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Some Days Are Just Hard

Hey guys, so today I have a guest post from a fellow running blogger. Hope you enjoy, she’s a lovely (speedy) girl!

I’m Ellen, a teenage runner, blogger and fitness enthusiast from www.teenrunner.co.uk. So who am I? Well I could go into lots of detail about me, but to be honest, all you really need to know is that I love to run and I’m very competitive. I spend my free time training, travelling to training (at Hastings AC), fuelling for training, and of course racing- I also blog and Instagram along the way, whilst also trying to fit in a bit of GCSE homework…but we all know that’s at the bottom of the priority list. Today Anna has been kind enough to let me write for you guys, and so I hope you enjoy it. You can read Anna’s blog on TeenRunner right HERE.
On some days, running-love is real. I’m talking about when you get out of bed and you’re ready. No aches. No pains. Just pure desire to be training like a professional. And these days are the BEST. Inspired, motivated, ready to take on anything- you’ve got it covered. Like everyone else, I really love these days: there’s not normally a specific reason why they come around, but when you do, you’ve just got to accept them and go with the flow…the only thing that’s slightly irritating is when the magic feeling arrives on a 20-minute recovery run day. I mean, why can’t it come on endurance track session day? That would be MUCH more useful.I think these feelings are what people assume running feels like everyday for those who’re dedicated to their training. It’s like, you have your occasional runners, and then you have your serious runners. Sadly, having a perfected training schedule doesn’t prevent those bad days, whether you’re a professional or a speedy park-runner. So let’s talk about these days…well they’re not bad, it’s just that they’re super hard. The duvet covers are more inviting than the puddles and pavements, watching the next episode of TV would be so much easier than lacing up. I think that what makes it harder is that you know you’ll feel so much better after you’ve finished, but it’s just getting out there in the first place.

For me, morning runs are great. Sure, that moment when you get out of bed and struggle to comprehend how you’re going to make it through the whole five miles is tough, but I find that once I’m out there, I have this extra motivation to finish because I know I’ll be done for the day. Don’t get me wrong, I love to be out running, but I also like completing things, and so getting out early doors makes me feel great for the rest of the day. However, due to school and club training most of my running takes place in the evening so this isn’t always applicable. In term time it isn’t a problem because school is always busy, but on the other hand, during the holidays the hours before training drag on and on- especially because I don’t want to do anything that will make my legs tired for the evening.But what is the point of all of this? Everyone obviously has days full of energy, and days where they really begin to question why they ever chose to take up running. Well I guess I just want to say that this is what makes runners special. The people who don’t run are the people who quit on their bad days. The people who thought it would be easy and effortless have long given up. If you can still call yourself a runner after the DOMS, the 5am starts, the Sunday miles whilst the rest of the family are still in bed- then you should congratulate yourself. Being a runner is hard. But it’s also amazing.

‘It’s supposed to be hard… the hard is what makes it great.’

~a random but true quote I found on the web.

Ellen Crombie

www.teenrunner.co.uk

Instagram: @teenrunnerblog

Twitter: @teenrunnerblog

Also, you can vote for Ellen in the Trespass Blog Awards HERE.

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Full of positivity and MuscleFood pre-workout review

I’m in a super positive and happy place right now. I’ve started 2017 just feeling good and ready to take on the year. I came into work on Tuesday feeling in a good mood, much to the delight of my colleagues 😉

Though I don’t tend to make big grand New Year’s resolutions (last year’s resolution was to be more punctual. That lasted a week) I have made a couple of notes to myself on things I’d like to improve on. One being more conscious of my spending – so only one takeaway a month rather than three or four… Another is being more confident and ready to take on new challenges at work.

I’ve recently bee promoted, to start the new role in March, and it gave me all the anxieties before Christmas wondering if I could actually do it, whether I’d fail, whether they’d demote me once they found out I couldn’t do it…But instead I’ve switched it round and thought, “OK let’s do this”. If people have confidence in me, then who am I to argue with that? I just need to stay focused, work hard and not be afraid to ask for help.

