The Nick Bare Podcast - 078: Must-Have Running Gear: My Top Choices

Episode Date: August 5, 2024

In this episode, I deep dive into my favorite running gear, accessories, gadgets, and apps that have stood the test of time and proven to be essential for training and races. As marathon season gets closer and closer, let's walk through some must-have running gear that I use that will help you elevate your performance. Topics I cover: -The best GPS running watch and why I trusts Garmin for all my runs. -Top running shoes for training and racing, including Hoka, Saucony, and Nike. -Essential fueling and hydration tips using BPN products to optimize your performance. -Favorite running shorts and accessories that offer comfort and functionality. -Key apps and technology that enhance your training and recovery. Strength, endurance, and wellness supplements to fuel your performance. SAVE 10% at BPN Supps: https://bit.ly/nickbare10audio Follow: IG: instagram.com/nickbarefitness/ YT: youtube.com/@nickbarefitness Topics: 0:00 Intro 1:00 Welcome and updates 4:47 GPS watches 7:59 My introduction to GPS watches 12:52 Monitoring heart rate data 17:20 Garmin Epix 21:31 How I choose shoes 26:08 My shoes of choice 34:50 The importance of fueling properly 36:45 What I use to fuel my endurance training 46:15 Running shorts 51:20 Apps I use to help my training 59:03 Quick hit items I keep in my toolbag

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the podcast. Today, I am talking about discussing, telling stories, describing some of my favorite running gear, accessories, gadgets, apps, all of the things. Now, I know there's a lot of runners out there that love gear. And as soon as the newest shoe comes out, or the newest app comes out or the newest running shoe lace comes out, they're jumping on it, they're getting it. That's not necessarily me.

And you think every industry has like this subset of people within an industry. They just love the gear that's associated with the passion or the job or the activity. I mean, top of mind, I'm thinking of, creatives, videographers, photographers, editors right now. You know, we have a big creative team here at BPN. Some of them are gear junkies. Some of them are not. Some of them will use the same camera for years and years and years and years,

the same laptop for years and years and years as long as it has enough space, memory, and speed. But then there's some people in the creative space that want and need the newest thing, even if their current thing works just as good. And I say that to share that, I am not necessarily the person that needs the newest piece of gear, running accessories, apparel. But when I find something that I like and then I use it and I love it even more, I'll use it forever. So some of the things I'm sharing today are items, apps, gadgets, shoes, fuel that I've been using for a long, time simply because it works. And I want to talk to you about how I use them, why I use it.

Because to be honest, of all the questions that I get on social media or outreach through email or even BPN's customer service email get some of these questions, a lot of the questions are around like, what watch am I using? What shoes do I run with? What shorts am I wearing? And if you've watched me run in any of my videos or at a race or anything, you probably know at this point that I like to run in and with as little as possible. Meaning when I'm out my morning run, it is shoes, socks, shorts, and a hat. 95% of my runs are shirtless. And when I do wear a shirt, it's just because it's that cold

that I really just want to put a shirt on. So let's dive into some of these things. My favorite running gear. And I hope that it helps you guys through your journey of exploring running and wherever that takes you, whether that's just a few miles every single week and a long run on Saturdays,

or a 5K, 10K, half marathon, full marathon, maybe you're crazy and you want to do an ultra. Maybe it starts with a 50k, then a 50-mile or 100-miler. And if you're crazy enough, you'll hit some 200s in there. So wherever you're running takes you, I think this list can help you out

in some sort of way or capacity. The first thing is a GPS running watch. This is top. I put this number one because I need to wear a watch when I run. The other day, and this happens very rarely because I am extremely disciplined when it comes to charging my watch, which I'll get to you, and it's one of the reasons I'm wearing the watch that I'm wearing right now. But the other day I want to run, and this is maybe only happened to me twice. in my lifetime. My watch died on me, mid-run. My watch died on me mid-run. So it didn't finish my

mileage. I couldn't finish my run and end workout, save run, look at the data, and then have it all ingrained in this little piece of technology that I'm wearing my wrist. And it drove me nuts. If any of you other runs, if any of you other runners out there experience this. Some of the best parts of that morning run are finishing the run, pressing the stop on that workout, saving it, and just scrolling through the data very briefly. It's like wrapping a present and then putting a bow on it and just pulling the end of that bow and tightening it up. Imagine like packing a present and then you go to put the bow on it

and you forget to tie it and it looks like a soup sandwich. That's what this morning run felt like for me. So I love finishing my run, stopping and ending the workout, saving it, briefly scrolling with the data, like I said. And I'm personally a Garmin guy. I've tried some other brands, and I just couldn't fall in love with the other brand watches that I tried. Now, I'm not affiliated with any of the products that I'm going to talk about today outside of BPN products, supplements, training app. It's BPN products and then everything else, but I'm not affiliated with any of the other products.

