Yesterday I went a little crazy and thought I'd have a go at the 30 day shred on my days off of running. Bad idea! My knees hurt like crazy and I woke up this morning with stones for thighs. I set off today with my goal to just finish the 6 repetitions of 90seconds of running. However, as soon as I got into running my legs felt a lot better. I made it half way through my runs before starting to struggle with the runs.
I set off for the Nature Reserve again today, and have found a nice route avoiding the now non-existent path and most of the muddy paths. There are a couple of points on my route where I have to be careful not to slip on the mud but on the whole it's nice and clear with beautiful views. I'm not sure if it's the cold air but on a few runs where the wind was blowing in my face I started to struggle with my keeping my breathing consistent but this seemed to go away as soon as I was in a sheltered bit of the path.
After thinking I'd really struggle with week 2, I'm really enjoying it and could happily cut down the walking intervals to 30 seconds but I will stick with the programme.
Statistics
Distance - 1.5miles
Pace - 12:41 min/mile
Playlist
Emeli Sandé - Our Version of Events
Tuesday, 14 January 2014
Monday, 13 January 2014
Owlet Baby Monitors
Last year we attended the Baby Show at Olympia. Normally the Baby show is held in Earl's Court in October, which is a much better venue for getting to on public transport.
Aside for the usual favourites to see at the Baby Show: Mothercare and gNappies. I also saw a new monitor that is yet to hit the shelves. Owlet, it's a monitor with a difference. It sits in a sock on your baby so you can monitor your babies heart rate, skin temperature and oxygen levels along with sleep quality and sleep position from your phone or smart device.
For me it really stood out as a product, I remember Nate being rather ill and constantly taking his temperature and in the process disturbing his sleep. Or in the case of when he had Croup having information regarding his oxygen levels could have made our decision to go to hospital earlier or even made the decision for us regarding wether to go or not.
At the minute the sock only goes up to 12 months which is unfortunate as when Nate is feeling under the weather I'd love the option to put him to bed with the sock and check on the app instead of disturbing him. Hopefully they will produce a sock big enough for Nate soon.
Owlet's Website
Disclaimer: I loved this product so much I wanted to write about it, I have not received anything for writing this post.
Aside for the usual favourites to see at the Baby Show: Mothercare and gNappies. I also saw a new monitor that is yet to hit the shelves. Owlet, it's a monitor with a difference. It sits in a sock on your baby so you can monitor your babies heart rate, skin temperature and oxygen levels along with sleep quality and sleep position from your phone or smart device.
For me it really stood out as a product, I remember Nate being rather ill and constantly taking his temperature and in the process disturbing his sleep. Or in the case of when he had Croup having information regarding his oxygen levels could have made our decision to go to hospital earlier or even made the decision for us regarding wether to go or not.
At the minute the sock only goes up to 12 months which is unfortunate as when Nate is feeling under the weather I'd love the option to put him to bed with the sock and check on the app instead of disturbing him. Hopefully they will produce a sock big enough for Nate soon.
Owlet's Website
Disclaimer: I loved this product so much I wanted to write about it, I have not received anything for writing this post.
Sunday, 12 January 2014
Running Week 2 Run1
What a lovely way to start Sunday, everyone up early and off to the Nature Reserve. Nate on his bike with Daddy and I was off ahead running/walking. Today saw the run time going from 60 seconds to 90 seconds. I'll admit I was worried I wouldn't stay the full 6 repetitions but I did.
Just after half way around my course I thought I wouldn't make it as I was focusing on the next landmark as soon as I stopped focusing (and therefore slowed down ever so slightly) the runs felt so much more manageable. The Nature Reserve is under even more water now then it was earlier in the week, the path along the rive we normally walk on is under roughly 4 inches of water.
Nate's Dad and I didn't plan our walk so when I bumped into Nate at roughly the half-way point in my run he wanted to talk to me and tried to follow me on his bike. Next time, we should plan it better and hopefully next time the pathes won't be so flooded so we can take very different routes so we only bump into each other at the end of my run.
I'm happy to report no Lead Legs today, and there were no aches after run 3 from week 1 either. It's still early days but I'm enjoying going out and running. I hoping for no snow this winter though, not sure I will want to run in the snow.
