Category: Reviews

New Pants – Nike capris and crop tights

Jess Guth3 Comments

Well while we’re in review mode… here’s another one. My adidas capri running pants are beginning to disintegrate at the seam  along the inner thigh- age old problem for someone with my size thighs. So I needed to think about getting new pants. I hate – absolutely detest – buying running pants. The idea of going into a sports shop is bad enough – seeing all the stuff for skinny people, looking at sizing that suggest that a size 10 is getting a bit on the porky side, being asked by some young springy, bouncy little thing if I need any help (yes actually but I think you’re out of your depth with me), watching women pick up and consider a bit of fabric masquerading as a sports bra is enough to make me feel quite nauseous. Taking that a step further and actually going to try something on – probably the only thing in the entire shop that is supposedly in my size  (and will therefore undoubtedly be in black) but still unlikely to fit – urgh.

Now I have braved this experience once or twice and was appalled at how grateful I felt when I found something in my size. Come on sports shops – us fatties need exercise gear, too! As for the big brands, well I can almost cry with gratitude when their stores stock something that fits more than one leg, never mind if there’s something there that fits my hips. Sometimes it feels like if you’re fat you don’t deserve to have nice gear – you have to make do with cheap crappy stuff. Anyway, on one of the more successful outings I found a pair of Nike capris. Yes Nike. I also found the adidas ones which are now disintegrating so clearly  big brands do  occasionally make stuff in bigger sizes – thanks.  I can’t even remember where I bought them but they fit really well. This means, theoretically at least, that I don’t have to go into those ridiculous shops because I can simply find the same ones again online and order them! Or not.

It seems impossible to find the exact same type of running pants again online. It’s impossible to tell which are the same and which have some subtle but potentially disastrous differences. I didn’t know what to do but in the end I ordered online rather than braving the shop. I ordered a pair of capris and a pair of crop Nike running tights from sportsshoes.com. The crops are these: NIKE WOMEN’S PRONTO ESSENTIAL CROP RUNNING TIGHTS, the capris I can no longer find online – typical.

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Anyway, both pairs came and they look great. Lovely bright colours for a change rather than my usual black. I compared the size with my existing ones and they were about the same – the new ones maybe just a little smaller – ok they were enough of smaller to make me put of trying them on for a day or two. I have tried the capris on a little run and they are lush. They fit snuggly without feeling too tight. They have a drawstring but one which sits flat so there are no ‘edges’ that might cause chafing.

They have a zip pocket in the back which easily fits my keys and another little pocket that sits on the left hip which would do for bit of small change or something (or a gel or something like that if you use them).

I got size L and that seems to be true to a  UK 16/18 fit. I have to say I was surprised that L was big enough. So often in sporty clothes L is like a 12/14 which is just silly. The capris are a lovely length coming just down over the knee far enough to not ride up at all. I’m really happy with them. I haven’t run in the crop ones yet but tried them on and they fit exactly the same as the capris apart from obviously being a bit longer. They also have a pocket at the back for keys etc (the pockets would comfortably fit a credit card or my bus pass or something like that too).

I really would recommend these based on my experience so far but I suppose the question is: how long do they last? My adidas ones aren’t old and I haven’t worn them that much and yet the seam has gone. We shall see.

 

New Shoes – Salomon Trail Running Trainers

Jess Guth2 Comments

As you know I don’t really care about what my trainers look like, I’m all about comfort and support. I have had several pairs of Salomon trainers for running as well as for every day use. Quite a while ago now I saw the Salomon XA Pro 3D Mountain Trail running shoes in a sale somewhere online. Or actually I think Kath saw them and they were stupidly reduced (I cant remember to what – maybe 50 quid or so). I got a pair even though I was still perfectly happy with my old ones. Yesterday I wore the new ones for the first time for a run. I’ve worn them round the house once or twice and once to got for a short walk.

