Alameda Runners – Get After It!

As all of you regular readers know:  I like to tear my body up by over doing it.  I know I should take it easy and spend more time on the couch but I am happy with the way things are.  One of my injuries is called plantar fasciitis near the ball of the foot.  This started about two years ago.

The pain has put a real damper on my running and bike riding.  A combination of orthopedic inserts for my shoes, rest, yoga and ice have me running again.  It is not pain free but the pain is bearable.

Ice is where ActiveWrap comes in.  I tried to stick my foot in a big bowl of ice water but my foot revolted.  My foot also did not go along with being placed in or on a bag of ice.  I tried the ActiveWrap foot and ankle wrap with two ice packs.  It is nice.  Having a pack of ice strapped to your foot is no picnic but it is convenient to have the ice localized to the painful area.

The ice packs are in removable pouches that are held to the wrap with Velcro.  That means you can put them on anywhere or in the wrap which puts the ice exactly where you want it.  I get the ice exactly where the pain is located on my foot.  I usually do this after training.  While I am icing my foot, I can feel the pain come up in my ITB that is related to the plantar fasciitis by interconnected tissue.  I don’t know how it works but that is what I have been told.  I tell you this because I ice my knee after I get done icing my foot.  I take the wrap off my foot, adjust the ice pack, then apply it to my knee.  It is not a perfect fit like the knee pack but it works.

I also have a torn up shoulder from various activities, primarily swimming.  I wear the shoulder wrap after a long swim or a hard round in the weight room.  The shoulder wrap is not as versatile as the foot wrap but it works fine.  It is a little tough to put on alone, but you’ll figure it out.  The shoulder wrap uses pocket that are sewn into the wrap so there is no adjustment to cover the top of the shoulder.  The wrap works well enough and it also doubles as a knee wrap.

Mike’s Note:  We interviewed the ActiveWrap crew prior to the Oakland Running Festival, with the interview available here. I’m also working on a couple of reviews related to ActiveWrap, but it will take a week or so before you’re able to read my ramblings.

The ability to try a wide variety of cycling and running products has given me a much better understanding of which energy gels, supplements, and recovery products to use.  I try to portray my experiences with various products to you guys as best as I can — if you have any specific questions, don’t hesitate to ask!  Today I’ll share my initial thoughts on the Honey Stinger Ginsting flavor energy gel I tested during a recent longer, slow run in Alameda.

The Honey Stinger Ginsting energy gel has 120 calories per gel, 50mg sodium, 85mg potassium, 32mg caffeine, 29g total carbs, and 29g sugar.  Similar to the Honey Stinger Gold, which is a honey flavor that doesn’t have added flavors, the Ginsting just adds a boost of caffeine.

First and foremost:  Honey Stinger gels are sweet.  Considering the company is called Honey Stinger, and honey is the main ingredient, you should probably expect it to be sweet.  I enjoy the added sweetness and sugar provided by the honey — but be sure to wash the gel down with water or electrolyte drink!

If you’re not a fan of sweet candies or something really sweet while out racing, Honey Stinger may not be the best product.  As always, I strongly recommend trying Hammer (and any other gel) on a training run before deciding to use it on race day — as tempting as it can be, leave the sample energy gels and other goodies in the bag!

Full review available after the jump. Read more… »

I went out for a moderately difficult two hour run today through the hills on a hot day sporting a bag full of Hammer Nutrition products.  I ate Montana Huckleberry gel along the route.  It tasted really good relative to most other things that I have tried.  It is always a big plus for me when it goes down easily.  I  washed it down with about 4 ounces of water and I was good to go.

At the one hour mark, I popped two if the Endurolytes.  I washed them down with my last 2-4 ounces of water and turned around.  It was hot and I consumed a lot more water going up the hills than I anticipated.  It was 2-3 down hill miles to the nearest water stop.  My stomach was burning like I had a stitch from running too hard without warming up.  It was not too bad and went away as soon as I got some water.  You will need water with these things.

As soon as I finished the run I had a Strawberry flavored Recoverite.  This is by far the best tasting recovery drink that is mixed with water.  I had no problem drinking it down or just sipping it.

On the drive home I drank a bottle of water mixed with Strawberry flavored HEED electrolyte drink.  This tasted good too.

The rest of my nutritional intake for the day consisted of pizza, water and beer and I feel good.  Hammer products rock.  We usually share the sample products with readers.  I am going to have a hard time parting with any of the Hammer products.  They are all good.

I wanted to put Hammer through the test with a hard training day but issues came up and I had to cut my workout short by dropping the 3 hour bike ride.  Sorry Hammer for not really putting you through the test but you did pass the short, hot workout with flying colors.

