Review - AnnaTheApple

July 8, 2015September 18, 2020

Rants and Raves #15

How the weeks are flying by! I know it’s such a cliché but everything is just moving so quickly. And with another week I have another set of rants and raves…

Rave: I entered a competition with Brooks a while ago and forgot about it. If I remember correctly you had to talk about why running makes you happy and upload a photo of yourself “running happy”. I didn’t win but they did send me a consolation prize.

A very nice Brooks t-shirt. It’s made from wicking material but it’s not a ‘proper’ technical t-shirt if that makes sense but it’s still good for short runs, gym visits or just general wear. It’s lovely and soft and fits nicely.

Rant: My gym has been renovated which has just been *so* much fun trying to find an area to work out in that wasn’t a building site. Though I can understand their issue as it’s open 24/7 so it must be hard to do any sorts of improvements without closing the gym.

But anyway, they’ve created a new door system to get in and out. Before it was like a caged turnstile. Now it’s like something out of Star Trek.

You type in your code, one part of it opens, you step in, it closes before opening the next part. There is about two very long seconds where you fear you’ll never be let out. What a way to spend the rest of your life…locked in a glass cage with only your own sweat smell to comfort you.

Rave: Speaking of the new gym renovations, it has meant that we’ve had loads of new equipment and weights. Including a proper stepper machine! I was quite excited as previously we’d only had that annoying step machine that when you put your foot on each step it sinks down. I tried it once and it was awful. I just didn’t get on with it as I couldn’t work out if I was meant to do shallow little steps or big deep steps. The real step machine however is far better.

It’s actually like climbing stairs and you can get a good rhythm. Great for the glutes and legs! And for towering over the gym and people watching 😉

But I honestly have no idea what this new machine is…

On closer inspection it looked like a rowing machine, but upright…very strange.

Rant: Hot running! Though it is nice to be warm when you’re doing your warm-up…oh those days not so long ago I was standing in the car park in my tiny shorts absolutely freezing doing my leg swings while people were coming out to their cars wrapped up in coats and scarves looking at me like I was mental. But it does make for harder running.

Sweaty, uncomfortable and harder efforts for the same speeds…it’s tough! And even more so when you come back to the office and find…

NO cups for the water machine. I did consider putting my head under the water release bit and drinking that way but I thought perhaps this wasn’t proper office etiquette, even if it was past normal working hours 😉 Luckily they had another one in another corridor that I had to hunt for in my heat-induced delirium.

Rave: Pretty purple Nike capris! I’m clearly a bit obsessed with capris right now. I don’t tend to wear them running as it’s too hot but I love wearing them to the gym.

These are really comfortable and nice fitting. Normally I’m not one for crazy patterns but I just love the colour! I can’t remember where I got them from, otherwise I’d post the link as well.

Rant: Dropping your hair dryer on yourself while blow drying your hair is painful. And further proof of the accident prone idiot I am.

And also gives the impression that you’ve been mauled by a small animal. Very painful burns from the grating in the hair dryer!

Rave: Alfie just makes me smile every single day. This is him not wanting to get up one morning.

I reckon he thinks he’s invisible if he can’t see me 😉

Rave: I’m very excited about being sent these 33Shake products. I haven’t tried them yet as I’m waiting for a good time to test them out on (I have the perfect event in a week or so to give them a good testing – but more on that soon). I was sent three All-in-One Shake blend which are ideal after hard sessions as they contain great ingredients like hemp seeds and flaxseeds, natural antioxidants (which I’ve found I really need after hard sessions!), protein, and anti-inflammatories like turmeric and green coffee (oooh er!). They’re 100% natural, meaning no additives, no preservatives, and nothing manmade.

I was also sent Chia Energy Gels which will provide energy during a hard workout. And again contain all natural with a blend of carbs, proteins, Omega-3s and antioxidants.

So I’m fairly excited about testing these bad boys out!

What are your rants and raves this week?

What do you look for in sports nutrition, whether that’s before, during or after?

Where do you buy your workout gear from?

July 2, 2015September 18, 2020

DNAFit Results and Review

Ooook so this has been a bit delayed…my DNAFit results and review.