IMG_1064.JPGThey are billed as on and off trail and they seem perfect for running round here where I am mostly on the canal towpath in its varying forms and sometimes on paths and tracks and muddy bits. You can read all the spec on the Salomon website if interested. Doesn’t look like they have this colour any more but the spec is pretty much the same I think. I have so far only taken them out on a short run which turned into a walk anyway (see previous post!) but they fit nicely. Initially the way to tongue cover comes over and you sort of have an internal sleeve that hugs your foot for better fit felt a bit weird  but by the time I got to the end of the road I’d forgotten about it and I can really see the benefit of the design as it stops little bits of dirt or branches or little stones from sneaking in at the side of your foot. The laces are sort of fun and easy to do and undo and the release mechanism and ‘spare’ laces can be tucked into the little hud. The grip was great – possibly slightly better than the grip on my previous ones or maybe it just seems that way because the grip on my older ones has worn down a fair bit. No sliding about or feeling like I might slip. Maybe I’ll even be able to run down the golf course in these!

The trainers have what Salomon call a 3D chassis. They say it ‘maximizes security, motion control, energy management and push through protection for a high performance, stable and responsive ride’. Well, it felt pretty stable and secure and comfy but also just a little stiffer than I am used to and my left foot felt a bit achey after a little while. I think they’ll soften though and then they’ll be perfect. I was worried that the tongue cover etc would make them feel tight and I don’t like tight but there is plenty of flexibility in it and it didn’t feel restricting at all.

Sometimes trail running shoes seem clunky and heavy to me and while these are slightly heavier than my road ones, they are not heavy and I don’t think they look or feel to clunky or chunky. I have quite wide feet but these shoes fit well. Kath has some too and she has narrow feet and they fit her well so there is definitely something about the design that really does fit and support different shapes of foot. The laces help with that I think. Kath has hers quite tight whereas I hardly adjust mine from the really loose setting.

So far I like these. We’ll see how we go. Kath really likes her pair and she is a fussy one when it comes to shoes – understandable given how she suffers from blisters and a dodgy ankle.

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Spa Day

Jess Guth2 Comments

Mum and I went for a Spa Day at the Devonshire Spa today. Here’s how it was.

 

We arrived at 9am, were given a robe, towel (too small, I like BIG towels, this was just a towel, it did wrap round me so it wasn’t tiny and it was fluffy and soft and nice but if it had been bigger it would have been perfect) and some flip flops each and shown the changing area and lockers and told to come back down to the lounge when we had got changed. Hm spa days. This means getting pretty much naked in a place that, in my mind at least, is likely to be full of skinny people. Hm. Remind me why I thought this would be a good thing to do. I reluctantly put on my two piece swimming costume pulling the vest as far down as it would go and making damn sure that my belly was securely tucked into the shorts. Then I laughed at myself, walked out of the changing cubicle, caught  a glimpse in the mirror and decided it was all fine. I still have thunder thighs and hippo hips and there’s a sort of miniature spare tire round the middle that wibble wobbles a bit (ok, a lot) BUT these thunder thighs and hippo hips have taken me round two marathons this year and there are definite signs of muscle, of quite a pleasing shape in the lower leg and above the knee. I look like an athlete because I am one.

Anyway, I digress. We sat in the lounge and were given a health and lifestyle questionnaire to fill in – how much alcohol do you drink, do you smoke, how much water do you drink… bla bla. We also got coffee and a biscuit. Then we had a little nosey around the pool area and the steam room etc. Quite soon it was time for our treatments – you get 2 25 minute ones included in the price of the day. I was taken to one of the downstairs treatment rooms and had my salt scrub first followed by a back, shoulder and neck massage. Both were divine but these things also come with dilemmas. This is not something I do very often so I never know what to expect. What to take off and what to leave on is always tricky. Thankfully the  therapist (is that what you call them?) was lovely and carefully explained that because the salt scrub tends to get everywhere she had left me some disposable paper pants out on the table. She left the room leaving me to strip (easy bit) and put the paper pants on. Who knew paper pants could be so anxiety inducing. What if they don’t fit? They’ll be made for skinny people! Breathe! I freed the pants from their wrapper and looked at them. It is impossible to tell which way round they should be and which are the leg holes and which the top. Trial and error (3 times) eventually revealed the right (possibly – in any event the only) way to get them on but I couldn’t really tuck my tummy in. Hmph. I jumped on the table and pulled the cover over me with seconds to spare. It must have been ok unless of course they train these people to not laugh come what may. The salt scrub was absolutely lovely and I was totally relaxed and un self conscious until the therapist suddenly said ‘Would you like your tummy doing?’ WTF? You can’t rub salt scrub into my tummy – you’ll sink, you’re hands might get lost in layers of blubber forever; and there’s not enough salt scrub. ‘Yes please’ I said.  And now I have a tummy that is as smooth as a baby’s bottom.

