Review - AnnaTheApple

January 13, 2014January 16, 2014

Winter workout and tasty pastries

Happy Monday, everyone. Is it me or is it starting to get lighter in the mornings? I can’t wait until I’m woken by sunlight in the morning again…such a gentle way to wake up.

During my time off of running [apart from boring the socks off of everyone about how much I wish I was running] I have been going to the gym and trying to strengthen my body so that when it decides it is happy to run again, it will run strong.

I’ve been seeing a person trainer pretty much once a week (apart from Christmas) and he’s been guiding me through lots of exercises that I would never have done on my own. And lifting weights I would never have dreamed I could have done. Now I am by no means comparable to lots of other far stronger people out there, but for me I’m amazed.

My session last week he instructed me to deadlift a dumbbell bar weighing a total of 50kg. This is pretty much my weight! I realise this might seem so easy to some people but I couldn’t do it. I was terrified: it was too heavy, I was convinced I’d break my back or knees.

He took the weights off and started with just 20kg. He tutored my form and then added more weights, I deadlifted, then rested. He added more weights, I deadlifted, then rested. We continued with this until we were back at 50kg. And I did it – all 8 reps of it!!

It’s not running, no where near. But I was so proud of myself.

I also follow workouts that my running coach devised (all those weeks ago) which is mainly focused on lower body:

This took me 40mins to complete. And I looked like a right berk doing the unbalanced squats.

I’m hoping that I’ve been using my ‘non-running’ time well. And when I get back into running I will continue with my strength workouts, hopefully, twice a week. That is the plan anyway!

On an entirely different note, I was sent some pastry cases made by Pidy to try out. Pidy products are made with their award winning pastry recipe that the Pidy family initially created in their little patisserie shop in Ypres, Belgium back in 1952. They have a huge range of different pastries ready for fillings to be added.

I’m not a huge fan of pastry I must say but these sounded very cute and dinky. I was sent three types: mini square puff pastry squares, award winning pastry ‘sponnettes’ and veggie cups. The puff pastry squares were 130 calories per square and the spoonettes and veggie cups under 20 calories. There are no artificial colours of E-numbers and they’re a great source of fibre too.

Because we were feeling lazy on Sunday night Ben and me decided to have a sort of snack plate so we could try out the pastries.

I filled the different pastries with tuna pate, hummus and Brussels pate. We could have been more adventurous I’m sure and made them more exciting but these little things were perfectly delicious just like this and very filling! My favourite was definitely the veggie cups which were with 30% beetroot juice (hence the colour) and they were very crunchy which I loved. Other veggie cup flavours are carrot, spinach and celeriac.

I’m sure they’d be perfect versatile snacks that you could really go to town on the fillings and offer to guests when hosting an evening (ooh er, how posh!). And they don’t just have to be savoury, you could easily fill these badboys with sweet fillings – like fruit and yogurt, or chocolatey yumminess.

Thanks to food PR agency CLIP Creative and PR for the samples!

**I was sent the samples to review, but these are all my own opinions of the product**

Right, let’s get this week started!

Are you good with balancing strength workouts with cardio?

Do you like finger food and canapés? I love canapés. I especially love weddings with posh canapés 😉

What would you fill these pastries with? I was a bit boring with mine but they were very tasty regardless.

November 6, 2013November 6, 2013

Snack Monster

The heating is on. The big fluffy socks are out. The winter coat is being embraced. My early morning walks with Alfie are becoming very chilly. And when I say chilly, I mean COLD. I don’t understand dogs really. Alfie never looks cold. He never grumbles about going out in the cold or rain. He gets so excited regardless of what outside is like. I think we all need a bit of that relentless joy in our lives.

So I’m joining the fun with What I Ate Wednesday today:

Hosted by the lovely Jenn (check her blog for more info)

Honestly, I have become a hungry beast. Runger is going crazy in these parts. I am a snack MACHINE. At work my drawer is full of different snacks.

Yes that is a salt shaker there; it’s for my popcorn

Some relatively healthy (dried fruit, olives, pumpkin seeds) and some not so healthy (cranberry cookie, chocolates and sweets). This isn’t one day’s worth of snacks though! Usually in the day I’ll have my first snack about an hour or so after lunch, then another snack an hour before going home. Then I’ll have an evening snack after dinner.

