Running gear - AnnaTheApple

June 24, 2016September 17, 2020

Rants and Raves #33 and Phoenix Fit UK Elastic LaceSystem review

Hello, hello! I shan’t mention the obvious (to us in the UK) this morning as I don’t want to go into political discussions on my light and fluffy blog…however, I will say that I just hope that the future is as bright and cheery as the Leave campaign pledged it would be (*cough*). For me it’s a rant but to others it might be a rave. We shall see! Anyway I have other rants and raves for you today, hope you enjoy!

Rant: My name just seriously causes problems for people. It’s Anna Smith-JAMES. I get so many variations and people just don’t seem to get the hyphen. The two names are relatively simple, why is it so difficult to understand? This was the reserved sign for our Sadlers meal at the weekend.

Come on people!

Will I change my name back to just James when Ben and me complete our divorce? Probably not. I like my name at the moment and it’s such a ridiculous faff to have to go through so much paper work to change it.

Rave: New gym and running gear. Yes the obsession continues to live on. I can’t help myself. I buy more workout clothes than I do normal clothes. And to think if I do get into climbing I’ll need to buy more stuff for that I’m sure

A lovely lady was wearing some really nice Adidas shorts at parkrun and I asked her where they were from and she said Sports Direct! And they were in the sale too. So I literally went out and bought them that day.

They have pink shorts underneath the black material which looks really cool and prevents any unfortunate moments of exposure. Oooh er!

I also bought three new sports bras from Forever 21. I love Forever 21 as it’s very cheap and the colours and styles are always really bright and fun, and you can choose between low, medium and high impact.

Rant: When I was bouldering on Sunday I got a savage blister on my finger. I won’t share a picture because I hate it when people do this as I hate wounds and things like that on the Internet (I suppose you could argue that vegetarian/vegan readers might feel similarly to my excessive meat pictures on my blog, sorry!).

Anyway it is ridiculous how painful my finger is. The pain woke me up in the middle of the night! It’s only a small wound but it’s basically exposed flesh from where the top layer of skin has been rubbed off from the climbing. I have a true appreciation for the pain that Ramsey Bolton’s victims went through. I would not survive well under torture I can tell you that!

Rave: On the meal at Sadlers on Saturday there was a party of twenty people. Happily we had ordered our food and been served before them so our service was tip top and quick. This did mean though that during our meat coma at the end we got to see there food arrive.

And arrive it did! They had meat platters for everyone and this basically meant three HUGE wooden platters just piled full of food, following by bowls of chips coming afterwards.

It was insane. We just looked on in awe (though none of us craving ANY food by this point!).

Though despite saying I wouldn’t need to eat meat again for a good week, I have started to get the cravings again. I tend to eat a lot of fish during the week but I’m glad I have the contents of my swan of shame in the freezer…

Rant: [Game of Thrones spoiler alert] What is Sansa thinking?? Withholding crucial information from Jon because…? Either it’s bad writing or Sansa is not who we thought she was. Also, there are some ridiculous Sansa pregnancy rumours going around social media. This will really annoy me if it comes to be true because in the books Sansa and Ramsey haven’t actually met.

And I fully topped up Alfie’s food bowl that evening

Phoenix Fit UK Elastic LaceSystem

I was recently sent some new elastic lock laces from Phoenix Fit UK.

Basically you swap your regular laces for these elastic laces and, due to the lock system, you don’t need to actually tie the laces. They’re primarily aimed at runners.

The pack comes with easy-to-follow instructions (and there is a YouTube video you can watch as well) so it didn’t take long for me to put them in my trainers. You then snip the excess laces and add the lock system onto the end. It sounds more complicated than it is really.

I chose a pink colour and they go so well with my Helly Hansen trainers. And, having worn them many times now, find the laces to be very easy to tighten, keep my foot secure in my trainer and are really comfy. It’s actually upgraded my trainers a bit as previously I had just plain white laces that had seen their best.

I imagine they’re ideal for triathletes because they’re super quick to loosen and tighten, which is handy for the transition areas. You can buy the laces in many different colours from Amazon for £6.49, which in my eyes is a bargain.

What are your rants and raves this week?

Lock laces or regular laces?

Game of Thrones watchers, did you enjoy the last episode?

