Gear Review: Zensah Compression Sleeves

So...compression sleeves.  Everyone's doing it, so you should to, right?  Well maybe.  There isn't any real hard scientific evidence that I have found supporting the use of compression sleeves for either racing or recovery.  Joe Friel's blog is following this at a much more scientific level than I'd be capable of, so I'll leave that to him.  What cannot be questioned however, is the amazing popularity compression gear is enjoying right now.  Kona was no stranger to compression clothing this year, and even more  notably we all saw Lance in compression gear between stages of the tour recently.

So, compression gear is here to stay.  Does it work?  It seems impossible to say for sure at this point.  In my own very personal experience, I do enjoy compression gear after especially long or difficult training sessions.  I've trained with compression gear as well, but I really didn't notice a difference, aside from my ability to draw funny looks from the general population.

Ok, so lets say you want to try it.  What should you buy?  When it comes to leg compression, I think the Zensah Compression Sleeves are the best thing out there.  They're durable, built well, and not as badly over priced as some of the more well known (I'm looking at you 2XU) vendors out there.  Why sleeves over socks?  Well, if  you're doing a tri and you do decide to race in these things, sleeves are really the only way to go.  Additionally, wearing whatever socks you want (or no socks at all) is a really nice thing for post race recovery.

Looks: 4/5
Well, they look as funny as any compression sleeves.  Combine these with my Croc Prepairs and you'd really be styling...

Price: 3/5
More reasonable than most, but still kind of pricey for what they are.  I've heard of people having great results with medical grade compression socks purchased from CVS or Walgreens.  I haven't tried that, but it would be a cheaper option if it worked.

Performance: 5/5
For me at least, these things seem to help out with the inevitable DOMS that a long run/ride will leave you with.  They hold up well, and they seem to be constructed with better than average material and craftsmanship. 


Overall:  4/5
If you're looking for compression sleeves, these would probably be the ones to use.  Of course if anyone else would like me to review their brand, I'd be happy to.

Gear Review: Crocs Prepair

I'll be the first to admit, I never, ever, planned on wearing a pair of Crocs.  Ever.  But...  Yeah, they're that good.  The Crocs Prepair clog is to feet what the compression sock is to calves.  After a long run, there is really nothing like it.  Alternating between three sports means recovery time is very very important and anything that can speed that along is a godsend.  These things certainly seem to help me.   

So, ok, they're a recovery shoe.  Neat.  But wait, there's more.  The anti microbial/anti fungal/anti odor foot bed also makes these things pretty much the perfect pre/post swim shoe as well. Also those little strappy things on the back keep them on unlike most other pool sandals.

So, if you're serious about recovering faster, and you want something diverse enough to wear after a race, before a race, to and from the pool, and after your runs give the Croc Prepair a try.  Yes, they're funny looking, but you're already wearing compression socks/sleeves so get over it. 

Looks: 2/5 
Yeah, they're Crocs...but they are slightly less ugly than the standard fair.

Price: 3/5
At around $40, they aren't cheap.  They do hold up well though, and they are much less expensive than other recovery footwear options. (Yeah, I'm talking about you Zoot.)

Performance: 5/5
They do what they intend to, and a little bit more.  Thats goodness.

Overall:  4/5
If you can handle the looks, you'll be a better athlete because of it.

Gear Review: HEED Sports Drink

It's nearly impossible to review food.  As a (very) amateur cook I am painfully aware that everyone has different tastes and preferences.  Just the same, I'm going to give it a shot.











Here is what I like about Hammer Nutrition's HEED:

• It tastes really good!
• None of the citrus flavors have citric acid in them.  Thats a really good thing, because gels/drinks with citric acid in them tend to burn/bug me when I'm eating/drinking on the run.
• Complex Carbs - There aren't any simple sugars in HEED, unlike many other sports drinks that contain glucose, sucrose, etc.  The theory is that this allows the product to deliver a less spikey stream of calories.  My personal opinion is that this theory makes a good deal of sense, but I don't have any sources to back this up...and..uh..it...did I mention it tastes really good?
• It's 105 calories a scoop so that helps with easy math for portioning.
  

