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EFS – Energizing Sports Drink review

by: Dean Sprague

What is EFS: Electrolyte Fuel System.

It comes in two formats powder/drink and liquid shot format. This write up will be about the drink/powdered format.

I have only once previously tried with 1st Endurance and have finally purchase a full 25 serving bucket to use long term. For me, I think the 25 serving will last about 2 months or about 800 miles of riding. I’m gonna try to track how long it really last. I am three weeks in on the Fruit Punch flavor. I have heard the Grape flavor is great (that will be my next purchase)

just lost my write up… have to do it again..sucks!

I decided to forego my usual hydration/electrolyte mixture and go all the way for this weekend’s race, Showdown at Sundown, with Fruit Punch flavor of 1st Endurance EFS.

Benefits/ Features of EFS

highest electrolyte content – over 1000mg compared to 162 to 430mg per 12 ounces.
prevents cramping and dehydration
mix at varying strengths (just about all powders are)

Other info (per 12oz)

96 calories
200% DV of vitamin C
16g of sodium
24g of carbohydrates

What are electrolytes (salts)? Calcium, potassium, sodium, and magnesium) and anions (of chloride, carbonates, aminoacetates, phosphates, and iodide). These are nutritionally called macrominerals. These are lost through perspiration or other forms of dehydration, particularly in heat stress situations.

Why are electrolytes important? They allow cells to generate energy, maintain

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Categories: Nutrition

3/22/2011

triathlete

GPS Coordinates

San Diego, CA

How do I recover?

by: Meredith Trowbridge

I get this question every once in a while, people kind of shake their heads and wave their fingers at me and say “triathlon, ridiculous….you’re crazy.” Well, I agree, I think I am crazy….but not really for doing triathlon, but for a host of other reasons :).

I will say that yes, I do think doing the Ironman distance races require a dose of insanity, mostly because really, your life becomes about Ironman. No doubt. I suppose I could be someone who wakes up at 4:00 a.m. and rides the trainer, or goes to the gym and runs on the treadmill and during Soren’s nap, i’d ride the trainer and after Soren goes to bed, head to the pool. I *could* do this and I know people that do, but right now, that all sounds just very…very….tiring. So, what I decided to do when my kids are “little” is race the shorter stuff, meaning, maybe two workouts a day during “peak” training, but definitely not three. And yes, i’ve done three workouts a day……and yeah, I feel a little insane for writing that, but then again, someone once asked, “how do you do an Ironman”. That’s how. 2-3 workouts a day….about 15-20 hours, maybe more a week.

So, how does one do all this. Not just “eating well” and, not even really sleeping because when you’re training that much, you’re jittery at night. Yeah, you’d think you’d sleep well, but…

Categories: Nutrition, Product Reviews

1/13/2011

triathlete

GPS Coordinates

Bethlehem, PA

What I learned about nutrition in 2010

by: Chris Garges

Being relatively new to the sport of triathlon (3 years), I always brushed over nutrition as “something I don’t have to worry about”. Heck, I was never taught anything about nutrition by a coach (never had one) and I wasn’t a big sweat loss guy, so it was one less thing to worry about. Sure, as I moved from Sprints to OLY’s and on to the half iron distance I would think about it and have a plan, but my plan was simple….take what’s on the course and carry an energy gel or something for the run. It seemed to get me through ok.

Well, in 2010 I was lucky enough to become a member of Team Trakkers. Team Trakkers had this wonderful nutrition sponsor, First Endurance and this wonderful website that had a wealth of information about nutrition. As I trained harder and longer, and raced harder and longer nutrition was turning into a bigger component than it had prior and now I was paying attention.

Two of the defining characteristics of First Endurance are their commitment to quality products and their persistent research and development to create the best products that work in real life race situations. They use nothing but the best, highest quality products. Their products are Gluten Free and contain no high fructose corn syrup. The three main components I was immediately drawn to were Ultragen (for recovery) and EFS

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Categories: Athletes, Nutrition, Product Reviews, Running, Swimming, Team, Triathlons

1/5/2011

triathlete

GPS Coordinates

Chicago, IL

New Year, New Strategy

by: MJ Slikas

You can imagine how depressed I’d be after spending 6 weeks without running and another 6 in a boot only to find out I was told I need ANOTHER 6 weeks in the boot. I mean, seriously, I’ve had friends who have had foot surgery come back faster than this. I don’t get it – I don’t feel like I even had a real injury! And with the boot means not just no running, but there are a lot of things I’ve had to completely stop: stair climbing, cross country skiing, push ups, lunches, plyometrics….need I go on?

So what is there to do? Aside from a lot of time on the bike and one-legged flip turns in the pool, I’ve now focused on changing the diet up a bit. I am now working on the Paleo diet – well, I’m trying! I cannot believe how wierd it is to not have bread, rice, pasta, bagels, etc. And I don’t think I’ve eaten this much meat since I even started this sport. I actually bought a WHOLE chicken the other day. It almost makes me gag thinking about it. But we’ll see how this goes – I’m game to try anything once. The real test will be to see what happens to my power numbers on the bike. Last time I made a drastic change to my eating habits, I just about lost all power on the bike. …

Categories: Athletes, Nutrition, Racing, Recipes, Triathlons

11/25/2010

triathlete

GPS Coordinates

Royersford, PA

Even the kids love First Endurance

by: Andy Rosebrook

Going through my son’s 8th grade cross country team pictures and I noticed a couple of shots of Adrain enjoying some EFS in a First Endurance Water bottle after his race. How’s that for an unsolicited endorsement?

