Summer Sundae 2012

Photo credit Laura Heatherly

The first part of my holiday involved a quick stop off at Summer Sundae festival in Leicester for the weekend. My wonderful lovely friend Rav was involved in organising the festival and the Leicester fringe festival and managed to get the band on to a guest list which was amazing. I've been to this festival now for about the last 4 years so it was great to be able to go this year even though I'm no longer living in Leicester.

The best thing about being in Leicester is being able to catch up with so many of my favourite people in one place. This weekend was no exception, there was plenty of sun, fun, fabulous people and of course drinks. Perhaps a little too much of the latter which is what has prompted my new found abstinence now until after race day. Oh dear, one day I will learn moderation but until then I suppose I'm an all or nothing girl. 

Here is a montage of awesomeness from the festival which I made using pic monkey. Obviously a big highlight was seeing Adam Ant, we all got face paint done in his honour and we looked excellent I think.

Top Row- Me and Emily posing; My downfall bottle of red wine in two pint glasses; Adam Ant stripe; The man himself.
Second Row- Cath Kidston tats; Coordinating my tat to my boots; Naomi's pretty face paint; lovely blue skies.
Third Row- Excitement building for Adam Ant; My safari outfit; Emily and Laura styling it out in the rain; BEST T-SHIRT EVER.
Bottom Row- I'm a total pin up; standard Ed face; really tall safari guy; yeah!

So there it is, the long awaiting round up of the first part of my holiday. Now to tackle the Barcelona write up! Also I've done quite a few runs this week, I know I'm shocked too! So they'll be going up shortly hopefully.

Thanks for reading!

Nicci
xoxo

Long overdue- 41 days to go

Normal service has been resumed. I am back from all of my gallivanting and will be trying to catch you up with my adventures over the next few days and also keeping you up to date with my training efforts, or lack of really...

Yesterday I took my first tentative steps back into the world of running after what can only be described as an extremely indulgent week off. And I can tell you it was seriously hard work! I'd completely let myself get out of the running mind set so even getting out the door was traumatic enough.

I started off a bit too fast and as it was quite early in the day still I hadn't had breakfast and I think this really showed by the end when I was pretty much walking around. I gave up once I'd done 5km even though I was nowhere near home yet, I walked the rest of the way back looking completely beaten.

However I am glad I got back out there and in a way glad it went badly as it's given me a bit of a kick. I've decided that from now until I complete the run that alcohol has to be completely off the cards. After a week of over indulging in that arena I can definitely feel a difference, especially in my lungs. So you heard it here first, I am on the waggon. I'm planning a bit of a diet overhaul as well to get myself in the best shape I can manage with the time I have left. But you will have to wait for news of that as Ed is making me bacon and eggs and it's bank holiday Monday so really that seems only fair...

Nicci
xoxo

Quick catch up- 45 days to go

It's been an absolutely crazy few days for me, but so much fun. I've been jetsetting and festival-ing and generally having an amazing time, which does mean that my running training has suffered somewhat! I went to Summer Sundae festival at the weekend and saw the legendary Adam Ant- amazing! Then flew to Barcelona with Ed to celebrate our 2 year anniversary and to visit my sister and her boyfriend as well. As you can see from the photo the weather was ridiculously amazing and we had such a good time!

I'm going to try and do seperate posts about all my adventures as soon as I get time but I just wanted to check in for the meantime. I'm off to Cardiff for work this afternoon so I'm going to attempt to blog on my phone while on the train which may go horribly wrong we'll see.

So goodbye for now but I'll be back with a proper post very soon.

Nicci
xoxo

Double Whammy- 53 days to go

Ed gave me these beautiful sunflowers on Monday, I've been trying unsuccessfully to grow some on the windowsill but they just look a little weedy and sickly. These really do put mine to shame! I read about a study on the emotional impact of flowers recently though, apparently the participants in the study were significantly less depressed, and less anxious after receiving flowers. They also noticed a higher sense of enjoyment and life satisfaction. I'm hoping some of that will rub off me from these flowers as I'm currently finding this week a bit of a slog. It's crazy as we're off on a little holiday next week, but the week before a break is always hard right?

