Get rewarded for your running with Runnit

I know running in itself is quite rewarding, but if you are looking for actual physical rewards you should think about downloading the Runnit app on your iPhone.

Runnit is an app that offers different challenges, such as run 1 mile every day for 3 days, if you complete the challenge you get a reward, simples!

The challenge is tracked by using the phones GPS system and you can see how much progress you are making on the screen. Like all tracking apps on the iPhone, it's not the most accurate of tracking systems, but it is only a tiny bit out. I've also found that I can run it the same time as other apps like Map My Run without any issues.



With rewards varying from 20% off matcha tea at Teapigs, to a free bag of Popchips there should be a reward to suit everyone.

Runnit is still quite new, it was only released last month so there isn't a huge amount of rewards available at this time, but it looks like Runnit has some great partnerships lined up so I'm quite excited to see what else they will be offering as a reward in the future.

What rewards would you like to see offered?

2013 in races

As 2013 comes to a close I, like many other bloggers, have decided to reflect about the races I took part in. 2013 was actually the year I decided to start running, so I only went to three races meaning this blog post should be quite short!

The first race I ever took part in was the Race For Life. I think the Race For Life series is great because it inspires so many people to start running and raise money for a good cause.
The race I did was at North Weald airfield, very flat and a bit boring unless you like looking at planes, but the atmosphere was amazing and there was lots of great fancy dress. Definitely not a race to aim for a PB as lots of people go in the running/jog group and give up after 2 minutes and walk in big groups, there is also no chip timing so I think I finished in around 38 minutes, but it was still a great race and I will do it again next year.
As you can see in the picture I am wearing my Nike Flex trainers. I didn't have these fitted and so I was only able to run once a week because I was getting ankle pain meaning I was undertrained for this race and had to part walk part run it.

The next race I did wasn't until October, but this was a 10K, the Spooky Sprint in Waltham Abbey. I really enjoyed this race, it was a night one which made things a bit different, and my running had also inspired my mum to give the 5K a go, I was so proud of her for doing this!
The course was around the white water rafting centre in Waltham Abbey, a lovely race that took place alongside lots of picturesque rivers and fields, although when it started to get dark the shadows in the forest did get a bit eerie!
By the time this race rolled round I had invested in some properly fitted trainers and managed to do this in 1 hour, 8 minutes and 32 seconds (I think!). Great local race that I would definitely recommend, nice and quiet too!

Lastly we have the 10K MoRun in Greenwich park that was in November.
The course was a bit skew-wiff and the hills where a killer but I still managed to knock 4 minutes off of my previous 10K time and finished in 1 hour, 4 minutes, 38 seconds (ish, I really should look up exact times!)
I didn't particularly enjoy the course, I actually found the park quite boring to run around, but the atmosphere at this race was great with plenty of crowd support and some of the best fancy dress I have seen.

I'm hoping to attend a lot more races in 2014 and get some decent times! So far I have already signed up for the Brighton half marathon in February and the Surrey one in March, I'm now thinking Copenhagen half would make a nice weekend get away too! The medal has to be good though, I only run for the medals. And so I can eat as many burgers as I want.

Have you got any races planned for 2014 yet? What was your favourite of 2013

Christmas Aerial Hoop Performance

In February this year I started pole dancing lessons, one of the best decisions I've ever made. My instructor is so encouraging and I've met so many amazing girls through it, I honestly cannot express how much body confidence pole has given me and how amazing it makes me feel.

At the my pole school they also do aerial hoop and silks. I've recently really got into aerial hoop and so for the past 8 weeks I have been getting up every Sunday for 9am rehearsals so that I can perform in the Christmas showcase. I'm very proud of all my hard work, and despite the fact that this isn't perfect, I wanted to share with you my routine.



Thanks for watching!

Review - CherryActive Concentrate

For the past month I have been trying out CherryActive Concentrate, a cherry concentrate that you mix with water and drink daily. The concentrate contains 100% cherries with no added sugars, preservatives, flavourings or colourings and contains over 3000 cherries in a bottle!

The concentrate is full of antioxidants and claims to have benefits such as maintaining healthy joint function, keeping the cardiovascular system healthy, improving sleep patterns and muscle recovery, sounds very impressive and all of these benefits are great for runners, weight lifters and just about every other sports person really!

