So a while ago I did a post on comparing High5 electrolyte tablets and nuun electrolyte tablets. I came to the conclusion that I preferred the High5 tablets because they had the added caffeine, which I always found helped me.
I like to have a coffee before a race as I find it wakes me up and I’m motivated to run fast. But if I have a regular run in the morning (oh I wish…) then I wouldn’t have time for this coffee as I just want to get out and go and having coffee sloshing about isn’t pleasant. If it was a long run (over 10 miles) I usually take two small water bottles (like 300mls each) and hold them in my hands. I’m strange in that I quite like holding things in my hand when I run. For the Paris marathon I held three gels. It’s quite reassuring to me, not sure why. Especially gels as they’re squidgy 🙂
Anyway, I digress. In those two water bottles I’ll put an electrolyte tablet (half in each) to help with the electrolyte balance and the caffeine. After I did my review, nuun contacted me to say actually they do have caffeine versions and would I like to try some? Well of course!
The flavours I was sent sounded a bit quirky but actually I quite liked them: Kona Kola and Cherry Limeade. Exactly as I said in the previous review post, you just pop one tablet into about 500ml of water and let it dissolve.
Each tube contains 12 tablets and each tablet gives 360mg of sodium, 100mg of potassium, 25mg of magnesium and interestingly 13mg of calcium. Really low in carbs and zero sugar (8 calories per tablet). Not too shabby, eh! Also the caffeine hit is 40g so solves my caffeine issue.
For our 41 mile bike ride we did on Sunday, Ben and me each took a 500ml bottle with a nuun tablet in it (I went for the Kona Kola flavour as that’s my favourite out of the two and Ben loves the cherry). It was a rally good way to make sure we stayed hydrated during the ride. Especially as we were quickly dashing out for a walk afterwards and it was quite a warm day. What was good was that because it was caffeinated it helped with not having had any coffee in the morning before we left.
Yes nuun are more expensive than High5 electrolyte tablets but I honestly prefer nuun. And I was SO excited to find out that nuun now do a watermelon flavour. I am currently addicted to watermelon – buying one every week as a treat at the weekend (I say treat only because they’re quite expensive and such a faff to cut). I’d quite like to get one of the nuun water bottles for my bike as well as they just look cool (yeah turning into a weird nuun fan I guess). Anyway, if you like the sound of nuun you can buy from their website HERE or other online sports shops like Wiggle or ProBikeKit. Happy drinking!
Do you use electrolyte tablets?
Which is your favourite sports nutrition brand?
Have you tried nuun products before?
***Full Disclosure: I was sent these products for free to review. The links in this post are no affiliated links. All opinions are my own***
Wow where did August go? Did it even happen? It’s scary how quickly the year is flying by.
This weekend was jam-packed. Like non-stop. I love weekends like that but it doesn’t really give you time to relax and take stock. It started Friday night with me rushing home to meet up with some of my running club for a 20 mile bike ride. As usual I was the slowest of the group – and they weren’t even pushing it! I felt bad that I might be slowing them down but they were all lovely and waited for me if I got too far behind. This cycling business is tough work!
Then I got home, quickly showered, dressed and headed out with Ben to enjoy a nice night at the pub with Kyle (our sports massage therapist and running guru friend – he writes his own blog HERE) and his lovely wife, Sophie. As Ben and me weren’t going to parkrun the next day we decided to enjoy a bit of a drinking evening. We also had a cheeky Indian as well. Good fun!
The next morning we had a luxurious lie-in, had a lazy breakfast and then made our way to the swimming pool. Ben was going to do some lane swimming (he’s still injured) while I did my pool running. Ben’s a great swimmer and he does quite enjoy – unlike me who is a) rubbish and b) hates it.
My new flotation belt.It’s just not running 🙁
Unfortunately the swimming pool was having a “float time” and was heaving with kids. We’re not particularly child-friendly people so this was a *bit* of a nightmare. Ben couldn’t even swim as there were no lanes (we had rung up to check we could swim…clearly“swimming” can be interpreted in different ways). It was screaming mayhem!
Check out those hotties!
I had piled my hair on my head to keep it dry as your head doesn’t go under the water when you’re pool running – bonus! I had brought goggles though just in case (that’s what’s round my next in case you wondered).
