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So it has been a while, a long while. A lot has gone on…
I think I will take my time and craft a few posts to describe where I am at. I think it will be fun to reflect.
One thing I know for sure…working for 14 days straight without running does not set you up for a good run race.
More later.
ED
Posted by Ed Crossman in General, Nutrition, Training, Uncategorized
So it has been a while since I first posted about trying out First Endurance. I have had plenty of time to practice, experiment, and race using some of their products. I have to say, I like them.
At first glance the price can be off putting. These products are a little more expensive than the others. However you get a stronger product. As painful as it is each time I am purchasing, I have to remind myself that this stuff works.
I’ll start in chronological order of use on race day. The pre-race taste like butt. Well, what I imagine it may taste like. There are ways around it, and if you do not have access to those taste altering things, you may want to skip it.
My early morning and pre-race concoction is 1 scoop pre-race, 1 scoop EFS, and 12 oz Powerade Zero…Strawberry or Fruit Punch do me well. This makes it tastes like Kool-aid, and you can’t go wrong with that.
What is nice about this combination is the electrolytes from the EFS. It is great mentally knowing you have proper hydration in your system before your swim.
Pre-race does not have the same effect as most other pre-workout powders. These are things like N.O. Xplode or CO2. I have tried those and they get you super pumped. My ears will tingle, and I will be super hyper. However with those pre-workouts I noticed they are dehydrating. I would usually cramp up on the swim at some point. I do not like that.
While Pre-race does not get you amped to the max, it does wake you up and get you focused on the task at hand.
I have bounced from Gatorade, to Heed, to Skratch and I have to say EFS has one of the strongest flavors. I like it, it is a change and doesn’t take time to get accustom to the flavor. I use the Fruit Punch and just like I described above, it tastes like Kool-aid.
One of the best parts of using this is that I know it is loaded with a ton of electrolytes…its what plants crave. Well, maybe.
I have yet to do a bike race with EFS, however my training with it has gone well. That’s not to say that Skratch or Heed was not working on my bikes. I still have some testing to do.
Liquid Shot is First Endurance’s “gel” or “gu”, however it is not really a gel. This stuff is more fluid than gel, and it goes down easy.
One thing I noticed is that you can buy it in individual 400 cal squeeze bottles, and then in bulk in large bottles. You can reuse the squeeze tubes, but when you first buy them the liquid shot has settled. The separation makes it a little thicker than usual and it is hard to get out during a race. I would advice you to open the bottle and stir it up pre race.
The bulk sized container though has the good stuff. This is luquidy and the Wild Berry flavor is the bomb. I like the taste and it packs a lot of calories.
I raced with this during the Miami marathon. I didn’t use the squeeze bottle, but instead filled a handheld bottle with about 10ozs of it. The race was hot and humid and I could feel it just 3 miles in. I could feel my stomach turning slightly. Once I started on the liquid shot it straightened out and I felt great. I still used salt tabs with Liquid shots for the marathon since it was super warm out.
I think I will stick with the liquid shot.
The post race fuel. Your body craves it after workouts. This stuff is the jam. I usually go with Tropical Punch (I wish the flavors were consistent throughout their products) and mix it with 20oz PowerAde zero (I try to buy the 32oz bottles, 12 for pre-race, 20 for post workout).
I like that it has 20g of protein along with lots of other goodies.
Comparing it to other products, I am not sure if I can tell that it is better than the others. I used Recoverite religiously for a year or so and loved it. It is the same feeling with Ultragen.
So I guess it comes down to preference…and flavor. I have tried Recoverite since, and it is not as good tasting as Ultragen.
I will finally be able to test this nutrition mixture at HITS Ocala. It will be an Olympic distance and I will be firing hard. I have a tendency to start the run with a bit of a gut issue, but I believe that is due to a lack of calories. I do plan on consuming more cals on the bike in the form of liquid shot, and drinking 1 bottle of EFS (along with some water).
And one last thing, this all sounds like an ad for First Endurance. Well you can tell by the unscientific reporting and the cost description as a sign that I most certainly have not received anything free from First Endurance. Would I like to get free stuff from them…oh heck yes.
