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March 2008
Battle of the energy bars
Anyone who participates in a sport is likely to want a fast source of nutrition, hence the proliferation of energy bars at corner stores, groceries and supplement shops alike. You can order them with custom ingredients online. You can eat them anytime. Here are a few, reviewed, friend of mine.
Clif
My favorite weirdly-abbreviated-geological-formation flavor is, inexplicably, carrot cake. Clif’s Web site says: “Just like eating a slice of Great Aunt Edna’s award-winning carrot cake.”
Uh, not really. It resembles carrot cake about as much as the chalky brown coating on most energy bars could be said to resemble chocolate. Still, the flavor and texture is not unpleasant, which is high praise for an energy bar.
The regular Clif bar is one of the sort of energy source that eschews a chocolate coating for a more homogenous taste and feel — although the carrot cake flavor has little bits of pseudo-icing distributed throughout. The bar is exceptionally dense, and I suspect a suit made of Clif bars would attract bears but repel bullets. Nonetheless, the bland but inoffensive taste, which improves proportionally with hunger levels, combined with its durability and inability to melt in any significant way makes the plain Clif bar an ideal selection for long backpacking trips, especially in the heat of the Texas summer.
Plus, I never get tired of reading the Clif makers’ inspirational business story while stopped for a rest under a live oak. Contains 10g protein, 46g carbs, 4g fiber.
Clif Builders
Clif Builders provides more protein as well as the ubiquitous chocolate coating in a bulked-up version of their popular bar. Clif Builders abandons the “tan lump” aesthetic for a rectangular shape, like nearly every other energy bar on the market. Since the Builders bar will melt, I don’t advise taking it on any long trips, unless you want your hands to look like you’ve been spending too much time with poo-flinging monkeys. In fact, I refrigerate mine (Peanut Butter is my favorite Builders bar, with Cookies ‘n’ Cream a close second) if I plan on taking them out of the house.
The flavor, however, is terrific. Well, OK: it isn’t roast-pheasant-with-demi-glace-terrific, or even chocolate-cake-terrific. But it does taste pretty much like your regular candy bars, and contains lots of chocolate and caramel, with just the slightest hint of chalkiness. Yum. The Peanut Butter flavor has 20g protein, 30g carbs, and 4g protein.
EASAdvantEDGE
This is also a pretty nice-tasting bar. A crisped rice and peanut core sits on a layer of chocolate, with more chocolate drizzled on top. Because of the crisped rice, the EAS bar is much less heavy than either of the Clif bars (neither of which I can eat in one sitting), a definite advantage when it needs to be consumed quickly.
The EASAdvantage (Chocolate Peanut Butter Crisp) has 17g protein, 27g carbs, and 6g fiber, which is a pretty good all-around figure.
Kashi GoLean Chewy and PowerBar Protein Plus
I’m reviewing the Kashi and PowerBar selections together because they are similar in composition. The Kashi flavor I tested (if you can call it that) is peanut butter and chocolate, while the PowerBar version is chocolate peanut butter. The Kashi Bar is a little bit thicker, but narrower, while the PowerBar sticks to the more common slender rectangular shape. Both offer a sort of whipped peanut butter-y filling with a chocolate coating.
It is actually difficult to determine which is more horrible. The Kashi bar is grainy in texture, and the chocolate flavor is weak, as if the person mixing it was having a bout of ennui. A bite of the Kashi bar seems to expand in the mouth, and is so thick that a 5K could be run before you could finish chewing it.
The PowerBar offers a different take on the same vileness. The filling is a little more airy, and the chocolate much more substantive. This is not a good thing. One imagines this very chalky brown choco-disgrace muscling its way into the esophagus, screaming about the need for protein in a sort of energy-bar ‘roid rage. Seriously, there needs to be a choking warning on both of these bars (or at least a gag warning).
The PowerBar has 23g of protein, 39g of carbs, and 1g fiber, while the Kashi has 13g protein, 48g carbs, and 6g fiber. (I guess the Kashi food scientists figure that if you are going to go through the trauma of eating this thing, you may as well eliminate it quickly.) On the basis of being the least disgusting, the Kashi bar muscles its way to next-to-last place in this rating.
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Megan survives boot camp
I made it through the final week of Austin Sports and Social Club’s boot camp but, let me tell you, it was no easy task.
Week four was basically an accumulation of the things I had grown to hate over the previous three weeks. It started off looking pretty good. At 5:30 Monday morning, I stuck my leg outside, as I normally do every morning, to see what the appropriate attire was going to be for the day. And by my leg’s calculation it was approximately 70 degrees, which called for a T-shirt, shorts, and perhaps a light fleece pullover — and I was out the door.
