Save up to 50% on your Sports Drinks! - Saving Time and Money Series

I am sorry, I had made a mistake last week by scheduling the breath technique drills during my annual trip to Long Beach Island, Surf City, New Jersey.  It is a lovely place and is my 23^rd year and counting. 

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This week I am going to be talking about how to save you money on your daily nutrition needs.  Sports drinks, protein shakes, and vitamin supplements can take a bite out of your budget.  As you may know, single servings of these drinks can be upwards of $2.00 (per scoop).  Who has the money for nutrition use on a daily basis with these unit prices?  In order to sew the hole back up in your pocket, I will illustrate a simple set of rules to follow when looking for your training nutrition.

 

Rule #1 - Research, Research, Research!

Constant research is a must when looking to shed a few dollars on your nutrition bills.  Try starting with Google Shopping.  Search for your favorite training and racing nutrition starting with the lowest price+shipping.  Let’s use EnduroxR4 as an example.  Just do a few calculations and find the lowest priced bottle per serving.  Try researching once every 1-2 weeks.  It only takes 5-10 minutes and is the most important rule to remember!

Rule #2 – Avoid Traditional Sites like GNC

While Vitamin World and GNC have been around for a good while, their prices reflect the added expense of employee knowledge.  Avoid these traditional stores for your purchases.  Weight lifting websites tend to carry a broad scope of products.  In the crossfires they sometimes pick up endurance supplements like Hammer Nutrition’s Heed, and previously stated Pacific Health’s Endurox R4.  In time these products don’t sell as well on the site and tend to be put onto clearance.   You’re not doing too bad when you get a large tub of a sports drink at 50% of the price!

• Amazon.com – A great collaboration of smaller online stores
• Smartbody Nutrition
• VitaminFix.com

Rule #3 - Look into trying different flavors

Certain flavors of sports nutrition can go faster than others.  Calling out Endurox R4 again, Fruit Punch tends to be a top seller for the product line.  After finding Lemon-Lime on clearance, I found Lemon-Lime has a much smoother flavor for working out and settles in the stomach better.  Since the find, I haven’t switched back!  Try something new!

Rule #4 - Buy in Bulk, Take the Discounts as they come

You may look at your nutrition inventory and say, “I have plenty for the next 3-4 months, why would I need more?”  The answer: You don’t, but you Will.  If you find a stellar sale, Go For It!  Some sales (especially clearance), come up very rarely and should be taken advantage of.  Don’t worry about over-buying, most sports nutrition products [that are stored properly] last for years before they expire.  Just relax, you will eventually use it.

How do you save YOUR money on Nutrition? Let us know!

Rule #5 - Look to your friends who belong to Clubs

Many clubs have special sponsorships with different companies.  National Running Center gives a 10-20% discount to clubs who sign up.  Share an order cost with a friend to take part in these discounts.

Rule #6 - Call to Place your Order

After following Rule #1, you may find some stores give free shipping, while others do not.  Check to see who has the lowest supplement prices and give them a call.  Chances are that if you site “www.Example Site.com” has “Free Shipping at this price” they may be able to knock off the shipping expenses for you to secure your business.  Be proactive!  There’s nothing wrong with penny pinching.   

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37 Haendel Christmas Party

There's only one word for the Christmas Party at 37 Haendal: Epic.

Snowflakes hanging from every Ceiling! These snowflakes ranged from basic cutouts to incredible designs of Christmas Trees, Presents, Bells, and Holly. There were talented snowflakes in the batch, and like we learn in elementary school, not one was identical to the other.

As for Steve's Labrecque's Wild Ride, there was some sweet decoration placed on the Band's equipment. The set list was tight, especially with Guest Trombonist, Drew Howard who stepped in for "Santa Wants to Know."

BURC once again did their Secret Santa and I must say, everyone outdid themselves for creative gifts! There were Legos, Nerf Guns, Aerobic Striptease : In the Bedroom with Carmen Electra, and even a Papaya! (What do you do with a Papaya, I have no idea, but what an awesome Gift!)

Other hits of the party included 6 Batches of Christmas Cakies, Beer Pong and a Christmas Keg! With over 70 attendees this was definitely an awesome End of Semester Christmas Party!

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Garden City Turkey Trot - Turkey Heads and Jugglers!

So I was at the Garden City Turkey Trot today (Nov 25th) in Garden City, NY on Long Island. My cousin Katie and I decided to do a little pre-dinner warmup to get our stomach's ready for the massive food that we wanted to eat today. A brisk, yet beautiful, 52* November day.

There were so many cool things going on at the Garden City Rec Center. There were Turkey Heads! Several people who were wearing Fresh and Cooked turkey hats :-) Katie just kept smiling every time she saw them. I mean, Who can't smile when they see a cooked turkey on someone's head. Additionally, there was a Juggling Runner! He ran the whole 8k while Juggling 4 hackysacks! Game Over!

As for the Race. BURC's Gallagher from Garden City ran with me. We found each other at the starting line and took off. We stayed together until until about the 3 1/2 mile mark. But I must say, I am very proud of Gallagher's performance today. Damn good!

