Rant and raves - AnnaTheApple

March 11, 2015March 11, 2015

Rant and Raves #10 and a review of Osmo Nutrition

Happy Wednesday! I love Wednesdays because it’s the day I get a whole extra hour and fifteen minutes in bed and go running in the evening. Especially as we went out for dinner last night and I ate an obscene amount of pork ribs. Happy days.

Today I have some rants and raves and also a little review.

Rant: Ben is now an avid gym goer and so when he said he’d bought a big container of protein powder I was like “cool, whatever makes you happy”. Until I opened our bedroom wardrobe to find the monstrosity.

I guess it hadn’t twigged in my brain how big he was talking. There’s literally no way this bad boy would fit in our tiny kitchen so I’m pretty sure this is where it will live forever more. Oh joy.

Rave: I love using the slow cooker for meals. I’ll make soup, chicken meals, ribs…anything really. I love the idea that you can literally just throw a load of stuff in there and when you get home the house smells SO good and dinner is served pretty much (check THIS post out for some of my adventures). However our slow cooker was given to us by my parents who no longer wanted it. And it’s HUGE. So it meant when I did meals for two sometimes the sauce would dry up a bit. Or chicken breasts would be overcooked. So I decided to get a smaller one and put the other one in the loft for the future.

I didn’t quite expect it to be so small but I’m actually pretty pleased with it. Two chicken breasts will fit nicely in there with some veggies and sauce and will hopefully stay succulent. It means I can’t slow cook an entire chicken anymore but that’s usually a weekend meal anyway and can be done in the oven.

It also means we have a lot more kitchen surface space as it just sits so nicely in the corner.

Rant: Llike most runners, hills are not my favourite thing at all. But they’re really good for building strength in your legs. I try and do a hill session every week after work (I work in Basingstoke where hills are ten a penny!). I found a BEAST of a hill that works perfectly.

Mid-run photo so quite blurry sorry!

I try and do the hill twice at the beginning (it loops back to the beginning of the route) and then carry on with my run and then do it one more time at the end.

Follow me on Strava if you want

They look like mountains and I’m sure my legs would agree. It’s quite a long climb (probably .4 mile?) and my pace drops dramatically but I focus on my form; pumping my arms, running tall and taking small steps (great articles HERE and HERE about hill running). As you can see, the other part of the run is also quite hilly so it’s a really good strength-building run (well I hope anyway!). But I am absolutely done for after the run! I suppose this isn’t a true rant as I’m hoping these tough runs are a good thing.

Rave: Delicious herbal teas. After seeing these on Tamzin’s blog I just knew I needed to try them.

I love peppermint tea so I was pretty sure I’d like them. They taste delicious. There’s a very small hint of vanilla with the lovely minty taste – perfect for a cold afternoon! But I’m still sad that green tea out of a tea bag makes me feel very sick – what is wrong with me?? I’m missing out on so many lovely green tea flavours!

Rant: Having a moany husband when I ask him to take photos of me in my Helly Hansen running gear that I’ve been sent to champion for for Running Bug’s Running Fashion Week campaign. And then having him get bored between outfit changes and take random photos on my phone.

I know it’s dull and I know I can get a bit vain if a photo makes me look like an idiot (more of an idiot?) and request him to re-take it, but come on, you’re married to me so that means fulfilling these silly blogging requests 😉

*sighs*

Though I do know Alfie is far more interesting to take photos of! He enjoyed the dress-up party about as much as Ben I think.

Rave: Obviously it’s clear I love nuun hydration products as I mention them a lot on my blog it seems… The nuun guys asked if I’d include one of thir videos on my blog and because they rock I agreed happily. The video shows some pretty hardcore races and sporting activities with an absolutely belting soundtrack!

[FYI: I did not get any compensation for featuring this on my blog – I just love nuun]

And lastly I have a review:

Osmo Nutrition – Active Hydration for Women (which you can find HERE)

I was sent a tub of the Osmo Active Hydration for Women powder to review by the guys from Pro Bike Kit (great website for cycling/running nutrition items and also kit and clothing).

