Cheribundi 7 Day Challenge: Day 6

Day 6 of my CheriBundi 7 Day Challenge.

Slept great again last night. I don't think I have slept this well for an entire week in years. Finally got the chance to run at lunch after missing the last two days for various reasons. Did a Bridge Loop starting with the River Road stretch. Legs felt very good especially after 2 days off an the Cheribundi. Tonight I did a cycling class at the YMCA with Gina subbing for Leanne. Great class, A number of long sustained climbs and a few sprints. My legs remained ache and pain free. Found a receipe for a hot pink Cheribundi smoothie. (Greek yogurt, CheriBundi Light, Biotta Naturals Beet Juice, bannana and ice.)

After class, I got changed and headed to Giant to pick up some dog food and chocolate and found the Cheribundi display and got a chance to try some Cheribundi Cheery Lemonade which was delicious. I am really starting to feel good about whether I will be ready for Rev3 Maine in a hair over a week.

CheriBundi 7 Day Challenge: Day 5

Day 5 of my CheriBundi 7 day challenge.

I got a good spin in last night and slept very hard all night. Work was a day full of meetings interrupted by a quick trip home to get a form for Matt's school which I had to fax in. So no lunch run again. Did another hour ride on the trainer tonight, and my legs are feeling good.

Got home and went grocery shopping and saw an article in Shape Magazine about the benefits of cherry juice for athletic recovery. http://www.shape.com/lifestyle/mind-and-body/your-speedy-workout-recovery-schedule and this article in Prevention Magazine http://www.prevention.com/food/food-remedies/10-foods-help-fight-inflammation?s=8

Looking forward to a nice long lunch run and a ride tomorrow to check for aches and pains.

Cheribundi 7 Day Challenge: Day 4

Day 4 of my 7 day CheriBundi Challenge.

Only had one workout yesterday due to the Ironman Roundtable put on my the Spring Valley Multisport Gators. 4 of the members of our club basically told the story of their day at Lake Placid and offered advice on everything about Lake Placid for the 6 or 7 folks who signed up for the race next year.

I came home did my plank and hit the sack and slept soundly the entire night. Tuesday morning it was raining as I took the dogs out and it rained most of the day, so no run at lunch. Was a very low energy afternoon without my run. Got home took care of the dogs and found that Tammy has been joining my on my CheriBundi Challenge as two of my 8oz bottle were now replaced with 2 32 oz bottles in the fridge. Of course, this stuff is too good and good for you not the share! :)

No real aches and pains to report but I do feel a bit fatigued. Hopefully a nice spin on the trainer tonight will wake my legs up.

Cheribundi 7 Day Challenge - Day 3: The day after Steelman

Day 3 of the challenge was a pretty good test for Cheribundi. After doing the Steelman Olympic Triathlon yesterday, setting an Olympic Distance PR thanks to a Top 10% OA bike split and then volunteering to help break down transition and all the bike racks, tents, fencing, etc, in the sun; I was pretty likely to have some aches and pains and inflamation to deal with today. I slept like a baby all night, and awoke in the morning to....nothing. No aching feet or knees. Other than the nasty blister on my hand from the mallet, I felt great.

I only had a lunch run planned today for a workout. I did a 5.43 mile run (River Road Loop) with about 300 ft of climbing. My legs were a bit heavy at first but they seemed to wake up by the end. Just a shakedown pace, but not too bad considering how hard I pushed it yesterday.

I had a visit with my Chiropractor, who is doing a 7 day detox/clense and was complaining a bit about that, but when we looked at what he can eat: Cherries and Apples were on the list, so I recommended he pick up some CheriBundi and Biotta Naturals Beet Juice at Giant. Plus came home and found my wife brought two big bottles of CheriBundi for herself

Starting to feel really good about Revolution 3 Maine!!

Cheribundi 7 day Challenge: Day 2

Day 2 of the CheriBundi 7 day challenge. Started off very early as my alarm went off at 4:15am so I could hit the road as late as possible to get to the 10th annual Steelman Triathlon at Lake Nockamixon. Only 4.5 hours of sleep, but I can say I did sleep well and felt pretty good. Got to the park at 5:25am and had to park in one of the upper lots and hike with my bike and tri backpack down to the marina. My legs felt pretty refreshed after feeling very heavy and fatigued earlier in the week.

