Workout Gear
This post is sponsored by FitFluential, LLC on behalf of Reebok. They didn’t force me to say anything good. š
I don’t know a single runner, casual or elite, that wouldn’t want to be faster.
Getting faster takes hard work. It means training faster, interval workouts, sprints, dedication, and consistency. It can also take technology. Technology like a watch to time your splits or pace yourself, to push yourself harder or to race the clock. It can also mean technology like race car tires.
That sounds crazy and unrelated but that’s what Reebok did. They know runners want to be faster so they looked to something fast for inspiration. What’s faster than a speeding race car? {Donāt answer that.} Reebok looked at the treads of z-rated sports car tires {which are rated for speeds in excess of 149mph} to help inspire the design of the soles of their newest running shoe: the z-quick, appropriately named for its ability to give you speed: theyāre designed to “make you unnaturally quickā.
I put the radical claim to the test with for a Reebok-FitFluential campaign. The result? I’m not sure.
Here’s the lowdown: the shoes are comfy. Theyāre insanely lightweight which I love; no one likes clomping around like a Clydesdale when you’re trying to run, and run fast no less. The toe box {and the whole shoe to some extent} is wide and roomy. A plus for me, though that would steer some away from this shoe.Ā Ā <– They’re actually made like this by design: when you put weight on your foot, it spreads about 5mm, giving you more contact with the ground. This shoe gives you room to do that. Ā There’s a sort of sock-like insert around the ankle which keeps the shoe close and snug; again, a plus. But the shoe itself rides a little bit high on the ankle for my liking. I like insanely low cut ankles. It rubs a bit, but not so much that I couldnāt run in them.
They’re a nice neutral shoe without much cushion or manufactured support; the type of shoe I like. However, I think these were a little too neutral for me. Though the shoes felt good connecting with the treadmill {little feel of impact}, they didn’t sit well with my knee, making it uncomfortable to the point where I didn’t want to push it.
If I didn’t have longstanding knee problems, I probably would love these shoes, but they just don’t quite work for me. That means I wasnāt able to push long enough to really test their claim for speed, though with their featherweight feel and sturdy traction, I have to believe it would help.
You can learn a little more about the science of the zquick shoes here:
Sound like something you’d like? You can purchase them online or in-store at Finish Line.
Since I couldn’t really put these to the maximum test, here are some other reviews to give you a better picture:
Eating Bird Food
Mom’s Little Running Buddy
Coffee Cake and Cardio
Nutritionella
Have you tried the Reebok Z-Quicks? What did you think ā did they impact your speed?
Things I love
There are a lot of things I love. I thought I’d share a few with you. š
This gluten-free pancake mix. There’s a good chance I’d use this even if I didn’t need it to be gluten-free. A lot of GF blends are gritty and bake weird {take a long time} but this one just bakes and tastes like normal yummy pancakes. I literally buy it in bulk from amazon.
These headphones {ps these were a freebie from an upcoming fitfluential campaign}. I almost broke up with listening to music while a workout {which is pretty much a deal-breaker at the gym} before using these. I prefer the fit of the cheapo headphones that use to come with ipods back in the day. The fancy schmancy ones tend to fall out of my absurdly tiny ears. These actually stayed put during my jaunt on the treadmill yesterday and the sound quality is amazing. {By the way, I’m up to 3 consecutive, pain-free running minutes-3 cheers for PT}.
This bag. Speaking of the gym, this is my new go – to bag {in pearl}. I’ve actually been using it for the gym and for work. It’s padded in all the right plaves, has tons of zippered pockets, and is made of antimicrobial material- a must for gym locker rooms. It’s a hybrid backpack duffel bag which is interesting. Full review coming next week, but FYI they are 40% off this week. {And they’re monthly giveaway is a yoga bag!}
This office. Anyone want to come make mine look like that?
What are you loving lately?
Breakfast
Four weeks ago I embarked on the Grain Brain challenge: 30 days of a gluten-free, low-grain, high-fat diet to optimize brain health.
