Alameda Runners – Get After It!

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.

Welcome to all of the new people from around the East Bay who have met us on the trails lately and visited the site. We met up with the MPstriders and Lake Merrit joggers and striders.

By popular demand, I have added a contact us block in the header. If you want to contact us, you may either click on the link above or reply to a post.

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.

I saw something on the Active.com Facebook account related to an upcoming race I thought I should mention here on Alameda Runners.  Alameda will host the See Jane Run Half Marathon & 5K in Alameda next month, and it’s a great course that is flat and fast.  I’m working on an interview with the event organizers, so you can expect that sometime in the next few days.

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.

The inaugural Oakland Running Festival in late March was a success as thousands of runners took to the streets of Oakland in late March.  The company behind the event, Corrigan Sports Enterprises, recently answered a few questions for Alameda Runners (thanks to John, and everyone else who provided questions).

Check out our Oakland Half race recap and our additional  thoughts on the race.

Considering it was the first marathon/half marathon in Oakland in quite some time, it took place with very few hitches.  However, there was a bit of confusion as the half marathon and full marathon courses merged together towards the end of the race around Lake Merritt — an issue race organizers heard about from numerous participants.

“I highly doubt it will change as we use the same format as our Baltimore event and a good majority of the runners enjoy the merge.  They have told us that the merge gives them another boost of energy for the final stretch.  Logistically, having all the races finish in the same spot makes the end exciting and unites the fans in one place.”

Instead of altering the finish location, CSE is instead looking to change the flow of runners.

“We have looked at the surveys and we are already working on ways to fix the cramping along Lake Merritt at 14th Street.”

There were a few smaller issues, but nothing worth noting.  The future looks bright for the Oakland Marathon, and CSE understands what’s necessary to bring in higher profile athletes (and more media exposure):

“Our goal is to make the Oakland Running Festival one of the top races in the country and unfortunately we didn’t have the sponsorship dollars in year one to put up enough prize money to attract some of the top talent from across the globe.  As the race grows and sponsorship is added, so will the purse for the marathon.”

Mike’s Random Aside:  You hear that sponsors?  You wanted to wait to see what would happen after the first event… now it’s time to step up and help bring elite athletes to the event.

The future certainly looks bright for the Oakland Running Festival, with event organizers expecting more participants, additional sponsors, and increased interest next year.

“Based on the survey results and feedback from the city, people are excited about the event and already looking forward to next year.  We expect the event to grow to nearly 10,000 runners and a bigger selection of vendors to want to sell their wares at our expo.  We have already booked the bigger convention hall to accommodate more vendors and more runners.”

The CSE had this to say to end the interview:

“We are thankful to all the runners who participated in the event this year as well as the fans who lined the course.  Without them, this wouldn’t have been a huge success and have us thinking about bigger and better things for next year.  For (all of you) who didn’t run in 2010, registration opens on June 1, so be sure to sign up early as we sold out last year.”

Mike’s Final Note:  The Oakland Half is what motivated me to run… I saw Ted finish numerous events, but didn’t have a real interest in racing.  If CSE and the City of Oakland didn’t step up to host the event, it’s doubtful this site would have launched.

AlamedaRunners previously interviewed Rocktape (and a KT Tape interview is in the works), so we wanted to continue our effort to provide information about even more kinesiology tape products.

Today I am going to interview SpiderTech, a kinesiology product company that has custom pre-cut pieces and regular products — and a professional cycling team currently in the Tour of California.

The first question many people wonder about these kinesiology products is whether or not they work – and if it’s worth putting down the cash.

“I have designed the applications based on functional anatomy of the primary area for which the applications are intended for,” said Dr. Kevin Jardine, practicing chiropractor and founder of the company.  “This is to include all of the primary muscles as well as the synergistic muscles involved making the pre-cut applications more functional.  The pre-cuts, cut out of one large piece also allow the applications to be applied without tape overlapping tape.  The Tape is meant to be applied to skin.  The Pre-cut applications also ensure that the applications are applied in a consistent way each time ensuring the athlete is receiving same results.”

Trying to figure out how to apply this tape is something that is challenging for most people (Ted and I are still working on it ourselves) — a fact realized by Dr. Jardine.

“Although we have simplified the use of kinesiology taping, it isn’t easy.  It is still a therapy and one that requires technique in the proper handling of the material.  We not only focus on offering the highest level of free instruction on our website and our online courses, we are leading the way in the most evidence led approach to ensuring the ‘best practices’ with the use of kinesiology taping.”

Full interview available after the jump. Read more… »

Ted’s review of various heart rate monitors.  I am a fan of heart rate monitors.  I use one for just about every workout.  It is important for me to maintain a slow pace on my long, slow days.  Wearing a heart rate monitor helps me to maintain a slow pace as I have a habit of letting the pace creep up until I am in a flat out sprint.  I recommend getting one and using it while training.  They are very handy tools and it is pretty easy to learn how to read your pace or level of effort by watching your heart rate.