some of these products I had been affiliated with in the past, but I'm not any longer outside of BPN products. So there's nothing that really holds me to or ties me to Garmin, but I have found that I enjoy the watch, I enjoy the options that they have. It's been very reliable for me. The technology is great. The apps work well,

and it integrates very seamless with the other pieces. of tech or software that I used throughout my day. And my Garmin watch evolution has changed and advanced over the years. You know, what's interesting is my first introduction to Garmin actually was when I was in the army. And when I was in the army, I wore a G-shock watch. So I didn't even wear a GPS watch. When we would go out and run for morning PT sessions when I was a platoon leader in the infantry,

we'd go run and I didn't clock any of our mileage or no pace. I knew that we had from this time to this time to complete PT, we had to be back at a certain time. So I'd run out a distance that I knew that when we ran back, we'd be back. we'd be back in time that PT was over for that day. But when I was in the Army, I never tracked pace. I never tracked mileage, any stats, any of those things. And when I was in the military, the PT test was pushups, sit-ups, two-mile run. And when I finished that two-mile run every time we got tested,

I didn't know what my time was going to be. until I crossed the finish line because I had a G-shock watch that I wasn't, you know, able to monitor pace or time or anything like that. But my first introduction to Garmin actually was when I was in the military and I was in a mechanized infantry company. And being in a mechanized infantry company, we were on Bradley fighting vehicles. And as Bradley fighting vehicles would, you know, maneuver over train in ranges and patrols. and then we would dismount and we have to move through the woodline and reach a certain

objective. And the way that I knew where we were at while we were moving outside of terrain association was using a map and then using a Garmin GPS watch that I wore on my wrist. And the only thing that it would display, I can't remember what series of watch it was. It might have been a forerunner. It was a Garman watch. It was this big thing that was probably one inch in height and like three inches wide. And it took up this big chunk of my wrist.

And I rarely actually wore it on my wrist, but I would ward on my kit on my chest. And it would display grid coordinates. So it would tell me exactly what the grid coordinates that we were at in our location that I could then pinpoint on a map to determine where we were at and where we needed to go next based off of our location. That was my first introduction to Garmin. And I thought that's all Garmin did and was. And maybe it was at the time.

But I didn't know anyone really when I was in the military that was wearing a GPS watch. We were all wearing just like these analog G-shock watches. And then when I got out of the military, started running, I tried all these one-off brands that was coming across, didn't fall in love with any of them. And then my first Garmin watch, I want to say I got when I was training for my first Iron Man in 2019 and 2020, which is Iron Man, Florida. and it was the Garmin four-runner 745. I remember this watch, vividly.

And that's when I started using it to track runs and pace. And I would look at some data, but really I just wanted to monitor pace, clock mileage, and then just have real-time immediate feedback of how fast I was going. and then using the heart rate data with a grain of salt to monitor what sort of effort I was putting out. And then from the Garmin Fourrunner 745, I then went to the Phoenix Pro series. And I first had a Garmin Phoenix Pro 6 and then I want to say 7. And after coming from the forerunner to the Phoenix Pro series, I was mind blown. Just the advancements in software and technology, what it could do, what it displayed, what

information it shared. And I was like, this watch is everything I ever need. It's perfect. And this is actually when I started learning more about monitoring heart rate and using a heart rate data to determine what sort of effort or, pace I needed to put out to improve my aerobic capacity. And this is really where I started learning all about the Mapitone 180 method and formula. And I've talked about this many times, but I'll share it with you briefly. One of the biggest mistakes I made early on when I first started

running is I was running way too hard, all of my runs. There was no such thing as an easy run in my vocabulary. Every run Monday through Sunday, was to run as hard and fast as possible. And I would blow up. I mean, I remember some of those early runs, early meaning like when I first started running and getting involved in the sport and the space. Where it would be a normal Tuesday.

There were six miles that I was going to do. I'd go out running so hard that by like mile three, I'd have to take a little breather. My hands would be like up against a tree, taking a breath. I catch my breath, heart rate would come down a little bit, and then I'd go out and run as hard as possible again. So by the time I finished this run in the morning, I was smoked. Heart rate was probably at like 175, 180 the entire time. And I wasn't getting any faster. I thought that the only way to

get faster was to run harder and run faster. And then I learned the hard lesson that the way you actually get faster is by running slower. The way you actually get faster is by running your easy days, your easy runs, easy. And that's running below your max aerobic heart rate. So there's this formula called the Mapitone 180 formula. You take 180 minus your age. That number that you get is your max aerobic heart rate, not your max heart rate, your max aerobic heart rate. Meaning that if you want to run in an aerobic zone, an easy run, your heart rate should be below that number that the calculation and the equation provides. And you want to do this in real time. So what I started doing is I got a Garmin chest strap, a Garmin heart rate chest strap monitor, which I highly recommend that every new runner

or advanced runner has, and you wear it around your chest. There's some heart rate monitors now that you can wear around your arm, your bicep. And that syncs via Bluetooth to your watch. So as you're running, you can change your garment display to show your pace in real time and your heart rate in real time.