As I mentioned, I have been trying this out for the past month, so what do I think?

Well first off, I was slightly taken back by the taste and texture. This may sound stupid because despite the fact that I know this is 100% real cherries I expected the concentrate to be thick and syrupy and taste like the sweet Cherry Drops, obviously this wasn't the case! The concentrate is the same consistency as water and mixed with water very easily and didn't separate even when I left it for a while. The taste was definitely a true cherry taste, very rich and not overly sweet at all which I was a bit worried about, very pleasant and quite easy to drink.

Now did I see any of the mentioned benefits? Well no not really, I think it has helped me recover from my weekend long runs slightly, but then again I haven't had any trouble with my recovery before or sleep issues and I'm one of those people who never feels a massive difference when I start taking a multivit.

I think it's worth giving CherryActive a go to see if you feel the benefits, and at just £27 from Chemist Direct it's a lot cheaper than buying a months supply of cherries from Sainsbury's when they are out of season!

Trying out Crossfit!

I have been doing crossfit for a few months now, I think maybe 3 or 4? So I thought it was about time I got around to talking about it!

For those of you who haven’t heard of Crossfit, it’s one of the big things in the fitness world at the moment, the main talking point of Crossfit is the WOD, workout of the day. The WOD is always varied and uses a combination of weights, body weight and a bit of cardio and the WOD can be for as many reps as possible in a set time, or you have to complete a sequence of moves and complete it as quick as possible. I’m not sure I’m explaining this very well so I’ll just give you an example of a workout we had to do last week:

As many toes to bar as possible in a minute (using a pull up bar you raise your feet to the bar, great ab workout)
As many burpees as possible in a minute
As many kettlebell snataches as possible in a minute
Rest for 1 minute
Repeat three times.

The WOD is always different though, they can last anywhere from 10-30 minutes and are always challenging.

Crossfit London is where I have been taking my classes and I definitely recommend them. They have boxes (the name of a Crossfit gym) in Bethnal Green and Vauxhall and the coaches are lovely, they are very encouraging and patient which has definitely helped me because I am by far the weakest and they don’t ever make me feel like I’m useless, which has happened in other gym classes.

Another thing that is great about Crossfit London is that when you join you have to do all the level 1 classes which is where you learn the basic lifting moves and how to do them with good form so you don’t injure yourself before you are let on to level 2, which is the general class.

In a class we will normally do a brief warm up of either squats or burpees, then we will work on one move for strength such as deadlifts or squats, adding weight each time we complete a set until we reach our maximum, followed by working on a skill such as pull ups or even muscle ups and we end with the WOD.

Crossfit is definitely challenging and I am normally sore for a couple of days afterwards, my shoulders are very sore from Tuesdays WOD as I’m typing this! I think Crossfit is a great way of building strength, and a lot of these workouts you can do at home if you have the basic equipment but the coaches and encouragement from other Crossfitters encourages me to go a little heavier with my weights and to try and squeeze in a extra rep where as if I was at home I may have given up a little sooner. Everything in the workout is completely scalable too, from making the weights lighter or heavier to modifying the move slightly to make it easier or harder which is great because it means everyone can do the WOD and still find it challenging.

You find a lot of people will go to Crossfit five days a week, but unfortunately I can only go once a week because of pole dancing and running, which also means I’m slow to see progress. It’s also quite expensive at around £13 a class, but that is the average sort of price you pay for fitness classes in London.

So what do you think, is Crossfit for you or do you prefer doing your own thing when it comes to strength training?

Christmas Coffee Series - Starbucks Eggnog Latte

This review has been a long time coming (sorry for my recent blog absence!) and is probably the last of my Christmas coffee reviews because I really dislike chocolate orange so don't really want to review the chocolate orange mocha, unless someone fancies writing a guest post for me?
Anyway, back on topic, today's review is the Eggnog latte from Starbucks.

This coffee is absolutely gorgeous and out of all the Christmas coffees I have tried it is a very close second, only just being beaten by the Costa salted caramel latte for the top spot.

The Eggnog latte is very smooth and creamy, quite sweet too, it reminds me a bit of a white hot chocolate if you have ever tried one of those? It's as sweet and creamy with a slight coffee taste as apposed to a chocolate taste.

The coffee flavour in this is quite weak though, not good if you like your coffee strong, but this is a nice introduction to coffee for someone who is just getting into it.