I did my pre race ritual of Biotta Naturals Beet Juice, a half bottle for 6 days prior to the race in addition to my 2 days worth of CheriBundi Tart Cherry Juice (and a bottle of CheriBundi Restore). I also ate 2 bananas and a pear for a pre race meal. Overall, I felt great. I had a nice smooth swim and rode an aggressive bike leg and a steady but not spectacular run. But my legs felt good the whole time and those nagging aches and pains in my left calf (which I strained last season) and my knees were absent today. I ended up going 2:31:01, an Olympic Distance PR by over 2 minutes and a course PR by over 5 minutes.

Was it all the CheriBundi, probably not but I'd like to think it helped. Additionally, my Tri Club, The Spring Valley Multisport Gators, volunteered to help stay and help the race director tear down transition and the expo/food tents and load up the truck. Other than a blister, I wasn't stiff or sore at all. Same was true after getting out of the car after an hour plus ride home.

Overall, I would call day two a success!

Cheribundi 7 day challenge- Day 1

Hello everyone.

I have been pretty bad about updating my blog lately, but I hope to remedy that and introduce myself (and hopefully you) to a new product CheriBundi. I responded to a twitter tweet and was asked if I would like to participate in the 7 day CheriBundi Challenge. Tart Red Cherry juice is said to help reduce inflammation, assist in athletic recovery, and help improve your sleep.

Why? One 8 oz bottle of Cheribundi contains 50 cherries. The ingredients are cherry juice and apple juice nothing else. Tart Cherries have one of the highest Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) among all so called super foods. Tart cherries do this by offering a high dose of anthocyanins, a specific class of antioxidents shown to battle free radicals and repair cell damage inside the body. Drinking 8 ozs of tart cherry juice for seven days has been shown to increase the body's anthocyanin levels needed to achieve maximum health benefits and feel your best.

I am an age group triathlete who is starting to get up there in age, I have found recovery get harder and slower so any product which can naturally help my body recover, I am will to take for a test drive. This week also happens to be my first race back after a month an a half and two week short of one of the races I've circled on my calendar Revolution Three Maine. Plus being the proud owner of two teenagers and two new dogs, I don't tend to get the most restful sleep, so again if this product can help me sleep better. I'll try it.

Had my first bottle last night. I have had some heavy legs this week as I finished up a couple weeks of hard efforts in training. I am a big fan of cherry juice and love the taste. I think it is best chilled in the refrigerator which tempers the initial blast of tartness. Last night I got woken up several times but I did feel very well rested this morning. Went out to packet pickup, tuned up my bike, and rode a loop of the bike course (in running shoes) and then jogged a loop of the run. Legs felt good not great, but not as heavy either. So far so good.

Biotta Naturals - Legal Juicing.

When I was a kid I remember my parents making me sit at the table until I finished my beets. I remember sitting at the table by myself an hour after dinner trying in vain to wait everyone out before finally relenting. So last year, when I heard Team Rev 3 was getting a Beet Juice sponsor, I was less than thrilled.

But then I met Doug Weiss, and got the opportunity to learn a bit more about Biotta and I started to like what I was hearing. Founded in Switzerland in 1931 by Dr. Hugo Brandenberger, the organic beverage company, Biotta, has remained dedicated to their original goal of producing top-quality juice from fruits and vegetables just as nature intended–fresh from the field into the bottle. Biotta produced and launched their first line of juices in 1957. Over the years, Biotta has farmed more than 1,700 acres of chemical, fertilizer, and toxic-free land — a very rare find among today’s farmland. Along with three generations of family farmers, Biotta has established reliable and scientific organic growing techniques, which leads to a uniquely designed production process, protecting the natural wholesomeness and taste of all ingredients. Biotta juices use only natural and physical processing methods as opposed to commonly used chemical methods. Nothing artificial is added during the manufacturing process. Production routines at Biotta have a direct impact on the quality of the juices: the fewer processing steps the higher the nutritional value.

All Biotta organic juices are made from naturally grown fruits and vegetables. The quality of Biotta’s produce is the foundation of the nutritional value of their juices. All fruits and vegetables are vine/field-ripened and are selected using the highest quality standards in relation to flavor and content. After thorough washing and inspection of the raw materials, the selected fruits and vegetables are placed in a closed manufacturing process. The next time oxygen and the product will meet is when the consumer opens the bottle. This process is one of three key steps that result in Biotta’s quality.