In terms of running and goals in the fitness area? I actually haven’t a clue. I’ve become a lot more relaxed about running in general and I no longer feel the desperate urgency to fulfil my Marathon Major goals as soon as possible. After Tokyo I want to reset and chill for a bit. Just run for fun. Enter races that make me happy and just pootle along. I’m enjoying the gym so I’ll carry on there, maybe look for some new challenges in that area. Basically I’m content and it feels like a weird place to be in, but also very nice. I think I’ve relaxed a bit more….weird.

Onto my review then!

MuscleFood Rampage™ Pre-Workout Formula

A few weeks ago MuscleFood sent me some pre-workout to try out.Pre-workout is actually something I’ve only just become familiar with. I drink BCCAs (branched-chain amino acida) during my workout which help maintain muscle mass when doing strength workouts, especially as I do my morning workouts fasted. My goals are not to lose fat and I don’t want to lose muscle either.

So what’s a pre-workout then? You basically drink it before you workout as the name suggests! It usually contains a stimulant like caffeine and some other supplements to help get the most out of your workout and reduce fatigue.MuscleFood kindly sent me two different flavours of the their pre-workout Rampage (what a name, eh): Lem & Pink Grapefruit and Orange & Pineapple. It contains BCAAs to reduce muscle breakdown and help with recovery, as I mentioned above, Arginine AKG which is another essential amino aciden which helps the body to create energy from protein, fats and carbs, Beta Alaine which helps with performance (though be warned, it does cause some rather odd tingling!), Taurine for muscle growth promotion and recovery, Citrulline Malate to help fatigue and manage lactic acid, Creatine Monohydrate which is a well documented and studies supplement to help with building muscle and Beet4Perf™ which is a natural beetroot ingredient to help boost performance as well (I love my beetroot supplements!). It also contains 200mg of caffeine (the equivalent two cups of instant coffee).To be honest, I was highly sceptical of pre-workouts in general when I first heard about them as it all sounds a bit weird. Stimulants for working out? Hmmm. But then caffeine has been proven to help push harder and I often use caffeinated gels during marathons and drink a coffee before a race – and in general most mornings. I obviously don’t want to become dependent on caffeine but getting up at 5am to start my workout at 5.30am is tough going and having caffeine just before really helps. I just make sure I don’t have any further caffeine later in the day.

Though to be honest I don’t find I need anymore, whereas if I don’t drink the pre-workout by 10am I definitely need my morning cup of coffee. Normally I’d have two cups of coffee a day so now I’ve switched to decaf on days I drink this. I’m not hugely sensitive to caffeine and don’t get any headaches of withdrawal symptoms if I don’t drink it for a few days so I think I’m OK.

So what did I think? Well, the taste isn’t amazing. It’s not disgusting or unpleasant, it’s just something to get used to. Both flavours are nice enough but some mornings it does take an effort to get it down. I make up one scoop with 200ml of water and that seems like the perfect amount. Any more water and the taste gets worse as it waters down. The grapefruit flavour is better than the pineapple in my opinion.

Taste aside, did it aid with my performance and recovery? It’s a tough one to know for certain, but I do believe it’s helped me. Within 15 minutes of drinking it I start to get the tingles (they’re no hugely unpleasant, just a weird itchy palms kind of feeling) and then I feel a lot more awake. It’s not made me feel invicible and nor can I suddenly deadlift 10kg more. However I felt more “get up and go” and more alert. Obviously the caffeine is a big factor here but the other bits and bobs could be contributing too. After particularly heavy squats, my legs weren’t quite as sore as they might be. But again this is all very cause-effect stipulation and subjectivity.

I do enjoy taking it though and am happy to keep it in my routine. I won’t take it before every gym visit, just when I think I need it. I’ll also have a week or so without it every now and again to help keep my caffeine tolerance at a nice level. I don’t want to become too dependent or used to it.

I don’t think it’s necessary for the gym or to make any significant gains. It’s more of a pick-me-up to help supplement you as and when you need it – if you need it at all! But I do recommend it if you fancy adding a little it of oomph to your workout occasionally. I’m tempted to try it before a race as well to see how that goes.

Have you ever tried using per-workout?

Do you use any supplements?

