Ultimate Relay Equipment

Just thought I'd throw a quick post out about some of the equipment I used for the Ultimate Relay.  I may not list every little thing, but ones that I think should be mentioned.  The 'stuff' of that day was almost as important as my training.  Bonk, get a blister, saddle sore = not a fun day!  So here goes

Swim:
Sable goggles - yes these babies are pricey but I love them!  I try to be extra careful with them and try to save them for open water only.  They calm the sun and glare and their water clarity is amazing!  I love letting friends try them to hear their reactions.
Xterra wetsuit - I used a old full sleeve (possibly a Vector Pro, but it's at least 6 years old, so not sure) on the first swim and my newer sleeveless Vortex on the last swim.  I know and believe full sleeve to be faster, but I haven't found one yet that fits my bicep well, and I love the feel of the water, I am falling more and more in love with racing in sleeveless.  Xterra makes good quality affordable wetsuits.

Bike:
QR CD0.1 Ultegra - Ya'll have seen my bike plenty, and I still like her, mostly now because of her trademark color that so many people recognize me by, the color I hated when first considering bikes.  Funny eh?  The only complaint I have with the bike is the difficulty in adjusting the rear brakes mostly because of their position.
GU bike flask mount - simple, cheap, effective.  It's just nice having the gel securely in front of you within easy reach, especially when I wear a top that may not have great pockets.  Saves me the few seconds it takes to put it in a pocket in T1 too ... terribly crucial, I know ;)
LG Trilite shoes - wider, comfortable, cool zebra print on the bottom, and lighter than their carbon shoe but less money
Garmin 105 - nothing new or fancy, and I really only used it for a 15 minute timer to remember my nutrition.  Did not carry it on the run.
Pjur Original Body Glide - haha, you all will love me here.  So while I also used regular saddle creams like Chamois Butter, I took this from, um, another room in our house and tried it out on the very top inside of my thighs (bikini area basically, where my legs meet the saddle) and nether regions.  It's a liquid, not a cream, and it lasts a long time!  Really keeps things friction free which I worried about being on and off the saddle so many times.

Run:
Altra Lone Peak - wore this trail shoe on the first and  third runs and loved it.  Zero drop, rock plate, fully  cushioned, foot shaped (you don't know what that really means till you've tried Altra by the way).  Not that heavy either.  Wore it once without socks and once with, no rubbing.
Altra super secret prototype - yeah, that's all you get  :)  But it was lighter and great and of course zero drop and foot shaped
Nathan 4 bottle belt - not sure which one as it's several years old, I'm guessing the Trail Series.  Anyway, I like the flat back 10oz bottles and large rear pocket.  Also stored my run sticker and pills in the small front zip pocket.  I usually carried 2 bottles with me, 3 on the 3rd run.

Clothing:
CEP compression tri shorts - wore them for everything except the last run.  No rubbing, no chafing, and based off of more recent races I have to wonder if their compression really did help me, I never really tightened up or got sore till the last run, just tired.  The higher waistband in back is nice for aero and has a small pocket
Moving Comfort Juno bra - I've written a review on this one, it's my go to bra when there's swimming involved since it's racer back and my Jubralee while equally supportive has traditional bra straps.  Again, no rubbing, and I like it's padded straps.  I just have black but they have some really fun colors!
CEP compression sleeves - I wore them until after the 3rd run and I'm sure they helped some.  No noticeable drag at all while swimming in them sans wetsuit
Speedo swim suit - I debated what to wear to reduce drag on my non wetsuit swims as my bra and shorts let in a bit more water than I liked.  Didn't want to take the time or effort to change, so I pulled my training suit up over my shorts and bra and I liked it.  And these polyester, PBT, or Endurance fabric suits, I tell ya, they last forever!  The one I wore is 3 years old and I train in it every week!
Headsweats visor - love the elastic back

Nutrition:
First Endurance EFS drink - love this brand.  Reviewed it here. LOTS of electrolytes in their products (way higher numbers than most products).  Tropical punch and grape were my flavors of choice and they're great cold, so I had a new bottle prepared for each ride in the cooler.  I concentrate my bottles with anywhere from 1.5-3 scoops/bottle.  I usually do about 100cal/hr
First Endurance Liquid Shot 'gel' - it's not a gel at all though, but a thick liquid (which I usually water down just a little).  I carried it on the bike and run in flasks and usually consumed 100cal/hr
Sportlegs and Metasalts -  I usually go EFS and Liquid Shot as my only electrolytes because of their high levels, but it was a very long and hot day so took these as prescribed for extra electrolytes mostly as precaution.
Prolytes - love this stuff in all my water in the 3 days before a race.
Coke - drank about 6oz on the last 3 runs for flavor, a little caffeine, and to keep my stomach calm

Husband - my rock that day.  What a guy!  Best support crew ever!

