Weekend update

On Friday I made sure I went for a jog at work, and I started off the penultimate stage which goes as follows:

5 min warm up walk and stretch
30 mins: (14 min jog + 1 min walk) x 2
5 min cool down walk and stretch

Finally I managed to shake off the lethargy and continual stitches that kept happening earlier in the week. I did well on the above jog and managed to complete it with no problems, so I'm pleased with that.

I then went up to my parents for the weekend, for the purpose of hearing my Mum sing in the Messiah on the Saturday with the amateur choir she belongs to. It was very enjoyable! I also caught up with a friend, who is currently debating whether or not to become a mature student, and if so, whether to go the whole hog and go to university, or whether to do a distance learning course. And then I caught up with my little brother who has just come back from twelve months in Canada.

Anyway, with all that going on, all the travelling, the clocks going forward, and the late nights very little exercise happened. This morning I'm shattered, I feel like I'm getting a cold, and I can't wait to get an early night. My plan is to do a few minutes on the exercise bike if I feel like it today and tomorrow, and then Wednesday to repeat my 14 min x 2 jog again.

Meal plan w/c 23 March 09

Finally I have managed to have a bit more self-control on the food front this week! (Although I admit to a chocolate caramel shortbread from Starbucks yesterday - which didn't count because it was a reward for making the last payment on my student loan hooray!)

Mon 23 - turmeric chicken with mash and steamed veg, new Rosemary Conley recipe which turned out very nicely

Tue 24 - salmon with soy and mustard sauce, mash, steamed veg

Wed 25 - sausage and mushroom pasta

Thu 26 - frozen pizza with salad

Fri 27 - going up to my parents for the weekend so this will be a late meal on arrival, I expect we'll get something like frozen chicken thing, oven chips and frozen veg

Sat 28 - again at parents, probably baked potatoes with cheese and beans

Sun 29 - and still at parents, probably some kind of roast dinner

Exercise update

The exercise hasn't been as organised this week either as I've been at home. Monday morning I went for a jog, and completed the (13 min jog + 1 mon walk) x 2 again. It went fairly well, the terrain is quite flat around where I live but there isn't much grass to run on, its all concrete, so not so easy from that point of view.

On Tuesday I went on the exercise bike for 45 minutes in the evening. I'm burning about 300 calories in 45 mins at the moment which is not bad. I need a new DVD to watch before I do another bike session though!

Wednesday I didn't do any exercise as we went to visit my grandparents who live about an hour and a half's drive away. By the time we got back I was pretty tired.

Thursday I don't think I did anything in the end, although I did potter round the garden quite a bit.

Yesterday I attempted to go for a jog in the morning, but it didn't work and I got a really bad stitch. I think I tried to go a little too early before my legs had really woken up. So that just turned into a walk in the end which I suppose is better than nothing. We went window shopping in the afternoon so I did a bit more walking then too.

And then today I finally got round to doing my new Davina DVD again. Its really good but I've only done it two or three times since I got it as I've been focusing more on the jogging and exercise bike. Anyway, I expect that will make me ache tomorrow. Never mind, I have Sundays off anyway, although I may well do a bit more in the garden, which would be better than my normal Sunday afternoon snooze...

Meal Plan w/c 16 Mar 09

I've been off work this week and had a week off at home so have not been in my usual routine. Whilst it hasn't been the most relaxing week off I've caught up on some jobs, seen a few people I haven't seen for ages, and enjoyed the sunniest week since last summer!

Mon 16 - pub meal: lamb and mint pie, chips and veg, followed by orange and lemon zest sponge pudding

Tue 17 - chicken casserole ready meal with steamed veg

Wed 18 - carvery with grandparents for lunch, prawn salad for dinner

Thu 19 - salmon and vegetable stirfry with a chilli stirfry sauce

Fri 20 - chicken rarebit, mash, steamed veg

Sat 21 - bernard matthews turkey breast roast with roast potatoes and parsnips, and steamed veg

Sun 22 - homemade pizza

Meal plan w/c 9 March 2009

I'm a bit behind and unorganised again this week. I did however have a root through the freezer to see exactly what lurks in the bottom. An interesting display of frozen peas, pastry flakes and ice crystals mainly. I did however discover that what I thought was frozen black bean sauce was actually frozen stewed mashed prunes (low fat butter substitute for cake!), and there are several tubs of freezer burned unidentified goodness knows what to look forward to.

Mon 9 - salmon with creme fraiche and mustard sauce, mash and steamed veg

Tue 10 - fish pie and steamed veg - if I may say so it was one of my best fish pies ever!

Wed 11 - vegetable frittata

Thu 12 - cheese and tomato toastie and salad (had a very late lunch due to a meeting at work, got home late and wasn't in the mood for cooking)

Fri 13 - morrocan lamb steaks with mash, fried parsnips and steamed veg

Sat 14 - haven't decided yet, possibly some of the spicy chicken wings I found in the freezer that never got bbq'd last summer, with some homemade chips

Sun 15 - homemade pizza

Exercise update

Things didn't really happen on the exercise front over the weekend. I did try on Saturday. I was going out in the evening and I arranged it so that I would do an exercise DVD prior to having a shower and getting ready to go out. Unfortunately 20 minutes into the DVD the phone rang and I ended up having a 20 minute chat - so by the end of that I had to go and have a shower so I wouldn't be late getting ready.

Sunday is my day off exercise but I did have some extra time yesterdayso I was thinking about exercise, but I never got round to it. My body really hates exercising on a Sunday. We go to church in the morning so that involves having cooked dinner at lunch time but late, and pretty much I just end up wanting to sleep in the afternoons.

