Posts in the Reviews Category at , Page 2

Road Runner’s Safety: Road ID Review and Giveaway

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Cait — 23 Comments ↓

I made the switch from “I hate running, who in their right mind would force us poor kids to run a WHOLE mile for PE?!” person to “I LOVE me my running” right before entering high school. I grew up in a suburban town and naturally all of my running was done on the roads.

My parents are both runners so I’d tag along with them whenever I wasn’t with my high school team; because I’m notoriously horrible with directions I think it wasn’t until I was nearly 18 that my parents actually felt comfortable letting me go solo lest I take off and never come back! 😉

I graduated, moved up to Oregon and my running addiction of course followed. I was completely comfortable as a road runner, probably too comfortable…let’s be honest who among us hasn’t raced through a green light because they didn’t want to stop, lest they impede their workout?! Of course I was a smart runner too and was well aware of road safety, which for the most part I DID adhere to.

Art: Cait Chock Designs

11 years a road runner, never a problem outside of the scrapes I picked up for being a klutz! I stepped out for just a regular run one March afternoon in 2010 and it ended up changing my life. I was not a mile in, running in the bike lane just outside of a school, when I was hit by a driver. It ended up being a hit and run, you can read more about that accident HERE, but needless to say I was darn lucky to get away with my life. Not everyone is that lucky.

I’ve stated before that I only want to talk about products or items on this site that I believe in and feel are worth value to my readers. (I’m being generous to myself by making that plural! Hehe) When I started seeing Road ID I couldn’t have been a bigger backer. Today it’s imperative that runners and cyclists, anyone outside on the roads, continue their sport in a defensive manner. (run defensively people, because not everyone in their car should be driving and not all have their attention on the road!) Part of that includes being prepared for the worse.

I wasn’t left unconscious after getting hit by a car myself, but I could have been. Road ID is a safety measure; it’s a bracelet with an engraved plate stating who you are, your age, emergency contacts, and pertinent medical information. (ie: allergies, medical conditions, etc.) This way if something does happen to you the first people on the scene will be able to best proceed forward in giving you the right kind of care you need and can do all they can to save your life.

I was given the opportunity to test out one of the Road ID’s(I actually had already gotten one for my dad who is a regular road runner and cyclist!) and give a review. There are multiple different styles and sizes of Road ID’s to choose from; I have a really small wrist so I went with the Wrist ID slim. There are also some fun colors to choose from outside of the traditional black…pink, green, purple, blue, and red, which I went with.

Yes I'm trying to distract you from looking at my face with a cool Road ID bracelet and tin! 🙂

Mine came in a cool metal tin and the bracelet really was small! For once I had to stretch it pretty good to get over my hand, but it’s perfect for my wrist…I usually have a horrible time finding watches that don’t slip all over. The Slim would be perfect for kids too.

The band is similar to those Livestrong bands and of the same materials if that gives you a better idea. The engraved portion is clear and easy to read, I put my name, date of birth, two contacts, that I have a low pulse rate (umm, most of us runners do!), no known allergies, and a quote I like to live by, “Stay the course.” What I also was impressed with it that 10% of everything purchased is donated to charity; for which there are a few to choose from as you check-out.

I really like it and again, the whole idea of safeguarding yourself as a runner out on the roads is something I firmly believe in. I may make light of my accident and subsequent kankle because of my leg injury (now we’ve got the Kankled Avenger) but it’s something serious. I tend to make jokes as a means to stay positive during tough situations, but it’s not to be confused with the fact that road safety is deadly serious.

Now, because of this, I have some good news for you guys. Road ID has generously allowed me to give to one lucky reader their very own Road ID! To be entered into the contest leave me a separate comment for any of the below:

1) Visit the Road ID website and tell me which one you would like to sport.
2) ‘Like’ the Road ID Facebook page and leave a comment saying you did.
3) ‘Like’ ME on Facebook and leave a comment saying you did.
4) Follow me on Twitter or subscribe to my blog and leave me a comment saying you did.
5) Tweet, Facebook, or blog about my giveaway and leave a comment saying you did.
6) Tell me one thing you do to run/cycle defensively on the road.

You have until Saturday to enter! Have a wonderful Monday, and go get your sweat on! 🙂

Living to Answer the ‘What if’ Questions and ‘Chasing Ghosts’ Book Review

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Cait — 8 Comments ↓

In talking about visualization in my last post, I also touched on goals. It’s important to have them, setting them can be tricky though. You don’t want to aim too low because where’s the satisfaction in that, but it can be scary to put yourself out there and voice a goal if you’re afraid it might sound insanely out of your reach.

Visualize what you want to achieve.