The treatment rooms are nice and have a shower cubicle built in so after the salt scrub I could just rinse off before the massage. That gave me the chance to abandon the paper pants and put my own little shorts back on. Much better with the (now totally smooth and lovely) tummy tucked in. After the treatments we sat in the rather grandly titled relaxation lounge which is actually a little room upstairs which leads to the two upstairs treatment rooms. It has 3 deckchair like loungers in it. We sat absorbed in our books for a while and then decided to go for a swim. We moved downstairs and bagged two of the 4 loungers by the pool. We had the pool to ourselves for quite a while and when people joined us we moved to the whirlpool for a bit. The pool is small – maybe 10m x 6m so when you have 3 people in it trying to swim it’s full and with 4 it’s too crowded really. Otherwise it is lovely though and because the whole things is like a barn with stone walls and wood ceiling I spent a fair bit of time on my back just looking at it.

 

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We spent a bit more time just lounging around, popping back into the pool, using the steam room and finishing off with another session in the whirlpool. Then we got showered and dressed and sat in the lounge for a little while before heading over to the Devonshire Hotel for afternoon tea (included in the Spa package for an additional 10 quid).

I had a lovely day and now I am home I am quite tired. I swam for a total of about 90 minutes today in 3 blocks and I never felt like I was working hard, I was just swimming along lost in my own thoughts, watching the light play on the wood above or listening to the water around me. Now though I can feel the exercise, I’m a happy sort of physically tired.

So the Spa. At 99 quid per person it’s not cheap but that does included the two treatments, drinks and a light lunch (which we didn’t have because we upgraded to afternoon tea instead). The Spa itself is small and there are bits of it that are beginning to look a bit tired – the shower door in the upstairs shower had a chunk out of the wood, the decking at the end of the pool where the loungers were is looking tired, the locks on the changing cubicles were temperamental. Because of the small size of the spa there are other things which aren’t perfect: I felt a bit like we were perhaps hogging the loungers by the pool a bit – there are only 4. The pool is full with 3 people in it and the sauna and steam room are also small – too small to spend any time in with people you don’t know very well really. There are only 3 showers – 2 downstairs and one upstairs and the changing cubicles are tiny. It made me long for the space of communal changing rooms – none of this privacy to get changed nonsense. It’s all very British – no nakedness please. Funny how I get concerned about not being able to tuck my tummy into paper pants but am more than happy to get changed in communal changing rooms.  Anyway, I’m being picky here – I had a lovely day and it was never really crowded. There are water taps and plastic cups outside the relaxation lounge and in the pool area and you can get warm drinks as well as water in the lounge. The lounge is a lovely place to sit and look out over the gardens and tennis courts.

There is a gym too but I didn’t bother. I had vague ideas about popping onto the treadmill for a bit but I was just happy  sitting, swimming, drifting…

I’d definitely recommend a day at the Spa for a special occasion and if you’re going, upgrade to the afternoon tea – you might as well. Who knew doing nothing could be so exhausting. I’m ready for bed!

 

The Clubhouse

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I started this post last weekend but then got busy with other stuff so I thought I’d finish it today. I wasn’t running that day. I was sitting in the summer house trying to get some work things finished and learning how to cope with my new MacBook Air. Facebook tells me that lots of ladies from the Clubhouse were running races that day and that others were battling the warm weather on their training runs. So the Clubhouse. I thought I’d tell you about it and about the Too Fat to Run  (TFTR) Community/Group/Whatever you want to call it in more detail than I have before.

I am probably about the last person you might expect to join a running club. I am also about the last person you’d expect to join an online group of any kind and I am probably also one of the least likely women to like the idea of joining a women only group. Let’s face it, we can be bitchy and competitive and dramatic and mostly I really can’t be bothered with that shit. I’m also not the most sympathetic and I get irritated by other people’s dramas quite easily. I also don’t really care what other people think most of the time so it is difficult to see what I might get out of such groups or what I might contribute. The Clubhouse is an online, women only running club – so exactly what I would usually roll my eyes at and what I certainly wouldn’t pay to join, except that I did.

