One month countdown

Today is a big day, one month count down to my first of three autumn marathons.

How do I feel?

If you had asked me last week my answer would have been very positive as I was on the back of a 7 day runstreak and feeling strong and fit. 

However I have been ill since Sunday with some kind of nasty stomach bug, been off work all week barely well enough to leave the house let alone train. 

I feel so much weaker, feel like I have lost a lot of strength and my body has really struggled in its attempts to fight off the illness. 

As is always the way your diet goes out the window when your ill as lack of appetite and the desire for comfort food lead you to not always eating the healthiest of food choices.

So at the moment I feel pretty demoralized as missing a key week of training at this stage is a big blow. I am hopeful to get out for a decent run at the weekend if I feel well enough so fingers crossed for that.

My concern before falling ill was that although my training had gone well and I had pushed myself hard I was still some way short of being fast or fit enough to run a sub 4 marathon. After a week off I now know that the sub 4 mark is now even further out of reach. 

The challenge when getting back to training after illness is knowing when to start and then getting the balance right of how hard to ease yourself back to training and how hard to push. 

I know I need to just get back up and running but I also know I need a good long run of around 20K+ to stay on course with my training but am fearful that I will not have the energy or strength for this and it will be too much too soon after my illness. 

Any way fingers crossed I get back to full strength and fitness quickly so I can power on with my training and head full steam towards the marathon! 

Enough of my ramblings, thank you for reading, I hope everyone is fit and healthy and any tips or advice on training after illness would be gratefully received. 

Todays blog - Football, hill running, PB and Parkrun

Today's running blog, three points to discuss.

1    1. Last nights run

Last night before the crushing disappointment of England losing to Uruguay in the World Cup I headed out for a bit of a quick run.

My route was one that I have done several times but not recently and is a bit of a hill run. It’s basically running up out of a dip, back down into and then up the other side and down again and repeating this three times. The elevation of the course looks like this:

Although they are not massive hills and there isn’t a massive elevation rise it’s a testing run to try and run at speed and it keeps you working the full course.

Last night feeling good and running well in my new trainers I clocked a time of 32.49 with an average Km split of 4.31min/km which is the fastest average split I have run in a long time! 

Really pleased with the result I have looked over my previous times from early this year or in August and September last year when training for my last marathon in October and my time compares really well. Generally I was running the course in about 34 minutes so I am really impressed in knocking around 2 minutes off my time and it is a good indication that my training is progressing well.

2    2. Tonights gym session and burrito

Tonight after work I am heading out to watch the football and tonights match France v Switzerland is an entertaining prospect. But before the merriment of watching football out in a pub with the associated accompaniment of drinking I will be hitting the gym followed by treating myself to a burrito as a way of refueling after the gym and lining my stomach ahead of the drinking.

I am planning a core and ab circuit session with some body weight resistance exercises focusing on press ups and maybe some kettle bell work as well. I haven’t hit the gym in the evening for a long time and am looking forward to an afternoon session where I am a bit more awake and invigorated than what I sometimes am when training at 7 am in the morning.

Not wanting to curse myself now but I am also looking forward to the gym being quiet as it hopefully will be on a Friday evening, we will see….

3    3. Tomorrows Parkrun

Buoyed by feeling fitter and stronger and the success of my quick run last night as outlined in point 1 I am hoping for a good time in parkrun on Saturday morning. This does of course factor heavily on what happens tonight staying out watching the football as outlined in point 2!

Seriously though I know I have a good time in me and want to rival my PB which is around 21.55, my new trainers are also adding extra speed to my run. I know realistically new trainers will add a little bit of speed as they are firmer and stronger etc but they also add a big mental boost as I feel so much more confident and quicker running in new trainers.

Fingers crossed for some great weather and a great run tomorrow morning!

All the best to everyone else giving parkrun a go this weekend or running an event, run well everyone! 

Cafe Burrito Review

Here is my latest burrito review this time from small London based chain Burrito Cafe. They currently have two restaurants one in Kings Cross and one in Charing Cross and I have visited both a couple of times now. 

I love burritos and have been wanting to do some kind of review/rating system of the various different chains. By the way I am more of a 'man v food' type of guy rather than getting all fancy and gourmet.

My visit this time was to the Charing Cross branch and it has had a colourful makeover since I was here last with vibrant Mexican colours of reds, blues, greens and yellows. 

But onto the serious business of the burrito, having been to burrito cafe a few times before I was keen to tuck into another one of their burritos as they have previously provided a satisying filling meal.

