EverymanTri.com

Planetbox lunchbox tested and reviewed

If you’re at all interested in eating better to go along with all those hours you swim, bike and run, then you have probably realized the pain and anguish that goes into meal preparation and transportation. You can eat out and eat somewhat healthy, but that will come at a price and most people don’t have the bankroll to fund an operation like that. What’s left? Buying affordable ingredients and make it yourself.

That’s all good for breakfast and dinner for most people, but what about those that eat on the run? Some head out the door for the AM workout and scarf breakfast on the way to work, while dropping off kids or at their desk. A lot of triathletes on the go will eat lunch at work at their desk or cafeteria as well and lets not get started on those PM workouts, kid activities and PTO meetings that get in the way of dinner.

Just how in the world do you juggle all that and get your 3 meals and 3 snacks in a day to fuel your workouts and keep your waistline trim?

Review: Te Under Armour SpeedForm Running shoes are the right combination of function, fit & personality

Men, admit it, you are dieing to know what it would feel like to wear a bra. What would that soft supple fabric feel like pressed up against your hairy man chest? Well, unless you are going to buy a Bro or Manssiere, you will be waiting a little bit longer for that bra feeling against your chest. But, in the meantime, you could take in how Under Armour applies the bra concept to their latest running shoe, SpeedForm.

Every triathlete is out there looking for the perfect combination of comfort, affordability, performance, durability and aesthetics when it comes to running shoes. Some have more money to explore the latest and greatest shoes and some have their tried and true $35 pair of specific brands and models that they live and die by.

Review: X-1 Momentum In-Ear Ultra Light Headphones are well worth the extra cost

If your gym is like 99.99% of the gyms in the US, they have shortwave FM transmitters hooked up to TV’s or jacks on the cardio equipment so you can get your ESPN highlights or Good Morning America forecast while grinding out a sprint workout on the dreadmill or an hour on the spin bike. You can also always bring the ubiquitous iPod or smartphone and jam out on the ‘mill, pumping iron or spinning to nowhere.

You could also bring your tunes on the road, but that not recommended for biking and some frown upon it for running since it makes you less aware of your surroundings.

Heck, these days you could even bring them to the pool with the latest waterproof gadgets and phone cases.

But, how do you get the sound from your device to your ears? There’s earbuds, sports headphones that have hooks to go around your ears and if you’re really daring, full on headphones. If you have used any of the like, then no doubt you have experienced a myriad of issues with keeping those darned earphones in place.

Skins Compression Clothing A200 Men's Compression Half Tights review

Athletic wear has made serious advancements in the past few years. Why, back in the day, if you wanted to run or workout, all you had were your tighty-whities (for the guys) and grandma undies (for the ladies) and those short shorts and a cotton t-shirt. Talk about groin chafing and nipple bleeding.

Well, times have changed. Under Armour came along and introduced us to the world of spandex sports underwear. It was breathable. It was functional. And it was fashionable. Heck, some triathletes will even just wear under armour spandex shorts to swim triathlons in (as if there was anything worse than a guy in a speedo).

Review: Top shelf ingredients let you rest assured that your nutrition is covered

Triathletes are bombarded daily with suggestions, directives and advertisements for nutritional supplements to use in addition to their regular diet to account for the extra stress of training and racing and to enhance the effects of the caloric burn.

Want to bike harder, run faster? Take this super duper supplement that increases your this-and-that level to give you the added endurance. Want to lose that last 10 pounds to bring out those muscles or get to that race weight? Take this super natural supplement to boost your metabolism and burn it off.

Some of it’s hokey, and some of it is real. What’s real is the lack of protein in the everyday person’s diet, not just triathletes. If you are training for Olympic distance or further, then you are probably susceptible to protein deficiencies if you are not paying attention to your diet. Sadly with today’s ample supply of fast food and instance meal options, nutritional density has been lost in the translation, making supplementation almost a necessity for anyone, not just triathletes.

Review: The Podium Cycling Triathlon Jersey is comfortable & functional

What’s a triathlete to wear these days? There’s the debate that rages on about triathlon shorts verses bike shorts triathlon suits versus triathlon shorts and shirts and many variations of bike versus triathlon specific apparel. Sure, bike gear may be more comfortable, but it may also hinder you when trying to wrap up a triathlon on a long run.