The second key to Biotta’s quality is juicing. Instead of pressing the fruit or vegetable, where it may lose some nutritional value due to the rough process, Biotta pulls the juice out of the fruits and vegetables through a gentle process called decanter technology. Decanting is a short process of centrifugation (separating the juice from the mash) which takes only a couple of minutes, allowing maximum nutrition to be maintained in all of Biotta’s juices.

The third and final key to Biotta’s quality is the pasteurization. Biotta juices are pasteurized at a very low temperature, whereas many competitive juices are sterilized at a very high temperature. The low heat levels of the pasteurization process permit Biotta’s juices to retain the high nutritional value, fresh taste and two-year shelf life. Biotta not only believes in producing high quality, functional organic juices, but also places great value on being environmentally conscious: Biotta sells the unusable by-products from the processed fruits and vegetables to farmers for use as organic animal pomace, ensuring that every element of the crop is put to good use; Biotta uses only glass bottles providing the best product protection and allowing for full retention of flavor, content and nutrients as well as recyclability; Biotta’s labels are printed on FSC-certified paper in an effort to meet the social, economic and ecological needs of present and future generations

I also started to learn about the health benefits of beet juice. Beet Juice is high in nitrates. When dietary nitrate turns into nitric oxide in the body, it reduces the amount of oxygen required to perform exercise. Nitric oxide has many functions in the body, one of the key ones is that it facilitates vasodilation or widening in blood vessels, which promotes increased blood flow and regulates blood pressure. Nitrates also function to help with muscle contractility, glucose and calcium homeostasis and mitochondrial respiration. More research needs to be done in order to understand exactly how nitrates are producing these results, however the results are significant and so far they are worth juicing for!

With regards to blood pressure, a study published online in the American Heart Association Journal found that blood pressure was lowered within 24 hours in people who took nitrate tablets, and people who drank beetroot juice. This was a follow up to a previous study that wanted to isolate nitrates as the cause for the blood pressure reduction. Study author Amrita Ahluwalia, Professor of Vascular Biology at Queen Mary's William Harvey Research Institute notes, "We showed that beetroot and nitrate capsules are equally effective in lowering blood pressure indicating that it is the nitrate content of beetroot juice that underlies its potential to reduce blood pressure. We also found that only a small amount of juice is needed —just 250 mL—to have this effect, and that the higher the blood pressure at the start of the study the greater the decrease caused by the nitrate."

Beet Juice also has been shown in a number of studies to enhance athletic performance in endurance activities. In several tests with cyclists, researchers observed an increase of up to 16% in time to exhaustion, and improved ability to lower oxygen demand to increase power output. As beet juice has been shown to thin blood and reduce blood pressure, it does allow the blood to deliver oxygen to the muscules more efficiently which will impact endurance.

I decided to put test Biotta Beet juice to the test at the Revolution 3 Quassy weekend last year, to see how it would work for me. I found beet juice mixes very well with out juices including cranberry and cherry juice, which makes it tasty for those who are fans of beets. I drank half a bottle a day for four days before Quassy, did the 5K glow run Friday Night, the Olympic Rev Saturday morning, and the Half Rev Sunday Morning. I definitely could feel the difference, I finished 2nd Overall in the glow run, running a 5K PR and it felt easy, I finished with a course PR in the Olympic (4th time) and had a good time in the Half Rev. I had dehydration issues on Saturday and Sunday which impacted my running (Poor execution of my nutrition plan on the bike legs)which hurt my times, but I was absolutely convinced that Biotta Beet Juice worked for me. As a result, I used it before every major race in 2013 including the USAT Half Max, Rev3 Williamsburg, and Ironman Lake Placid. At the end of the year, I qualified for the Rev3 Age Group Series Championship and achieved my best ever USAT Ranking/score at age 43. Proof is in the pudding Beet Juice certainly can help improve performance.

I am now a huge fan of Biotta and Biotta Beet Juice and am excited that I can now find it at national grocery chains such as Giant Foodstores, and Whole Foods. I strongly recommend trying out Biotta Beet Juice and their other products such as Breuss Vegetable, Black Currant, Elderberry, Celery, and many more. Healthy, organic, and may help you improve your performance on race day. Gotta love it.