Sunday Update: Reading and Workouts and Sleep

Hey! It's Sunday!

We had a surprisingly productive weekend, which included a massive sort out of my office in preparation for an eventual room reshuffle.  Also, the kids have been staying awake far too late recently so I decided to switch their room layout from two separate beds to bunk beds in hopes that not seeing each other might cut down on the shenanigans.  It didn't instantly help, but it has meant that their room has a lot more space.  I've called it their summer room:

Old layout:

New layout:

Anyways, on to the anxiously awaited Reading, Workouts and Sleep Sunday Update!

Reading

This week I finished The Husbands.  I liked it!  I am not great at writing book reviews.  At first I had trouble getting into the fantasy element of it (I hate the idea of being in a new life that I don't know while everyone else lives their lives that they do know and thinks I am living my life normally to... if that makes sense?) but about halfway through I really got into the book.  And it managed to not be boring while still having a somewhat Groundhog day premise.

Then I learned that I had been using Libby wrong.  I thought that when a book became available I could either put it back on hold and stay in the queue or just do nothing and stay in the queue.  Apparently the doing nothing option actually deletes my hold.  So I went back through and re-held a number of items.  I sometimes couldn't decide which hold I wanted and I would just let the hold lapse, but I'll be better about changing the "deliver after" date from now on.  I pretty much use holds as my TBR (as well as a short TBR tab, and a much. larger "notify me when available" list).

Although I am first in line for a number of things I didn't have any holds come through in time for evening reading so I randomly checked out a skip the line copy of Happily Never After.  It was under the "popular now" section and fits my summer lighthearted chick lit reading.  I am enjoying it so far but will enjoy reading something a bit more cerebral or literary next. 

Workouts

It was a pretty good week for exercise culminating in a great 5k time for me!  I think there might be something to both strength training and interval training.  "Surprise!" says no fitness person ever.

Monday: 

    2.2 mile run (while listening to a Robin Arzon Peloton class).  

    50 minute workout at a friend's house (arms and core class from Courtney Black).  

    10 min Peloton Robin Arzon Postnatal Core 2 Class

    10 min Peloton Healthy Back Yoga class

Tuesday:
    15 min Peloton Arms & Shoulders with Tunde

    1 hour hike with a friend up and down a hill

Wednesday:

    1 hour gym session with gym buddy (Legs & Core)

    45 hour super casual bike ride out to dinner and back (22 minutes each way)

Thursday: 

    20 min Postnatal full body with Robin Arzon

Friday

    Watching all the small children all day (can't really call it rest)

Saturday

    Ran my local parkrun (5k Race) while listening to a Robin Arzon interval training program.  Strava gave me a 5k time of 29:20 which is among my best! Parkrun official time was 31:20 which is still pretty good. I felt really good and was able to increase and decrease the pace a number of times.  I got all introspective on how running doesn't get easier, I just get faster.  How twins don't necessarily get easier - I just somehow do more.  How I often look for sustainability in my running pace and in my life pace when actually sustainability might mean unsustainable efforts followed by more sustainable efforts.   It was a very introspective post run!

But also, these results.  Yay.

Sleep:

This week has been a fairly unsustainable one on the sleep front.  I stayed up late one night going out to dinner with a friend. The big kids have suddenly somehow realised that they don't have to fall asleep at 7pm and it's like the seal has been broken - they are sometimes up past 8:30 and it's driving me insane. I am generally having trouble sleeping past 4:30am, and often Audrey is up around that time and although she doesn't need me, hearing her chatting in her room makes it hard for me to fall back asleep.  She seems to fall back asleep just fine.

My average for this week has been 6.83 hours.

I've finally caught some sort of kid disease so I am hoping it doesn't last long.  Sore throats should be illegal in the summer.  All the kids currently have runny noses.  I had hoped that a good night of sleep would fix me, but unfortunately I was up with a sad Lilah and a grumpy Audrey last night.  Maybe tonight will be the night I get lots of sleep and feel better.  And if not, I will continue to thank the world for ibuprofin and coffee.  

Did you get enough sleep this week?  Have you read anything great in July?  Do you have kids and if so do they stay awake past 7pm and if so how do you have any grown up time??  Is ibuprofin your favourite painkiller?

Sunday Randomness - Hair, Running, Sleep, Food.

