review - AnnaTheApple

August 14, 2014August 14, 2014

High5 or Nuun for hydration?

Hello! I have the second part of my ProBikeKit review for you today.

If you missed the first one and are interested it was reviewing the Clif energy bars (find it HERE). As I got the choice of what to pick from the website (was actually really hard to choose, so many good products) I decided to do a little stand-off between the High5 electrolyte tablet product and the Nuun version. And with it being so warm and sunny recently it was actually a perfect choice.

The idea behind the electrolyte tablets is that it’s better than water in that there are important electrolytes added which help keep the athlete properly hydrating. Water is only good for so long and indeed if you have too much water it can be very dangerous as it effectively washes out valuable salts from your system. I’m no scientist so if you want to read more go HERE.

High5 Sports Zero X’treme Caffeine Hydration Tablets – Tube of 20 (find HERE)

Basically you add one of the tablets to around 500ml of plain water and let it dissolve (I vigorously shake my water bottle to speed this up). The flavour is very subtle – kind of like weak squash with a little bit of a chemical taste. I wouldn’t describe it as delicious but it’s not horrendous. There are two flavours available in this range: berry and pink grapefruit (I had berry).

It contains zero calories (hence the name) and this version contains caffeine. I’m a big believer in having caffeine before big races or parkruns. I need my morning coffee. But I dislike drinking coffee before my long runs because I want to just get out there and having coffee sloshing around is not good, whereas there is time before races for it to ‘go through the system’ if you like.

I would fill my bottle with this and take it with me during a long run. Sometimes I would drink 500ml the day before a race if I know it’s going to be hot to make sure I’m fully hydrated leading up the race, not just on the race day.

According to High5, it helps improve attention, concentration and reaction time. There’s added vitamin C (supporting the immune system) and magnesium to help with the “electrolyte balance, reduces tiredness and fatigue, whilst supporting muscle protein synthesis” (source). There are no artificial colours or preservatives and it’s suitable for vegetarians and vegans. There are 20 in this tube and on ProBikeKit it’s £4.99.

Nuun Active Sports Isotonic Hydration Tablets – Tube of 12 Grape (find HERE)

Similar to above you add a tablet to 500ml of water and let it dissolve. Nuun seems to be very popular in American and I hear about it lot on different blogs so I was keen to see what it was like in comparison to the more widely known High5 above.

This product only contains 12 tablets and is slightly more expensive at £5.99 per tube. So obviously it’s more expensive than High5’s version.

Each tablet contains 360mg sodium, 100mg potassium, 12mg calcium and 24mg magnesium – and again very low calorie (6 per tablet). But there’s no caffeine added variation available. There are lots of flavours to choose from: citrus, lemon tea, lemon/lime, orange, grape, strawberry, fruit punch and tri-berry. Mine was citrus fruit flavour. It tasted OK, again kind of like weak squash but not unpleasant.

Thoughts

Which did I prefer? It’s funny because I prefer Nuun as a company but I prefer the High5 product. The added caffeine and vitamin C win me over. Probably taste-wise, Nuun is better but I’m not that bothered about taste. High5 is also cheaper, when considering how much you could be using this product it is a definite consideration. I think either though are fine to use and it’s just down to personal preference. I know that High5 also do a caffeine-free version if the caffeine isn’t your thing.

Hope you enjoyed the review! Check out the ProBikeKit website for more cool products (for both running and cycling).

Do you drink a lot of water when you run?

Do you use electrolyte tablets or sports drinks? I tend to avoid sports drinks as they are so sweet and it makes me feel ill when running. I like the fact that these have no sugar in them so it avoids that stomach issue. Ben however loves his sugary drinks when running and after a run.

Have you tried Nuun or High5 products before?

**Full disclaimer: I was sent these products for free to try. All opinions are my own**

August 8, 2014

OM Yoga Magazine July/August – my first steps into yoga

I’ve heard so many people talk about the benefits of yoga, both mentally and physically, but never thought to try it myself… Until I was offered the opportunity to review the OmYoga magazine and at the same time coincidentally found out about a local and fairly affordable yoga class with someone I knew.

