Category Archives: Nutrition

Honey Stinger Waffle Review

Oh, the goodness!

Honey Stinger WaffleDo you remember the first time you ever tried an energy bar and thought, “that is truly disgusting”? How about trying to consume one at mile 23 of a marathon, or hour 11 of an Ironman…you know it is virtually impossible. Well, there is hope, as Honey Stinger has created quite possibly the most perfect food in the history of mankind, the Honey Stinger Waffle.

The Honey Stinger Waffle was inspired by Lance Armstrong who suggested making an energy food similar to waffles sold throughout Europe. The product is basically two thin waffles with honey in the middle and it is certified organic. The waffle comes individually packed and provides you with 160 calories, 7 fat grams and 21 grams of carbs. It is a great solution to get your energy during your long training rides and competitions.

I want to emphasize how great the Stinger Waffle tastes. It is a delicious treat, and yes, it tastes like a treat. I let my kids try it (big mistake) and now they always ask me for the honey cookie. The Stinger Waffle is a round flat piece of goodness which is great for stuffing into your cycling jersey pockets. Because they are flat, you can easily stuff a six to eight in each pocket and not feel as if you are stuffing your pockets so full it will drag you down. I am not sure you would want to eat that many during a training session, but the goodness may tempt you to.

The honey does a good job of keeping the waffle from completely crumbling apart. I have kept a few loosely in my training bag and they have mostly kept their shape despite being knocked around by my other gear. The waffles broke into a few bite-size pieces, but not into tiny crumbs. The packaging is a little difficult to get into while flying down the road on your bike, but it shouldn’t be too much of an issue with most people.

The Bottom Line ~

Honey Stinger has created an incredible product that stands alone in the nutrition category with no other items like this. The Stinger Waffle provides a great alternative to other energy products on the market, but I would suggest that you combine the waffle with your current nutrition regimen. If you try this product you will love it and it will provide you with an additional and completely different item in your arsenal.

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Clif Shot Energy Gels Review

Are you Gellan . . . Like Magellan?

Clif-Shot-Energy-GelWhen it comes to energy gels, there are two kinds of endurance athletes.  Those who love them, and those who hate them.

From your favorite maker of delicious energy bars, Clif Bar has been making their Shot energy gels for quite sometime.  When you think of Clif’s energy gels images of thick, almost pudding like gels, especially on a cold day, might come to mind.

Thankfully, Clif reformulated their line in the Fall of 2010.  With this reformulation, they thinned down the consistency and started used maltodextrin in place of brown rice syrup.  Maltodextrin is basically straight glucose and can get into your system much more quickly.

The new flavors of the energy gels are very good.  A few of my favorites are the espresso, which has double shots of caffeine, and the strawberry.  The flavor options from Clif do tend to run on the sweet side, which for a long event can be overkill.  I hope they introduce some salty flavors, like Gu’s Peanut Butter energy gel – an exceptionally good flavor.

As with all of Clif products, they are all-natural, and they try to source as many organic ingredients as possible.  In the most of the gels they are 90% or more organic.  I have found that chocolate flavor still tends to be a little thick for my personal preference.  They also recently introduced a citrus flavor, which has been very popular but looks like snot, and a cherry chocolate flavor.

All Clif Shot energy gels feature the Litter-Leash.  This handy little leash, makes it so that the tops of your gel packets won’t go flying into the fields or streets where you race and train.  This leash is a good idea, but I frequently find myself tearing through the entire thing, so tear carefully, if you can.

The Bottom Line ~

If you are looking for an all-natural, delicious energy gel, you won’t go wrong with Clif Shot energy gels.  Clif reformulated their gels to have a thinner consistency and to use maltodextrin as opposed to brown rice syrup.  The new flavors are delicious and the litter leash helps you feel better about not polluting the environment.

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TrainingPeaks Review

If You Fail to Plan, You Plan to FailTrainingPeaks Review

The most important component to your athletic performance is, arguably, your training plan.  Without a plan, you will end up doing too much or too little, and have no idea when you should be turning up the intensity or when you should be tapering.  The very first step to a successful bike race, triathlon season, marathon or Ironman is a solid training plan.

It can be difficult to find something that allows you to plan out your workouts ahead of time, record your results and keep an ongoing tally of all your training.  I first discovered TrainingPeaks, when I worked with my cycling coach.

TrainingPeaks is a powerful, easy-to-use software that can completely change the way you plan your workouts.  This online program has many features that I could write a small book about, so I will just give some of the highlights.

