finish line and in this race we only had about 200m to go once we cleared the woods and saw the end. I sprinted and I finished as the clock was still at 48 minutes. I quickly sat down to avoid nausea - 5 and 10km races are always fun once they’re over and you’re sitting down :P

Official time: 48:02

Another PB but only by 19 seconds. Oh well, I’m not complaining. Two years ago the same amount of exertion meant 53 minute 10k races for me so I have improved and hopefully will keep improving.

As with everything in life, I don’t believe there are quick fixes or quick solutions – no one becomes Speedy Gonzales overnight. So I’ll keep doing what I’m doing and maybe I won’t get the 46 minute 10k like I had hoped to in 2013 but what’s another year when you’re having fun :)

And here’s a final thought about racing, one that went through my mind several times on Sunday:

The post Wimbledon Common 10k – The title was going to be “Not every race is a PB” appeared first on Mind over Matter.

When the weather warms up it’s nice to have a cold bubbly drink though. Summer is the time I catch myself missing Diet Coke.

Luckily for me, I stumbled across alibi active pretox drinks in Holland & Barrett a few months ago.

Now I have a new addiction but this one is totally good for me :)

For example, the ingredients of the citrus one are:

• sparking spring water
• fruit extract
• concentrated lime juice (3.5%)
• herbal extract blend 0.6% (milk thistle, schizandra, sarsaparilla, dandelion leaf, artichoke)
• natural flavourings
• vitamins: BI, B3, B5, B6, B7, B9, B12, C, D, E, K
• minerals: selenium, calcium, potassium, citric acid, vegetable extract (safflower), beta glucan, natural steviol glycosides

Holland & Barrett sells them for £1.55 but Waitrose sells them for £1 at the moment.

Summer can safely come now, I will not be tempted by Diet Coke.

EDIT: I usually drink the citrus one but have just been made aware that the pomegranate one has sucrose and glucose in it. Stick with the citrus if you’re staying away from sugar like I am!

The post Stuff I like: Alibi drinks appeared first on Mind over Matter.

I had a long session at Vivobarefoot running clinic and after that went on a few runs where I concentrated on increased cadence and landing on my forefoot. The consequence – very painful calves, ankles, achilles.

I think I know now where I went wrong – I concentrated on landing on the forefoot.

After great advice on running form at Write This Run and talking to people on Twitter, I now am doing the following:

• I run as if I’m leaning forward from the ankles
• I concentrate on lifting my knees and NOT on pushing my legs down
• I run with smaller, faster steps

As a result my foot is landing more towards my mid or forefoot (to see exactly where I’d have to take a video of my running) and this kind of running feels natural and efficient, and it is easy on my legs.

I found this video on Kinetic Revolution’s website, it demonstrates very well the lifting of legs thing. Just bear in mind that when running at speed your knees will NEVER come that high :), all that matters is that you focus on the lifting bit.

You can also check out the videos on Good Form Running. There’s plenty there to make you think about how you run and how you could make running easier for your body which in turn hopefully will mean less injuries in your running journey.

One last thing I’d like to mention is foot position. Your body is a complex mechanism with many joints and muscles and ligaments all working together – think about how you step because if your feet are twisted, the rest of the body will have to compensate for that twist somehow.

Your feet should be just underneath your hips, toes pointed straight forward. This applies to running as well as walking, check how you step – are your toes maybe pointed out, or in, are you stepping too wide (this is only allowed if you’re pregnant ;), are you crossing your feet over (if you do this, stop watching America’s Next Top Model :).

If you can’t tell just how wide ‘under your hips’ is, gently hop in place for a little bit and your feet will land in the correct position.

Who else is pondering running style? What interesting facts or tips have you picked up?

The post Running 101: Forefoot, midfoot, whateverfoot? appeared first on Mind over Matter.

Instead of Juneathon, I’ve signed up for three 10k races this month and the first one took place yesterday. It was in Brockwell Park in Herne Hill / Dulwich / Brixton area. I haven’t run there before but for some reason imagined a nice flat park to stroll around in sunshine.

Turns out the park was rather hilly and the day rather chilly. Cool temperatures are of course ok once you get going but the hills were a b*tch.