Have you made any big goals for this year?

**Full Disclaimer: I was sent the Rampage Pre-Workout from MuscleFood for free in return for a review. All opinions are my own honest ones.**

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Training for a marathon on minimal running

Over Christmas and New Year I didn’t do a whole lot of running. While it’s super frustrating to still have this shin niggle, I wasn’t too bothered.

It helps, obviously, to have a lot of distractions going on with meals out, seeing friends, going to the pub and spending time with people I care about. I’ve never felt so – what’s the best word? – indifferent about an injury before. Yes it sucks and of course I’d love to run but it’s kind of an annoyance that I keep batting away as I get on with other things.

Like I’ve said before, I’m not entirely sure this is a great way to think considering my impending marathon in February but hey ho. I’m enjoying a”putting my head in the sand” kind of mentality because there’s not much else I can do.

I am running but I’m not running nearly as much or as consistently as I should (for marathon training). Ramping up quickly and steeply would frankly be very stupid. So I’m pootling along doing the odd run here or there. I’m supplementing my lack of running with cross training so it’s not all doom and gloom but it’s the pounding on the legs that I kind of need to experience. All the cardio fitness in the world won’t help if my legs get tired and worn out after 10 miles.

That said, the running I am doing seems to be going OK. I left it a week after the Christmas parkrun to run again as I wanted to be super sensible. I got some acupuncture and a massage from my friend Kyle which definitely seemed to help. Instead I went on the elliptical machine and bike – either doing steady state cardio or short sharp sprints with recoveries. I quite enjoyed being at the gym and not having to rush about like I do when it’s super early in the morning.I could do my cardio first and then do my usual weights. It meant for a longer period in the gym but seen as how I wasn’t running it made sense. Plus I really enjoyed it. I like the gym and feel like it’s my “happy place” right now. And a lovely woman gave me a really nice compliment one day by saying I had a fab body and clearly worked hard. That was nice because, well, yes I do kind of work fairly hard so it’s nice someone doesn’t just assume it’s good genes or not eating – like so many people have said to me before. Cue dramatic eye roll whenever someone says that to me.

On New Year’s Eve I headed down to Netley for parkrun. My leg felt really good and, though I was nervous, I was keen to get out and run. I pushed the pace more than I did at Christmas. It felt quite tough and towards the end I was near my limit.

Photo credit: Glenn Tyreman

I found the hills tough going but luckily I had a few people around me to keep me going – though they did sprint off at the last bit effectively ditching me! 😉

Photo credit: Glenn Tyreman

I was quite pleased with my time: 23:13 (the fastest since August, but that’s not a particularly good feat seen as how inconsistent my running has been for the past few months!).I was more impressed with my negative split. I mean the start was fairly awkward because I was stuck behind lots of people, having positioned myself too far back, but then that helped stop me going too fast. I did feel fairly shattered by the end. My niggle felt fine though the entire run and at the end so I was more pleased with that than anything to be honest.

My next run was Monday. I had a great weekend of eating lots of good food and celebrating New Year’s Eve but felt ready to go in the morning after breakfast and doing some chores (those oh so fun “back to work” style chores that get left to the last minute). The run felt amazing! My legs felt smooth and it felt comfortably tough but enjoyable. I listened to some random music and just felt in the zone. The weather was crisp and cold but lovely and sunny.To be fair, the route I took was fairly flat so it was easier to push the speed but I was really pleased with being able to maintain a faster pace. I mean, I couldn’t have run much further at the pace I was going but it was nice to blast out some speed. Probably not entirely sensible I guess with the old niggle but it felt fine during and after so I’ll take it!

So basically my plan of attack for this looming marathon is to try and run three times a week. Probably two of those runs 3-4 miles and then a longer run at the weekend…But we’re not talking any crazy 18 milers. I’ll be lucky to get to 16 miles I think. I’m just going to take each run as it comes. The goal is to be able to run the marathon – at what pace I frankly don’t care, but just to not be injured or suffering through any pain or discomfort (asides from the usual marathon-induced fatigue). It’s a big ask but I’ve just got to be sensible!

Did you run over the holidays?

