Happy Easter!

Yesterday, my boyfriend and I decided to make the most of the long Easter weekend and venture up to London for the day (ok, we hopped on the fast train to Waterloo and got there in 35 minutes). We had originally planned to skate around Hyde Park, but as the forecast predicted rain for the afternoon (which never materialised, besides a light 30-second shower) the skate shop couldn't let us rent any skates from them. Whilst my boyfriend has his own, short of buying a pair on the spot (I decided £140 was a bit steep for an impulse buy) skating was out for me!

We briefly considered renting a Boris Bike (the ugly Barclays bikes) but as we headed over to Hyde Park, the very light snow turned to heavy sleet, and we ducked into the Underground, instead.

We ended up in South Kensington, at the Natural History Museum. It was free to get in, and just big enough to spend the afternoon there, so we queued up. Luckily, it didn't take too long to get in, despite the crowds of tourists - though it was quite busy once we got inside! After standing around in the cold, the first thing we did was head to the cafe for a hot drink - and were luckily enough to nab a table almost immediately. The drinks were really tasty, and given that we were at a tourist spot in central London, the prices were really reasonable!

The Natural History Museum building is absolutely stunning!

The first area we checked out was the Blue Zone - i.e. loads of really awesome huuuge mammals, and skeletons of various ancestors (including a huge rhino-like mammal with two huge horns!) I was surprised at just how much there was to see, given it was free to get in. It took us quite a while to get round, but it worked out nicely as by the time we queued up to see the Dinosaurs Gallery, the waiting time had gone right down. We both agreed that this was the BEST bit:

Dinosaur skeletons, fossils, and an animatronic T-Rex - awesome!

Of course, we couldn't go home without taking a dinosaur with us - though this little guy wasn't quite as fierce as the ones in the gallery!

Teeny little cuddly T-Rex!

We stayed until closing, and then hopped back on the Underground and headed over to Oxford Circus and Carnaby Street. If you find yourself in the area, you have to check out Cha Cha Moon - they do the most amazing noodle dishes ever. This time, we started with prawn dumplings (sooo good) served with chilli and garlic sauce, and then I had the wonton soup. After the dumplings (which were pretty rich) the soup was quite light, and really hit the spot. The restaurant itself is really cool, with low atmospheric lighting and rows of wooden benches. Highly recommended!

Dumplings and wonton soup at Cha Cha Moon

As for Easter, I've somehow found myself with no chocolate today !! (I know, something's wrong with the world). Luckily, we picked up some M&S hot cross buns yesterday. We had apple and cinnamon ones last night, which have always been my favourite, but this year there's a new flavour to try - Belgian chocolate and orange:

A little taste of Easter!

They may not be Easter eggs, but they'll do for now. I guess I'll just have to eat extra chocolate tomorrow!

Happy Easter, everyone :)

Smiley faces!

If only I had these in more colours - so much fun! 

Lean, mean commuting machine!

Today I picked up my new bike, and it's gooorgeous! I didn't appreciate just how slim and light a hybrid bike would be, and I'm really impressed!

My lean, mean, commuting machine!

Of course I went out and bought the usual accessories, too. I found a decent helmet and a bike lock (which weighs nearly as much as the bike .. or felt like it, anyway!) I also invested in a reflective sticker sheet - by that, I mean the stickers haven't been pre-cut, so you get to cut out custom shapes. I added a strip to each side of the helmet - you can see one on the left-hand side in the picture above.

Whilst I tried to be sensible, and just buy the essentials at a price that wasn't too high, a little something caught my eye and I had to get it:

Flourescent, reflective smiley face stickers !!

Aren't they awesome!? I just need to figure out where to stick them. I'm thinking helmet, so far, but that doesn't seem very creative! I'll have to experiment ..

I had no idea there were so many awesome accessories I could get for my bike! It's a good thing I got it in the sale, because I can see myself spending lots of money over the next few weeks. Self control, I have not.

