Shirtless in February

Trail view from today

It's been an unbelievably warm winter in Missouri this year. The temperature went over 50 degrees today so I took the opportunity to take a few hours off of work in order to hit the trails. No hat, no gloves, just me in my shorts and long sleeve shirt. 1.5 miles into the run I became very warm and I had a long way to go, so, I stripped of my shirt and ran the next  5 mile loop shirtless! It felt great, but I was wearing my Camelbak and there is definitely some chaffing.

I am not normally a shirtless runner. I have had problems where my shorts will get really wet and my shoes will even start to sound like I ran through a puddle and get squishy. Yeah, I sweat that much.

I tried a couple of Honey Stinger products today. These were purchased and purely my own taste test. I will have to admit that I am a strong fan of and had the best luck with Hammer Nutrition Products. I should probably review them next.

Here are my thoughts on the three products I tried.

Honey Stinger Fruit Smoothie

The consistency of the Honey Stinger gels in my experience has been a little on the runny side. There is a fairly fruity taste to this gel, it's not bad but I cannot see anything exceptional about it in my opinion. If it was at an aid station, I might take one, but I won't go out of my way to purchase this product.










Honey Stinger Ginsting

This gel doesn't really tell you any flavor, and there is a good reason for it. There is a bit of a honey flavor to it, but in my opinion, it just doesn't taste good. I took this one about one hour into my run and I sucked it down quickly. If this was at an aid station, I wouldn't even consider taking it unless there were no other choice.










Honey Stinger Chocolate Waffle

This was the best of the 3 items I tried today. I have read many positive reviews about how much athletes like the Honey Stinger Waffles. Taste and texture are pretty decent. Lance Armstrong is on the front of the package, apparently he helped design it. I would likely eat these again.
There are 160 calories in one waffle which is great if you are going to be out on the trail for a few hours. At a $1.25 - $1.40 each, I may give these another try sometime.




What is your favorite form of calories while running?

Inner Peace

In this crazy-fast paced multi-tasking world we live in, thank God we have running. Nothing slows the world down and brings such a calm peacefulness to the world like a run.

The Ice Age Trail Race is now less than a month away. I have been battling aches, pains, and this stupid plantar fasciitis all year. I took a good week off again to try and let my foot heal up. It felt better, but still gives me plenty of trouble.

My running goal today was to go 18 miles and not feel completely wiped out when I finished. I ran it easy and walked the hills whenever I felt it necessary and then some. I took a SaltStick Cap before I started and then one every 5 miles. At that time I also put down an Apple-Cinnamon Hammer Gel and carried 40oz of Gatorade in my Camelbak. My planned worked well, I did not worry about pace (for the most part), I concentrated on going easy, feeling good, and enjoying the entire experience.

The verdict?

Success!

Although my foot was bothering me the last few miles, I managed to finish with pretty close to a 10 minute pace and I feel good.

I sincerely hope that your Sunday run was also a great success!

In mid-August I will be cycling 100 miles to raise money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Please consider making a donation to this great charity!