On Friday I decided it was time to cut Lilah's hair.  I set up mommy hair salon in the kitchen.  It included the following hair cut menu:

Lilah picked curly hair.  I cut it exactly as I planned to (slightly shorter than it was)

We are not a big TV family.  We watch half an hour sometimes before dinner, and sometimes a little more if we are watching a film in parts.  Although I have a tablet the kids have never seen me use it and I've told them that our tablet doesn't do TV.  I have a kindle which Lilah has tried and failed to play music on (somehow she did factory reset it once??)  I debated letting lilah watch TV while I cut her hair since daytime TV is a general no... but I decided there is no reward for cutting a kids hair while they flail about.  I put on Bluey and she sat SO STILL and I was able to actually measure and cut and it turned out pretty OK (I mean, it looks basically the same, but it way easier to comb).  Next time I do Isaac hair I will definitely be using tactical TV.

[Also, If I cut both kids hair, and Andy's hair, then I can *definitely* spend more money on my hair.  I'm also wondering whether my hair cuts (at £35) or colours (at £80 - but I've only done this once as I'm trying to grow out my natural colour now) should be going under a different budget category.  It currently sits in Rachel Hobbies... but is having decent hair a hobby or a requirement?  I do enjoy some parts of the hair cut, but if Andy could make my hair look as good as the hair dresser then I would be happy to not spend the money.  Things to ponder.]

Saturday was a rough morning.  We are trying to get Audrey to sleep longer and I'm trying to drop the 5am feed.  on Friday she did great.  On Saturday she decided she did not want to drop or shorten the 5am feed and she let the whole house know.  Everyone was awake from 5am onwards.  And I had foolishly tried to go back to sleep after she woke me at 4:30, which meant that when I was awake again at 5:30 I was extra annoyed.  My mantra is "there is no sleep past 4:30" because at 4:30 or 5:00am it's so easy (especially on a Saturday!) to think "if only I could have another hour of sleep!"... but realising there isn't another hour to be had takes that decision away.

I don't look at the sky at 9:30pm and ask for another hour of light.  I can't look at the clock at 5am and ask for another hour of sleep.

Also, there are always earlier bedtimes! There have been a slew of bedtime related posts recently on the internets which I am very much interested in.  Apparently 9pm is not the terribly early adult bedtime I thought it was.  For some reason I've always felt 10pm is a good solid adult bedtime.  But maybe 8-9 is the way forward.  Maybe evening social activities are not a thing of the late thirties and early 40s era of lots of young babies.

But back to Saturday.  Because everyone was in a terrible state we all stayed home, the babies went down for a nap early, and I decided to go to Parkrun - a free local 5K.  This is my first 5k since having the twins, and part of my goal of doing 4 5k races this year.  It went way better than expected, mainly because I ran right behind two runners who had a perfect 11:45 pace which kept me from going out too fast and then walking.  I didn't walk.  I actually felt good the whole way, and picked up the pace for the last quarter of a mile.

I came in at 35 minutes, which is basically the same time I had on my last Parkrun (early March 2023... right before I found out I was pregnant).  It's also the same time I had when I did a Parkrun 3 months postpartum with Isaac.  At least I'm consistant?

It's been a while since I've stuck a meal plan on here.  So why not?

Sunday: Fish Pie
Monday: Chicken & Mushroom Risotto
Tuesday: Tray bake (Aubergine? Chickpeas? Onion? Mushroom? I should have got tofu)
Wednesday: Toad in the hole
Thursday: Jacket Potatoes and Tuna or Beans
Friday: Macaroni and Cheese

This is a very aspirational meal plan, and I highly doubt we will actually make all these things.  Often one night becomes leftovers or something else easy.  The later in the week meals (Jacket Potatoes and mac and cheese) can always be moved into the future.

Also, although it's June, its raining and 65 degrees.  I bet you can tell it's not warm from that menu.   

What are you eating this week?  Is it raining where you are?  If you do a budget, where do you allocate your haircare?

Sunday Sports and Social Club... and Llanishen Parkrun 5k

I like hitting the new year resolutions with middling intensity.  I managed to do some form of exercise three times this week, which counts as a habit:

Monday: Beach with family friends.  Outside ✓ 

Tuesday: Lunch time walk.  Hot yoga with sports buddy. Outside ✓ Sports ✓

Wednesday: Lunch time walk.   Outside ✓

Thursday: Lunch time walk. Barre3 & Stretching. Outside ✓ Sports ✓

Friday: Lunch time walk. Outside ✓

Saturday: Parkrun 5k. Outside ✓ Sports ✓

Sunday: Lunch time walk.  Outside ✓

Parkrun is an awesome free weekly 5K hosted around the world but majorly in the UK.  Last year a new Parkrun started by our house, only a 10 minute walk away. 