It was the usual Monday routine at Austin High: hills, hills and more hills. But what was about to happen next on the very last hill at the very last peak couldn’t have been timed any more perfect than if I had planned it myself. It was like the calm before the storm: all was quiet then, cue the wind. A few moments later it began to sprinkle and then all hell broke loose. We quickly headed — read: ran — back to Zilker Park in the pouring rain, gusting wind, and a temperature that was quickly and noticeably dropping. By the time we reached our destination the weather was too bad to be out in the open, so we did pushups and other tortuous acts under the Mopac bridge. I was lucky to have brought that pullover because my towel wouldn’t have covered nearly enough of my bare exposed skin without it. That was just Monday, my friends!
Tuesday was off the to the sand volleyball courts, where trainers Marc and Monica took pleasure in every grimace our faces made and every groan and gasp for air that escaped our barely breathing bodies. Thursday was our final day — the best day weather-wise, but the worst day of my life in every other way when it came to boot camp. We ran, we did pushups, and … the Auditorium Shores Suicide with a twist. This time it involved weighted medicine balls and running with them! It was horrible, but I survived.
And, you know what? I’m really glad I did it.
I can definitely see a change in my performance from the first week to now. I’m running faster at the end instead of slowing down, I’m getting in those last few pushups, and I feel great doing it. Well, not at the time, but afterwards I feel really good. And I’ve even signed up for the next boot camp. Call me crazy, but I really do like it.
In all seriousness, I had a great time over the past four weeks and would highly recommend Austin Sports and Social Club’s boot camp to everyone. It would be a great thing to do with co-workers, friends, spouses, or for a little one-on-one time with yourself. If you’re looking for something new and need a push to take you to that next level, then you should definitetly give this a go. Plus you get a T-shirt at the very end!
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Boot camp: Three weeks and counting …
I’ve been playing Kanye West’s “Stronger” in my head to try and get myself through all the running (No walking!) for week three of Austin Sports and Social Club’s Boot Camp.
Corny, I know, but it’s sadly true. Monday we did the usual running from Zilker Park to Austin High to sprint the hill from hell — it has no incline but rather leaps straight up like a pole. We knocked out the normal set of five, but Monica decided to move us back for more distance and throw in three more sets. All the while I was thinking/singing in my head.
Despite the hill and running, I was feeling pretty good about myself. My body felt great and not too sore, I had more energy during the day, and I thought I was finally overcoming the aches and pains of boot camp. That was until Thursday morning rolled around. Thursdays we meet at Auditorium Shores and instead of dividing ourselves into two groups — one working at the bridge steps and the other at the parallel bars — it was all for one and one for all in one big group.
Trainers Marc and Monica do a great job of mixing things up, so we’re not doing the same repetitive things and, in turn, working different areas of our bodies. But something was different today, and not just with everyone being in one big group. Their eyes were glistening, and we soon found out why. I don’t know if there is a name for what we did next, but I’d like to call it the “Auditorium Shores Suicide.”
If you’ve played any sort of sports in junior high, high school or college, you know what a suicide is — a running drill usually done on a field or basketball court where you sprint to one line, run back to the beginning, sprint to the next line, run back to the beginning, and so on and so forth. They’re the worst of the worst things to do and are usually a punishment from the coaches for losing a game, poor performance in practice, or something else that’s really really bad. I don’t know what WE did that was so wrong but we were being punished — maybe for something we did in a former life.
We started at the side of the trail closest to the water and sprinted to the first wall. From there we climbed the wall and did agility drills to the next wall, then push-ups on the wall, agility drills to the last wall, then dips on the wall, and sprinting all the way back to the beginning. We did that three times and then it was back to the wall to do step-ups. Step-ups are just how they sound. You step up the wall with one foot and then back down. Simple sounding enough, but the key word is “sounding.”
After those it was circle time — usually this time is used for some crunches/sit-ups and stretching. More of a cool-down time than anything. However, this particular circle time was used for another torture technique. We separated into groups of two — one standing, one on the ground lying down with legs in the air holding onto the other’s ankles. The one standing shoved the other’s legs to the ground and the one being shoved had to keep their feet from hitting the ground and bring their legs up to the starting position. We did this straight up and down, and then shoving side to side.
The next day I felt like every ounce of muscle and meat had been ripped from my torso … and I loved it! I knew that if I hurt this bad then I was doing something right. Things can only go up from here, and I’m excited to see my progress next week.
For more information on upcoming boot camps, go here for all the details.
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Alix is an Outlaw
Some of you may remember I tried out for the Austin Outlaws on Jan. 12, recently featured in an Austin-American Statesman article as well as this blog.