**Full Disclosure: I bought DNAFit myself and have not been asked to write a review.**

I first heard about DNAFit in RunnersWorld magazine (possibly an online article, possibly in the magazine, I can’t remember). At first I was like “this is weird” and then “is this legitimate…and safe?” but because it was in RunnersWorld I was instantly intrigued and reassured of it’s legitimacy (I know, I’m a sucker for good marketing!).

I could send off my DNA to be tested and be told a whole host of things about my genes regarding fitness.

I chose the DNAFit Lite.

As someone who has been plagued by injuries in the past, I was curious to know really how weak my body was. Was I predisposed to getting injuries just because that was who I was or was it really all in my head? We all know our own bodies fairly well so I was pretty sure what to expect from the results…but just to have the confirmation, or more in depth information was tantalisingly tempting. As it was my birthday my parents agreed to contribute to the cost and I made up the rest (happy birthday me!).

I didn’t need a VO2 Max potential as I’d already suffered gone through that VO2 test last year and though more information would have been nice on my genotypes and the athlete comparison, I wasn’t willing to pay £30 more for it.

Inside are very helpful and straight forward instructions about how to collect your DNA. It uses a mouth swab which you then send back in a pre-paid secure envelope. It advised swabbing first thing in the morning so I did just that, while feeling like a criminal 😉

It didn’t hurt and was very simple and easy. They emailed me to let me know when they’d received it and then the waiting game began. I was really excited to hear my results, desperately hoping I was actually made of steel and my injuries were all in my head.

Less than 10 days later I received an email telling me my results were in. Wheee!

I won’t lie, when I first looked at my results it was literally a quick scan to see the main points. I was also a little disappointed to find how much of it I really understood and how much I really got from it. Science lessons were a while ago now! Saying that though, after I read it a few more times and asked the company a few questions, my understanding increased and I felt like I got a lot of information.

Power Endurance Profile

I was highly surprised by this result. I really thought it would come back and say I was most suited to endurance activities. I love long distances and find them easier than shorter, sharper activities. It’s nice to know that my body seems attuned to both. I suppose this could make sense as when I put my mind to it I can do well (relatively speaking) at shorter distances, it’s just psychologically more work and less enjoyment.

As well as that overall summary it also goes into detail about different variants of genes. This is where my understanding started to waver. But after sending a query to the DNAFit people they quickly came back and explained it to me:

“The effect is shown by the presence of ‘-‘, ‘*’, ‘**’, “+”, and “++”. When there is just a dash, that means that the version of that gene is not associated with an effect in this particular part of the report. Then the presence of one asterisk’*’ means it has an effect, and two asterisks means that gene variant has a particularly strong effect on the marker in question…and two plus signs = very strong, one plus = strong.” (From DNATFit advisor)

Basically you’re given a list of the variants they examine and then marks them as to how much effect they have on your body. There are different strengths of associations and some variants might not have any effect at all, while some are really strong.

The darker shade of green is the version of that gene that I hold

I also found that I have a better VO2max response to training and lower levels of inflammation after hard training sessions, leading to quicker recovery times.

Recovery Speed

Again I was nicely surprised by this result. I assumed I’d get a slower recovery speed, but medium is good so I’m quite happy with that! I like how it suggested things for me to do to improve on my recovery. Since doing the Simply Supplement review in May I regularly take omega-3 tablets so I feel quite smug about this 😉

From my gene variants it seems I potentially have more free radicals post-exercise because I lack the part of the gene associated with their removal (I almost sound like I know what I’m talking about…). And I apparently experience “higher levels of inflammation after strenuous exercise”.

One of the benefits of getting these results back around the time of my marathon was that it could inform me of the best way to come back to running sensibly. During the week after the marathon when all I wanted to do was run I remembered these results and held myself back. I was sensible with what I ate, I wore compression socks and I was gentle with myself. It was almost like I could validate my rest (and convince myself not to run) because I knew my body needed it.

Injury Risk

This was the one I was most interested about. Injuries plague most runners, but I feel like I’ve had more than my fair share in comparison to others.

No surprises there whatsoever. I did feel somewhat depressed by this result though. But it does make sense that genes have an effect on these things. I’m sure we all know those people who can run stupidly high mileage every week, never stretch, never foam roll and never get injured. I’m sure those are the low injury risk people.

I also apparently have an increased risk of tendinopathy and osteoarthritis and a moderately raised risk of tendon and ligament injuries in sport. And a susceptibility of increased inflammation after a hard workout.