Anyway Monday was rest day and on the agenda for Tuesday was an "easy" 40 minutes run, at least that's what my training plan said. I was happily not too achy from Sundays efforts and set off feeling pretty good. I decided to follow the same route as Sunday. I kept it steady but there are a few really tough hill sections in the route which I decided to try and power up as quickly as I could, I was so tired at the top of each hill but it felt good! We'd been swimming after work on Tuesday and I'd cycled to work and back (Which is a lot more like hard work on Evelyn!) so I really was feeling it by the end of the run and so cut it short by 2 minutes. I'm sure the cycling and swimming will compensate though! Here's the map...

Today I was really low on motivation, especially as the training plan cheerfully announced it's intention of having me run 50 minutes tempo. Not a plan I relished I have to say, especially after a long day and sticky toffee pudding at lunch! I decided to head to Clissold park hoping that the change of scenery would get me through. It was a lovely evening and there were so many people out running. One thing that really does help me keep going is trying to overtake other people, usually unsuccesfully, or just trying to keep up with the person in front of me. I find it so much easier than motivating myself to keep a pace. This probably wasn't much of a tempo run but it was the best I could manage. Here's the map...

It's hard to tell, but I did three laps of the park. The old me would have managed one then given up. I don't think I'm necessarily much fitter yet, but there has definitely been a shift in my mind set. The fear has set in, and I don't want to let down all the people who have so generously sponsored me. I'm finding that thought alone really helps get me round the final lap of a run when I feel like just giving up and going home.

Speaking of sponsorship thank you so much to my mum and sister who sponsored me last night! I'm now up to £275 so almost there!! Please if you're reading this consider sponsoring me, I'm so close to the target now and it really is for such a worthwhile cause. Here's a lovely picture of the park from my run tonight to finish on, So pretty.

Nicci
xoxo

Weekend round up- 56 days to go

It's been another busy, but thoroughly enjoyable weekend for me. It always feels like the weekend flies by far too quickly though.

Friday's plans to go for another run didn't pan out, but I did take me new bike for a spin around the park which was fun followed by band practise then drinks in the Faltering Fullback, one of my favourite pubs in our area which has an amazing labyrinth of a beer garden.

On Saturday I headed up to Leicestershire with the band to play at Strawberry Fields Festival. This was our first gig of the summer as we've been having a bit of time off to write, so we were all a bit nervous. It went well though for the most, a few minor technical hitches but nothing major.. It was so nice to catch up with some of our friends from Leicester as well who we don't see nearly enough of any more. Thanks so much to everyone who came to watch us!

 

In the evening back in London it was off out to Borough High Street to wave goodbye to one of my best friends from school. She's off to New Zealand for a year or so and I am so incredibly proud and jealous! It was a lovely night and having so many of my friends in one place was just so much fun. I rocked a sequined parrot t-shirt which I found in one of the vintage shops at Strawberry field. LOVE it!

And I suppose now it's time to get down to the real purpose of this blog, Running. So today I dusted off the trainers and dragged myself out of the house as soon as it looked like it had cooled down a little. Today has been scorching! According to my training plan today's goal was 7 miles, which works out at around 11.2km. I decided to run with a bit more of a structured route plan today than usual, to help me get through the distance so I followed the route used for the 5km free park runs which take place every week in Finsbury park. Here's my map so you can see how I got on....

I did it! It took me a long time but I got there. It feels like I've got through a bit of a psychological barrier now as well, 10km always seems like quite a landmark distance. Although I've only gone a little bit further than that, it has given me some more confidence. I really found that having a route planned out before helped me keep going as I could visual how far I had left. I'll definitely be trying this more often. My knees and blisters have both held out ok as well, but I suppose only tomorrow will tell for sure!

At least I had this to come home to thanks to the lovely and talented chef Mr Edmund Grunill.

Oh yeah! I tried to make mine a bit healthier by adding salad and only having a quarter (!), but Ed managed to eat a whole half! It was really quite impressive. I'm going to sit and watch the Olympics closing ceremony now and wish I was there. If only I had a spare thousand pounds or so...

Nicci
xoxo

Let me introduce to you...

Evelyn Martha May! Haha yes I did give my bike a rather long and elaborate name. But she just looks like a bike that deserves a fancy name.

I have admit though, after having cycled a new bike with lots of gears and everything working it's taking some getting used to having a vintage bike again. But it's just got so adorable and was a lot cheaper than a new bike.

Anyway just a quick check in. We're on our way to play Strawberry Fields festival this afternoon, first gig in ages so excited but a little nervous. At least the weather is beautiful for us.

