It's All a Bit of a Steathy Secret - A Review

The other month I was lucky enough to win a load of Secret Training goodies, I promised I would do some testing and write a quick review for them.

Having been an endurance athlete for a few years now I have tried nearly all of the nutrition products on the market, and although some have proved decent, a lot are either sickly tasting or don't really provide the required energy boosts.

I will start by saying I am not a huge fan of gels, their consistency in general is not pleasant and although I have used gels in races, I avoid them like the plague when it comes to training.

My winning pack from Secret Training consisted of various flavours of Super Hydration Drink Mix, which is basically their energy drink with electrolytes to keep you fuelled and optimally hydrated. There was also some gels, and like I have said above although I don't normally use them in training I did try a few for the review. The last things in the package was the Whey Protein Drink Mix, which is used as a recovery product.

The Super Hydration Drink Mix came in pre measured sachets, that are designed for 500ml bottles. This was good for the bottle between my tribars, but I generally use a 750ml bottle on the frame so I would be interested to taste the difference between the two solution strengths. When mixed with the 500ml of water the taste is very pleasant, it isn't sweet or sickly at all and it did provide a nice source of energy. Even when mixed with 750ml of water the taste was still pleasant, though as you would expect with a weaker solution each mouthful was as energy laden. You can actually buy in bulk as well so make the correct solution strength for any bottle size. Each 500ml provides 10gms of carbohydrate.

I also tested the drink in a race scenario, I like to carry as much as my own fuel as possible in drink form. This is to avoid taking on drinks from aid stations that may vary in their strength and as such energy intake. To do this I make up a strong solution in a 500ml bottle and take on water at aid stations to wash this down with. For Challenge Weymouth I used 4 Super Hydration Drink sachets in the one bottle, making it 4 times stronger than it should be used. Now you might expect the taste to be overpowering and real sweet and sickly, but it wasn't. It was a stronger taste but it still felt very palatable, I was actually sorry when it ran out as even this strong it tasted nicer than the official race supplied energy drink.

I would say if you like your drink with a mild refreshing taste you can't go much wrong with this, my favourite flavour is the Mango and Passionfruit, but they all were very tasty and refreshing. As for the fuelling I never felt underfuelled in any of my training or racing using the Super Hydration Mix, and even though I sweated a fair amount at Challenge Weymouth I suffered no signs of cramping or electrolyte balance issues. I also suffered no GI issues throughout the day which is always pleasing when doing a long distance triathlon.

The gels were 3 different types, I had some advanced isotonic gels, some real fruit gels and a caffeine and betaine gel. The consistency of the gels was OK, it seemed to be a good consistency to eat on go, not too runny (that gets everywhere), or too solid (difficult to actually get down your throat). The banana flavour was really nice, and although not being a fan of gels it was one of the better tasting ones I have come across. The other one I tried was an isotonic one, these are ideal as you don't need to take on water as well as the gel. Again the consistency was nice and it went down very easily and the citrus flavour again was a very pleasant taste. Packaging isn't too big and fits easily in jersey pockets, and even the small pockets that some trisuits come with. Each 60ml gel provides 22gms of carbohydrate.

The last thing to try was the Whey Protein Mix, I was a bit sceptical about the Cherry flavour I had received, I am more of a chocolate person, but I thought I would see what it was like. I mixed it up as per the instructions and the first thing I noticed is that it was very runny. I am more used to a thicker solution, but that is personal preference I guess. The taste was actually very nice, still not as nice as chocolate but very palatable. Being a more runny solution it drank very easily and it did seem to help after a 6 hour ride with recovery.

Would I recommend Secret Training nutrition products, then that is a big YES, they really did surprise me and it certainly will be used by me again, especially the Super Hydration Mix, it simply is one of the better tasting energy drinks I have tried.

One thing I would like Secret Training to develop though is some little energy shots, similar to what Powerbar and Clif do. For me these are easier to stomach and eat when training and racing, they are far easier on the stomach compared with a gel. Something to think about guys ;)

Challenge Weymouth 2015

So so close to a ETU Long Distance Championship medal, but ultimately just not quick enough on the day.

The week leading up had gone well, I felt I was well recovered and the little sessions I had done had gone well. I still had a few niggles that were present, but there was nothing I could do about them, what will be, will be.