**Disclaimer: I was sent the laces for free in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own honest ones.***

June 20, 2016

Birthday weekend–part 1

And just like that I’m another year older… I turned 28 yesterday. I’d like to think that I’m wiser and have it all figured out but I absolutely don’t. But I’m happy and enjoying life so I’ll take that!

For the Saturday I had a few of my university friends down. Kate and Jamie (I went on holiday last year with them to Orlando) came down earlier so they could join me at parkrun. Now this is a BIG DEAL. This is the couple who laughed at me for going to parkrun when we were on holiday together. They were the least likely out of all my non-running friends to want to do parkrun. But, major kudos to them, they’ve started running and eating better in order to lose a bit of weight and get a bit more healthy. Jamie has lost FIVE STONE and Kate has lost (I think) over two stone. They’ve both also been doing the Couch to 5K programme and Kate had timed it perfectly as to use parkrun for my birthday weekend as her target.

They got to mine just before 8am and we headed down to Lee-On-Solent parkrun. Ordinarily I do Netley but Kate wanted a nice flat course and my dad was going to do Lee as well as my friend, Mat, who was down from Cheltenham for the week so it made sense.

Kate, Jamie, me and Mat

It was a beautifully sunny day. I was a bit worried about my hamstring but I’d done a quick tester run when I walked Alfie in the morning and it held up OK. Not perfect but alright.

I’d planned to take the run nice and slowly and stop if at any point it became bad.

My dad rocking the England shirt

It was quite amusing to see Jamie and Kate’s reaction to parkrun. They tend to run very early in the morning and never with other people. They genuinely thought they’d be about 12 people at parkrun. Jamie said he was shocked that one minute there were a couple of people and then the next there were hundreds. They were literally taken aback by the amount of lycra and colour about.

The start was a little bit hectic I must admit. There was over 300 people and we were all bunched together. It involved a lot of negotiating around people and trying not to trip over anyone else or be tripped up. But eventually it evened out and there was enough space.

I found a nice easy rhythm. I wasn’t pushing it or feeling out of breath and the hamstring felt OK. I was surprised to see I was running around 8 minute miles.

Photo credit: Eileen Bartlett

Lee’s a good course as you can see runners ahead and behind so I could cheer people on and spot people I knew.

Photo credit: Eileen Bartlett

I’d say the hamstring felt 80% OK. It niggled slightly towards the end but there was no pain, just felt uncomfortable. It just annoys me though as it doesn’t make for a great run as I’m constantly thinking about it and not wanting to push myself to go fast because I don’t want to annoy it. But least it was better than it has been! I finished in 24:15 which felt nice and comfortable.

Mat had already finished in a great time of 20:50 so we walked together to walk my dad in. He was power walking the course and desperate to beat his last time of 51:12. He was finding it tough but the tail runner was apparently really good at keeping him going.

Photo credit: Eileen Bartlett

Towards the end, he picked up speed, overtook another guy and sprinted to the finish. Everyone cheered him in and it was lovely.

Photo credit: Eileen Bartlett

And he completed it in 50:16 so almost a minute off his time! He was made up Kate squeaked under her goal of sub-35 by getting 34:57 and Jamie got 33:58. The absolute best part was hearing how much they loved it. Kate and Jamie are now full-on parkrun converts. On the way home they were already planning their next one (depressingly their local one was Little Stoke so now their nearest one is about 20 minutes away). Jamie was already commenting how he felt he could run further when he finished as well. YES!!! Converting my non-running friends one person at a time

We got back to mine, showered and then my friend Shell and her fiancé, Rob, showed up to join the fun. Again, hearing them tell Rob and Shell how good parkrun was just made my day. A year ago there was nothing I could say that would persuade them that running could be enjoyable. People have to find out for themselves.

I had booked my latest favourite restaurant for lunch and we were all pretty excited. After catching up and walking Alfie and Kate’s pug, Doug, we headed to Sadlers in Southampton.

As I’ve mentioned before, Sadlers is THE restaurant for meat (though they also have a strong vegetarian section of the menu too). The last time I went was INCREDIBLE. My friends love BBQ food too so it made sense to go here. I decided to go for the ribs rather than the platter this time as, though the platter is amazing, I was really craving ribs. And they did not disappoint.

HUGE chunks of meaty ribs on top of chips, salad, coleslaw and cornbread. I didn’t even touch the chips. There was just too much meat (which, by the way, is not an issue).

