What I’ve Learnt
By Brit Chick Runs. Filed in Uncategorized |
Heyhohoho.
How are we all?
It’s been busy my way! Last Saturday, I had a training day for Women’s Running / Project 26.2 in Teddington. You can read all about it on the Women’s Running website, when my blog goes up, but before then – here’s some stuff that I’ve learnt since that day:
1) I can drive through the middle of London (yes, LONDON), with a panicking SatNav that will only say ‘re-routing’ over and over again, by myself, in the dark, with low blood sugar and not a clue as to where I am going – and not die. And all that BEFORE the training day even began! Sheesh.
2) Tomato pasta is tasty enough to be worthy of second helpings for lunch, when made by other people (I’m looking at you, random cafe in Teddington). Tomato pasta made by oneself is never as good – mainly because chewy, undercooked pasta is not the way to go:
At least I tried, right?
3) When I run with lots of other people (particularly fellow Project 26.2 men and women..), I run faster! I think it’s my competitive side coming out to play, but never before have I had two 7.04 min/miles in a row, and NEVER have I hit 5.58 pace! I’m the next Usain Bolt – mark my words.
4) Pancakes are still my number one favourite lunch – and always will be.
(Charred) Pear-flax-ginger, with a PF-banana sauce, and a BLOOD ORANGE! Which leads to…
5) Blood oranges are 10 x better than regular ones. Maybe it’s because they’re red, maybe it’s because they sound daunting and evil, or maybe it’s the sheer novelty value at never having had a b l o o d o r a n g e before…who knows.I just know I want more of them in my life!
6) My favourite coffee-maker in Costa has let her standards slip…normally, when I order my primo soya cappuccino, I ask for it to be extra frothy (aka ‘dry’, in CoffeeLand lingo). I’ve been training up the Costa barristers and they’ve all become experts at my order, literally beginning making it as I walk through the door. However, my favourite lady seems to have changed her method / idea of what ‘frothy’ is – she handed one to me the other week, and said ‘extra bubbly, just how you like it.’ Now that’s super sweet of her, but bubbly? No no no! Frothy!!! Bubbly is a few centimeters worth of bubbly weak froth – I like inches of thick foamy goodness, the kind you need a spoon (or a finger) to finish. Gah! So, when I went in to town yesterday and saw she was working, I kind of just…walked straight back out again, before anyone saw me. I then did the unspeakable, and bought a cappuccino from the Cafe Nero just down the road. I felt so bad about it…but then, the Cafe Nero coffee was incredible, perfect, frothy, thick & wonderful. BUT, it was 60p more expensive. Hmm. Maybe I should just stick to making my own at home?
Check out THAT froth!! Made with a £9.99 frother! Incredible. I may or may not have had six homemade decaff soya cappuccinos in two days.
7) If I want to continue doing swimming as my cross training, I need to either a) shave off all my hair. b) be the only one in the pool who is wearing a swimming hat, and risk getting ridiculed, or c) ask y’all for advice on what the heck to do with my hair whilst I’m in the pool!
Exhibit A:
My hair, post swim.
W.
T.
F.
Last week, I plaited it – FAIL – and this week, I put it in a ponytail/bun thing – even bigger FAIL. It was literally one huge clump of tangled mess!! HELP! If hair had feelings, mine was screaming in agony whilst I tore it apart brushed it through. Oh, and I had one nasty headache afterwards, from all the yanking and pulling. Waah :’(
8 ) Nope, can’t think of a number eight. I guess seven is the maximum number of new things I can learn in the space of 4 or 5 days. This bodes well for the future.
So, any hair words of wisdom??!
What do you order when you go into a coffee shop? (& if you don’t like coffee, SHAME ON YOU! ;P)
Wednesday, January 11th 2012 at 6:29 pm |
Oooh excited to read the project 26.2 blog when it goes up, it seems like such a cool project
As for the hair i’m afraid i haven’t much advice in that department as mine is fairly short & really fine so is easy to manage after swimming. I would suggest maybe spraying on a leave in conditioner and combing that through before you put yoyr hair up so it’s easier to detangle later?
Wednesday, January 11th 2012 at 7:09 pm |
Aah see that’s the crazy thing – I do brush my hair through before I go in! I’m guessing it’s my goggles and split ends that is causing the major tangle
Wednesday, January 11th 2012 at 7:30 pm |
Go to the Body Shop and try their bilberry leave-in detangler spray… My hair isn’t as long as yours, but it’s SUPER thick and curly and when I have post-gym/swim tangles I just spray a tonne of that in and leave it for as long as I can handle. It really takes the edge of that unbearable tangle-catching owchiness! xx
Wednesday, January 11th 2012 at 7:37 pm |
Wait, are you allowed to swim without swimming cap? If that’s the case, I’d trim away the split ends, spray a leave-in conditioner (or some almond oil, but I wouldn’t recommend using it without a cap).
I always use a cap, apart being compusory at my local pool, I find that it protects (at least a little) my hair from chlorine.
As for coffee…well, I live in Italy, so it’s an unsweetened double shot of espresso for me!
Wednesday, January 11th 2012 at 8:06 pm |
I would recommend that you wear a swimming cap. It will really protect your hair. If you do not wear the swim cap, you might want to consider cutting your hair so that it doesnt get quite a tangled!
Wednesday, January 11th 2012 at 9:35 pm |
Certainly takees the ‘no more tangles’ concept to the extreme, doesn’t it? I’m sure you’d test those shampoos and conditioners to their limit. It’s something I wish I had the solution to as well, because chlorine wrecks my hair and I don’t have much there to begin with…so I was almost bald by the time I stopped swimming earlier this year.
Great to see you reaching your potential running-wise!
I have the same coffee preferences that you do – I’d have done the same thing in your situation. Nowt worse than a thin-frothed cappuccino.
xxx
Wednesday, January 11th 2012 at 9:42 pm |
I’m in awe of your speed!
) And then some conditioning spray/paste and a ‘Tangle Teezer’ thingy (they come in purple glitter and all sorts of colours…thinking pink sparkles here, haha)
Hair wisdom…I’d go for the swimming hat; nothing is as bad as the pain of detangling long hair!I’m always surprised what a difference a split end trim makes (I fight for every 1/4 inch but sometimes it just has to be done
Good luck x
Wednesday, January 11th 2012 at 10:46 pm |
I usually go for a faurly large blob of regular conditioner, comb it through then plait. It will still be a mess after, but a softer more easily controlled mess!
Thursday, January 12th 2012 at 9:54 am |
I always had trouble fitting all my hair into a swimming cap (one pool I used you had to wear one). When I didn’t wear it, I was told to wet your hair with clean water before you get in the pool, because hair absorbs water, and if it absorbs the clean water it will not have space for any of the chlorinated water. Plus add a leave- in conditioner and tie up in a bun/knot thing.
Also, I don’t like coffee (I am whispering that!) but I do love the smell. I used to order a chai tea, but now I have discovered the joys of a chai latte with soya milk- seems to go even frothier. I got a frother for Christmas though and it makes it much more fun to make one at home!
Friday, January 13th 2012 at 8:58 pm |
Swimming caps makes you faster… Just sayin’ Especially if they are in some sort of obnoxious colour, I am sure there is sound science behind this statement.
Monday, January 16th 2012 at 12:52 am |
Steph is right. I’m in the water 5 days a week and find combing a BIG blob of conidtioner through and then plaiting works best. Putting my hair in a bun only seems to encourage crazy tangling. I have massively thick hair about the same length as you and this works quite well for me. I tend to wash it as soon as I get out of the pool as well.