Here is what I don't like so much:

• It can have a bit of a metalic after taste, which is the electrolytes I'm assuming.
  
• There is a lot of gimmicky stuff on Hammer's website that I think takes away from the credibility of their product. 
• It's sweetened with Xylitol and Stevia, which is probably fine makes me feel like one of those "sucralose is the devil but Stevia is cool cause it's like...from a plant, man." 
  

That being said, I've tried a bunch of sports drinks and thus far HEED is my favorite.

It's also worth mentioning that Hammer has another sports drink called PERPETUEM that is designed for endurance events that last longer than two hours.  I haven't tried it, but I am planning on giving it a shot as I continue working towards the 70.3 format.  The main differences are the additions of protein and fat to the mix, along with additional calorie density for those 1000+ calorie multihour bottles that long course people like to alternate with water.

Recovery Drinks: Why, What, and How?

Why
So, recently I've had an opportunity to work with a sports nutritionist.  She had a few tips for me on how to optimize my nutrition.

One of the questions I went to her with was something like "So, when I'm training I get seriously, no screwing around, ravenously tear-the-doors-off-the-fridge hungry and stay that way all day...how do I fix that?"

After analyzing my normal food logs, she asked me about my recovery protocol.  My response was something like "Well, for a big 4 hour bike I'll usually hit up a smoothie or a bar, but for the 1 hour runs I just take a shower and get breakfast."

The nutritionist really keyed in on this.  She suggested that missing out on those recovery calories might be firing off some wierd signal to devour everything in sight.  It sounded really odd.  I'm a calories in/calories out kind of guy and besides I want those workout calories for fun food later on...

But here's the thing.  The next day I got about 180 or so calories in immeidately post work out and guess what?  I didn't have to remove any fridge doors.  It worked.  Did I feel more recovered or less sore or anything?  No, not really in a noticable way, but hey I wasn't starving the rest of the day.  I can't explain why it works, and the nutritionist really couldn't either, at least in the peer reviewed "prove it and cite your sources" kinda way I operate, but it does...for me at least.  For me, recovery drinks are now the difference between being very uncomfortable all day as a calorie restricted athlete, and not. 


Okay, so I need a recovery drink immediately after a workout.  I can do that. 

What
So, recovery nutrition is important for me, and you might be thinking it is for you too, if you've read this far.  So, what should you drink?

First of all, why should it be a drink?  As a long time dieter I know that one of the golden rules of dieting is to not drink your calories.  So, why would you want to drink calories?  The answer is you want to get those carbohydrates into your blood stream as soon as humanly possible.  Liquid is ideal.  Solid is ok too of course.

Ok, so you want to drink a liquid.  Other than water, what should it have it in.  Well, mostly carbohydrate.  After exercise you're very insulin sensitive, which means that CHO will be whisked away quickly into cells that need it.  A little protein helps increase the rate of muscle glycogen resynthesis.   

How

Well, if you know anything about me you know I'm anti "food with labels."  I like real, unprocessed food, as much as possible.

So, what is minimally processed, has carbohydrate and protein, and doesn't leave you with a glass full of "wow, I wish this was something that tasted good."

Well, I'm a big fan of smoothies with banana, whey  protein, and cocoa powder with some BCAAs and glutamine thrown in.  But...that's alot of work for a tuesday morning run before work.  That's great sometimes, but it's not fast.

So then you have chocolate milk.  Chocolate Milk is goodness, and if you buy it in the small aseptic containers that don't have to be refrigerated it's a little more convenient if you're at the gym.  It tastes good.  It doesn't have Glutamine in it, which I do kind of like for recovery.  Also, it's not exactly minimally processed.  Look at the ingredient label on most of the premixed stuff.  It's extensive to say the least, and there is bad news in there for the HFCSaphobes amongst us as well.