Pain and Suffering

Today, I stumbled across a brand new 10k/10mile race, and I'm not sure what to think of it. On one hand, it looks quite .. well, not fun, but maybe satisfyingly challenging!? And my stubborn, competitive side is trying to make me focus on how awesome it would feel to cross the finish line. On the other hand, the name seems pretty apt, and I think you'd have to be nuts to even consider it.

Maybe I'm just nuts.

The 10k race is The Suffering, and the 10 mile version is the Pain and Suffering. Whilst by the names alone, neither of these sound worth going anywhere near, part of me is half considering it. Realistically,  reading through the obstacles, I'd probably get a mile in and want to go home! 

'The legendary Rockingham Castle holds host to its first bout of Suffering in June 2013. The grounds boast vicious terrain, including hills, valleys, mud, water, and nettles, natural and definitely unnatural obstacles including the Land Rover Experience course, The Gauntlets and The Killing Zone guaranteed to make the soul despair.'

When put like that .. yeah, I probably wouldn't last ten minutes. But imagine if I did! Whilst tough runs can be physically and mentally draining and make you feel like curling up in a ball and never moving again, getting through those sorts of experiences is SO rewarding. My 16-miler was the worst (sporting) experience of my life, but I felt almost hyper once I had showered and curled up on the sofa in a big slouchy jumper with a mug of hot chocolate and a satisfying ache to .. well .. my entire body.

But this one does look excruciating!

Check out a 'taste' of the obstacles:

• The Press: Straight off the bat we get you on your knees, crawling through the mud. A little audience participation here as your friends, family and total strangers pelt you with wet sponges in an area designed to make you an easy target.
• The HolHollHollow: The first of our water obstacles.
• The Tunnel: A modest bridge you would normally be encouraged to pass over. Where would be the stinking mud in that. Mind out above you though because there might well be some gunge coming your way.
• The Training Gauntlet: this figure of 8 in a deep set bowl is here to test you. Visibility might be an issue. Don’t expect to be able to move freely.
• Valley Run: Steep muddy banks are the name of the game here. Try to stay upright as we send you darting in and out. Watch your footing this is not the time or place for speed.
• Engineered Suffering: We are not unveiling these obstacles just yet. These are our flagship obstacles. Designed and constructed by engineers who also compete. You will not be able to prepare for these.
• The Gauntlet: We’re entering 4×4 territory now; this is a ¼ mile of hell. Steep banks litter the landscape, it’s uneven under foot. It’s slippery, water logged and we’re going to chuck in a few nasty surprises. How’s your arm strength, fancy picking up something large and uncomfortable. Now you have to take this over, through, under everything this section throws at you. If you get to the end and you don’t have it, we’ll send you back to the beginning.
• The Ford: This is the second of our water tests. speed may be your enemy here.
• The Field Traverse: Barbed wire lines this narrow stretch. Don’t expect to be able to move quickly here.
• The Nets: This isn’t your everyday set of cargo nets. You’re the meat in the sandwich and the nets are the bread. There’s no quick way through this little beast.
• The Ponds: Water obstacle number 3. You are going in! Beware though it’s not just water here, there will be a special little something here to make it a little more challenging 
• If you run around Rockingham you’ll know about Rockingham Hill. Many an over confident runner has fallen foul. Of course this isn’t all we’re going to ask you to do. Oh, and you’ll have to repeat this little stretch, on the bright side you get a lovely view of the castle. On the down side your hyperventilating may spoil the ambience.
• The Assault course: We couldn’t leave this out, tyre runs, A-Frames, cargo nets, crawl tunnels, we will of course have a special little something in there for you too.
• An obstacle race wouldn’t be an obstacle race if it didn’t have a big wall, but or a sequence of killer walls.
• The finish: You’ll be the happiest person alive when / if you make it to the finish and we’ll have your goody bag waiting for you. Get your photo taken before getting changed, don’t worry all the photos are free; just like us on Facebook and we’ll send them over to you.