Now your watch is going to be able to pull heart rate data from your wrist, but it's not very accurate. And I would take that with a grain of salt. You want to either pull it from an external monitor on your chest or on your arm. And this is where I've really started to make a lot of great progress and strides in my running. Was making sure that I was running below my max aerobic heart rate on my easy days and actually running slower on my easy days. But this allowed me to actually build an aerobic foundation.

This allowed me to get faster and run faster for longer. So get a chest strap monitor. Sink it to your Garmin watch. Make sure your easy days you're running below your max aerobic heart rate. And your watch will show you in real time, pace, and heart rate. And if your heart rate starts to elevate based off the display on your watch, start running a little bit slower. You'll notice that when you hit hills or some obstacles, some resistance, some inclines, your heart rate will naturally elevate,

pull back speed a little bit, put out a lesser effort to maintain that lower heart rate because that's how you build this engine. It's how you build this aerobic base and foundation. And then from the Garmin Phoenix Pro series, the watch that I'm wearing right now that I've been wearing for about a year, year now is the Garmin Epic's. That's E-P-I-X. One of the questions I also get frequently is what

size watch I wear. I personally prefer a bigger watch and I wear the 51 millimeter. And what's nice about these Garmin watches is that you can actually switch out the bands. So I'll change out the color of the bands. What I love about the epics is that the battery life is insane. So the battery lasts like 31 days. And I first wore the epics for a race. I worked for Last Man Standing, which was in Pineland Farms, Maine. It was a last man standing, ultra. I ended up doing 100 miles during this race in about 24 hours. And I started that race with a new charge. It was a brand new watch. When I was at Leadville in 2021, my Garmin Phoenix pro watch actually died during that 100 mile race. But when I wore the epics for last

man standing, I started the race, new watch, new charge. The watch was running for 24 hours. after the race was done, the watch didn't die for another two weeks after the race was finished with no additional charges. That's how wild the battery life is in the epics. What I also like about the epics, because I run early in the morning and I start my run 5 a.m. Wake up at 4.20 during my G1M sport. let it digest, get ready.

I'm on the road by 5 a.m. running every morning. And it's dark. I have to run on some roads based off of where we live right now. That aren't the safest, I would say. But I'm only on that for a short distance of time. Then I'm on backcountry roads. But it's dark. It's really dark.

And the Garmin Epix has this light in the front of it that I will turn on when I run in the morning. And it's surprisingly really bright. Cars will see me. I can see in front of me. I can see around me. When I wake up in the middle of night sometimes and I have to go the bathroom,

I'll turn my light on and I'll use it to navigate to the bathroom so I don't have to turn lights on. I don't trip over the dogs. I don't fall. But when you turn the battery on, it actually does, or not the battery, sorry.

When you turn the light on, it actually does drain the battery significantly faster. So now I have to charge my watch about once a week because I use the light for an hour every morning. So that's my watch evolution with Garmin. Like I said, I've tried other brands. I just haven't liked them as much. The functionality, the fit, the wear, the tech.

I have the Garmin Epic's 51 millimeter right now, which I want to say runs around. on $900. So it's an investment, but it's something that I use every single day, every single day. And of all the garments I've ever worn over the years, none of them have just crapped out on me. None of them have died, died. They've run out of battery, yes, but they haven't just broke. And I put these things through a lot to hell and back through multiple ultras and races

and preps and runs and, you know, they've done me well so far. So that's the watch that I'm wearing right now, and I do recommend it. Next thing, let's talk about running shoes. I've had my fair share of running shoes that I've tried, experimented with, used for periods of time. the first actual running shoe that I fell in love with was the Hoko Rincon. And this is around the same time that I found the Garmin watch. You know, when I first started training for endurance, my Iron Man in 2019,

2020, like I was saying, this was like where I really dove in. And I realized, okay, there's certain things that I need to use and buy and invest in to improve my performance and take care of my body. The watch was one, running shoes was another. When I was in the Army, again, did everything wrong with running. I was a big A6 guy. Nothing against A6. I think A6 is a great brand.

I just don't wear A6 right now. But I would just go to the running store and I would buy A6 because that's all I knew. and I think I would wear a pair of running shoes for a year, maybe two years, maybe longer. I might have bought two pairs of running shoes when I was in the Army. Lots and lots of miles on them. I should have definitely switched out those shoes more frequently, but I just didn't know. I didn't know how often you should switch out running shoes. And right now, for me, I probably switch out my running shoes every three to 400 miles.

And I can just, I can tell when it's time for new shoes. I can tell because the foam and the soles kind of start to break down a little bit. The material isn't as reflexive. I, I start feeling some aches and pains in my ankles and my knees and my hips. And that sign for me is always, okay, it's time for a new pair of shoes. And getting a new pair of shoes and going on that first couple runs, it feels so great. It's like butter.