Anyway, today I got back on track again and went for a jog. I did the (8 min jog + 1 min walk) x 3 for the third time. Five minutes into the last block of 8 I got a really bad stitch though so I had a quick rest and gave up on the running then and just walked back down to the office. I think I will do this stage one more time before moving on to the next stage. Hopefully on Wednesday.

Recipe: Turkey and Asparagus Pie

In my opinion, this is one of the best ways of using up cold turkey or chicken. The quantities are not exact as its a bit of a bung it all together recipe - the only important thing is to get the consistency of the turkey mixture right. Too sloppy and your pastry will submerge whilst in the oven. Not enough moisture and it will dry up in the oven.

Ingredients:
Cooked turkey for two people
About 5 asparagus spears, chopped into lengths
A few chopped mushrooms
A chopped onion
Some milk
Turkey gravy granules
1 crushed garlic clove
Parsley, sage and thyme
Salt and pepper
1/4 packet of bought puff pastry - basically a square about the size of a pack of playing cards

Method:
In a large saucepan, with some oil spray, fry the onion until golden.
Add the mushroom and the turkey and continue to fry until brown. Add more oil spray if needed.
Add the asparagus and crushed garlic.
Then add the milk to the pan - add enough to cover the mixture in the pan plus a little more.
Thicken the mixture with turkey gravy granules. If you prefer use a stock cube and cornflour.
Add the herbs and seasoning.
Simmer for about 10 minutes.
While it is simmering preheat the oven to 200C.
Get a suitable dish, a deep one is better than a shallow one.
Roll the pastry out to the size of the dish.
Spoon the turkey mixture into the dish and top with the pastry.
Poke a hole in the top of the pastry with a knife and brush the surface with milk.
Cook for 30 minutes in the oven.
While its cooking steam yourself a selection of veggies to go with it.
Sometimes I do a little mashed potato as well.

The beginning of stage 6

Yesterday I completed the next jogging stage:

Stretch and warm up walk 5 mins
Jog/walk: (8 mins jog + 1 min walk) x 3
Stretch and cool down walk 8 mins

And yes, I managed to complete it with no problems. I could hardly believe it! The way my legs just managed to keep going in a way they wouldn't have done just two months ago.

I nearly got stitch after the second jog but managed to keep it at bay. However during the afternoon my legs started to ache/twinge a little, and they still feel the same today, so I think that now I'm getting on to more continous jogging I must make sure to stretch properly at each end, and maybe only go every alternate day and not two days in a row. Will see how it goes.

Must get myself some proper running shoes as well. It seems difficult to find the time. There is a shop very close to work - but either I'm going for a jog at lunch, or else I have my work clothes and shoes on if I'm not, and don't want to be running on a treadmill or whatever they do to analyse your feet in office clothes. I'm not sure what the best way forward is.

Menu plan w/c 2 March 09

Mon 2 - tofu and vegetable stirfry, rice noodles

Tue 3 - salmon with garlic butter sauce, roast parsnips, mash, steamed veg

Wed 4 - turkey mince bolognese, baked potato, steamed veg

Thu 5 - frozen pizza and salad

Fri 6 - (Choc Chip's birthday) smoked salmon and avocado salad, steak with pepper sauce, homemade chips, roast parsnip, steamed veg

Sat 7 - ciabatta rolls and vegetable soup for lunch , tea at church in the evening

Sun 8 - homemade pizza

Finally....

...I got round to doing some strength training again. Well, 15 minutes worth anyway. I have a few free weights which I use at home. The problem is I do it so rarely that each time I start again I have to use the teeny tiny weights. My aim is to try and do two lots of 15 minutes a week, and at least this week I have made some progress in that direction. I think that's been my aim for the last few months and the weights have not been employed very often at all.

Despite the fact I know that building muscle is great because then you burn more calories at rest, somehow doing weights feels like a lot more effort for not much gain. I suppose it doesn't help that I can only use tiny weights, as the effect of muscle building is reduced.

The other things with weights is that it can be hard to motivate yourself to do at home. Its not one continous movement like say the exercise bike, you have to think about each different exercise and its execution. I only have a couple of DVDs that use weights, generally DVDs are more cardio based. Its the Davina ones that use the weights and even then she focuses on low weights with high reps, rather than building up strength.

Oh well, I know I must try and do it so now that I've given it another go hopefully I can keep going!

Jogging update

All is going well, I have just completed the next jog/walk stage, three repetitions of the following:

Stretch and warm up walk 5 mins
Jog/walk: 6 min jog, 1 min walk, 5 min jog, 1 min walk, 6 min jog, 1 min walk, 5 min jog, 1 min walk
Cool down walk 9 mins (forgot to stretch AGAIN)

This went really well, I didn't have any problems at all. I had slight stitch in the cool down walk the first time I did this. I managed to go a little faster each time - and in fact today my final walk was only 7-8 mins as I had cut that off my time. I don't think I'll extend my route particularly though yet, I'll see how the next stage goes. In the 40 minutes I'm only covering about 4.2k at the moment - and that currently includes 22 minutes of running and the rest walking.

On Wednesday I shall do the first run of the next stage which is as follows:

Stretch and warm up walk 5 mins
Jog/walk: (8 min jog + 1 min walk) x 3
Cool down walk 8 mins, and stretch

That looks quite scary compared to what I did today, but its only an extra two minutes of running, so we'll see how it goes.