Marathon training week 2 and what I am loving at the moment...

Have had a good week of training this week. It's officially the first week of my training as I was sick last week so only made one sesh... Eek!

I got in my speed sessions, my tempo run, a weight session and a cross training session of spin class, and today's long run of 15kms. I felt great the whole 15kms but it was possibly from all of the sugar coursing through my body from eating all this chocolatey goodness last night, thanks to some awesome friends for bringing it over...

Yes, it's new and YES, you need it!

My goal was to run at marathon pace (MP) + 28 seconds per km - so 28 seconds/km slower than I want to run my marathon at. So this should have been 6.08 minute kms... And I did 6.07! BOOM!

Part of the run was on trails, which made it a bit more interesting too.

Who doesn't love a running selfie? Ok, don't answer that!

My calves were toight like a toiger but I didn't let that deter me. I will possibly pay for it for the next 3 days, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.

What I have been loving lately...

Green smoothies!

• I have been loving my smoothies... Well, I never really stopped but I have changed them up a little. I have gone green. I have never really been the biggest spinach fan but know just how good it is for me, so I have been adding it to my smoothies. It's great. You can't even taste it and, so long as you don't mind the colour, you can still have your delicious smoothie with more benefits. It's an awesome post run/workout drink, protein packed for good recovery. Today's one contained:

- natural yog
- milk
- banana
- LSA (ground linseed, sunflower and almond mix)
- a handful of frozen spinach cubes
- a spoonful of honey for a sweet kick

• The Map My Run App for android. It is sooo awesome. My phone broke a few weeks back and I had to take it to get fixed, so all my apps and things got wiped. So when I downloaded the latest version it was all fancy like, and it is so cool. As you all know from my many posts in the past, I do not have a GPS watch (the offer still stands if any of you want to buy me one), so this app is the next best thing. It seems to be pretty accurate and it tracks your running, your time, pace and splits, as well as talking to you about how fast you are running, etc. It is great. I think I got a few weird looks as I was running past people when my bum pocket started telling me how fast I was running, but it is still great.
  The only downside is that it chews the phone battery, so any runs longer than 2 hours and my phone probably will die. Unless you have a phone with a good battery I suppose.

• Long runs. I am really enjoying the longer runs again and am suprised at how I am managing to get back into them without dying or breaking! Bonus!
• I am also LOVING our super sunny and warm winter weather. You wouldn't even believe it was the middle of winter at the moment. It's probably the equivalent to UK's summer (except for now during their heat wave). That was possibly a slight exaggeration, but it is awesome weather, and it's really motivating for getting out running. 
• Last, but not least, I am loving that my father in law is here to look after our wee boy tonight so the husband and I can go on a dinner date... YUSSS! 

 What things are you loving at the moment?

How far was your run this weekend or what was your workout?

Anyone go or going on a date this weekend?

Comment if you think it's time I had another giveaway :)