So I would highly recommend that you do track your running mileage per pair of shoes so you can change them out when you personally need to get new shoes. Now, everyone runs through, literally, runs through running shoes at different paces or time intervals based off of how much mileage you're doing weekly, what kind of terrain you're running in, you're running biomechanics and form, how much you weigh, how big you are,

like all these things go into how fast you're going to move through or a road, a pair of running shoes. But the thing to take away from what I'm sharing now is just change out your running shoes frequently. And that might be 300 miles, that might be 400 miles, maybe it's 500 miles.

Who knows, each pair of running shoes are different and especially when it comes to the individual. Now, like I was saying, the first pair of running shoes that I fell in love with was by Hoka. And I think Hoka makes really good running shoes. It was the Rincon series. And I wore these for a few years and really enjoyed them, really loved them. But after a certain point, they just felt a little. little soft for me personally. And over the last couple years, there's been a lot of advancements in the running shoe

where carbon plates are now introduced to running shoes, especially for racing. There's like nylon plates that are being added to running shoes for more responsiveness, more durability, you get more spring. If you've never run in a carbon plated running shoe, they're great for race day. I actually just wore one this morning for a speed workout that I'll talk about here in a little bit. But carbon-plated running shoes are amazing for racing. You get more spring, you get more activation. They're faster.

They're not as forgiving on the muscles and the joints. And this is why you don't want to use them as daily trainers. But they're great for races or these bigger efforts. Now, the shoes that I'm currently wearing and have been wearing for maybe three years now are the Sokony Endorphin Speed series. I think I had the first version of the Sokony Endorphin Speed, which was obviously the one. And then there was a Sockony Endorphin Speed 2s and then Sockney Endorphin Speed 3's. and then Sokney endorphin speed fours. Now, like I said in the beginning of this episode,

when I find something that I love, I love it. And I keep using it. When Sokini released, and I remember when I first started announcing Sokini, I announced it Soconi, which it looks like that. S-A-U-C-O-N-Y,

Soconi. And then they did like this whole branding campaign where it was Sok S-O-C-K-N or sock-a-a-a-d-dash-k-n-k. I was like K-N-E-E. So it was a very easy. Oh, sock-a-k-a-ne. Sockony. Endorphin series. I tried the sock-any endorphin speed force.

There's a lot of words going on right now. Sockney, endorphin. Orphan Speed 4s. I tried those when they launched a few months ago, and I hated them. Being very honest, they didn't feel right, didn't fit me well. This was probably the first pair of shoes that I ever tried, where I wore them for two runs, and then I threw them out. They never have worn them again.

So now I go on all these websites, and I buy the older version, which is the threes, and you You can find them on running warehouse wholesale websites. And at this point, because the fours around, there's only a few colorways left of the threes. And the one that I can find very easily all the time is the pink one. So that's why I'm wearing the Speed 3 pink version right now. And I have been for the last couple months because it's really one of the only colorways I can find in my size. I'm a 12.5. But that's my daily trainer.

That's my daily training for most of my runs. I recently came across, however, the New Balance fuel cell supercomp, which I really enjoy. I think New Balance is doing some really cool stuff in the running shoe space right now. And I've been wearing that for some of my runs, but also more of my cross-training workouts. A lot of these high rocks workouts that I've been doing recently, I've actually been wearing the new balance fuel cell super comps. And I just ordered some of their race shoes. So I'll be testing those out in the next couple weeks.

But I've been bouncing back and forth between those two. And then race shoe-wise, talking about how it's really beneficial to have a shoe with a carbon base plate, I used to be die hard Nike vaporfly, which I still am. This morning for my workout, I wore the Nike vaporflies. But Sokini also makes a carbon-plated shoe that's really good that I wore for my last marathon at CIM. I might have worn it for the last two marathons. I definitely wore it for the last marathon. The Sokony Endorphin Elite, carbon-plated race shoe, really good shoe, in my opinion.

But the Nike vaporfly always has a special. special place in my heart. This morning's workout, and I'll wear a carbon-plated shoe for big tempo speed workouts as well as races. But this morning's workout as I'm just introducing more speed in weekly training was a two-mile warm-up and then one mile fast, one mile easy, one mile fast, one mile easy, one mile fast, one mile easy. Eight miles total. And the goal for those fast, harder miles was sub six minute per mile pace. And my paces were

the first mile segment 543 and then 555 and then 553. But the Nike vaporfly for me, it just fits really well. It fits really snug and tight. It's a narrow shoe.

It really is a narrow shoe. But it fits so snug, so tight, it feels like a glove. And it It looks clean. It looks fast. If you look fast and you feel good, you'll be fast. Honestly, I do think, like, if you feel really confident in what you're wearing and how you look, that will directly correlate to your performance.