1. Garmin 405 ($299) – The Garmin 405 HRM/GPS is awesome.  It does everything you could ever want from an HRM except lower your heart rate.  You can tell it what you want your pace to be in minutes per mile and it has a screen that tells you your pace and how far off the pace you are.  It is odd looking when you hit the pace because it only tells you the pace and how far off you are which is great if you are on pace.  The bad part of the pace screen is that you must change the screen to get to the heart rate screen.  Changing screens is always an adventure.  My favorite screen is the one that tells me my heart rate, distance covered and overall time.  When I find my screen, I lock the bezel to keep the screen from changing by accident.  When the screen changes unexpectedly, I am pretty miserable trying to get my screen back.
2. Timex Ironman race trainer ($300) – Timex has been putting stuff on peoples wrists for a long time… and it shows.  The Timex was the only HRM that I could figure out without reading the instructions.  It does not have a GPS or it would be the clear favorite.  It does ask about your personal information so it can tell you how many calories were burned during your workout.  It is not an exact science, but if it tells you 2500 calories were burned during the workout, you know it is time to eat.  A lot!  I like the big numbers on the display and the swap number function.  The chest strap is light and comfortable.  The down side of the Timex is adult children tend to “borrow” the wrist piece to wear as a watch.
3. Polar F55 ($250) – Is just a bit better than the Timex feature wise but it in not as comfortable or as easy to figure out.  Every now and then I want to know what time it is when I am out for a long workout.  If you bring the HRM close to the chest strap, the time will show for about 5 seconds.  It also has a nice big screen that is easy for us old guys to see.  A big plus for the F55 is that it is forgiving.  It gives you a chance when you push a button to do the right thing.  The screens just make sense.  I don’t know how to work the F55 but it always seems to do what I want it to do.
4. Polar Accurex Plus ($75) – The HRM that I wear the most.  It has very few features and I only use 5 or 6 of them:  heart rate, timer, start, stop, reset and time of day.  There is just something about easy operation that I like.  I don’t want to spend as much time practicing to use a heart rate monitor as I do training to do a marathon.
5. Polar B1 ($50) – Single button, confusing and simple HRM.  There can be such a thing as too simple.  Fortunately you can only get so confused by one button so once you get the thing started you are good to go.  It is pretty hard to get something to go wrong after you get it started.  It does read your heart rate and duration of work out.  One time I was wearing the thing for a two hour run when it stopped reading my heart rate at 90 minutes (1:30) and started timing.  I was trying to maintain a steady heart rate of 132 when that happened.  I was confused for a couple of minutes.

Number one most hated HRM prize goes to the Garmin 405!  For every reason that I have to love the 405, I have 5 to hate it.  If the thing did not have such a nice GPS, I would have thrown it off the Golden Gate Bridge a long time ago!  The bezel is complicated.  The functions are complicated.  The battery life is poor which is to be expected but when the battery life gets down to about 20%, a low battery warning covers the screen!  The bezel has a mind of its own.  If you bump it, the screen will change and you have to wait and hope it changes back.  The instructions are terrible.  I can go on and on but I will stop to protect my blood pressure and good health.

I stand by my ratings.  The GPS/HRM combo puts the 405 way above the competition.  Items two and three are interchangeable and you won’t go wrong with either selection.  The Accurex wins the bang for the buck award.  The B1 gets a do not buy recommendation from me.

Hello to all of our new friends from the Tilden Tough Ten.  Ted and I ran the event along with almost 300 others this morning… race recap and pictures will be posted tonight.

I had one hell of a day – learned a few valuable lessons – and think it’s nap time!

Photo page is up.  For all of you new runners,  The photo page is usually posted a few hours before it is announced.

Mike went to the Berkeley Performance Bicycle store, and was able to pick up some goodies.  He did a fine job.  He came home with Clif mini bars.  The big bars are a bit much for me.  When I go on really long runs or bike rides, the gels alone, don’t cut it.  The big Clif bars are too much for me and hinder me from taking in enough gel.  I really like the minis.

When I am doing a long, slow workout, I like to consume nutrients every 30-60 minutes after the first hour.  It is a nice change to slip an extra bar in at 30 minutes then another gel at 30 minutes later.

He also brought home a flavor mix of GU energy gel.  It comes complete with every flavor of GU including the higher-performance Roctane gels.  If you have not tried the Roctane, I recommend it.  We usually take every flavor at random and return the chocolate and espresso.  We wait for a long 20 mile run to eat the chocolate or espresso because at mile 20, anything tastes good.  I am a fan of the mixed packs of products.  When you randomly pack your fanny pack with gels, you never know what you are going to get.  It is always fun to get something different.

Mike’s Note:  I also prefer Roctane over the normal GU gels, even though when he says “we” in the 20-mile run discussion, he really means “me.”

It may seem odd to mention both GU and Clif in the same shout out but they are both great companies with great people.  Their products work very well together as variation is a big thing for proper nutrition during long training days.  The two companies are located about 3 miles away from each other in Berkeley so we get to meet a lot of the people at the local events.  I have never had a bad experience with anyone from either company.  Both companies offer more support to events than they have to.  I think they do it because they love what they do and they care about us athletes who use their products.

Mike’s Note #2:  Unless you’re sponsored by a specific company, don’t feel like you need to show complete loyalty to a single company.  Experiment. I really like Clif and its environmental views, but I’m not afraid to say I prefer the GU Roctane gels over the Clif gel.  (That isn’t to say the Clif gels are bad, but the Roctane brand just has a great boost in it.)