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Rants and Raves #34

Oooh I have a few ranty points today. Can’t beat some cathartic ranting, am I right?

Rant: I love parkrun, as you may well be aware (!), and I think people who are anti-parkrun are insane. Literally insane. But I can understand that people who don’t understand its magical properties (community spirit, getting outside, promoting volunteering, promoting health and well-being, inspiring people to do great things, etc. etc.) may not be as on board. On Saturday everyone who parked their car along a residential road next to Netley Country Park where the Netley parkrun takes place had their car keyed.

This is disgusting and there is NO REASON that this should happen. OK so a herd of cars appearing every Saturday and parking up your road could be annoying – I fully understand that. No one wants their road blocking up (by the way, the cars don’t block the road, they just park LEGALLY). But to do something as destructive as that? That’s awful. If the person responsible was so angry then surely they should have left a strongly worded note or come out of their hole house and spoken to the car owner’s – LIKE AN ADULT. Seriously what is wrong with people to think this is an acceptable way to deal with what they see as an issue?

(It was reported to parkrun and they’re investigating)

Rave: Onto more happier notes. You know I’m an idiot and booked my flight home from my recent Spanish holiday twice (read about that wonderful saga HERE)? Well, the lovely people from Expedia read my blog and sent me a very nice email. They offered to refund the ticket I booked by mistake! Happily they didn’t think I was an idiot (though who could blame them if they did?) and said they could relate to the mistake and wanted to give me a happy ending by refunding me the money. Ahh so nice of them! I hardly need to sing Expedia’s praises (most of my holidays are booked with them because, hello savings) but this has made me feel all warm and fuzzy about them

Rant: Having to take Alfie to the vets for a teeth clean. I say teeth clean but this involved him having to be anaesthetised…

He’s a sensitive soul and doesn’t like change. For example, being in the car causes him to shake (I have no idea why, he’s had no bad experiences in one!) so being at the vets is really not his cup of tea. It was quite heart-breaking to drop him off and say goodbye. The nurse told me to leave rather than her take Alfie away so it wasn’t quite as brutal (still felt it). Apart from Alfie’s displeasure of course, the two worst parts were a) the nurse calling him “borderline senior” at seven years old. WHAT? He’s going to live forever!! and b) it costing over £300. OUCH. But he’s worth it of course.

Rave: I have a bit of a resistance band addiction it appears. I now have no less than five. One is a long one I use for assisted pull-ups (as mentioned in a previous post), the other is a cheap one that I’ve tied together and use round my ankles for crab and monster walks and the other three are new purchases.

I got them from Amazon very cheaply. And they come with their own little bag which is handy. They come in three different strengths. They’re a lot shorter and don’t require tying so are perfect for using doing things like clamshells and leg lifts (all about that glute activation!). And they seem a bit more hardy.

Rant: I now dread part of my walk with Alfie in a morning. As I get closer to the pond I just hope the duck lady isn’t there (the one that yelled abuse at me). Some mornings she is and some she isn’t. When she is she glares at me. She honestly stands there looking at me with this horrible look on her face! It makes me feel so uncomfortable. I refuse to put Alfie on his lead as 9/10 he doesn’t go after the ducks, but I spend my time praying that Alfie keeps his interests away from the pond. I’ve seen other dogs chase the ducks so I don’t feel quite as awful as clearly Alfie is not the devil incarnate (or more likely, I’m not a terrible owner) but it still makes for an unpleasant experience. One funny morning was Alfie running over to her and eating all the bread she’d thrown. That made my morning.

Rave: New trainers! It’s funny because I was checking on Strava the other day and noticed that the trainers I’d been using after Boston were well over 300 miles. Now I realise that to some people (you lucky souls) that’s no issue but for my last few injuries it’s always occurred with trainers that are over 300 miles. Perhaps this is entirely coincidental but I do know that most of my injuries occur because of my fallen arches (as my physio keeps telling me and stressing me to do my exercises every day). Remember when I wore those old trainers for that fateful failed 18 miler in Wales? Well, anyway this called for new trainers to be bought immediately and something I will pay stricter attention to in future.

I kept to my trusty Mizuno’s Wave Paradoxes. I’ve used them pretty much since I started running. I’m a fan of Asics, Brookes and Adidas too but generally it’s Mizuno for the bulk of my mileage.