Considering my past history with just focusing too much on running and getting injured all the time it was probably best I gave it a shot. I actually don’t know much about yoga at all. I’ve done Pilates but never yoga. I know you can follow videos online but for me doing something like that will never work. I’d get distracted and wander off somewhere to fold washing or eat an apple. So reading this magazine and then attending my first ever yoga classes really helped.

The latest OmYoga magazine is a double addition packed full of articles, information, yoga fashion and poses.

I’m a big an of running magazines (are you surprised?) so was fairly intrigued about what a yoga magazine would be all about. It’s got lots of interesting articles in which help me understand why yoga is such a craze. The mental (and of course physical) strength people seem to acquire to help them with their lives is incredible.

What really took my eye though was the article “Yoga Meets Physiotherapy”.

Hello, hello, hello. My kinda thing completely. This is exactly what I’m looking for. Apparently this practice of blending yoga and physiotherapy together is called “physioyoga”. It’s all about using the teachings behind yoga – the poses, the stretches, the breathing – to help overcome pains or issues you might have within your body. Purportedly yoga can help blood flow, digestion, and even hormonal imbalances as well as reducing stress. These can all help towards creating a healthy and injury-free body.

It’s interesting because a lot of the stretches I’ve come to learn through physio or from other people’s advice to help loosen muscles and up my flexibility I’m coming to realise are actually from yoga. Like the pigeon pose to open up your hips, downward dog to lengthen those calves and hamstrings, and loads more. Fascinating stuff!

Another article that caught my eye which is highly interesting to me at the moment is the “Yoga for Cyclists” article.

OK I’d say I’m more a runner than a cyclist but I do enjoy a good cycle and recently have been doing lots of cycling to help refresh my running and get my head into a good space. So these stretches are perfect for me at the moment. And actually perfect for runners too as there is a lot of crossover with muscles used between the sports.

As for me actually doing yoga? Well I’ve been to two classes so far and I’m really enjoying it.

I’m glad I have the class because I get to be told what to do and how to do it, and I’m motivated to do it in a class full of yogis. With the magazine as well it’s really opening my eyes to the fact that not everything I need to do needs to be fast fast fast or that I need to be ‘the best in the class’ (believe me I am quite firmly at the bottom of the class!). Yoga isn’t like that and I love that about it.

Do you do yoga?

Do you have the drive and need to be good at everything you do?

What’s your favourite yoga pose?

**This post includes affiliate links**

August 7, 2014

Clif Sports Energy Bars Review

Hey there. I’ve recently been sent some Clif Sports Energy Bars for review from Probikekit.co.uk. Probikekit is primarily an online cyclist shop, selling cycling gear, fitness clothes and nutritional items but it has also branched out into the running world.

I’ve seen Clif bars about all over the place. Other than sports shops (online and real), you can sometimes be lucky enough to get one in a race goodie bag or they might have samples going at different events. For instance, we saw them at the Portsmouth Marathon expo and at Endure 24.

Runners were like bees round honey at this free samples tent

I’d only tried little samples and found they were extremely moreish and very filling (a dangerous combo perhaps…).

Anyway I was sent a box to trial. Being the good wife I am I let Ben try some as well. He’s been enjoying them for breakfast and the occasional snack – he loves them. I’ve been having them as afternoon snacks (that awkward hungry time between lunch and dinner) and also for times when I know food is going to be a while round the corner, like bridging the gap between a race and a proper meal.

Before I get on to the nitty gritties about the taste and nutritional value, I must mention the ethos behind the company:

“Good food provides health, joy, and energy, and is a delight to the senses. And food, made right, can make the world a better place.

That’s why we use wholesome ingredients in all our products. And all our food is free of hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup.

We recognize that food matters to our families, our communities, and our planet – as our food choices affect the physical, social, and environmental fabric of our lives.”