So tasty. Shell and Rob also went with the ribs and Jamie and Kate shared the platter.

Ridiculously (and foolishly) Shell, Rob and I ordered sides as well. Shell and Rob went for some pulled pork and I went for some chicken wings and we ordered the bourbon BBQ sauce to go alongside. (Greed took over sanity here as you can probably tell…).

Yeah I didn’t even touch those wings. There was just far too much going on my plate. And, amazingly for me, I couldn’t finish the ribs. I was beaten! Everyone was. Happily Kate and Jamie said I could take their leftovers home so I took a swan of shame back with me.

Needless to say my freezer is now joyfully stocked with some smoked turkey, gammon, wings, hot link sausages and pulled pork. Happy days!

As we sat there afterwards chatting and basically recovering from the meal, the waitress appeared with a cake with lit candles and they all started singing happy birthday to me. It was such a surprise and so lovely!

Action shot

To be honest, I think the last thing we all wanted was a slice of chocolate cake. But you gotta take one for the team right??

The chocolate cupcakes on top were filled with delicious buttercream. We were literally DONE after having a slice.

We spent a long time at my flat just laying around chatting and digesting. We probably could have napped! It was such a great day. And to top it off they got me some super cool Superdry workout gear.

Because what else would you buy me?? So, an absolutely perfect Saturday.

What is your perfect way to spend your birthday?

Have you converted any non-runners to runners?

What’s your perfect birthday gift?

June 8, 2016

Rants and Raves #31

Kind of a mishmash of randomness today as I don’t really have anything specific to talk about!

Rave: Though I’m not running, I am still going to the gym. Annoyingly though I’m avoiding heavy squats and deadlifts to be on the absolute safe side with my hamstring. It’s frustrating but hey ho I can still do lots of other heavier weight stuff, like focusing on my upper body. And I like do about a 30 minute routine of different strength and plyometric exercises.

It’s similar to the strength workouts I was doing last year during the lead-up to Liverpool marathon. I enjoy having variation and it involves a lot of running-specific exercises which will help when it comes to marathon training in the autumn. I have a mega spreadsheet that I track all my running and workouts that I use as a resource for what exercises I’m going to do at the gym. I’ve basically stolen ideas from the Internet, other bloggers, magazines and classes I’ve been to. I like it because I get bored very easily at the gym so mixing it up each day helps. An example of a routine I did on Monday:

– Press-ups
– Eccentric weighted lunge drop
– Box toe taps
– Scorpions
– Eccentric box jumps (jumping off a box into a squat)
– Medicine ball squat:
– Burpees
And I repeated it three times.

Rant: HAY FEVER. I’m being savaged by pollen, despite taking anti-histamines. I wake up with a blocked nose, I sneeze consistently through the day (I’m not a one sneeze girl either, I’m one of those “at least three times” kinda sneezer) and the absolute worst: the itchy eyes. *Shakes fist* damn you, Mother Nature!

Rave: But I will take that pain for the sunshine we’ve been given. Waking up, even at 5am (yes, really), and seeing the sunlight pouring through my windows just makes me wonder how the hell I was able to do that during the cold, bitter, dark months of winter. Walking Alfie at 5.15am without a coat on – what is this dream??

Rant: I’m very lucky that I live in a quite nice area right next to a beautiful park. There are lots of paths through the park, a play area for kids, picnic benches and a large pond.

Every morning I take Alfie for a good walk and, like 95% of the dog owners, let him off his lead to run about. Generally Alfie is very good, he comes back when I call him and he gets separation anxieties if he can’t find me (sometimes I’ll walk ahead while he’s sniffing around and if I go out of his sight he gets panicked and starts running about looking for me…when he notices me he charges over. It’s adorable).

Unfortunately one morning Alfie spotted two ducks near the path we were on – the rest of the ducks were down the slope near the pond. Before I could stop him he ran towards them and chased them down to the pond. He then spotted all the other ducks that were out of the water being fed bread by a lady and ran at them too, causing them to head back to the pond.

The lady yelled up to me “oh well done”. I got Alfie under control and said I was sorry. By way of explanation I said he was a dog and it’s in their nature to chase. To be honest I wasn’t really sure what to say as I felt a bit embarrassed. I know I’m in the wrong of course – the ducks did not deserve to be chased and frightened but the lady was really quite aggressive. She then proceeded to tell me Alfie should be on a lead and that I was a “stupid cow”. I felt a bit affronted. Alfie has never chased the ducks before and has always been quite good off his lead. I think it was just the two loan ducks that caught his attention and then seeing the others nearby.

