The new AquaJoe portable hydration system gives runners and active individuals a convenient solution for carrying their favorite powdered drink.
The concept is simple:
Product: New Balance MR790
Price: $80.00
Shoe Type: Lightweight Trail / Racing
Fit: Half a size small
Weight: 7.9 oz
Pronation Factor: Neutral
Best for: Lighter runners with access to softer surfaces
Many trails near my home in northern Utah are steep, rocky, and foreboding, requiring heavy tank-like trail running shoes that can withstand the punishment of the terrain — and protect my feet as well. Many of these dedicated trail running shoes weigh up to a pound apiece in order to offer high levels of support and protection.
However, there are times in my trail running when I don’t quite need that level of stability and “armor”, but rather, I want speed and agility. In other words, I want a lightweight trail shoe, the trail equivalent to a road racing flat.
Fortunately, New Balance has come through with this wish, with their MR790 model trail shoe. At a feather-light 7.9 ounces, this trail shoe is lighter than my road-racing flats! But how will they perform on a trail?
When I made the jump to running with an mp3 player, I quickly noticed two things:
As a result, one of the first accessories I purchased were nicer, more comfortable, more stable ear clip headphones. Even these never quite fit my ears right and tended to jiggle around. Perhaps I should have first looked at a pair of Nike sport headphones.
I recently had the pleasure of testing the Nike Flight and the Nike Vapor sport headphones. I enjoyed both models, and each offered a unique set of pro’s and con’s.
The Nike Flight headphones (Pictured above) feature a behind-the-head design, and retail for $20. The aspects I immediately noticed about this model is that they are extremely lightweight and simple.
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In the expanding world of hydration products, nuun has separated itself from the pack with their quality portable electrolyte tablets. It is dissolves quickly, is sugar-free, is convenient to use, and tends to have a mild, pleasing taste.
(For nuun product details and to read TheFinalSprint.com’s review from earlier this year, please click here).
Since TFS’s review, nuun has added “kona cola” as a new flavor to their existing lineup of lemon-lime, tri-berry, and citrus fruit. Not only does Kona Kola give a new taste, but also offers 40 mg of caffeine for each tablet. This quantity of caffeine is roughly half of the amount found in a cup of coffee, and is more on par with a cup of tea or a serving of cola.
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It seems that in the world of hydration systems, there is always give-and-take and compromise. The small, light packs may not carry enough water. The bottle-based belt systems require use of hands and often make you stop in your activity during use. The hands-free, bladder-based systems tend to bounce around too much and cause discomfort.
Personally, I tend to gravitate toward the bladder-based hydration systems, such as those made by Camelbak or Ultimate Direction, because I can use them in full stride during my runs. I hate having to stop, pull out a bottle, and then put it back before resuming my run. However, all of the bladder-based hydration systems I had used in the past tended to have a heavy weight, poor center of gravity, and a tendency bounce around. Over the duration of a long road or trail run, this not only proves to be annoying, but can also cause chaffing, discomfort, and alteration of my stride.
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As more Americans embrace a healthier lifestyle, the popularity of fizzy beverages continues to wane. Industry insiders even predict that the bottled water industry will overtake carbonated soft drinks within the decade.
This news bodes well for flavored, vitamin-enhanced water makers like PepsiCo. In 2006, PepsiCo introduced SoBe Life Water to the market, a naturally flavored lifestyle water chock full of the vitamin B complex, and antioxidant vitamins C and E. According to the National Cancer Institute, antioxidants like vitamins C and E protect cells from the damage inflicted by free radicals. The cancer fighting agents in SoBe Life Water make it worth the $1.39 price tag.
Designed to help you live a healthier life, SoBe Life Water comes in five tasty and refreshing flavors that our testers found enjoyable: Strawberry Kiwi, Pomengranate Cherry, Blackberry Grape, Orange Tangerine, and Passionfruit Citrus.
Read the rest at our partner site: HerActiveLife.com
These past two seasons have been tough ones for me. Runners’ knee in both knees, lower back pain, SI joint pain, plantar fasciitis, and a groin strain had brought my running to a grind (literally) during 2005 and the first half of 2006. After months of not running, and enduring physical therapy, chiropractic, and massage therapy, I was finally back up and running by September of 2006.
