Kit Review – Icebreaker Pace Leggings

This is my first product review so feedback would be appreciated, thanks.

I bought these leggings as they are made from merino wool, a more sustainable fabric than the usual running leggings I buy. I chose to branch out as part of the WWC to try to improve my running wardrobe’s sustainability credentials.

The first thing I noticed was how comfortable these leggings are and considering I have been been wearing compression leggings a lot recently they were also quick to change into (always useful to me I am invariably running late at the minute).

I wore them on a short lunchtime run at work this week. The fabric was a little scratchy in comparison to other running leggings I owe, I could tell they were made of wool. Hopefully they will soften with washing and wearing.

However, I did find that these leggings did not hold their shape or stay up during my run. I had to constantly pull them up, both at the waistband and on the thighs. This could be partly down to the soft fabric waistband but I am not sure.

It was distracting throughout the run and when I stopped to stretch I discovered the leggings had gone baggy in the crotch area, which is not a flattering look.

Overall I was not impressed with these leggings for running. I also wore the leggings to Pilates where the leggings did fare better. The lack of pockets on these leggings – frustrating on a run as I like somewhere to store my keys and money – means no zips digging into me while doing mat work.

I wouldn’t recommend these leggings for any hard physical activity but for toning, stretching and low-impact sports I think they are really comfortable.

*disclosure* The opinions expressed in this post are my own and I have not been paid for this review.

Spooking ponies and Scones

First things first, happy mother’s day! Regardless of how you feel about the day it is always nice to say ‘thanks mum!’.

I had another private lesson on Friday – this isn’t usual, normally I ride with a group on a Sunday. So another lesson in spooking! This time I had Au, I ride her quite often but she is of a nervous disposition and being alone in the school with a cat that was jumping out of the trees and ponies galloping about in the field next door I was warned by my instructor that there Au would spook.

I was a little nervous but after her first couple of spooks I calmed down, while she does fly off she is quite easy to stop and it was much more interesting to learn about how to help her through it rather than get all tense. The basic theme was to keep her interested in what I was asking her to do, lots of increasing and decreasing circles in trot using my body to steer her inward then leg yielding to get her out while getting Au to look into the centre of the circle rather than look at the scary fence or trees.

I was also practising slowing my rise in trot then asking her to walk with my voice rather than using my reins at all. She is incredibly responsive to the reins and it can be that she rushes when you hold the reins too tight so it is good to get used to using them only to reinforce the command. We finished up by doing repeated short canters getting lots of power through the canter, it was great getting used to using the inside leg to keep her cantering and also pushing her out to the outside track. Au is known for being the fastest in the school and boy can she fly, great fun all round. These last few lessons which have involved spooking and a fall have been really useful to help me understand how to work a horse through these events, back to my group lessons next week lets see if I remember these tips!

So last week I was meant to run Lasswade 10 miler but unfortunately my sinusitis put paid to that idea. I still went along to cheer some fellow runners on and ended up coming away feeling really inspired. As perhaps can be seen from some of my comments on running I am not the fastest runner but this year I want to improve my times and I feel I can. I saw lots of women of a similar ability to myself coming through at Lasswade at around 80 minutes looking strong and importantly happy, that’s what I want to feel like and look like. I went for my first run today in about a week and a half..yes I was slow and it was a short run but I did it and it didn’t feel tough, well except that during the 30 minutes I was out there was hail, rain, sunshine and snow(!). It is the Deerstalker next weekend, a 5k and a bit race involving obstacles and fording rivers, I will post a review up of the race afterwards. We have done it before and it is great fun, maybe next year we will do the night time race.

A quick mention of the Wartime Wardrobe Challenge, I finally decided to bite the bullet and buy some new leggings and plumped for People Tree black leggings. A lovely fit and I wore them to work on Friday however while getting changed to go horse riding I put my hand clean through the body of the material! I was not impressed. However, I called People Tree and they couldn’t have been more helpful offering me a refund or an exchange and a freepost address to send the faulty leggings back. I am taking the exchange as I have quite a few clothes made by People Tree and nothing like this has ever happened before. I was impressed by their customer service too and wanted to mention that too.

Finally a quick mention of a lovely cafe I visited yesterday. Due to Team Bambi runner being pregnant and the others being ill we decided to go for a walk along Crammond Fall yesterday, the weather was pretty brutal but the scenery lovely. We stopped at the Crammond Falls cafe and it was lovely, delicious homemade scones with jam, a log fire and a friendly cat. I would recommend that if you are out that way you should stop in – friendly service and delicious food, it doesn’t get much better than that.