There are lots of opinions as to whether snacking is healthy or not. For me at the moment, snacking is what I need. I haven’t vastly changed what I’ve been eating for my actual meals since training for the marathon but I have bumped up my snacks. I hate feeling so full and bloated after lunch or diner so I make sure my extra calories come from snacks around those meals. Plus I love food, so more time eating different food is a win in my eyes.

I recently got a Groupon voucher for Flavourly which is kind of a more elaborate foodie Graze. They send a box of assorted treats to you every month. So I tried it out.

**I have not been compensated for this review or been contacted by Flavourly, these are just my opinions**

I got loads of different items, such a curry kit, salad dressing, aubergine and basil paste (you should have seen Ben’s face with this one)… I’m not sure I’ll carry on my subscription only because it’s quite expensive but I enjoyed it as a once off. So many different things I’d never tried before.

I especially enjoyed these:

Maple syrup and bacon popcorn. You know I love my popcorn but this rocked my world. SO tasty. Kind of salty and sweet. Don’t be scared of the bacon!!

I also enjoyed these dried apple crisps:

Because I don’t eat enough apples I thought I better have these to up my intake I was impressed that they were literally just apple slices. Nothing else in there.

And yes, I have been very much indulging in less than stellar snacks as well. You need a balance.

These were the special chocolates I ~~paid a fortune for~~ bought the other week. Unfortunately I’d forgotten what they all were, so it was a magical mystery tour of chocolates. I’m one of those people who spend ages looking at the chocolate flavours before trying one – no Russian roulette for me in the chocolate world.

And, for evening meals, I’m still loving my slow cooker.

Bean, lentil and butternut squash stew

I used THIS recipe. I had to switch the chickpeas with cannellini beans though as I’d run out. This was so filling, hearty and tasty. Ben didn’t like it as much…apparently there were “a lot of vegetables”. Pft! He’s not on-board with the obsession with squash or lentils…

So after my first ever 17 mile run on Sunday I decided it would be sensible to not go to spin Monday morning. I definitely needed that day off! I slept for like 10 hours straight Sunday night. On reflection I’m changing my marathon training plan so that Mondays are my day off instead of Wednesday. Seems wise. My body thanked me for it. My hamstrings were so tight!

What’s your opinion on snacking? As much as I can

What are your favourite snacks? Apples.

How many rest days do you take in a week? I have at least one rest day a week where I do nothing except walk Alfie.

July 19, 2013July 19, 2013

The highs and lows of a runner cycling

Hi guys, I’m ‘afraid’ that I am once again off from work today! Until Tuesday!

This weekend is going to be a busy one. Ben and me are off to London on Saturday to see some friends and then on Sunday I’m running the National Lottery Anniversary Run (5 miles).

I cannot tell you how excited I am about this. Why? Because Paula Radcliffe is running it!!!! I’m not aiming for a super fast run – this is one of those runs that you just enjoy. Take in the atmosphere and the scenery…and chat to Paula. Ha. I wish.

In other random news, my dear hubby found this hilarious comic strip by the incredibly funny (though rather rude – I have warned you!) writer from the website TheOatmeal.com. It’s called The Terrible & Wonderful Reasons Why I run Long Distances. Since then I’ve actually seen it about on a few blogs. Here’s one segment from it:

Source

It really made me laugh. OK I don’t treat my body like a fast-moving dumpster, but it just struck me as a great satire of a lot of bloggers out there (yes, myself very much included). Yay for spinach smoothies!!

[Incidentally there’s also a HILARIOUS comic from the same website called My Dog, the Paradox]

I mentioned in my last post that I’ve been dabbling with a bit of cycling. I feel like I’m cheating on my running when I say this…it’s not too bad. Let me be clear though, it’s not running (duh).

So far I’ve cycled twice this week. One almost 13 mile route and one 15 mile route (in just over an hour). I don’t think that’s too shabby (especially considering the mountain bike I’m riding haha). I made the rookie error of comparing my rides with a guy from work who, get this, went to France a couple of weeks ago to cycle some of the routes for the Tour de France. As you do.