Whatever your choice is, you can’t deny the benefits of triathlon specific clothing. Specifically, triathlon tops offer comfort and functionality that cycling specific shirts may not. Bike jerseys have sleeves that constantly ride up your arm when in aero and who likes that indention around your bicep from the sleeve elastic? Triathlon tops remove the sleeve factor and usually are form fitting enough not to ride up above your mid-drift when pounding out a 30 mile tempo ride on your tri bike. That’s what they are made for.

Review: Karbon Speed SpeedPac hydration kit won't disappoint

Where do you stuff your hydration on the bike?  There are hydration belts, which most triathletes are going to use on the run, and not the bike.  There are the single and double seatpost mounts.  There are the frame mounted cages that hold one or two bottles depending on the frame size and geometry.  And then you have the SpeedFil setups that replace the frame mounted cages or bottle systems with drinking tubes that snake to the cockpit area.  The latest is the aero bar bottle mount system.

You can go with the regular bottle on the mount and you could also go with a bottle/drinking tube setup as well.  Basically there are enough choices and setups out there that long course triathletes have no reason to come out of aero except to dismount or stretch and aching back.  It’s a beautiful thing.

For your consideration, Karbon Speed has built a bar mount system for triathlon bikes.  They shipped us their SpeedPac system and we tested it out.  Read on below to find out what we found out about the SpeedPac.

Just Arrived: LifeProof iPhone 4S case

We suspect this LifeProof iPhone 4S case is strong and rugged and will protect your iPhone from water, wind and rain....but is it TriProof as well?

According to LifeProof you can:

"Take your iPhone along, wherever life may take you. The LifeProof iPhone case delivers the highest level of water proof, dirt proof, snow proof and shock proof protection in an incredibly low profile – a mere 1.5mm increase to each edge!"

We just recieved this case from the manufacturer and we're impressed by the rugged yet simple design. It clearly is built to take a beating and let the iPhone inside keep ticking. To make the case waterproof LifeProof has added a screw type lid for the headphone jack opening. This can be a bit of a problem as it gets easily lost when not screwed into the case.

Otherwise this case is a great solution for the on-the-go triathlete who needs a phone to be swim, bike and run worthy.

Review: Under Armour Toxic Six Running Shoes are bright, bold, brash and minimalist

Triathletes need to pay attention to what’s on their feet and there's certainly no way anyone can miss the new and brash Under Armour Toxic Six Run Shoes.

Some can get away with the $40 sneakers that they run in, walk in, run errands in, mow the lawn in and basically use for any purpose or occasion. They only replace the shoes after the second payer of duct tape wears through and the soul starts separating from the actual shoe. If that’s you, there’s no shame in that game. As long as you stay healthy and injury free, go with what works.

Review: Do Belaga socks really help you move with speed?

To run with or without socks is a question that haunts beginner and experienced triathletes. It may even cause nightmares and painful blisters for those brave enough to experiment. There are numerous articles and forum threads dedicated to the idea that eliminating socks in transition will lead to great savings in time trying to put socks on wet feet. Many offer their two cents on what to do to eliminate painful sores and blisters that might result from going sockless.

If you’re crazy or dedicated enough to go without socks to save a few seconds, more power to you. The majority of age groupers shouldn’t have to go through the pain, anguish and anxiety of messing with going sockless since it probably won’t get them a podium spot or overall win. Blisters and days of agony versus saving some seconds in transition, which is better?

Bulu Box vitamin and supplement subscription sample box review

Have you ever picked up your race packet and goodie bag and gone through all of those samples?  Stash the butt’r, bullfrog and icy-hot sample for later and maybe check out the rest after the race.  It’s almost like Christmas for the triathlete.  You never know what you will get and sometimes you get a lump of coal, diamond in the rough or nothing at all (with today’s virtual race bags).

If you find yourself jilted by not getting any samples or goodie bag, or wanting more, then there’s an option for you.

Bulu Box (www.BuluBox.com) contacted us here at EMT labs (Kansas City division) to review their novel concept of vitamin and supplement subscription sample box.  Basically for $10 per month, you get a sample box shipped to your front door to try out the latest and greatest on the market.  When you receive your sample, for the most part the amount of product per shipment exceeds the value of the $10 you paid to get the sample box.  Consumers shouldn’t have to worry that they are getting shorted for their money.

Review: Tailwind Nutrition put to the test

Have you ever had to stop mid-race to depart with something you ate, at either end?  Sounds gross, but in the world of triathletes, it’s a very real problem.  Heat, distance, sensitive stomachs, taking in too much or taking in too little can result in mild stomach cramps to full on port-a-potty stops and even DNF’s.  It’s a tightrope walk to find the right combination of hydration and nutrition that works for any one given athlete.  Forget about what your friends use.  They may not sweat like a pig or have a cast-iron gut that can process anything.  You’re not Rambo who can eat things that would make a billy goat puke.

