Our Tuesday Night Fun Run at Fleet Feet Sports of Las Vegas was sponsored by Hammer Nutrition this week. All those who participated got a gift bag that contained a Hammer sports bottle, a couple of Hammer gels, a packet of Heed, a packet of Endurolytes and literature on their products.

The Hammer gels don’t contain simple sugars, their ingredients are a lot more natural than many products on the market. I like the idea of not consuming so many engineered chemicals, so I’m happy to give these a try and see how they work for me. (For non-running friends/family: gels are a source of carbohydrates to fuel us on long runs. We need to replenish our glycogen stores so we can keep going! Gels are a convenient way to get those calories in without requiring a lot of heavy digestion that comes with more solid foods.)

HEED is Hammer’s sport drink. Again, they use complex carbohydrates and more natural ingredients, including stevia and xylitol for sweeteners. The product can be used alone or in combination with gels to meet your calorie and electrolyte needs. I sampled a little bit of this at the ET run and really didn’t care for it. But I’ll try this packet and see if it’s any different. I received Strawberry flavor.

Endurolytes are an electrolyte supplement. The pills can be taken before, during and after running to help prevent cramping. Taking the supplements is supposed to be especially beneficial for exercising in extreme temperatures. Judging by how crusty I am after a run, I am losing a lot of minerals. They also boast other benefits, since having the proper levels of electrolytes keeps all of your bodily systems working properly. I am pretty excited to try these since Terri from Middle-of-the-Pack Girl and Alissa at Balancing Act have both given them pretty positive reviews. However, the 4 tablets in the sample pack aren’t going to go very far!

I was impressed that Hammer provided so much literature about how to use their products properly. These types of things really are based on science, yet so many products are just shoved in runner’s faces and we’re supposed to figure out what works through trial-and-error. Yes, there is still a testing period for these products too, but at least they give guidelines based on weight/exercise time/temperatures/etc. that I haven’t seen published by other vendors.

The run part of the evening was a little lonely. Since Melinda was still on the injured-reserve list (so she’s ready for Saturday’s run) and Jim felt like celebrating his birthday… my usual crew wasn’t there. So I ended up running by myself most of the evening, but that was okay. The temperatures were a little cooler than normal (97 degrees) but a little more humid than usual. I did 4.14 miles in 40 minutes. The sun is setting a little earlier these days as well, it used to be the sun was directly in our eyes for the first lap around. I didn’t need my sunglasses at all during the run, the sun was already below the mountains!

Hundred Push-Up Challenge:
Week 5, Day 2 – 15, 15, 14, 14, 12, 12, 10, 30 = 122

If you’re a master of the push-up, then check out this interactive push-up utility from Man vs. Weight to find variations of push-ups. Challenge yourself!