I’m tootling along nicely at around 14mph and he’s zooming by around 19mph!! Up mountains! Jeeze. I got slightly giddy when I realised one of his cycles was 18mph. I naively thought, “Ok that’s not too far from mine” until I realised that was an easy recovery ride haha.

But it’s been a great relief for my little legs to not be pounding the pavement so often I must say. And especially after Sunday’s tough race.

Here’s what I’ve discovered about cycling:

They sell padded cycling shorts for a reason. Enough said.
I hate cars. I just love cycling along gutters…not.
Checking my Garmin to see my speed is not safe for me. I have limited balance so this is just an accident waiting to happen.
Speaking of accidents, what’s the worst that can happen with running? You trip over? It’s painful but it’s not usually life-threatening. Cycling accidents? Jeeze let’s not even think about it.
You have to cycle a lot longer and a lot further to get the equivalent to a run (and that’s still debatable).
You can slack of a lot more with cycling than running. You can coast along with cycling. With running you just stop.
Two words: helmet hair.

But hey ho, it’s something different! And I’ve got my first Pump class booked for Monday morning. My puny muscles are quivering in fear already.

And recently I’ve been trying these yogurts from Danone called Danio. They’re basically a thick yogurt over a layer of fruit at the bottom. If I’m honest I’m not a big fan of the fruit in yogurt…it makes me feel a bit ill.

But these I actually enjoyed! Ben was shocked (and a little disgruntled as he thought he’d be having them all, haha). I really genuinely enjoyed them. The flavours I was able to get were peach, cherry, strawberry and passionfruit (passionfruit hands down was the best – that’s the photo above). But I believe there’s also blueberry and raspberry.

The yogurts are described as “super thick” and they’re not wrong! They also have a good level of protein (11-13g) in them, so you’re kept fuller for longer.

They have no artificial preservatives, flavourings or sweeteners. In fact, the ingredients look pretty good for a fruity flavoured yogurt. And they’re between 120-150kcal per pot and most are 0% fat. Not too shabby. They are quite sweet and they do contain sugar but for a fruit yogurt it’s not too bad at all for a nice afternoon snack to tide you over until dinner.

Funny related story. I bought so many in Tesco (as the company had kindly given me a voucher to purchase them) I looked like I was obsessed.

They’ve take over half my fridge!!

Right, I’m off to indulge in a bit of coffee and cake with my mum and sister. Ciao for now!

Are you running any races this weekend?

What classes do you do at the gym?

July 12, 2013

Spa day, races and tasty snacks

OK, I don’t want to rub it in…but I haven’t been at work today! I’ve had the day off! Hurrah! And I had a very lovely day indeed with my mum and mother-in-law. We bought Groupon vouchers ages ago for a spa day. Ooh-err!

We went to a local hotel which was all rather posh and lovely.

And indulged in a bit of a pampering. We had a neck, shoulders and back massage, and a facial. Oh it was divine. It lasted for so long and then we could mosey about in lovely thick robes (though it was a tad hot in them considering the weather). We went in the pool and Jacuzzi (well, I just sat in the Jacuzzi) and then had a lovely salad for lunch in the gardens.

I went for marinated chicken with sundried tomatoes and rock. So good.

Does anyone else find it awkward having a treatment? I’m always so self-conscious. And about the most stupid stuff…like what should I be wearing under my robe? Should I be in just my knickers, should I be in my bikini? And then when she’s actually massaging me I start over-thinking…should I be talking to her? I hope my back is a normal back…Should I be complimenting her technique? Jeeze I never know. So I just stayed silent. Better to say silent then say something stupid!

Well, despite my ridiculous over-thinking anxieties, it was wonderful. We had a lovely morning/afternoon.

Just looking back at the week, on Wednesday night Ben and me headed to a league run with our running club called the RR10 league (do other people have that??). Basically all the running clubs in our area compete in a set of 10 races at different locations. It’s not based on time but rather actual place you finish.

Because I never manage to get home in time from work I haven’t made any others except for Wednesday night which was really close to home.