As usual during a short race like that, I struggled for the first 5km – I take about that time to warm up so until I’m warmed up I hate racing… and I question why I’m putting myself through this… and every few minutes I want to just sit down… and I agonise over the weight I’ve put on even though I know it’s mostly muscle… and in general I feel slow and heavy.

After 5km however, I get in the groove and no longer feel like an elephant trying to race with giraffes. This time I practiced a tip from running coach Karen Weir when going uphill – I focused on lifting my knees up instead of reaching forward with my quads. Quads can start burning when going uphill but I find that lifting my legs works well – all I have to think about is lift, lift, lift and as my legs naturally fall downwards I’m pushed forwards. Try it next time – it’s almost like running uphill by doing ‘high knees’ (they never go as high as they would if you’re doing them on the spot for warm-up, so don’t worry, you won’t look silly).

On the downhill bits I was a bit too cautious but I didn’t want to totally bang up my shins. My right one felt a bit tight in the beginning and that’s a sign that I need to get back to properly stretching my calves again.

The final few hundred meters were uphill and on the grass :| I sped up but as soon as I crossed the finish line I made my way out of the crowd because I was not sure I wasn’t going to throw up. I have never felt like that after a race before, I guess it shows that I gave it my best :)

I sat down and felt ok in a few minutes. Whew.

Time: 48:21 – A definite PB.

Next race: Wimbledon Common 10k on Sunday – first 2km uphill but then flat :)

The post Brockwell Park 10k appeared first on Mind over Matter.

I hear it all the time. All.The.Time. And all the time I say “You ran too fast. If you want to start running, you have to start slow. Like really reaaaally slow.”

If you haven’t done any running before you cannot expect your body to be able to run at speed straight away. Walk initially for 5-10 minutes to warm up and then run only at a pace that is slightly faster than your fast walking speed.

Run so slowly that you think that you look stupid. That you think that everyone is looking at you and at how slowly you run.

The truth is that no one is looking at your running speed. Seriously, no one.

So just run slowly enough so that it’s comfortable and enjoyable. If you can keep this up for 10-20 minutes, that’s great, if not, run for a couple of minutes and then walk for a couple of minutes.

Rest for a day and then go out again to walk/run so that it’s comfortable and enjoyable. As soon as you start pushing yourself too much in the beginning your brain will shut down and tell you “I told you that you can’t run.”

Only once you’re able to continuously run for 30 minutes (at whatever pace! :) should you start thinking about increasing speed or distance.

Slow and steady wins the race!

Well, maybe not literally, but it is the way that will put you in tune with your own body – the more you observe at what speed your body likes to run, the more you enjoy it and are able to safely start pushing your limits once you feel ready for it.

It’s not a race to become a runner. It’s a gradual journey of self-discovery. Enjoy it! :)

This is how my running pace has decreased from the time I started running – slow but steady improvement. (February and March this year were pre-marathon long run months = very slow).

You can also find me on Twitter: @MrsB_LDN and on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/mindovermatter00

The post Running 101: Slow down appeared first on Mind over Matter.

…to have bad days.

…to be exhausted by your kids.

…to have disagreements with friends or family members.

…to have ‘fat days’ when you just don’t feel comfortable in your own skin.

…to not want to run.

…to feel tired at the end of busy days.

…to be sick of all the renovating dust in the house.

…to meet people who’re just not that into you.

…to feel that blogging is totally pointless.

…to feel blue for no specific reason.

…to feel overwhelmed by life and responsibilities.

None of this means that any of it is permanent. None of this means that your friends or family members love you any less. None of this means that you’ve ‘fallen off the wagon’.

It just means you had a bad day.

I tend to just chant the following to myself on those days and the next day I usually wake up in a much better place in my head.

Substitute ‘run’ with anything that’s relevant to you – exercising, cleaning, cooking from scratch, studying, etc. :)

How do you handle bad days?

The post It’s normal… appeared first on Mind over Matter.