That leads me to Fluid Recovery Drink.  I'm a big fan.  In fact I'm a big enough fan of their ingredient list, or rather their lack of one.  I made a HUGE spreadsheet of all the recovery drinks out there, and compared/contrasted.  There are a few decent drinks out there in the market, but in my opinion Fluid is the best.  Here's why I think that:

• Like any recovery drink mix, they're uber convenient post workout
• The chocolate flavor tastes awesome because it has...get this...real chocolate in it!
• The price / serving is very reasonable
• There is nothing herbal or otherwise weird in it, so my pharmacist wife won't chase me around the house asking me how I really know that cactus bark and monkey tears are safe to ingest (It's totally happened).

In fact, here is the ingredient list for Chocolate Fluid Recovery Drink:

Maltodextrin, Dextrose, Fructose, Whey Protein Isolate, L-Glutamine, Natural Cocoa, Chocolate Natural Flavor, Sodium Citrate, Organic Vanilla Flavor, Xanthan Gum, Ascorbic Acid, Soy lecithin, Potassium Chloride.

A broad spectrum of sugars, protein, L-Glutamine, flavoring, electrolytes, Vitamin C, and a thickener/emulsifier.  That's it. 

Full Disclosure/Fine Print:  Fluid did offer me a sponsorship this season so of course that creates some bias, but I approached them because I liked their product.


So anyway, I'll get off my soap box now, but if you're finding yourself ravenously hungry, low on energy, and generally feeling kinda crappy all day long while training hard, especially if you're running a (reasonable) calorie deficit give a recovery drink a shot.

Here's my advice, executive summary style:

1. Drink your recovery drink while you're still sweaty, but don't sit on the couch while you do it, that's just gross.
2. Shoot for some carbs and protein, and try adding in some L-Gluatmine.
3. Drink real food first, but when you're on the go give Fluid Recovery Drink a shot!

Gear Review: Profile Design Carbon Stryke Aerobars

It's been said that the fourth discipline of triathlon is shopping. Choosing a set of aerobars has been one of the hardest decisions I've had to make on the bike side of things so far. After much agonizing, I decided on the Profile Design Carbon Stryke.

Before I go into it, let me pause for some self promotion... Hey! Look at all this free advertising Profile Design! I sure do wish I had a Tri-Stryke saddle to review as well! :) I get lots of hits. *crosses fingers* Right...so, anyway...

Choosing aerobars is kind of like choosing a saddle. The choice is based on comfort, trial and error, and your own individual anatomy. So why did I pick the Profile Design Carbon Stryke?

Well, the process looked like this:

Step 1: What did I want? For now, I wanted a good but reasonably priced set of clip on aerobars that would make my road bike tri friendly, until I end up with a tri specific bike in the future. I didn't want to replace the entire cockpit, because I wanted to retain my road bike's roadiness.


Step 2: Which vendor am I going to choose? There were several good options here, including Profile Design, Vision / FSA, and Syntance. I already use alot of FSA stuff, including my OCR2's crank, seat post, and handlebars, but I couldn't find a convenient retailer for Vision / FSA aerobars. Syntance looks to be very popular, but I thought their product looked less adjustable, since it had to be ordered to rider size. Profile Design is everywhere, and they were available from my LBS should I need replacement parts.

Step 3: What model did I want? Here is where things really got ambiguous. My options were the T2+/T2+ Cobra, the Jammer GT/CGT, the split second, or the carbon stryke. After asking around, and trying a few pairs, I ruled out the T2+ series. Those things were way to aggressive for my clydesdale body, and I wouldn't have been comfortable in that much of a tuck. The Jammer GT/CGT was great, but it was almost the opposite. Not tucked enough. Those bars would be optimal for a century rider or someone that needed a draft legal bar however.