I take my coffee skimmed and still found the eggnog latte seriously creamy so I can imagine if you get the full fat version it might be a bit too creamy, and heaven forbid putting cream on top!

They use actual eggnog in the coffee (I'm assuming the alcohol free variety) which means that even if you do get this coffee skimmed its a bit heavy on the calorie side, not something I'm too bothered about but something to keep in mind if you are going to be ordering this coffee every day.

Score - 4.25/5 A lovely sweet creamy coffee, very indulgent though.

Dynamic Stretch at Frame Shoreditch

As someone who does a lot of aerial arts, flexibility is key in getting into some of the positions and making them look prettier. As a runner, stretching my muscles is key to preventing injuries.
I know a lot of runners turn to yoga for this, but after trying a disastrous class in my local council gym and being overwhelmed by the sheer number of different types of yoga on offer in London (and baulking at the price of some of them) I have instead turned to stretch classes.

I originally tried the two hour splits workshop at Frame in Shoreditch and absolutely love it so I decided to give Dynamic Stretch a go which is one of their regular classes.

The class is run by a lovely little red headed lady, who is a super bendy Wendy and has a lot of enthusiasm for the class. She speaks loudly and clearly and will come over to help get you deeper in the stretch or correct your position if you are wrong. She is a fabulous instructor and makes everything look so easy.

It’s a one hour class and despite it being a stretch class, it will get you quite sweaty. Instead of holding a certain position for minutes at a time you tend to go through sequences, much like you do in yoga, working on different parts of the body. Some of the movements you do hold for longer, but as the name Dynamic Stretch implies, you are moving for the most part.

Music is played in the background, but nowhere near as loud as it was in the Barre class I attended at Frame. It was the perfect volume, loud enough for you to notice it but not loud enough drown out the instructors instructions. The music is upbeat pop style, which I found quite uplifting, some of the music that you associate with yoga irritates me rather than relaxes me!

Because the class is at 8:30 it was a very small class, there was only five of us in total so it definitely felt like a good value for money class because we all got individual attention as the instructor corrected us or moved us around.

After the class I left feeling lovely and limber, and also quite relaxed which was a nice bonus. I could definitely feel like all my muscles had been stretched out and even felt it the next day when I was walking up the stairs.

I think the late time of Dynamic Stretch is probably my one niggle with the class. It runs on Tuesday at 8:30 for a hour, so it means hanging around after work for a couple of hours and getting home really late, but it did leave me feeling quite serene and I was able to go straight home to bed and fall asleep quickly.

I couldn’t recommend this class more if you are looking for a great way to stretch and improve your flexibility that isn’t yoga. I want to try and attend at least one of these stretch style classes a week, the other stretch class Frame offer is Bend it Like Barbie, which sounds fab and is more static stretching and partner work. If there is another splits workshop I’ll be all over that like a rash too, the workshop is one of the most enjoyable things I’ve took part in in ages.

I’m not giving up on yoga quite yet though, so if you would like to recommend me a style and place to do it that would be very helpful, specifically a style that isn’t constantly in downwards dog because it destroys my shoulders!

Race Report - Greenwich MoRun

Bright and early on a Saturday morning I headed down to Greenwich for the 10k MoRun. This was the last in the series of MoRuns that had all been held in Movember to raise awareness and funds for prostate and testicular cancer.



I was quite nervous for this race, it was my second 10k and 3rd race, if you can count the race for life as a real race. I had been warned Greenwich park was quite hilly and so not knowing what to expect made me even more nervous, I've done the distance and a lot further plenty of times, and i always try to include some hills in my run, but you never know if it's enough.

I arrived two hours before the race was due to start because you had to register to pick up your race number and chip. This was bit of a mistake on my part, I didn't need to get there anywhere near as early as that so spent the next 2 hours standing around shivering as there wasn't a lot to do pre race.



Around 9:30 it started to get a lot busier. It was a lot of fun seeing people in fancy dress, from Holk Hogan to Freddy Mercury and even a Storm Trooper! And of course there was a lot of moustaches, real and fake. We had a great 10 minute warm up that involved working with a partner and then it was time to head to the start line!

The course itself was two laps of the park and involved a lot of zig zagging and hairpin turns, but despite the crazy route it was relatively easy to see where you are meant to go.