Fear. Being afraid that others will think you’re diluting yourself and you’re goal is ridiculous. You yourself probably have a voice in the back of your brain laughing and telling you these same things, you sure as heck don’t need others to tell it to your face! Also, there is the fear that in the end you may fall short…it happens.

Fear holds us back, it’s a defense mechanism, but if you don’t try you’ll never know. I’ve set goals, I’ve achieved some but I’ve failed at hitting some plenty of times too. It’s the truth, not all goals will materialize for you but at the same time I’ve learned from the journeys. The people I’ve met, the times I had…the trying was worth it. Failure sounds like such a bad word, but there can still be successes in the failures.

The point is it’s still worth setting high goals; regardless of the outcome you’ll surely enrich your life in one way and there IS the opportunity of hitting them…then it’s time to set the bar higher. 😉

Source
In speaking of goals and following your dreams, I was given a copy of ‘Chasing Ghosts’ by the author Phil Reilly. Here is a review of the book; I’ll keep out any spoilers, after-all plenty of you may want to read it yourself. 😉

The book, of course it revolves around running, chronicles the journey of Joey McNeal as he thrusts himself back into hard training in an attempt to make it to the Olympics. He’s nearing 30, past the ‘prime’ age for his event for choice, the 800 meters…but he knows in his gut that he’s never really giving 100% of himself to training and wants to see what would happen should he put it all on the line.

He starts just short of 10 months out from the Olympic Trials a casual runner; easy 4 milers a few times a week with some friends. He’s balancing a teaching job, a social life, a girlfriend, and coaching for the girls’ cross-country and track teams as well. He’s afraid that this goal may be laughably out of place but he wants to at least see what the end result would be if he poured all he had into running.

Characters: Along with McNeal and his three other training partners make up most of the cast; I enjoyed the balance of characters and feel that they were all developed rather well. There is enough given to each that you were interested in their own little side-stories outside of the main character’s. Their coach is perhaps my favorite as he’s a straight shooter and adds in plenty of comedic moments, I think we all know someone like him and to me I could vividly picture a coach just like this guy. McNeal himself is substantiated well and is easy to resonate with and relate to.

Plot: Overall it had mini-climaxes leading up to the true climax; enough bumps along the way to keep it interesting and the book moving forward. It was a little rushed overall and I would have liked to see some of the obstacles fleshed out a bit more and see the characters struggle a bit more.

Overall: The premise of running with no regrets, and living with the pursuit of answering the question of ‘what if’ is of course something I like to pass on to others. Reilly is a runner and coach himself so there were enough ‘real runner’ references and soliloquies that runners will enjoy. He references specific elites, races, and details only runner nerds would get; I liked that as it also added more merit to the thoughts and perspectives McNeal explained or thought to himself. Reilly was certainly going for an inspirational story here which would be uplifting to runners and non-runners alike. However, I do feel that it bordered a bit on the side of too unrealistic at times or too much of a stretch. Perhaps if it had spanned a few years rather than merely 10 months of getting McNeal to the Trials and performing as well as he did it would have been easier to believe. Given that I’ve lived alongside Olympic and World Class runners and watched how they train and live it may make me a little biased, but I’ve seen how much work goes into going for a goal like this and it’s not something to take lightly. McNeal did make sacrifices but I’m not sure if it’s as much as would be needed to perform at the level he ended up doing especially in only 10 short months.

I really enjoy do reading anything that has to do with running so I did enjoy ‘Chasing Ghosts’; it would be a motivational read to anyone in the sport of distance or track running. I just would have liked to have seen it played out over years rather than months as that would have made it more realistic and easier, in my mind, to believe.

1) Do you believe in living, or running, with no regrets? How do you put yourself out there or are there any dreams that you have or are currently chasing to answer the ‘what if’ in your life?

2) How do you set goals? Do you tell people about them, only some of them, or keep them to yourself?
Depends on the goal I think.

3) What are some of your favorite running related books?

All About the Liquids: What to Drink and When and NUUN Hydration Review

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Cait — 19 Comments ↓

Hydration is important for runners...any athletes and even for the average ‘joe’ and ‘janet’ for that matter. But fluids and proper hydration, electrolytes and other nutrients besides just plain water, is especially crucial for endurance athletes.

The conditions you are running in can make this even more of an issue but even if you’re running in the dead of winter and don’t even think you’re sweating all that much, you ARE. You’re still sweating but you may not come back dripping in sweat stains because the cold air sucked up that moisture before it was able to get you all nice and drippy.

