How is May Already Over?!?!

Is it just me, or did this past month go by super quickly?!? Before I know it, the summer will be over and I’ll be starting my final semester of university. I’m going to attempt to hold on to every inch of summer I can!

This past month was interesting, as it saw the rehab of knee, which meant no half-marathon. This made me kind of sad, because this is something that I worked really hard towards and it flopped. That being said, I know what I did wrong and what to fix going forward. Enough about my knee…below is what my month looked like!

Total Mileage This Month: 14. Not much I can do about this unfortunately. Though I feel that June will definitely be higher.

Best Performing Blog Post: Ironically enough, the best performing blog post this month was April is Done! I guess you guys like to read about how the month has looked as a whole.

How was the Strength Training this Month: Like I said on Monday, I wish I made more strides in the strength-training department but everyone’s bound to have off-cycles. I’m looking to make crazy gains in June so watch out!

Cool Products I Tried this Month: I posted this on Instagram a bit ago, but I’ve fallen in love with Clif’s Nut Butter Filled Bars. I’ll probably be doing a review on them in the near future, so keep your eyes pealed.

The coconut almond butter is my favourite flavour, but they have a hazelnut one that tastes like Nutella. Mmmmmm 

Cool Things I did: Treetop Trekking hands down. Read my review for it here.

So much green space! The actual area where the treetop trekking takes place is just beyond the trees. This photo doesn’t do it justice, it’s huge!

What cool products did you guys try this month? Anything I should try/do a review on?

 

-Running Fast, Lifting Heavy

 

 

 

 

Product Review: Clif Bloks Energy Chews

Price: $2.55 CAD (couldn’t find it on the National Sports website)

A couple of weeks ago, I made a trip to National Sports to get some chews/gels. I ended up buying two packs of Clif Bloks Energy Chews, (one black cherry and one tropical punch), and two Clif Shot Energy Gels, (both were the razz flavour), while I’ve already done a review on the gels, here’s my review on the chews. Just as a head’s up, you can probably expect a gel vs. chew post in the very near future.

I decided to take one chew every 35 minutes rather than 3 every 45. There are two reasons as to why I arrived at that time interval:

1. When I was taking the gels, I only used half a pack every 45 minutes and that seemed to work for me.
2. The chews from Clif are HUGE.

With that said, this is what I gathered from my experience with Clif Bloks Energy Chews:

-Like it said, it’s huge. Because of its size, it makes it challenging to chew…especially while running.

-The tropical punch flavour was really tasty. I always have a huge sweet tooth, so it’s kind of nice to get that while on a run.

-Not super convenient to take while on a run since it comes in a long package.

-Digests well, (it’s also organic which is a plus)

-The caffeine gives you a quick boost without the crash

I still have one more pack of chews to go through, but I think I’m going to stick to gels after this. Question for you guys: how do you guys run and take gels or eat chews? I literally have to stop and do it…clearly I’m not the greatest multitasker!

Running Fast, Lifting Heavy Approved: I’m going to say yes, but I wish the size was smaller.

 

-Running Fast, Lifting Heavy

Product Review: Clif Shot Energy Gel

Price: $1.50 (at mec.ca)

The decision to run long distances comes with a host of new elements: hydration packs, electrolytes, gels/chews, the list goes on. I felt like my hydration game was pretty on point, but I needed to figure out something on the chew/gel front. Since I work at a running store, I’ve tried a fair bit of running nutrition, however I’ve never been able to try them during a run. I had put a fair amount of research into this, since messing up nutrition during a run can really make or break you. When trying to find a brand and type of running nutrition, I took into account the following:

-Chew vs. Gel: (chews can be a little tricky to navigate since you have to chew them mid run, whereas gels can just be slurped down). That being said, gels sometimes are a little on the thicker side and make it harder to swallow.

-Accessible Packing: I don’t want to fight with the package mid-run.

-Certified Organic: I tend to get headaches and digestive issues sometimes post-run, so I wanted to make sure the ingredients were something that could be easily digested with no issues.

-Caffeine: An immediate burst of energy is nice, but a non-caffeine gel/chew wasn’t a write-off.

-Good Flavour: This one is pretty self-explanatory.

After reading some blogs on here and doing my own research, (and trying some stuff at work), I settled on the Clif Shot Energy Gel. I also bought the chews, but I haven’t used those on a run yet so I’ll save those for another review. In the mean time, here’s what I thought of the gel:

-I still haven’t mastered the running and eating thing, so it’s been a little challenging running and swallowing the gel. This isn’t anything to do with the brand, (in fact, I find Clif’s gels pretty easy to swallow), but more so with my lack of experience.

-Tastes like raspberry jam, (I bought the razz flavour, also a huge win).

-Caffeine delivers immediate energy with no crash

I should probably note that when I use the Clif Shot Energy Gel, I only use on half a gel every 45 minutes. When I first tried running and gels, I didn’t want to take an aggressive approach in fear that I would mess with my digestive system. So far, that seems to be an effective method, so I think I’m going to stick to it.

 

-Running Fast, Lifting Heavy