As a bit of a background, Dr. Stacy Sims developed the product specifically for women as she noted that the female physiological makeup is different to a male’s. For example, the menstrual cycle has big effects on the female body in terms of sodium loss, plasma drops and temperature change so this product aims to address those issues. It apparently increases power output and improves endurance by helping combat the premenstrual-related performance decline. There’s actually quite an interesting interview with Dr. Sims HERE.

Source

The flavour of the powder is mango and the ratio of mixing is one scoop to about 250ml of water. The idea is to drink it before and during your exercise.

My thoughts? I’m not going to lie, when I first tried the drink I didn’t like it one bit. It didn’t taste of mango to me at all. More like weak squash. However I drank more and it grew on me. Let’s be clear, it’s no fresh mango juice but the flavour is quite subtle and once I got used to it it was fine.

Aside from the taste, I really like the concept. It makes sense to have something a bit more specific to the female physiology. I like the extra nutritional elements you get with this drink and the fact that it’s upgrading plain water in terms of hydration. Did I notice a difference taking a water bottle with a scoop of the powder in to the gym for my hour long session? Not hugely but I did find I wasn’t guzzling my water like normal, rather just sipping it occasionally which probably means I was getting more bang for my buck. I also didn’t feel at anytime I was flagging in my workouts.

I think on my longer runs it’ll really help as I want to avoid gels this time around but I will need something in terms of fuelling and hydration so this could tick those boxes together. nuun is always good but it has zero carbs which is good for a shorter run or post-run but not so good for the longer ones if I’m not planning to take any food with me. And I’m sure it would have been handy to have had a bottle of this on my long run on Sunday when I was so thirsty!

Have you ever tried any gender-specific nutritional products before?

Does you husband/partner/parents do anything that push your buttons?

What tasty teas have you had recently? Do you drink green tea?

[Full Disclosure: I was sent the Osmo nutrition product for free in exchange for my review. All opinions are my own honest ones.]

February 26, 2015

Rants and Raves #9

Spring is on its way. I can feel it. OK maybe not every day but it is definitely soon(ish…maybe…wishful thinking?) When I come back from the gym in the morning and walk Alfie (about 6.45am) it is LIGHT. It is also light on my commute home. This is progress!

So another week, and another line-up of my rants and raves. This week I really had some genuinely ranty moments. Poor Ben. But let’s start with a positive…

Rave: At work I like to have a mid-afternoon snack (between my lunch and my 4pm apple and banana, not that I’m a creature of habit or anything…). Usually it’s something from my graze box or a handful of pistachio nuts. I ran out of my graze box (I get it every other week) and I wanted something sweet but filling. I saw a pack of these in Tesco so bought them and I’m addicted!

They’re basically very similar to the normal nakd bars but they have this added crunch and more protein (5.5g total for 30g and 106 calories) which as a snack is really important to me as I want to be kept full and not reaching for something more afterwards (not that this always works mind you).

Rant: I have the lovely Kelly from my running club to thank for spotting this really infuriating detail of my next 10k race (Eastleigh 10k) I’m doing. Can you spot it?

The fact that the first 10 men will be award prizes but only the first SIX women. Er…what? I’m sorry but we’re missing four accomplished females here. It’s disgusting that there is still gender bias in races. Is the 7th/8th/9th/10th woman not as good as the equivalent placing man? What message does this give out to aspiring young female athletes? The argument of lack of money or that maybe more men enter the race than women does not work I’m afraid. Lower the number of prizes for men or raise the number for women. I could rant until I’m blue in the face about this one.

Rave: I did the worst possible thing: I let a strange man into my house when I was home alone. He asked all the right questions and spouted all the right things and I led him in – I’m that kinda girl 😉 No seriously, he was from Hello Fresh and his offer just sounded amazing and I was sold. I signed on the dotted line, gave my card details to him and boom I now have a subscription. I hang my head in shame…BUT I’m fully happy with my snap decision. Like I previously said, a proper post is on its way about what it is and what I think. Ben was somewhat surprised though getting in and seeing a strange man in the living room with me!

Rant: I saw a snapshot of The Sweaty Betty London Fashion Week catwalk advert on Facebook as I was scrolling through my time feed the other day and was shocked.

