Alameda Runners – Get After It!

We have two flavors of Athletes Honey Milk, honey (original) and chocolate (light).  The chocolate is a bit chalky but tastes good.  The honey is really smooth with no chalky taste.  Both flavors are loaded with 26 grams of protein, 120mg of sodium and 330mg of potassium in the 11.5 ounce bottle.

Honey Milk is mostly natural.  Milk, honey then  lactase enzyme are the first three ingredients, they are all natural.  All of the regular readers know how much I like natural ingredients.

Back in April, we did an interview with Athletes Honey Milk.  The name and idea put me off at first.  Here is one of my initial thoughts of the product: “He may have to open the box and force it down my throat.”

Between then and the time to review Honey Milk, we tested a lot of bad things so I figured things could not get much worse and I could take one for the team.  I went out for a good one hour run on a warm day.  After the run, I held my breath and tried the honey milk.  It tasted good!  It passed the first test.  It is drinkable with no chalky aftertaste.

I really like the taste of Athletes Honey milk.  It is so good, I can’t believe it works.  I have been drinking it for about a month now and it seems to be working for recovery.  I tend to drink another drink like Cytomax after long days because it I want the additional water.

Athletes Honey Milk is in the bought category for me.  It has moved into the top three sports drinks for me and the top tasting recovery drink.

Mike’s Note:  To see all things AHM on Alameda Runners, feel free to click here.

You remember that interview I published last month with the friendly crew from Athletes HoneyMilk?  If not, here is a link to the interview.  The small company is close to launching several new flavors I hope you’re willing to try out if you’re looking for a recovery drink after a workout.

The “undercover AHM” staff member has struck again — and there is a sneak preview of the new flavors athletes can expect in the immediate future.

I’m especially looking forward to the chocolate flavor, but will try out the Acai-Pom, Coffee, Vanilla, and Honey flavors (for an upcoming HoneyMilk review).

As reviewed earlier the Athlete’s HoneyMilk is a favorite among the Alameda Runners, even though it’s still a lesser known product. We recently received a test case of the AHM Strawberry Banana flavor (light) that we’re enjoying after training runs.

I tasted the Strawberry Banana AHM and it’s the sweetest HoneyMilk flavor, and was more like a sugary milkshake than protein drink. It’s a refreshing change of pace from the often unexciting taste of post-exercise protein and supplement drinks.

If you don’t like drinking or eating sweets, I’d recommend trying this flavor with care. For the rest of you, feel free to give it a try the next time you’re looking for a post-run option.

After a hard workout, I’m willing to give the Strawberry Banana another try (but the Chocolate flavor is still my favorite). The sweetness is something that will take getting used to, but is effective in aiding muscle recovery after hard workouts.

Here is the nutritional information from the Strawberry Banana AHM:

Calories 150; calories from fat: 30
Total fat: 3.5g
Cholesterol: 15mg
Sodium: 120mg
Potassium: 450mg
Total Carbohydrates: 11g
Sugars: 11g
Protein: 20g

A case of 12 bottles of Strawberry Banana costs $34.99 (free shipping courtesy of AHM), and can be found on the company’s website. It may seem like a steep price to pay, but these drinks are excellent post-race recovery drinks, because they are pre-mixed and tasty.

Alameda Runners previously interviewed Athletes HoneyMilk last year, so feel free to give it a read. If you have any questions for AHM, please feel free to comment, e-mail or Tweet us … and we’ll see what we can do!

Athletes HoneyMilk, a company we recently interviewed, has released its latest online newsletter (which you can view by clicking here).

Specifically, the newsletter discusses how company CEO Tim Doelman recently had a podium finish at the Sea Otter Classic, while Web 2.0 super geek, Michael Don won the Run for the Roses 10K.  The newsletter also has a few recent blogs posted on the Athletes Milk Web site regarding stretching, working vs. working out, and an inspirational story about a runner many people doubted. (Link originally found courtesy of Athletes HoneyMilk Facebook page.)

I am all for sharing similar newsletters, pages, etc., so if you have something news worthy, feel free to get in touch! 🙂

The use of a recovery drink isn’t mandatory after workouts, but many of us use various protein- and whey-based drinks to help aid muscle recovery.  To help everyone learn about a wider variety of products, here’s another interview with a company some of you live by – and others possibly never heard of.