I will freely admit I followed it like crap for the first two weeks. At home my meals were veggie, protein, and fat-centered, but I had two weekends away and no interest or desire to plan ahead and eat something different than everyone else. Iād just spent the better part of a year with a restricted diet and had no intention of going back to that.
The second two weeks were different. I canāt honestly say it was with any intention of protecting my brain function {although I could probably use that}. It was about this time that my doctor hypothesized that I too, like my son, am allergic or intolerant to dairy, wheat, and soy. Yaay fun. More on that convoluted story another time. The gist is, I started doing better following the Grain Brain diet guidelines.
The idea behind the Grain Brain eating style is:
- Fat is and always has been a fundamental pillar of our nutrition. In fact, the
human brain consists of more than 70 percent fat.
- Good fats, like DHA omega-3 found in fatty fish and algae, help to reduce
inflammation and certain vitamins, notably A, D, E and K, require fat to get
absorbed properly in the body.
- In Grain Brain, Dr. Perlmutter explains what happens when the brain encounters
common ingredients in your daily bread, why your brain thrives on fat and
cholesterol and how you can spur the growth of new brain cells at any age.
The nutrients Dr. Perlmutter recommends adding to your diet in supplement form
are alpha-lipoic acid, coconut oil, DHA derived from fish, fish oil or algae,
probiotics, resveratrol, turmeric and vitamin D.
{Plus turmeric and vitamin D.}
Hereās a little of what I ate that meets the guidelines {as well as being dairy and soy free}:
{Rice with veggies, cajun chicken sausage, & kimchee; chicken salad-salad with apples, celery, & walnuts; butternut squash soup āthatās the kiddoās portion
.}
Breakfast was the hardest part for me, as I wake up wanting carbs, carbs, and carbs. I like oatmeal, pancakes, and cereal, not eggs, bacon, and veggies. I finally, finally found a solution: grain-free pancakes āthat I actually like. {Personally I think the popular Paleo banana-egg pancake is nasty.} The protein of an egg without the taste of an egg, the fat of coconut oil, the natural sweetness of apples {and the not-so-natural sweetness of chocolate, cough, cough.}
Hereās my go-to recipe for the moment. Let me know if you have another favorite!
– 1/4 cup coconut flour
– 1/4 cup almond meal
– 1/4 cup applesauce
– 1 scant tsp baking powder
– 3 eggs
– cinnamon & any other spices (allspice, nutmeg, etc.)
Do you have any favorite grain-free meals?
Tech
The following post is sponsored by FitFluential LLC on behalf of Verizon Wireless.
I was way late to the smartphone wagon, which is especially odd considered my work is on the internet. Once I got my hands on one I never looked back of course. While weāve always been an Android family, weāve always been curious whether we should have gone iPhone or not. Now Iāve had the chance to find out: Iāve been using the new iPhone5s with iOS 7 from Verizon Wireless for the past few weeks for a Fitfluential campaign.
So hereās the skinny on the iPhone5:
Likes
- Swipe to open camera from lock screen.
- Fingerprint unlock and app purchase.
- App availability.
- Fast shutter speed on built-in 8mp camera.
- Physical switch to turn sound off/on quickly.
- Control center: swipe from bottom on any screen to access control settings.
- Size: lightweight, skinny, easy to use with one hand.
- Drag and drop to make app folders.
- Crystal clear {retina display}
- Lots of sound options for ringtones and alerts, etc.
- iMessage for texting other iPhone users
- Custom shortcuts {Ex. I can type āsosā and sideofsneakers will auto-populate.}
- Loads quickly on VZW 4G LTE network.
- *Facetime: I would love this if the husband had an iPhone so we could each see the little guy when weāre away from each other.
Dislikes
- Need to enter password for app purchases.
- Not many setting options on built in camera.
- Few options for sharing webpages.
- Size: hard to read text without enlarging and lots of scrolling.
- Limited appearance options.
- Canāt see notifications without touching phone.
- Donāt like double-clicking home button to āgo backā a screen or clicking website at top to make back browsor button appear on bottom of screen.
I think my biggest ālikesā would be the size, shortcuts, and easy open camera since thatās what I use my phone the most for these days. My biggest ādislikeā is the limited sharing ability without opening different apps or copy+pasting.
