As Christmas seems to be very quickly approaching us, I thought it would be a good idea to show you some gifts that are great for runners. Here is a photo from our very festive circuits last year, I hope we all plan to wear out jumpers again this year! 1. Magazine Subscription
There are loads of magazines out there, for whatever you love. Here are some of my favourites. - athletics weekly - runners world - women health - 220 triathlon 2. Water Bottle Always an essential item for every athlete. A great water bottle encourages hydration which will help keep you fit and healthy. For me, I drink so much water, so I am always seen with a water bottle. However at uni, I have already seemed to lose two water bottles, which I am pretty sad about to be honest. Here are my favourites out there at the moment ion8(every colour and size you can dream of), Nike and Swell (marble and pink). 3. Sports Watch This would clearly be a big present as sports watches often don't come in too cheap, but you can now get some great and pretty affordable ones now. Watches are fab, whether you enjoy looking at your step count, your sleep or how far you ran... you can pretty much always find one which does what you want. My one even has a stand up paddle board setting... I have used it once, but still. Here are some which start with the cheapest FitBit Alta - £99 (more of a fitness tracker and less to track runs, etc.) TomTom Runner 3 - from £119.99-£189.99 Garmin Vivomove HR - £169.99 (I love this one as doesn't look like a sports watch) Garmin Forerunner 235 - £249.99 (very popular watch) 4. Wireless earphones These are a pretty fun item... they are certainly not essential to an athlete but make their lives easier. Whether its avoiding catching your arm in the lead on a run or just being able to look cool in the gym. Personally I have never had a pair of wireless headphones until I started to rowing, because as it turns out its pretty impossible to listen to music through normal head phones on an indoor rower. Wireless headphones come in a very wide price range but here are three which look good (from low to high in price). Amazon (currently the pair I have, cheap and do the job but I'm looking now for a better quality pair), Sony, Beats (not cheap... but really great). 5. Underwater Headphones If you do a lot of swimming in public pools, then underwater headphones may be for you... I certainly am desperate for a pair, to make my lonely swims go by just a little bit quicker. I don't have a pair, so I can't tell you for sure what my personal opinion are on these pairs, but I have done some research into them to find the best pairs. Wiggle (high end) and Amazon (cheaper) 6. Trainer Socks Personally these are a highly essential part of my wardrobe and you can certainly never have too many pairs. Some of my favourite sock brands are Stance (my favourite brand!), Balega (link is to my favourite of their style) and More Mile (would happily own these socks in all their colours and really inexpensive). The chance you will spot me wearing one of these three brands is pretty high! 7. Gloves For me, running in the winter means gloves are essential as my hands get pretty cold, very easily. Also for rowing, carrying the boats around you hands can get really really chilly. So gloves are a great idea for xmas, always very useful especially on those cold XC races. Some great brands are Inov8 mitts (these are the best and warmest gloves I have ever owned), Inov8 gloves (perfect for running in, when the temperatures drop) and nike (perfect for if you want a warm but slightly more colourful pair of gloves). 8. Yoga mat Who doesn't need a yoga mat... okay unless you have one already. Getting a yoga mat is a great way to encourage you to look up some classes on youtube and get that all important stretching into your workout routine each week. Some of my favourites are Lulu Lemon (slightly upmarket yoga mat, but seriously good quality, so worth the investment if you know you'll be using it lots), ... personally I got one from Homesense (you could try TKMax too), it was cheap but a good brand, so if you have a store near you, have a search and you might find a good quality one there for half the usual price. 9. Headbands These are great little stocking filler and some people are against headbands, but I'm a huge fan. Any cardio workout in the gym, is always sweaty for me so a headband is essential to avoid the horrible feeling of your hair sticking to your neck from sweat... ew gross! Here are some of my favourite Nike chunky, Nike thin and Adidas. 10. Gym Trainers I have specifically said 'gym' in this one because I know lots of people have to run in specific trainers because of their gait etc. like myself. That doesn't leave much room to explore but at the gym, I love it because I can wear a much funkier trainers. My favourite are ON, Nike and New Balance. Many of you may in fact be lucky enough to be able to run in these trainers too.
