All posts by Armand

Running, Training

Stretching

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There are a lot of things I want to write about on this blog – as with everything I do, I have added a layer of geekery and obsession to my new running habit. Expect posts on running technology, clothing, New Balance trainers, iPhone apps, music choices, route planning, fitness development, muscle tone, core stability and more… but the one that’s really getting me at the moment is the simple stretch.

I really suck at stretching. I lack the patience and the self-awareness to feel the stretch in the relevant muscles, and so I tend to spend a couple of minutes making what could only be called a token gesture towards stretching before jogging off, and another minute or two at the end dealing with whatever cramps or tightness I’ve acquired.

This week, it went a bit wrong after a 5-mile pre-work jog a couple of days ago, and so now I find myself, cramp-calfed and in search of a stretching routine.

This chap maintains that pre-run stretching is pointless (true?) but does have a number of tips for cool-down stretches that I will try tomorrow after a 10k run (I’m going to shoot for 15k on Sunday, my longest distance yet). I’m hoping that introducing a ‘routine’ to it will give me something to work through…

Anyone else got any good tips? It feels like my muscle tightness, not my overall aerobic fitness, is the biggest barrier to my speed at the moment, and if I have any hope of completing the half marathon in under two hours I’m going to need to sort this out…

Running

Welcome from Armand

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Hello and welcome! On this blog James and I will be charting our progress as we train towards our respective half marathons later this year. James is a veteran at the running game (heading for his sixth half-marathon and fresh from completing the London marathon) – whereas I’ve never, ever run competitively. The “long slow run” is a reference to the longer weekend run that forms part of many runners’ training schedules as we work towards a long-distance goal – but you probably knew that, and it is just me that’s finding all this out for the first time…

James and I are colleagues at PR firm Brands2Life and he’s one of several people that have been providing wisdom and advice as I’ve jogged down this path. My thanks also go to Paul, the ultimate running Sensei, Rach, who is running with me in September, Amanda, my wife and my semi-retired-from-running-friend Jimjamjebobo… and many more, no doubt.

If you think of anything, or anyone, that’s saying useful things about running please let us know as we build up the blogroll and start maintaining this blog.

Food

Eat Mexican Chicken Tortilla soup review – Big Bold @eat_news

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Description: Chunky chicken and tomato soup with Mexican-style seasoning topped with tortillas and cheddar cheese.

Health: OK, ish – at 408 calories for the big bold it’s a modest lunchtime portion and has a good amount of fibre. However, it is a tad high on the fat front, ditto sodium.

Taste: A little taste of Mexico. It’s OK, tomato is the dominating flavour and texture and so its not massively exciting, but there is a good amount of chunky chicken in there and a tasty tortilla topping (which would be better when crisp – they sog up fast). Fundamentally under-spiced though…

Full-o-meter: Not bad. Fibre and protein/fat content should keep me going.

Verdict: 3.5/5. A good soup, I’d have again, but there’s room to refine this one, Eat.

Food

Waitrose pea and ham soup review

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Description: “A thick and comforting soup made with British peas, smoked ham, celery and a squeeze of lemon juice.” Yep, exactly what it says, although the microwave had this baby so hot the viscosity was probably a little off.

Health: Low cal – 222 calories for a 600g pot. Reasonable on all other scores, good on fibre, could have more protein…

Taste: Pretty good pea & ham soup. Standard. I must admit that I decided to spice it up with my new favourite condiment (Nando’s hot Peri-Peri sauce), not because it needed it – perfectly tasty as pea and ham soup – just that after the initial tasting I decided I wanted a little more kick to my lunch.

Full-o-meter: Not bad. Thanks to hot sauce have drunk two pints of water with lunch so feeling quite full right now. Eaten with two slices of medium sliced wholemeal toast.

Verdict: 4/5. Would have done better if it was a bit more interesting (it’s perfectly tasty, just standard) – but it is nonetheless a solid soup offering from those lovely Waitrose people.

Food

Pret Sag Aloo soup review

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Description: From Pret website: “Potato, onion, spinach, yoghurt, tomato, celery, ginger, organic vegetable bouillion, curry powder, nutmeg and red chilli.” A thick, warming soup of mildly curried potato and spinach.

Health: 248 calories for the pack, low on protein, surprisingly high on fat (was clarified butter an undeclared ingredient?), pretty low on fibre. So good on calorie count, basically, and mediocre on actual nutritional value.

Taste: Nice. A low-level of spice (high street food can be *so* conservative with chilli) could have used some pepping up but there was a smooth, nicely textured consistency to the mild curried soup, the spinach was tasty and substantial… but I’m still opposed to potato as the sole substance in a soup. Lentils would have made this a lot more substantial…

Full-o-meter: Rubbish. Even with the artisan bread (175 cals extra) I was wanting more.