We did see some hard souls out kite surfing! I hope they went for a cake after that, they would have certainly deserved it. If my swimming ever improves I would love to give this a shot!

Looks amazing….and cold!

Miles run: 3

WWC Coupons left: 54

Remember to breathe!

Unfortunately I have been a little unwell over the last few days, so apologies if this post is not 100% coherent. Now I think I already knew that I would be given P during my private horse riding lesson yesterday.

I mentioned last week that I thought I would be nervous when I was given P again and I was. Even in a lesson with only myself and him where I thought he would be calmer (no other horses to show off for) I was still nervous.

I got him warmed up well, we doing a lot of trotting work trying to help me understand the ability to help the horse move if you are balanced correctly and using your body weight to turn instead of the reins. Cue a lot of circles in sitting trot without stirrups, it did make me realise how easy P is to turn if you work with him. It also settled me down quite well, I just need to remember these things in slightly more stressful situations 🙂

Just as I was feeling a little happier he decided to spook. Immediately I pulled up and started explaining how I couldn’t do this. My instructor calmly told me that if I can’t deal with a horse spooking or bucking then I shouldn’t do beach rides, two hour hacks or jumping. My first reaction was to say ‘Well maybe I shouldn’t be’, the look I received for that comment was interesting to say the least. She then asked me what I thought he had spooked at. I said I wasn’t sure but that it had felt like he was slowing down and looking for something to spook at. ‘Exactly’ I was told, I had lost his attention and he decided that if he spooked then he wouldn’t need to do what I was asking him to do. She also pointed out that he was busy looking into the hedge when I should have had him looking to the right, the way in which we were about to bend.

Confidence slightly rebuilt I set off round the school again, I knew what was coming next but still tensed up slightly! Then cantering, cantering large, cantering changes of reins and turning him across the school on a sixpence. It was great, I managed to remember to sit back properly and the power increase from P was brilliant. I did forget to breathe quite a few times leading my instructor to force me to sing ‘Nellie the elephant’ while cantering around.

So the main thing learnt from this lesson? A horse can turn on a sixpence, get your balance, make your horse look where he is going (helpful), keep their attention and breathe during canter! I will let you know if I remember these things during next week’s lesson.

Time to get back in the saddle…

The first ride after a fall is usually the time where you slightly question yourself, or at least I do. I think it is probably normal to feel a little nervous, it was more on the way to the stables that I felt a bit of nerves kick in. Once I was there it just felt like any other lesson, finding out if we were in the school or out and who was riding who. I wasn’t given P this time although he was in the lesson. I’m not sure how I would have felt but since he is type of horse that feels when a rider is tense it was best for them not to take the risk.

It was a good lesson, as always plenty for me to work on from it. I need to work on getting any of the horses I am on properly warmed up, the first exercise trotting circles around poles was very laboured for my pony and that was my fault for not getting her moving enough. As always her canter was beautiful, she is the fastest in the yard in the school – easily outpacing the larger horses. I need to be quicker to react than I was today as a couple of times she went back to trot when I should have been alert enough to catch her.

All in all a successful lesson I feel, I didn’t tense up and I did enjoy myself. I have a private lesson booked for Friday as I am running a race on Sunday so expect a post about that lesson, they are normally good for giving me at least ten new things to work on.

On the running front I had a terrible nine mile run yesterday although the hot chocolate to follow was great. It taught me once again that with 5 hours sleep and not enough water I am unlikely to be able to run far. That was my last long run before the first race of the year next weekend, I am looking forward to it although wish I felt fitter.

On the WWC front I was quite pleased with myself when I managed to throw together a passable Cruella De Vil outfit on Friday night for for a friend’s birthday. Normally I would have thought about what to buy to make the outfit, this time I used fake fur left over from my homemade panda costume at Halloween and hunted out the gloves from a cat costume from years ago. It is a pity there are no pictures but that outfit will definitely be used again. Shame the white hair paint didn’t brush out, I got a few strange looks on Saturday morning during the run!

Miles run this week – 20

WWC coupons left – 58

Normal hair colour restored – 1

Well it was inevitable..

So given I started a blog about horse riding I practically invited the fall I had today. As with everything horsey I do it did have a slight comedy element.