Anyway the lady carried on yelling at me saying there was a sign saying dogs shouldn’t chase the wildfowl and that I was being irresponsible. At this point (7am by the way) my back was up. Could she stop yelling at me please? I understand I’m in the wrong already! But Alfie was back with me and, as I said to her, “the ducks would come back again”. None of them had been savaged to death or scared into having a heart attack.

She then told me to “f*** off”. At this point I was done. I (perhaps somewhat sarcastically it must be said) said “well good morning to you too” and walked off. She continued to yell that I was a stupid cow and “f*** off”.

Again, I know I was in the wrong. It was a tricky situation that short of rugby tackling Alfie to the ground or foreseeing him chasing the ducks in the first place and putting him on his lead (though, again, he’s never bothered the ducks before), I did what I could. She didn’t have to be abusive or rude!

And on a lighter note…Things that made me chuckle: this is fairly true for me. Even without running my appetite is crazy. Luckily I’m quite savvy with my snacks (think high protein, sustaining nibbles over empty sugar).

Source

And like so many other runners, I’ve had many a black toenail. As summer and flip flops is upon us, nail polish is used to hide the evidence (Not sure where I found this sorry!)

One last rave: I’ve been sent these very cool laces to try out.

They’re called Elastic Lace System by Phoenix Fit UK and basically stop the need for tying laces. I’ll do a full review of them in another post but so far I think they’re pretty good. Probably ideal for triathletes who need to transition quickly from one sport to the next during a race. And they come in lots of colours

What are your rants and raves lately?

What do you like to do in the gym?

Do you suffer from any allergies?

June 2, 2016June 28, 2019

Tough decisions and hamstring tendinopathy

As I mentioned in a previous post, running and me are having issues. Running is never simple for me. I really should know what’s what by now but still I make mistakes (and some I’ve made so many times before).

I suppose it’s to be expected when you do something for so long and so often, and when you’re as injury prone as I am (and as stupid…). As I said, I should have taken a break from the marathon. I’ve already promised myself that I will next time and have instructed my parents to take my trainers away from me for at least a week after Chester in the autumn to ensure this actually happens. But anyway, I didn’t take a rest post Boston and here I am, feeling the effects of being over-trained, a niggly hamstring (more on that in a bit) and an indifference to running.

Luckily I have no races coming up and I’m in a nice comfortable position to take a break (a bit late but hey ho). Though I’m still doing parkrun as I can’t quite give that one up (like I’ve said so many times, it’s more than just a run). I made the tough decision to not do the Cakeathon on Monday. Too far to go for a race I wasn’t up for and it wasn’t fair to make my dad to give up a day’s holiday and drive me there. Only then for me to then undoubtedly have a crap race and be grumpy for the three-hour drive home.

Similarly, I was signed up ready to do Endure24 in a couple of weeks time which I’ve decided not to do anymore. It involved being part of a group of eight and running laps of five miles for 24 hours as a relay. It was going to be a great weekend of camping, larking about and running but realistically I know I wouldn’t have the best time. I a) would feel a bit down because I wouldn’t be able to run much (having barely done more than a parkrun for the past three weeks) or b) would be tempted to run too much and probably turn my hamstring into a full-blown injury. As my marathon training is due to start in July it’s risky business. I don’t want to start a training cycle injured. I’m very sad to miss out on all the fun but realistically I need to be sensible.

So my hamstring. Well it’s been niggling since before the Boston marathon as I said. Kind of came out of nowhere as a tightness and now it’s more of a niggle. I can run through it – it’s not painful or sharp, just a bit of a nagging discomfort that I can’t seem to shift. I don’t think doing deadlifts at the gym helped things. It seemed no worse after running (hence why I kept running – I have learnt something at least).

I’ve seen a physio and had a sports massage and both seem convinced it’s nothing serious, just a mild case of hamstring tendinopathy. After Googling it (obviously) and then proceeding to fall into a well of depression and despair I realise it’s actually not as bad as all the people online seem to have it. Whew.