Is this representative of the target market buying these workout clothes? Where are their muscles? They barely look healthy. I’m not trying to thin-shame at all – I appreciate that slim people wear workout gear too and that you don’t need bulging muscles to shop at Sweaty Betty or to be healthy. BUT there were no athletic models at all here and just shows mixed messages about their company values. (For the full line-up check it out HERE).

Rave: I love films and I love the buzz around the award season, wondering who will win what. I also enjoy looking at all the beautiful stars dressed to the nines. However (and again we’re going to hit on gender inequality) I despise how most reporters will ask women “who are they wearing?” as one of their main questions. Not “how did you prepare for the role?” or “what was the hardest part of playing this character?” or something related to their actual ability as an actress, rather than the superficial quality of what they’re wearing. However, Reese Witherspoon refused to answer their questions about her dress but said “ask me about my role”.

She was championing the #askhermore Twitter campaign which is fantastic! Nicely done, Reese. For a funny twist on this check THIS article about how male stars react when asked similar superficial questions on the red carpet.

Rave: I believe it was Maria’s blog where I first saw these amazing marshmallow creations from Marshmallow Deli. As a surprise pressie for Ben for Christmas I bought two different marshmallow flavours. Due to high demand over Christmas we didn’t actually receive them until mid-January, but it was worth the wait.

I got him Salted Caramel Swirl (right) and Peanut, Choc Chip Caramel (left). Ben really enjoyed them. I tried both and preferred the salted caramel because the peanut one tasted similar to Snickers chocolate bar and I hate Snickers!

Another rave: This little face.

Just casually waiting at the top of the stairs. What would I do without him?

What are your rants and raves this week?

Do you get annoyed by gender inequality?

What snacks are you enjoying at the moment?

February 12, 2015February 12, 2015

Rants and Raves #8

I’m pretty much back into the normal swing of things again. It’s scary (and sad) how quickly normality and reality submerges you when you get back from being away. It’s like you never went away…

The other parts of my holiday recaps are coming but for now I thought I’d rant and rave for a bit.

Rant: I was driving back from the gym and had BBC Radio 2 (this was about 6.40am) and Chris Evans was reading some texts out. He read one from someone who said “I’m training for London” and Chris Evans was like “what does that mean? Training for the entire of the city? Training to do what? You need to sort your texting out!”. As a runner and a marathon lover obviously I knew exactly what the texter meant. He was training for the London marathon. It just annoyed me that Chris Evans was so oblivious to is and assumed the texter had made a mistake. I suppose as a non-runner you wouldn’t automatically know I guess…but it still irked me.

Rave: I am missing American food big time. I think Ben and me both agreed that if there was a froyo place near to where we lived it would probably become a Friday night and weekend habit. Not good for our bank account, teeth or tummies! I also miss the BBQ food…

Walking past these at Tesco on my lunch break I couldn’t help but grab them and buy them quickly. BBQ ribs for Friday night! It softens the pain somewhat 😉

Rant: Speaking of American food…

Obviously we brought back some treats to enjoy at home. The birthday cake M&Ms are my favourite. I dislike plain chocolate M&Ms as I find them too chocolatey, if that makes sense, but I love these. Very moreish though! I don’t like the Harry Potter Bertie Botts Every Flavour Jelly Beans though. Ear wax and vomit flavours?? Noooo thank you!

Rave: New trainers!

I’m now a big believer in rotating trainers rather than just using one pair all the time. I still love my Brooks trainers but I think I’m always a Mizuno girl at heart. Sooo comfy and just seem to mould well to my feet. These were sent to by Millets to review so that’ll be up next week sometime.

Rant: So much washing. It’s unreal. I do tend to do some hand washing on holiday for my smalls and gym stuff (otherwise they’ll sit in my bag for ages all sweaty and gross) but still the amount of washing needed to be done was ridiculous. That coupled with going to the gym and running and Ben going to the gym and running now…ay ay ay!

Rave: OK strictly speaking this isn’t really a rave, it was just very funny. I’d planned to go to the gym on Wednesday so my alarm was set for 5am. It went off, I got up…and then Ben’s alarm started going off which hugely confused me. He shouldn’t be getting up until 6am. As Ben’s alarm takes a while to wake him up (we’re so different) I nudged him and said “Ben, your alarm is going off??”. He rolled over, turned it off and said “was going to go running…too tired…not a morning person…mrrfff” and went back to sleep.