There are different kinds of liquids with various amounts of nutrients and depending on what you’re aiming to replenish you need to pick accordingly. Yes, water is water and we all need it to survive, but it doesn’t have any real nutritional value, there are no electrolytes, vitamins, or nutrients for energy…and if you drink too much of just straight water you can actually end up diluting your electrolyte balances (ie: potassium and sodium levels among others) and wind up with some serious issues.

Different Liquids With Different Purposes
* Water: No brainer, we all need water, don’t avoid it just make sure that you also get in the electrolytes you need too. Pee check! What color is your urine? Without becoming a toilet creeper you should check your pee and aim to get it as clear as possible..bright yellow is not a good sign.

* Electrolyte/Vitamin Waters: These are the waters, or low-calorie drinks, that tout having electrolytes in them. These are great sips throughout the day to make sure you’re not just diluting yourself of electrolyte levels by drinking too much straight water.

* Sports Drinks: In years past Gatorade sort of monopolized the market here but Gatorade of years ago was mostly just sugar water and to an extent people really didn’t need ALL of that sugar. But, I’ll hand it to the brand because their newer product line is revamped and I’d say improved on the whole offering more ‘substance.’ With these drinks, make sure whatever you have has the electrolytes you’ll want and not just loaded with a ton of sugar which will just be empty calories.

* Protein Recovery Drinks: There is a bit of a cross-over here between these and sports drinks but the difference is that with today’s advanced science there are LOADS of various endurance athlete targeted drinks. There are pre-workout, during, and post-workout variations; the first two are going to contain mostly fast-acting, quickly absorbed carbs for immediate energy but the post-workout ones you want to make sure contain adequate amounts of protein in addition to carbs to enhance your recovery. (HERE I did an article for Running Times that touches on what you want to look for in liquids depending on your workout; the nutritionist I spoke with really likes Generation UCANN and suggests it to many of her top athletes)

* Life Drinks: Here we’ve got your coffee, fruit drinks, soda’s…all that stuff. I’m not going to lie, I’d rather just EAT my calories and not drink them away…but coffee has been shown to improve workouts in some instances. Most fruit drinks you’re better off EATING the fruit because of all the added sugar, and soda, sorry, is just not that good for you and will dehydrate you.

Are you sick of putting that much thought into what you pour into your cup yet? Well, don’t be and bear with me because it’s important stuff ESPECIALLY if your training runs are long enough to warrant needing hydration along the way. Think runs over an hour and if you’re training for a marathon you want your hydration and energy plan down before the race. If you’re bonking, cramping, and feeling like you have no energy, one ‘obvious’ reason is that your fueling needs some tweaking…it can be tough to find the right strategy that works for you.
Nuun
Source
Now, I was contacted by NUUN Hydration to test out some of their products; they sent me two free flavor tubes to try and here is what my thoughts are and the low-down on NUUN. I’ve actually been wanting to try this stuff because I’d kept reading and hearing about it on other blogs and sites.

* Fall into the ‘enhanced waters’ category: NUUN is low in calories (less than 6 cal’s per tab, which makes 16 ounces) but it has all the important vitamins and electrolytes athletes will need without any added sugars.

* Quick and portable: What is actually cool about NUUN is that they come in little tablets which you drop into two cups of water and they start to fizz and dissolve…not going to lie there is the ‘fun, cool’ effect to watch.

* Taste: There are lots of flavors and I tried the Lemon-Lime and Orange flavors; I liked them because they are not overpoweringly sweet or strong but enough of a twist that it perks up that water.

* Best for: These would be best for people who don’t like to taste of just average water and need to get in their electrolytes. Tons of people pop that Crystal Light stuff, have the Sobe Lights or Vitamin Waters…I’d say NUUN would be a better pick because it will give you more nutrients and has less extraneous calories/sugars than Vitamin Water.

* Not for: If you’re running a marathon and need actual energy; because there aren’t any real carbs, protein, or calories in NUUN you’re going to want something with more substance if you’re running a long distance event or doing a marathon type workout. Here is where the various sports drinks (ie: UCANN, Gatorade) would be your better bet.

Overall: Like I said, if I’m going to drink something I want it to be DOING something for me and not just a waste of calories because I’d rather EAT me my calories. NUUN offers up essential micro-nutrients and electrolytes to balance out the water I drink. It tastes good and with 12 tabs in a tube it’s a decent bang for your buck.

Keep on sipping wisely runnerchicks and runnerdudes! 🙂

1) What kinds of liquids do you tend to drink? What are some of your favorite sports related drinks and how do you use them?

2) Have you tried NUUN, and if so what were your thoughts?

3) What do you look for in the drinks you get?

4) When it comes to ‘life drinks’ what kind of person are you? Are you a coffee addict, soda guzzler, reformed diet soda addict, or like me and usually opt to just eat more instead?? 🙂