Ben attempted to swim but it was tricky due to the sheer number of kids so he mainly kept me company while I splashed about. I have no idea if I was doing the pool running right so he checked out my form underwater for me bless him.
I’ve watched a few YouTube videos and read a bit about it. So I was trying to master and maintain the correct technique. It was very dull though so to jazz things up I decided to do intervals. I sped my legs up as fast as I could for 30 seconds and then went bit easier for one minute. Suddenly things were a lot harder! I was puffing and panting away. It was tough but in a weird way. It was hard effort to keep my legs moving fast and my arms going, but there was no impact. All in all a good 30 minute work out I think. Some children started jumping in the area where I was floating and splashed me. I gave them the death stare and they never came back 😉
I’ll keep you updated how the pool running continues as I plan on doing it as much as I can in order to replicate normal running. When I get back into running after my mini break I’ll keep at it to supplement my gentle come back. Well that’s the plan anyway!
I did think this was slightly ironic in the changing rooms on the lockers…
Come on! Seriously? Mock me at every turn why don’t you, universe!
Anyway it didn’t feel like the hardest workout of my life but it felt like something at least.
Later we had a lovely meal at Ben’s mum’s that evening. Like I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I love spending time with my family and it was nice catching up. And the food was so good! We had a lovely choice of puddings as well – fruit, ice cream, meringues and homemade rhubarb crumble. Ben went for everything.
Underneath the mass of ice cream and meringues there is a HUGE slice of rhubarb pudding I assure you.
The next morning we met up with our friend, Nathan, and went for a 41 mile ride on the bike. This is my longest ride to date! I did find it really tough from the start – my legs felt like lead and I had no energy (could this be from the pool running..??). The route wasn’t easy and it was really warm.We’d decided to not eat breakfast before going so half way we could stop for something to eat in a little cafe and then continue to the end of the ride.
Annoyingly I’d somehow started my Garmin 10 minutes before we actually started cycling and only realised when it told me my first mile was 14 minutes long. So I had to restart it.
It was a nice cycle as we’re all reasonably the same speeds so there was no pressure and no worries. There were a fair number of hills but we kept each other going. At 21ish miles we went to Lilly’s in Wickham (where I’ve previously been for afternoon tea a few times) and we had breakfast (at about 11am…).
The boys had waffles with bacon and maple syrup but I went for a full English as I was starving (no photo, too hungry sorry). Slightly regretted that decision though when I got back on the bike. I was so full! Thought I might be sick as we hit some up-hills. Foolish, Anna!
We didn’t break any speed records but it was hard work for us newbies. Definitely a tough long workout!
To keep our Sunday working hard we got showered and dressed and met back up with Nathan to go for a long walk in the New Forest with Alfie.
We were all feeling pretty knackered but it was a nice walk. The route said 10k but in the end it was almost 7.5miles!!
By the time we got home it was almost 6pm and I’d only had two apples since my brunch. Needless to say I was starving. Ben and me had lunch/dinner (?!) and collapsed on the sofa. Exhausted! Even Alfie was worn out bless him.
Usually he hates car journeys but he was so tired when he got into the car he just laid down and chilled.
It’s funny because usually if I don’t run at the weekends it can seem a bit empty and not that ‘epic’, if you know what I mean? I adore running and I love my long runs, but it was really nice to do something completely different. The long cycle was epic and we felt so good afterwards. I fell into bed before 9pm and was asleep straight away. I had the beautiful exhausted feeling that my body had been worked hard in a good way. Obviously I don’t need running or cycling to make my weekends good, but I’m an active person and can’t just sit on the sofa all day long. That’s not how I relax.
And in terms of the impending marathon? Ben and me have agreed to take each day as it comes without thinking to far ahead. I can’t think about what ifs at the moment. I haven’t decided if I will do it or not yet. It’s very much up in the air, but I’m only thinking about the day I’m on at the moment, not the weeks that are coming. Otherwise I might be sick with panic…
How do you like to spend your weekends if you got to do everything you wanted?
Each tube contains 12 tablets and each tablet gives 360mg of sodium, 100mg of potassium, 25mg of magnesium and interestingly 13mg of calcium. Really low in carbs and zero sugar (8 calories per tablet). Not too shabby, eh! Also the caffeine hit is 40g so solves my caffeine issue.