You should feel fast. You should look fast. You will then be fast. And if I'm hitting trail stuff, my go-to trail shoe is the Hoka Speed Goat. recently just got the Hoka Speedgoat sixes in, and I think it's a great shoe. Love that shoe. So for any ultra that I'm doing,

I'm wearing the speed goats, for any trail run I'm doing, whether in the mountains or the hill country here in Texas, I'm wearing the speed goats. It's very durable. It's a heavier shoe. It's lower to the ground. So for me personally,

I have pretty weak ankles. And my ankles turn all the time. Like I sprain an ankle every couple months. And what I love about the speed goat is that they are lower profile to the ground, not as low profile as, say, an ultra, which is a zero drop shoe or a minimal drop shoe. But they're lower profile to the ground and a little wider base, which makes your ankles have more durability or stability. and I'm less likely to roll an ankle when I'm out on train that is rocky or rooted.

But like I said, I turn my ankles all the time. Like a few races ago at Rocky Raccoon, which is a hundred-mile here in Texas, I sprained my ankle really bad on a route on the trail within the first 15 miles. And we had to tape up my foot so heavily, which was. pretty much in a boot to be able to finish the race. I was wearing the speed goats for that. So I'll still spraying and turn an ankle, but I found that they are less stacked compared to other shoes.

So those are the shoes that I personally like and enjoy and wear. But what I would recommend is to go to a local running store. This is one of the things I did when I first started running. Go to a local running store. Go to a few, actually. have them watch you run, watch you walk, analyze and look at your biomechanics, and then let them recommend a shoe for you. And the reason I say go to a few stores is because if you go to one store,

they're going to have a preferred supplier. And there's going to be biased towards a certain shoe to have you wear or try. Maybe go to another running store that has another preferred supplier or running shoe and then go to a third store that has another preferred supplier running shoe. Try on the shoes, test them out, see what you like. But you kind of got to like try some different things before you understand or realize what you really enjoy. And that's what I've done.

And then when I find a shoe that I like and love, I just keep rebuying. I mean, put me on subscription because I'm locked in once I find a shoe that I love and enjoy. But go to one of these running stores, try some out, find what fits you personally, because we are all so unique from fit and structure and biomechanics and running experience and a different shoe is going to serve everyone a little bit different. Fuel. Once you train fueled, you'll never again train fasted in your life. I firmly believe this because I used to have this. mindset that training fasted made you stronger. It made you harder. That if you trained fasted with no carbohydrates and electrolytes or water, your body would build this adaptation and get

calloused and stronger so you won't need any of that stuff. But what actually ended up happening is I was fatigued, I was burn out, I wasn't performing, I wasn't performing, I wasn't improving. And when I actually started fueling my performance with the proper nutrients and hydration, carbohydrates, total caloric intake, my performance improved significantly. Not even just incrementally or a little bit significantly. I am such a firm believer in fueling your performance, especially when it comes to endurance training and running. Now here at BPN, we create products to fuel your performance. That's what we do.

Our mission is to fuel your performance. My mission is to not only fuel your performance, but fuel my performance. Most of, if not all of the products we create, is to fuel performance in the gym, on a run, training, recovering, health, and wellness foundational levels. So here's the fueling products we've created specifically for running that I think everyone should have on hand and be using whenever they're running or training. G1M sport. And I'm not going to spend a lot of time on these because I talk about these products all the time because I use them all the time. And I believe in them so much you've probably heard me talk about all of these products to extensive lengths and depths.

But G1M Sport, this is our hero fuel source through BPN. G1M Sport stands for Go One More Sport. Each serving has 20 grams of carbohydrates from cluster dextrin, which is very fast gastric emptying, meaning it's not going to create GI distress, gas, bloating, stomach discomfort, and then 350 milligrams of sodium per scoop. Now, I personally use two scoops of G1M sport before every run. 40 grams of carbohydrates, 700 milligrams of sodium, plus a full electrolyte profile in those two

scoops. I mix mine up the night before. So before going to bed, I get like 14 ounces of water and shake a bottle. Put two scoops of G1M sport in, shake it up, put it in the fridge so that when my alarm goes off at 4.20 a.m., the first thing I do is come out of my bedroom, go to the fridge, grab my G-1M Sport, slug it, and then I let it digest for 20, 25 minutes before I go out for my run. If there's one endurance fueling supplement you need in your regimen, you have on hand at all

times, it's G1M Sport. Use it before your run. If you're going on a super long run and you're carrying a handheld water bottle, throw a scoop or two in your handheld water. bottle, carbs and electrolytes will do the body wonders when it comes to endurance, training, and maximizing performance, but also optimizing hydration and recovery. We then have the go bar. So the go bar is something we created.

It's a simple, oat-based, whole ingredient bar that has about 36 grams of carbs per serving per bar, and in the event that you want to wake up and consume a whole food that's going to be light on the stomach, digest, but also provide you with the fuel and requirements your body needs, the go bar is a perfect solution. I actually usually have a go bar before I go into the gym with my pre-workout. or I'll have a go bar with my G1M sport in the morning if I'm going for a bigger effort or a bigger run, longer run, faster paces.

