Up and Running Again!

Horseguards and the finishers area... I was so proud - That's Dad with his chocolate Gold Medal!  Couldn't have done it without Dad!

Lloydy and me at the Expo!  Can't believe we're here!

As if you hadn't heard enough about my exploits I have taken the brave decision to bore you all once again with my running blog!  I have, yet again, missed out on the ballot for London 2013 which would have meant me getting a free place.  I have however, secured a charity place again for the British Heart Foundation.  As you're all aware this charity means a lot to me so I'm more than happy to attempt raising my pledge of £2000 once again.  That's an awful lot of money in such tough economic times, but I have to say how I was totally impressed with everyone's generosity for this year's marathon and I'm hopeful, you'll all help me out again for 2012. 

Post race massage from Dizzie Rascal! x

 I'm going to try to be a bit more inventive with my fundraising this time.  I'm thinking along the lines of 'Curry and Quiz' nights, random coffee mornings with lots of cake and a charity mountain climb up Pen-Y-Fan.  We had a fun time climbing Pen y Fan last Winter - I think the detour back to Penderyn Whiskey Distillery helped as an incentive!!

18 Miles and I was so glad to see Colin, Dad and the kids x  On my wrist (in black and red stripes, is a mile by mile reminder of people I was running for.  Every mile marker was a different person...kept me going

Training has started in earnest!  I have a training partner which is really good news to be honest because I can't make excuses when it's raining, snowing or when I'm generally lazy!  Nigel is running for CRY (Cardiac Risk in the Young).  He's a good friend and a neighbour so this makes organising our runs quite easy.  I think we're about the same pace at the moment so that's another advantage.  Every Tuesday and Thursday mornings we hit the track at Cwrt Herbert at 6am.  We're into our 3rd week now and I've got to say I'm really enjoying it.  Today was our first 'Long Run'.  As you remember from this year's training, every Sunday we MUST attempt a long run.  This has to get progressively longer each Sunday until we reach about 20 miles (hopefully about 4 weeks before the Marathon next year).  The mid week runs are normally between 5k - 10k. As well as my running, I am swimming regularly to help with recovery.  My legs are achy as hell at the moment so I'm hoping as the weeks go by, I'll get stronger and less 'arthritic'!

Dad is still on standby with his bike.  He's had a bad dose of flu lately so I'll wait a few weeks before I start nagging him.  We really need him to carry the Welsh cakes!

Anyway enough for now...drop in every now and again - would love to hear from you XXX

fuelled by Peroni and Welshcakes!

Hey, I did 14 miles on Sunday!  I think I could even have gone further, but I thought better of it!  Dad and I went all the way from my house up to Resolven along the canal.  What an absolutely fab day for running.  We set out at 8am and the sky was blue and the sun shining!  It was more like a May day, and not November! 


I had my trusty welshcake before venturing out - becoming a bit of a habit now! 
On Saturday night I also had a bottle of Peroni - OMG! I'm thinking of asking them to sponsor me for London....well I'm 'almost' Italian by the ammount of pasta I'm eating so I think I've got a great chance of them taking me on! I'm going to drop them a line - watch this space guys!

 I really enjoy forming new habits and convincing myself that I couldn't possibly break them on fate of death or worse, bleeding nipples!  So, my other little habit, is 'cake' afternoon with my lovely mate Becca from Fancy Vintage China.  We both have an hour to kill on a Monday, in between our teaching, so we've discovered a fab little coffee/cake shop on Bryn y Mor Road called 'One Shoe'! So every Monday for the last couple of weeks we've had Chocolate Brownies, Lemon Drizzle Cake and a truly scrumptious Carrot and Walnut cake.  There's no way I'm breaking this habit now and have secured it well into my training plan!  Well I did burn 1500 calories on Sunday so a little bit of cake is well deserved!
Most people actually lose weight whilst training for a marathon but I actually put on a stone training for Paris.  It's not the cake - it's all the bloody porridge! 
Anyway, here's to another great training week....and hopefully 15 miles on sunday.
Think I may give the scones a try on Monday!

Mucho love...

Cerys xxx

Happy thoughts!

I did  8 miles on Sunday - Rich couldn't make it as he had a cold but my Dad stepped in with his trusty mountain bike!  When I trained for the Paris Marathon earlier this year, Dad did all the training with me from the comfort (!) of his bike! He's really fit, my Dad.  He goes to the gym 5 times a week and lives a good, clean healthy life.  I love him to bits and I've got to say he totally inspires me to try harder all the time.  He doesn't put up with any of my nonsense and is always available with his blinkin' bike!  So when I want to skive and lie on the sofa, he's nagging me!  Anyway, last sunday we managed 8 miles.  I'd planned on 10 miles but Dad kept the pace up and I ended up running a lot faster than my usual plod! It took me about 1hr 20 minutes, and the calorie burn was a whopping 960!  Well worth the effort!

My Dad climbing Pen-Y-Fan! x

Power Welshcakes

On Saturday, I made lots of Welshcakes while listening to the Swans match on the radio.  I got the measurements a bit wrong and ended up with well over 100 of them!  Anyway, I tucked a few in my running belt and took them on my long run!  I'm sure with all the carbs, sugar and sultanas packed into those little cakes, my run was full of energy!

So that's my tip this week  - WELSHCAKES!

Have a lovely week,

Cerys...x

(oh, and the CLO capsules are still doing their magic - maybe I should put some in the Welshcakes!)