Source

For these energy bars, they use 70% organic ingredients, they’re GMO free, vegan and a powerhouse of energy and nutrition: each bar (depending on flavour) contains 9-11 grams of protein, 4-5 grams of fibre, they’re free of trans fats and contain 23 vitamins and minerals.

There are several flavours available on the site: chocolate chip, chocolate and almond, peanut butter, white chocolate and the one I picked – oat, raisin and walnut. This bar contains 243 calories and tasted divine. A brilliant chewy texture with lots of flavour. It is nice and filling as well due to all that protein.

I would definitely recommend these as emergency snacks to keep with you day-to-day, or to fuel you during a long walk or cycle or even cut up and used on a long run if you’re able to stomach something as chewy as this (I tend to get a stitch sadly, but for walking and cycling these are perfect for me).

Have you ever tried the Clif products?

What snacks do you have to tide you over between meals?

What’s more important to you: calories or protein content?

**Full Disclosure: I was sent this product for review. All opinions are my own**

July 4, 2014July 4, 2014

MyProtein and MyVitamin review

Happy Friday everyone. The cool people behind MyProtein and MyVitamin (The Hut Group) sent me a couple of products to review.

Before now I have never tried protein powder. To be honest, I didn’t see the point. I love my food so why on earth would I drink my meals or the extra calories I need?? Don’t get me wrong though, I’ve been tempted when I see so many protein pancake or protein cookie recipes. But again I was like “why not just have a regular pancake instead?”

So I jumped at the chance to try the whey protein power to see what the fuss was about. I chose True Whey in the Chocolate Caramel flavour. It actually took quite a while for me to choose the flavour because there were several very tasty sounding ones (like chocolate mint, strawberry delight and velvet vanilla).

From the website, it notes the key benefits as:

Highest quality protein source
New fantastic flavours
Includes Lactospore® and Digezyme® (aids digestion)
Rich in BCAA’s and Aminoacids

I must say this all sounds very foreign to me! Apparently it has the “perfect blend of the highest grade whey protein concentrate and isolate” And “contains very little fat, zero added sugars and a only small amount of carbohydrates, but it is packed with the most biological available protein available and also contains a high amount of branch-chain-amino-acids (BCAA’s).”

It comes with a little scoop which portions out one serving. You can mix it with water or milk. I decided to go for milk because the idea of mixing it with water didn’t really appeal to me. I tried it with both cow’s milk and almond milk. Cow’s milk worked a bit better in terms of how well it mixed. Almond milk needed a bit more stirring and still it wasn’t fully dissolved. (You can buy those shaker things which I’m sure would help, but I was mixing using a spoon).

Also, the less milk you put in, the thicker it gets (like a thick milkshake). The taste is pretty good, very much like a chocolate milkshake. There is a very slight chemical taste but nothing horrendous or off-putting.

I’ve also tried blending it with frozen banana as well (Ben absolutely adores this and often has it after running).

It mixes really well in the blender

Roughly per serving it’s 98 calories (without milk) and almost 19g of protein. Needless to say that when you have one of these you feel quite full afterwards.

Clearly I’m no body builder or have huge intentions to put on a lot of muscle weight so I’m not drinking this everyday. One of the reasons I was originally put off by protein powders was just knowing when to have it – I fill my day nicely with the food I need. However, there is a key time when this is very handy. When I go to races I usually have a stupidly early breakfast, then race and then finish. The time between breakfast, finishing and then getting myself together and finding food can be quite a few hours. By the time I do find food I’ve often felt very weak. Making up a good portion of this and taking it with me would be ideal to have straight after the race to fill that gap. Especially as I never fancy anything to eat after a race, but having a drink that would keep me from feeling faint is perfect!

We also made protein pancakes using the following ingredients:

40g rolled oats
1 scoop of protein powder
2 eggs (or 4 egg whites)
Dash of milk if batter is too thick

Blend all the ingredients together and then fry batches on a heated oiled frying pan. Should make three decent sized pancakes.