I was feeling a bit nervous as my hip/knee has been giving me a bit of grief again (*wails in frustration*). I’ve found I have hip bursitis. Joy of joys. Basically my hips flares up a bit when it’s tight and it causes a bit of discomfort in my hip and knee. All I really can do is use lots of ice, stretching and strengthening of my hips.

So I was going to take this run as just a fairly standard run. Not too easy but not going like lightening. The race was off-road and apparently 4.8 miles.

As we started the first mile was quite slow anyway as it was single file through a corn field. You couldn’t overtake which was so frustrating. But I thought this was ideal really as it stopped me from sprinting.

Then the next couple of miles were OK. We came out of the corn field and I could speed it up a tad and get past some people.

I’ve been wearing a knee thing to just give a bit of extra support

Towards the end of mile three we hit a steady incline and it got rough. I felt like my legs were like lead and I was tired. I literally felt like I had no energy.

Then mile four was another loop of the bloody incline. I found myself despairing by looking at my Garmin but I literally could do nothing about it. Anyway at like 4.5 miles I was thinking “excellent, almost there”.

We hit mile 5 and I was thinking “ermm, where’s the finish then?”. Some marshals shouted we were almost there and I decided to give it my all. I mean we were at 5.1 miles, it must be round that corner right?

I got round that corner and no finish line was in sight. I lost my speed and motivation. Finally I saw the finish and practically crawled across it. Really not fun.

Man it was tough. I came twelfth girl though (whoop whoop). Considering the first mile was pants as I got stuck behind so many people (as did everyone I guess) and I’m still having issues with my leg I think that’s great

I went home and had a lovely ice bath and whipped on the compression socks. I still have an irrational fear of my compression socks since the dreaded cramp incident the other week…Ben has to help me now. Haha.

And I also want to share with you guys these great snacks I’ve been sent for review. The lovely Jemma over at Celery and Cupcakes got me involved and I was more than happy to try these bad boys as I’d heard good things about them.

They’re called Garbanzo snacks and have only been around since 2011but the fan-base is expanding! Basically they’re roasted chickpeas and they have a pretty clean ingredient’s list: GM-free, no additives and no preservatives. And they’re high in fibre so help keep you full.

And they taste really good. They’re satisfyingly crunchy and the flavours are great (my favourite is the Thai sweet chilli).

And the best part? The serving sizes are huge for 88 calories!!

This, my friends, is only half a portion! I decided to drag them out for as long as possible as I was addicted and only had three bags. Really, really good.

***Thanks to Jemma, I can offer you guys 20% extra if you decide to purchase any of the snacks from their website. Basically the discount is two packets free of charge for every order. Just type in GARB/02 in the notes section of the shopping cart.***

And that’s it from me! We’ve got Parkrun tomorrow and then the dreaded New Forest 10 miler. I may not survive due to dehydration, so thanks for reading guys. I’ll miss you!

What treatment would you have a spa? I’m all about massages. It feels SO good.

Have you suffered from any injuries?

What snacks can’t you get enough of?

May 18, 2013

Some things I’ve been trying lately…

Hi guys, hope you’re enjoying your weekend! I’m just dropping in quickly to give a review of some products I was sent.

I was very pleased with the Alpro cool bag as well! That’ll be great for picnics in the future

Alpro Products

First up are the Soya yogurts. I was sent Alpro Fruity & Creamy Cherry and Alpro Fruity & Creamy Peach.

I’m not a big fan of yogurts with bits in at all so I let Ben have these. He’s never tried soya yogurts before but he does like sweetened yogurts.

I personally love the taste of the plain soya yogurt as it’s different to normal yogurt where normal yogurt has a definite ‘twang’ to it, if you know what I mean. Ben said he really liked these. They were very sweet and he liked the fruit bits in them. The yogurt was nice and thick as well he said. He would have them again!

Looking at the nutritional profile of the yogurts they’re 125 calories per pot, with around 10g sugar, 4g protein and around 2g saturate fat. The ingredients list isn’t the best in the world, but I’d say it’s better than a lot of other yogurts out there!

All in all, a great snack to have when you’re feeling a bit peckish and fancy something sweet!