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This weekend I haven't found myself racing which is a bit of a relief considering how hot it is, but I am racing midweek next week. This weekend in particular has been so so hot, which I am not complaining about but yesterday when I prepared for my track session, I was dripping with sweat before I had even got from my car to the track... thankfully I got through the session, however my back is now very burnt now! I have been very busy with school this week too but coming back to running after a short break for a slight injury has been great. In between though, I have had a chance to review and video the new 'Brooks Revel' trainers in action which I have also posted a review for this weekend. I have attached the video at the bottom of the blog post, if you fancy a watch. Sorry this hasn't been a hugely interesting blog post, but I have spent most of my week working on my brooks video, so I hope you enjoy and make sure you do give my review of them a read, because they are really great trainers. Use this link to find them over on the Brooks website and you can get your hands on them for just £90! Love G x I got out yesterday morning for a good solid session on the grass and mum joined me with the dog, so as she was walking the dog around she got a few snaps of me running around in circles doing my tough session. Yesterdays session was warm up followed by a 10 minute run at about 4:20 mins per km and then finished off with 8x 90seconds, and then of course my warm down. By the time I got to the last few 90 second reps the heat had started to get to me and my legs were getting very tired. I'm still not sure I can carry off the compression sock look very well, but I'm working on it ;) My coordination with my top and my trainers is not great, but it is fair to say the problem is hopefully going to be resolved soon as I am hoping that Brooks will bring out the Brooks Vapour 4's in blue because then I can alternate between what pair goes with what outfit... which is surprisingly important for me! For my recovery time between each rep, I try to stay in the shade, especially when it is very sunny! I do look rather exhausted in this photo, I think I only had one or two reps left at this point. It was a lovely sunny day and I am definitely not complaining about that, but it did make my session seem harder, but thats good because I need to practise training in the heat. I am going to Spain soon and at the hotel I am staying at there are lots of trail run routes which I can do to practise running in the heat and to hopefully improve. I will also have the chance to cycle and swim everyday, which I am so excited about! After today's horrendous weather, I am now definitely craving my summer holiday and I am definitely counting down the days. I was wearing my new Nike hypercool, which I have fallen in love with! It is in the Nike sale at the moment in several different colours and they have just brought out a new version of the top, which is on my wishlist and I will tag it at the bottom. The sales are definitely around at the moment and I am particularly liking the Sweaty Betty and Nike sales. Now that I have finished my exams I feel like I have suddenly started doing loads of online shopping... well I haven't bought anything yet but my wishlist is becoming longer and longer, so this week I have been putting lots of stuff on eBay, to try and clear out my room and also save up to buy some of those items on my ever growing wishlist. My new Balega socks are by far the best socks I have ever owned, they have perfect cushioning and elastic support in all the right places. Now it is trying to get my three pairs in and out the wash in time so I can always be wearing a pair! I was pretty happy to have finished my session, but then I always have the problem in my warm down of not being able to run anymore. I always put all my energy into that last rep, so when it comes to the cool down, my legs hardly have enough energy to walk. This photo shows all the technical stuff in the socks, I can't say I am a pro at sock technology but all I know is they are fab socks and they are also a great colour! I have a nice solid week of running and cycling training this week, although I don't have much of a chance to get my swimming training in this week, but hopefully I can get to the pool some time this week. Love G x Shop the look: Top- Nike (new version on my wishlist) Shorts- Nike Calf Sleeve- Hilly Socks- Balega Trainers- Brooks Okay so the title of this blog post may seem a little ironic to some people, as I do not like pink. Yes I know I'm a girl, and all girls like pink... no thats not true! Ever since I was a child, I have liked blues and greens and always not liked pink. I'm not sure why but my mum used to have to buy me boys pjs because I wanted Thomas the tank engine on them... so maybe I was a bit of a tomboy! However these shorts were my first ever Nike purchase and it is very clear to me, that this is where my obsession started! When I bought these, I am not even sure why I got them in pink but I am pleased that I got this colour as I do really like them! You would think that the fact these shorts are over 3 years old that they would be out of fashion... but no! Nike's tempo shorts are bigger and better than ever. I feel like my shorts do steal the show and that to pair it with a simple black top is the only way to go! I have these shorts in plain black too and thats the perfect time to go crazy with the top. What I love about these shorts is that if you don't fancy going for the short, tight (and professional looking) shorts, like nike's pro 3" shorts, these are perfect just to chuck on and run. Although I wouldn't recommend wearing them in the rain as they do become very uncomfortable, because the material just sticks to you, which isn't ideal. I have several pairs of similar Nike shorts in my basket at the moment, which I will put a link down at them bottom for, but they also appear on my wishlist on my home page! Of course my outfit was paired with my favourite Nike trainers, but ever since I got my new Brooks trainers, my nikes haven't had much wear, but they are perfect for going for walks in and if I go to the gym or for a bike ride or do a weights session. Luckily recently the weather has been warm, but sometimes when it is warm, running can often be hard work as you just sweat so much... oh wait sorry, girls don't sweat we respire ;) Don't get me wrong I am not complaining, I definitely prefer this weather to the freezing cold winter days and I do wish I could live in a hot country, as I do love the heat! Although the last few days it has felt like it has been raining 24/7 and yesterday on my run I got drenched, but in the afternoon I then went on a bike ride in glorious sunshine... England's weather is just so random! Hope you have all had a good week so far, and thank you to all those who completed my questionnaire in my last blog post. The results have come back very clear to me that you would all like to see mainly my fitness life, which is rather handy because fitness is pretty much is my whole life! Love G x If you liked this post, you may also like...