I noticed that deep tissue massage was particularly effective in accelerating healing, but at $40/hr, I could not afford to do it more than once or twice a month. Then I discovered Trigger Point Technologies and their massage products through injury message boards and word of mouth. I figured that the TP Massage set would be good investment, since I could use it every day at no cost after the initial purchase.
If it holds to even half of the claims of the website and of other peoples’ reviews, it would be worth the money by helping to keep me injury-free and feeling good during and after runs (Some of the before mentioned reviews of this self-massage toolset are by Linda Gallo, SNEWS, and active.com). Reviews such as these, plus the product’s informative website, convinced me to shell out the cash to buy it myself and add it to my arsenal of injury-prevention and running maintenance tools.
I have been using the massage tools and techniques faithfully every day now for the last 8 weeks. The tools of the “Total Package” (Pictured above) include the Ball, the Footballer and Block, and the Quadballer.
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Trigger Point Technologies hit a home run with their TP Massage toolkit, which is designed to release trigger points, restore muscle elasticity, and improve biomechanics for runners, cyclists, and other athletes. For me, TP massage as been key component of returning my body to health and my recent rise in running performance (Also see my full review on the TP Massage Ball).
Another oft-overlooked aspect of injury prevention, performance, and biomechanics is core strength. Many runners will be willing to train for hours and hours each week, but fail to put any time into improving their core — the result of this neglect is sometimes poor biomechanics that propagate into injury.
While actively recovering from my barrage of injuries in 2006, I dedicated myself to improving core strength, both during physical therapy and at home. From wobble boards and stability balls, to simple crunches and bridge exercises, I consistently invested about 15 minutes per day into my core muscles. And it has been time well spent, as I have logged over 1400 miles in 5 months and set several big PR’s…all while staying injury-free.
The TP Stability PODS are designed to increase core strength through challenging balance and symmetry. They come as a set of three different-sized, concave, foam…er…pods (for the lack of a better description). The differential heights of the three pods represent three difficulty levels (I, II, and III). In other words, it is much harder to find balance with the tallest pod than with the shortest pod, which engages greater work in the core muscles.
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Product: CLIF Bar
Price: Retail $1.39 to $1.69 each, $15 for a box of 12
Rating: Excellent 8.8/10.0
Pros: Enjoyable taste, inexpensive, easy to digest, many flavor varieties, vegan/vegetarian friendly, 70% organic ingredients
Cons: Texture is not immediately appealing
Overall: CLIF Bars offer the best bang for your buck in the world of energy bars. Not only is the taste tolerable, but most flavors are actually very good, although like many bars it suffers from a peculiar texture. CLIF Bars are great to consume before and after races and workouts, with few digestion problems. In addition, they contain no animal products, and are filled with soy protein and carbohydrates.
I remember my first experience with energy bars, well over 10 years ago. I recall being somewhat curious and even a little excited about this new concept. I thought to myself, Will it boost my performance? Will it give me boundless energy?
My eager optimism crashed as soon as I began it to eat it. I managed to scarf down the dense, chewy mass, and proceeded to get a gut bomb that lasted the duration of my run. In the early days, some of those bars were terrible!
Then I discovered CLIF Bar. Conceived as an idea in 1986, debuted in 1992, and incorporated in 1997, CLIF Bar has chewed its way to the top as a leading maker of energy bars.
It is now ubiquitous in bike shops, grocery stores, and race goodie bags. Along with its rich history, CLIF Bar upholds many environmental, health, and social ideals via its philosophy and operations, and also through support of numerous outside organizations.
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It is essential to track and monitor your body’s performance and response, as well as the surrounding elements to which you are exposed, whenever you are participating in outdoor activities such as trail running, hiking, back- packing and fastpacking. GPS technology provides information such as speed, altitude, and bearing, but often requires athletes to carry yet another device and is generally incapable of providing weather-related information.