FreeThingsFriday - First Endurance

This has been a long time coming, I'm sorry I've held out on your so long!  But I want to tell you about my favorite nutrition product line, First Endurance.  Here's some background. I was a dedicated Hammer Nutrition user for years and years and introduced many people to it.  It was last year and we had recently started carrying First Endurance at Powertri.  A coworker gave me some comparisons of it to Hammer, and while I didn't think anything would really feel all that different and better that what I was using, about 3 weeks before Ironman last year I decide to try this First Endurance stuff on my last 110 mile long ride just to see if all the hype was for real.  It was.  My energy and mental state stayed SO steady.  It wasn't that I felt hyped up or anything, I just felt so steady and kept going fine and a biggie for me was that I didn't get grumpy and ancy to get home as usually happened at the end of every long workout.  It was also so simple!  First Endurance has A TON more electrolytes in its products than other nutrition products including Hammer, even with Endurolytes, and it's all in the drink or gel.  I can't tell you how many times I got a pill stuck in my throat, fumbled and dropped pills mid ride or run, or found a bunch of pills crushed in my pocket or bento.  I really love the fact that the electrolyte complex of First Endurance allows me to only use the drink or the gel or a combination.

EFS

So let me tell you a little bit about their products, and keep reading, I'll tell you how to enter to win some from me for free!  First Endurance has a powdered drink mix in several flavors (more potent flavor, sweet, but I like them, tropical punch is my favorite for sure).  The grape is good if you like grape, the orange reminds me of the McDonalds old school orange drink, lemon lime is lemon lime, and like I said, tropical punch is my favorite, especially cold on the bike.  I don't do super cold drinks on the run, I end up with side aches.  I personally like to concentrate my bottles, so I can carry less weight, and I think at twice the concentration it tastes better than only 1 scoop per water bottle (bike bottles, not 8-10 oz running bottles).  But don't concentrate it more than 3x the dosage (or 7%), can mess with absorption.

They also have a version of a gel, Liquid Shot, but it's actually not a gel at all as it has no gelling agents in it.  A gel is closer to a solid, and our guts do not like to digest solids when exercising.  So First Endurance 'gel' is like a thick liquid and comes in 4 serving (400 calories) flasks, or big 24 serving jugs.  The Liquid Shot comes in vanilla and a new berry flavor.  Both are strong flavors and I prefer vanilla, but I started mixing the two in a flask and I really like that combination, really mellows out both flavors.  The fact that it's not a gel makes it easier to swallow too.  Liquid shot does not have as high an electrolyte count as the EFS drink mix, but still a lot.

The other thing different about First Endurance is that they don't put protein in their products, kind of.  Yes our bodies need protein, but what they actually need is from the protein, they need the amino acids.  So First Endurance takes the amino acids out of the solid protein and puts it in their drink and gel so you're getting the important part of what you need from protein but without the digestion issues.  "EFS contains 2g Free Form Amino Acids per serving which is the equivalent in BCAA and Glutamine profile to 9g Whey Protein."  I had used Perpetuem for years and never super successfully.  It about killed me at Ogden Marathon 2009 when I just wanted to kill over and vomit the entire last 6 miles because my stomach was so upset.  It didn't happen till I started the Perpetuem, and it hasn't happened since (I haven't used Perpetuem since).  A lot of people refer to Perpetuem as 'rotgut' because it can be so hard to get something so heavy to settle well in your stomach.

So aside from the high levels of electrolytes (highest level of sodium on the market, and did you realize you can't effectively absorb fluids you drink without proper sodium levels?), the clean and effective amino acids, First Endurance also uses a mixture of simple and complex carbs unlike former fav products of mine.  Some simple carbs allow for quicker initial absorption.  EFS and Liquid Shot also includes Malic acid in their products.  From the website " Malic acid stimulates oxygen consumption by increasing mitochondrial uptake, improving mitochondrial respiration and increasing energy production. Malic acid is essential in the formation of ATP, the body's energy source. Malic acid allows the body to make ATP more efficiently, even under low oxygen, or hypoxic conditions. "
I should also mention that First Endurance makes a great product I used last year when I race prepping for Ironman and racing so much that summer, called Optygen HP.  It has some pretty sweet stuff in it and improves oxygen absorption.  I don't think I realized the difference it made until I was off it.  First Endurance also has a great recovery drink called Ultragen.