So I fell off. Not a bad fall at all but a frustrating one. I really felt like I had been handling the horse pretty well as he spooked, jumped about and tried to race off (as a self-confessed nervous rider it took a lot for me to grit my teeth and stay on). It did go to show me that I can become a little complacent, expecting the horses to behave because they usually do. Sometimes it feels like you learn more when something happens as opposed to the lessons where everything goes perfectly. However, I could have lived without punching myself in the nose as I fell off!

Today I am a little sore, mainly from checking the speed of a certain horse but I think also down to the ten mile run on Saturday. It was a tough one, full of hills and the first time in a while I have run ten miles. I have been slightly ill this week, just a sore throat and cold but enough to take all my energy so to complete that run felt like an achievement. I didn’t have my usual carbohydrate powder pre-run and I definitely regretted that, I also realised that the energy chews I have been using lately have definitely been helping. It is always nice to have confirmation what you are doing is helping. Not so great to have a headache and nausea for Saturday afternoon because you forgot though!

A quick WWC update. My first eBay purchase has arrived. I had thought about buying a skirt before Christmas but told myself it was too expensive and not from one of the ethical companies I usually go for. I used the idea of the recycling aspect of eBay to happily spend a hour looking at all the things other people no longer want, then I saw a skirt. Brand new,with tags for a fraction of the price and I am giving it a good home!

Updates for this week:

Run – 12 miles (I have been ill)

WWC coupons left – 58

Horses I have fallen off – 1

M&S walnut whips eaten to make myself feel better after the fall – 2 (purely medicinal)

Wartime Wardrobe Challenge

So I mentioned the Wartime Wardrobe Challenge (WWC) in my last post and I thought it might be good to give a little more info on what it is and why I signed up.

The challenge was created by Nik (http://www.littlehouseintown.co.uk/) and Meg (http://thedoublelifeofmrsm.wordpress.com/) and I stumbled across it by accident mid-way through January. I love a clothing challenge to help me try and focus my principles, this one will also help me to learn more about these principles and hopefully inspire me further.

WWC is based upon the rationing system that was in place in the UK during WWII. Meg & Nik have updated it for the 21st Century by putting a sustainable/ethical bent on the rationing. You can read a introduction to the challenge here (http://www.littlehouseintown.co.uk/2012/12/introducing-the-wartime-wardrobe-challenge-2013/).

Basically it boils down to having 66 clothing coupons to last the year. Different items cost different amounts of coupons and a coupon premium is charged where an item is not sustainable material. Vintage and second hand items are coupon-free.

So why did I sign up to this challenge? Well ethical and sustainable clothing is an area that I am particularly interested in. Last year during Fair Trade fortnight I wore an item of ethical clothing each day and asked friends and family to try and guess which it was (come to think of it that was likely to be annoying). I was trying to show that ethical clothing is different to how some people perceive it. After that I resolved to only buy ethical clothing for a year, I failed in this resolution, try as I might ethical jodphurs are hard to come by!

Next challenge then to try and get myself back on track came in the summer – The 6 Items Challenge (http://thesixitemschallenge.wordpress.com/). This one was tough but enjoyable. Luckily for me sporting gear was exempt from this challenge otherwise I was going to get some strange looks at the office! The 6 Items Challenge challenges you to wear only 6 items of clothing for a month. It was great to make me realise how one outfit can be worn so many different ways with changing accessorises. It also showed me that most people don’t realise that you are wearing the same 6 items, people don’t notice things as much as we think they do!

And so to WWC. Well new year and I hoped new start with my finances and tackling my ever expanding wardrobe. However, the lure of the sales bargains were too much for me to resist and halfway through January I found myself with more money on my credit card and more unethical, unsustainable clothing in my wardrobe.

Purchases from the sales, note the tags still on some!

Feeling unhappy with myself I was looking on ethical clothing blogs for inspiration when I chanced on WWC. Fate? I reckon so…even though I don’t believe in it 🙂

So at the end of my first month I have used 8 coupons (all sportswear although I have a slight addiction to buying sportswear so I have to keep that in check). However, I feel more focused and haven’t watched my bank account hemorrhage money….yet. I will post updates on WWC at least each month. I also hope to try and look into the idea of ethical sportswear and supply some reviews of the items I purchase. Wish me luck!

February 9th

WWC: coupons left – 58/66

Running: Miles run so far this week – 9

Sand, Galloping and Holey Tights

Today was my first beach ride with my regular stables. It was brilliant. I had one of the steady horses, he is an old hand at beach rides having been previously stabled near the beach.