Overall

After understanding the results more, I feel quite happy with my results. It’s very complex obviously, with what genes affect me, the strength of that effect and then the variants within that gene. It does take a bit of careful reading and re-reading!

But what DNAFit also stress is that your genes aren’t everything. They’re the foundations to your house, but how you build to that house and furnish it is up to you. Last year I was stupid with my training. I didn’t do enough strength training for my body and when I got injured I didn’t take the time off to properly recover and then to gradually come back. It was more of a case of “I feel OK now, what race is next?” and jumping back into my training plan that I abandoned just before the injury.

One of the pointers DNAFit advisers me from my results it that I need to “undertake prehabilitative exercises relevant to the sport and consider nutritional support for connective tissue”. Since before Christmas I’ve been doing just this and it’s clearly working. They stress that my injury risk is based only on my genes, but that I can make changes in my environment to reduce this injury risk. Like our biology lessons taught us, genes aren’t everything – it’s a combination of genes and environment. I’m sadly not one of those people who can just run. I’ve got to strengthen and protect my body, and then take the time to rest and recover properly.

Is it worth it? Though DNAFit confirmed many things I already knew about myself, it was nice to get an insight into the details and know a bit more about myself. Would I recommend it? It is expensive and if you’re already well-tuned to your body, I’d say you probably don’t need it. But if you’re like me and want to know a bit more about yourself and help work out what you really need to do for good training (for example, I can’t run six days a week regularly – my body needs more recovery) then go for it. Ideal birthday or Christmas present!

Would this interest you?

Have you ever done a VO2 test or a DNA test like this?

How much recovery do you think your body needs?

June 10, 2015September 18, 2020

What I’m loving lately…

Today I have a bit of a random post with some bits and pieces that I’m loving lately.

(FYI none of the products mentioned below were sent to be reviewed or that I got anything in return for – I’m just giving general opinions on things I’m loving!)

Hello Fresh: I know I keep harping on about it, but I’m still going strong with Hello Fresh. Only cooking for one now (start the violins…) means I can plate up two meals and not worry the next day. I try and plan it so I always have that spare meal when I’m going running or know I’m going to be late home for some reason. Very handy to then just get in and microwave my already prepared dinner.

A really tasty meal I had recently was a risotto with prawns and asparagus. SO good.

I never normally buy prawns as they’re quite expensive and I never think to make risottos so this was quite the fancy meal for me! I also like how it uses seasonal ingredients.

Another noteworthy meal was a chickpea and butternut squash curry made with coconut milk.

The portion was massive but perfect for my hungry appetite! What was good about this meal was I could easily freeze the second meal so didn’t need to panic about eating the other portion in a certain amount of time.

Birthday present to me: As it’s my birthday in a couple of weeks my parents asked what I would like…so I said money towards a DNA test. Yes, you read that right. My parents were a little shocked…But keep reading, it’s not like that! 😉

I first heard about it in the RunnersWorld magazine and my interest was instantly peaked. It’s basically a DNA test which tells you your fitness genetic profile: DNAFit.

My swab that I sent away

Yes, yes I know, sounds a load of hogwash but it’s a genuine thing. I went for the slightly less expensive test which would tell me:

Power and endurance potential
Post-exercise recovery speed
Injury risk profile
Recovery nutrition needs

I’m not expecting any real eye-opening discoveries here because, let’s be honest, I know my own body pretty well. But I’m intrigued as to what my genes really say about me. I’m pretty much expecting a high injury risk result and more of an aptitude towards endurance than power…but we shall see I guess. What it will give me is an idea of really how best I should train and how many recovery days I really need. Or at least confirm what I already know. Perhaps a waste of money but frankly there was nothing else I wanted for my birthday. I’ll share my results when I get them through.

New foam rollers: Check out these bad boys!!

No these are not props from Fifty Shades of Grey as someone in my running club said 😉 They are foam rollers! The ball is about the size of a tennis ball so the cylindrical one in comparison is also very small. Handy travel sized. I’m a big fan of foam rolling and I’m sort of deflating my usual tennis ball by using it too much (and this makes Alfie sad…) so I thought I would splash out for something a bit more exciting and, er, aggressive. I’m using with caution though. They’re great for my calves and bum.