Like with most races there was a lot of congestion at the start, this wasn't helped by the narrow pathways but soon this opened out into a wider road which allowed everyone to settle into their stride.

[caption id="attachment_954" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Vita Coco was on hand for after the race[/caption]

Running through the park itself was quite pretty, but a tad bit on the boring side, just lots of green fields with very little else to look at other than the guys in fancy dress. Still, beats my normal long runs along all the roads running through town.

Now let's talk about those hills. In my mind there was 3. The first was at the 2km/7km mark, it was a gentle incline but quite long, that was fine I can handle that. The second hill was just before the 3km/8km mark, it was quite  a short distance but it was very steep, a lot of people had to walk this hill but no, I even powered on through this one. The final hill though, the one just before the 4km/9km mark, that was a bitch of a hill. On the first lap I was running and just felt like I was getting nowhere and my legs felt heavy, confused I looked around and realised I was on a hill. The sneaky bastard had hidden it's incline well and then halfway up this already hard hill it got even steeper. I had to walk this hill on both laps which I felt quite disappointed about. Oh, and there is only one small part of this course that is really downhill, it's a hard course.

[caption id="attachment_955" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Post race bacon sandwich anyone?[/caption]

The crowd support for this race was brilliant. At the start/finish line there was a lot of supporters all shouting their hearts out. There was also random groups of supporters all throughout the course and because the race was taking part in Greenwich park which is open to the public, you got a lot of families who where  out for the day who would cheer you on as they walked around the park, there is nothing more heartwarming then a tiny boy with mittens wishing you luck.

At the end of the race you are greeted with a fantastic moustache shaped medal, foil blanket, choice of vita coco water or Lucozade sport and a hot bacon sandwich, which went down a treat.

Oringally I had wanted to get a PB for this race and was aiming for 1 hour 5 minutes, but after I heard about the hills I scrapped that idea. Well, despite the hills and having to walk parts I managed to get a PB with a time of 1 hour, 4 minutes and 33 seconds beating the target I had set for myself and knocking 4 minutes off my Spooky Sprint time. I could not be happier with that time and now I'm thinking a sub one hour 10k isn't so far out of my reach.



The race is a little on the pricey side at around £27, but I think this has been my favourite one so far, even with all the hills! The atmosphere is great, there is plenty of crowd support, fancy dress makes everyone happy, the medal is awesome and where else do you get given a bacon sandwich afterwards!

Through the Postbox

It's that time of the month, not that time, but the time where I share what I have been spending my money on that is vaguely related to running.

First up is some new BIC bands. If you read my review you will know that I seriously love these things and thought that it was only appropriate that I get a Christmas themed one so I opted for the candy cane one, a green glittery one that matches my Macmillan top so I intend to wear it for the Brighton half, and one of their gorgeous new frost bands in a mint green colour.

These Sweaty Betty blister proof run socks are not cheap at all at £12 a pair, but they are by far my favourite running socks, they are the thickness I like, fit well, don't move around and like it says on the packaging I have yet to suffer with a blister when wearing them.
I've slowly built up my collection and  after getting this grey pair I now have one pair in every colour!

I'm trying out this Cherry Active Concentrate, which is full of antioxidents and is meant to help with joints, keeping a healthy cardiovascular system and muscle recovery, all things that are great for runners! Apparently it even helps with regulating sleep patterns, but I haven't tried it long enough yet to make a proper comment. Expect a full review in the future but for now all I can say is it tastes pretty delicious.

After seeing these Christmas tree crumpets from Asda being advertised I have been obsessed with trying to get my hands on them. Sadly I don't have any Asda's near me, but after expressing my need for them on Twitter Asda kindly sent me a packet.
I've included these in today's post because crumpets are part of carb loading right?
I promptly loaded these bad boys in the toaster and coated them in peanut butter. Great pre run, or whenever and I know liking something because it's Christmas tree shaped is pretty simple, but come on it's a Christmas tree shaped crumpet!

Lastly we have some fuel and a running belt from Sweat Shop.
I opted for some Gu gels because they don't seem to upset my stomach and they are the best tasting of the bunch (that's not saying much though, gels bleurgh).
I also picked up some Clif Shot Bloks to try because I don't like gels so much, and these look pretty tasty, a bit like raw jelly!
The iFitness belt is to stash my gels in on the longer runs because putting them in my running tights keeps pulling them down, it's also handy to stick my oyster card in for times when I get lost, or eat Greek food the night before and want to get the bus home after vomiting a bush, so attractive.