Optimum Nutrition (ON) Very Vanilla is my favorite recovery drink of them all.  I like to mix two scoops with 16 ounces of whole milk and a heaping teaspoon of chocolate milk mix.  This is less of a review of the ON 2:1:1, but is more of why I choose to drink it.

It is a calorie bomb loaded with 35 grams of protein, 79 grams of carbs, 23 grams of amino acids and 36 grams of sugar plus the chocolate milk.  I only use it on very hard days.  I use it after a cardio workout of at least two hours, a second workout of the day, or a hard session in the weight room.

It is so rich, it covers the taste of the whey.  I usually recover well after the ON 2:1:1.  I drink it after hard workouts so I still get sore but it is not as badly as if I were to drink water.  I sometimes drink the chocolate flavored mix with water on lighter workout days.  It does not taste as good with water but I can keep it at work.  I don’t like the vanilla in water at all.

I first stumbled upon Detour Runner after suffering through the Tilden Ten a few weeks ago.  I never had the company’s products, nor have I even heard of the company before the race.  I snagged a couple of bars from the table to snack on during the ride home — which I didn’t do, as I was unsure if I’d be able to keep it down — but promised to eat and write a review later.

I decided to go for a six-mile run and trip to the gym before I reviewed the Detour Runner bar.

The first review is for the Detour Chocolate Peanut Butter energy bar, which has 210 calories, 60 calories from fat, 8g sugar, and 12g of protein.  It has the right amount of calories and protein to be healthy and useful while remaining beneficial to the body.

Taste is normally the biggest problem with energy and protein bars, as most of them taste rather disgusting.  The Detour Runner bar tastes extremely tasty — in fact, it is one of the tastiest recovery bars I’ve ever eaten.

It doesn’t exactly taste like a chocolate peanut butter candy bar, but it’s still tasty considering it has 12 grams of protein (which seemingly destroys the taste of a lot of recovery bars).  It also has just 8 grams of sugar, but it’s still sweet enough to enjoy.

Individual bars can be purchased for $1.89 each, or a box of 12 is available for $17.88.

In addition to Detour Runner, Detour also offers the Detour Biker, Detour Yoga, Original Detour, Lower Sugar Detour, Oatmeal Detour, and Lean Muscle Detour.  I hope to try some other varieties in the future, but have not seen the Detour bars in any of our local stores.

Editors note:  This is by far the best tasting protein product tested yet!

Shoes are important for runners.  If you wear the wrong pair of shoes, you could unknowingly set yourself up for blisters, shin splints and other injuries that could be avoided.

I purchased the Saucony ProGrid Guide 2 shoes from Road Runner Sports after running the Oakland Half Marathon.

The shoe offers light stability designed to help reduce overpronation (limits just mild overpronation, so is pefect for me).  Saucony upgraded the ProGrid Guide 2 by using a new interior sock liner and added a memory-foam collar.  Everything else is virtually the same as the ProGrid Guide — a nice change of pace since Saucony chose not to tinker too much — while providing good support.

The shoe has decent cushioning, but doesn’t have much support towards the front of my foot.  (FYI:  The ProGrid Guide 3 shoes have a different style of cushioning, so could be ideal if you don’t like the way the ProGrid Guide 2 shoes feel.)  I don’t need the added cushioning, so purchasing the ProGrid Guide 2 was acceptable.

As I said in my RoadRunner store review, I picked the ProGrid Guide 2 over the following pairs of shoes:  Asics 2150, Brooks Adrenaline, and Nike Structure Triax running shoes.  Each pair is designed to help with slight overpronation, but the Brooks Adrenaline and Nike Structure Triax were immediately disqualified.  Both pairs didn’t feel great on my feet, especially compared with the Asics 2150 and ProGrid Guide 2.  I already own a pair of the Asics 2150 line, so I honestly didn’t feel like purchasing another pair.

I try on different pairs of running shoes whenever I’m given the chance.  I obviously don’t plan on purchasing a new pair of shoes every month — but I like to test different pairs just to see which shoes feel the most comfortable.  If you’re looking for a new pair of shoes, you should do your research before making a purchase.  I’d recommend looking on Active.com, Runner’s World, and other established running sources if you need any help on recommendations.

I am not the most scientific guy around. I only care about how edible it is and how well it works. I ate a cashew coconut chocolate chip Hammer Bar yesterday before a 2 hour bike ride. The bar tasted good, I did not feel sick, and had enough energy for the whole ride. I did not go hard. It was just a cruise around Alameda, but it was still good.