It turns out, I have not only retuned to pre-baby fitness, I am actually at "pre-any exercise at all levels" of fitness.  This is the second Parkrun I've done since Lilah was born.  The weather was awful, heavy rain before, ankle deep mud mid course... but still, I've never been this slow in my adult life:

Another telling factor for my current lack of fitness is heart rate... I managed to stay at 175 for the entire 39 minutes.  I'm fairly sure that my Garmin said I was in zone 6?  Is there a zone 6?  I did wonder if my heart was going to explode, which would be a real bummer. It did not.  But still, this seems excessive:

Parkrun keeps all the results for each runner, which means I can see my times since my first ever 5k.  Here's 10 years of results (thanks internet!)

Apparently, I like to do a Parkrun in January. Also apparently, I did Parkrun 3 months postpartum with Isaac.  This is ridiculous not because of the postpartum-ness, but because of the fact that Isaac didn't' sleep at all (well, he didn't sleep more than 2 hours in one go) until he was 6 months old, which means I didn't sleep at all, which means how did I do anything at all.  Apparently, I have always been nuts.

Pile on the Miles - Running for April - Update

So there's one week left in April!  I took a bit of a hiatus from mile piling and did not run for 2 weeks, bad Rachel!  But on Monday evening I was being especially grumpy and Brewer Half convinced me to go for a run.  I came back feeling awesome, and even though it was slow (3.5 miles in 38 minutes) I felt a million times better after going out than before!

Today I was keen for another run so I set off at 6.  I was doing a pretty okay pace (for me) but I kept switching between feeling good and feeling like I wanted to stop and walk.  I told myself I could walk at the end of the CD (35 minutes) but it turned out the playlist was 45 minutes! I finished my 3.3 mile loop in 35 minutes anyways, and didn't walk at all.

This is where I run - it is super pretty

And these are my lovely Strava awards for my run today!  

Someday I'm going to try to smash my short sprint times, like my 400 meter time.  But today the miles were 9:38, 10:17, and 10:50!

This week has been good - Running monday, mountain biking tuesday, and running on Wednesday!  But tomorrow is Crepes and Cider at Creperie de Sophie, so lots of yummy crepes and no exercise for me!

Parkrun Cardiff - My 6th Parkrun!

This morning I woke up at 7:45 (on a SATURDAY) for another Cardiff Parkrun.  I felt pretty good going into it - but I hadn't run in about 2 weeks... (HOW DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING?)

It was cold and not raining!  And the sun was out!  It was still shockingly frigid - especially for March - but I lined up and and took off my jacket and pretended to not notice that it was only 3 degrees.

When the group started to move I saw the guy who dropped me (Mr. Red Shirt) on my first ever parkrun after kilometer 1 and decided to follow him for a while.  We did the first k together and then I decided to move a bit quicker and got on the tail of a girl in pink. Mr. Red Shirt did pass me again on mile 3, but I'm pretty sure he was less than 20 seconds ahead of me by the end.

One of the things I like about Parkrun is that I can find people I think/wish I run like and follow them.  I used to find I was around people who I thought I should be faster than - now I'm around people I feel quite equally matched to. The other interesting thing I've noticed is that skinny girls don't alway run fast, and chunkier blokes don't always run slow.  Runners come in all shapes and sizes!

I felt pretty good through the course - I don't walk at all anymore, I just jog/run quicker and slower.  I wasn't too sure of my time at the end, I didn't do a final sprint because I really didn't think I had it in me.  When I got in the time checking line there were loads of other people, which either meant I was running faster or everyone else was running slower!

In the end I had a new Personal Best for a 5k - 28:39!

Hooray Personal Best!

Cardiff Parkrun - take five.

Today I ran my fifth park run.

I was quite excited in the morning - everything seemed right. I had slept enough, I woke up early enough, I wasn't hungover, things were looking good.

I took a position closer to the front than usual, trying to get spurred on by the other faster people.  Last time I ran a 28:50, I was hoping I could get even quicker this week.

My pace felt good for the first mile, and even for the second.  I could tell I started to go a bit slower but there's a stretch I dread, the slow stretch, and I think I ran out of people to pace me, no one I wanted to chase was in front of me and the girl behind me seemed to be pacing off me.

I felt good still, and not out of breath.  I did manage to overtake 3 people towards the end, but I didn't manage a sprint finish and I didn't feel like I was going to die at the end.  But when I got my time I was still disappointed - 29:30.

Then I realized that only 3 months ago I dreamed of going under 30 minutes, and eight years ago it took me 40 minutes.   The first 10 minute mile I ran was the last 10 minute mile for 5 years - and now I was disappointed because I did 9:05, 9:48 and 9:51 consecutively.

I look a little defeated in my post race photo - but I should have been elated.  Sometimes I get so focused on the goal that I forget the progress.  