So Miami didn’t really work out well for me. Just before mile 11 my foot landed weird and I experienced some shooting pain in my foot. I hobbled off to the side and started walking to the finish.
Luckily mile 13 went right by the finish so I was only limping for 2 miles. I was able to find Michelle and let her know too. The foot pain turned out to be some severe bruising just below my toes. It was as if I was jamming my foot, heel up, into the ground the whole time.
But now I must find out why.
I went down to Big Peach Running Co for a little analysis. They video’d me on a treadmill and I got to see what my form looked like. I had just finished up a 2 hour tempo bike ride 30 minutes before the analysis so I figured a little fatigue would allow my true form to shine through.
Things I noticed:
The little lean forward is an indication of some weak inflexible hips. Well I know this. I sit in a chair all day and have skipped a few too many gym sessions. Well with weak hips you start to cheat a little during running. You don’t bring your knee up as high, your feet kinda drift just above the ground, and there is a tendency to land on your foot a little too early.
I tested this out on a tempo-ish run yesterday where I concentrate solely on form. Mainly firing my hips and glutes. And that is when I found out the title for this post, I am lazy.
20 minutes in and I am already coasting, relaxing, not firing my hips. Why?? It saves me energy. The feeling was familiar and I believe I have done this in about every run so far, I start to conserve energy. I relax my hips a little earlier and glide over the ground…which is a fancy way of saying I get lazy!
What’s next…strengthening the hips and glutes and core and whatever else I can. I’ve noticed some hip weakness on the bike as well so I am sure this will help tremendously. So I am off to start a strength plan and focus on losing the laziness.
Posted by Ed Crossman in Training
I love my Garmin, I have to have it on to swim, bike, and run. Almost immediately after training I jump on my computer and upload to my favorite sites. It is a habit by now.
And then inevitably I leave my Garmin on. Oh it beeps and buzzes but somehow all those signals have been filtered as normal background noise.
So then comes the next time I want to exercise. The Garmin has been on all night buzzing and beeping…pleading to turn it off, yet it sat, ignored until I have a use for it again.
This leads me to where I am now, sitting at my computer, killing a few minutes to get my charge up to at least 20-25% so I can go on a 75minute run. If I only could gain .1mph on my bike each time, or perhaps gain 5 seconds per 100/meter on my swim each time…or 5 seconds faster on my minutes per mile…I’d be a champ by now.
Or maybe I could look for a picture for this post. In fact I will, I just googled ‘best picture on the intenet’ and hoped for the best…well http://thebestpictureontheinternet.com delivered…enjoy
Taken from http://thebestpictureontheinternet.com/
It has always been my nightmare…cramping up, melting, DNF. Luckily it has only become a reality once, but I still do not think I have a full handle on race nutrition.
My one crash and burn story is from Nov 2012 during the San Antonio Rock n Roll marathon. It was hot. It was my first marathon. It did not go well. I paced where I wanted to be for the first half, but then my upset gut took over and I spent the next 2.5 hours in agony.
I learned later that salt pills are a good idea on hot days. Silly me.
Fast forward to my last race, REV3 South Carolina and my gut did not want to race, nor did my cramping left calf. It was no where near as severe as the marathon, but something went wrong and I want to find out what it is.
Ultragen, EFS, Pre Race
So I am on a mission to try out something new, just before race day. Next race is in 3 weeks so I will have about 1 solid hard week to test it out.
I picked First Endurance and snagged their Pre-Race (powder packed with awakening products), EFS sports drink (standard mix with water), EFS Liquid Shot (comparable to gels, but more powerful), and Ultragen (Post workout you mix with a drink, I like Powerade zero).
So I will be trying these out over the next few weeks to see if it helps any. There is so much nutrition out there and everyone reacts differently. I am hoping this will shake up the routine and lead me to a great race in Nov…REV3 Venice 70.3.
More later.
Ed
It is getting darn close to race day. To make things more complicated we have moved (just up the road) and seem to be booking more travel for work, Sounds like a great excuse to do nothing.
