Running - Maria Runs

Jabra Sport Pulse review

Earlier in the year I was sent some research from Jabra about 2016 being The Year of Stronger, Fitter and Faster:

It’s that time of the year again when millions of people vow to turn over a new leaf by making their New Year’s resolutions. Global research* by Jabra has today revealed that more than 40% of people are resolving to make their bodies stronger and fitter in 2016, rather than opting for more traditional resolutions of just focusing on weight loss.

With over half of people surveyed (52%) admitting that they have never made a fitness related New Year’s resolution before, 2016 looks to be the year of first-time resolutions with people focusing their attentions on a healthier and fitter lifestyle. 2015 has seen a healthy shift away from the traditional ‘thin’ celebrity images depicted in magazines, to the more favourable ‘fitspiration’, ‘real body’ trends led by social media channels such as Instagram.

This refreshing shift in attitude reveals an increasing emphasis on strength and fitness training and dispels the notion that most people either won’t make a resolution, or will simply fail to reach their goals. Teamed with growing confidence, 67% of people feel completely confident that they will stick to their fitness resolution. A determination to succeed is clearly evident with 45% admitting whilst they may take a few breaks, they will still ultimately accomplish their goals.

Finding and sticking to a New Year’s resolution is no mean feat, motivation is clearly the key to success. Over 35% are motivated by music with a further 34% saying that the buzz they feel post-workout is what inspires them most. To succeed, 68% revealed they would almost certainly consider investing in some sort of technology to keep them on track. 57% would most likely purchase new sports ear phones and 39% would invest in a fitness tracker or GPS device.

Karin Piscitelli, Marketing Director at Jabra, said “The research is clear. Globally we live in a culture where staying motivated is the key to success. Whether people opt for training apps or upbeat music, finding that inspiration to suit you is key. What is really positive is that people are already willing themselves to succeed, particularly when their goals are related to health and fitness.”

Karin Piscitelli continued, “As we begin a New Year, more and more people are opting for fitness-based New Year’s resolutions. In order to succeed, it is crucial to retain focus whilst setting realistic and achievable steps. As a company, Jabra provides integrated training solutions to help people with motivation, personal training management so that they can keep track of their goals.”

Jabra has conducted this research to prove just how much sound and hearable technology play a part in people’s fitness and training goals. With motivation the key to success, an overwhelming 82% of people surveyed reveal that they currently use some form of technology to assist them when they work out. The majority (69%) utilise music through in-ear buds to spur them on, 33% use some form of fitness tracker/GPS device, 26% use a heart rate monitor and 27% use a running or training app.

Jabra’s wireless sports earbud range offers superior, state-of-the-art hearables and has been developed using Jabra’s heritage and unrivalled R&D expertise in delivering audio innovation. It is designed specifically to deliver the combination of intelligent in-ear coaching or training tips and music to sports enthusiasts.

Features such as heart rate monitors (Jabra Sport Pulse Wireless) and motion sensors (Jabra Sport Coach Wireless) combined with the Jabra Sport Life app, can significantly enhance any workout. The free app which has been developed by Jabra, offers the ultimate all-in-one solution and contains optimised tools to help plan and monitor your fitness. Whether you’re a casual gym goer or a seasoned triathlete, there is a headset to cater for your workout needs. Designed to US military standards and leading the market in audio fidelity, Jabra’s innovation enables you to hear more, do more and be more.

As a result of this research, Jabra has initiated a new online community (the Jabra Fitness Community) to further support those that have set a fitness or training goal for the New Year. In addition to their portfolio of products, Jabra will be offering motivational and inspiring tips for success from fitness and training professionals, as well as highlighting “real” updates from those in the Community who share their progress and highs/lows. The Jabra Fitness Community can be found at: http://thisiswherewestart.jabra.com/ and posts can be made to #thisiswhereitstarts.

The website has some articles about working out as part of a group, making goals manageable, as well as photos submitted by users (and the chance to win headphones too), so it’s worth a look.

They also sent me some Jabra Sport Pulse headphones to review:

The set up was simple enough (this may sound silly, but I am not very good with technology and often have to get Andy to help me with setting things up)- they work via bluetooth, so after turning the bluetooth on my phone, and entering the code on the pack, they connected (and if you put the headphones in, you can hear a voice telling you “Jabra sport pulse connected”).

They charge by a little USB wire, which is hidden behind one of the ear buds- the light goes green once charged. I have never had headphones that need charging, but according to the app they will last for 4 hours, and I took them on my accidental 15 mile run last Sunday and they were still going when I got home, so for me they would last plenty of time for my longest run.