Rant: (at myself) For buying the wrong size *face palm*.

Rant: The real aggression there is out there for Pokémon Go (I promise I’ll stop bringing this game up in my blog). What is the issue for a bit of harmless fun? (Let’s ignore the few and far between stories of the idiots who take it to a different stupid level). My parkrun friends did have a good laugh at me though when I was playing while we were setting up on Saturday morning. They suggested a more useful game for me would be “Boyfriend Go” but the Pokémon thing was probably hindering that. Fair point.

Cinnamora Drink Review

I was contacted via Twitter by @CinnamoraDrink to try out their new cinnamon infused drink Cinnamora. I thought “why not?”. It sounded a bit weird but I was happy to give it a go.

Basically it’s a still soft drink that, well, tastes of cinnamon. It’s almost zero in calories, contains no fat, no added sugars and made from ceylon cinnamon. The ingredients are cinnamomum zeylanicum extract, citric acid, sucralose, and water. Apparently cinnamon is widely used in ayurvedic and traditional Chinese medicine for conditions such as diabetes, high cholesterol and indigestion.

My thoughts? I won’t lie, I really didn’t like it. The flavour just didn’t sit well with me. To be honest I think that’s because of the cinnamon associations I have. For me cinnamon means Christmas, hot drinks, gingerbread and Christmas cake. To drink it as a cold beverage just messed with my brain a bit. It’s not an unpleasant taste or disgusting, it’s sweet and refreshing – it’s just personally for me it didn’t work. I gave a few cans to some friends to see their thoughts and they were a lot more positive than me, but they still thought it was a bit odd.

I think that this drink would probably work better in the States as they have such a huge cinnamon love over there, whereas in the UK, cinnamon really only comes out in baking and Christmas time. I could be very wrong though!

What’s getting you riled up lately?

What are your thoughts on cinnamon?

When do you buy new trainers?

**Full Disclosure: I was sent the Cinnamora drinks for free in exchange for my honest review.**

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What I’m loving lately

Over the past few weeks there have been a few new things that I’ve discovered and have been loving. Some of them I have been sent to review, and others are items that I’ve bought myself.

Ab Roller

I’ve seen these all over the place at the gym and online. Though at the gym people just use barbells to roll out with (my gym’s not that fancy). I’ve tried the barbell method and it’s alright but a bit awkward, especially as the bar tends not to be very smooth and quite hard so can hurt the hands a bit (yes, I’m a pansy).

I’ve been tempted to buy one online but never got round to it. Then I was in Whiteley the other day in a quirky Scandinavian shop, Tiger, and found one of £5 – bargain! It’s a great core workout – from the shoulders to the abdominals, helping increase stability and strength. So far I’m doing it from my knees and it is tough.

Grip Strengthener

I also found, in the Tiger shop, a grip strengthener, which you basically just squeeze open and close with your hand.

There were different strengths and I chose the 25kg one (not entirely sure what that means – but the bigger the weight the harder it was to close the grip). I’m not sure how effectively this is going to be but I can use it when I’m watching TV or in traffic. It was only £2 so it’s not breaking the bank.

Anything to make lifting weights, pull ups and bouldering easier!

Resistance Band

I’m a big fan of resistance bands. I currently have one that I use to go around my ankles to do monster walks to help increase my glute strength and activation. It’s more of a ribbon-style band though. When I was at the fitness retreat they showed us a lot of mobility work that you should do before you lift weights. They used a thin, longer and very strong resistance bands. So I picked one up from Amazon very cheaply so I could continue on my own at my gym.

It’s great for shoulder mobility work as it loosens up your muscles and yours joints before you start lifting.

It’s very simple and really only takes 5 minutes but it works wonders. My lifting afterwards felt a lot more smooth and in control – less clunky. As I work out in the morning this is super helpful as I haven’t had chance to fully get my body into gear. Normally I would just get on a machine for 3-4 minutes as my warm-up but now I’m trying to do more mobility work like this and some dynamic warm-ups, like eagles, some yoga moves and glute activation – it just depends what I’m going to be doing for my workout. This way I get a more focused warm-up.

