Category: Reviews

Joggbox – Subscription Box for Runners

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Oh look, what do we have here? Yet another subscription box. But, wait! This isn’t just another subscription box full of nuts and stuff, it’s the first subscription box for runners in the UK. Exciting, innit?

I’ve got to say I didn’t think it was going to be for me – I thought it would be full of gels and those other weird things you see on the shelf in Holland & Barrett when you’re walking through on the way to the chilled cabinet to see if the vegan ‘fish’ steaks are on offer (okay, that might just be me).

It’s not though. It’s full of great stuff. Let’s start with the box though.

joggbox-box

The box is quite big – around the size of a running shoe box, so it’s not going to fit in your letter box unless you’ve got a letter box a small dog could fit through (and if you have, I would suggest – for security reasons – you get a smaller letter box).

As an added bonus, the box comes with the advice to run outside the box. I can confirm that, although, as mentioned above, the box is quite big, it’s not big enough to run around in, although I’m sure my cat will spend many happy hours squeezed inside it once it’s empty.

joggbox-card

The Joggbox comes with a card telling you all about what’s in the box. If it hadn’t been for this card, I wouldn’t have known that the bottle that was in the box is designed to be hinged over your jogging bottoms. I’ll talk more about the bottle in a bit.

joggbox-wrapped

Inside the box, all your products for that month are ‘beautifully’ wrapped in paper. I’ve put ‘beautifully’ in quotes as it would appear whoever was on wrapping duty for this month has wrapping skillz on a par with mine (i.e. a bit shit really).

joggbox-inside

But, we all know beauty’s on the inside, don’t we? And inside the box is tons of beautiful stuff. Look, there’s a massage ball, some Union Jack patterned tape, a beetroot shot, an SOS blueberry rehydration drink mix, a High5 gel, a Good protein shake, a couple of Miracle Tree tea bags (one original and one strawberry flavour), a Pulsin vanilla choc chip protein bar, a sample of Halo Sports Wash, a High5 electrolyte sports drink and the most exciting thing of all, a bright yellow water bottle that can be hinged over your jogging bottoms.

joggbox-bottle

I don’t very often take a drink out with me when I’m running as I usually drink it all in the first mile then I’m left with an empty bottle to carry around with me and that’s REALLY ANNOYING. So, some clever dude has come up with this bottle that you can wear. Wow. I pondered this and thought well, I wouldn’t want to run with a full bottle hanging off me but I tried the empty bottle on my jeans and ran around the dining room and decided that an empty bottle wouldn’t be annoying at all. I don’t know if everyone who signs up for a Joggbox gets a cool bottle like this but I just wanted to show mine off anyway.

So, that’s the Joggbox – good, innit? I’m sure you all know how a subscription works – sign up and each month Joggbox will send you a box similar to the one above containing a range of new products. Each box will contain products worth more than the £15 a month the subscription costs.

If you don’t want a subscription (and to be perfectly honest, I think, for me personally, it’d be something I bought now and again rather than each month), you can buy it for yourself as a gift as and when. It’d also make a great gift for a running friend (or cycling friend, I would imagine).

I love the Joggbox and not just because it has a name similar to my blog. It’s even motivated me to go for a run tomorrow. Whoop.

Visit the Joggbox website for more information and to subscribe to the box.




ActiPatch Knee Wrap – Science, or Sooty’s Magic Wand?

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A while back, ActiPatch sent me one of their knee wraps to try out. This was timely as, since building up my cycling mileage, I’d developed a bit of a niggle which meant each time I cycled, my knee hurt. As soon as I got off the bike though, it stopped hurting; it also didn’t hurt while walking, running or at the gym, so I didn’t get round to trying out the wrap.

actipatch-knee-wrap

On Saturday though, I went out for a run and my knee began to hurt. Uh oh, I thought – this doesn’t bode well for the Pilgrims Hospice Cycle Challenge tomorrow, so when I got home I put on the ActiPatch to see if it helped.