Bargain fitness gear: Fitness clothes from Tesco (UK supermarket)! These leggings were a bargain (£8!) and fit SO well. They are very comfortable and I think quite flattering. I’m all over cheap and good quality gym/running gear!

Random 5: And on the subject of running gear…I won a competition at the Hackney Half Marathon! In the race village Brook’s had a chalk board which was about why you’re thankful for running and the most inspiring ones (or interesting) would win some Brook’s goodies. Always keen to win free stuff I put my message on there…and, amongst a few others, won!

Mine says “Thank you running for all the cake”…seemed fitting, you know? 😉 My friend, Karen, from the running club also won (hers said that running helps her “escape from the nappies” as she’s a mum of two youngsters).

The prizes arrived this week. I didn’t really know what I’d won beforehand but we had to give our clothing and shoe size so I hoped for the best. In the package there were a pair of trainers, capris and a T-shirt. Not too shabby, eh!

Ravenna Trainers:Infiniti capris:

Short-sleeved running top:

The top is a little big on me though which is annoying but the capris are WONDERFUL. The trainers are also very cool looking. I love the colours!

Standing desk: And my standing desk is still going strong. I’m on a new project so had to switch to a different office but my set-up is still pretty good.

It’s nice because I can look out of the windows easily as they’re quite high if you’re sat down. My chair comes in handy as a shopping bag holder as well (and so no one pinches it as I sit down for lunch!).

And that’s all for now! For tomorrow’s post I hope to do a sort of summary of my marathon training, what I’ve learnt and the good and bad things. I guess I won’t know really how well my training has gone until the Big Day though…

Do you foam roll?

Where do you usually buy your fitness gear from?

Would you take a DNA test to find out more about yourself?

June 4, 2015September 18, 2020

Portlebay Popcorn

It’s no secret that I’m a bit of a popcorn addict. I pop my own salt and pepper popcorn and have as part of my lunch every day at work. My office initially thought I was bonkers but now they’ve come to accept my weird little obsession.

Along with my more simple popcorn, I love trying the different flavours that have come out as well. There’s definitely been an explosion of popcorn in the past few years. No longer is it just the butter and sugar drenched stuff you buy to pop yourself and eat at home while watching a film or buy jumbo buckets of at the cinema. Recent flavours out there have also fully embraced the salty sweet flavour combo that is in full force at the moment too. It’s a match made in heaven in my eyes!

Portlebay Popcorn do a range of popcorn flavours called Kracklecorn which is “hand popped” in Devon.

Kracklecorn is where they’ve added raw cane sugar as the grains are popping which makes the popcorn more brittle and crunchy. They sent me a fabulous selection of popcorn flavours to test out and review. Honestly, I was blown away by the variety they had!

I’ve previously tried the Crispy Bacon and Maple Syrup flavour and adored it so I knew that flavour would be fine. But Lemon Sherbet? Very Berry? That sounds mental! The three new flavours that Portlebay have released are Very Berry, Cinnamon Swirl and Lemon Sherbet.

The Lemon Sherbet flavour was fairly subtle – don’t expect to get your head blown off. But it did have that tangy lemonness and fizziness you’d expect from the original sweet and it went so well with the popcorn. It tasted delicious!. It was my second favourite flavour (the maple bacon still has my heart).

The Very Berry flavour was equally as subtle and extremely tasty. There were hints of berry-ness without it being overwhelming.

The Cinnamon Swirl I was initially not sure about. It tasted very “American” if you know what I mean. It smelt quite synthetic. Cinnamon isn’t a huge flavour in the UK (unless it’s Christmas), unlike the US, and it reminded me of the sweet cinnamon things you can easily eat over there but not so much here. After a few bits I decided I did like it. Again, subtle flavours.

The one flavour I wasn’t sure about was the Smoked Cheddar. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t awful but it was just odd. It had a cheesy flavour but was still slightly sweet. I don’t think I’d have this flavour again, but I wouldn’t throw it back at someone if they offered me some!

I won’t go into the nutritional details for all the popcorn but I’ll give you an example.