I got back from the gym about 6.45am to a very quiet and very dark house. I ran upstairs and opened the bedroom to find Ben still asleep. He woke up to the noise, bolted upright in bed and proceeded to reel off a few choice phrases and words I shan’t write here and leapt to the bathroom…he hadn’t re-set his alarm from before! He was 45 minutes late. Yes I’m a bad wife for saying this, but him leaping out of bed half asleep in major panic semi-naked and dishevelled was fairly amusing. Major kudos to him: he got out of the house (with a shower) in under 15 minutes. Oh to be a man…

Rant: I’m really suffering from dry skin on my legs. It started on holiday and I wondered if I was allergic to the hotel linen or water or something, but it’s still bugging me now. We bought some really good moisturiser in the States which is helping to some degree.

Funny name hehe…yes I’m a child

I normally get dry hands during the winter but hand lotion helps…but dry legs? Bit random and very annoying. Finger’s crossed it’ll clear up soon.

Any tips for dry skin?

Do you bring back food from a holiday?

What’s your trainer brand of choice? I like Mizuno, Brooks and Adidas Boosts.

January 21, 2015January 21, 2015

Rants and Raves #7

I feel like I have absolutely no time right now. What with planning meals to make sure we use up all our food, planning what to wear and what needs washing and ironing last minute so not to mess up the packing situation, last minute housework (who wants to come back from holiday to a messy house??) and my normal day job…I feel a bit time-limited. Though I will hastily qualify that statement with anyone who has children makes me look very pathetic. Kudos to all you parents.

So when better to have a good old rant and raves?

Rave: Generally I’m a very tidy person. Though Ben likes to push my boundaries on this one (apparently trousers can be allowed to drape on the banister if he’s going to wear them in the next ten years…that would be no, Benjamin). However I’ve let things slip in the fitness clothing drawer department. I do have a lot of fitness apparel (as I’m sure a lot of you do too) and it was getting to be a struggle to comfortable fit everything in…so, I’m embarrassed to admit, in the end it’s been a bit of a “shove it in” affair.

But enough was enough. I sorted through the drawer and made a big pile of clothes to donate to charity that I just don’t wear anymore since upgrading a few item which left me with enough space to make nice neat and organised folded piles within the drawer.

Ahhh, so much better. And so much easier to access. My soul sleeps happily at night now.

Rant: I’m a dog person as you might have guessed, but I don’t hate cats or wish them ill. I just find certain ones around where I live annoying and very cunning. They leave little paw prints on my sunroof so I know they’re walking over my car at night. And this may be my imagination but I swear they goad and taunt Alfie.

Alfie, bless him, is not a particularly smart dog or very ferocious. He will give chase to a cat (and promptly yanks himself on his lead) but if the cat just sits there he sort of freaks out and doesn’t know what to do. I imagine in his head he’s giving the indifferent cat a menacing stare. Basically I think these cats are taking liberties. They sit close to our front door, they slink slowly past our living room windows…

And they sit on our bins! I feel like they are being passive aggressive and are waging psychological warfare on us. OK maybe not, but seriously, cats please hang out elsewhere as dragging a frenzied Alfie around on his lead is fun for no one (except the cats perhaps).

Rave: This is hilarious and probably very true:

I definitely imagine that I look better running than reality. Race photos are always quite a horrifying shock.

Rant: This is rather gross story so apologies in advance. I was walking Alfie at the weekend and I often wear my iGloves as then I can use my phone without getting cold hands (I normally listen to some music or a podcast). Anyway, Alfie did his business and I picked it up with a poo bag and as I tied it I noticed Alfie poo on my glove. Yuck. And then found the poo bag had a hole in it and was leaking – wonderful! Luckily there was a poo bin close so it wasn’t too bad in the end. Obviously my glove needed to be washed so I took it off and turned it inside out and when I got home it went in the wash with some other bits and bobs and then in the dryer later.

And it shrunk!! It looks like a very small child’s glove now (I actually think it looks quite cute). How annoying though! It does kind of fit but it’s a lot more stretched. Hmph.