Yesterday, I completed the 55 mile hilly ride without a single twinge. Yep, not a single bit of pain, even when I concentrated really hard to feel something. I don’t know what’s in the Actipatch (well, I do actually – it’s electromagnetic pulse therapy) but it’s flipping magic. Maybe Sooty’s in there with his  magic wand. Or maybe not. Maybe it’s some scientific technical thingy. But we’ll pretend it’s Sooty, eh?

actipatch

The ActiPatch has an on/off button and apparently lasts for 720 hours. It consists of a wrap and a cable thingy and it doesn’t matter which way on the wrap goes as all the magic bit happens inside the area the cable is surrounding. The instructions say to keep it on for a minimum of 8 hours a day and it can also be worn at night but I only had it on for about five hours. I also had it on over leggings, so the magical powers can get through clothing. It’s safe and drug free and can be worn by diabetics, arthritics, the elderly and bedridden. The ActiPatch is available from Amazon (and other places such as Boots, etc.) for £19.99.




The Nutribox Sports Nutrition Box (and 35% discount code!)

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nutribox-sports-nutrition

As mentioned on my other blog, The Nutribox deliver straight to your door, boxes bursting with healthy snacks. And now there’s even better news for runners (or cyclists or swimmers or jugglers or trampolinists or BMX-ers or skateboarders or shoplifters legging it from security guards); they’ve added a sports nutrition box to their range containing – as you’d expect – snacks perfect for fuelling before, during and after exercise.

Unlike other energy/protein, etc. bars, these aren’t full of chemicals – they’re made with only natural ingredients, are gluten-free, and don’t contain any trans fats or lots of added refined sugars. They’re all vegetarian; most are raw and vegan, too.

nutribox-sports-nutrition-box

I received in my box:

Salad Topper Mix (seeds and stuff. I haven’t had salad for a while and I can’t be arsed to eat seeds on their own, so I added them to a batch of muesli bars I made);

Turkish Delight (no, not the gooey rose-flavoured flour-coated gunge that sticks in your teeth, this is a bag of dried apricots, dates and brazil nuts);

Bounce Ball. I love these, they’re chewy and gooey and peanutty (well, the peanut one is peanutty, anyway. Other varieties are available);

A maple and peanut protein bar (I haven’t tried this yet but I love maple and peanut so I’m expecting good things);

A flapjack (all flapjacks are good, even healthy ones);

A raw choc bar (raw chocolate is much nicer than it sounds. Try it);

A Frank Bar (kind of like a Nakd bar);

A packet of dried strawberries; and

a seed bar which looked like one of those seed bars you used to feed your hamster (it tasted like I imagine the hamster seed bars to taste, too. Sorry Nutribox).

Get 35% off a Nutribox Sports Nutrition box! 

So, you want one of these boxes now, don’t you? I haven’t got one to giveaway, unfortunately, but I do have a discount code you can use to get a whopping 35% off your first order.

Just visit the Nutribox website, choose which size box you’d like and quote JOGBLOG at the checkout.

[offer no longer valid]

 

AbsoRice Protein Shake

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absorice-protein-drink

No, that doesn’t say Asbo, it says Abso. This isn’t a badly behaved protein drink. In fact, it’s a very well behaved protein drink as it’s plant-based, vegan and hypoallergenic; containing no yeast, dairy, egg, gluten, soy or wheat. It also contains no sugar, starch, salt, preservatives, artificial colour or sweetener. See, told you it was a very well behaved drink.

absorice-protein-shake

I don’t often drink protein shakes, as I don’t think I exercise that much, really, but after this morning’s four mile run, which was followed by a fifteen mile bike ride, I tried the vanilla flavour. Although you can mix it with water, I prefer a creamier texture so I had it with 300ml soya milk and although it didn’t blend brilliantly and had a slightly gritty texture, it had a pleasant sweet taste and a creamy consistency.

For further information, visit the AbsoRice website.

As Seen On TV – The Running Mat

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the-running-mat

If you watched Dragons’ Den last night, you’ll have seen The Running Mat (if you didn’t watch it, you can see it on iPlayer from about 14:30 onwards). The grumpy Scottish one wasn’t impressed; he said, ‘is this a joke?’, ‘you can not be serious’ and ‘are you taking the mick?’ while the tall one was equally unimpressed and called the nice blonde Geordie girl who brought in the Running Mat a ‘numpty’.