Verdict: 3.5/5. It’s not bad, but more fibre and more spice would have earned it a higher score.

Food

Pret Italian meatballs soup review

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Sorry for the long silence, it has been a) busy as all heck and b) I’ve been short of new soups to review. Where should I shop? Tell me and I’ll see what I can find…

Description: Ingredients from Pret: “Pork & beef meatballs, celery, tomato, onion, garlic, organic vegetable bouillon, parsley, basil, oregano and thyme.” My description – watery ragu with a few self-pitying soggy meatballs.

Health: 261 calories and relatively low fibre and protein – consumed with the 175 calorie artisan soup bread this isn’t the lowest call soup lunch on offer…

Taste: My standard for this is the delicious Eat Italian Ragu and Pasta, and this just doesn’t compare; the soup needs garnish (Parmesan for a salty kick?) and the texture is just weird – although that could be a side-effect of the soup being kept ludicrously hot – it was scalding, and the meatballs had largely dissolved into a soggy mess.

Full-o-meter: Suspect it will have my willpower tested against the office biscuit jar this afternoon.

Verdict: 2/5. I might give this one another chance because there was some potential there, but it is not high on my list. Disappointed.

Books, Media & Marketing, Social media

Raymond E Feist backlist – thanks, Voyager!

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Who says nobody wins online competitions? I entered a competition from Voyager Books, which I learned of via their e-newsletter (sign up here) and last month received a large box of books from the publishers with Raymond E Feist’s entire backlist! Of course, as a loyal fan I already have many of these but there’s a few titles I was missing and it’ll make a great gift… Pics may follow when I’ve finished sorting out boiler issues.

Thanks to Voyager, and do sign up if you’re an SF / Fantasy fans (the next competition will let you win Robin Hobb’s backlist, which I read my way through earlier this year). They also give a bunch of good stuff away via their Twitter handle, but I’ve not had the good fortune to win there…

Food

Eat Hoisin duck gyoza dumpling soup pot review – @eat_news

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Description: Plummy duck gyoza in a savoury broth with egg noodles and crisp cabbage, carrots, bean sprouts and greens.

Health: OK. 420 calories for the pot, reasonable fibre, low on fat, but v. high on carbs, sugars and salt.

Taste: OK. Not brilliant – tasty as the gyoza are, they kind of dissolve in the broth so the texture is a bit odd. had chilli in (Eat’s ‘extra spicy’ option), which gave it a pleasant kick but might have been overkill, and some of the vegetables were a bit odd – the edamame-esque beans were crunchy in a weird way. Not bad on the whole, but… lacked a certain ‘oomph’.

Full-o-meter: OK; not too shabby at all but I was slightly short-brothed today, and the ‘hot hot’ broth was either tepid or the freezing wind chilled it over the 3 minute walk back to the office. Still, better than Eat’s Tom Yum’s…

Verdict: 3.5/5.

Food

Marks and Spencer tomato and meatball soup review

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Description: “A chunky blend of tender pork and beef meatballs, tomatoes, kidney beans and rice.” Yep, except the tomato soup base was deliciously passata-esque in texture.

Health: Heavy on the carbs, but OK protein and good fibre, and a mangeable amount of fat and not too bad on the sodium front. 420 calories in all, for the pot, which is OK.

Taste: Wow. The best of M&S’s soups by a long way, so far. Deliciously thick and tasty, well-seasoned with a good amount of spice, you can feel the cayenne and the cumin giving it a little edge whilst the creamy tomatoes and burger-licious meatballs square off on your taste budes.

Full-o-meter: Not too bad at all. Good amount of fibre in there, and the thickness of the soup will keep you going for a while.

Verdict: 4.5/5. With this soup, M&S, you redeem yourself for some of your previous efforts…

Food

Pret lentil and bacon soup review

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Description: “Smoked bacon, green lentils, tomato, celery, onion, garlic, organic vegetable bouillon, parsley, basil, oregano and thyme.” Yep – essentially salty chunky tomato and lentil soup with a good amount of bacon in there for additional umami.

Health: 272 cals for the pot, but decent protein, low sat fat, OK fibre. Bad on salt, as you’d expect…

Taste: Moreish; good level of gentle spices, tasty bacon… maybe a little too salty. Pretty well headache inducing, actually.

Full-o-meter: Good. Good lentil/protein kick. Eaten with artisan roll, taking overall calorie count to about 440.

Verdict: 4/5. Oversaltiness lets it down, but would have it again nonetheless.