Rave: I know I keep saying this (sorry) but I’m loving going to the gym. I know that might sound incredibly sad but I’m really enjoying it. It might be because I do so many different things when I’m there that it’s never boring. I do a certain number of reps of something before moving on to something else. And I know this sounds weird but being in the gym at 5.30am makes me feel hardcore. There are a few other people there (probably less than 20? It’s quite a big gym) and I feel like we’re hardcore gym goers to be there so early. I also get the choice of any space, equipments and weights that I like. And getting there for 5.30am means I’m done by 6.30ish and as I walk out I can just see the Spin class starting and, I won’t lie, I do feel very relieved to not be doing it! Spin is a brilliant cardio workout and I do enjoy it (sort of) but I much prefer doing my own thing at the moment and I feel like my entire body is getting a good workout so it’s a better use of my time and effort to get stronger overall.

Rant: Those first few minutes at the start of your commute when the car is FREEZING and you’re desperately turning the heating up as far as it will go. At 5.20am in the morning it is possibly the worst 5 minutes of my life. Even my steering wheel is freezing! I tend to wear a hoodie and a coat and then leave the coat in the car and make a mad dash to the gym as I hate carrying excess of stuff to the gym but lately it’s just not possible.

This was from this morning, not nearly as cold as yesterday but still not that warm!

Rave: Trying to make sure we don’t have to waste any food means a lot of careful planning. Happily this has meant more soup eating! I had half a butternut squash I wanted to use up quickly so chopped it up and popped it in my slow cooker with some chopped onion and vegetable stock. I left it to cook away for about six hours on low and then just whizzed it up with a hand blender. I added in a tablespoon or so of cream cheese as well to make it extra creamy and a tin of chickpeas to increase the protein.

I got two large portions of soup out of this.

This is a similar story for sweet potato too, which I enjoyed a bit more as it had a deeper flavour.

(Apologies for appalling photos)

And that’s my lot. I won’t be blogging in America (though I will be Tweeting – follow me HERE if you’re interested) so won’t be back blogging now until February. I’ll still try and keep reading blogs when I’m chilling by the pool after a hard day of roller coasters 😉

What are your rants and raves this week?

Are you a cat or a dog person?

Are you tidy and organised…and do you have a secret ‘Monica cupboard’ like my fitness drawer was to me?

January 14, 2015

Rants and Raves #6

First ranting and raving post for 2015. So we’re supposed to get snow…? Or a massive storm? So far it’s rather peaceful and quiet this morning. Wouldn’t a snow day just be lovely? Unlikely though. Anyway, here are latest my rants and raves!

Rave: New boots! OK I got these before Christmas, but in the sale from Dorothy Perkins for £20 I think. I’m not a high heel wearer but I enjoy a modest ‘wedged’ heel rather than a pointy one (if that makes sense…).

They’re sort of burgundy rather than the brown colour they appear in the photo. I normally go for black so it’s nice to have a change. They’re very comfy and very useful for the current rainy conditions we’re being blessed with in the UK. Though I do take them off at work now I have my standing desk otherwise it can be a bit hard on my calves…

Rant and rave: A nice segue to my standing desk.

I won’t lie, it is hard to stand the majority of the day. I’m very much ready to sit down for lunch midway through the day. However the difference I feel when I walk somewhere after I’ve been standing compared to after I’ve been sat having my lunch is incredible. My legs are all stiff when I’ve been sat for an hour whereas my legs feel great after standing instead.

My boss asked how it was going and what my motivations behind it were. I told him how I felt more alert later in the day, my back ache had disappeared and my posture was improving. It shocked me that he seemed genuinely surprised that standing would be better for you than sitting and the health benefits involved.

Rant: Speaking of people being ignorant to health matters and fitness, sometimes I feel like shouting at people. OK not shouting, I’m not a shouty type of person. But I have serious face-palm moments when I hear and see some of the bewildering things people do or say on their journey towards health. A serial dieter at work asked “is tinned tuna fattening?”. I felt myself die a little inside. There are so many things wrong with this sentence. And then there’s the lady going on a liquid diet for a set number of weeks to drop pounds quickly. Or watching the TV programme Fast Food Baby and seeing parents giving their toddler takeaways every single day and walking past the produce section of the supermarket saying “we don’t need any of that!”.