I recently interviewed a company many of you likely heard of, though you may not have tried

“We believe it’s critical to provide real food in order to refuel, rebuild and recover and generally feel good,” Athletes Honey recently told Alameda Runners.  “It’s especially important after working out to put the proper foods into your body.

A serving size of 11 ounces provides 240 calories (30 calories from fat), 3.5g total fat, 2g saturated fat, 14mg cholesterol, 120mg sodium, 26g total carbohydrate, 26g sugar, and 26g protein.

Athletes HoneyMilk is one of numerous recovery products available to athletes, but the company thinks they have an advantage over the competition:

“Two of the main reasons:  ingredients and taste.  Look at the ingredients in Athletes HoneyMilk and contrast it with the ingredients in any other recovery drink,” the company recently told Alameda Runners. “Not only do we have way fewer but our primary ingredients are real milk and real honey. We pride ourselves on being a natural, great-tasting recovery drink – Athletes HoneyMilk is REAL food.”

The rest of the article is available after the jump! Read more… »

This is an article about what I did wrong.  I don’t know how to fix my workout nutritional problems but I will find out.  I will post the proposed solutions when I do find out.
Today was a triathlon training day for me.

The issues are the same for all hard exertions.  If you are going to do long workouts, you need proper nutrition to complete the workout.

Today I was supposed to ride for 40-50 miles then run 9-13 miles.  Someone just had to put a mountain near my route.  I decided to add 2 or 3 miles and about 4,000 feet of climbing to my ride.   This gave me 53 miles and 5,300 feet of climbing.  Changing my workout to suit the situation is no big deal to me as the primary purpose for today’s workout was to tame the nutrition beast for long workouts.  As usual, I did very poorly with the nutrition.

I may have to send a memo to my buddies at Clif to help get this thing straightened out.  I knew today would be tough so I carbo loaded last night with lots of pizza and beer.

For me 2 glasses of beer is lots.  I started out the morning with two servings of oatmeal with two tablespoons of grade B maple syrup.  During the ride I had the following:

20 oz of Clif shot Electrolyte drink Cranberry Razz 3 scoops
3 Clif shot gels, chocolate, vanilla and some type of berry (Razz).
Did not eat the chocolate
1 large Macadamia Clif Bar.  Ate three-fourths of the bar.
28 ounces of water.  Drank 1.5 bottles

Food                              Calories
Electrolyte                      240
Gels                                   200
Bar                                    180

That gives me 620 calories consumed and I am probably being optimistic here.  My Garmin said I burned 4800 calories.  I seem to be at a calorie deficiency.  To make matters worse, I only drank an optimistic 60 ounces of water over the course of a 5 hour ride.

Is it any wonder why I was a mess for the final 5 miles of the ride that were mostly downhill?  I ate a gel at about 4:15 into the ride and wanted to throw up for the remainder of the ride.

I did a lot of things wrong today and lived to tell about it.  Adding 4,000 feet of climbing to a 50 mile ride is not always the brightest thing to do but it was so nice out I just had to go to the top.  The Clif instructions say to eat 2 gels per hour.  That seems a bit excessive to me.  GU says to eat 4 packages per hour!  I don’t know why but was racing to get sweats on before I started shivering too much to function.  Maybe, I was shivering because of the cold or maybe, it was because of my poor nutrition.

Tour guide

Shout outs for this ride:
Kenny for being a great guide and waiting patiently for me at the confusing intersection.  I may be hurting but I had a lot of fun riding up Mt.  Tam.
Clif for their great products to carry on the ride.
Athletes Honey Milk for making strawberry protein milk taste like a milkshake.
Alpha-Flex for making a great massage lotion for post workout pain.

After a streak of handing out bad products, I seem to have hit a winner with Athletes Honey Milk.  For those of you looking to buy some, I buy it online.  If you are interested in ordering some, send me a message and I will send you a coupon code.

We need to start getting active again and getting more stuff to review.  After my harsh review of the Timex GPS, I don’t think they will be too eager to send us anything else to review.  It would be wrong to give a good review that I do not believe just to get some free stuff.  When Timex sent us the Triathlon HRM there only stipulations were that we disclosed it was sent to us free of charge and that we give it an honest review.  I have to give Timex some love for their corporate policies.