I had to download two apps- one was the Jabra music one, and the other was the Jabra sports one, but these were easily done via the prompts on my phone screen. I am not 100% sure I needed the music one, because I mainly listen to podcasts via the Pocket Cast app (which is amazing by the way), and it connected fine via that app.

At first I used them as I use my normal headphones- on a walk, or on a run, just to listen through. I turned on the bluetooth on my phone, turned on the headphones (there is a little button on the wire) and then played my podcasts. I had to take the headphones out to check it wasn’t coming out of my phone too, but it wasn’t. Clever stuff! I do love the lack of wire- on my walks I just had it the small wire in front of my neck, but on runs I have tucked it behind, under my ponytail, and it’s been really good. I didn’t get particularly annoyed with the long wire on my old ones, but it would get caught on my arm sometimes, plus when using my flipbelt I would have to flip the same way otherwise it would get wrapped around and around the belt.

I did swap the earbuds for a smaller size after a few wears- they come with 4 different sizes (although the small and extra-small looked the same to me!)- the fact you have so many sizes is great and although I was worried about swapping them, they were easy enough to pop off and swap over.

After a few times, I used the Sport app to track my heart rate. This was so clever! When you start the app, it detects your heart rate and the voice in your ear tells you your heart rate, and once you press “start” it counts you down to go. You the start the app, and it runs while you are exercising. I tried it on a walk first, as I didn’t want to have to stop and fiddle on a run if needed. When I set it up, I selected metric (as you add in your age, height and weight), but I need to go back and change it, because it is now set to kilometres, and I prefer miles.

At each km a voice would tell me heart rate, distance, pace, speed, cadence (steps per minute)- it was interesting hearing my heart rate, although the first one was a walk to Tesco so it slowed a lot as I wandered around inside the shop. I think it tracks using the location of the phone, because when you get home and stop it, you can open the app and look at your history, and it shows you a map of where you went, and gives you detailed splits for each km, what your heart rate was and so on. As my Garmin does not have a heart rate monitor, this is really interesting information to have. You can even see a graph of your heart rate, and not surprisingly it went up for me when I had to run through a field of cows!

Some of the cows were very close to the path! I took this once I was safely through the gate at the other end!

The one drawback is that the voice is very loud, and it does take time to get through the list of stats after each km, and at times when I was listening to podcasts it would be a bit frustrating as I would be trying to hear what was being said, but all I could hear was my heart rate, distance, pace and so on. But once I got home I looked in the settings and turned off the “on the go readouts”, although you can just turn off some, and keep some (for example I might sometimes keep the heart rate one as I find that interesting, and I could not get that information from my watch). Once I tried them again, I didn’t have any audio updates, but was still able to look at the map, graphs of my heart rate and so on once I got home, so for me I will probably leave it like that for most of the time as I prefer to look at the data once I have finished.

It does occasionally drop out too, I think when my phone is updating or doing something else, as it tends to happen at the start of my run, but it pauses the podcast for the split second of drop out so that I don’t miss anything. Not having used wireless headphones before I imagine that this is to be expected every now and then.

Also although I have swapped the earbud size over, I am not sure that I have the correct fitting just yet (they also have ear-wings to hold them in place, and again include 3 or 4 size options)- but as it’s been so cold I have been wearing a headband over my ears, or a hat, so that has held them in place.

I was trying to work out how best to show the earphones- you can see the headband is sort of holding them there for me.

I think they are great though- the fact they can measure your heart rate is just so clever, and if I didn’t already have a GPS watch for running, this combined with the app does pretty much everything a watch does.

So thanks to Jabra for letting my try them.

Do you measure your heart rate when you are training? Do you think that technology can help with motivation and keeping your goals going?

If you are a podcast listener, which are your favourites?

*Sent to me in exchange for a review. As always, all opinions are my own.

How far is too far?

So as I have mentioned before, I am trying to imitate my long runs from last year in the build up to the Brighton half, as I felt good and strong during that race. I think often for a half I might go up to 11 miles in training, but do often struggle at around mile 8 or 9 (still too far for “just a parkrun left”), so running longer helped.

This past week didn’t have much running- I had a 5 mile club run on Tuesday, but then I had parents evenings on Wednesday and Thursday, and got a bit of a cold, then I had car troubles so had to go to the garage on Friday after work, so in the end just came home and relaxed.