My splits were almost perfect...

1st Mile - 6:00
2nd Mile- 5:57
3rd Mile - 5:57
4th Mile - 6:07
5th Mile - 5:44

8K Total : 29:45 - 28th/3377

I say that 5:57 pace for 5 miles isn't bad for my second run in 3 weeks. It hurt but it felt good. I've have been taking completely off since the World Championships in Early November. I don't like this. I'm antsy but rest is good, so takin it slow. But had a lot of fun at the Garden City Turkey Trot today!


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Pouring rain, are you wimpy?

As a Triathlete, even when its pouring rain I put on my shoes, or goggles and trudge out the door. (If I'm swimming I'm going to be soaking wet anyway.) But is enough, enough?

I'm in Binghamton right now with the remains from Hurricane Lee. It's pouring rain, the streets are flooded and you look like a drowned rat when you walk from your car to the house. Is there a limit to the amount of rain? Some say yes, some say no...

Sometimes its good to say "yes there is a limit." Sometimes it's not even raining that hard. As an athlete there is ALWAYS some weakness that can be worked on. Do a really good strength or power workout inside. Or do agility drills in the living room. Do isometric strength exercises across the couch, in a chair, or on the floor. If you live with somebody you may look like a complete idiot but that's OK! It'll keep you mentally strong rather than going out in the rain.

On the other hand, if you've been cooped up in the house for days and have neglected to train for a few days, gaining the courage to get out in the rain may be exactly what you need to get back into it. The next workout you do will feel light and easy. You may even have the greatest workout of your life in the rain. Go for it!

So it all depends on the situation. If you've been overtraining or are just mentally tired, try some indoor stuff. If you've been neglecting your workouts, fight the rain!

Lake George Triathlon!

So the Lake George Triathlon went amazingly! That is... I FELT great. My times don't show the fastest my body theoretically could handle. 2:11, 25, 66, 37. The main good point about this race: Throughout the race I didn't feel horrible. I felt like I wanted to continue. I felt light on my feet and in the water. I felt strong. And yet... I could be faster.

Throughout the season I had been focusing on recovery, racing, quality workouts, and more recovery. Not the worst plan ever. But I had neglected my turnover, I had neglected my cadence, and I had neglected a natural efficiency skill that I took for granted. My muscular system could handle the high impact during the few races I did but I could not sustain a relatively low turnover rate over long-term training. After Age-Group nationals I switched to high cadence (and for swimming, efficiency) training. I felt my body jump start and knew I had done something correct. I shouldn't have overlooked this aspect of my training, but we all make mistakes. Hopefully I can gain some efficiency and speed for the ITU World Championships in November.

Make a Plan But Don't Be Made By That Plan!

So it's been a while since the last post. I may have already posted about the importance of a schedule before, but I cannot emphasize that enough. I used my summer creating a Triathlon Team, taking Classes, setting up a Textbook Selling Agency, training and traveling for competition and spending time with my parents, friends, and Sweetheart Dog. Unfortunately I didn't have a set schedule to do things. I proceeded day after day doing "what I felt" I'd like to do at that moment. I always had the next task on my mind, not allowing myself to function to my utmost efficiency. It was a whirlwind of papers, frustration, and angst (Though I really did enjoy spending time with those I saw).

Now that I'm back in school, I'm back on a schedule, and able to have set (yet flexible) times in which I do the tasks that need to get done. I feel lighter, and more energetic. I am still as happy that I was before (I take everything in life as a gift), but I'm less frustrated with tasks because I am able to take that first step of recovery, first click of athletic research, or write that first word on a blog. Set schedules are necessary. As the old BURC President David Malinowski once said "Make a Plan, But Don't Be Made By That Plan!"

A surprise visit...

So the Skii's came over today for a surprise visit as they made their way up to Vermont to go skiing. It was nice to see them.

Registered for the Binghamton Bridge Half Marathon today. Some prize money in the pack. Maybe a 1:16 will be enough to take on some big boys.

Bought shoes last night, 2 more pairs of DS Trainers 15's! My shoes were waaaay over due.

Today I'll be picking my teams for the NCAA tourny. I may have to bet against Nova but even if they do beat George Mason in the first round the play first ranked Ohio State in the second round.

Today's Workout
Afternoon
Bike 90 Easy

4xab (planks, crunches, flutter kicks, leg lifts)
4x25 pushups
4x25 dips

Evening


Nutrition
Eggs
Oatmeal with nuts and fruit
english muffins
fruit and yogurt

January Freeze 10k - TCRC Binghamton

So this may be a little late, but o' well. The 10k went alright in Binghamton, NY. 37:14. Not the greatest time in the world (considering my triathlon 10k time is 35:11). Though it was a good sight to see all three laps evenly spaced. I couldn't produce a great deal of power but I was consistent. It's still pre-season, but I need to start and get my butt going if I am to do well this year. I'm strong. Now it's time to convert that strength to power. Consistent power. I came in forth during the race. I raced against some good runners who pushed me along. It was a coldish day, but not too bad. I felt slightly fatigued going into it.