Category: Reviews

The Ultimate Guide to Marathon Running Magazine

2 comments

OFCV3.inddThe Ultimate Guide to Marathon Running is a 164 page magazine book type thing with a foreword by Liz Yelling aimed at beginners, intermediate and advanced.

It has training advice, nutrition tips, essential gear and schedules for all abilities.

There are eight parts to it:

Part one: Advice on how to set your marathon goals

Part two: Essential kit guide

Part three: Starting training

Part four: Preparing for a run

Part five: Nutrition

Part six: Check the technique

Part seven: Training

Part eight: Injury prevention

Then at the back are race tips, tactics, fuelling and recovery for the big day, along with schedules ranging from 4 hours+ to sub-2 hours 55 minutes.

Plenty of photos and step-by-step guides, written in an easy to understand language. It’s like a big glossy magazine for us hardcore finely tuned athlete types.

At £7.99, I’d say it was well worth the money.

For more information visit magbooks.com

GlucoTabs and GlucoJuice

One comment

I got sent some GlucoTabs and GlucoJuice to try out. According to the blurb, they “deliver a pure fast acting carb boost in the form of glucose just when you need it most whether warming up, training, competing or warming down”.glucojuiceI haven’t done much in the way of training recently. Exercise, yes. Training, no. Still, before departing on a recent run, I decided to see if the GlucoJuice would give me a boost, as the blurb says the 60ml compact shot will deliver 15g of fast acting carbohydrate in the form of glucose. I was a bit hesitant in trying it, as “15g of glucose” sounds gloopy, sticky and sweet. But it wasn’t. It was fresh and light, kind of like that expensive water you can buy in bottles with a hint of fruit taste and wasn’t sickly at all.Nice.Couldn’t tell you whether it gave me a boost or not and I haven’t tried the GlucoTabs yet, but I’m giving a pack of them to Helsbels to give a go with her marathon training and I’m sure she’ll let you know what they’re like.And for those of you who, like me, don’t like to drink anything calorific that doesn’t contain alcohol, they only contain 16 calories.

Heaven 17

7 comments

Grim was postponed! Yay! I didn’t have to do it last Saturday! Yay!The bad news, though, is that it was only postponed and not cancelled, so I still have to do it. On 15 January 2011. But that’s quite cool, as it will mean a hardcore Janathon effort and the most hardcore Janathoners win, so hurrah for me. Oh, I can’t win my own competition? Bollocks.

Still, with just over five weeks until the new Grim date, I thought I’d better get out there and do some training, now that the snow has just about gone. One of the reasons I was going to pull out of Grim was because I am the world’s most nervous car passenger (I am, really. I scream whenever a car comes towards us on the other side of the road) and couldn’t bear the thought of being in a car for 100 miles or whatever it is in the dark and the cold and the snow and the ice but now that excuse has evaporated along with the white stuff and the excuse of not being fit enough has gone (assuming I do some training), it looks like I’ve run out of excuses.under_armour

So this morning I put on my new Coldgear Under Armour compression top, which apparently is ideal for temperatures under 12 degrees and as my weather widget said it was 1 degree this morning, it seemed an ideal time to try it out. I was a bit dubious as it’s very thick, tight fitting and has a high neck, and I’m more of a thin, loose fitting, nothing round my neck type person but I squeezed into it and put a looser light green short-sleeved top over it, so as not to look too much like a middle-aged, lumpy Catwoman.

I set off for my run and forgot about the high neck immediately and the top was warm and comfortable, and not restrictive at all. It may also have magical powers as I actually managed to run up most of the hill, too, although that may be down to spending a lot of time in the gym last week and nothing to do with magical powers at all.What was even more amazing was that for most of my run, I was going at a smooth, steady pace and that could either be because of the magical powers of my new top or because I’d been on the treadmill a few times recently, which keeps you ticking over as steady as a metronome.

I even managed to run quicker than my recent usual *speed* of 12 minute miles and ran at an average of 11:17 minute miles, which when I got home, realised sounded like Heaven 17 and then tried to think of more paces that sounded like 80s pop bands but couldn’t think of any.

Stats:
Distance: 3.08 miles
Time: 34:46
Pace: 11:17m/m
Calories: 324
Postponed Grims: 1
New compression tops: 1
Paces sounding like 80s pop bands: 1
Music:Audiofuel
Hole

Debenhams XPG Running Kit

2 comments

xpg-tightsDebenhams have launched their own range of running and fitness gear (or performance sportswear range, as they like to call it) called XPG. They sent me a pair of 3/4 length tights to try and I was very pleased to see they’ve got a zipped pocket on the back of them, as I’ve only got one other pair that have a zipped pocket and so they’re ideal for running outside in.

They’re also wickable and all that other techy stuff but the best bit is they’re only £18, so a bit of a bargain when you consider that most ‘proper’ running tights sell for about £35.

I also got sent a nice purple hoody (£28) which, unfortunately, still had its security tag on and I had to convince Shaun that it was a proper freebie that I had been sent and not a freebie that I had stolen from our local Debenhams. After being duly convinced of my innocence, he got the tag off with the help of a magnet and a knife from the cutlery drawer.

Although I was going to save the tights for running outside due to their handy pocket I can put my key in, all my other tights were either in the wash or still wet from the wash I did yesterday and so I had to wear my new tights to the gym.