Nicci
Xoxo

Bad things really do happen in threes- 58 days to go

The day started out ok really, morning coffee, bowl of Weetabix minis while watching Scooby Doo, the usual stuff. But I really should have never left the house yesterday...

My first taste of disaster was when, after at least 2 hours of being at work already, I realised my dress was on back to front. Small fry really though compared to the next horrible occurrence. I started to feel a bit peckish so went to get my packed lunch out of my bag and, duh duh duhhhhhhh, I'd forgotten it. Anyone who knows me will understand how much this upset me, I love food a bit too much. But all of this pales in comparison to the next bad thing that happened to me. I'd had a bit of a  premonition about this in the morning as well; while locking up my bike I almost left the keys in the lock but just realised in time. It had me a bit uneasy all day though and I even checked my bike at lunch time, no problems. But sadly at the end of the day when I went out to fetch my bike to cycle to the pool, it was gone. The lock was cut clean in half and lying on the floor, a hollow reminder of what used to be.




RIP you lovely lovely bike

It makes me so sad that some horrible person has now got my lovely bike and I have to get the tube to work instead. I hate the tube! I'm not used to it anymore and it stresses me out so much and gets my day off to a terrible start. I'm hoping to get a new bike tonight, a cheap-o second hand one this time that looks to rubbish to steal (I hope). Stupidly I didn't get my last bike insured as it was on my to do list, but I never got round to it. Let that be a lesson to me.

I am wearing my bicycle necklace today as an homage to my stolen friend. Dramatic, me? I know someone who once wore one white glove to school for a week to mourn the break up of her relationship. I think I'm ok....

I'm going to post again later tonight about my latest fitness attempts so make sure to check back later. And also if you have a bike, buy four padlocks at least. 

Nicci
xoxo

Rookie- 59 days to go

I did it! I went running again, and it wasn't actually that bad. I did commit a fair few rookie errors though.

 

 

1) Eating a whole bag of Metcalfe's skinny popcorn, sea salted variety (so tasty) followed by half a bag of gummy bears washed down with a cup of tea shortly before setting off. Turns out that's not an ideal pre-run snack. Who'd have guessed it?! It was delicious though...
2) Forgot to take my inhaler, classic error. Fortunately my lungs actually held out pretty well, which I think might be a sign that perhaps I am getting fitter after all? I even attempted some sprint sections and survived...

3) Forgot my water bottle. Not really sure where my head was before I set off but I pretty much forgot everything!! This was especially bad as the sea salted popcorn was definitely having an effect...


But still I kept going and I did a few sprint sections which was so much fun! I was listening to Not in Love, by Crystal Castles and Robert Smith, and sprinting to the chorus sections. I was definitely walking the verses though.


I think this sort of tempo training is something I need to incorporate more into my training. I am definitely prone to just setting out and plodding along at the same pace for 30 mins then heading home. This workout definitely got my heart rate up and I felt like I was pushing myself but not too much.


I also tried out foam rolling for the first time when I got home, as part of my cool down. I'm a little sceptical about this and I look ridiculous in our tiny little studio flat trying to roll around on a piece of foam, but it does seem to have helped. I'm certainly not any more achy today than I was yesterday so I'll keep it up. I got my foam roller from Argos for the bargain price of £9.99 and it seems to be doing the job pretty well so far.

Tonight the plan is swimming then a 40 minutes easy run so I'll update you later on how I get on. I'm tired just thinking about it!

Nicci
xoxo

The fear well and truly sets in- 60 days to go

It's been a quiet couple of days for me after my action packed weekend. I've been hobbling around ever since Freefit on Saturday but today I'm begining to feel less of an invalid and more like I could tackle a run. Tonight will be the first time out since the weekend so I'm hoping it all goes smoothly!

I have been thinking more and more about race day though and getting myself really quite scared. I hadn't really considered it much before, and have always asumed that it wouldn't be that hard and that I was reasonably fit so would get through it. The weekend brought home to me just how un-fit I am at the moment though. If the beginners level can leave me immobile for 3 days following it, then what is a half marathon going to do to me?!

I even decided to have another look at the route map just to add to my fear...Urgh...

I get  a knot in my stomach every time I look at this, even writing this I'm hyperventilating slightly!

But I'm determined not to let it beat me, one of the main reasons I signed up to this (other than it being a great cause of course) was to challenge myself to acheive something way out of my comfort zone. I'm going to fire up the Rocky theme tune when I get home from work tonight and get psyched up and back out there! Watch this space!