My experience was almost ruined as it got off to a terrible start as I accidentally took some of their hot salsa while helping myself to their complimentary nachos while waiting to be served. Thankfully I always carry a bottle of water with me and I was able to cool my mouth down soon enough but the salsa was so hot I was shocked with how sensitive my mouth is and how I need to be more cautious with hot spices! Anyway crisis averted I was doubly keen to munch my way through the tastiest burrito they had to offer.

The beauty of their Charing Cross location is that its a perfect stop for some food after a night out in the West End. I have employed this tactic a couple of time when heading back from being out in Leicester Square or after drinking in the Harp, (which is a fine drinking establishment by the way providing some great ciders) a few doors down the street. 

Soon enough I started picking out my ingredients and on this occasion my burrito fillings were:

Tomato rice

Re-fried beans

Pulled Pork

Peppers

Courgettes

Medium salsa

Guacamole 

Cafe burrito do quite well in offering options and additional items to the standard burrito ingredients because as well as the usual burrito staples they also offer courgettes alongside the standard peppers, sweetcorn with the usual salad and what looked like chillis if you are searching for that extra kick. 

An excellent added ingredient to a cafe burrito meal is the refreshing addition of a Sol beer. Sol is my favourite of the light Mexican style lagers such as Corona and Desperado and is the ultimate in summer refreshment when served nice and cold with a wedge of lime. If I wasn't such a big fan of Sol I wouldn't have been short of drink options as I was pretty impressed with the great drinks selection on offer, a wide selection of beers even a cider and some good looking soft drinks were also available. 

So to review the burrito; 

Tortilla wrap: plain, artificial and quite stodgy with quite a thick and gloopy texture with no real taste.

Rice: I went for tomato rice but they also had lime and coriander as an option, can't say I really noticed it in the burrito and didn't get any flavour from it. The rice seemed to be quite stodgy, balnd and over cooked in comparison to other places where it feels fresh and fluffy.

Pulled Pork: Nice, meaty and chewy but quite finely pulled so there wasn't a nice thick meaty chewiness to it. It also didn't have the feel of being fresh and cooked on the premises rather pre packaged and shipped in chilled or frozen to be warmed up for serving. 

Salsa: A pleasant light green dark salsa although perhaps a bit watery, it did mix in quite well with the guacamole to provide a soothing, cooling element to the burrito.  

Peppers: good, crunchy and pretty sweet.
Courgettes: Excellent, a real plus point for Burrito Cafe to provide this as an option as they add another element especially when they were really crisp and tasty like in my burrito. Being long and hard they provide a 'backbone' if you like the structure and a much needed bite to an either wise soft burrito.  
Refried beans: really good re-fried beans, they also had the option of black bean so it is good to have both options available but the re-fried beans I always go for and these were pretty good all nice and gloopy adding a good sayisfying consistency to the burrito experience. 
Guacamole: Not the same guacamole I have had here before I don't think? This was an attempt at fancy guacamole as it appeared to be of a more thinned down consistency but with larger lumps of avocado present along with red onion and chilli I think. Overall it wasn't very strong tasting but was cooling and pleasant. 

Overall: OK, not a lot of flavour and certainly no kick ass explosion of strong flavours as provided by Daddy Donkey and a real lack of an authentic Mexican taste. 

Burrito Cafe experience: Fine, pretty decent service, a pleasant place to sit and chill while you eat your food and drink your beer. The refurbished premises were clean and fresh but had a touristy feel to them rather than a serious establishment like Tortilla or Chipotle. The bright colours almost made the place feel garish but at the same time I am sure this appeals and attracts passing trade. 

The big plus points for Burrito Cafe are that they pack a mean burrito in terms of the large amount of fillings they manage to cram in and the fact the burrito is well made and holds together very securely. The addition of a sol to a burrito also instantly raises its rating so I must try not to let that cloud my judgement of the actual burrito. 

My overall experience would have to be a 5/10 as the burrito didn't blow me away with an explosion of taste but at the same time there was nothing it just didn't live up to anywhere near the high levels of other burritos.

As already mentioned it has real redeeming features such as the courgettes and the quantity of fillings they pack into a fully loaded burrito.

Next month I plan to try the nee barburrito in High Holborn.

Half year evaluation

So with 6 months of the year now done and dusted its time to see what I have done in the first half of 2014.

So to date this year I have completed 754Km or 468 miles. Not bad considering I had almost a month of injured so I am pretty happy with that and like the idea of trying to pass 1000 miles for the year which I think I am on course for.