With TrainingPeaks you can:

  • Build an Annual Training Plan (ATP) based on periodization training.
  • Use a Virtual Coach to help plan workouts.
  • Track and record your daily nutrition.
  • Monitor your daily weight, fatigue, stress level, and sleep.
  • Categorize workouts based on type of activity.
  • Upload workout files from your favorite training devices (i.e. Garmin Forerunner, Timex, Suunto, etc.)

TrainingPeaks has been consistent about improving their website. In their latest re-design they made  it so you have to click into a sub-page to log in.  This is just a little bit annoying because you used to be able to log in from the home page.  Another disadvantage is that it’s built using Flash.  This causes for a much slower load time and makes their website incompatible on mobile devices.

They do have a mobile App, and an iPad App, but I think they are pretty poorly designed and don’t functional well.

Despite these drawbacks, I feel like TrainingPeaks is great tool for every endurance athlete.  I know that when I use it consistently, my training is much more effective and I feel better prepared for upcoming races.

The Bottom Line ~

TrainingPeaks is a great solution for the serious athlete trying to plan out and keep track of all his/her workouts.  They have a basic free version, that doesn’t let you plan ahead.  The full-version runs about $80.00 a year, so it’s very affordable.  While the website and the apps have a few quirks they easily let you upload your training files, record your daily nutrition, and track many statistics.  If you are meticulous about keeping records – TrainingPeaks is great solution for you.

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Junk Food Nutrition

Who says M&Ms can’t be Performance Enhancing Drugs

Endurance Athlete Junk Food

I thought I would take a break from the typical product review and talk about a bit of an off-beat topic.  During training and racing, as athlete’s we always think about high-performance nutrition like:

While these are great options they get old.  This got me thinking about Junk Food Nutrition.  Part of the fun of exercising so much is that you are allowed to eat a little bit more junk food – unless you’re trying to be a total weight weenie, which then I think you need to relax, live a little, and remember you aren’t Lance Armstrong.

Also, haven’t you noticed the strange cravings you get while biking or running far distances? Why not indulge some of those cravings?

The reason I thought about this topic was that I bought a huge multi-pack of those Austin Peanut Butter Crackers for a trip I went on.  I had a ton of leftovers, of course.   As I was on my bike trainer I thought why not give them a try.  They were actually pretty good, although I’m not sure they are necessarily the best for performance – and they did require extra hydration to go down.

A few of the other junkie things I have tried on the bike, while training and even racing include:

  • Nestle Cookie Dough (this was tough, I had to eat it early on in the ride)
  • Baked Potatoes with butter, salt and pepper – I used these a ton during Lotoja
  • Swedish Fish
  • Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookies
  • Giant Chocolate Muffins from Costco

What junk foods do you like use during racing or training?  Have you had any stories where you made a bad choice and mayhem ensued?  Or maybe you tried something off-beat and you set a new PR?

Please comment below and share your Junk Food Nutrition or related funny stories – links to blog would be great too.

Clif Shot Electrolyte Replacement Drink Review

I’d Rather Drink My Own Sweat

Clif Shot Electrolyte Drink ReviewI’ll be the first to admit that I love just about every product that Clif Bar creates.  The original Clif Bars can’t be beat, and for performance Clif Shot Bloks are perfect.  One product, however, where they really miss the mark is Clif Shot Electrolyte Replacement Drink.

Now this product gets some bonus points because of the all-natural ingredients, and that it’s sourced 92% organic.  But on taste this drink fails with flying colors.  Be warned, when you try this product it packs quite a kick.  If you’re use to sweet electrolyte replacement drinks, then it will come as even more of a shock.

Now perhaps Clif would say that they have excluded unnecessary sweeteners.  They also claim that the tart and salty taste counteract sweetness – which you can easily overdose on with energy gels.  I think all these are great excuses, but at the end of day it’s hard to stay hydrated.  I don’t want a drink that is hard to stomach and gives me bitter beer face – then I will have even less motivation to keep drinking.

If you use this product long enough, you will get use to the tart flavor.  But I don’t enjoy using something that is an acquired taste.  Also,  if you need to share a bottle with a riding buddy, they may not be so grateful for your generosity.

The Bottom Line ~

While Clif Bar makes great products, I think this one fails to stand up to their usual strengths of both great taste and being good for you.  It does get bonus points for being all-natural and 92% organic, but I don’t feel like those two factors make up for the salty and bitter taste.  Also, the cost makes it a bit more expensive then similar electrolyte replacement drinks. Hydration is hard enough, you don’t need an unpleasant drink to make it that much harder for you to keep drinking.

 

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