Have you ever had to do a negative taper for a marathon? Which is effectively what I’m going to be doing!

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Christmas – family, food and running

I took a bit of a break over the Christmas holidays to chill and reset myself so I’m a bit behind on blog life but here we go anyway…

Christmas is really one of my favourite day’s of the entire year. There’s something about knowing that a huge number of people are doing something very similar to you on the same day. You feel part of something, a collective and a togetherness. I know not everyone celebrates Christmas, but a vast majority do and it’s nice to feel part of something bigger.

On Christmas Eve I volunteered at Netley parkrun rather than ran as my leg is still not 100% and I wanted to run the Christmas parkrun and knew I couldn’t do both. The weather was so cold and windy that after helping set the course up and then cheering on two laps of the three lap course I quickly headed back to the start/finish area and then sat in my car with the heating on full blast while watching to see when I was needed to help clear down. I was so cold and, it must be said, a bit grumpy. I don’t think it helped that when I stood complaining about being cold someone said to me, “oh you’ll be warm as soon as you start running”… except I wasn’t going to run! I can understand why they thought I would though as I was in my gym gear (with a coat) as I was going to head to the gym afterwards and get my endorphins that way.

But anyway, I stayed at my parents for Christmas Eve and then got up early the next morning and headed to parkrun once again. But this time with my dad in tow as he was going to do the Christmas parkrun too. It’s funny because we were both feeling a bit nervous about it; me with my shin and him with not having done a parkrun in a few months, and not having done the new hillier Netley either.

The weather was far better though, for which I was eternally grateful for. I’d gone with a Christmas-themed fancy dress and was grateful for the warmer temps.My dad had his new Netley parkrun t-shirt on as well, bless him (oh I also have to make a correction to a previous post where I’d said he lost 20% of his body weight – which wouldn’t have made any sense. He’s lost almost 2.5 stone, which is ten percent of his body weight… stupid Anna).

Two of my lovely friends, April and Jo, also came to Netley which was lovely. We “met” via Instagram and social media and though I’ve met April a few times in ‘real life’, I’ve never met Jo. So it was nice to see them both at such a festive occasion.

April and I ran together, with my friend Mike, but Jo was super fast (despite coming back from a niggle herself!) – she came first at the Southampton parkrun just the day before…naturally. But April and me tend to be around the same speed so it was nice to run and chat. My shin played ball and only niggled a tiny bit so I was quite happy.

But it did still feel hard. When you haven’t run consistently or for any great distances in a while it always feels pretty bloody awful regardless of pace!

The Netley Abbey Running club has festively set-up a table with Baileys shots for anyone who dared, and then set it up at the finish at the end. They were raising money for charity and quite a few people went for the shots!
All in all it was a very festive parkrun, with lots in fancy dress and a band playing. My dad did very well, getting a 5 minute PB with a time of 46:32 minutes, which even beats his Lee-On-Solent time (a vert flat course) and he wasn’t last! He was over the moon.

Then we packed up the course and headed back home to celebrate Christmas. I helped my dad with the lunch prep, we opened presents, ate chocolate (well, my granddad and I did, while my parents were very restrained).

Amongst other bits and bops I got some very nifty lifting shoes for Christmas.

They’re for the gym and specifically for lifting. They should help my form a bit more and basically keep me planted nicely on the ground and support to help me lift. I love the colour personally 😉

Then after cooking we got down to the main event…

I had a couple more plates of the main dinner…so tasty. I’m all about the stuffing and honey roasted parsnips. And the turkey of course 😉 I was in charge of pudding so I went for an M&S Chocolate and Orange Melting Middle Pudding (*cough* maybe two of them…because having too much is always better than not enough!). I actually didn’t realise it was chocolate orange until I was eating it and wondering why it was so zesty. I’m not a big chocolate orange fan so it wasn’t the “rock my world” situation I’d imagined. However it was obviously very good and though we didn’t eat both puddings we did crack into the second one.