The go bar is great for if you want something solid before going out to train, it's still lightweight and easily digestible, but it's going to fill the stomach a little bit more than just a liquid would be, say, compared to G1M sport. The go gel is something that we launched about a year ago

and has become one of our best selling products. Now, GUNM Sport is currently our hero product. That thing is just growing significantly for the brand. And the amount of G1M sport

we're selling compared to last year or even six months ago is significantly greater now than it was before. So that product is becoming even more popular. The GoGel

more of a recent launch is hitting the endurance space how do I say this in a very disruptive way a lot of the gels in the market are multodextrin based which is a cheap carbohydrate source it'll tear up your

gastro and intestinal tract and it'll cause gas bloating just stomach discomfort cramps with the GoGel was to create a whole food, simple ingredient gel that you could carry on your body while you're training to refuel your carbohydrate stores, taste really well, and doesn't create any issues for you. So we now have three flavors of the go gel. We have apple cinnamon, mixed berry, mango. The mango was a collaboration with BPNath.

Sally McRae, it's called Yellow Runner, and each gel has 24 grams of carbs per gel. And we are launching this fall a caffeinated version of the GoGel in the mixed berry flavor. So the introduction of the caffeinated gel has been something that's been highly requested by GoGel consumers. but this is a simple ingredient, whole food gel. Like I said, 24 grams of carbohydrates per gel. The apple cinnamon and the mixed berry have 110 milligrams of sodium per gel, and the mango has 105 milligrams of sodium per gel.

So you have three different fuel sources that you can choose from. You can use one, you can use a combination of some, or use them all. I use them all based off of where I'm running, how far, what effort, what duration and distance, GOM Sport, Go Bar, GoGEL. And then we have our electrolyte powder, which is 500 milligrams of sodium per scoop, full electrolyte profile, no sugar, naturally flavored, naturally sweetened. We currently have three flavors, strawberry, lemon lime, salted. watermelon and you're hearing it first, the next flavor we're launching is mango, mango electrolytes.

And right now being in like the peak of summer, especially here in Texas, it's at the time this recording late July, if you are a heavy sweater or you live somewhere where it's hot and humid conditions, you have to be adding electrolytes either with. through just like salting your food and or supplementation to replenish and be properly hydrated. I mean, this morning in my run, eight mile run, I had 700 milligrams of sodium prior to running. I bet you, and I had a few scoops of electrolytes after the run was over, I bet you during that eight mile run, I lost 2,500 milligrams of sodium. 2,500 milligrams of sodium.

I was sweating a lot today. I've actually done a sweat test before, which is super interesting. So you can do a sweat test, you can find them online. And what happens is you wear this patch during a workout. And you'll go online,

you'll find a sweat test, a sweat analysis test. They'll send you the kit. You record the temperature that day, the humidity, you weigh yourself before the workout and you weigh yourself after the workout. You record all these things.

You record how much liquid you consumed during the workout, how much electrolytes you consumed during the workout. And you wear this patch on your arm during the entire training session. And after the training session's over, which is going to be soaked in sweat, you stuff it in this tube, you send it off, they test it,

and they tell you how much sodium you lose per hour based off the conditions and the work out you did and just the data that is provided from these tests. And when I did this a few years ago, it told me that I was losing around 2,500 milligrams of sodium per hour. And that's how I can kind of pull that estimation. But we lose a lot of sodium and electrolytes when we're sweating, especially when it's hotter and more human in these summer months. Sodium is your best friend. Electrolites will be

your best friend. You need them around your training before, during, and after. Not only to maximize performance, but enhanced recovery. You know, if you're not properly hydrated, you might get headaches, brain fog, fatigue, feel tired, feel thirsty. A lot of these symptoms that you might be feeling throughout the day like, man, I'm just so tired. You might not actually be tired. You might be dehydrated. So take your electrolytes. They're super important. Fueling for endurance athletes, in my opinion, is the number one thing, endurance athletes for a lot of people fail at, do wrong, and it's the biggest opportunity to improve. Let's talk running shorts. Now, this will be a briefer segment.

There's a few pair of running shorts that I love, and I've tried a bunch. There's a lot that I hate. We're actually working on our own running short right now, believe it or not. We're actually doing this in collaboration with another company, and we just kicked off the project. This is going to be a 12 to 14 month project. So it's a bigger one. It's a longer one. So bear with me.

But the running shorts I currently wear and support, I will share with you right here. I have this rule that I can't or won't run in running shorts longer than a three inch in seam, unless it's compression. If they're like half tights or a base layer, then they're obviously a little bit longer than three inches. Now for daily trainers and what I wear every day around the office, I wear a five inch inseam. And I've also said before that if your shorts are longer than five inches,

you're wearing pants. You're actually not wearing shorts. I wear the same, not the same exact pair, but like I have probably six pairs of the same shorts. There are these Jim Shark shorts. They have this cool yellow or green pattern on them. They're five inch inseam and they have an internal liner.