The weekend was pretty relaxing apart from seemingly losing the car keys sometime between the morning bike ride and racking my bike. After checking all my bags in the hotel, there was only one place I could think of them being, 2km's down the road in transition, bugger it meant another 4km of walking when I could have been resting, and the worry that they might not actually be there after all. Luckily they were in one of my shoes so panic over and I had a nice enjoyable walk back with Tom Vickery.

Sunday dawned pretty nice, there seemed to be just a very small breeze, though the wind was due to pick up during the day. I felt pretty relaxed, though it was nice to have some excitement over the race. I will admit there was a certainly a bit of pride pulling on a GBR trisuit for the first time and representing my country for the very first time, even if was only as an Age Group athlete. The sea thankfully was alot calmer than last year and it looked like it was going to be an ace swim.

Swim:

Once the pros were off it was the ETU AGers 5 mins later, I got near the front and started swimming quite strong, it was noticeably that the outward leg felt slow however, but I settled down in a pack of swimmers and felt pretty much in control of my breathing and effort. As we turned at the first buoy and across the bay the pace seemed to pick up and this leg and the final swim back to shore seemed pretty fast, out after the first lap and a run along the shore it didn't seem as though I was doing too bad. The second lap seemed harder than the first and it was noticeably more choppy and more difficult to see the buoys. Even swimming across the waves seemed harder but at least the final swim back to shore was still fast. Out of the water in 1:13, not quite the 1:10 I was hoping for but a similar swim time to South Africa so all in all pretty solid and I didn't feel as though I had taken much out of myself.

Bike:

Out on the bike I took the first part pretty easy and tried to get some nutrition down me. I had decided to take the hill out of Weymouth at a nice steady effort and wait until we got to the top to start pushing the effort. The wind on top of the ridge was starting to make itself known and I soon realised it probably wasn't going to be a fast day, but things felt good and I pushed on at a pretty solid effort and started passing faster swimmers. Nearing the far end of the course the wind was really picking up and although the return leg was with a tailwind, with a lot of it being sheltered it never seemed that much help. At the end of the first lap I had caught the leader in my AG, and looking at the intensity I had done the first lap at (0.78 for anyone interested) and the time (about 2:25) I decided that it probably wasn't worth trying to hold that for the second lap. I knew that going that hard would massively impact my run so the second lap I decided to ease off slightly and and just try and make sure I still put in a decent effort, but try and ease off whenever the wind/terrain allowed.

The second lap was slower and felt a lot tougher even with the reduced effort, the wind really had picked up and some of the sections were a real slow slog. I was now catching some of the younger age groups and it was becoming increasingly difficult to make clean passes within the time limit so I just concentrated on keeping a legal distance and overtaking when I felt I could pass cleanly enough. I felt pretty strong throughout out the ride and it was nice to have a great ride, though slower than I really wanted but that was due to the weather and even the pro's were slower than last year. I was pleased with a solid and sensible effort. I came in 1st in my AG, but I knew there were faster runners not that far behind so it meant a bit of a do or die type effort for the run. A decent 5:03 bike split.

Up the hill out of Weymouth

Run:

After speaking with Darren Jenkins at the Bastion and how he approaches the run I decided to try it, I had nothing to lose in reality and I knew I probably needed a 3:30 marathon to get a medal. I started off feeling great and running at 4:50/km seemed easy, but I wasn't brave enough to actually run any faster than that, I knew I would slow but I was thinking that with slowing down to around 5:15 towards the end, it would equal out. The wind on the promenade was brutal and it just seemed to get stronger and stronger whilst you get weaker and weaker. The first lap went well and I was maintaining the pace I started off at, though various niggles that have plagued me all year were starting to annoy me, not really slow me down but causing me to be more circumspect to the pace I was trying to achieve. I did start slowing down but I was still maintaining 5 min km's so pretty happy and the niggles didn't get any worse so I felt pretty much in control still.

The wind did start slowing down progress but gauging my pace of the faster runners I know seemed to show I was still comparing well, so I just kept going as fast as I could. I was passed before the half way mark by the winner of my AG, and at the time there was no way I was going to be able to keep pace, I just kept telling myself to keep going at the effort you can achieve. I started to walk the aid stations just over half way, just to make sure I got enough fluid in, and to get some aches and pains a brief respite.