What's everyone else been buying this month?

Christmas Coffee Series – Starbucks Gingerbread Latte

As part of my routine to make Monday’s a little bit more bearable, I treat myself to a nice coffee before going for a long run.

I spent all day thinking about what coffee I should go for, my heart was telling me a toffee nut latte but my head was telling me get the Starbucks gingerbread latte so you can review it and start finishing up your Christmas Coffee series. My head made some good points and the Costa gingerbread latte was quite pleasant enough so after work I strolled down to my local Starbucks and ordered a small skimmed gingerbread latte.

[caption id="attachment_862" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The closest they have ever got to getting my name right...[/caption]

I did not like this coffee at all, I might go as far as to say I bloody hated it.

It had a very strong ginger taste, not gingerbread, just straight up ginger which I felt didn’t blend with the coffee at all, it was like there was two very distinct flavors, coffee and ginger, and they really didn’t go well together at all.

To add insult to injury they even top the coffee with some sprinkles of ginger, just the sort of thing you want to be chewing on when you get to the bottom of a coffee.

Unlike the Costa gingerbread latte where it’s a sweet ginger that enhances the flavor of the coffee, this just tasted too strong and almost medicinal, definitely not what I look for in my coffee.

I actually got to taste this coffee all over again as it didn’t seem to want to digest properly, meaning my long run was full of embarrassing belches that tasted of gingerbread latte which only cemented my dislike of the coffee.

Score 1/5 – A bitter coffee that is overpowered by the taste of ginger and bits to chew on. I really disliked this coffee but if you don’t like sweet coffee or prefer more herbal tasting drinks this may be for you.

My first Parkrun

Parkruns are fabulous. For those who don't know about them they are free timed 5ks that happen weekly, normally on a Saturday at 9am.

Despite having seen plenty of runners rave about them I've never actually tried one myself because I tend to do my long runs on a Saturday, but this weekend I had a two hour splits workshop scheduled for the afternoon so I thought that the Parkrun would be a great way to get in a short fast run.

I was a bit wary of my local Parkrun, a couple of people who have been to it have said that it is slightly cliquey, but I went ahead because although it would be nice to make some local running friends, at the end of the day I run for myself. I needn't have worried though, I turned up quite nervous so headed to a group of people which included a volunteer who explained the course to me and how it all worked. Everyone was very friendly and introduced themselves.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="520"] I wish I took better race photos...[/caption]

The course itself was 3 and a bit laps of a playing field which was quite muddy but not enough to be slippery. One side has a slight elevation to it that was fine on the first lap but I was cursing it by the third lap, despite the fact that it was only a very small incline....

Walthamstow is one of the smaller Parkruns, only seeing around 60 people a week so once everyone was settled into their pace there was plenty of room for everyone and it didn't feel crowded at all.

Another one of my concerns is that you sometimes hear of runners who are aiming for their personal best and often don't have any courtesy to other runners, luckily this wasn't the case for this Parkrun at all. Sure I got lapped by a couple of the super fast runners, but there was plenty of room and they made sure to give everyone a wide birth when overtaking.

I am a slow runner but thought to myself that this is only a 5k so I should push myself. On my second lap one of the volunteers informed me if I kept up the pace I was at then I would be looking at finishing around 31 minutes, I found this very encouraging because my best time was 32 minutes 50 seconds, so despite the burning in my chest I pushed on.

I actually ended up finishing with a time of 30 minutes 38 seconds which I am ecstatic about! One of my new fitness goals is to complete a 5k in less than 30 minutes and I thought I was a long way off but I guess not!

Generally I prefer running alone, but I really liked fitting in some speed work for a change, and the encouragement from the other runners, volunteers and even just people using the park was really motivating and lovely.

I think Parkruns are a fantastic idea. The Walthamstow one I went to was very welcoming and there was a few walkers too. They are great for serious runners looking to do a bit of speed work, the casual runner, the beginners or even just the people who would like to have a sociable saturday morning walk. Did I mention they are free too? Fantastic.