So although the weather still seems to be a little bit mixed up, we have had some great days of sun, and of course I made the most of them by getting my summer wardrobe out. My first outfit out was my green topshop dress from last season, which I love and even better they bring out new styles every year, I'll put a link down at the bottom of the post, but also check out my wishlist at the bottom of my homepage. I am a lover of crazy patterns and this dress is not an exception; what makes it even better is that the colours are green and blue, which are my favs! If you didn't know already, I am not a fan of pink! Even though my mum tries her hardest to put pink pillows on my bed at least once a week, in a desperate attempt to make my room more girly but I chuck them out my room straight away... sorry mum, when will you learn! Sun's out, sunnies out! For me sunglasses are very important and I love these ones but the problem is, when I put them up on my head, they get all caught and tangled.... not ideal! Z Collection jewellery from accessorize is the way to go, it is reasonable priced and is great quality, you couldn't really ask for any more. My grey toms are from last year and they are just about pushing through to this summer, although they are looking rather tired. Maybe I'll treat myself to a new pair soon. Thanks for reading my post and I hope you are all liking my new blog layout, as I have been spending some time on making it look smart... probably when I should have been revising. Love G x If you liked this post, you may also like:
Hi everyone, Sorry it has been so long since my last post, but I have been very caught up in my exams but at least I can say I have done 7 out of 25...(which doesn't sound like many but trust me it feels good to finally have started them!) I have missed writing blogpost recently and as I was running around the park on Saturday, while doing my parkrun, all I could think about was my blog. As you can tell from my all Nike outfit, that I am slightly addicted to Nike. When I first got the Nike Pegasus Zoom 32 trainers, I wasn't sure whether I liked them. Now after wearing them on and off for a month, I cannot get them off my feet, and I am already looking for another pair in another colour to accompany them... because you can never have too many pairs of trainers. It is fair to say I am a fan of the Nike pro 3" shorts and I could happily buy all their different colours and patterns, but I often have to restrain myself because, otherwise I am going to have to buy some more draws for all my clothes, as recently my draws have been filling as my purse has been emptying. It took me a while to have the confidence to wear these shorts as they are rather short and tight, but when I saw several people wearing them and they looked really good, I thought maybe I'll just give them a go! Now I just chuck them on all the time as they are so good for any sport. I paired my simple outfit with just a basic black top from Nike. What is great about this outfit is that I can simply swap my running trainers for tennis trainers and there you have a tennis outfit... because for tennis it is important to have tight shorts or a skort, because otherwise you can't hold a ball in your shorts. Thanks for reading my post, and I will hopefully be back writing shortly! I would really appreciate if you could just click a theme from the options below, to help me with writing what everybody would most like to read. Love G x Okay, so I know summer is approaching but because of good old English weather, my chunky coat seems to be staying in my wardrobe much longer than we all would like. I am so in love with this coat from Whistles, which is my new favourite shop! As soon as I bought this coat, I haven't seemed to take it off! It is it so lovely and warm, which I like especially because I feel the cold. I did have to chase this coat around to buy it as it seemed to always go out of stock in my size, just when I went to buy it, but I finally got my hands on it. I will definitely be taking it through to next winter with me, because I don't think this coat will be going out of style anytime soon. But for now it will be staying in my wardrobe for the rest of winter. I have been looking at this jumper from Whistles for ages and finally I gave in and bought it, and I am not disappointed! It is so soft and it is long in the arms, which is perfect for me. I love Whistles because all their clothes are such good quality and I think they also look expensive. I'm not normally a long necklace kind of person, but when I dug this one out of my jewellery box the other day, I just thought it went so well. It is a bullet chopped in half with a stone put in it, I think it looks really unique. Unfortunately I can't remember where I got it from as I got it a while a go, but I have found one very similar, and the link is down at the bottom. Sorry for not posting this week, but I have been very busy on a tennis trip to Portugal, which was so much fun and I could wear lots of my new Nike summer wear. I will be posting on instagram (@race.with.grace) my photos. As much as I love this coat, I am really hoping it is going to warm up soon. I hope you are all having a good weekend. I will be posting again soon, as I am not off jet setting anywhere anytime soon, because I have a lot of revision to be doing. G x When I saw these dungarees in the 'Last Chance' section on Topshop, I thought I just can't ignore them! I have been looking at buying a pair for ages so when I tried them on and they fitted perfectly, I thought 'this is just meant to be!' Lots