We did have three but Ben ate one before we could photo all of them (*sighs*). Add lots of great toppings, like maple syrup, fruit, peanut butter, etc.

I also tried some supplements from MyVitamins. I thought considering all the running I do and how injury-prone I seem to be I’d try the Joint Plus MSM Glucosamine and Chondroitin multi-nutrient blend.

Basically it’s a combination of the three “widely recognised” join care nutrients. Each capsule contains 300mg MSM, 250mg Glucosamine HCL and 200mg Chondroitin Sulphate. I take one one every day with breakfast. Finger’s crossed it’s making a difference. I don’t feel any different but I can’t imagine you would! A bit like any supplement you take I guess.

All in all, two decent products that I will continue to use!

HERE is a link to their voucher code page, full of discounts on a wide range of supplements if you’re interested 🙂

Have you tried anything from MyProtein or MyVitamin website?

Do you use protein powders?

What supplements do you take?

***I was sent these products for free to review but all opinions are my own***

February 5, 2014

Fashionably Fit: Look good to work hard?

I never used to care what I looked like when I worked out. For me it was all about just getting out there and getting it done. I had my bog standard leggings, a couple of tops and a jacket. Who cared what I looked like at 6am on a cold Thursday morning?

But after realising how much I loved running, and general fitness really, I started expanding my wardrobe a bit and looking around at the different shops and online sites.

Suddenly not only did I want good quality gear but I wanted stuff that actually looked good. And why not? I like to wear nice clothes in ‘real life’ so why not running? This might sound vain and vacuous but when I feel like I look the part then I feel more confident. Especially at races. That awkward moment at the start of the race when you look round at other people and judge them by what they’re wearing – ridiculous yes, but it can knock your confidence a little if you don’t feel good yourself.

A while ago Katherine Jenkins got a lot of stick for running a marathon in full make-up (check THIS article out). I can’t understand the venom that went her way. Why have a go if it makes her feel more confident? Surely it doesn’t detract from her performance? We have a girl at our running club who runs in fake eyelashes. She’s happy so what’s the problem?

SportsShoes are running a Fashionably Fit campaign and they invited me to ponder this question of whether looking stylish spurs me on to work harder while exercising or are you fully focused on how you feel rather than what you wear? To me this is like good running music, anything that gets you in the zone can spur me on. And looking stylish and ‘on form’ definitely gets me in the zone.

I was sent some cool Nike workout clothes to review to see whether this was the case.

I received this running top which honestly could be my favourite cold weather jacket.

It zips right up to the neck, or you can unzip it to give yourself a bit of ventilation. It was brilliant during my wet and muddy Parkrun a few weeks ago. And it has a back pocket and thumbholes which I love. Definitely more stylish than my usual boring zip up jackets that flap about a bit.

I also received these amazingly bright capris and workout vest.I love how bright the capris are because most of my running gear tends to be quite dark and all my leggings are black. These will be brilliant for my parents to spot me at races. They’re also very comfy – I foresee these to be worn around the house…The top is ideal for when I’m strength training or doing Pilates. But it does have the ‘DRI-FIT’ fabric which wicks the sweat from your body, so no embarrassing sweat stains.

And this running vest.

I like this top because you don’t have to wear a sports bra under it as it has some extra support.It’s so comfortable and it wicks away the sweat. It also is a very flattering shape. I did feel a little naked though at the gym in this outfit! It’ll probably be a top I use during the summer racing months as well as it’s so lightweight.

And socks. Because socks are so important! I hate socks that slip down and are annoying or give me blisters. These are ideal for running. Probably more on the functional side of things than looking good!

Call me vain, slate Katherine Jenkins, but seriously I’m in the camp that when you feel confident in yourself and how you look, it makes you feel good about what your doing and helps you keep motivated and working out strong.

What do you think?

Do you like to look good when you work out?

Do you put more effort in for things like races, or if you’re going to the gym and people will see you?

Do you wear make-up to workout in?

**These products were sent to me for free in order to review, but all opinions are my own.**