I'm not going to lie though, I'm not a huge fan of the whole 5k race thing. It takes me a good 20 minutes to get into my runs and I was running at a pace I'm not used to which I found quite challenging, I felt like I was going to keel over and die at the end of it which isn't a feeling I've had after running in a very long time. You know what they say they, no pain no gain and hopefully this will help me with my half marathon training.

Trying out Barre class at Frame Shoreditch

If you haven’t heard of Frame in Shoreditch by now you are sorely missing out. They offer gym classes with bit of a difference, cardio rave classes or stretch classes inspired by Barbie anyone?

I decided I needed to try one of the classes for myself, so after lots of deliberation, my work colleague and I decided to try out the Frame Signature Barre class, here is what I thought of the class.

First off, the Frame gym itself is very easy to walk past, so be wary of it because the entrance is down the side of the building and if you’re like me and walk around with your head in the clouds it’s very easy to miss the signage, luckily the thumping music is a tell tale sign of Frame’s location.

All the staff are very friendly and explained where everything was, and when we entered the class the instructor, who is was a very lovely lady in amazing shape (I always feel more motivated when the trainer looks like they are in great shape) asked if anyone was new and explained about what would happen in the class.

Image Source

For those of you who don't know about barre classes, it’s a cardio/toning/ballet fusion class that uses weights and the ballet bar, think Pliés with a bicep curl and leg kicks with ankle weights.

Luckily the music isn’t inspired by classical ballet. The tracks are upbeat and current, and you work out a different part of the body to each different track , core, triceps, glutes etc until you have had a whole body workout.

At the end you have a nice slow stretch using the bar. This part I especially enjoyed, I do a lot of classes but thought the use of the bar really helped you to get deep in the stretch and the instructor got us doing some challenging stretches that left me feeling pretty awesome and bendy after the class, so many classes will just end with the half hearted calf stretch and toe touches.

My friend and I really enjoyed barre and have decided to keep it up weekly. It is fun, original and I left afterwards feeling like I had a great workout but I hadn’t overdone myself. It’s also easy to scale it to different level of fitness, just increase or decrease the weights.

I do have a couple of slight niggles though. Whilst the instructor was fantastic and great at explaining everything, at times it was quite hard to hear her over the music. She was going through the moves as we was doing them, but for things like the ab track when you are on the floor with your feet behind the bar against the wall it’s quite hard to know what is going on and I had to pause a few times to turn and check that what I was doing was right.

Probably my biggest complaint is that there wasn’t enough ankle weights for the whole class. Myself and my friend both didn’t have ankle weights and things like that really annoy me. If you are going to have a class you should have enough equipment to cater for everyone who attends, I probably would’ve felt a lot more sore the day after if I was using ankle weights.

These issues aside I can’t recommend this class enough for if you want a great full body workout that is fun and a bit different.
I really like Frame as a gym and can’t wait to try out more of their classes. I’m actually attending a two hour splits workshop this weekend which I am very excited to try! Expect a report of that soon.

Christmas Coffee Series - Starbucks Toffee Nut Latte

Finally we have the first Starbucks coffee in the Christmas coffee series!

After much careful deliberation, and asking on twitter, I decided on the toffee nut latte because I was having the coffee pre run and thought that the eggnog latte might be a bit too creamy and heavy to have before running.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="520"] Costa definitely win's in the best takeaway cups category[/caption]

So how was it? Pretty delicious!

I have said before that I think Costa coffee tastes stronger, but the coffee taste in the toffee nut latte was nice and strong, like the gingerbread latte the syrup in this drink helps enhance the flavour of the coffee, although it is a tiny bit bitter tasting.

It definitely tastes nutty and sweet, but I didn't get any strong toffee flavour.

As I was drinking the coffee I kept thinking to myself how much I was enjoying it and how nice it tasted, which is always a good thing!

Score - 4/5 A very tasty and enjoyable coffee with a nice strong nutty coffee taste. It's also quite sweet, more so than the gingerbread latte, less so than the salted caramel latte.

How I make Monday's a little more bearable

Despite the fact that I love my job, like most of the population I still can't help but dread Monday's. Recently I have been adding a few things to my routine to help make Monday's a little more bearable, and dare I even say it, enjoyable!

Firstly, on Monday morning I change my bed sheets, there is nothing nicer than fresh clean sheets to start the week off right.