Unlike the article’s author, I completed tryouts and began attending practice as a team member. In fact, I write this while icing my quad post-practice, which began twinging during the conditioning drills that comprise a large segment of the first few practices. In one version of the “suicide,” we sprint 10 yards and either touch the turf or drop down completely, sprint back, touch, sprint to the 20-yard line, touch, sprint back, sprint to the 30-yard line, touch, sprint back.
Between days, I switch between the fast group, which challenges me but in which I am always the slowest runner, and the next-fastest group, where it is a little easier to keep up. After conditioning, the team is broken up into groups: receivers and quarterbacks, offensive line, defensive line, and defensive backs. It a relief to pick up my water bottle and run across the field towards my coach and the other DBs.
Coach Bobby always has something to tell us before we get started, and I listen attentively, trying, usually unsuccessfully, to memorize the information. What can I say? It’s a lot all at once, and the real challenge is converting brain understanding to physical understanding. It often takes me several tries at a skill before I feel like I’ve even begun to incorporate it into memory.
The DBs are the smallest group, a fact that means I am working with the same people over and over again. This is ideal for me, as I tend to clam up when I feel awkward, and getting to know a small group is much easier.
My friends are, in a word, fascinated. Everyone wants to see me in the uniform, even though I try to tell them that wearing it, I may as well be anyone else. As the Outlaws are a player-supported team, I’m thinking of charging for appearances.
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Boot camp update: Week 2
I have made it halfway through Austin Sports and Social Club’s boot camp — and all I have to say is, “I DIDN’T WALK!”
Probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life by the way.
I may not have been the fastest and I may not have been able to do the most push-ups, but I did not walk — no matter how bad I wanted to or how bad my chest was burning. And for that I am very proud of myself.
However, despite not being the fastest or strongest, I can already see a change in my performance. I have better form, I’m getting in that one last push-/pull-up, and I’m only sore as opposed to crippled like last week. And no matter how well I think I might be doing, trainers Monica and Marc have graciously shown time and time again that there is always room for improvement.
The most memorable day this week was Tuesday, when it felt like 20 degrees below zero. We did our morning run and then it was off to the volleyball courts — correction, SAND volleyball courts — where we had our rear-ends handed to us. Everything was done in the sand — sprinting, agility drills, these lunge-jump switcheroo things, some more sprinting — you get the idea. And to make it even more enjoyable, as the sun came up it only got colder. By the time I made it to the car that morning after it was over, I had to sit and let my hands thaw out for about five minutes before I could even grip the wheel.
Additionally as you may or may not remember, our dieting habits are also being monitored with our weekly food journals and the response back from trainer Marc wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought is was going be. Although, I wasn’t too thrilled when he suggested I forego my morning Sugar-Free Red Bull before boot camp because it was an excessive amount of caffeine when accompanied with my morning coffee at work. He also recommended that I needed to eat more (go figure) starting with three egg whites and a serving of fruit a day for breakfast.
My water consumption was also an issue, and he said I needed to up my water to 10 (8-ounce) glasses a day as opposed to eight, especially on days of boot camp. My bladder didn’t really like that one, but I gave it a good effort.
All in all, I am really glad that I’ve made it this far and am excited about the final two weeks. My husband says that he can already see a change in my body, but I think he’s just being nice.
Stay tuned next week to see if I’m still alive after week three. And, if you think putting your body through torture (like me) sounds like fun, remember there is another boot camp coming up soon. Go to here for all the details.
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Pedaling for a cure
Many people are familiar with distance running events used as fundraising tools for charity — marathons raced to garner donations to AIDS research, for instance, or to benefit the Susan G. Komen Foundation for Breast Cancer, are common seasonal talk around the water cooler.
But few may be as familiar with the notion of long-distance bicycle events completed for the same high purposes. This is a shame, as such events are quite prevalent in Texas, and indeed, are among the best of their class nationwide. The first of these, currently scheduled to take place in mid-April, is the BP MS 150, the BP-sponsored 150-mile bike ride to benefit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
The two-day event kicks off April 12, when an anticipated mass of nearly 20,000 riders will strike out west from Houston. Over the course of two days, these bicyclists will log the approximately 150 miles back to Austin as they, through their pledges and entry fees, raise money to fight MS. And with over $10 million raised annually, the BP MS 150 is one of the most high-profile events around
As the first of three corporate-sponsored long-distance rides — the other two are the May Sam’s Club MS 150 from Frisco to Fort Worth and the October Bike MS: Valero Bike to the Beach from San Antonio to Corpus Christi — the BP MS 150 marks the start of the big Texas weekender bicycle season. What’s more, it’s actually the largest bike ride of its kind in the country, making it not only a great early-season goal for all the bicycle fanatics out there, but also a chance to take part in a one-of-a-kind event with a truly noble cause at its heart.