Wrong. Just the opposite. It stinks coming home tired from work, to a house full of boxes and then trying to squeeze a workout in. But it has to get done. Just swam a small 1600 yard set in the pool. This following my longest open water swim of 1.2 miles in some chop.
It is definitely worth it to push on through since working out does bring some calm into your life. Then I destroy everything when I race! I cannot wait.
I feel bad for titling this as I did, but unfortunately there are certain careers that people do not like to use. The dentist, the police, the exterminator, and as an athlete…the doctor!
It started early in my life when I was playing football. It seemed that every time I would visit the doctor I would come out with a cast or crutches and be sentenced to ‘no sports’ for a while. It was always a bummer and this bad habit has stuck with me today.
But at times it is necessary to go visit. To check up on aches that ache a bit more than an ache should be aching. In my case it was a bit of the knee pain.
The last 5 miles of a particularly grueling uphill both ways kind of 51 mile ride I felt some soreness. No big deal, I’ve had it before, lets start this 30 minute run and shake out the soreness.
The run did not go so well and I have not run since. Now when I try to run the pain in my knee is intense after only a few strides. I then have to walk or stop. That is is when I knew I had to see…the dreaded doctor.
I make a visit to the doc sound awful but with increasing popularity of endurance sports, sports doctors have sprung up everywhere and you can select your favorite. I like mine so it isn’t a hassle or a pain (pun unfortunately kept in after an internal cerebral debate).
For my particular ailment there really wasn’t anything structurally wrong with my knee. Everything looked great, which is kind of not what I wanted to hear. Now there is nothing to fix. So it is on to my next adventure, Airrosti. More on that later when I go.
So I guess the moral of this wall of text is to go to the doctor and find your solution. The goal is to exercise pain free and to exercise for years to come.
I always loved seeing a calendar full of corporate holidays. It meant long weekends, less work, paid days off…and now, extra ride days.
Presidents Day ride in front of Mission Espada
I took advantage of the latest installment of corporate holidays and rode a nice relaxing 22 miles. It was great to not push it (except for a little sprint here and there) and to take in the air.
What was especially gratifying was knowing that I am usually cramped up in a cubical staring at my computer screen. Even though I do enjoy my job a ton, I definitely prefer the bike riding option.
It is definitely not easy training for a 70.3 while working full time, and going to school, and working side projects. But holidays make great opportunities to add in those extra base miles.
The next holiday is not really a corporate one (even though it should be) but we are taking another day off for it. St Patrick’s day will be fun and will be filled with running. And of course some Guinness afterwards.
One of my biggest challenges with endurance sports is the whole endurance piece. Sustaining a large amount of effort over a long amount of time. Growing up I always plays sports with sprinting, Baseball, Football, Bowling…you get the picture.
Those sports are great, but they never help you with endurance. So it really hit me yesterday after sprints, it takes longer than a week to build speed.
I have noticed that, as I imagine other beginners do, I start off way too fast. I also think I can sustain a pace that is way too fast. Yet even after disappointing, huffing and puffing, terrible feeling finishes my next race I am right back in the same spot.
One thing I must do is honestly evaluate my level of fitness. I think if I focus on the following it should fall into place:
The list seems sort of easy after typing it out. But it is the hardest thing for me. I will be testing it out this Sat at a duathalon. So hopefully I am disciplined enough to maintain a realistic pace.
When travel starts to pick up and time away from the comfort of our home increases, spin classes are good. It is kind of nice that there are more and more spin specific studios popping up that make for great ride substitutes.
Today we needed to get in a solid 2 hours of biking. Unfortunately we are a few thousand miles from our bikes. So we found a studio and made the trip on a Sunday morning to a local studio in Burbank.
Of course we ran out of space in our luggage for our bike shoes. We had to make due with cages and running shoes. I also noticed that the more minimal shoes I grow into, the less comfortable they are on a spin bike. You definitely need support when riding a bike and my Brooks Pure Drifts are not made for that. Don’t worry, I survived.
It is also great to experience the different types of spin techniques advocated by the instructors. My usual Thursday class back home has us occasionally get out of the saddle for big hills. Today we started our second class out of the saddle for about 15 minutes. It was quite the workout.
So do not let a little travel get in the way of finding a great workout.