The lack of decent long distance runs started showing around the 30km mark where I went through a little bit of a bad patch, I was passed by another in my AG so although I wasn't 100% sure I thought I was in 3rd place, and I knew 4th place was only about 500m behind me, but we seemed to be running at a similar pace. The bad patch melted that gap however and at about the 36km mark he passed me. I tried to keep up but the I was suffering and he slowly pulled a gap. I got to the far turn for the last time and with a bit of a tailwind I just tried to bury myself. I did manage to speed up but it was tough work, and I never managed to close the gap, even a shout out from Darren Jenkins on course couldn't help much. I finished just 1:12 away from the bronze medal after a pretty solid effort and I got a 3:40 marathon so certainly the fastest full marathon I have run.

Post Race Thoughts:

A total time of 10:05 wasn't quite the sub 9:30 I thought might be possible, but a lot of that was the weather, on a calmer day I would have been close, but I also realised that I didn't quite have the same bike and run fitness I had last year and it made itself known towards the end of the race. Still you have got to have targets to aim for and there is no point making a target a soft target, and that's what I thought would be needed to get a medal. Happy with the race though, it was a race where I went for it and I truely felt I was competing rather than just completing and it was a race I have learned a lot from. 26th Overall and 4th in the 45-49 AG is a result I am very happy with.

Massive congratulations to Joe Duckworth, Paulo Margarido, and Ken Holder on their medals, and thanks for making it a great race. Thanks again to my Mum and Dad for great support on course and to my most wonderful wife and little lad for your unending support. Thank you Ruth Eyles for your coaching skills and guidance over the last 6 years.

One great thing about the weekend was finally meeting some Twitter and Facebook friends for the first time, and catching up with others, thanks for a great weekend Matt Molloy, Karl Alexander, Alan Murchison, Tom Vickery, Lee Cook, Alice Hector, Matt Dowle and all the other great athletes I met over the weekend. Also thanks must go to Tim Whitmarsh from British Triathlon for your support throughout the build up and the weekend. Also thanks to Sundried for their support this year.

Now it is time for a bit of downtime and get to know my family a little bit better and do jobs around the house that I have been putting off for months now. Next year will be all about the shorter distance of middle distance, and just the one long distance, but that exciting news I will leave for another blog.

Last Hurrah for 2015

With just over a week to go to Challenge Weymouth and the ETU Long Distance Championship and I am into my final taper of the year. After the euphoria of 2014, this year has seemed a bit of a struggle at times. Training has gone very well some weeks and then just hit and miss the following week either through fatigue or life just getting in the way.

The build between the Bastion and now has been OK though and I feel faster in my swimming and the running finally seems to have come together, though I haven't done any durations similar to what I did last year, well apart from 2 IM marathons. Biking as always is strong, though you don't really lose this overnight and I have done plenty of bike work to keep this in good nick.

I keep asking myself, what goals do I want to attach to Challenge Weymouth, I could take the "just enjoy it" route but to be honest I don't think I can whilst racing in GBR kit. The only other option is to attack it and try and do my best and this is what I intend to do, I have had too many races this year where I have thought I was just taking part rather than competing.

I have also decided to stop being coached for next year, I have been coached by Ruth Eyles for 6 years now and together we have achieved a lot, it would be great to bow out with a great result. Now what result would be great, well given how I performed at Challenge Weymouth last year the logical answer is to finish on the podium and get a European medal. Is it possible, then the answer is yes, but as I well and truly know, a long distance tri is a bit of a beast and anything can happen to scupper any ideals you might have thought about.

The course for Challenge Weymouth is again an ace course, especially for me. The swim course hopefully will be better than last year, but even if it isn't I am a lot more confident in open water this year and don't expect any issues like I did last year. The bike course is potentially faster now we don't have the slow out and back to Affpuddle, though if we have a stiff wind from the West the return to Weymouth each lap will be a slow slog. The run course is as flat as a pancake so the ideal run course for me, I should be able to plod myself to a half decent time even if it does all fall apart.

It's going to be an enjoyable weekend no matter what, there are quite a few friends taking part so at least I hope the atmosphere should be a nice relaxing and jovial one. Let's finish 2015 with a bang :).