Race information and registration are already up. Of course, if you’re not in shape yet, you’ve got your work cut out for you.
Though shooting for 150 miles over two days may be too high a bar for utter neophytes, it’s not an unreachable goal for those who have done some bike work in the past. Assuming your lungs, legs, and — ahem — saddle have all been prepared for the task, what’s left is to prepare yourself for maintaining speeds at longer distances. And the best way to do that is by honing your chops at other, moderate-length bike events.
There are bicycle races in Texas just about every weekend between now and April 12, and many are listed at the Texas Bicycle Racing Association’s Web site. Quite a few are within two hours’ drive or less, with a number of upcoming races scheduled to be held in Katy, Waller, Round Top, Bastrop, Liberty Hill, La Grange, Kerrville and Prairie View. There’s even a ride here in Austin, the 14th Annual Rosedale Ride, scheduled to be held March 29.
Even if you’re not quite up to the task, volunteers are always welcome — last year, more than 3,000 pitched in, and more are always welcome. You can sign up to volunteer here, and more information about both the race and the disease is available at here.
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Cycling gets a little crazy after dark
I used to think that only a David Hasselhoff wannabe who rode around on a talking bike while calling himself Street Hawk the Mustache Maniac could ever be taken seriously as a street-prowling cyclist.
That was until I found Midnight Ridazz of Austin, a loose network of bicycle riders, enthusiasts, rogues and hipsters who have declared the third Tuesday of each month a time to ride the streets of Austin like pseudo-pop icons on a mission to wage war against Class C celebrity stardom.
The multitude of riders gather at 9 p.m. at Don’s Depot on West Sixth Street for a pub crawl/ride and cruise all over the city, raising hell and taking back the streets. Now that’s a traffic jam I’d like to be a part of.
The themed late-night rides celebrate bicycle culture in a uniquely Austin way. In November, for example, participants dressed up as cowboys and Indians. There’s also been a Barbaro-themed ride, where participants dressed up as jockeys, decorated their bikes to like horses, and took part in races.
Rides are usually paced so any reasonably healthy adult with a bike and the ability to ride it can participate.
The idea for Midnight Ridazz comes from Los Angeles and began in February 2004, when cyclists took an impromptu tour of downtown. The idea of taking a monthly late-night group ride to see interesting and unusual aspects of the city spread quickly and grew by word of mouth. And that’s how most people learn about the upcoming themed rides — through word of mouth or online.
On these nights, the streets and the traffic laws belong to the riders, and Austin is the vehicle that these masses drive, using only people power and a sense of righteousness, where the only energy wasted iscaloric.
Why take part in Midnight Ridazz? Why not? Anytime there’s an excuse to dress up in a costume, ride my bike, meet people and own the streets as if I were starring in my own remixed music video of the “Knight Rider” theme song, I’m all over it.
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Megan heads to boot camp
In case you didn’t know, Austin Sports and Social Club is in the boot camp business.
I just finished the first of four weeks — and I am the most sore I’ve ever been. In fact, I’ve had to literally roll out of bed every single morning this week.
Boot camp runs nonstop for an hour three days a week — Monday, Tuesday and Thursday — at 6 a.m. at Zilker Park. On Monday, we met trainers Marc and Monica and, after seeing them, I knew they meant business. They briefly explained to us what to expect and our one and only rule — no walking — then it was straight to running.
The sky is the limit with the type of activities they have us doing, from running up and down hills, stairs — or anything with an incline to push-ups, pull-ups, all sorts of agility drills and more. The hardest part is just pushing yourself beyond what you think you can do — and Marc and Monica help a lot with that, too. They make their way around the group, focusing on each of the participants to make sure our form is correct so we can get the maximum results out of our minimal time together.
In addition to working on our physical fitness, our eating habits are also taken into consideration with daily food journals that we e-mail in every week. This is where I need to work the hardest because I love food — with the exception of anything green, orange, or raw/crunchy. And to add to everything, I made a bet with my husband after my first day of boot camp (while I was still on my newfound wellness high) that I could go a whole month without eating cheese. That means no queso with my chips, no swiss with my turkey, no parmesan with my popcorn, NOTHING! But I can and will do it because with the help of Marc, Monica, and the rest of my fellow boot campers, I am making a life change.
This has quickly turned into way more than a four-week survival quest and I can’t wait to see what happens. I am going to be keeping a weekly blog of my progression so stay tuned for next week.
If you want to more on learn how enroll in the next boot camp session, go here for all the details.
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