Speaking of corporate love, I have to give a shout out to Clif for being an awesome company.  They are environmentally responsible, try to make products as naturally as possible and they have great customer support.  If you have questions about how to use their products, send them an e-mail.  They are very responsive with excellent instructions.  I am not a fan of Clif gels for long run days but for long bike/run days, I tear their stuff up.

I am doing the Vineman Half Ironman this year in July.  In honor of that event I started www.alamedatri.com.  The site is brand new but it is up and running.  We will be starting a master swim program in January to get ready for triathlon season.

If you have a marathon in December, it is time to taper.  If you don’t have any hard events until after January, it is party season.  Lighten up, let your body rest and have fun.

Here at Alameda Runners, we have no sponsors.  We get a lot of stuff to review and hand out and we always review it honestly.  If someone is added to the our links, it is because they are deemed worthy of noting.  If you see a product in the links, there is a safe bet that the product can be found at home and work and we love it.  We review stuff and hand out to people to help you find what is right for you.  It is not easy to find new products or to find things that work but we try.

Athletes Honey Milk just made it to the list because I have come to love their product.  I did not want to try it because of the name.  Once I tried it, I liked it.  I also mix protein powder with milk or water on various days.  I sometimes mix protein powder with the honey milk.  I like to change things up.  I am now a member of Team Honey Milk which means I get a free T-shirt and a coupon code which is posted here.  If you like honey milk, we can still get more coupon codes, send us an email through the contact us link above.

Clif will probably be the next company to make the list.  Their products don’t really suit my running needs but they work great for my cycling needs.  Clif has some new products that seem to be better for my long distance runs but I forgot what they are.  We have some more on the way and a review will follow shortly after we try them.

Tomorrow is my last trail half marathon of the season.  As you may know, we have been testing various running stuff since the site went on line back in March.  After I packed, I decided to post what actually made the cut.  I am not advocating any one product over another.  This is the equipment that I packed for the race.  All of the equipment listed here passed the test.  The biggest surprises for me are the Athletes honey milk and the Timex HRM.  I wonder how that made the cut over the Garmin 405?  Tomorrows run is going to be hilly and tough.  It would be nice know how far and how high I went.

I will do this again for my next half marathon in October.  I wonder what will change?  I know the shoes will change as tomorrow is my last run in them.  I ran more than 600 miles in them and I am pushing my luck.  That may be the reason I am wearing KT tape.

Race Gear
Shoes Asics – T941N with SuperFeet green insoles.
Road ID on shoe laces
Socks – SofSole
KT tape for calf relief from plantar faciitis pain on my lower calf
Underwear – Jockey  polyester/lycra
Running shorts – Asics
Tight long sleeve under shirt – Enso
Short sleeve undershirt – PB pro
Long sleeve top shirt – Jockey polyester spandex
Heart rate monitor – Timex Ironman race trainer
Hat – Under Armor
Maui Jim sunglasses
Nathan water carrier
Casio  Exilim camera
GU roctane
GU gel

Post race gear
Torex ice packs
Dollar store compression sleeves for ice packs
GU gel
bag of pretzels
Fig Newtons
Hammer bar cashew coconut
Athletes Honey milk (Chocolate and honey)
Cytomax bottled recovery drink

Please forgive all errors and missing links as the editor is out of town for a wedding.

Recovery is important for athletes looking to heal fast and continue training and racing – but ensuring we give our bodies the right nutrition post-race can be extremely difficult.

Ultimately, trying to figure out how much protein is needed comes down to a math and biology lesson, so I hope you’re prepared!

Very active people need 0.75g of protein per pound of body weight
Moderately active people need 0.6g of protein per pound of body weight
Mildly active people need 0.5g of protein per pound of body weight

So, a person who is moderately active and weighs 170 lbs. should consume around 102g of protein every day – though that number can fluctuate depending on overall activity level.

Ideally, you’ll want to consume something with protein within 10-15 minutes after your workout. I try to drink a little bit of water, and then worry about consuming some carbs and drinking a protein drink.

We’ve had good experience with the products from Athletes HoneyMilk (now Core Power), while Ted also experimented with Accelerade 4:1 and found success.

Expect a short review of the Muscle Milk Cookies ‘N Crème flavor, which I’ll have published sometime in the near future.