I read a lot of blogs, magazines, books and surround myself with a lot of similar people so health and fitness aren’t vague concepts to me, but I know that for some of the population today they are. I’m trying not to sound smug or like an annoying know-it-all because I know I’m not (hello, I’m the girl who’s always injured from running). But it makes me sad when people just don’t seem to have a clue and will always try the quick fixes to achieve what realistically takes a long-time to sort out. Lifestyle changes not dieting. You could say “well it’s easy for you to say” but I work hard in the gym, try not go crazy with my cake obsession and try to eat healthily most of the time – being healthy is not easy and perhaps there’s the issue.

Rave: My parents installed two web cams for their kitchen and utility room so they could check up on their dogs via an iPhone app throughout the day.

Surprise surprise when he checked midway through the day the three dogs were fast asleep all snuggled together. I think this is brilliant and very cute. A great way to check in on your house and see what your furry friends are up to. I’m pretty sure the same would be for Alfie as he sleeps like 16 hours a day! But I would love to nosey in on what he’s up to in a day.

Rant: More of a half-hearted rant really. This is Ben’s idea of porridge:

Not only does he submerge it in golden syrup but there are also a few teaspoons of white sugar in there as well. Oh his poor teeth… Thankfully he only has this or toast at the weekend as he never has breakfast in the week (*sighs*). I think I would self-combust on the way to work if I didn’t have breakfast.

Rave: If you read this blog regularly you’re probably aware that I adore BBQ sauce. BBQ ribs are probably one of my favourite foods (and why I’m so happy we’re going to Dallas as apparently they’re good there…). My latest easy meal (that Ben also enjoys) is oven-baked BBQ chicken thighs and drumsticks. I remove the skin (weirdly I’m only a fan of chicken skin in restaurants as they just do it so much nicer? More crispy and flavoursome) and coat it in BBQ sauce (sneakily add some kale) and oven bake it for 40 minutes or so. With it I have a roasted sweet potato whereas Ben has onion rings.

OK let’s ignore the fact that the main ingredient in BBQ sauce is sugar and you could say ‘pot calling kettle black’ and all that jazz with my previous rant about Ben’s golden syrup…but it just tastes SO GOOD. And there’s healthy stuff there with the kale and protein. Shhh.

Rant: At Christmas one of the presents both Ben and I got were selfie sticks. Funnily enough both Ben’s mum and my parents got us selfie sticks. So we’re now the proud owners of four selfie sticks. No one is that self-obsessed right?! As we got the selfie sticks as our table present (anyone else do that?) I tried to get it working so we could have a quick selfie before we ate.

Can you see how happy Ben is about this?

And that would be a fail. It has a little remote control to take the photo but it was just very fiddly and difficult to work out how to use.

I did think that our attempts were somewhat amusing, and trying to take a photo in front of a large window is never a good idea. Needless to say we haven’t attempted to try again. I am taking them with us on holiday though. Just probably not on any roller coasters… Hopefully this will turn into a rave at some point!

Rave: Nice people at the gym. I was at the gym the other morning going through one of my strength routines, just in the zone you know, and there was an older lady who was doing her own routine behind me. As I finished up and was doing some stretches she came over to me and said “Can I just say that you have such an amazing core!” Granted it was a bit of a weird compliment but it literally made my day. She told me she had been watching me do my thing and was impressed at how strong my core was. She asked my age and said she was almost 60 herself. I said to her that I hoped to be like her when I’m 60 because she was rocking out some tough moves herself! I think we both made the other feel pretty damn good that morning.

She told me she was a runner too and only a few years ago the doctor had told her after she had an accident she’d never run again – well, she said to him, she didn’t run beforehand but she was damn well going to now! She told me her 10k PB was 58 minutes – how amazing is that! Bless her heart she said mine must be 40 minutes. I loved her for that and did laugh quite a lot. Not quite I said haha!

What are your rants and raves this week?

Do you enjoy taking selfies?

BBQ sauce or ketchup? Ketchup is a mere pretender in my eyes 😉 but it will do if nothing else is available. Chips (fries) without a little sauce is a heinous sin!