.. Yeeeah, maybe not!

And the cycling begins!

I received an awesome email this afternoon:

'We’ve got some exciting news about your order: Your bike is being assembled!'

That's right - I will soon be the owner of this awesome speed machine:

I'm way more excited than I probably should be .. Cycling, wooo !!

My new job is currently a 1-hour commute - only 1 stop on the train, but there's a long walk to and from the station. However, I worked out that it's just 6 miles from home to my office - which means I can cycle there in under half the time it takes me to travel there at the moment! 

And as an added bonus, whilst I was too impatient to wait 3 months to get the bike through the 'ride to work' scheme - i.e., discounted - the sale price of the bike is actually less than I would have paid for 3 months of train tickets (yes, for just one stop .. which is costing me £6.40 a day. With my railcard, which theoretically offers 1/3 off the cost of train tickets, it would cost me £12. SouthWestTrains, I will never understand you).

I'm excited to add some regular, non-negotiable cross-training to my schedule each week, especially given the problems I've been having with my knees lately, thanks to the last few uber-long training runs.

Now I just need to stop slacking on the running, and I might just survive Brighton Marathon next month!

Here's to Healthy Eating

I came across a post in Runners World the other day: Nutritious Smoothies for Runners. I've always been a fan of smoothies, and have become a bit of a smoothie fiend since getting a hand-held blender for Christmas last year (they're so much fun! You can whizz up practically anything!)

I always thought I was being pretty healthy, mixing low-fat yoghurt with various fruit (and maybe occasionally almost always some cocoa powder or dark chocolate), but after doing a little research, I've realised that there a ton of other ingredients I could add, and most are healthier - less sugar, for starters, and often more protein. The protein, of course, is key for muscle recovery after a tough run; and at this stage in marathon training, I'm sure you'll agree that all of the runs are getting pretty tough!

Blueberry, raspberry and vanilla - tasty!

So, inspired by the articles I've read recently, I decided to look into the most commonly recommended ingredients, to see what benefits they really offer - and I realised that I've been underestimating a lot of them!

I was on the right track with some things, at least: cocoa powder is a great source of anti oxidants. In fact, according to a study conducted by the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry, it contains a higher amount of antioxidants than red wine and tea. Pretty impressive!

Other good sources of anti oxidants are blueberries, kiwi, raisins and mangoes. Strangely enough, cinnamon also makes the list - and boasts other benefits, like potassium and anti-inflammatory properties. Banana is another ingredient that seems to keep appearing, as they're rich in potassium. I personally love bananas in smoothies, as they go with nearly anything, and thicken it up nicely.

As for protein, there are a number of ways to add a little extra. The obvious choices are yoghurt and milk, but there are other, less obvious options: soybeans, tofu, almonds (e.g. almond butter or almond milk) and peanuts are all great. If you fancy being a little adventurous, egg whites apparently also work well - though I don't think I'll be trying that any time soon.

I might've drizzled a large amount of honey over this ..

Now for me, it's been brilliant to learn about the nutritional benefits of things that I eat all the time - and I've realised that my usual breakfast is quite a bit healthier than I gave it credit for. Most mornings, I'll make a bowl of porridge, mixed with cinnamon, raisins and honey, and occasionally topped with sliced banana. If I'm feeling lazy, I'll just have plain porridge with a drizzle of honey. I thought that this was kind of bad, given that porridge + honey is basically just carbs + sugar (not that this made me any less lazy), so I was pretty happy to stumble across this article, which cites a number of ways that honey is actually good for you! Drizzle on!

To coffee, or not to coffee?

So instead of my mammoth gym session yesterday, this happened:

Hazelnut mocha, with whipped cream. Heaven in a mug.