In complete irony, now that I have an iPhone something cool came out for Android first. I guess I need to continue exercising my patience for apps. This one is the ISIS mobile wallet app from Verizon. You can enter in your credit card and loyalty card information and use your phone to pay for anything that accepts ISIS payments.You can also use an American Express prepaid Serve account {which is free and you can use your credit card to load it} and earn up to $200 back on purchases {20%}. Itās completely secure so no worries about losing your info ā it uses a different CCV for each purchase, you need to enter a pin to use, and you can deactivate remotely for extra backup if you lose your phone.
I will be downloading it the second it comes to iPhone since I have a tendency to run out of the house with nothing but my phone and car keys. At least I know I can always get Starbucks if I forget my wallet. 
If you want to try out a new Verizon device or learn more about ISIS, thereās a Twitter chat November 18, 2013 at 9:00 PM EST on the hashtag #VZWFF. Theyāll be giving away a Samsung Note 3 and a Samsung Galaxy S4. {sweet!}
So, are you Android or iPhone?
Health Info
Please note this post is sponsored by Fitfluential LLC on behalf of VitaFusion. As always, Iām allowed {and do} give my own opinion- Iām not fed BS to sayā¦err, write.
Before I was pregnant, I was gung ho about doing everything ārightā. Yeah, the good olā ābefore I was pregnantā syndrome– where the universe laughs in your face for trying to plan something as unplannable as pregnancy.
I knew what to eat, what not to eat, and what vitamins to take. I tried out every sample from my doctorās office, then continued to search for the one that met my requirements. It was free of fillers, dyes, animal products, gluten, dairy, and soy. It was perfect.
And then I got pregnant. And sick. sick sick sick. Not as sick as some people, but sick enough to feel like crap for approximately 7 months. Swallowing a big honking, chalky pill was about as appealing as jumping into a pool of snakes.
Eventually I gave up my strict requirements and went back to my old adult gummy vitamins. Iāve always been much more likely to actually take vitamins if I can chew them and donāt have to get some water and swallow them. The gummy vitamins werenāt perfect, but considering I wasnāt eating great, they were better than nothing. When I was able to, I choked down some folic acid & omega-3s, which was much easier than the giant all-in-one pill.
Now if Iād found these PreNatal gummy vitamins I got from VitaFusion when I was pregnant, I would have been pretty pleased. {My instagram friends agree!} Chewing something sweet definitely wins over nauseating pills. Good thing theyāre not sour or I probably wouldāve overdosed. {Sour Patch Kids were my secret morning sickness cure.}
Here are my pros & cons of these gummies:
Pros
Chewable & taste good: lemon & raspberry lemonade flavors
Natural flavors
Contain DHA: a necessary nutrient for pregnancy that the body canāt make
No dairy, gluten, or soy
No iron
Source of fish oil tested for mercury and PCBs
Made in the USA
Cons
No iron
Contain sugar
Only 31% of daily DHA needs
Notes
You may notice āno ironā under both lists. Itās a pro because iron can upset a lot of peopleās stomachs. Itās a con because iron is super important during pregnancy and women may not realize itās not included.
Similarly, āDHA includedā is emphasized, but it doesnāt meet your daily requirement. Thatās ok as long as women realize that.
The sugar isnāt really a big deal in the long run, but itās worth pointing out, especially in case of gestational diabetes, etc.
Another con?
My toddler likes to steal the bottle from me. I usually have to hunt for it amongst the toys and let him play with it before I get to open it. 
And yes, I still take prenatal vitamins and no, Iām not pregnant {but I am breastfeeding}. One of the factors that makes prenatals good for pregnancy is the folic acid. Folic acid is a nutrient so important to the early, early stages of pregnancy that itās a good idea to take them if youāre of childbearing age, just in case.
VitaFusion makes a ton of different vitamin varieties, all of which are gummies. Check out the #nutritiontastesgood hashtag on Twitter to see some reviews about the other kinds.
Donāt forget about the Operation USA fundraiser and Stella & Dot giveaway!! Weāre up to 2 winnersā¦ could be more!