So how did the Clubhouse and my engagement with TFTR turn out to be so amazingly positive? Back in November when I felt totally lost and I was struggling to get off the sofa, Facebook showed me a suggested page for Countdown to Christmas run by Julie Creffield who is behind TFTR. It was fairly cheap and I thought it might give me a positive focus through December and it did.Daily challenges kept me doing something and it was fun to interact with people and laugh about our attempts at some of the challenges and celebrate our successes in others. It felt like being part of something at a time when I wasn’t really sure where I was going with anything. I read about the Clubhouse and I wondered whether it might be fun. I signed up on a whim really. I’m glad I did but I still find it really hard to articulate why.

The Clubhouse is a pretty simple premise – you pay a monthly fee (or pay all in one go for the year as I did) and get access to a closed online Facebook group in which Julie provides a sort of coaching thing which is also hard to capture in words. There are monthly themes (May =retreat) with challenges set to go with it, there are opportunities to ask questions – generally of course but also at specified points each week, there’s a discount on merchandise and the other things Julie does, there’s a closed section of the website with resources – running plans etc. You do actually get a lot for your money including tips on running and fitness from Julie which are specific to you. The Facebook group is the most valuable. I interact with someone on there daily. Ok, I hear you, I could do that on the open Too Fat to Run page too but it’s not the same. For a start the main page is public, the group is private and the page has too many followers to create the feel of a supportive group and network – it’s too anonymous (eventhough it is public – I know what I mean!). Ok, I could set up a closed group and invite all my running friends to join that – oh wait I don’t have many running friends… I have some friends who run but it is not running that has brought us together as friends and somehow there are things about running – particularly running as the fatty that I am that I’m not sure I want to share with people I actually know in other ways – not in a personal sort of closed facebook group kind of way (yes, weird given that I will happily blog about it all).

So the Clubhouse works for me because I am not a sociable runner and therefore don’t talk running with a group of likeminded runners on a regular basis – an actual running club fills me with dread (although I will go one day just to try a session, it’s good to be a little scared, right?!?) but I do have this slightly odd need to share my running stories, fears, disasters and successes with people who ‘get it’. The Clubhouse brings together a group of women who get it. The ‘it’ is slightly different for all of us I think. We are all at different stages of our running lives and our lives generally, we have different views on everything, including running and health and fitness but so far, surprisingly for a group of women, I have found it to be supportive, encouraging and totally non-judgmental. I like hearing the stories as much as I like sharing mine. The funny thing is, I’m not sure I would in ‘real’ life. Online is good. Others in the Clubhouse do meet up and make more of an effort to meet up at races etc, I’m not sure that’s what I need from the Clubhouse, what I need is instant unquestioning support right there when I need it and for that it works (don’t ask for much do I ?!?)

There are other things about the Too Fat to Run community I really like – there’s a blog, monthly virtual One Big Fat Run – a 5k run on the last Sunday of the month. You can even buy a medal in the shop if you run for the bling (more on that another time!). I like my Too Fat to Run t-shirts because whenever I wear them I get brilliant people watching opportunities  – people don’t quite know how to react when they see me walking or running along with ‘Too Fat to Run?’ in big letters across my front and I wish I’d had something like the 5 weeks to 5k programme when I started out because it is so much better than the programmes I tried to get through and work with. And if you like having a nosey at what other people are doing there is always the Runner of the Month feature (I’m January and blogged about that here).

It might not be for everyone and maybe it won’t be for me in the long term, who knows, things change but for now I really value the support I get from a whole bunch of women I’ve never met (save for a few who I have met briefly before and even more briefly during the London Marathon). If you want to begin to get a sense of what it’s all about have a look at the main Too Fat to Run Facebook Page.

Happy Running

 

Food and that

Jess Guth1 Comment

I did something unusual the other day and ordered the paperback version of a book I already have on kindle. The book is the New Year Same You book by Julie Creffield I already mentioned a little while back. I know I keep going on about it but it is such a lovely antidote to all the diet crap that we seem to be bombarded with at this time of year. I ignore most of it but I can’t escape the adverts; new diets and exercise regimes, new ‘get your dream body in 4 weeks’ type of things are everywhere. Now I am in a pretty good place regarding body image etc at the minute but that’s because I am starting 2016 2.5 stone lighter than I started 2015 and I am about to do something with this slightly wibbly wobbly body of mine that just 12 months ago seemed utterly impossible. But even with all that positivity all this diet and getting slim stuff is still getting to me. I have to make a conscious effort to remind myself that I have done pretty well and that being fitter that I ever have been is far more important than getting in a size 12. Goodness, have I ever fitted in a size 12? Doubt it.