The gym was really busy this morning. I decided it must be the pre-Christmas newbies. These are the people who come in a few weeks before Christmas in an attempt to burn off the calories they haven’t eaten yet, although I’m not quite sure it works like that. Then after Christmas, gyms get really busy with the New Year newbies who, mostly, thankfully fuck off somewhere around mid-February  and then the gyms are quiet again until spring when people come back to try and get that bikini body for the beach. Then they make a reappearance a few weeks before Christmas in an attempt… you get the picture.

The Official Register of London Marathon Runners 2001-2010

2 comments

vlmregisterI got sent a book. A really big book. It’s a book containing the names, dates and times of the 780,000+ people who have run in the London Marathon between 2001 and 2010.

When I received the book, I immediately went to the back where the really slow runners male runners from 2010 are listed and looked for Shaun. He was there, nestled amongst eleven other male Burgesses; the fastest coming in at 2:54:53 and the slowest at 9:02:35.

As well as being a directory, there’s also a foreword by the marathon’s race director David Bedford, year-by-year overviews from veteran distance runner and London Marathon Trustee, John Bryant, stories from runners about why they ran the marathon and the charities that have benefited.  There are also exclusive celebrity photos, photos of elite athletes and photos of those in fancy dress.

The only thing wrong with this book is that I’m not in it.

It’s not cheap. The Official Register of London Marathon Runners 2001-2010 costs £60 but you can get it half price from Aubrey’s Books.

Hoka Mafate women’s trail shoes: Review

6 comments

I was asked if I’d like to try some new trail shoes and, as I’d recently been pondering buying a new pair due to my other pairs currently being caked in mud and still in the plastic bag they were put in when we moved house nearly a year ago, I thought hurrah, that’ll save me cleaning my other ones, and so I said ok then, ta.

A big blue box arrived for me on Saturday. I opened the big blue box and inside were THE MOST HIDEOUS SHOES EVER. Nothing that ugly has been near my feet since my mum used to make me wear sensible Clarks shoes for school circa 1979.

shoes

See?

Still, they’re marginally less repulsive not actually that bad looking once they’re on.

on

I was a bit scared of bumping into the postman when I was taking my Garmin outside to get a signal, although why I think the postman would laugh at me, I don’t know, as he’s about 65, has a shock of mad frizzy grey hair, and permanently orange legs in shorts that he wears all year round and so if anyone’s going to be doing any laughing, it’s going to be me at him, not him at me in my, um, lime green platform trainers.

After charging my phone that had been drained because of Shaun playing Angry Birds on it all night, I’m ready to go.

The Hoka Mafate’s have a high instep and they squeak on the wooden floor. I’m not sure about this at all but I venture outside and start to run. I immediately don’t care what they look like, as they’re amazingly light and cushiony and comfy and bouncy and it feels like I’m springing along effortlessly. They’re magic!

I run up to where the new sheep are and stop to take their photo.

sheep-002

As I continue down the trail, another runner approaches and I wonder if he’s jealous of my magic shoes and I decide he probably is and he also probably thinks I’m hardcore but then I remember he just saw me stop to take photos of sheep and so he actually probably thinks I’m just a girly wimp in bright green shoes.

I get to the end of the trail and cross the road to go into the cow field. I’m not sure how magic my magic shoes are and if they’ll stop me from slipping off the wet stile as I clamber over it but I manage to get over without falling off and I get into the field but I can’t see any cows, just lots and lots of cow pats and I wonder if my magic shoes will stop me skidding on a cow pat and I decide I don’t want my magic shoes covered in cow poo, and so I dodge all the cow pats and then over on the other side of the field I see cows.

sheep-004

There are cows in that photo, honest.

I get to the end of the field and it’s fenced off and I don’t know how to get any further and so I turn round and go back the way I came and try not to fall off the slippery stile and then I’m back down the trail and there’s a couple walking a couple of dogs which aren’t evil countryside devil dogs but nice happy friendly spaniels or something and the couple say ‘morning’ and I say ‘morning’ back and then I see the poodle man with his poodle and he also says ‘morning’ and I think it’s a nice change to have people saying ‘morning’ and having nice friendly happy dogs and not stupid evil countryside devil dogs and I get back to the road and I see the orange postie and for once he actually sees me running as usually I manage to go past him when I’m on a walking bit (but let’s face it, I do a lot of walking bits) and then I get to two feet of the front door and slip on a paving stone and maybe my magic shoes are only good for trails, grass, mud and puddles and not paving stones or wooden floors and I get in and my magic shoes are muddy

mud

but my socks are nice and clean and dry(ish)

dry

but I’m not sure even the Hoka Mafate’s with their magical properties are going to keep me dry at Grim.

The technical bits:

Through Rocker, Lower Ramp Angle (4mm) and the Ultra Light Weight sole and upper, we reproduce the conditions a barefoot runner will experience when running on grass or sand.

The Oversize frame (mid-sole) with 2.5cm elastic trave will absorb any hard obstacle your foot may hit, and once compressed the featherweight-density eva (-30%) will spring back under your metatarsals for acceleration.

With 50% more surface area in contact with the ground, and a mid-sole that allows the foot to recess into it by almost 2.5cm, the shoes provides protection, stability and pronation control unmatched in universal or support running shoes.

Hoka One One website

Stats:
Distance: 2.23 miles
Time: slow
Pace: slow
New pairs of hideous bright green platform trail shoes: 1
Pairs of trail shoes that prove you shouldn’t judge a shoe by its appearance: 1
Phones needing charging due to boyfriends draining the battery by playing Angry Birds: 1
Fields with sheep: 1
Fields with cows: 1
Nice happy friendly dogs: 2
Stupid countryside evil devil dogs: 0

1 … 3 4 5