And I wear those every single day. Not the same exact pair. Like I said, I wash them. I have a bunch of pairs. But it's one of the shorts that I found. I love. So I've just bought a bunch of pairs. And that's where I wear every day.

But for running shorts, three inches. Ideal, the lighter the possible. in terms of weight. So there's a tracksmith, twilight split. That's like my go-to running short. There's the Bandit. Bandit's a cool running brand, if you guys are unfamiliar. Bandit Splitty Short.

These are lightweight, very lightweight, and they have like the split up to like the hip. So if you're running really fast, kind of looks like a skirt. It's like flying up behind you because of the split. and your butt cheeks kind of hang out sometimes. So I guess watch where you're wearing them. Those are the shorts that are running.

And then compression-wise, I like Bandit's compression, but I also love Jim Sharks' baselayer compression. And I'm not sure if they make that to be intended to be like a running half-tight. But I like the way they fit. They're really tight, snug, comfortable. The Jim Shark, base layer compression, or bandits half tights. If I'm running and it's really cold, I love tracksmith's full tights. Their full tights are great for the winter and colder temps.

I remember this one time, Sally McRae gave me a pair of Nike running shorts. They were like the split shorts. And I think she gave me. me a medium, which I usually wear like a larger, extra large, depending on the brand. So mediums definitely didn't fit. But these were, I think, like two inch in seam, full split. It's like split from the side of the short up to the hip. And I put these on to go for a run. And they were comfortable. They were really comfortable. But I went and told Steph, hey, I'm going for a run. It was midday, like on a Saturday. This was before Charlie was born.

and I walked in to say by to her and she saw these like two inch in seam running shorts with the split up my side. She's like, there's no way. There's no way you're wearing that. I'm not letting you wear that out. Like even that was too much for her. But when you have this split shorts,

the splity shorts, you know, it's like flying behind you. And if that neck gets pulled up a little bit and like towards your butt crack, you got some cheeks showing and hanging out. That is how my legs get super tan in the summer. But if you're wearing these three inch in seam shorts, definitely make sure for guys,

make sure there's a liner in there or you're wearing something underneath. But your butt cheeks might fly out every once in a while. So I'm just saying that might happen. For me, I embrace it. I love it. I want to feel like I'm running naked. Sometimes it might look like I'm running naked, even though I'm not.

But those are my go-to running shorts. Okay, and now let's talk apps. Let's talk technology, software. First thing, we talked about the Garmin watch. So I obviously use the Garmin apps. There's a Garmin app that syncs to your watch that pulls all your data in, which has a great platform, great views. You can do an analysis of all your running data.

There's also the Garmin Connect, which is where you kind of pair your watch and then connects then to the Garmin app itself. It's like the medium between the Garmin app and your devices, the Garmin Connect app, which I'll talk about here in a little bit. And then I have Strava, but to be honest, I don't use Strava much.

I've probably opened up Strava once in the last three months. I really just, I'm not a big Strava user. And I rarely open up my Garmin app other to import and create workouts. But all the data that I look at really is right in the watch interface, in the watch itself. Like that's where I'm pulling all of all of my data. but what I want to talk about is creating workouts in the Garmin Connect app, which I think is super useful. And I only learned about it probably two years ago,

but it's great. So when I go and do these big tempo workouts or marathon prep workouts, whether I'm programming it myself or Jeff Cunningham, my running coach programs workouts for me, say it's like a two-mile warm up and then four, 800 meter repeats at a certain pace with 60 seconds rest in between. Then it's two 1,200 meter repeats at a certain pace with 60 seconds rest in between. And then, you know, six, four hundreds at a certain pace with 30 seconds rest in between a two mile cool down. Something like that. It's a lot to remember,

especially with paces and rest. So what you can do is go into the Garmin Connect app. and create that workout. You can create each segment, the distances, the pace ranges that you want to hit, the rest periods, and you can sync it to your watch. And then when you go and do the workout, say the next day or that week,

you can pull up that workout on your watch, press start, and it'll walk you through the workout. They'll say, okay, first thing, two-mile warm up, you go knock that out. Then it'll move into your first 800-meter repeat. It'll tell you if you're running too slow, running too fast based off of the running range you put in there.

And then for your rest periods, rest time, there will be a timer that's ticking down, 30, 29, 28, 27, boop. And it'll walk you to the entire workout. And then when you go to look at the data in the Garmin app afterwards, it has it very properly structured and laid out based off the workout you put in there. super useful. So if you haven't used the Garmin Connect app to create workouts based off of something you're doing, you just want to kind of zone out that your watch walk you through it, highly recommend it. So Garmin, I use the Garmin apps. Strava, I have it, use it very infrequently.

