As someone who moved to California and started wearing flip flops almost every day during the spring and summers, I often wondered what, if any, physical damage the flip flops caused me.
I never bothered to look for an answer – and part of me didn’t want to hear an answer. Years later, I’ve recently switched from flip flops more towards old running shoes and regular sneakers. Ada on Twitter (@ProbalancePT) recently Tweeted an interesting article I want to discuss.
To put it simply: “The more the shoe conforms to your foot, the better off your foot and leg will be,” according to a kinesiology assistant professor at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette. “If it’s loose, your foot has to work harder to keep your flip-flop on.”
When I walk short distances, I honestly haven’t felt much of a difference between flip flops and shoes. However, I notice it whenever walking for more than 10-to-15 minutes, and my feet and ankles begin to scream at me.
For anyone who feels the need to wear flip flops, try to find different models that have “deepened heel cups and defined arches”, they are better than regular sandals. These models should help relieve stress that is added to the shin muscles while wearing normal flip fops.
Moral of the story: Flip-flops are okay if you’re casually walking on the beach or around the pool, but aren’t ideal for longer durations. Since I’ve spent hours walking in several different pairs of flip-flops, I’m going to listen to the experts and wear sneakers more.
In Ted’s recent review of Hammer products, he mentioned his stomach burned at a point during a long run. I asked Hammer about this, and received a prompt response regarding the matter.
“They are normally well tolerated, even with small amounts of fluid,” I was told.
The Hammer rep said it’s not an issue they’ve heard from other customers — and seems more like it was a problem with Ted’s stomach during training.
Update: Ted confirmed it was his own doing… either way, if you suffer while testing a new product, it’s best to try and figure out what caused the problem. As noted in this article, contacting the company may be an ideal way to try and get to the bottom of things. Hammer is extremely customer-friendly, and has an online forum with a very friendly staff ready to handle your questions.
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’m writing a review of the FINIS SwiMP3 for Alameda Runners (review for MyCE published here), but wanted to give you a quick look at the MP3 player. Here is the FINIS spin on things:
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.
This weekend is athletes heaven for the Northern California tribe of readers. The weather is supposed to be perfect all over the place. I often vary my Saturday long workout routines to match the weather. This weekend I am spoiled for choice. There are so many options, I am going to stick with my plan that I wrote up in March! I will bring my wet suit to the bay in case I want to add a swim at the last minute. I encourage all of you readers to get out and do something this weekend. I packed so much into last weekend that it felt like I was coming off vacation when I went back to work on Monday. Just get out and do it!
Saturday 6/11/10, is the day I put the Hammer product line through the Ted tests. I am going to workout for about 5 hours consuming nothing but hammer products. If I make it home to write about my day, Hammer passed. If I wind up in the hospital with the emergency crews testing my road ID, the test did not go so well.
It appears that I created a bit of stir when I singled out Yoplait yogurt as a bad food in my dieting article. I heard so much about how Yoplait is fat free and it has dairy yogurt cultures and so on and so on. I stand by my implication of Yoplait being junk food. I don’t really have a problem with junk food. You just have to be careful about how much you consume. Pick your battles. If Yoplait is your choice of junk food that is fine. I would rather have chocolate or a cheeseburger as my junk food.
Here are some quick links to what I found on yogurt. I have a link for Voskos Greek Yogurt because they sell it in the Oakland Whole foods. I am not a big fan of Voskos but it is high quality and tastes decently enough. I love Greek Gods Yogurt but it is very high in fat and about half the people in the link are not fans. Of course there is a link to yoplait.com.
If you get out for a 5 hour workout this weekend, you can eat anything you want afterwards providing your stomach is up for it. Enjoy the weekend!
If you’re looking for a running race later this month, the Brazen Racing Bear Creek Half Marathon (10K/5K also available) event will take place on Saturday, June 26.