Step 4: Carbon or Not? This left the Split Second and the Carbon Stryke. The difference in weight in nominal in my opinion. 722g vs. 520g. That makes the Carbon Stryke about 7 oz heavier. The Split second retails for around $120 and the Carbon Stryke is around $250. There is no way that 7 oz is worth $130. So why did I go with the Carbon Stryke? After searching the internet I was able to find the Carbon Stryke on sale for the same price as the Split Second, which made the choice alot easier!

On a side note, the Split Second comes with Profile Design's flip up ZB brackets, which let you use your top bar. The Carbon Stryke's brackets are fixed. Having access to more of the top bar would have been really nice, but I read multiple reviews that said the flip up brackets had some durability problems. Consider that if you're making this same choice.



Installation: Pretty easy really. They just bolt on. You will need a torque wrench to get everything properly tightened however. I had to undo some of my bar tape as well. Also, because my handlebar tapers from 31.8mm to something much smaller really quickly, I had to flip the brackets from how they were sent. After I figured that out, it was a piece of cake to get them on.

Quality: The product's quality seems superb. The instructions could use some work, but the hardware was all perfect.

So, how does it work? They feel really great, and I'm definitely faster than I was without them. Aerobars are certainly the second best thing you can do for yourself, if you want to go faster. The first? Peddle faster of course!

Gear Review: ISM Adamo Road Saddle

If you'll recall, one of my goals for this off season was to get a bike fit.  Before I did that however, I wanted to find a saddle I liked.  I definitely did NOT like the saddle that came on my Cervelo P1 and knew that my relationship with that painful little piece of plastic was going to be short lived.

I did some research and talked to a few people and came to the conclusion that the ISM Adamo was worth a very serious look.  While there are many fine high end saddles out there, in my opinion the concept behind the Adamo saddles was the best.  It also came highly recommended by some other Tri-Sharks and Beginner Triathlete members. 

There are two models of Adamo for TT bikes, the Adamo Race and the Adamo Road.  They seem to be essentially the same, with the Road weighing a bit more and having a bit more gel/padding than the race.  Light is good, but so is comfortable, so which one should I choose?  In trying to answer that question I discovered one of the things that separates ISM Adamo products from their competition.  Fantastic customer service.  After explaining my goals and needs to Dave at Adamo, discussing my weight loss history, and my Ironman aspirations, Dave recommended the Road over the Race for me.  Thanks for all the help Dave!

The Adamo is an unconventional saddle.  It doesn't have a nose like a traditional saddle, but rather is built to support your sit bones while  relieving the pressure from your perineal nerve, which prevents all sorts of medical badness that I'll just reference here rather than try to explain. 

At first I was skeptical about comfort.  I mean, who wouldn't be.  I very carefully read the Adamo instructions and watched their installation video though.  After that it was time for a road test.

I took my bike out and immediately felt pretty comfortable.  I only road for about 20 miles that day but I enjoyed the ride.  The next day the tissue over my sit bones was a little sore, but I knew that might happen based on Dave's warning and the products documentation.

After a few more rides I was enjoying the Adamo without any pain, and alot more comfort than I've ever experienced on a saddle.  The Adamo put everything else I had ever ridden to shame, including my pricey Fizik Airone.

Then, about 5 rides in, something surprising happened.  While the Adamo was always very good, I stopped for a tweak to how the saddle lined up laterally and  finally just got it exactly right and it was like I snapped into the saddle.  Things went from good to glorious and I couldn't be happier. 

A few days after that ride I took my bike over to a much more experienced triathlete's house and he helped me get the bike tuned in even more while spinning on his computrainer.  Things just kept getting better.
 
Not only am I more comfortable on my Adamo Road than I ever have been on any other saddle, but I'm faster too.  I know what you're thinking...faster? really?  Yes, faster.  It's very true.  I can stay aero longer, and I'm much more comfortable.  A more aero, more comfortable triathlete is a faster triathlete.


I highly recommend the ISM Adamo Road, it's great equipment from a great company that makes me fast and makes me want to ride.