The BPN training app. So we have a training app that we built. it is free for now. We actually have a plan to upgrade that app in the next couple months, and it will then be an app that you have to pay a subscription for. So we're currently in the background making a lot of changes and advancements to the BPN training app. We initially launched it about a year and a half ago. There's a hybrid athlete training program in there now. There's a 5K, half marathon, full marathon training programs in there that were developed by myself and Jeff Cunningham. And right now this app is free. If you go to the app store,

search BPN training, you can find all these workouts. But in the next couple of months, that will change. We're completely revamping the app, adding more programs in there, adding more structure, adding more value and benefit. And once we do think that switch, which probably will be early 2025. It will then be an app that requires a subscription. But for now, jump in there, knock out the workouts, download it, get involved. It's really good stuff in there. And Jeff programs running workouts very, very well. I mean, he's helped me go from a, when I first started working with him, a 324 marathon all the way down to a 239 marathon. And the last piece of technology that I want to share with you, which has an app function and feature, is called eight sleep.

Again, I bought this with my own money, no affiliation, but it's this pad we have over our bed at home. We used to use one similar. It was called the chili sleep pad. And then when we moved, we decided to try out eight sleep. And they both work very similarly. but it's this pad that goes over top of your bed. And then there's a hose that goes from that pad to this reservoir, this machine on the side of your bed that you fill with water.

And it circulates water on this pad that's right under your bed sheets. And you really can't feel it. You can feel it a little bit, but not really. You get used to it. So I can then set the temperature of my bed every night. And it's on a timer based off this app. So at 9 p.m. it turns on. And then at, I believe, 6 a.m. it turns off.

So throughout the night, my bed temperature decreases, which allows me to get a deeper, more restful sleep because there's been studies and research that shows that we sleep deeper in cooler temperatures. And this has helped me significantly. This is one of those investments that I've made that I literally probably couldn't sleep without now, both Steph and I. So we use eight sleep, cools our bed down at night, helps us get a more restful, deeper sleep, helps us fall asleep faster. We don't wake out up throughout the night.

Sometimes when I'm in really big training blocks or training for a race or an event, I'll get super sweaty at night. I'll wake up, drenched in sweat when I'm deep into a press. And being able to cool down my bed with 8 sleep or the chili sleep pad has really helped with recovery and sleep performance. And then through the app, the 8 sleep app, I can track like sleep analysis and performance. And it'll show me like how well I slept and when I was up and, you know, my REM sleep versus deep sleep. It's a pretty amazing platform that I personally love. And like I said, when Steph and I are traveling, we can tell when we don't have it. And the last thing I'm going to share with you guys is some quick hit accessories.

Things that I have love and use frequently that are just like part of my toolkit. So the first is a frozen lacrosse ball. I keep this in the freezer. I take it out in the morning. I roll the bottoms of my feet before I go and run, just part of my routine. helps just wake those feet up a little bit. Second is squirrels nut butter. This is like an anti-chafe natural paste or cream that in the summer I personally will

chafe in between my thighs. So I'll just rub down a bunch of squirrels nut butter up all in my upper thighs and in some private areas. And I just lotion that thing up with some of that nut butter. And then if I'm doing all. If I'm wearing a vest, I wear the Salomon vest for my ultras. I'll put some of that squirrels nut butter kind of like on my lat where my armpits might rub against that vest.

The next one is socks. So I currently wear stance socks. That's what I've been enjoying for my running. But also occasionally I'll wear in gingy toe socks. Primarily when I do ultras because my feet sweat a lot. and if I'm doing a long race and my feet are sweating and rubbing and chafing, I'll get blisters really bad. But I found with these in gingy toe socks, I don't get blisters.

So those are the two socks I wear. Another thing that I have on hand at all times for some of these longer runs, especially in the summer months, is a handheld water bottle. I just get them off Amazon, Nathan handheld water bottles. And they have a little pouch in there. So I'll put like GUNM Sport or electrolytes with some water in the actual bottle itself. And the patch, I can put a gel and my key fob for my truck. If I'm going somewhere to run, super convenient, wraps around your hand.

You don't have to hold it. It just like straps down. Nathan handheld water bottle. And the last thing, sunglasses, I wear all Roka sunglasses, which is an Austin, Texas-based company. They make great sunglasses and that's what I wear. For like the very few runs that I run in the day now, 95% of my runs are in the morning before the sun rises. So I really don't need sunglasses as much.

And that's primarily because I'm trying to get my run done before my family and daughter wake up for the day. But before Charlie was born, I would do a bunch of runs in the summer during the day, on trails, out and about. And roka sunglasses have always been my go-to. So those are some of my favorite things in terms of running gear, accessories, apps, shoes, watches, all the things.

If you guys are watching this on YouTube, I would love for you to share in the comments your favorite running accessories, gear, shoes, shorts, apps. Just share below all the things that have helped you. And let me know if you guys are enjoying or, resonating and relate to some of the things that I shared in this episode. For me, they are tried and true, but for you, it might be a little bit different. So thanks for tuning in, guys. Appreciate all the love and support.

Go grab some miles, and we'll see you in the next one.