Statistics
Distance - 1.5 miles
Pace - 12.44 min/mile
Playlist - same as last week, it needs to be updated.
Just after half way around my course I thought I wouldn't make it as I was focusing on the next landmark as soon as I stopped focusing (and therefore slowed down ever so slightly) the runs felt so much more manageable. The Nature Reserve is under even more water now then it was earlier in the week, the path along the rive we normally walk on is under roughly 4 inches of water.
Nate's Dad and I didn't plan our walk so when I bumped into Nate at roughly the half-way point in my run he wanted to talk to me and tried to follow me on his bike. Next time, we should plan it better and hopefully next time the pathes won't be so flooded so we can take very different routes so we only bump into each other at the end of my run.
I'm happy to report no Lead Legs today, and there were no aches after run 3 from week 1 either. It's still early days but I'm enjoying going out and running. I hoping for no snow this winter though, not sure I will want to run in the snow.
Statistics
Distance - 1.5 miles
Pace - 12.44 min/mile
Playlist - same as last week, it needs to be updated.
Friday, 10 January 2014
Running- Week 1 Done!
Today I completed Week 1 of C25K. After a rough night with Nate not sleeping at all well, he woke us up at 3am this morning for the second time this week. I didn't feel like going out for a run, but it's too early in the programme to miss a day so I pushed through and got myself out.
As soon as I was out, I felt a lot better and I think I'm starting to get my pace right. I decided to take a slightly different route around the park today as I didn't fancy running on the grass as on Day 1 it was very slippery. It wasn't a route I was familiar with and had a couple of roads to cross, which possibly wasn't the best thing as I had to stop at one of them for the cars and I am now suffering from Lead Legs. I'm not sure if the two are linked but I didn't suffer from them after Day 2.
Progress to note, after Day 1 my muscles felt achey (as to be expected) but after Day 2 no aches or pains, I don't know if I cooled down better after Day 2. There were a lot more people out today I guess as it wasn't raining when I went but had been a bit drizzly in the morning. I'm not sure which run I prefer the Nature Reserve or the park. Hopefully when it's a bit drier I'll be able to run more of the Nature reserve which will be a lot more fun.
Statistics
Overall Distance- 1.52 miles
Overall pace - 12.19 min/mile
Playlist
Same as Day 1. I need to shake up the music a bit for next week, I liked running to Rizzle Kicks the most so I might a couple more of their tracks onto my phone.
As soon as I was out, I felt a lot better and I think I'm starting to get my pace right. I decided to take a slightly different route around the park today as I didn't fancy running on the grass as on Day 1 it was very slippery. It wasn't a route I was familiar with and had a couple of roads to cross, which possibly wasn't the best thing as I had to stop at one of them for the cars and I am now suffering from Lead Legs. I'm not sure if the two are linked but I didn't suffer from them after Day 2.
Progress to note, after Day 1 my muscles felt achey (as to be expected) but after Day 2 no aches or pains, I don't know if I cooled down better after Day 2. There were a lot more people out today I guess as it wasn't raining when I went but had been a bit drizzly in the morning. I'm not sure which run I prefer the Nature Reserve or the park. Hopefully when it's a bit drier I'll be able to run more of the Nature reserve which will be a lot more fun.
Statistics
Overall Distance- 1.52 miles
Overall pace - 12.19 min/mile
Playlist
Same as Day 1. I need to shake up the music a bit for next week, I liked running to Rizzle Kicks the most so I might a couple more of their tracks onto my phone.
Thursday, 9 January 2014
Nom Nom kids
Late last year I was sent some refillable pouches to review. Nom Nom Kids make refillable pouches which are perfect for weaning or carrying snacks for an older toddler. I have found it holds the perfect amount of custard to satisfy Nate. As Nate is dairy free I end up making a lot of alternatives for him and when we are travelling pots can be bulky and heavy so these are perfect for taking a dessert with us.
As his favourite dessert is custard at the minute I have found myself making custard a lot to put in them. We use Coconut milk (Koko) and Bird's custard powered to make custard for Nate. I find that you need less milk when using coconut milk but sometimes need to use a little more custard powder and you have to keep stirring the custard while it cools or it can become lumpy.