I have been sent this lovely cereal/ cereal topper, from Two Birds, so I enjoyed some for breakfast on Saturday, with an apple and muesli. It’s a mix of chia seeds, buckwheat, hemp hearts, bee pollen and cinnamon (they also do a berry one)- you can mix it with milk (like a sort of chia pudding), or have it as a topper.

I love the cinnamon flavour and the chewy crunch that it adds to muesli.

On Saturday morning we had three house viewings booked, so I could not even parkrun, although we had a walk around town after, and I walked up to the shops later.

So Sunday came and I had not had much running, but I had planned a 14 mile run. My plan was to run out for 7, turn around and come home. I had a route in mind, but didn’t quite know where the 7 mile point would be.

After running out for nearly 7 miles, I realised I was quite close to one of the houses we had looked at, and I wanted to look at the driveway again as we were not sure it would park two cars, so I looked at maps on my phone and had a bit of a detour there (also getting lost because of not realising the map was upside down). This meant that I had done 8 miles before I started heading home again, and then my cold, which had gone, came back. I thought I knew a shortcut, although it had a bigger hill in it, but in fact looking at the map once I was home, it was no shorter, and in fact was possibly a bit longer. I had a pack of yo-yo’s with me, so at around mile 13 I walked for a bit while I ate them, and got up the energy to get home. I was so shattered when I got home, as I had ended up running over 15 miles! That may not sound like much more than what I was aiming for, but when you are running that far every mile counts.

I found out earlier in that week that I had won a prize on Danni’s blog– porridge plus a fruit box delivery. The first fruit box arrived this Friday, and contained some blood oranges, so as soon as I got back on Sunday I had one of those- I needed something juicy right away and they fit the bill perfectly.

After a shower I had the energy to make some French toast, but pretty much felt wiped out for the rest of the day, and also really cold. It was so cold and even though I put on many layers I was shivering for a while. I did manage to make a cake (an easy one, using my food processor) this one -using more oranges (plain ones, not the blood ones) as I was seeing some friends on Monday and we needed a gluten free recipe. But that was about it. We went to tea at Andy’s parents house and his brother (who is a police officer) commented that he had seen me out running twice that morning, about 90 minutes apart! I think then I realised quite how far I had run!

So, two weeks until the half, and this weekend I don’t have to run quite as far! My legs were very sore on Monday and I did a fair bit of foam rolling, and had a bath with epsom salts, so they felt a bit better after that.

It did remind me that marathon training is just so tough- I could never be someone who runs several a year, or even one a year- I think half marathons are far enough for me right now. And on that note, I signed up to the inaugural Disneyland Paris half marathon today! I love the Run Disney medals, but the US ones are never in my school holidays, or they are the Sunday before school starts on Monday, leaving no time for a transatlantic flight, so having one in France is amazing! We had booked a hotel and train months ago, but today was the day bookings opened and we both managed to get a place- phew!

Which distance do you like to run the most? Do you plan your running routes or just head out? What sort of toppings do you like on cereal?

Company on a long run

But first, Saturday. In the week I had received an email saying they were short of volunteers over the next few weeks. I wasn’t sure of my plans for later in February, but I saw they needed someone to do the new runner’s briefing this week, and as I was planning on running it anyway, I said I would do it. Back in the summer when I did this for the first time I was so nervous that my legs were actually shaking (I really hate speaking to adults that I don’t know, or speaking in front of groups of people)- but I have done it a few times now (I think maybe 4) and each time it has been easier. This week as I asked who was a tourist and who was new to parkrun, one guy told me neither, that he was doing the briefing in a few weeks and wanted to see how to do it! I did joke that I hope I would get it right, but that is the good thing about parkrun really- it’s all volunteers, and everyone is in it with you really. A few people came late to the briefing, so I just had time to tell them what they had missed before taking my place in the crowd for the main briefing- I forgot to tuck my laces into the special pockets!

The start can be a bit congested, so I started a little further up and this worked well as I didn’t get stuck behind anyone. I did have to take off my jacket after about a mile as I was getting hot, but I felt like I kept going (although my long run was in the back of my mind for the next day). It was not too muddy which meant the running was easier, and I enjoyed it, which is the main thing- the wind wasn’t too bad (blowing at me as I ran down the hill, and behind on the way up), and I managed 9.32, 8.59 (this has a big downhill bit) and 9.12 for a time of 28.24. My fastest time of 27.44 is getting within reach again.