The event will take place in the East Bay Regional Park District’s Briones Regional Park. I haven’t explored Briones before, but the course looks very challenging! Alameda Runners will be represented by Ted, as I’ll be in the Sierra Nevada foothills for a wedding.
Brazen had this to say regarding its upcoming race:
The cut-off for regular registration is this Sunday (6/13). This is also the deadline for guaranteed t-shirts, so if you want to be sure you get yours in the size you want, register before the end of Sunday.
Also, due to parking issues, the park has asked us to keep the number of participants more or less equal to our last race there (about 400). Right now we are on track for that, but if we get a rush of sign-ups, we might have to shut down registration. We’d hate to turn anyone away, so if you’re planning to run, we recommend signing up as soon as possible!
If you’re not quite ready for the course, Brazen still welcomes volunteers (my opinion about volunteers can be found here) for the race.
Just like most cyclists, I’ve dreamed and longed for a chance to ride a road bike in the mountains of Italy or France, or on the famed cobbles. I’ve seen an increase in tourism companies catering to rich cyclists looking to explore Europe, while there has been a more silent rise in mountain biking and road riding adventures closer to home.
I’ve seen reports of amazing journeys across Cuba, with at least one Alameda cyclist saying he enjoyed a recent trip to the Dominican Republic. I know baseball and soccer are extremely popular sports in the Dominican Republic, but didn’t realize mountain biking is growing in popularity — increasing so much, a mountain bike resort will open in the country.
The proposed ParkVida resort, expected to open by Oct. 31, 2011, will feature downhill, cross-country, dirt jump, free ride, cyclocross, and street events.
“We are excited about the promise associated with our intended acquisition,” said Ruairidh Campbell, chief executive officer of Montana. “Mountain biking has become the activity of choice for many outdoor enthusiasts yet the number of full-service facilities dedicated to this growing industry is limited.” Mr. Campbell stated, “I believe that ParkVida will attract bikers from around the world for its exotic location and mountain bike specific amenities.”
If opened, I wonder how many foreign mountain bikers will be up for the trip to the DR to ride at ParkVida. I imagine a multi-million dollar marketing ploy in the United States and Canada will take place — but it could be worth the adventure.
Similar to a ski resort, once the on-mountain activities are finished, visitors will be able to enjoy the amenities at the “six-star” resort.
People seem to think I eat bird seed and fish because I am skinny. I am always being asked why I am drinking milk or coffee. I often hear “I didn’t know you could eat that.” I am also asked by people why their latest magic diet is not working and I can drink chocolate milk with whole milk.
Dieting is a life long commitment to nutrition. It is really hard to be nutrition conscious in today’s highly processed food climate. The marketers and food manufacturers are good at making bad things look healthy. I have a few rules that I live by for healthy eating.
Drink lots of water
Drink iced tea or a similar drink. Add real sugar for sweetness.
Eat real yogurt
Eat 3-4 meals a day
Eat loin cuts of meat
Eat free range meat
Eat organic food
Use real butter
Carbs are good
Some fat is good
Eat what you like
Moderation is key
Occasional junk food is ok
Indulge in good chocolate
Exercise
Eliminate the soda (diet soda too)
Eliminate the diet foods
Eliminate the high fructose corn syrup. It is a lot harder than you may think.
Do not skip meals
Do not snack or mooch
Do not replace meals with workout recovery food
Avoid empty calories
Avoid margarine
Stop eating when you are full
Avoid cheap chocolate (never waste calories on something average)
Do not be a couch potato
A lot of what I say here is easy and makes sense. A lot of is hard and is against what we are told by marketers. A lot of it is expensive. I can’t afford to eat all organic and free range food, especially organic loin cuts of meat. Do the best you can. Watch out for the sneaky stuff like Yoplait yogurt that looks healthy but it is just a chemical bomb full of bad calories.
The bottom line of dieting – burn more calories than you consume. Good calories build good muscles, bad calories don’t.
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