So how do I use it?  When racing I do my usual 3 hours before race breakfast, then take 100 calories of Liquid shot 15 min before the race.  If the race isn't longer than an hour I may carry a flask of calories with me, but I can usually get away with what my body has stored in that amount of time.  Now in longer races, I use 200-250 calories on the bike, about 150 on the run.  To get those calories for say 3 hours, as I've done in half and full Ironman races, I take a regular sized water bottle (the short ones, not the tall ones) and make 5 tick marks on it with a sharpe, then fill it with water and 3 scoops of EFS.  I'll also carry a flask of Liquid Shot.  I have my Garmin go off every 15 minutes, and on the :00 and the :30 I'll take in 1/6 of my EFS water bottle (here's where the handy markings come in so I make sure I get in enough) and some water.  On the :15 and :45 I'll take almost a serving of Liquid Shot (about two mouthfuls) and some water.  This gives me about 250 calories. During IMSG last year I picked up a pre-frozen EFS water bottle and new flask at bike Special Needs.  If it's just a running race, or just on the run of a tri half ironman or longer, I carry a Liquid Shot flask with me to sip on every 30 or so minutes while alternating with water.  I haven't felt the need for any additional products like salt tabs or anything.
Here is some more good stuff from First Endurance:
"During long races (3 hours+) considerable stress is put on an athlete’s body. 1) Glycogen (energy) stores are depleted 2) cells experience damage from cellular oxidation 3) electrolytes are depleted and 4) amino acids are depleted.

1) EFS replenishes glycogen by using a mix of high glycemic carbohydrates including both simple and complex sugars. This easy to digest mix is rapidly absorbed and delivers fast and long term energy.

2) Formulated with 120mg (200% RDA) of Vitamin C per serving, EFS helps protect cells from oxidation keeping the immune system stronger for better training and faster racing. A depleted immune system can cause upper respiratory distress which generally accompanies long exhaustive exercise.

3) EFS provides the most potent electrolyte profile available. The combination of all five electrolytes deliver a potent 1040mg per serving, helping to prevent cramping. The 300mgs sodium per serving also aids in maximum fluid absorption so you stay hydrated throughout your training and racing. Supplementing with additional salt tabs, electrolyte tabs, or salty snacks is no longer needed when using EFS.

4) 2000mg of Amino Acids offers the same BCAA and Glutamine levels as 9g Whey Protein. These amino acids have clinically shown to improve performance, reduced post-exercise muscle damage, improve muscle glycogen resynthesis, reduced central fatigue and improved rate of perceived exertion." 


Heather Wurtele said it very well detailing her nutrition during Ironman St George this year, winning it for the second time.  Check it out.  I really enjoyed it

There's some really great stuff to read on the website, check out the Q&A of EFS and Liquid Shot at least.  So all that said, there are some nutrition companies I will not use period, thick slug like texture, all simple sugars, syrups, artificial colors/flavors (of which First Endurance has none), and I certainly think Hammer is a great company, I just found something better for me.  I love the convenience of not having to bring any pills or protein source with me, it's all there in the drink and/or 'gel'. I've had people share concerns about it's higher cost, but I don't think it is in the end since you don't have to buy salt/electrolyte additives or a protein source.  If cost is a concern for you, save First Endurance EFS and Liquid Shot for your harder/longer workouts and races.  But I really think it's worth it.  I love the higher level of electrolytes, and respect the research First Endurance puts into their stuff.  Nutrition is a very individual thing that must be practiced and is something everyone has to try for themselves as certain bodies like certain products, but I'm uber impressed with First Endurance.   No cramping, great absorption, great energy levels and mental clarity.  I've raced with only it since April of last year and don't plan to stop any time soon.  So there's my plug (and I'm not sponsored by First Endurance by the way, I buy it at Powertri, and I just love the stuff).  