Afterwards I had a load of work to plough through before we had a house viewing booked. Then I had to get my car tyres pumped up (the pressure light keeps coming on, and despite my best efforts visiting the air station twice on Thursday I managed to deflate my front tyre completely- then Andy had to use the foot pump- it’s been a pain), and then as a treat I got my car washed and we had a drink in Costa while we waited. No longer do I get filthy hands when loading work into the boot!

Later I made caramel shortcake (but didn’t take any pictures!) and some peanut butter stuffed dates, covered in a little of the chocolate left over from the caramel shortcake.

Sunday was long run day, and I had planned with a couple of other girls from the club to do an out and back route along an old railway line. In the end it was only two of us, and it was great. We wanted to do 12 miles, so headed out until our watches beeped, and then turned around. Although my friend had run to the meeting point, and had her watch on km rather than miles. It was lovely to have company and for most of the run it was cold but dry (it rained a bit in the last few miles, but not too heavily luckily), and as we were along a path we were fairly sheltered from the wind. We did have to clamber around a fallen tree that was blocking the path at one point. I had taken a bear yo-yo with me, as I liked those on long runs last year, but actually felt fine the whole time. I much prefer half marathon training in that respect as I do hate having to eat before I run.

As we got back to the start, my watch said 11.5 miles, and so we went for a little extra bit, and ended up running around a little town square to get it up to 12. We could not work out how it had happened, as we had run in a straight line and didn’t even have the option for any short cuts or corner-cutting.

I got home and had some water and a pb stuffed date (they are so good) and the yo-yo’s from my pocket, before having a shower. Then I made some French toast with left over panettone, and then I plugged my Garmin in….

Strava popped up right away, telling me I had a PR (which annoys me because I call it a pb…) for fastest mile- in 5.44. Er, no, that can’t be right! I then looked on the map and realised that it thought I started in a different place, which is why the out and back didn’t match up properly. So, actually we only ran 11.5 miles. Still good half marathon training, and by the time I had noticed I was full of breakfast and not going back out for the extra half a mile!

I suppose normally I would have mapped out a route and just run it, so perhaps I should have looked on the map to see where the 6 mile point was, but at the end of the day it was a good solid run, and still a good amount of miles to put in.

I did some foam rolling later in the day, and we had a little walk which helped, but I felt pretty good. I think that sort of distance is what I enjoy in training- long enough to make me feel tired, but not so long that I spend half my day running and are shattered afterwards.

So you like running with others or on your own? I do like listening to a podcast and zoning out a bit, but I also do love a chat on a run.

Why is house buying so stressful? I know it’s the same everywhere, but having to make the biggest decision on a 15 minute look around is very hard indeed!

So that was January!

I am pretty glad the month is gone. January always seems to drag, and this year I have had a few viruses/ illnesses which have disrupted running and gym plans.

But things have been generally good (I like to look on the bright side). Following the Wholeheartedly Healthy bootcamp, I bought myself some pretty tulips the other week. We are trying to move house at the moment, and hosted an open house (seems to be the way things are done now) so they brightened it up a bit for that too.

Running has generally been going well. I have the Brighton half in my sights, and my plan is to hang on to the 2 hour pacer for as long as I possibly can. Last year I ran it as part of my marathon training, and I managed 2:04, and felt like it was hard but comfortable. I didn’t want to push it too hard as it was not my “A” race, and I didn’t want to spoil a week of training. But on the other hand, I would love to do one half under 2 hours, and I hope that wasn’t my only chance.

I have tried to keep the training similar to last year, and looking at my Strava I have not done too badly. I did the Fred Hudges 10 mile race in a fairly similar time to last year, but last weekend I did the London Winter Run 10K, whereas last year I did a longer run. I’m consistently going to the Tuesday night club run, trying to do a hill session on a Wednesday (run 1.5 miles to the hill, run up and down 5/6 times, then run home- not that hilly but where I live is very flat, plus Brighton isn’t hilly at all so I am not too worried about that aspect of it)- I’ve only managed that a couple of times so far, but I still have 3 weeks to go. I have not managed Body Pump every week, again due to being ill, and although I have been the last 2 weeks, I can’t go this week due to work. Then it’s been a parkrun on Saturday, and a longer run on Sunday. Last January I did 98 miles, and this January I did 83 miles, so a little less, but I did miss a couple of Wednesday runs, one parkrun, and did the 10K instead of a longer run, so I feel like I am fairly close still.

I think one thing that helped me was going over the half marathon distance in my training- it was a bit of a cut back week, so I am doing 12 miles tomorrow, and then the weekend after hopefully 14 miles. I will see how I feel for the final long run- I think last year it was 16 but that seems a bit far for half marathon training, so I shall decide nearer the time.