And my stupid goal really is to run a 27 minute 5k.  And then a 25 minute one.  

But my real goal is to keep running.  And running.  Because I won't get better at anything unless I keep trying!

Here's the strava of the run:

Tomorrow I'm going out with Ajax again - 60 mile bike ride.  It's been 2 months and I'm somewhat scared.  I'll report back tomorrow, wish me luck!

Cardiff Parkrun - take Four!

On Saturday morning I did my 4th Cardiff ParkRun.  There were a number of things going for me for this one...

1. it was not raining, icy, or snowing
2. I was not hungover at all, I hadn't even had a beer the previous night
3. I got enough sleep
4. I recently lied about my PB and want to get the PB that I lied about.*

So we got to park run, whistle blew, and off we went!

I had my best run yet, 28:53!  I averaged 9:40 a mile, and got my fastest 2 miles ever at 18:23

Horray!

I even had a bit left for my sprint finish, even though at the end I kind of felt like I was going to pass out, I knew I already had my timing chip so it was worth it.

Here is a photo of happy stinky me at the end!

Horray!  One of these days I'll have to run a bit further... but at least all my gym-based intervall stuff seems to be getting results when it comes to actually running!

And then I came home and had a bagel as my treat, with Tescos finest mackerel (it's like poor person salmon!  yum!) and egg.  Om nom breakfast!

*I said I could do it in 27 minutes. 28:50 is not 27:00, but at least it's closer than my previous best of 30:00!

Merry Christmas! Dancing & Cleaning & Cardiff Park Run!

On Saturday I went out dancing with two of my favourite people in the world.  I took terrible photos like this:

And sang terrible songs by artists like Taylor Swift and Fall Out Boy.  It was an excellent night, and while I was not entirely drunk I was entirely awake until 4am and that effectively caused sunday to be a day of lounging and sleeping and eating.

Monday of Christmas eve we had a clean of the house.  I decided to see if we could move the oven as stuff had fallen behind it for the last 18 months of living here.  It turns out we can move the oven.  It turns out that we are disgusting people who don't clean under our oven for 18 months.

Mega Yuck!

After cleaning I made dinner, which I forgot to photo but which was delicious.  and then we watched Love Actually in the Clean living room, which looked so awesome I had to take a photo. And we ate my favorite desert, which is M&S Sticky toffee pudding with clotted cream ice cream.  MEGA YUM!

 On Christmas Day I woke up at 8am for Park Run, which was delightfully festive and only mildly wet! Much better than Saturday!

I forgot to take off my jacket before we started so ended up carrying it around the course.  I think I also missed the photographer, I never know whether to smile or frown or run faster or slower.  I don't photograph well while running, probably because my red face blends right in to my red hair.

My Time was 30:32, which was faster than Saturday (by 4 minutes haha) but not my best of 30:00. 

I think it's about time for some food posts, so stay tuned for my recap of a delicious meal at the new Fire Island Cardiff and the Established but unique I Cook Thai.

Park Run Cardiff

Yesterday was Black Friday in the UK.  Black Friday in the UK is much different than Black Friday in the USA.  In the USA it's the day after thanksgiving, when people wake up stupid early for door busting sales and shopping delights.  In the UK, it's the last friday before Christmas, where everyone gets really really wasted after work.  The only difference is that normally British people get really really wasted after dinner - on Black Friday everyone's smashed by 8pm.

I was not smashed at 8pm, but I did eat a lot of oven pizza after I got home from the pub around 9.  When I woke up this morning I did not feel great, but somehow parkrun seemed like a good idea.  Parkrun is a 5k that happens every Saturday at 9am.  I put on my running clothes, grabbed my bike, and cycled to the start by 8:58.

I forgot to check the weather.  This is the weather:

This was my second attempt at Park Run. The first was a cold crisp day - I ran a Rachel Record of 29:30.  Today was very wet, and apparently 5 fine american ales with ABV of 7+ each is not great fuel for running.  I was not last - but mostly because of a slight sprint at the end which put me ahead of 1 person. (edit: actually 8 people - results showed there were people in the 40+ minute time)

This was me at the end - it took me 34:02 and I had a stitch pretty much the whole way.  

The good thing about parkrun is that by 10am I was home, and by 10:30 I was showered and chowing down on this amazing breakfast omlette

Mushroom and onion scramble with salsa, tomato, and avocado! Yum!

The bad thing about Park Run is that it's at 9am on a Saturday.  WHY WOULD ANYONE RUN AT 9AM ON A SATURDAY?

The next one is on Christmas Day - we will see if I can get out of bed any better for that one.  One of these days, I'll try the run without a hangover too.  

Maybe.