The Hammer Bar passed the first test before I took a bite. It is organic. I am not a vegan or health food zealot, but I have been switching to organic foods because of quality and taste. The company managed to come up with good quality and taste. The bar is loaded with calories from good sources. When I go out on my Saturday workouts, I burn 2,000 to 3,000 calories. I need all of the good calories I can get to help replace that.

The Hammer Bar gets a strong buy from me. That is saying a lot since I am so fond of GU and Clif. We are not professionals at this site. We are just typical athletes who happen to run a website.  We managed to get a lot of products from Hammer. The bar is so good, I am looking forward to trying the electrolyte and recovery drinks.

I am not a big fan of the hot-cold gels.  There is something about putting a chemical on my legs to make them burn that just seems wrong.  The stuff works so I don’t care if it seems wrong.

Biofreeze comes to me with a high recommendation from Dr.  Nejad (chiropractor).  He uses it on my overused muscles all of the time.  He explained how muscles knot up from overuse and how to help speed recovery by massage and the gels.  My younger son has the touch to find the knots and massage them out.

As we get older, our bodies don’t recover from the abuse as well as they did when we were younger.  It helps to do everything we can to help speed recovery.

A massage (more of a rub) on the knots using Biofreeze as a lubricant helps a lot.  The Biofreeze goes on warm and then gets cold when the massaging stops.  For me it gets so cold that I put on sweats after the session.  My legs were sore from the accumulation of this week’s runs.  I was in pain until I got my massage.  Now my legs are just cold and my sinuses are clear from the menthol smell.

I find the sore spot myself, so it can help figure out how to make it feel better.   The person who massages me will apply the gel and find the knots by my reaction to the pain.  After a little while, novice massage people can find knots by looking at the muscles and by feel.  The better your conscripts get at massaging, the better you will feel.  The instructions say “massage not necessary” but it sure does help.  Massages are a bit expensive.  If you don’t want to pay for a massage, get a tube of Biofreeze and a conscript.  Your legs will thank you.

Editor’s Note:  There are different types of Biofreeze products available… we’ll have some things cooking in the next couple of weeks.

This blog entry is my review of the French Vanilla Clif Shot Recovery drink that I recently tried out.

The powder smells good.  Mixed with 8 ounces of water, it is drinkable but hard to hold down.  I tried it again the next day using milk instead of water.  It tasted better and was a lot easier to hold down but it was way too sweet!  I carried a sugary after taste in my mouth for the next hour.  Maybe I will try it again with chocolate milk someday.

I don’t mind the calories or sugar except for the taste of the sugar but I wish it had more potassium.  It tastes less bad than most recovery drinks but I have tasted better.  The taste and texture put the Clif Shot into the long duration recovery drinks (Whey protien, Amino acids & BCAA’s)with qualities of a short duration drink (Electrolytes & glutamine).  I leave it with a final vote of OK but I think I can do better.

The mix contains 150 calories, 19 grams of sugar, 12 g of carbs, 230 mg of sodium and 135 mg of potassium.

You could give it a try, but there are better alternatives.

Ted recently ordered two cases of Cytomax Performance Enhanced Drink from BulkNutrition.com, and I was kind enough to drink a bottle after a five-mile run.

This is my kind of recovery drink (when I’m not in a mood for a whey protein shake).  I like Gatorade, but regular Gatorade is too sugary and makes my stomach queasy if I drink too much of it after a hard work out.

I tried out the Citrus flavor that tastes sweet but actually isn’t too sweet.

An 8 oz. serving of the drink has 50 calories, 55mg sodium, 30mg potassium, 12g carbs, and just 3g of sugar.  The entire bottle has 130 calories, 140mg sodium, 75mg potassium, 33g carbs, and 7g of sugar.

The CytoSport website has a list of the scientific benefits of the new Cytomax, but I honestly don’t know enough about that to explain it to you.

From BulkNutrition it was about $1 per bottle, so it’s not a ridiculous amount to pay for a tasty treat.  I don’t honestly want to purchase cases of this stuff (especially online), but it’s definitely something I’ll drink again.

Mike’s Note:  I have a bottle of Gatorade Recover drink I picked up from Safeway, and will have a review published sometime in the next couple of days.

Ted’s Note:  I have been trying different recovery drinks for a few months now.  It is a real treat to have something that tastes good for a change.  A 20 ounce bottle is 2.5 servings with 7.5 grams of sugar.  After a hard workout, I am tossing down the whole bottle and not worry about the calories.  I am smiling at the thought of not having to choke something down tomorrow.  My coworkers will have to find something else to bet on, now that I won’t get sick from my recovery drink.