On January 1, 2012,
in 
A few weeks ago, I was contacted by the folks who put together and market a product called Phil Keoghan’s NOW Energy Bar about doing a product review. For those of you who don’t know, Phil Keoghan is the host of CBS TV’s show “The Amazing Race”. I agreed to take a sample from them and promised I’d do a write up as to what I thought of the product.
Fair warnings….For the past two seasons, First Endurance has been my nutrition sponsor, and I have exclusively used their products (and have talked about their products copiously on this blog). I typically don’t use solid energy bar products as part of my training or racing nutrition, so trying this bar product would be a little bit of a stretch for me. Additionally, you should know all the quasi-legal mumbo jumbo…Neither Phil Keoghan nor the makers of NOW Energy Bar compensated me for a good review. All the opinions are mine (and those of my son, who was also a taste-tester).
Background:
According to the marketing material that came with my samples, NOW stands for No Opportunity Wasted. This is supposedly Keoghan’s mantra for life. The bars are gluten free, and don’t include GMO ingredients. They are dairy and tree-nut free, and incorporate an ingredient called Manuka Honey. Manuka Honey is a product of New Zealand, and is reported to have immune boosting capabilities due to a higher antibacterial component than “regular” honey. I Google’d Manuka Honey and found tons… Read the rest
The Recovery Pump Compression System
Compression devices. We love them (most of us). We swear by them. We run in them. We sleep in them. We … ahem … (G rated blog, sorry).
By and by, most of us agree that compression devices have their benefits. Certainly there is talk among some that compression offers nothing more than a placebo effect, but recent research tends to show otherwise.
Earlier this spring, I wrote this post where I shared some of the background research behind compression devices. I additionally shared specific research that had been done using endurance athletes that showed compression garments were highly instrumental in faster recovery efforts. I even did a fairly thorough review of CEP’s compression sleeves (which you can read here).
In both of the posts noted above, I talked about the differences between passive and mechanical compression devices. For a recap, passive compression devices are things like compression socks and sleeves. Full-body compression garments that are on the market today fall into the passive compression category as well. In short, passive compression aids recovery by helping the body in a couple of ways – through supporting the musculature and eliminating some of the muscle “osscilations” that lead to fatigue, and by helping aid the body flush bio-waste products out of cells and into the lymphatic system. Mechanical compression devices take this flushing process to the next level by incorporating either sequential or peristaltic compression to really… Read the rest
Recovery. It’s called the “fourth discipline”. We’ve all heard about it. Some of us do it better than others.
Recovery isn’t just about that 10 second rest break between swim intervals or spinning for a minute on a bike after a hard effort (although both of those are types of recovery). Recovery is more about allowing your body to adapt to the physical rigors that we put it through as we’re training for swim, bike and run (and weightlifting, P90X, Insanity, Crossfit, Warrier Dashing, etc). The problem is, since the vast majority of us are not typically very good at recovery, we may be a little unsure of exactly what we should do, and when. Moreover, we may not track our recovery in similar ways as we track the other aspects of our training.
Recently, Velo Press sent me a new book to read and review: The Athlete’s Guide to Recovery, by Sage Roundtree. I finished reading it not too long ago, and I thought that since most of us are really in the “thick” of our training right now, it’d be a good idea to share some of my thoughts on the book.
This book is fairly small. The chapters are typically fairly short, and as such, it’s a very quick read.
The book is broken into three parts: Defining & Measuring Recovery; Recovery Techniques; and Recovery Protocols.
In the first of the three parts of the book, we learn about why recovery in general is important, the… Read the rest
A month or so ago, the folks at CEP asked me if I’d like to try a pair of their compression sleeves and write a review on my experience. Being interested in providing a service to the triathlon blog-reading public, I naturally agreed. 
They were nice enough to send me a pair of sleeves and asked me to run them through the ringer, so to speak.
First: Technical FTC mumbo-jumbo. CEP sent me this pair of sleeves; I didn’t buy them. They didn’t ask me to say anything in particular about their product, therefore, all opinions expressed below are mine.
I wrote an article last week about the myriad of researach on compression (read it here) and the multiple schools of thought regarding whether compression is beneficial or not. In all honesty, though, I didn’t read all the research until I was well into testing these compression sleeves, so I wasn’t able to specifically target one particular aspect relating to compression…such as how they impact recovery.
Like many athletes, this was not my first trip down compression lane. I’ve worn Zensah compression sleeves for years, and this season I’m also using the Recovery Pump system. (Look for more on that system later on this week).
I was excited to give CEP’s compression sleeves a try, as I’ve generally had a positive experience with my Zensah sleeves.
Straight out of the gate, let’s refresh a little about compression. As I wrote last week, compression sleeves are… Read the rest
A few weeks ago, the fine folks over at VeloPress asked me if I’d like to have the opportunity to review a book. After some back and forth, we decided that one book, in particular, would be a great initial fit with the TriMadness blog and be a superior capstone to the TriMadness Coaching Series. Today, I’ll share with you my thoughts on Joe Friel’s new book, Your Best Triathlon: Advanced Training for Serious Triathletes.