Categories: Athletes, Family & Friends, Nutrition, Product Reviews

10/23/2010

triathlete

GPS Coordinates

Sandusky, OH

Rev3 Cedar Point: Race Report

by: Jamie Bull

Race morning had officially arrived. After a surprisingly good sleep, I was up, hit the bathroom and downed a bottle of EFS and some Clif Shot Bloks.

I decided that the whole day was going to be focused on two main ideas:
Take the whole day one mile at a time
Enjoy every mile of my only first Ironman
Those two mantras would end up driving me for the next 140.6 miles.

Other than a minor pre-dawn freakout in transition area. I was able to keep a pretty level head as I set up my bike, organized my transition area and filled up my nutrition bottles. I was pretty happy and surprised with my attitude. I’ve been a LOT more nervous for a LOT shorter races.
I’m not sure what it was, but I was just ready to race, get out there and start tearing up the course.
Heading over to the swim start and patiently waiting for the gun to go off. Sam was an amazing sherpa and helped me stay cool calm and collected up until the second I had to leave her and dive head first into the water. Just as I was starting to head through the start gate, she handed me her cell phone. It was my mom calling from Connecticut to give me some last minute last minute well wishes. Hearing how proud she was…

10/22/2010

adventure racer

$USARA Adventure Racing National Championships – Team Remington-Mountain Khakis\Trakkers$

GPS Coordinates

Centreville, VA

USARA Adventure Racing National Championships – Team Remington-Mountain Khakis\Trakkers

by: Michael Spiller

USARA Adventure Racing National Championships
Hidden Valley, PA
October 15-16, 2010
Weather: Cold and wet to start, sunny through the day, cold and windy during the night

Race Report by Jeff Dicky

To close out my season, I’ve been doing some long distance racing – the Shenandoah 100, an 18 hour adventure race at the end of September, and most recently, the USARA Adventure Race National Championships in and around Hidden Valley, PA. The national championship race is a 30 hour co-ed event for teams of 3 that included something like 150k of mountain biking, 3-4 hours of kayaking, and a whole lot of running/trekking and orienteering.

I was racing with my adventure racing team, Team Remington-Mountain Khakis/Trakkers, a team I’ve been with for a few years, who had fielded two co-ed and one masters teams for the event. Going into the race, the R-MK/T team was the #1 ranked team in the US.

Unfortunately, the pro mountain bike woman who I was to race with broke her foot a few weeks before the race and we were just able to find a sub for her before the event started.

The race started off cold and early with a short orienteering course around the Hidden Valley ski area (this was after we had less than an hour to plot out all of our checkpoints on two huge maps and try to determine the best route).…

Categories: Adventure Racing, Biking, Nutrition, Race Reports

7/6/2010

triathlete

San Diego International Triathlon Race Report…

GPS Coordinates

San Diego, CA

San Diego International Triathlon Race Report…

by: Meredith Trowbridge

My thoughts before the race: what was I thinking doing a triathlon when I had done zero open water swims, no brick workouts, minimal biking and I truly mean minimal? Who was I to think I would be in “race shape,” after traveling and training, but not training nearly where I used to. Would I like racing shorter distances after the last few years of doing longer races? Is it silly that I would even show up to race?

I finally had a talk with myself the night before the race and answered my own questions. Why does it matter how much i’ve trained, or would I like the distance or how much i’ve biked. I signed up, and I love racing, so just go DO IT and have fun! Such a difficult mentality from someone who while they were pregnant would get passed by a walker at the lake and try to mow them down! Just “go have fun,”….easier said than done. No matter how little training I do, I still want to mow the person down in front of me. Doesn’t matter if I haven’t biked over 33 miles at one time this year (Vineman 70.3 will be painful i’m sure)…..or that I can’t remember the last time I practiced running off the bike, I need to go back to the reason why I started triathlon in the first place and that’s because it is FUN. I could…

6/10/2010

triathlete

GPS Coordinates

Bethlehem, PA

Mental Notes

by: Chris Garges

First off, on the way home from Quassy we got news that Lauren’s uncle had suffered a cardiac arrest. He was on day two of an MS150 bike ride in North Carolina which he had done many times before, in very hot and humid weather. He collapsed 5 miles from the finish line and by the grace of God was defibulated (sp?) very quickly. He went through some tough times over the following few hours and needed open heart surgery. We got word this morning that he was removed from the ventilator and is speaking although suffering some short term memory loss. God works in amazing ways and He definitely has bigger and better plans for Ken. He’s not out of the woods yet but the recent news is very encouraging.

Things like that really make you take a step back. Here’s a fit man in his 50’s that was seconds from not making it back home after a weekend of doing what he loves. We as humans and as athletes are truly blessed. Blessed that we have great families, great bodies, and an incredible country where we live free of violence, where our children can grow up without any worries and where we have an abundance of all of our needs. I don’t know why God has provided me with the blessings he has, but I am grateful that He has and I hope that I can glorify him…

Categories: Events, Nutrition, Product Reviews, Tips

6/10/2010

triathlete

GPS Coordinates

41.5275002,-73.1233368