Still, that didn’t matter, as the new Dragon who looks like Chrissie in Eastenders (you know, the one that was married to Den and helped murder him) and Deborah liked it  and made her an offer so now she’s got two Dragons on board (although, personally, my favourite Dragon is the tall one and not just because he’s tall. *is totally because he’s tall*).

Because I am soooooo bang on trend, I already have a The Running Mat. Not that I’ve used it as I don’t usually stop to do floor exercises when I’m out for a run. Shaun said it would be handy for people who do BMF but then we thought if people turned up with mats, the BMF army boy twats would shout at them, take their mats away and make them do press ups in a muddy puddle. I’ve never been to BMF, so if it’s not run by army boy twats who make you do press ups in a muddy puddle, my apologies. I bet it is though.

Anyway, here I am demonstrating The Running Mat. As you can see, you can run with it

the-running-mat-running

Do press ups on it (handy for ‘athons, eh?)

the-running-mat-press-up

And do crunches on it.

the-running-mat-crunches

I like The Running Mat, don’t listen to that grumpy Scottish man.

 

 

 

Going dotty

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Stripes used to be my thing. Actually, they still are. It doesn’t matter how many times I tell myself when I’m out shopping I have enough black and white stripy t-shirts, I still come home with more.

Then I discovered dots. Polka dots, to be specific. I’ve got a red and white polka dot dressing gown, a red and white polka dot purse, a red and white polka dot bag, black and white polka dot sandals and I did have a black and white polka dot dress but I couldn’t get the zip undone after being in the pub on New Year’s Eve so I cut it off with a pair of scissors and replaced it with a polka dot dress in orange and black.

Now I’ve got a red and white polka dot Kindle case. I needed a case for my Kindle Fire HD as I didn’t want to break the screen by bashing it when I fell off my bike drunk like I did to my Kindle Keyboard (although Amazon, bless ‘em, replaced it the very next day).

red-polka-dot-kindle-fire-case 

This case is great. It’s sturdy and protective and all that kind of stuff but what I like best about it is you can stand it up so you can read or watch videos or whatever when you’re eating (unless you’re one of those people who talk around the dinner table, in which case, you probably think it’s rude to read while eating).

polka-dot-kindle-case

Obviously, though, what I really like best about it is the red and white polka dots.

Purition Superseed Breakfast Smoothie

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purition-superseed-breakfast

I like smoothies for breakfast, as I don’t like to eat anything ‘proper’ first thing. My smoothies usually consist of banana and soya milk and when I did have some flax seeds that came in a goodie bag after a race, I used to chuck those in. Whether the seeds did any good or not, I don’t know but it made me feel healthier knowing they were in there.

Purition make a range of 100% natural sports shakes and this morning, I tried the Purition Superseed Breakfast Smoothie which contains whey protein isolate, flaxseed, coconut flour, almonds, sunflower kernels, sesame seed, cocoa, chia seed, pumpkin seed, inactive brewers yeast, psyllium husk, apple pectin and stevia.

No matter how far I stuck my nose in the packet, I couldn’t smell a thing. I mixed it up in the blender with soya milk and it still didn’t smell of anything. It didn’t blend well, leaving a ton of powder in the bottom of the blending jug but it did have a natural, appetising appearance. puriton-superseed-smoothie

There was a faint taste of coconut and at first I thought it was grainy and powdery, but realised it had seeds in it, which I got used to.

Overall, a nice smoothie but I’d add a banana for more taste and try to blend it properly.

The Purition Superseed Breakfast Smoothie comes in a single serving at £2 (plus £2.99 postage) or a 560g pack containing 14 servings. The 14 serving pack costs £18.95 (plus £2.99 postage) which, by my calculations makes it good value at £1.56 per serving, considering the price of all the ingredients if you were to buy them yourself and also considering the price of the smoothies on the supermarket shelves.

And yes, I did run today. A man was trying to pull his little dog along but the little dog didn’t want to go and I thought the little dog had stopped because he wanted to say hello to me. But the little dog hadn’t stopped to say hello, he’d stopped to growl at me. The man said ‘sorry, he doesn’t like joggers’ and I said ‘oh, sorry little doggy’. Then I thought, I wasn’t even running when the little doggy saw me, I was walking and, anyway, I’m a runner, not a jogger and I know this because the t-shirt I was wearing said Nike Running, not Nike Jogging.