Nicci
xoxo

So many activities- 63 days to go

It's been a busy weekend for me, lots of activities and lots of watching the Olympics. Can't believe how incredibly well team GB are doing, big respect! I am in so much pain today after my Freefit session that I am in total awe of all the olympics competitors! But it's the good ache I'm sure...I think I was too confident going for that run yesterday though so I am taking it easy today. Might attempt some yoga later on to stretch out the ache but even that could be beyond me!

The plan for today was to go watch the women's marathon but half way there on the bus the heavens opened and it looked like it would never stop. We just about managed the jubilee in the rain, thanks to copious amounts of champagne, but without any champagne today and only leftover pasta to keep us going we decided a change of game plan was needed. Being somewhat poor at the moment we decided that the Natural History Museum was the obvious choice, free, indoors and dinosaurs? Sold!

The photo in the top left is Edmund meeting an Edmontosaurus. I think it's actually uncanny how much they look alike! He was pretty pleased that his dinosaur namesake was in the natural history museum, personally I preferred the Tuojiangosaurus (pronounced two-wang-oh-sore-us, lol!)

We had so much fun, the natural history museum always makes me feel a bit like a kid again, especially the fairground mirrors!! It was crazy busy though so we escaped to the V&A for a bit more refinement and to eat our packed lunch in a quiet corner! I do love the V&A and the ballgown exhibition looked amazing, but we decided to save it for another weekend as I was struggling to hobble around by then!

On the way home, as we were passing Harrods anyway, it would have been a crime not to pop in and pick up some Lola's cupcakes! These are absolute heaven and I could have eaten every single one in the shop, but we restrained ourselves and got a mini cupcake each. I chose Red Velvet and Ed got Rocky Road. They. Were. Divine. I'm actually slightly in mourning for them now that we've eaten them.

My teapot is a sofa! It's ridiculously cute but I couldn't quite get the whole thing in here. There's a little cat sat on the top of it though, I'll try and get a better shot another time.

It's been such a fun weekend and last night, thanks to lovely Laura and Ben, I made it past the £200 donations mark which is amazing!! Only £150 to go until I make my target. Thank you so much to everyone who has sponsored me so far, and if your thinking about it then just do it! Every single donation is hugely appreciated and goes to a great cause. Hope you've had a wonderful weekend too!

Nicci
xoxo

P.s After writing this post we decided to head to Hyde Park to watch Usain Bolt in the 100m final. I was pretty much all ready for bed by this point but I'm glad Ed dragged me out because the atmosphere was amazing. First we watched Christine Ohuruogu get silver in the 400m final and the noise from the crowd was amazing. But it really kicked off when Bolt raced. He really is incredible! Here's a little photo of us waiting for the final, so excited!

Friday evening trip to Alexandra Place

On Friday after work I wasn't feeling up to running and it was such a nice evening that we decided to go up to Alexandra Palace for a wander about. I can't believe I've lived in London almost a year now and never actually been there before! It's about 8 minutes away on the train as well. The view over London from the palace is absolutely incredible, you can see over the whole city. Well worth going up there for. They skies look pretty ominous in this picture but the rains held off for us.

We only had a little walk around in the grounds as we both realised we were completely ravenous after about 15 minutes. We headed back and I made us pizza from scratch just like my mama makes! I even made the dough myself which I was pretty proud of. My new food processor makes everything so easy, it even grates cheese! Revolutionary. I'll definitely head back to Alexandra Palace soon though, they have pitch and put and I'm keen to find out if my crazy golf skills are transferable. Suspect I may be something of a maestro at pitch and put too!

Nicci
xoxo

Freefit- 64 days to go

Today I decided to try out something new, so I headed off to the park at 2:30pm to have a go at freefit. I was pretty apprehensive at first, it seemed like no one else was going to turn up, but one by one people appeared and everyone was so friendly that I immediately felt at ease. I decided to go for the beginners session to start off with and I'm glad I did! The intermediate session looked gruelling. We did some warm ups and then a lot of strength and conditioning work. The level was challenging but not unachievable and the session was so varied that the hour flew by. I'm really bad at doing strength work by myself as I completely lack the will power to keep going, so this was really useful for me and a great compliment to my running sessions.