Once we were all saddled up and on, it was off to do a warm up followed by a wee canter circle or two to feel if your stirrups were ok then… we were off.

The feeling is difficult to describe when you are racing along a beach with friends on horses you trust. A sea with the odd mad surfer being tossed about in it to our right and patches of blue sky with sand blowing across the beaches in waves.  It is exhilarating and part of why we all ride.

I can’t wait for my next chance to do this. At one point during one of the gallops I looked around at us and realised that ‘Yes I can ride’, after my recent crisis of confidence it was a lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon after my birthday!

On another note it is only three weeks since I signed up for the Wartime Wardrobe challenge and I have spent eight of my sixty six coupons. I have bought new running tights to replace the ones with holes in and a vest top for the gym (or running if we get a summer this year). I deliberately chose the running leggings made from sustainable, cruelty-free merino wool but I still feel like I need more of the ‘make do and mend’ mentality.

So in order to try and foster that I am planning to patch my old running tights, it might not work but better to give it a try than not. I will let you know how the patching goes, I may melt the running tights or destroy the iron but hey it’s not like I iron much anyway!

Haddington Half Marathon 2012 – One Hell of A Race

So it was Haddington Half Marathon yesterday. Definitely the toughest race I think I have ever done. I am sure I have said that before but this was something different.

I already knew that I haven’t done enough training to do sub 1hr50, and I had decided that I would treat this as a fast training run. Get under 2 hours and that would be fine.

Unfortunately the other two bambis couldn’t make it and I felt really oddly apprehensive about the whole day without my running buddies.

Saturday arrived and I woke with incredibly tight calves, due in no small part to a Scottish/Iraqi ceilidh I had been at the night before. Great night but exhausting and I had only done 3 dances.

I assumed this would wear off and headed off for Haddington on the bus. Great location for the race, the registration people were quick and efficient with everything being well signposted. However, I would say that you should come changed and ready to run. The changing was pretty horrible and the ladies toilet didn’t lock and had water all over the floor. There are lovely public loos just a five minute walk away but not sure how many knew about those.

I had my two loudest supporters with me, my parents so that was nice as the gun went off to be cheered over the start line. I knew Haddington would be fast but I had no idea how fast. It seemed like everyone was overtaking me in the first mile but I felt good and felt I had started out strongly. The first hill was a breeze, I just settled into my rhythm and headed up it. Lots of chatting going on round about me and even though in races I run by myself (I am the slowest bambi) I really did miss my fellow bambis. The first mile and a half took us through Haddington and out the back towards Stenton. It was slow, windy climb. It doesn’t look like it if you drive the road but I could feel it in my legs. Then we turned right and hit the next big and pretty steep hill. I could feel myself slowing up but just kept my head down and told myself I would be fine.

The next few miles passed in a haze of hills and blinding sunshine. Shade was difficult to come by at times on this route and I have to say it felt like the hottest day of the year so far. I had no sunglasses and no hat, no visor and my vest top had decided to start to briskly exfoliate my arms by mile five. I can’t pretend I was in a good mood. I haven’t done enough hill training in my training runs and it really showed in this race.

I actually nearly dropped out at mile 7, if it weren’t for a lovely lass who kept me going telling me that ‘Of course you can do this’, gave me some sports drink later on and running with me for large portions on the remaining miles then I think I would have quit. She was relentlessly positive and that was great. She is doing the Loch Ness Marathon and mentioned the Dee 33, good luck to her in both and thanks! Another lass from fife kept me going between miles ten and twelve, chatting away and keeping a good, decent pace. Thanks to her and again she is doing the Loch Ness Marathon, I am sure you will do brilliantly. Thanks to the other runners who always said something encouraging or kept pace with me, pushing me along when I started dawdling and reminded me why I was doing the run. Without them I think I would have dropped out. And finally thanks to the marshall who gave me some mars bar just after mile ten. I think that got me round the last wee bit.

How would I review this one? Well not a PB for sure 2hrs 11 minutes and 9 seconds. But I felt a real sense of achievement from this one. I kept going in the hottest, sunniest, hilliest and windiest race I have done. I got round it in a decent time and most importantly for me I didn’t feel unwell during the race. At all my previous halfs I have struggled with feeling unwell at this one I struggled but not through that. Not my best time but something to improve on for Glasgow in two weeks.

Now to get on the foam roller for these calves of mine, I am walking in what is the most ridiculous manner ever.