After work I treat myself to a nice skinny coffee from Costa or Starbucks. I don't visit coffee shops that often so I can still think of it as a treat when I do. Normally I will get a skinny iced hazelnut latte, but at the moment the salted caramel latte is definitely appealing to me. I drink this coffee on the train journey home.

When I get to my overground station I skip the overground train and run from it instead (I change into my running gear before I leave work). It's 3.5km from the overground station to my house but I like to tack on a few more km to make my run at least 9km, this is also where the caffeine from the coffee comes in handy!

The last step in my Monday morning routine is to apply a face mask and have a nice relaxing bath. I like to pretend the bath is helping relax my muscles and I like to use a deep cleansing face mask after a run to declog my pores, I get paranoid that sweating opens them up and lets them get clogged by all the gunk in the environment.



I then like to slip into some clean flannel PJs, preferably Christmas themed at this time of the year but this step is optional.



So that's my Monday routine. I start my week by getting a nice long run out of the way so I go to bed feeling virtuous from the run, relaxed from the bath and super snuggly from the clean sheets. Not only is this something to look forward to but it also helps me have a great night's sleep.  Is there anything you do to help get through Monday's?

Christmas Coffee Series - Costa Gingerbread Latte

The second seasonal coffee I decided to try was the gingerbread and cream latte from Costa.

As usual I asked for a small skinny without cream, but if you go for the full fat version you will find a little gingerbread man nestled in the cream. Gingerbread is a flavour they offer all year round so I think the gingerbread man is the only thing that makes it special for Christmas.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="520"] Bagels and coffee, the breakfast of champions[/caption]

The flavour of coffee is a lot stronger in this latte than it is in the salted caramel latte. The gingerbread syrup is lovely, not overly spicy but enough to be warming and give the coffee a very festive taste, it's quite a subtle flavour and as I mentioned this only helps enhance the strong coffee flavour.

Once again this coffee isn't overly sweet, but I definitely wouldn't add any sugar to it.

Score - 3.5/5 A pleasant enough coffee with a nice gingerbread warming flavour, but the fact that this coffee is available all year round makes it feel a lot less special and quite average. If you are getting the coffee with cream and the gingerbread man on top I'm sure it would bump it up to a 4/5.

Choosing and entering my second half marathon

I’m not sure what came over me but last week I thought it would be clever to enter my second half marathon, without having actually completed my first one....

After seeing how quickly some half marathons sell out I decided that I wanted to try and get a couple more booked in for Spring next year before I miss my chance.

I did quite a bit of research and the 3 that took my fancy the most where Surrey, Reading and Cambridge.

Unfortunately Cambridge was sold out (what I’m trying to avoid!). Cambridge looks like a gorgeous picturesque city which is why I wanted to run it but you know, being sold out and all that means it’s not the one for me!

My second choice was Reading. I’ve heard that it’s a good one to get a PB on because it’s a flat easy course, but then I read Be Pretty Fit’s review of it which put me right off. Basically it just sounds very grey with the route going through lots of residential areas. I don’t think I can deal with a boring run, which put the Reading half on the “maybe but probably not” list.

I then saw someone on twitter mention the Surrey half, which piqued my interest. I was a tiny bit worried because I lived in Guildford for a year and thought the course might be a bit hilly, but the lovely Stephanie assured me it’s not.
It’s also the  inaugural half marathon which definitely tempted me into signing, I think it will be great to be part of the first half marathon.
I know the area is pretty too, and my boyfriend would enjoy visiting Surrey for the day as he still has lots of friends there so I signed up!

The Surrey half is three weeks after the Brighton half. Considering Brighton is the first half marathon I will be running, signing up for one so soon after probably wasn’t my best idea ever, but I’m sure I’ll survive. Maybe. Hopefully, because I fly to Japan for my holiday the next week...

Is anyone else doing the Surrey half? What is on your criteria for picking races?



 

Half Marathon Training - Week 6

After last week's really successful training, obviously this week was doomed to be bad, and it was. Actually it was worse then bad, it was awful.
I managed to get out and run, wait for it..... ONCE! Brilliant. I was sick as a dog all week, so sick that I ended up missing pole dancing and aerial hoop which is my favourite thing in the world, that's how you know I'm not well. The one run I did manage though, I made sure counted!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="390"] Disgusting, but true.[/caption]

Monday - Sick day

Tuesday - Crossfit. WOD was 10 man makers, 10 sit ups, 8 man maker, 15 sit ups, 6 man makers, 20 sit ups, 4 man makers, 25 sit ups, 2 man makers, 30 sit ups for time. I don't even want to talk about how hard it was/how sore it made me for days!