Then we went for our annual walk down the beach. Unfortunately the weather had taken a turn for the worst and it was cold, wet and windy and we really just wanted to get it over with. It was nice to then get back home and curl up with a good movie. We watched It’s a Wonderful Life, which I’ve never seen before. I was a bit dubious about it thinking it was going to either be boring or ultra cheesy. I was pleasantly surprised at just how good it was and I was fully moved at the end, sobbing away at just how lovely it was. After another mini portion of leftovers and Christmas TV I was ready for bed! A really lovely Christmas 🙂

How was your Christmas?

What’s your favourite part of the Christmas dinner?

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MuscleFood Live Clean™ meals review

I’m not going to lie, I don’t eat microwaveable meals meals (“ready meals”) that often at all. But when MuscleFood contacted me and asked if I wanted to try out their new line of ‘healthier’ ready meals (not vegetarian)…well I was intrigued.

MuscleFood is an online food and supplement company. I’ve bought many things from them before, from their meat selection (regular chicken breasts or mince to more exotic meats such as llama and ostrich) to their egg whites, and to their protein powder (I bought the unflavoured type to add to my porridge – perfection), and it’s all been really good. I’ve actually also got a couple of protein pizzas in my freezer that I’ve yet to try…

But I’ve never tried their pre-prepared microwaveable meals. And this is mainly because I enjoy cooking and am not a fan of a “dinner ding”. Though their meals didn’t look like your bog-standard tiny-portions, over-salted and dodgy ingredient meals. They’re high in protein and under 500 calories, which sounded like the perfect dinner to me.

I received a selection from their Live Clean™ range: Oriental Chicken Pad Thai and Beef Lasagna With Italian Veg.

The Pad Thai contains spiced chicken and wholewheat noodles in a spicy peanut sauce with “crunchy” Asian veg. The Lasagne contains beef with wholewheat lasagne and Parmentier sweet potatoes, fennel seeds and roasted Italian veg. Interestingly they’ve been designed by a Michelin trained chef and the packaging has been designed so it doesn’t all get cooked at once. A valid, valid point. Chicken and veg don’t cook at the same time. So no more watery, mushy veg!

Beef Lasagne

Having been brought up on cook-from-frozen lasagnes as a child (my mum wasn’t the best of cooks…bless her), I tend to avoid them. I was a bit dubious about this ready meal but I liked that it came with a serving of vegetables on the side and it didn’t look like a heap of sweaty melted cheese.

What I like is that it’s separated into two different compartments so you can cook the lasagne for longer than you cook the veg, so the veg doesn’t turn into mush. It was ready in four minutes.

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this, not being a huge lasagne fan. It wasn’t overly creamy or cheesy, but definitely had a good amount of meaty filling and you could really taste the fennel in the vegetables and potatoes. The ingredients list looks pretty damn stellar for a microwave meal and the nutritional profile is really good. Nice and high in protein and carbs.

I would definitely eat this again. Though being the greedy person I am with a huge appetite I did need to bulk it out a bit with more veg, but that’s just me. I think for a normal person it would be fine.

Chicken Pad Thai

This meal really appealed to me as chicken is my protein of choice. It sounded very tasty as well with peanut sauce and Asian vegetables.

Again, you cooked the two sections for different lengths, but it was ready within two minutes. This meal is a lot higher in protein and lower in carbs.

Taste-wise it wasn’t too spicy but lovely and aromatic. I again added more veg to this as I felt there wasn’t a huge amount in the mix. Though the chunks of chicken were huge and a good amount of them!

I’d happily eat both of these two meals again. For nights when I’m running to come home to a nicely balanced quick meal like either of these would be super useful. I like that the ingredients aren’t full of rubbish and they’re very filling and tasty. The price isn’t that bad either, you can get seven meals for £28, five meals for £20 or one meal for £4.95. Obviously it would be cheaper to make these yourself but for the saving in time and convenience you are of course going to spend more.

The only sad thing is their lack of vegetarian and vegan options.

(I do have a referral code for MuscleFood which gives you some freebies if you order using it, such as chicken breasts or other items–> AS548885).

Do you eat ready meals?

What’s your ideal ready meal?

Have you bought anything from MuscleFood before?

**Full Disclaimer: I received the meals for free in exchange for a review. Al opinions are my own honest ones.**