Anyway, the book. I ordered the paperback because I suddenly realised I was thinking about it alot and I wanted to go back to it and highlight and write little notes to myself and also work on some of the tasks Julie suggests and that is all just easier with an actual book. Just having the book won’t change anything at all. Doing stuff with it and engaging with the suggestions in it might well help me get to grips with some of the things I find difficult about this new ‘running feature enabled’ version of me. I’m waiting for the paperback to come but I was looking at the chapter about food again because of all the diet crap that’s around and because I had a not so nice conversation with someone about food recently.

I was asked about my weightloss and the other person simply would not accept that I had not been completely utterly disciplined about food and that my eating habits would change dramatically post marathon. Kath had a similar conversation with someone who refused to believe that she hadn’t been on a diet of some kind. I have done Slimming World in the past and it did work for me for a bit but there was just too much there that I diagreed with fundamentally (like diet/lite drinks to name just one). Julie’s focus on understanding our relationship with food and about making conscious food choices really resonated, as did the idea of disordered eating.

So here are my thoughts on food: I eat very little processed food. I like fruit and veggies  – all of them really apart from leeks. I don’t like leeks. I eat meat, possibly too much but where it comes from is important to me – local and most definitly free range – not necessarily organic – that’s a whole other story… Food miles are evil. I love eating stuff we’ve grown but I am also lazy and not that competent in garden or kitchen. We eat out a lot (see my lazy and competence point) and there are things I could cut out to be really ‘good’ (I don’t really like being ‘good’ though – just the idea of having to be a good girl makes me want to misbehave) but I don’t want to be miserable. I like chocolate, I like a beer and with that a packet of crisps and I like a glass of prosecco here and there. I like cheese and bread and crackers and sometimes only a cup of tea and a ginger nut biscuit will do. So shoot me.

How I eat has changed with running though but it is the running that came first. I didn’t change my eating to lose weight, I changed my eating, and not by much, because I listen to what my body wants. I rarely now eat something for the sake of it – I said rarely, not never. What I want to eat has changed. I crave broccoli, I adore salmon or tuna on quinoa and grains and you can’t beat avocado on toast… I can also eat a jar of peanut butter with a spoon in one sitting.

Reading the chapter about food in Julie’s book made me think about the messages and (mis)information we get fed (pun intended obviously) every day of our lives. No wonder most people are totally confused as to what we should and shouldn’t be eating! As for food labels – don’t get me started, they can make a mars bar look healthier than a piece of fruit. Even adverts I thought were quite funny, like the maltesers adverts about being naughty, assign moral value to food; we talk about ‘being good’ with food; good people have a salad, bad people have the burger and fries… but you can be pretty sure that neither of them will actually sit and enjoy the food. We eat on the run, while doing something else, at our desks (oh that’s me!), while watching TV. Julie’s chapter made me stop and think a bit. I tend to be quite arrogant about food. A bit ‘I know what I’m doing and I am fully aware of what choices I am making…’ But am I? I suspect not. We do food plan our weeks but we tend to just plan main meals. I think we would do well to plan breakfast and snacks etc too. And in the same way that we plan what to eat we should also plan the when and where much more. Julie’s chapter made me think about how to make more time for just enjoying food and the togetherness it could bring. We could cook together, we always enjoy it and yet so rarely do it. Why?

Anyway, one of the The Fat Girl’s Guide To Running running vests says ‘don’t judge just run’ and I really do think we need to take the don’t judge theme into the food arena too. Food and eating are loaded with moral baggage and guilt and pleasure and the complex relationships we have with it and we all need to figure it out for ourselves. So don’t judge, and don’t allow yourself to be judged but do think about what you are putting into your body and why. I do, and will continue to, reach for the biscuits when I feel a bit crap but I know that’s what I am doing and I choose to do it and I no longer ‘accidentally’ eat the whole packet. That has nothing to do with self control or discipline. I am not denying myself anything. I just have what I want as long as I am really sure that I want it.

Anyway, I am sure there will be more musings on specific aspects of Julie’s book but if you’re not quite where you want to be and all the diet stuff around at the minute is getting you down – or you are thinking of going on a diet, I really do think the book might help make sense of it all.