What exactly is hamstring tendinopathy? Basically it’s a pain in the bum – high up on the hamstring, just under your butt cheek. The tendon that connects the hamstring muscles to the sit bone becomes painful. Things like prolonged sitting, running hills and sprinting can aggravate it. Thankfully my niggle isn’t full-blown tendinopathy but it could get there if I’m not careful. It is an annoying thing to get rid of though it seems as it’s a tough place for blood to reach and heal and because it’s not inflammatory, there’s little that icing can do. However, you can help things along with strengthening the tendon and massage.

Here’s where my friend the tennis ball has come into play…

Oh how my glutes do not enjoy this. Also, my sports massage therapist gave me a nice tip: sit on the tennis ball on a firm chair so you can roll you hamstring more easily as it’s tricky to do on the floor.

And I’ve been doing lots of strengthening exercises as well. Ideally the exercises you want for this are eccentric exercises. I received good advice from my physio and sports therapist and also online (good article HERE). I am obviously not a trained sports or medical anything, but I thought this might be useful if anyone has been/is in a similar boat. The exercises I’m doing regularly are:

Bridges

Lying on your back with your feet flat on the ground and shoulder-width apart, raise your bum towards the celling using your glute muscles trying not to arch your back (keep your body in a straight line).

I found the bridges to be quite easy as I’ve done them many times before so I straight away moved to single leg bridges, taking one foot off the ground and moving one leg up and down in a controlled movement, not allowing hips or bum to drop. At first I could feel the niggle when doing it (no pain, just an awareness) and now I feel nothing.

Hamstring Curls Using a Swiss ball

Lying on your back with your feet on a Swiss ball and arms by your side, roll the ball in towards you by bending your legs until your knees are above your hips, again not arching your back and using your glutes and hamstrings. Then straighten your legs, rolling the ball away from you in a controlled manner. Again you can progress to single leg versions of this.

Nordic Hamstring Curl

This is quite an advanced movement and tricky to set-up if you’re on your own. Basically you anchor your feet and calves to something stable (or have someone hold them) and then, while maintaining a straight-line from your shoulders to your knees, you bend forwards at the hips using your hamstrings to control the movement until you either cannot maintain the position any longer or you reach the ground. It’s a great hamstring isolating exercise.

Planks

Obviously good old fashioned core work helps as well. Planks are great for this and so easy to do at home. I mix it up with different variations, such as raising one leg (using my glute muscle) and then lowering again, or stepping out to the side while maintaining control and stability, or a new-to-me plank the supine version where you’re facing up rather than down (adding in leg lifts for this is great for targeting the hamstrings and glutes too).

Side planks

Side planks as well are good for focusing on any weakness you might have on the different sides of your body. Raising one leg makes things more challenging.

I’m limiting my running and supplementing the above exercises with my usual gym work (though no deadlifts or really heavy squats at the moment). I don’t feel depressed that I’m not running, I’m just frustrated with myself for allowing this to happen again. And sad to miss out on a couple of good races. But these things happen and hopefully I won’t make such obvious errors in the future.

Have you ever had a hamstring injury or niggle?

Do you do any exercises regularly that keep you injury free?

Have you had to DNS from any races lately?

May 3, 2016

Running in sunshine and jumping in lakes

I only actually realised we had a Bank holiday weekend on Wednesday, so as you can imagine it was such a lovely surprise to know we had a three day weekend coming up! I definitely needed it. Despite only just getting back from my holiday the other week I was still so tired from the jetlag that it was nice to know I had an extra day to catch up with life.

Saturday was pretty full-on as it was my friend’s hen do (bachelorette party). Thankfully it was a day thing rather than a night thing so didn’t involve going clubbing and excessive drinking, which I’m not a huge fan of. The activities were due to start before midday in Bournemouth. I could have gone to parkrun in the morning but it would have been rushed so I decided to give it a miss, which handily works out well for timing my 100th parkrun with my friend’s 250th (I’m three away!).

