Free Fitness Classes in London

Are you interested in attending the hottest gyms but don't have the money to pay £10+ for a class? No neither do I! But I got an email in my inbox this week that I thought you guys might be interested in....

The lovely people at Be:Fit (FYI the most amazing fitness expo that comes to London) are offering 2,000 free classes to people when they register with nimble booking. To book a class all you have to do is register at the nimble website here and search for 'Be:Fit' in London and it offers you a selection of classes to book across London next week.

I managed to book myself onto Bounce - Dancefit class at the YMCA studios on Friday and 'Fight club/Urban Raw/ Cycle + Metafit' at Edge cycle on Sunday (it sounds very scary to me too!) There are plenty to choose from so sign up and let me know what your trying out.

Why you need a slow cooker in your life

When I moved in with my boyfriend one of the first things that he purchased was a slow cooker. At the time I thought it was a bit strange but I let him get on with it. Since we have been living together it has completely changed my cooking an now I'm here to tell you why you need to have a slow cooker to make cooking healthy food quicker and to save on the washing up!

Easy to make Stock or Bone Broth
I don't digest gluten well and the majority of store brought stocks have gluten, loads of salt and other nasties in them. The hassle of making my own stock hasn't interested me before now as leaving bones boiling on the hob all night feel like a real waste of energy and e pensive for my bills. Now I throw bones in the slow cooker with onions, garlic some other herbs and it makes beautifully tasty stock without the hassle. The energy used costs less then a lightbulb which makes its a far more cost effective way. 

Quick Meal Prep
On a sunday I can throw in some veggies and stock, leave them all day to stew, come evening time I have soup for the week with no hassle from me. I easily throw together some meat and vegetables go off to work and then I have a enough food to feed a small army or two hungry adults and a couple of portions for a freezer. With a slow cooker you don't need to spend your sunday meal prepping as spices and herbs stew to make tasty meals. 

Cook Cheaper Cuts of Meat without it Getting Tough
I would love to buy organic grass fed meat but my budget doesn't always allow it. Sometimes I buy cheaper cuts of beef because its getting dangerously close to payday my. Often they're so tough I really wonder why I bothered wasting my money but now with the meat slow cooked in liquid the meat doesn't end up being tough and I'm happy eating a tasty meal without my bank balance suffering.

Add Flavour and Tenderness without Extra Calories
Cooking food with herbs and spices allow the flavours to really develop over the day, I then get tender and flavoured meat without having to use cream or butter. Also roast chicken cooked in the slow cooker is the juiciest roast chicken I have ever eaten, I actually can't go back to oven roasted chicken as its just not juicy enough.

Do you have a slow cooker? What do you use it for?

Royal Parks Half: The race that wasn't!

The problem with setting goals is not reaching them. Worst then not reaching them is realising half way through a race that you never gave yourself a chance to achieve the goal. I love running, I love racing but I will never be the fastest. I run because I love the space to think. I race because I enjoy the atmosphere and achieving a goal (the medal and eating afterwards also help)

The reason it's taken me so long to post this race report is because I'm disappointed in my time. But I would be dishonest if I didn't talk about the good as well as the bad. If for no other reason then to make sure that I don't make the same mistakes again.

I love the Royal Parks Half Marathon-it was my first half two years ago and the reason I started to run when I signed up on a whim for a charity place. This year I signed up for the ballot (and will continue to do so in the future) because it means a lot to me and the views around the parks are beautiful. It is also a massive race-something I should have remembered because I didn't allow enough time for the toilet queue and got myself into a tizz as I ran off to join my starting pen. But I had 2 minutes before the race started to find the pacers, but I stood in the blue area (the one I had signed myself up to) looking at the pacers for 1:50-2:10 - I knew I had put myself in the wrong time and was in trouble. It was too late to change pens so I just ran and did what I can and tried not to be too speedy. The problem with being in a faster pen is that EVERYONE overtakes you, you hold them up and you can feel their frustration. I also didn't have my Garmin so I didn't know what pace I was running so it all went wrong from the beginning.

I gave up trying to get that PB around mile 7 and tried to enjoy the run but to be honest not having the right pace had made me lose my steam. I had also been to my first ever barre class the day before and I hadn't realised that it would be so hard on my thighs (foolishly I'd read low impact and thought I would have been okay!) But I tried to just run and enjoy the race but I could escape the niggle I had in my head that was telling me that I hadn't even given myself a chance and need to work much harder if I'm going to get my half PB.

I finished the race and am well enough to run again, and attempt to get a PB again, but if I want to give myself a chance then I need to make sure I don't make these mistakes again!

There is also a distinct lack of photos in this post-the amount of runners meant that my photographer (boyfriend) completely missed me running round and I was fed up enough that I couldn't even muster a selfie.