For those keeping tabs, personally I’ve had my issues with heat and nutrition at long course events in 2011.  It started at the Midwest Mayhem long course triathlon and continued at Ironman Boulder 70.3.  Both of these long course events occurred during the heat of the summer.  It’s also interesting as we triathletes age, our external appearance not only changes, but our internal functionality changes as well.  Items such as sports gels and energy chews no longer worked on log course and instead caused GI upset, gas and heartburn.  What was once a staple of training and racing had become the bane of my existence on the race course. 

Review: Kiefer swim gear Ergo Hand Paddles perform flawlessly

Ask any triathlete what their biggest fear of race day is, and undoubtedly you will hear them lament the open water swim.  Whether it’s fear of getting kicked, punched or freaking out in open water, triathletes as a large majority aren’t digging the swim.  It’s almost viewed as a necessary evil to get to the bike and run.

There are TIPS on how to survive the swim during the actual event, but there’s more that can be done before a triathlete ever dips their toe in the open water to be prepared.

It’s a well known fact that if triathletes want to be better at swimming, they need to practice swimming.  There are many ways to improve in the pool.  Triathletes can just swim freestyle for 2000 yards, do drills or swim with masters swim groups.  All are solid options to gain that experience and capacity to survive the swim.  When thinking of drills, images of kickboards, swim buoys, stopwatches and laminated swim plans by poolside dance in triathletes’ heads.

Review: The new MIO Alpha watch does away with the sweaty heart rate sensor

Anyone who’s been racing triathlons for more than one season has more than likely been monitoring their heart rate.  EMT has posted an article HERE about heart rate training and HERE about VO2 testing which gives athletes direct correlations between effort and heart rate.  Heart rate talk is everywhere on the triathlon forums and if a triathlete is serious about improving their performance, they cannot afford to ignore their heart rate.
 
The problem is how can triathletes afford it?  The average GPS watch these days comes with the capabilities to read ANT+ devices, and more specifically heart rate straps.  Those sometimes awkward straps that going around a person’s sternum and sit there to track beats per minute and relay that to a GPS watch or running watch with ANT+ capabilities.  Garmin, Timex, Polar and a host of other GPS watches and then a whole other host of running watches without GPS all can provide the platform to track heart rate with the chest strap. 

Review: The Timex Run Trainer is a fabulous 5 Star GPS running watch

Quick, what word comes to mind when you think "Ironman"?

Robert Downey Jr.?
Marvel comics?
Torture?
Pain?
Chrissie Wellington?
Craig Alexander?
140.6 miles?

What about Timex? It seems as though Timex has been around since the beginning, but often gets overlooked within the triathlon world outside of brand loyalists.  They were tracking splits and miles before GPS was fully operational in 1994. Timex has been around since 1854, but not until recently have they ventured into the GPS game.

The Timex Run Trainer is their answer to bringing all of the features in Timex watches that have been loved by triathletes to a GPS watch that is now the staple training device. A triathlete without a GPS watch is like a duck without feathers. Splits, distance, speed, pace, heart rate... triathletes have to have it.

Review: Evolution Solution Infinitize & Refinitize offer a solid option for the hydration and recovery

It's just a simple fact, in a long course triathlon you will not make it in one piece to the finish line without some form of caloric intake. Ok. Maybe that's a little dramatic, but any triathlete with a good head on their shoulders knows enough about the game to at least bring some sort of sports drink on the bike and take some aid station kool aid on the run.

There are a lot of choices when it comes to hydration. There's the standard fare that can be found in your local grocery store that's a viable option, but may not get you to the next level. You could tempt fate and just go with H2O or use sports gels for your calories, but what if the ole gut doesn't appreciate gels? Then what?

Now that it's been established that you NEED more calories and nutrients from your race fluid intake than your average store bought sports drink (or training fluid intake for that matter), lets consider some options. Even if you're not convinced, just go along and assume a valid point has been made.

Evolution Solution (ES) has reached out to have their Infinitize and Refinitize recovery mix tested out and reviewed.

Since late October of 2012, ES has been the primary mix for any training and race wise from the Kansas City North Face 50k  to the Operation Jack Half Marathon on December 29, 2012.

If the activity required fluids, ES was on hand for during and after. After extensive and maybe obsessive use, check out the results below.