Cinnamon Swirl (per 25g)

Calories: 111 calories
Protein: 1.3g
Fat: 4g
Of which saturates: 0.3g
Carbohydrate: 16.2g
Of which sugars: 7g
Fibre: 2.7g
Salt: 0.1g

The range of calories per bag for the flavours is around 110-115 calories, so less than a packet of crisps and nice and filling with the fibre. The ingredients lists are also fairly clean without any nasty, strange sounding chemicals. They’re not vegan (they contain lactose) but they are gluten free.

By far Portlebay are the best range of popcorn I’ve had. The crunchiness of the actual popcorn gives a nice eating experience (does that make sense?) and the flavours are really good. Big thumbs up from this popcorn addict! I just cannot buy bigger bags though as I won’t stop eating.

What’s your favourite popcorn flavour?

What do you snack on when you’ve got the munchies?

What’s the weirdest flavour you’ve tried (of anything!)?

***Full Disclosure: I was sent the popcorn for free to review. All opinions are my own honest ones.***

May 22, 2015September 18, 2020

Simply Supplements review

I’ve been working from home the past three days doing an online course in order to acquire more skills for my job and let me tell you, self-motivation is hard-work! Only having a set amount of time to do it though does spark the adrenaline a little, and obviously wanting to pass the exam at the end of it!

Anyway, on to more interesting things.

I was asked if I would review some products from the vitamin supplement online store Simply Supplements. I happily agreed because I don’t take any supplements and with marathon training trucking along I thought I could do with any help I could get!

Their website also has a cool blog which goes into some details about different bits and bobs to do with health, fitness and weight-loss (and marathon training!).

I chose three different supplements to trial:

L-Taurine 600mg

I chose this product because it’s apparently very good endurance and supports the maintenance of muscle.

From the website: “L-Taurine is concentrated in muscle tissues and the central nervous system, and is one of the few amino acids that contain sulphur…Through its high vitamin B6 content, L-Taurine is also believed to improve the body’s transportation and metabolism of protein and iron.”

Thoughts? It sounded great! I also read the reviews from other customers, which were all positive and along similar lines. Obviously I need to take the supplement for longer than the two weeks I’ve been taking it but no ill effects and my marathon training still continues to go well. My long runs have felt strong as well.

Aloe Vera 6000mg

Aloe Vera is supposed to be good for digestion, promoting good bacteria in the gut and maintaining a health pH balance.

Thoughts? I actually don’t have any digestion issues, apart from the occasional bloat from too many apples or too many vegetables (I’m looking at you, sprouts). This wasn’t the reason why I chose this supplement. I’ve heard aloe vera is great for many different things, one of those being inflammation. As a runner doing high mileage (for me!!) I wanted something to help with recovery and reduce injury (though I know a bit of inflammation isn’t bad). Again, so far so good. The tablets are nice and small as well so easy to take.

Omega 3 1000mg Capsules

Omega 3 is great for the brain, heart and eyes. You’d usually find the omega 3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in oily fish, flaxseeds, nuts, etc. and can be a tricky one to get the recommended daily dose if fish and nuts don’t rock your world (though sprouts have a good dose apparently!).

Omega 3 helps normalise blood pressure, cholesterol levels and can help reduce heart disease. And it can help maintain a good brain and good eyes.

(Fun but gross fact: a common causes of excessive ear wax is a deficiency in omega 3 fatty acids)

Thoughts? If I could eat oily fish (or all fish in general really) on a daily basis I would, but fish is expensive. It’s also harder to put into everyday recipes. I’m a huge fan of taking these supplements because now I’m no longer feeling guilty that I don’t eat a huge amount of fish (or nuts – I like pistachio nuts, but most nuts are a bit of a problem for me as I can’t stop at a small handful!)

I like that fish oils are from clean ocean waters and are subject to stringent environmental measures that protect the surrounding eco-system. However the product isn’t vegetarian as it contains gelatine. The tablet is also quite big but it’s easier to take because it’s smooth and shiny, if that makes sense??

Tablet sizes

Simply Supplements is a great online store as it just has so many different things. I had trouble deciding what to go for and judging by the reviews, there are a lot of happy customers.

What supplements do you take (if any)?

What pill do you think they should invent? I think they make a “keep on running” pill which stops all injuries from happening . Or a “I never need to wash my hair again” pill…but I’m sensing I’m edging away from reality now 😉

Are you able to take large tablets? My dad can take tablets without water. This is amazing.