Friel wrote this book as a follow-up to his wildly popular book The Triathlete’s Training Bible, and is really built upon similar principles. Your Best Triathlon is geared for what Friel calls the “serious” triathlete – one who is gearing up for their best race ever.
That’s the main premise of the book: how to train for, and execute, your best triathlon race ever.
So how does Friel get us there? The book offers an in-depth view of each training phase (Prep, Base 1-3, Build 1-2, Peak, Taper, Race) including specific workouts for each phase. Don’t assume that this book is simply about training plans – they are there (at the end of each chapter are detailed training plans for each distance triathlon), but there is so much more to this book than just training plans.
For starters, Friel spends quite a bit of time explaining discussing your base fitness, how to train via periodization – which as many of us have heard is the right way to… Read the rest
On January 19, 2011,
in 
“When one bottle is all you need, the HydroSprint is the obvious choice. The stability of our wide hipbelt and No-Bounce™ strap system and ergonomic access to your bottle and gel flask lets you run long and hard.”
Materials:
Tier 1 Recycled 210 Denier Nylon Double Ripstop; Nylon-Spandex Stretch Woven; High-Void Polyester Mesh
Features:
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Ergonomic Design: Ergo, go in comfort.
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Toe-gripping footbed.
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Cupped Heel.
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Coated cork – Physiform footbed contours to your foot.
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Rugged outsole.
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Perfect fit: pillow rim, seamless comfort.
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Cool construction: microperfed suede, bilateral stretch panels, odor resistant.
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Roomy toe box.
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Goat leather liner.
“WHO WE ARE
Todi is a shoe company focused on developing Après-Athletic footwear exclusively for aggressive souls. It’s what you wear to and from the locker room.
THE STYLE
Our first shoe is the Original, currently available in Model T Black. Soon Todi footwear will be available in a variety of high school and college team colors. We have a deep bench of design ideas to bring to market over the next few years. As Todi athletes begin wearing the shoe, we will look to them to provide input on which styles they would like to see next.
THE SHOE
Athletes tend to beat their feet; soccer players cram them into cleats, ski racers force them into plastic vises, runners pound the pavement and the trail, climbers use them to grip a rock façade. No matter what the sport, your feet take the brunt of the abuse. Todi designed the Physi-Form Insole with enough support to help the foot relax and the versatility to gradually conform and accommodate many foot shapes.
WANT MORE?
Not much more to tell. We like to keep it simple.
See you after the game.”
Todi USA sent… Read the rest
Veronica Bosgraff’s daughter was 6 when she told her mother she wanted to be vegetarian. Veronica noticed that there clearly was a lack of healthy vegetarian snacks in grocery stores, and decided to create one of her own. The requirements were stiff. Only use real ingredients, organic fruits and healthy nuts untouched by harmful herbicides and pesticides. No refined sugars, no chemicals, no genetically-modified stuff. We wanted ingredients rich in antioxidants, vitamins, and omega-3 fats. Most importantly, it had to taste amazing.
Pure Bar is committed to using its products and practices as vehicles for change. As a brand started by a woman to empower her daughter to pursue a healthy active lifestyle, they are committed to overall wellness. Pure is dedicated to enabling young men & women to realize their potential and provide them with the tools that can inspire them to have a lasting positive impact in their communities. Additionally, they hope to encourage these same young men and women to adopt a more healthy, active lifestyle.
Veronica Bosgraff
Ingredients: agave nectar, walnuts, almonds, cacao nibs, cocoa powder, wild blueberries, tart cherries, sunflower seeds, cranberries, apples, dates, rice protein, and nothing else! All ingredients are raw and organic to the extent possible.
Pure Bars are gluten-free and vegan. Note, however, that they are produced in a facility that processes soy, milk, egg, wheat, and peanut products.
“CLIF SHOT® Turbo Energy Gel offers all of the performance upgrades of the new CLIF SHOT® Energy Gel, but also includes an extra concentrated caffeine kick for those days that require just a little bit more.” CLIF has made some improvements to its gels, coming up with new formulas that offer better taste, a thinner consistency, and more electrolytes to fuel your performance. Also added are varying amounts of caffeine, with 25mg in the Strawberry and Citrus, 50mg in the Mocha, 100mg in Double Expresso and in the Chocolate Cherry, or no caffeine at all in the Chocolate, Vanilla, and Razz.
I recently got to try all of these new flavors, excepting Vanilla. They are uniformly decent, with a few standouts in the Mocha and the Double Expresso. In fact, I would go as far as to say that the Double Expresso is my favorite gel of all time! These new CLIF gels have very natural flavors, excepting the Chocolate Cherry, which, while still an okay flavor, came closest to the chemically-tinged taste of the past. One other thing I really liked about these new gels is how easily they melted and mixed into water. I’ve been carrying gel flasks a lot recently, finding it easier to drink down the gels rather than squeeze them out of the tube while underway. CLIF SHOT® Energy Gel contains no animal-based ingredients so it is vegan-friendly. BONUS!
CLIF has also added… Read the rest