I think you will too, so how about a giveaway??  I have 4 packets of EFS and 2 flasks of Liquid Shot that were generously donated by Robert at First Endurance (who by the way is a head of the company, and has communicated with me in almost every email I've sent, awesome customer service!).  Here's what you need to do by Monday June 6th at noon:  1) Go on their website, and leave me a comment here telling me one thing that you like or is appealing to you about First Endurance including a small quote from the website telling me you checked it out, and 2) tell me if you'd like to try the EFS or the Liquid Shot in this giveaway.  My followers have been kind of quiet lately, hint hint,  so if you I only get a handful of comments then great, you'll all get something, if I get lots of comments I'll do random drawings for the giveaway.  Good luck!!    ETA:  Winner's announced in the comments, thanks for playing!!  Another good giveaway in a couple weeks

Favorite things Friday!

Hey all!  I'm feeling better these days and working out well the last couple of weeks.  Been following my Ironman St George plan from this time last year which is fun.  I've been asked if I'd do it this year if I kept following the plan and we didn't get pregnant and I'd probably still say no.  Probably.  I would absolutely LOVE to do Ironman again, including IMSG, but where I just wasn't planning on it 3 weeks ago and I don't have all the base I did last year this time, I'm not sure.  I want to do really well and smash up my time a bit, so I'd like to be really prepared.  I am really excited to watch the action this year too.  We shall see.  For now I'm just enjoying being active again.  I'm going nordic skiing (skate style) tomorrow for the first time in a year, we'll see how that goes!  I really like it, it's an amazing hard workout, but I'm not great at it.  Hopefully I come home unbroken with everything intact  :)

So, haven't done one of these for a while, but have been meaning too.  This is a product we use at my house ALL the time, like daily.  And what's nice is it's cheap.  These Nature Made Immuni-C packets are great!  Just like Emergen-C, I just get the 72 packet Costco version to save some money, but you can find name brand Emergen-C on sale fairly often.  Anyway, this baby is packed with 1000mg of a very absorbable kind of Vitamin C (better than pills), as well as 17 other vitamins and minerals.  I put it in all of my smoothies or recovery drinks.  Here's a quick recipe for the smoothies we do around here in our Magic Bullet (we have a Kohls generic one too that works great, just get em when they're on sale for like $20)

• 1 cup 100% juice, usually apple, sometimes orange, grape, or some other 100% blend
• However much more water you need for your desired consistency
• Packet of Immuni-C
• Splash of Flaxseed Oil (maybe a tablespoon?)
• Handful or raw spinach (no you really cannot taste either the spinach or oil)
  Blend - the first blend is optional, it just helps blend the spinach finer
• Add a cup or so of frozen or fresh fruit - superfood blueberries are my favorite, bananas, pineapple are good too.  We get a bag of blueberries and a bag of mixed fruit frozen from Costco to use
• A scoop (roughly 12-20grams worth) of protein depending on the workout length, intensity, and body weight.  I use 100% whey isolate for long or hard workouts and post race, a blend of isolate and concentrate like Interphase for not as intense workouts.
• A scoop of HEED or Carbopro  (if you use HEED and juice together the drink will be really sweet, just fyi) to get to that 3:1 or 4:1 carb to protein ratio
  
  Blend and drink!

If I don't have time for a smoothie or I'm away from home I'll just do the water, Immuni-C, protein, carb powder in a water bottle and shake it up.  You can even add the powders in there before hand so you just have to add water, no measuring away from home.  The recovery powders like Ultragen or Recoverite are great, I just prefer the fresher nutrients and lower cost of my shakes when I'm home.  I will use the powders after races sometimes though for convenience sake.
If the shake is not a recovery shake, just something during the day, leave our the carb powder, and the juice for that matter if you want, which is just in there for more quick absorbing carbs.  We don't usually need more help getting carbs in our regular everyday diet.  You may also use less protein.  And if I haven't had a shake at all in a day (which is rare, I try to get all that good stuff in every day) or if I'm feeling a cold or illness come on I'll just have a Immuni-C packet in a 6oz glass of cold water.  I'll do 2-3/day with a cold.  Doesn't taste horrible alone, but some people think it's an odd taste, I don't mind it for what it gives me.

So there you go.  Want a packet or two?  I'm not going to do this contest style, you just leave me a comment in the comments and I will send the first 10 people some!  Unless we see each other regularly, email me at leslie@powertri.com with your address and a message mentioning this post and I'll send some out.  Happy Friday all!

* NOTE:  My costco stopped carrying this brand, so you'll want to look for Emergen-C.  5-31-11