Long Brick Workout with Gu Products

A few weeks ago, the good people at Outside PR and Gu sent me their new Sampler Pack:

It has 9 different flavors of Gu, 3 different flavors of Roctane, 2 kinds of Chomps (chews), 2 packets of Electrolyte Brew, and 1 packet of Recovery Brew. (They are totally not asking me to say this, but the Sampler Pack is on sale now for $23.99, down from $30.00. It’d make a good gift for someone who wants to try out everything that Gu has to offer.)

Here’s what my Sampler Pack looks like:

Open, with all the gels on top...


...and the Brew and Chomps under the gels

When I got this Sampler Pack, I was asked to try out a bunch of their products on a hard / long workout. So that’s what I did. Yesterday, I wanted to do a long brick workout for my upcoming Olympic distance triathlon in 9 days. I wanted to do a 30ish mile ride with a 4-6 mile run afterwards. I figured this is what I’d use on the workout:

- Electrolyte Brew in one of my bottles on my bike
- Some Roctane before and during
- Chomps during my transition from bike to run
- And some Recovery Brew after finishing up

I got my bike ready to go, and I laid out my running shoes and shorts so I’d be able to quickly change when I got off my bike:

To get in about 30 miles on the bike, I did this loop twice:

I did the majority of the first loop as a warm-up at a slightly easier pace. I found out that miles 5 - 10.5 were into a slight breeze and kinda sucked. I took it a little easier than normal, and finished those 13 miles with an 18.0 mph average.

Then, for the remainder of that first loop and all of the second loop (about 18 miles), I cranked it up to race pace. I went HARD. Unfortunately, I hit EVERY stoplight down Summit Ave as I started, so that killed my rhythm. I knew that the first few miles of that loop were with the wind, so I really went fast knowing that I had some help from Mother Nature.

Nearing the lowest point of the ride (around the I-35 bridge), I had my average up to 21.0 mph. Getting off the trail near downtown (after bucking the wind for a few miles), it was down to 20.5 mph. At the top of that nasty climb, it was down to 19.6 mph. The last few miles were rough, and I finished with a 19.5 mph average.

I ran into the house, put my bike away, peed, changed my shorts, threw on my running shoes, snapped a quick photo...

... and I was off on my run after a 3:31 transition. Time for a hard 4.6 mile run. I chose a route that had minimal stoplights:

I went out relatively hard, but not at a killer pace. I used the big downhill in the first mile. I had a good pace going, but I was hurting. Here are my (rough) splits from the run:

Mile 1: 6:04
Mile 2: 6:13
Mile 2 - 2.3: 1:54 (turn-around)
Mile 2.3 - 2.6: 1:53
Mile 2.6 - 3.6: 6:11
Mile 3.6 - 4.6: 6:03

So even though it was uphill on the way back, I managed to negative split the run! But it hurt! Here I am collapsed on the porch afterward:

As soon as I hit the floor, my glasses actually started fogging up.
And oh hi “vein of approval!” Haven’t seen you in a while! ;)

So, here are my thoughts on the Gu products I used:

- The Electrolyte Brew was good. It reminds me of Gatorade’s Endurance Formula, which I’ve used a lot - they both are just a little “salty,” and they taste good.

- I fricken love Roctane. As I mentioned in my post about Roctane in my “Does it Work” series, I usually keep it just for races or my hardest / most intense workouts. I think it works great. I didn’t actually need the second Roctane because the Electrolyte Brew had plenty of calories (140) to keep me going.

- The Chomps were big and hard in my mouth. (That’s what she said.) But they broke down quickly with just a few chews, so they worked well. I only had about half the bag, which is 1 serving. That was PLENTY to get me through the run.

- And I’m a big fan of recovery drinks. I’m not good about eating right after a workout, and I KNOW that a good recovery drink starts repairing muscles right away. The Recovery Brew was good, and it’s full of good things your body needs after a rough workout / race. It was a pretty subtle flavor, and it was about the color of pink lemonade.

So really, they all did the trick well! My quads are a little sore today, but nothing that a day off and a bit of foam rolling can’t fix. Then, a few more good workouts this weekend, and a big race next weekend! Should be fun!!

(Note: in the name of full disclosure and the Oct 2009 change in FTC ruling, I must note that all of these products were sent to me to try out for free. However, I was not paid or reimbursed for any of these remarks. These are all my thoughts.)