And it got me thinking. Living and working in France, I very quickly got used to the idea of café culture. During my first placement, I ran a bar at a small holiday centre in rural Charentes (département 17). I assumed I would mainly serve alcohol and cold drinks, but it was the espresso that people really visited for. It was such an integral part of the day that the owners offered each guest a free espresso in the hour after lunch - dozens would descend on my tiny little bar, crowding together, all at once. Nobody ever ordered coffee, which I learnt had to be distinguished from espresso by specifically asking for café au lait (colloquially known by the French as a noisette, due to the colour the milk makes when mixed with the espresso). As far as tea went, all they served was a variety of tisanes - or infusions - and I was the only one that ever really drank them. My personal favourite was pomme cannelle, with a little bit of brown sugar. Amaaazing. I haven't been able to find that flavour here, unfortunately. Might have to pop back to France!

Charentes is one of the most beautiful places I've ever visited. Sunflower fields, traditional French villages, and long sandy beaches - heaven! 

I saw coffee as part of the French culture; a reminder of the days of Sartre and Hemmingway; of Left-Bank cafes, frequented by artists and literary types. When I got to Paris, I wasn’t disappointed. I occasionally spent my lunch hour sat at a table outside a café on the Avenue de l’Opéra, sipping espresso and watching the world go by. To me, that was the quintessential Parisian experience - away from the groups of tourists on the Rue de Rivoli, at the Louvre and the Arc de Triomphe (and of course, the Champs Elysées).

In fact, thinking about it, I didn’t visit the Louvre once in the whole six months I lived there (though I did visit as a tourist a few years before). I climbed the Eiffel Tower just once, and that was because my boyfriend visited me from England and asked me to take him. By living and working in Paris, I experienced it in a completely different way. I discovered the hidden shopping arcades by the Palais Royale; I cycled a vélib through the centre of Paris in the middle of the night, weaving through crowds of people during the Nuit Blanche. 

The Tour Eiffel sparkling with hundreds of tiny lights, and the Hotel de Ville covered in LED signs with 'Love Differences' in dozens of different languages - the Nuit Blanche was spectacular.

So there I was yesterday, sat in Café Nero, thinking about the differences in café culture here and in France. The English may not be big on espresso – they may prefer the big American chains to little independent cafés, unlike in France (I’m generalising) - but there seems to be an overlap. The Anglo (American, really) café culture is spreading across Europe – there are as many Starbucks in Paris as there are in central London, although the French haven’t warmed to them quite so much! I’ve seen plenty of French articles over the years referring to Starbucks coffee as ‘jus de chaussettes’ and ‘pipi du chat’ (rough translation: not proper coffee) and most of the Starbucks I went to in Paris were full of Asian tourists. 

Whilst we may not place as much importance in a good quality cup of coffee as the French do, we certainly drink a heck of a lot of it. It seems to be something people do without thinking – they queue at Costa or Nero when they get to the train station in the morning, and swig from a takeaway cup as they rush for their train; they put the kettle on the minute they get into work, making a coffee for anyone else who fancies one (pretty much the whole office, usually!); an hour later, someone else will fancy a coffee and the office drinks round begins again. In every office I’ve worked in, drinking coffee seems to be the way to meet people and make friends; the kitchen is the social centre of the office, as making a coffee is often used as an excuse for a break and a chat.

I’ve never been much of a caffeine junkie. When I’m at work, I’m perfectly happy to just drink water throughout the day. But I’ve realised that by not drinking coffee (or, of course, tea) I’m almost excluding myself from the social side of things. I accepted that in France, whether you drank coffee or not, the after-lunch espresso was compulsory, but I had always assumed that we had a different mindset here. In reality, the only difference is that we don’t (usually) drink espresso.

I’ve started joining the drinks round just to draw attention away from myself. In my first week, when I declined a coffee in front of my boss, I was jokingly asked if I was a ‘robot that didn’t drink’. For a moment it took me right back to my first week in Charentes, when my boss, astounded, exclaimed ‘Tu bois pas du café? Putain, tu bois quoi, alors?’

It seems that in some ways, we’re not that different at all.