My last test was at the end of February and I got 5 out of 10:

1. 400m run in less than 1:42

2. Knees to hips (hanging from the bar) – 7

3. Double unders – 2

4. Overhead squat at 0.5 body weight (30kg) – 1

5. Ring dips – 3

6. Pull ups – 3

7. 20 burpees in 1 minute

8. Tall snatch with 10kg – 1

9. Push-ups – 10

10. Workout – “Fran” in less than 14 minutes (21-15-9 : thursters @ 35kg + jumping pull ups)

Today, 3 months later, the test went down like this:

1. 800m run in less than 4:28 – Ran in 3:24

2. Double unders – 2 – Success at the first go, then did a few more in a row, at least 5 at one time :)

3. Burpees – 20 in 1 minute – Lost count by one so did either 20 or 21 in 58 seconds

4. Pull-ups – 3 – Nope

5. Ring dips – 3 – Nope, did 1

6. Back squat – 1 at body weight (65kg*)

7. Shoulder to overhead – 1 at 0.6 body weight (40kg)

8. Clean / Tall clean – 1 with 15kg

9. Workout “Helen” – in less than 13 minutes, with pull up modification band allowed (3 rounds of 400m run + 21 kettle bell swings with 12 kg + 12 pull ups with band) – I used a blue band for the first round but added red for the next two: Time: 12:16

Final score: Still a Beginner but got 7 out of 9!

I’m happy. Intermediate level is soooooooo close. I just have to get enough strength into my upper body to crank out a few pull ups and ring dips. Should be doable in about a year ;)

The only other girl in the 7am class got through to the next level but I wasn’t bummed that I didn’t. I’ll get there one day.

And besides – the journey is the fun part, not just the one test at the end of a month.

*The scales there are not digital so my weight was somewhere between 62 and 64.

The post So close, yet so far appeared first on Mind over Matter.

On Friday morning I read a post about Thai massage and booked myself an appointment at lunch time. When I showed up they said that the Thai massage therapist doesn’t have her qualification finalised so it’d be a mix of Thai and Swedish massage. Oh well. It was nicely little bit painful but relaxing at the same time.

Other than that the week had 2 CrossFit sessions and 3 runs. During Tuesday’s CrossFit I got up to 60kg for my last 2 sets of 3 of back squats. Last week I only managed 50, I have no idea where that extra strength came from but I’m happy.

Thursday’s CrossFit had squat cleans where I got up to 35kg on my last set of 5. It was bloody hard but I could probably do 1-3 reps with more weight.

The workout of the day (WOD) was an awesome 30 seconds of push ups, 30 seconds off, 30 seconds handstand, 30 seconds off, 30 seconds hip hinges with barbell, etc… for 5 rounds. I have practiced handstands at home a couple of times so gathered up the courage and went for it – I managed to do all 5 sets of 30 seconds without a problem! Another fear conquered :) (kicking yourself up to a handstand requires for a little mental block to be broken, somehow the body hesitates if you haven’t done it before and hesitation doesn’t lead to a handstand).

The runs were relatively easy this week, I have crazily signed up for Juneathon which means I have to run (or do CrossFit) every day in the month of June. I think the idea of running every single day for a month made me slow down a bit this week and just focus on the enjoyment that running brings me. There will be time for speed training at some other point. In July :)

Has anyone done these run-every-day-for-a-month kinds of challenges before? It’s acceptable to take a few ‘rest’ days and just run 3km, right?

The post Just another week in a life of a runner appeared first on Mind over Matter.

Usually in the winter my breakfast is oats in a thermos topped with hot milk (almond or goat) – by the time I get to work the porridge is ready. In the summer my breakfast is either pancakes with eggs, milled chia seeds and maca powder or this delicious creamy coconut summer (aka ‘cold :) porridge.

When I can I buy Biona coconut milk where the ingredients are just coconut and water, or I get their creamed coconut that is pure coconut and has to be diluted in water. I find that many of the regular supermarket coconut cream or milk products have lots of other ingredients, most of them are just thickeners so not hugely problematic, but I like when my food’s as simple and close to natural as possible.

Ingredients

- Coconut cream or milk
- Oats
- Raisins
- Cinnamon

Method

Mix enough oats with a can of coconut cream so that it’s still quite liquid. Store in the fridge overnight. In the morning, add raisins and cinnamon and a dash of milk (almond milk, in my case) if needed to loosen it up.

This porridge goes very well with black coffee and it’s so nicely creamy and smooth – I cannot believe I love it so much as a few years ago I couldn’t stand anything that tasted or smelled like coconut.  It even doubles well as dessert in the evening :)

What’s your favourite healthy summer breakfast?

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