Energy Product Trial #3 - Honey Stinger Waffle

Date:  8/18/12
Start Time:  5:50 AM 
Start Temperature:  56 degrees F 
Sleep beforehand: ~ 7 hours 
Food beforehand: half english muffin with honey 
Drink beforehand: cup of coffee 

End Time:  7:45 AM 
End Temp: 62 degrees F 
Total Distance: 12.1 miles 
Average Pace: 9:06 min/mile

Product Stats:  
Serving Size: 1 ounce (entire package) 
Calories:  160 
Good Stuff:  
 - Sodium: 55mg 
 - Carbs: 21g 
 - Fiber: 1g 
 - Sugars: 14g 

The rundown:  

Okay, confession time ... I'm doing this post a week after the run, so it's not exactly fresh in my mind.  I DO remember that it was my longest "long" run ever, and I remember quite a bit about the product.  I don't remember much about what I saw, encountered, or other extenuating factors, but I remember that the weather was pretty much ideal.  

On the product: 

First, as you can see by the picture, the Honey Zinger is a very strange shape.  It's package is a flat, 3x3 inch bag with a circular wafer inside.  I had to fold the package in half TWICE to make it fit into my running shorts, and even then the corners of the package poked me painfully in the leg!  I had to cut the corners off the package with a pair of scissors just to spare my legs.  Also, because of the number of times I had to fold it, when I opened the package the "waffle" was broken into several pieces.  I actually dropped a small piece of it as I tried to open the package.  

The "waffle" was chewy and tasted like honey, like the package suggests.  It was sort of dry, which was kind of hard to stomach mid-run with no water stations (which wouldn't be a problem during races).  I was skeptical at first on the possible usefulness of the product, since it has less sodium than many of the other products and no vitamins or potassium.  However, I found that the waffle filled me up pleasantly without feeling like a rock in my stomach.  And, actually, I discovered that the energy from the Honey Stinger stuck around for almost my entire run, which might be chocked up to the additional calories it provides.  

Overall Rating:  7.5/10 

I wanted to rate it higher, simply because I was impressed that the energy delivery.  But the dagger-like package, the fact that I actually had to modify it to carry it with me (and it was still awkwardly crammed into my pocket) knocked it down a few notices.  This is one I definitely will try again, and I'll try to figure out a more convenient way to carry it.  

The Skinny: 

PROS: 
 - Pretty good taste 
 - Additional calories
 - Energy that really delivers 

CONS: 
 - Most awkward package of any trial so far 
 - Less sodium, no potassium 
 - I dropped part of it while running because I had to break it to fit it into my pocket :( 

Final analysis:  Definitely going to try this again.  The energy was too good to pass up.  

Energy Product Trial #2: Gatorade GSeries Energy Chews

Date:  8/5/12
Start Time:  6:18 AM
Start Temperature: 78 degrees F (very muggy)
Sleep beforehand: ~ 7 hours
Food beforehand: half english muffin with honey
Drink beforehand: 1 cup of coffee

End Time:  8:03 AM
End Temperature: 80 degrees F
Total Distance: 10.75 miles
Average Pace: 10:25 min/mile

Product Stats:
Serving Size: 1 ounce (the entire package)
Calories: 100
Good Stuff:
 - 85 mg sodium
 - 30 mg potassium
 - 24g carbs
 - 16g sugars
 - Niacin: 20% DV
 - Vitamin B6: 20 % DV
 - Pantothenic Acid: 20% DV (no idea what this is, but it was listed on the package so I decided to add it here)

The rundown:

   Okay, to get one thing straight: this was a TERRIBLE run.  It started pouring the rain after about mile 3, and I had to take shelter at least three times just to make sure my phone/gps didn't drown.  That alone killed my time and my pace.  Also, I probably did my long run too soon after my shin pain (see two entries ago).

   Onto the product.

   Much like the Shot Bloks, the package is a little difficult to carry because all six chews are arranged linearly (honestly, who thought of this?).  But, since the whole package is half the size of the Shot Bloks package, it's a little easier to carry.  The Cool Blue flavor tasted like my favorite fruit snacks as a kid, but these were significantly more salty than the Shot Bloks (makes sense: more sodium per serving).  Much like the Shot Bloks, the 1 ounce size didn't bounce around in my stomach.
   
Possible problems:
   As previously mentioned, awkward package makes carrying them in running shorts tough unless they're unwrapped first.  That, and the plastic package inside the cardboard box almost took an act of congress to get into.  I actually had to stop running to rip into it.
   Also, the back of the package states, "Eat 6 chews 15 minutes prior to exercise or competition".  Which, of course, I didn't.

Possible extenuating factors to the trial:
 - I thought the addition of vitamins would prevent soreness during the run (see my entry on Clif Shot Bloks), but the GSeries still didn't hold off the shin and arch pain.
 - The shin and arch pain could be attributed to the weekend's workout.
 - Weather aside, I still found myself walking for a few minutes from fatigue, and I can't blame it all on the humidity.

Overall Rating:  5/10

  Only after my run was finished did I read that the GSeries were supposed to be eaten before racing instead of during.  They left me limp toward the end of my run, but that might not have been the case if I had eaten them before the run (an absorption time of nearly an hour).  I might try them again and eat them as directed, but not for a while.  After all, this experiment is to find a MID-RACE energy product, not one for PRE-RACE.

The Skinny:

PROS:
 -  small serving size
 - vitamins and extra sodium
 - It's blue.  What's not to love?

CONS:
 - Meant for pre-run (poor mid-run energy delivery)
 - Long, awkward package; hard to break into mid-run

Final Analysis: They might be worth another look later, once I find a mid-run energy product for me.  For now, however, I'm putting the GSeries Energy Chews on the shelf.
 

Shin Spints: Active.com's advice.

This is the video I used to determine that my shin spints are more muscle-related than bone-related (my right foot tends to underpronate; more on pronation in a later post!) .

Fartleks and Shin Splints (Or: Graham Vs. the Comfy Bed)

Visiting my parents for a few days means that my regular training schedule has hit a snag.  My usual running route is hundreds of miles away, and no GPS devices work here because they live in a small, isolated town (thanks for nothing AT&T).

My first morning here, I actually set my alarm and tried to wake up for an early run, but something about sleeping in my childhood bedroom made me press the snooze button until the optimal running time had come and gone.  After one day of being lazy, though, I pulled myself out of bed this morning and drove to the local high school, and to their track.

Which brings me to the first word of the day:  FARTLEKS!

Fartleks (Swedish for 'speed play') involves altering your speed in regular intervals to strengthen muscles and gradually get your body used to moving at faster speeds.  I've been doing 3-minute interval fartleks to gradually increase my speed, trying to hit new PRs.  Plus, It gives me something to do between long runs.

Since my GPS wasn't working, I allowed my fartlek intervals to be two trips around the track: two at what I considered a 'moderate' pace, and two at what I considered a 'fast' pace.  After each interval I moved to the next outer ring on the track, making each interval a little longer than the previous.

And now my right shin hurts.  Great.  Which bring me to the second word of the day:  SHIN SPLINTS!

So it's time to stretch, maybe add a little ice, and let it rest for a day so I can try to be up for my long run on Sunday morning.  See the video above this post about preventing and treating shin splints (thanks Active.com for the video!), and please feel free to contribute your own experience with fartleks, shin splints, and advice on either!  I'm always looking for new tricks and remedies!