I was also sent some Unsweetened Almond Milk and Sweetened Almond Milk. Now you guys know I love my almond milk so these went down perfectly in my usual morning oatmeal.

I much prefer the unsweetened almond milk as I’m really not a fan of overly sweet oatmeal. Just the sweetness of the milk itself is enough for me. However, I did try it in other things such as cups of tea (which added a lovely subtle sweetness which I sometimes like with traditional breakfast tea) and smoothies.

This was a frozen berry, banana and sweetened almond milk smoothie. Delicious after a walk with Alfie after being in the sun.

Yu Products

Next up we have the Yu! Bar. This was a Wild Berry flavour with yogurt topping. Again I gave this to Ben as he’s always complaining he doesn’t have enough time in the morning for breakfast and then gets hungry.

His opinion on this: “amazing”. It had like a jammy filling and was very crunchy he said. Very sweet. He loved it.

It’s 133 calories for this bar, with “no artificial nasties” and contains 33% real fruit, 33% yogurt coating and 22% cereal. It’s quite high in sugar (especially the yogurt coating as you might expect) with 20g of carbohydrates. There’s only 1.4g protein and 5g fat. I’m not sure how much this would fill you up and keep you going. However, Ben couldn’t stress the taste factor enough. So a nice treat once in a while rather than a breakfast substitute I think.

Then we had the dried cherry pieces and dried strawberry pieces.

I took the cherry pieces and Ben had the strawberry ones. We both really enjoyed these. Each pouch is around 90 calories. I quite enjoyed nibbling on these one boring afternoon at work. They’re gluten free and the ingredients look pretty clean – and one of your five a day. But Ben said it was definitely a “healthy” snack more than a fun snack.

Purition

This was a product I was really intrigued about. I have never tried protein powders before and if I’m honest I am not a protein powder kinda girl. I just don’t see the need for it in my life. I like ‘real’ food. But I know a lot of people love them and find they’re a great addition to their diet and I have no problem with that! Just for me I like to eat something rather than drink something if that makes sense.

I got sent two Superseed Breakfast Smoothie Blends both Pistachio flavoured. I was less reluctant to let Ben try as I greedily wanted both…But in effort to be a better wife I shared

We whizzed it up using half a frozen banana each and I had sweetened Almond milk and Ben had normal milk.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this! And it was hugely filling. Like literally kept us going for a fair few hours. We had this today after we got back from our Parkrun (more on that on another post) around 10ish and we didn’t need lunch until 3pm!

It’s gluten free, low carb, low salt, no added sugars, no artificial sweeteners or preservatives or additives and high in protein and fibre.

Per smoothie (without adding the milk or banana) it was 190 calories, with almost 15g protein, less than 4g carbohydrates, and less than 2g saturate fat. Not bad! And a very nice looking ingredient list!

However, it is pricey…almost £19 for 14 servings-worth. I think the only times I’d drink this would be after (or before) a long-run when I need something to properly top me up or between lunch and dinner as a good solid snack.

Dr. Karg Products

And finally! I was also sent Dr Karg crispbreads.

These babies were tricky to not gobble up quickly I must say. I’ve been enjoying one every so often when I’m peckish at work or at the weekend between meals. I don’t even need to add anything to them as the toppings make them interesting enough for me!

However, I did add a couple to lunch one day when I had a lovely bowl of soup.

They held up really well in terms of dunkability and provided great scoopage for the chunky soup. Really good addition for lunch!

The Olive and Rosemary ones were really tasty but the 3+3 were my favourite (above). Both sets of ingredients list were top notch. Lots of wholegrains, seeds, herbs…just good old fashioned ingredients. I think they’re roughly around 100 calories per crispbread. The seeds help boost the protein (over 4g) and carbohydrates 11g, and less than 1g of saturated fat per crispbread.

Hope you enjoyed my review! I’m off to do some housework, joy of joys.

Which of these products take your fancy? My favourite was the Alrpo Unsweetened Almond milk but only because I have it literally every singly day. Though I did enjoy trying the protein shake!

What do you look for in a good snack: high protein, taste, clean ingredients?