 Benefit Eyebrow Pencil

OK I don’t really wear make-up. If I go on a night out or somewhere fancy I might put on some eye liner and mascara. Anything else seems like suffocating my skin or too much effort. However, my friend did do my make up for me before the wedding the other week and it looked really good. I still looked like my, just an enhanced version. It was a Bare Minerals powder set. I was very tempted to buy it but in the end didn’t as I wasn’t sure when I’d wear it. I wouldn’t wear it for work or just a regular day so it seemed a bit expensive. But my interests have been raised for make up in general. I’d love to be able to know how to use it. And let’s be honest, I ain’t getting any younger nor any less single!!

I went out shopping with my mum the other day and we went to Boots to have a mosey at the make up. The pair of us are ridiculous as we have no idea what different make ups do (concealer? Foundation? BB cream? Tinted moisturiser? Powder? Clueless!). Anyway we found a few products and asked the lady (not caked in make up – she looked like an normal human being for once! A rarity for the Boots make up people…) to help.

I saw the eyebrow pencil and was intrigued. I have very dark eyebrows and I pluck them regularly. But there are a few gaps…The lady applied the eyebrow brush and my eyebrows suddenly looked super neat and tidy. Sold!

It doesn’t make me look like my eyebrows are drawn on or vastly different, just a bit more consistent. It didn’t look like I was wearing anything but it did make my eyebrows look better. As I have such dark features, it worked well to enhance the features I already have. So I treated myself

One baby step at a time!

Protein Cheese

I’m still persevering with eggs for breakfast. I like the protein in the morning and have found I can last a lot longer past midday without needing to EAT LUNCH IMMEDIATELY. My jam so far has been three eggs, kale and some sort of fish but I recently found a new cheese in Tesco called EatLean Protein Cheese. Yes, sounds weird I give you that. Basically it’s low in fat but higher in protein and it seems to be like regular cheddar. So I had some of that with some black olives and it was delicious!

I do love my protein and having something so filling in the morning is important to me, especially after doing a workout at the gym (muscle repair and all that jazz). Don’t get me wrong though, porridge will always be my first love and when my running gets back on track and into marathon training I will most likely be back on it.

Red Kooga – review

I was recently sent a herbal product called Red Kooga. It’s apparently supposed to enhance energy and sports performance because of the herbs it contains. These include Panax ginseng (a herb that has been used for thousands of years to promote vitality and maintain mental alertness) and Guarana (which helps provide a natural source of caffeine). It also contains a daily allowance of B Complex Vitamins, which helps maintain a healthy nervous system and helps release energy from food. And furthermore it has no artificial flavours or preservatives and is suitable for vegetarians or vegans.

I was obviously a bit dubious and sceptical about this. I’m not a natural remedy type person. I started taking two a day with breakfast and, hand on heart, I genuinely think it made me feel a bit more awake. Perhaps this was entirely a placebo effect – who knows, but I honestly did feel like it helped. Not in a huge “WOW I have so much energy, let’s run a marathon immediately” type ways, but in a subtle “I’m yawning a bit less and not feeling so sleepy in my morning meetings”.

It’s available in Boots for £7.99 and I would actually purchase some to help me through days I know I need to concentrate a bit more. I’d definitely have used these during my revision and exams at university! I didn’t feel any difference in the gym or running though but then for me I don’t think that’s a problem area.

Enerton Full Insoles – review

I’ve also been sent some Enerton Performance Full Insoles. They’re to put into your trainers in place of your regular insoles in order to help reduce injury and support your feet when running. They apparently give a good “energy rebound”, which over long distances can be invaluable. They are made up of “D3O technology”, which is basically a special substance that’s putty soft when you’re not moving, but hardens as you put more pressure on it and produces a higher energy return.

I have recently started using them when running so will do a full review shortly, but so far they’re very comfortable. For someone who is super injury prone and often uses insoles, these are definitely right up my street!

So keep your eyes open for a full review on these bad boys soon!

Do you use any energy boosting supplements?

Do you like a carb-based breakfast or a protein-based breakfast?

How do you warm-up at the gym or for running?

**Full Disclosure: I was sent the Red Kooga and Enerton Insoles for free to review. All opinions are my own honest ones.**