Vitamins and CLO

Morning! My day off and I awoke at 5am!  What the heck?  I started my new 'be good to yourself' regime this week - no wine on a school night and get to bed before 10pm! It's going really well.  I haven't had any wine and am more than happy to fall into bed about 9.30pm as I get up at 6am every morning! I've also started taking high strength Cod Liver Oil capsules and High Dose Vitamin C to help me through the winter months.  I can't believe the results in only 4 days!  I'm not sure if it's a placebo effect, but my joints in my legs are a dam sight less achey and stiff! I've got a pinned ankle from a serious break over 20 years ago.  My left leg does give me grief because of this, but I can honestly say I think the CLO is doing it's magic!  I've done some research (on Google!) and it seems that it can make me more intelligent also so I may consider upping my doseage!

http://www.healingnaturallybybee.com/articles/cod3.php


Let me know if you've had similar results with CLO, and what is the safe ammount to take?  I'm taking 1000mg a day, but reading some articles on the net, it seems I could take up to 2000mg a day.  I've also started 1000mg of Vitamin C, the fizzy tablets you drop into water.  I swear these keep me cold and flu free.  On the advice of my GP, I buy the supermarket's own brand not only because they're a heck of a lot cheaper, but because they have exactly the same ingredients as the major brands. So I bought Morrisson's own brand of both CLO and Vitamin C....watch this space!

I would love to hear from you if you have any advice on vitamins and supplements.  Please feel free to comment below.

Well seeing as I'm up so early, I'm going to go out for a run this morning! 10k planned then breakfast!

Happy Thursday!

Cerys x

Here's Me, Dawnie and Dan at our 1920's Murder at the Four Deuces last weekend! X
(I thought a photo of Cod Liver Oil Capsules would be a little bit boring!!) x

Sunday Runday!

10 miles - outdoor - 1150 calories!! 

 Neath Canal

I had a great night's sleep, 9 hours! I haven't had that much sleep in ages so I was raring to get going this morning.  Sunday for runners is the 'long run' day.  My brother, Richard, agreed to keep me company this morning and we managed a cool 10 miles!  We ran up the Neath Canal - absolutely beautiful! All the leaves are gorgeous Autumn colours now.  While I was running, I was thinking that most of my training over the last 12 months has been on that canal...Ive seen all the four seasons and I never get tired of it!  I really feel I'm running home, weird I know, must be the peanut butter! There are lots of runners out on that route and I see the same dog walkers every sunday!  



 

Thank you to everyone who contributed to the bucket collection at half time yesterday at Neath Rugby.  We managed to raise £302 which makes a real dent in my target!  I'm at 37% of the £1500 now.  I've lots more events planned over the next few months so I'll hopefully reach my target ahead of the marathon.


Anyway, time to put my feet up and look forward to a well earned Sunday lunch.
Have a great week everybody!


Cerys...X

Where did the week go? x

7k - 500 calories - Treadmill

Alys and I had a fab time in London although we ate far too many cupcakes!  Had a wonderful afternoon tea at the Waldorf too!  I was very eager to get back to the gym this morning if only to ease the guilt! I ran with Gemma, and having a chat while we ran soon ate away at the milage and before I knew it I'd put away 7k!
 I've made some enquiries about joining the Wales Women's Running Club - a bit scary joining a club as I'm not the fastest runner but I'm hoping it'll inspire me to run faster and longer, and it's also great to have some company on longer runs.

I'm hoping to attempt a long run this sunday if I can persuade my dad to get his bike out and come with me but I've got to get through tomorrow night's Murder at the Four Deuces party first.  The milage depends on my hangover status!  I've got a great costume from my good mate Kirstie Dunworth.  She's got 1000's of beautiful vintage costumes for hire for parties, photoshoots and theatrical stuff.  I'll post some photos after the event.

I've got a busy saturday planned too.  Neath Rugby have allowed me to have the bucket collection at half time between Neath and Pontypridd.  I've got a team of Alys and Sam's friends to help me but there's always room for more!  If you fancy helping me for 20 minutes on Saturday afternoon I can provide you with a British Heart Foundation T-Shirt and official collection bucket.  Hopefully the Neath and Ponty supporters will be generous and I can get closer to my marathon target!

Enough for today...time to do some ironing!!

have a great Thursday guys,..

Cerys x

Day 3...

7k - 500 calories - treadmill

Got up really early this morning.  6am on a Sunday! Madness - you'd think with all this exercise I'd sleep better but I don't! I do like getting up really early though but always fall asleep by 9pm!  Not a party animal at all.

 I was very impressed by France's performance in the final of the rugby - I guess all those insults being hurled at them this past week has really fired them up.  I eventually got to the gym by 11am, fuelled by 3 croissants!  Managed to hold my composure on the treadmill until McCaw lifted the Cup...then I was a blubbering wreck!  I'm sure I'm going to be asked to leave soon.  Nobody else seems to find the gym as emotionally moving as I do! Anyway, I think the 500 calories I burned is only one croissant! Dam those French! So I'm carrying an extra 1000 calories today which would be fine if we were about to be snowed in and there was no food in the fridge! Alas it's 16 degrees and there's Beef Bourginion for dinner!

 I have to remind myself that my motivation isn't weight loss - it's fitness, but after suffering the torturous humiliation of being the fattest, curviest (and happiest!) runner in Paris I vowed that I would attempt to look like a runner for London ( skinny, compression sock-wearing, and smothered in vaseline from head to toe perchance I get the dreaded 'jogger's nipple'!)  I've noticed only fast runner's have bleeding nipples so that's another reason to 'jog' gracefully wearing 3 sports bras and as little 'simple harmonic motion' as is possible!  For goodness sake - I'll have the same medal as Mo Farrah so what's the rush!

Enough from me for 2 days...I'm going to rest! My next run is planned for wednesday so I'll catch up with y'all then!

love,

Cerys x

p.s. That's not me BTW!!