Overall I have ran on 78 occasions this year including indoor and outdoor training runs as well as events.

In terms of events I have completed 4 parkruns as well as one half marathon and one 15 mile race.

The 15 mile race was the Benfleet 15 in January which was a rather muddy affair that my trainers ended up looking a little worse for wear after.

In March I spectacularly smashed my Half Marathon Personal Best with a great run of 1.39 knocking 7 minutes off my record at the Tunbridge Wells Half Marathon.

My other highlights include my two international runs I completed while on holiday in Greece and my advancements in running longer distances home from work spurred on by the run2work campaign. 

Currently my furthest run home stands at 22K and I hope to continue to increase this distance and be able to run the whole way home by completing the extra 5 or 6K soon.

My focuses are all on the second half of the year now with my main objectives being the following:

•My 3 marathons

•Running the entire distance home from work

•My continuing search for a parkrun PB

•More streaks and being more confident at running consecutive days

I hope you have been happy with your achievements over the first half of 2014 and wish you well with your endeavors over the second half of the year.

A weekend in Somerset

This last weekend was a weekend without running but instead filled with the delights that Somerset had to offer.

Friday was a journey down to Taunton on the train and then an afternoon drinking cider in The Plough Inn which has held the recognition of being CAMRAs Somerset cider pub of the year. 

With all that drinking some food was required to soak up some of the alcohol and what better than a delicious pieminster pie?! I opted for the beef and Stilton option which provided a nice combination of rich meatiness and creamy cheesiness. The pie was served with an accompaniment of mashed potato, minted mushy peas and onion gravy and the meal was enjoyable and fulfilling. 

Friday evening and off to the main entertainment of the day, cricket action with the T20 blast game SomersetvEssex. Although the game was delayed by rain and interrupted and cut short through bad light it was still a pretty entertaining game and good contest between the teams with Essex coming out on top which made the trip down to this away game more than worth the wile! 

Saturday was then a visit to some of the attractions you only really find in Somerset, cider farms! As a cider lover my first visit to a cider farm had the potential to be an almost religious pilgrimage experience. I managed to contain the gravitas of the situation and met the prospect with my usual excitement and exuberance.

Our first visit was to the Burrow Hill cider farm in Martock where their rustic farm shop was decadently laid out with an abundance of cider and apple related products beautifully laid out for sale. A strong mental disposition was required to overcome the inherent urge to splurge money on every pretty shiny bottle containing sweet apple tasting goodness. 

The farm and the shop was very traditional and rustic and gave away little to suggest that their cider making process had developed much since their production began some 150 years ago despite advances in technology and increased demands due to the surge in popularity in cider. 

After much deliberation and quite a few tastings to try to help make my mind up I eventually settled on a 4 litre bottle of medium cider to take away with me. A large bag of their own brand salt and cider vinegar crisps as well as a bottle of their renowned cider brandy completed my purchases and I was glad to beat a hasty exit form the shop without inflicting any further damage to my bank balance. 

Luckily we had managed to avoid the frequent showers that kept recurring throughout the day and we were able to take a walk around their orchard to get more up close and personal with their prized crop. 

The walk also gave a good view of the burrow hill, an unmistakable local landmark of a one tree hill peering out over the local landscape. You can just about make it out in the centre of the following photo, as you can also see it unfortunately wasn't the most pleasant of summers days. 

Next it was on-wards to Perry's cider farm in Ilminster which is in contract a more commercial and visitor friendly operation containing a small museum as well as a shop and Cafe and eatery. 

The museum although small is completing crammed with old farming and cider making artifacts as well as information on cider apples and cider production.  

The shop is where the magic really happens though and is again a place where your bank card could come in for some real punishment. 

The large barrels below contain the different varieties of ciders Perry's produce in an almost try before you buy fashion. The shop is slick and sharp country farm type shop full of not only a wider range of Perrys merchandise and products but also a comprehensive range of all kinds of products from other suppliers who follow the same natural ethos that Perry's adhere to. 

After helping myself to a more than a fair and acceptable amount of cider its a good job there was some food on offer. The onsite Cafe and Eatery served up a great tasting lunch of locally produced and naturally prepared food. I opted for the special which was a Perry's Platter which was a generous serving of cold meats, cheeses, salad, chutney, pickle and fresh bread, needless to say this was all washed down with generous amounts of cider!

I would recommend a trip to Perry's for anyone visiting the area with a passing interest in cider or even an interest in freshly produced natural produce. 

Once again my visit to the West Country has provided a great weekend, it must be something about consuming large quantities of cider that makes for a great time!