Stepping out of my comfort zone...

When I went to pull my UCAN review from slowtwitch, I remembered way back in the summer of 2015 I did a product test for Zealios.  As I still use and love these products, I thought I would share it here so I have it in my archives. Sun Barrier SPF 45 -- For sunscreens, I tend to use and purchase a mineral based sunscreen (titanium dioxide and/or zinc oxide) and try my best to avoid chemical sunscreens. I will also use the EWG lost of best sunscreens to help guide my purchases. The Zealios Sun Barrier is not listed on the 2015 EWG list so I did a quick scan of ingredients and learned that the Sun Barrier is mix of mineral (zinc) and chemical blockers (octinoxate and octisalate). Octinoxate is listed as a risk factor of an 8 due to its potential endocrine disrupting properties and octisalate is listed as a risk factor of a 3 due to its potential allergic properties. This may not matter to some but it is something I consider when purchasing sunscreen. Now to review its performance an

In July slowtwitch.com  put out a call on the user forum for taste testers for Generation UCAN .  I applied and was selected.  The below text is the review I posted on the forum on August 31,  2017. When I first saw that Generation UCAN was included as one of the products in the ST Nutrition Taste Test I was excited. Since early-June, I have been participating in an online course on metabolic efficiency training (MET) lead by Dina Griffin, one of the eNRG Performance’s sport dietitians. And since Generation UCAN is touted as being complimentary to MET, I was very interested to try it and see how it works for me. Athletic Background: I have been participating in triathlons and endurance events since 2002. I am a solid middle of the pack athlete. I have completed triathlons up to Ironman (X4), ultra runs including 2 100 mile finishes and swim marathons (up to 10k). I am definitely slow and steady type athlete. For this taste test, I was training for the Swim to the Moon 10K OWS and

More than 15 years of endurance training has taught me one thing - in order for me to completely go "all in" with my training, the event at the end has to scare the hell out of me.   For about 12 years that was easy as there were new distances to explore.  My path had a stereotypical build from 5K to 10K to half marathon to marathon.  My triathlon progression mirrored this progression with sprints to olympics to half ironmans to ironmans.  When I felt the road wasn't no longer much of a challenge, I headed to the trails taking on ultrarunning, stage races, Xterra triathlons and mountain bike racing. An accident in June 2012 forced me to the sidelines for two seasons with multiple surgeries and close to a year of PT.  Since coming back into the world of endurance racing in 2014, I feel like I have been unfocused and lost.  Each year I would lay out a series of races and challenges.  I would work with my coach to lay out a terrific plan to reach my goals but I would get