Instead I planned to run three miles on my own. The weather was lovely and sunny and I slightly regretted wearing long-sleeves (though it was my new Lululemon top which I adore). I ran alongside the beach and in the distance I could see the Lee-On-Solent parkrun going on, the runners running in the horizon like dots. I got my route wrong and it came to 3.7 as I got home so then had to run up and down the road to get 4 miles, as you do

The run felt really good. The day before I’d seen my physio and told him about my niggling hamstring. He did some very intense deep tissue massage on it and I woke up with it feeling a bit tender but so much better. He said I was OK to run the next day though he advised leaving it for a few days…but I just really wanted to run (famous last words? I hope not…). Anyway I finally felt like my running is back to normal post-marathon. All my runs previous seem to have felt quite tough and laboured, so I’ve kept the pace easier. I know this is to be expected post marathon! Saturday’s run felt a lot better though.

New Lululemon top

Then my friend, Lou, picked me up with some of the other girls and we headed to Bournemouth. We only vaguely knew that there would be some outdoor activities, quad biking and an obstacle course (which I was really excited about).

We got into some super sexy camouflage to begin with.

Thanks to Ashley for the photos

And then we got down to some quad biking. I’ve done quad biking before and loved it but this was a little different.

The quad biking I’ve done was over a relatively smooth track so you can get some speed up but this was really bumpy and off-roady. You couldn’t exactly zoom round it. It was still really good fun though, just required a bit more technical skill and more of a risk getting stuck or rolling!

Lou sadly couldn’t take part in all the activities as she’s pregnant but she took lots of photos and was able to join in on some of the welly throwing (yes really) and other fun less-strenuous activities.

The obstacle course was so much fun but also a little insane. We had the usual climb under, and jump over things, and monkey bars…

I was chuffed at getting over the wall myself! And then the last section was literally stepping into a shoulder deep lake and getting to a boat to pull the team across to the finish.

Let me tell you, that lake was bloody freezing. In the end we all had to swim because the lakebed was just sinking beneath our feet. I thankfully kept my head out of the water but it was still horrendously cold. As we huddled waiting for the rest of the team to swim across my friend goes “I have deep empathy for Kate now. I wouldn’t have shared my door either” which was a perfect summation of how it felt.

Though my friend had told me we needed a spare set of clothes because we might get wet I had no idea we’d get absolutely soaked. Some of the girls had sensibly brought towels but I had brought a tea towel at the last minute as I assumed I’d just need something to ‘dust off’ some dampness or mud. We all then huddled in an outdoor sheltered hut thing to get changed. It was horrifically cold but quite funny. My tea towel was somewhat useful!! Thankfully I did have a spare set of clothes with me.

And then it was time for refuelling…in the best possible way.

Afternoon tea! That first cup of tea was SO needed. Though I had nice warm and dry clothes on (not a warm and dry bra however…), I was still very cold. Lots of sandwiches, two scones with jam and cream, crisps and a cupcake helped though. Good grief. So much for eating a bit healthier post holiday! I had intended on eating my second scone instead of the cupcake but then there were cupcakes left-over and it looked to good to miss…

The hen do was such good fun and the hen had a great time

I stayed at my parent’s house that evening as it was easier. The next morning I wanted to run 8-10 miles, depending how I felt. As soon as I started running I knew I wanted to run 10 miles. I just felt strong, happy and relaxed. The sun was shining and it was a little *too* warm but it was just nice to be outside in a tank top for once (another new Boston-themed Nike top). I got to the beach at about seven miles and wondered if I’d see my parents. They often take their dogs down the beach when the weather’s nice. And funnily enough I saw them and the four dogs in the distance (Alfie was with them of course).

It was lovely to stop quickly and say hello to them and Alfie mid-run. Though they had to hold Alfie when I ran off as he wanted to join me, bless him!

The run, despite being very warm, went really well. I felt good speeding up so I kept a tempo pace towards the end. Apart from needing to some long runs for the Cakeathon at the end of May, I have no goals or direction for my running at the moment so it’s nice to go with the flow.

And then my parents and me went to Gunwharf Quays for a bit of shopping (hello Adidas outlet shop) and Jamie’s Italian for lunch.

I had the vegetable plank to start (so tasty, lots of roasted vegetables, cheese and hummus), followed by my usual turkey Milanese and then a white chocolate cheesecake. I’ve never had a bad meal at Jamie’s (though I do tend to order the same thing…).

I’ve had this meal so many times now

Monday was a rather chilled day of doing some chores, catching up with life (and Game of Thrones – the latest episode, OMG. SO much happened) and just generally chilling. Perfect bank holiday weekend!

What did you get up to?

Is there a meal you keep going back to?

What kind of hen dos/bachelorette parties do you enjoy?