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!