Casio has introduced the Pathfinder Series as a way to disseminate vital information to trekkers using the low-profile and convenient platform of a wristwatch. I recently had the pleasure of exploring the 3V model of Casio’s Pathfinder PAW1300 Series and tested it on several types of training runs and within various environments.
Read the rest of this review at our partner site: TrailFit.com
Product: Contour Pak’s Cold Pak
Price: $19.95
Rating: Excellent 9.0/10.0
Pros: Stays in place; easy-to-use; versatile; effective; stays cold longer than other cold compresses; washable, durable, can be used without a paper towel or other protective barrier
Cons: None
Overall: The most effective and well-designed mechanism for treating minor injuries with cold therapy.
Cold therapy is a an excellent treatment option […]
Proper hydration is essential for runners and other athletes. Sports drinks are good options, but many people don’t enjoy their very sugary taste and/or experience stomach problems from the excessive carbohydrate intake. Looking for an alternative? Try nuun’s portable electrolyte hydration. Read on for our comprehensive review and the results of our […]
If you’d like to try a holistic approach to muscle soreness, you should give Boiron’s Arnica Gel a try. We found it to have a far superior odor than traditional favorites (i.e. - IcyHot), but yet often more effective for pain relief. Below are the results of TFS’s product testing, small-scale double-blind trials, […]
The Stick’s “Sprinter Stick” is an exceptional tool for injury prevention & treatment and was chosen as a “TFS Top Pick of 2006″.
Product: The Stick’s Sprinter Stick
Price: $32.95
Rating: Excellent 8.9/10.0
Pros: Improves performance by accelerating recovery; portable; good value; versatile
Cons: Difficult to use on arm muscles and feet without a partner.
Overall: This is a one-of-a-kind self-massage […]
TFS makes every effort to be unbiased and objective when performing product reviews; often doing double-blind tests to ensure such high standards. However, it should be noted up-front that our team, in general, does not find muscle/heat rubs to be the most effective means of treating muscle soreness, pain, fatigue, etc.
Product: BodyGlide Muscle Formula […]
Below you’ll find TFS’s review of VEGA’s Whole Food Energy Bar. Vega is made by Sequel Naturals and was founded by Ironman Triathlon Champion and vegan athelte, Brendan Brazier.
Product: VEGA’s Whole Food Energy Bars (Berry)
Price: $2.95 (each)
Rating: Very Good 7.7/10.0
Pros: Clean and green; high in fiber & essential fatty acids; no refined sugars or […]
Energy gels can be very helpful and convenient sources of carbohydrate replenishment for endurance athletes. However, they don’t always taste so great and that’s why a few alternatives have started to hit the market. One such alternative is Clif’s Shot Blocks which we have reviewed below.
Product: Clif Shot Bloks
Price: $1.95 each (2 servings); […]
Check out TFS’s review of Gatorade’s Endurance Formula; a revolutionary new product for mainstream endurance sports.
Product: Gatorade Endurance Formula
Price: $1.49 (24 oz bottle), $1.69 (34 oz bottle), $24.99 (50.2 oz powder canister)
Rating: Very Good 8.3/10.0
Pros: Provides increased electrolytes and other benefits for endurance athletes; good value; convenient to purchase
Cons: Slightly salty taste; could include some […]
Check out TFS’s review of Bodyglide’s Anti-Friction Skin Formula; a product so phenomenal that it received a higher rating that any product we have ever reviewed.
Product: BodyGlide Anti-Friction Skin Formula
Price: $7.99 (1.3 oz), $12.99 (2.5 oz)
Rating: Excellent 9.15/10.0
Pros: Stops chafing and irritation, easy to apply, unscented, sweat-proof, doesn’t stain clothes, all natural
Cons: None
Overall: For […]
Excited about the new Nike+iPod alliance - but unwilling to part with your favorite pair of non-Nike shoes? Fear not - because Marware has come to the rescue with their Sportsuit Sensor +
Product: Marware Sportsuit Sensor +
Price: $9.99
Rating: Excellent 8.55/10.0
Pros: Securely protects Nike+ iPod wireless sensor, durable, lightweight and inexpensive
Cons: Not waterproof
Overall: Marware’s Sportsuit […]
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