Another favourite here was apple and strawberry puree. One apple to 5 strawberries cooked down for a while and then pureed up.
Washing the pouches was very easy, I ran hot water through the ziplock opening and then through the spout to get rid of the excess food and didn't have to use a bottle brush although I did just to ensure they were clean and then 'hung' them to dry on our washing up dryer. The only negative I found was that sometimes even if you only fill to the max fill line some food can still come out when zipping it up, although I got better at not letting that happen the more I used them. You can find them here at www.nomnomkids.co.uk
We were sent these to review, all opinions are my own.
As his favourite dessert is custard at the minute I have found myself making custard a lot to put in them. We use Coconut milk (Koko) and Bird's custard powered to make custard for Nate. I find that you need less milk when using coconut milk but sometimes need to use a little more custard powder and you have to keep stirring the custard while it cools or it can become lumpy.
Another favourite here was apple and strawberry puree. One apple to 5 strawberries cooked down for a while and then pureed up.
Washing the pouches was very easy, I ran hot water through the ziplock opening and then through the spout to get rid of the excess food and didn't have to use a bottle brush although I did just to ensure they were clean and then 'hung' them to dry on our washing up dryer. The only negative I found was that sometimes even if you only fill to the max fill line some food can still come out when zipping it up, although I got better at not letting that happen the more I used them. You can find them here at www.nomnomkids.co.uk
We were sent these to review, all opinions are my own.
Wednesday, 8 January 2014
Running Week 1 Run 2
This morning, I went on my second run in the Couch to 5K programme. I started the morning with chia seed porridge and a cup of rooibos tea in the hope the oats would give me more energy. I don't know if that worked, I'll have to wait and see if I'm flagging by midday.
On to the run, I started with the normal 5 minute warm up walk but decided instead of running around the park to run around the local Nature Reserve. The Nature Reserve was flooded in places so my planned route had to be changed slightly. I found the runs slightly harder this time with me feeling like I was beginning to get a stitch during the 3rd 60 second run, although the stitch never arrived.
I got my pace wrong in the first few runs so felt like I wouldn't recover in the walks, I did. At times I felt I should stop and catch my breath, I'm glad I didn't as I got through and still enjoyed the run. I don't know if the lack of rain made running harder as there was nothing cooling me when I was running. (I never thought I'd saw something positive about being out in rain) A goal for me I suppose is to work on my pace so I can keep the run going.
Statistics
Distance: 1.5miles
Pace: 12:37 min/mile
I ran slightly further today which is nice although I would have been happy with the same distance.
On to the run, I started with the normal 5 minute warm up walk but decided instead of running around the park to run around the local Nature Reserve. The Nature Reserve was flooded in places so my planned route had to be changed slightly. I found the runs slightly harder this time with me feeling like I was beginning to get a stitch during the 3rd 60 second run, although the stitch never arrived.
 |
| Gate to a flooded field |
Statistics
Distance: 1.5miles
Pace: 12:37 min/mile
I ran slightly further today which is nice although I would have been happy with the same distance.
Tuesday, 7 January 2014
V & A Museum
We like to visit museums with Nate and normally try to look for things he will like. In the case of the British Museum it was the Parthenon Room to look at the horses. However, if we are in South Kensington we normally go to the Natural History Museum. To mix things up and try something new we went to the V&A and went to their exhibition space set aside for Digital Kids and picked up a backpack especially for under 5's to explore the museum.
Picking up the backpack is rather painless. You fill out a few details and leave a form of identification behind to guarantee you will bring it back. Inside you will find 4 dice and a pack full of discs that make animal sounds. The object of the backpack is to go around the section of the museum (Asia section) and find the animals.
On the outside of the pack is a map of the museum with labels where each of the animals are. Once you have found the animal, you use the dice to make the picture of the animal and then use the sound disc to hear the sound the animal makes.
Nate enjoyed going around finding each of the animals and we spent over an hour wandering around either looking for the animals, or looking at them, talking about the sounds they make or making the puzzle. In the future if we were to use the backpack again we would also take some paper and pencils, so he could draw his favourite (or all of the animals) as another talking point.
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