My mum bought me these amazing socks (I think it”s the third pair she bought me as she knows I get such cold feet- I used to get chilblains a lot- one lot got infected and that is very painful indeed)-they are so thick that I can’t wear them under shoes, but for around the house after a long run they are just the best thing ever.

Speaking of running in the cold, I was kindly sent a kit to help me with winter running:

It contained plenty of goodies including Carnation Footcare foot lotion and a foot roller, What Skin Needs super moisturising skin cream (I love this- I get such dry skin and my hands get so sore, so I have been putting it on my hands before I go out running in the cold, and it really helps), vegan multivitamins, Ubiquinol Qu10 by Quest Vitamins, effervescent vitamin C tablets, Nature’s Plus Source of Life Garden, toe protectors and blister plasters. I had to use the blister plaster after Fred Hudges as my shoes gave me a weird blood blister thing on the side of my big toe- I think my sock had bunched up as the trainers have been fine since.

I was also sent some Deep Heat in a roll on bottle, which is loads better than the cream as I hate getting it on my hands. I used some last weekend, but it seems stronger than the cream- I rolled it on, waited, and then the burning came! It was OK, but since then I have tried to use a little less at a time as I think it takes a while to warm up. It has a herbal scent too, which I prefer to the traditional one.

Tomorrow morning is a 12 mile run with some of the girls from the club- I am looking forward to it although I hope the wind and rain will have stopped, as parkrun was tough in the wind, and now the rain is pouring down, it’s not that inviting!

Do you have any essential running kit?

*Items sent to me, but all opinions are my own.

OH annual awards 2016

I’ve been in my running club for over a year now, and last Saturday was their annual awards evening. Last year I could not go, but I was looking forward to it this year, although on Saturday I missed parkrun as I didn’t feel well and kept feeling dizzy, so I nearly didn’t go. It was dinner and a disco, plus a raffle organised by some people running the London marathon, and the awards. Earlier in the week they had sent out the list of nominees for the different categories, although they didn’t announce the the fastest 5k, 10k and half marathon times (but I knew I would not win any of those, although I might have been close for the 10k). One of my work friends told me I might win something, and I told her that no, I was not nominated, and anyway if I was I would be so nervous- I was glad I could just turn up and enjoy.

It was all set out beautifully, and the meal was good (as well as accommodating the vegetarians, they also gave me a separate dessert as I didn’t want the Baileys that was in the profiteroles!). It was so funny seeing everyone dressed up- sometimes it was hard to recognise people as usually we have our hair scraped back and we are all in leggings and high viz! After dinner they started announcing the winners. Last year they let everyone vote, but now the club is bigger they said not everyone knows everyone else, so the committee had chosen. Different run leaders were coming up to announce each winner, and it was very exciting to see who had won. One of the ladies I run with a lot won Most Improved- she had only began running earlier in the year and has been steadily increasing her distance (she did the 10 mile race last weekend) so that was great to see.

There was a bit of friendly competition (banter) over the fastest 10k and 5k times, as there are a couple of very speedy ladies. Each award was given out by a different run leader. They then went to the final award- Runner of the Year. The girl next to me was announced as the runner up, as she had joined less than a year ago and had run 100 miles in the summer (impressive especially as she has 3 children)- she was over the moon and it was so lovely.

Then our club leader started talking about the winner- she started talking about someone who represented the club at different races, and encouraged others, and then the run leader I run with came up to hand it out, and I was looking across the room to see who it would be, and they called out my name! I was so shocked, and proud. As I went to collect it my legs were shaking! I really get so overwhelmed. All the others had collected theirs, had a photo, and gone to sit down again, but someone called out “speech”- I think I looked terrified as someone said to me “you don’t have to”, but then I felt like I should say a few words because I didn’t want to seem ungrateful. I said something about how I loved running before I joined the club, but since joining it I have loved the support and encouragement of the club, and seeing how everyone else does too.

As well as the lovely trophy thing (which had my name already engraved!) I was given a lovely shoe tag, which I am wearing as a bracelet as it’s too nice to get muddy. I love it.

Here are all the winners! (We had to pose in the hall as it had better lighting!). I still can’t quite believe it. I have never had a trophy before, having ever being in a sports team at school or anything.

Blurry photo I know!

Now I need to find a place to display it. I actually found it hard to get to sleep when I got home because I was just so surprised by it all. It’s weird in a way being given an award for basically doing a lot of something that I enjoy, but it’ lovely too.