Wednesday - Sick day, so sick I couldn't even make it to work.

Thursday - Sick day

Friday - Sick day

Saturday - Run 1. Distance - 15.02km Time - 1:38:58 Pace - 6:35
My only run, a seriously pleasant one and my furthest distance so far! I had a lovely pre run breakfast of half a cinnamon and raison bagel topped with peanut butter and the seriously delicious salted caramel latte which I think definitely helped get me in the right frame of mind for the run.
Despite planning my route beforehand on map my run, I managed to get a little bit lost and see someone get arrested which definitely helped spice things up a bit!
The run itself felt pretty amazing until the last couple of KM, I had been running in the rain for the most part and realised at 13k that my lips where going numb because of the cold and rain so the last couple of km where bit of a struggle as I had started to get a bit sore, but apart from that a great run that has left me feeling like yes, I can do this half marathon!

Sunday - Show rehearsals

Week total distance - 15.02km
Weeks until half marathon - 14

Feeling very confident about being able to run the full half now, maybe I should actually start to do some speed work? Or not... Fingers crossed I feel better this week so I can get back on track with my workouts.

Setting New Targets

At the start of 2013 I set myself the goal to lose 4 stone (56 pounds) and a month ago I managed to achieve that goal. Having a target that I was working towards really kept me on track and motivated, although it was a long hard slog every time I lost another half stone I felt such a sense of achievement and when I finally reached my goal I was so proud of myself.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="650"] Left - January Right - November[/caption]

Since the goal of losing 4 stone has been reached, I have decided to make some new goals to try and achieve which I am going to share because if I write it in a blog it makes it more serious than if I just tell my cat.

So the goals:

1. Squat 50kg for 3 reps


2. Deadlift 70kg for 3 reps


3. Be able to do a pull up and a chin up unassisted


4. Complete my first half marathon


5. Run a sub 30 minute 5k


6. Get visible abs!

So as you can see, apart from the visible abs all the other goals are fitness based and a direct result of the first goal I set myself because if I hadn't decided to lose the weight I wouldn't have started working out and I wouldn't know the amazing endorphin rush that exercise gives you.

I think it's always important to have something to work towards outside of our jobs too. Work takes up so much time in our life it's nice to have something to work towards outside of it to stop us from just sitting on the sofa watching Eastenders when we get home, which there is nothing wrong with and I still enjoy doing on rest days, but it won't help me reach my new goals!

Have you achieved any goals or set any recently?

Christmas Coffee Series - Costa Salted Caramel Latte

The good thing about having a blog with coffee in the title means that I feel like I can get away with trying lots of different coffees as long as I blog about them.

Christmas brings about lots of new festive drinks from the likes of Costa and Starbucks so I am going to try them all out and let you know my thoughts on them.

Just a note before we get started, I take my coffee skinny with no cream.

First up we have the salted caramel latte from Costa.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="520"] Bonus points to Costa for having such cute cups![/caption]

I am a massive fan of salted caramel so naturally this was my first choice and it was definitely the right one to start with!

I generally prefer Costa to Starbucks because I find the coffee to be stronger, although sometimes it can be a bit bitter, not the case in this coffee at all. It was very smooth and mellow, I even want to describe it as being buttery because it was so easy to drink, but didn't taste of butter if that makes any sense?

I tried a tiny bit of the syrup that was on the lid of the coffee cup and was surprised to find it tasted a lot like salted caramel, I was very impressed because I've tried a salted caramel hot chocolate before and thought it tasted no different to a normal hot chocolate.

Despite it being caramel, the salt in it stops it from being too sickly sweet, although you definitely don't need to add any sugar to this drink.

It also tastes a lot different to the caramel latte which I'm impressed with, I feel like sometimes they just rebrand regular drinks as new limited edition festive drinks.

After drinking this coffee I managed to run my furthest distance so far, although that may not be a direct result of the coffee, it will definitely make me associate good runs with this latte,

Score: 4.5/5 - A really enjoyable mellow coffee which I think can easily be enjoyed at any time of the day.