Halo Non Bio Sports Wash

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halo-sports-wash

Yeah, smelly kit, we all love smelly kit don’t we? No? Not even the kit that stays smelly no matter how many times you wash it? Oh.

Well then, here’s something to cheer you up – a washing detergent specially formulated for sportswear.

According to the bottle, it:

  • Removes sweat and odours
  • Works as low as 30C
  • Is tough on stains; and is
  • Antifungal and antibacterial

It’s not just for sportswear, you can use it as a normal detergent as I did today and although there’s not a lot I can say about a laundry detergent, it left my clothes and kit clean and smelling fresh (which, let’s face it, is all you want from a laundry detergent).

You don’t need me to remind you that Juneathon starts in a month, so you might want to get yourself some of this.

Halo Non Bio Sports Wash costs £33.60 for 6 x 1ltr. For single purchases, visit www.wiggle.co.uk.

Review: Shock Absorber Ultimate Gym Bra

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The Shock Absorber Ultimate Gym Bra was discussed by Rachel at fairweatherrunner and I in the pub the other week, as we’d both been asked to review it. ‘How the hell do you put the bloody thing on?’ (an issue Angela at Warriorwomen had also pondered on her blog) was our main topic of conversation.

shock-absorber-ultimate-gym-bra

This is a problem I have with all bras of this construction – the type that aren’t a crop top and have more than one clip to do up. Doing the clips up before putting it on, then pulling it over my head like a crop top, then kind of squidging myself into it is my usual solution to the conundrum. I am aware this is possibly the worst thing you can do to a sports bra.

shock-absorber-ultimate-gym-bra-back

Still, once you’re firmly ensconced in the bra, you’re going to be staying put. This is a solid, supportive bra and you’ll be comfortable running in it or working out at the gym. There’s even a handy hook on one of the cups to secure your MP3 player headphone cable. It looks good, too, although both I and Rachel thought the size came up slightly small.

The Shock Absorber Ultimate Gym Bra is available at House of Fraser for £35.

Book review: First Time Ironman by Rhys Chong

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first-time-ironman-rhys-chong38-year-old New Zealander Rhys Chong completed an Ironman in 12 hours 55 seconds. Then he wrote a book about it. First Time Ironman is a slim volume; at only 120 pages, you’ll get through it in a couple of hours.

With it being such a short book, it’s neither an in-depth guide to Ironman training (you won’t find any training schedules or meal plans here) nor did I feel like I was with Chong every second throughout his journey to Ironman finisher. Given that his recollection of weeing himself during the bike leg of the race is the most graphic part of the book, it’s probably a good idea that I wasn’t with him at that particular moment.

Chong comes across as committed and focused during his training. Either that or he didn’t want to waste the money he’d spent on his team which comprised a head coach, swim coach, bike mechanic, nutritionist, massage therapist and mental conditioning coach (Chong’s a physiotherapist, so he didn’t need one of those). In case we didn’t guess at that point that this dude has a bit of cash, he tells us he almost bought a bike for £7,000 and spent £1,500 on wheels. His coach talked him out of it; maybe he was worried his bill wouldn’t get paid. Chong also mentions his house has ‘several flights of stairs’ and I’m guessing this isn’t Chong poshing up the fact he lives on the top floor of a council tower block.

At the end of most of the fifteen chapters are three tips. Don’t expect anything mind-blowing or illuminating. The first tip is ‘Make the decision to do an Ironman by paying the money and entering’. Not very deep. And as for, ‘Don’t buy gadgets you don’t need’. Well, where’s the fun in buying gadgets you don’t need, huh?

As mentioned above, Chong comes across as committed and focused but not in a way that’s arrogant or pretentious. What is lacking, however, is any warmth or light-heartedness and the overall tone of the book is rather dull. I haven’t read any other Ironman books, but there’s bound to be better out there. Still, if you want a quick read about one man’s journey to Ironman, then Chong’s your man.

First Time Ironman by Rhys Chong is published by Ecademy Press and has an RRP of £12.99.

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