Luckily we got lovely weather and as I was lying on the grass doing crunches and gazing up at the clouds I was thinking how lovely it is to be able to exercise outdoors. Then a KFC bag gracefully floated past my head which slightly killed the mood, but I still rate it over being stuck in a gym on a summers day. I'd definitely recommend Freefit to anyone, they really do cater to all abilities/fitness levels, and there's no scary military style shouting either. The team do the sessions for free to encourage the local community to get exercising which I think is a great idea. I'll definitely be going back!

 I decided that I felt so good after the freefit session that I would finish it off with a little run around the park. As soon as I started though I realised quite how tired my muscles were, I was pretty shaky! I decided to modify my plan a little and just take it really easy and treat it like a cool down run. It was so pretty in the park today, you can really feel autumn coming on. The blackberries are ripening, the conkers are growing and the leaves are turning. I always find this time of year a little bittersweet. I'm sad that summer is nearly over, but autumn is absolutely my favourite season. I love the smell of the air, the crispy crunchy leaves, the colours, getting new hats and gloves, everything. It does also feel a little like summer never really had a chance this year, but c'est la vie. Here's the map of my little sight seeing run home...

Feeling a little smug now so going to spend the rest of the day watching the olympics and feeling like a champion myself!

Nicci
xoxo

Photoshop Friday

This is my first ever attempt at photoshopping an image! I have to say it's probably not all that exciting for anyone else, and the filter was done using instagram, but I added text and drew an arrow! I'm proud of myself for even working out how to open a file, it's so complicated. This is my new summer mission, to get to grips with photoshop. It may take me well into the autumn.

This photo was taken last night while I was cycling across the park to go to band practise, there was just a little bit of blue sky poking through all of the moody clouds. You can see our apartment block in the background, we're overlooking the park on the first floor. It's not the nicest building admittedly but the view is good at least!

Here's a little photo from our band practise, yes I do have to write the notes on the keys!! We have the tiniest little practise room and the floor is completely covered in a tangled mass of cables but its better than nothing. There's also a little dog which has a vendetta against Martin (guitarist) and always barks at him. Martin HATES dogs so that's always amusing, I think the dog can sense his fear/hatred as he only seems to go for him!

I'm planning a run after work tonight and have also decided to go to an Army training session on Finsbury Park on Saturday so the next time I post it should be much more running related. That is if I survive boot camp anyway.

Nicci
xoxo

Le petit triathalon- 67 days to go

I'm not sure why this post is titled in French, it's just everything sounds that bit better in French doesn't it? Well I think so anyway.

I must really be coming down with Olympics fever as today I have been super busy! I started off with cycling to work as usual, this takes me about 30 minutes and is a great way to start the day. After work Ed came to meet me and we went swimming in the Lido again, it was a little cold for outdoor swimming though really, we were risking brain freeze! Then I finished things off with a 30 minute cycle ride home then a 45 minute run round the park. A mini triathalon- hence the post title.

Here's my map anyway, I went round and round in circles quite a bit so it's hard to make out. The time is a little out because I forgot to stop Runkeeper when I got home, it was really more like 45 mins but you get the idea still.

Also I think it was more like 7km, I can't take the credit for the last one, my pace was 1047:53 km/h! I'm not quite there yet!

Nicci

xoxo

Selfridges rooftop golf

On Monday Ed and I went to play crazy golf on the roof of selfridges. The course was designed by Bompas and Parr and all the obstacles were London landmarks made to look like cakes! It was the cutest thing ever and I thought I should share some photos so you can all appreciate it. When we arrived we were given a cherry bakewell scented score card(!) and a golden pencil and then sent off to explore. Here are a few little peeks...

The whole thing had the feel of going for afternoon tea with the mad hatter it was fabulous! Plus the views from the roof were great, unfortunately my camera wasn't good enough to do them justice.

As you can see from the score card I won again! Beginning to think I may be something of a crazy golf pro. Ed wasn't happy but he coped well, he knows I'm just too full of awesomeness for him to compete! My favourite obstacle was tower bridge as you had to go over the stepping stones in the water to finish putting, plus there was a little waterfall! There was also a loop the loop Nelson's column but I couldn't fit the whole thing into a photo it was so tall!

We had a bit of a relax in some deck chairs afterwards before returning our clubs and heading off to Hyde Park to watch the GB mens gymnastics teams narrowly miss out on a silver medal, still an excellent effort though and it was so exciting to be part of the crowd cheering them on. Officially an Olympics convert now.

Nicci

xoxo