Quadruple Green & Clif SHOT Review

I think the weatherman heard my plea for spring weather. Sort of. Check out this forecast:

I’m definitely moving my run to today instead of tomorrow.

Lunch

Green x 3!

I had lots of leftover pieces of veggies in the fridge leftover from various dinners this past week, so I used a bunch of them up in lunch. I sautéed some onion, zucchini, and asparagus over high heat to get them nice and brown. I love browned zucchini (not soft squishy zucchini).

Check out the steam action- those are some hot veggies!

They all went into a whole wheat wrap with roasted red pepper hummus, some spinach, and goat cheese.

Plus some savory baked fries that I made in my huge batch last night.

These ones were baked with rosemary, basil, and thyme. I reheated them in the oven so they wouldn’t get soggy, and I might have gotten them just a tad crispy. 😉

And some apple slices on the side. Oo more green. How appropriate.

Clif SHOT Review

Now that I’ve been getting some longer runs under my belt, I’ve had to thinking about fueling during exercising, not just before and after. I probably don’t need to fuel too much just yet, but I know I’ll want to be prepared to fuel during the half marathon. Better to practice on a training run then run into trouble during the race.

Honestly, I’m a big fan of fueling with “real” foods, but since many races have manufactured foods along the course, I think it’s important to know how to use them too. (My favorite mid-run snack is a handful of dried cranberries:))

Clif was kind enough to send me some of their products to test out during my half training. (Thank you!!!!)

I love Clif’s philosophy: “Energy food can taste great and be made from good-for-the-planet ingredients. It’s that simple.” Isn’t that nice?! They use organic ingredients, and no HFCS or hydrogenated oils. The ingredient list isn’t near as frightening as some of the other options out there.

So here’s the products I tried, from their CLIF SHOT line.

ROKS:

Roks are bite-sized protein balls to help promote recovery. They’re coated in a protective shell that keeps them from melting in your hand, pocket, car…wherever you may have them stashed. Each pack contains 20g of protein, or 2g of protein per bite.  Clif recommends eating them within 2 hrs post-exercise to help promote recovery. They come in peanut butter, cookie dough, and chocolate. I liked the peanut butter (surprise, surprise!)

At first I thought these were a little strange. Why do I need something packaged and manufactured after a run? I can go to the kitchen! But then I realized how many times I didn’t go straight home from a run. Almost never actually. It was actually nice being able to stash these in my car to nibble on as I ran errands or what not. They were also helpful because I’m almost never hungry right after a run, but I know eating protein soon after is important. I could have some of these and then have a real meal when my stomach settled a little and my appetite came back. I also liked that they came in little balls so I could eat however many I felt like I needed. I can’t tell you how many half-eaten granola type bars I have lying around because I didn’t want the whole thing right after working out. The only thing I don’t love is that they’re a little on the sweet side. I don’t particularly love sweet when I’m exhausted from running.;)

BLOKS:

The bloks are an alternative to gels. They come in 33 calorie cubes and contain both carbohydrates and electrolytes. Three flavors also contain caffeine, and one has 3x sodium. Clif recommends consuming 15-30 miutes pre-exercise, then again every 20-30 minutes during exercise. If you’re used to using gels, remember that the bloks take a little longer to reach your blood than gels do. (Like gels, take with water). I like these because I don’t always like taking in a full gel all at once. By having a block at a time, I was able to spread out the fueling a little bit. It’s easier on my stomach that way too, and it helps me drink more water (since we know I’m horrible at that). It’s still easy to keep track of what your consuming if you’re one who knows exactly what you need- 3 blocks equals 100 calories. They’re pretty easy to eat while running- you can kind of just squeeze them out of the package into your mouth one at a time. No digging around in a little bag trying to grab one. It was a little strange to need to do so much chewing while running. It was fine at the beginning, but as I get tired and out of breath I find it harder to chew. They got a little stuck to my teeth. I was also worried about the melting in my SpiBelt, but no worries there 🙂 So overall, I liked these as an alternative to gel, especially because I could decide how much I wanted at a time. They were a little difficult to chew, but not a major deterrent.

SHOT Electrolyte drink:

Powdered drink mix to help prevent electrolyte and fluid loss. Whenever you’re exercising more than an hour, it’s usually recommended to consume something more than water. I tested the Lemonade flavor. It was easy to mix together, which I liked. The first sip I took to taste-test it before my run was a little overwhelming with salt-flavor. However, when I was drinking it during my run, it was a welcomed, refreshing taste. The warmest weather I’ve been able to run in is 60 degrees, but I can tell this would be a fantastic electrolyte drink when it’s hot out. The flavor is the exact thing you need to give you a boost and quench your thirst while working out. I don’t normally like these types of drinks (Gatorade, etc), but this will definitely be a keeper, especially for those hot coming months.

Disclaimer: I was not influenced in any way to give a good or bad review of the previous product, it’s just my plain & simple opinion 🙂

How do you fuel during a workout? Or do you? At what point do you start fueling (# miles, amount of time,etc.)?