of stores are selling long dungarees but this pair I have from Topshop is really great quality, even if you have to pay a bit more for them, they are so worth it! As I was walking around Topshop, trying to find a top to try on underneath the dungarees, I came across this very colourful stripy long sleeved knitted top. I found it in two colour variations and tried both of them on. I thought I have to decide which one I liked more and this was a tough choice, although I may go back to get the other colour later ;) The material of the top is really soft and creates a soft, comfy tight fit and it keeps you warm too! There is no surprise that I paired this outfit with my Nike trainers, because they go with practically everything. You could also pair these dungarees with some black boots to make it more formal. Next week I am going to New York, I am so excited! I will be doing a daily post for my 5 full days I am there, so be sure to check my blog often for updates on what I am up to! G x Chunky knit, leather backpack and yellow roses, what more could I want. Recently I have really loved having flowers around in the house, this is purely because not so long ago it was valentines day and today is Mothers day so flowers have been popping up everywhere all over the house, and I have loved them even more when I had my own bunch to go in my room. This black leather backpack is gorgeous and is stylish and smart, I love it because it is so practical and I can fit most things in it, including a leaver arch folder and my purse, which is pretty much my life at the moment, because it consist of revising for my GCSE's and retail therapy in my revision breaks. I think black looks very smart but I also love the burgundy and tan one that 'Sophie Fleming' also do, choosing between all of them was tough, but black was the winner. I love having french plaits but unfortunately I can't work out how to do it on myself, I can only do dutch plates on myself, which are cool but I still haven't quite mastered them. In the photo above I'm wearing my bumble bee necklace but unfortunately it sort of blends into my jumper, so you can't really see it, but I love the subtleness of it. I have recently seen a larger bumblebee necklace from Alex Monroe and it is so pretty and I have fallen in love with it, I will put a link to it at the bottom... it will definitely be going on my birthday list. I've paired this outfit with my favourite R&B boots, which I love and even though they have a heel, when I'm walking in them they are so comfy. They are my number 1 shoe to go walking around London in, which is pretty impressive considering they are heeled! I hope you all have had a lovely weekend so far and are having a lovely mothers day. G x Shop the look...
Jumper- Topshop (similar here) Boots- Russell and Bromley Backpack- Sophie Fleming Necklace- Alex Monroe Watch- Daniel Wellington When its cold, wet and windy sometimes it gets a bit depressing and I feel like coordinating with the sky. Any shade of black, blue or grey I love and putting this outfit together I thought all the colours compliment each other. My denim jacket is my go to jacket in this awkward cold but (sometimes) sunny weather; perfect because its not too thick, and not too thin, that I freeze to death, (I feel the cold a lot). This denim jacket is very popular because Topshop do it in loads of different shades of denim, all with the fluff lining. I could happily buy every shade and have them all lined up in my wardrobe, (I think I would need to extend my wardrobe first). My grey polo neck jumper, I couldn't live without, it just goes with everything and is warm and comfy! I would happily wear polo necks all day everyday; chunky or thin ones. This grey polo neck goes with practically everything and it will definetly appear again on here. My black long champ which I got for christmas is my go to handbag because its just so practical and fashionable which often don't go together. I added a pom pom on because aren't pom poms just the best thing, I have one tied onto almost everything, including my house keys. The black pom pom goes really well with this bag but because the bag is black you could but any colour pom pom on to create a statement accessory. My Daniel Wellington watch is my favourite watch, I've ever owned.. okay I can't say I've owned many, purely because I'm not much of a watch person. But that has all changed since I received this watch from my sister for christmas and I haven't taken it off since. My rings are from Accessories' Z collection, which I love and would happily buy all of their collection! Stacking rings are a must have, for me at the moment and then a Delicate ring on the other hand, I feel finishes off the look. My rings are from their last seasons collection, there are some below which I have been looking at for ages and I think I will probably end up getting. Here are my Nike's which come with me to most places; they are perfect for just everyday like popping into town or going for a coffee with friends. I looked at getting a black pair of Nike's for so long (I'm talking nearly 2 years) and when I finally got them, they have never seemed to leave my feet. I am not sure I'm brave enough to carry off the brighter colours they do, like orange but I love the look of them! G x Shop the look...
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HelloI'm Grace, a 18 year old runner, and fitness fanatic. Join me on my crazy journey through life, squeezing in an adventure in every second of spare time I have. Archives
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