SaintViper's Journal, 11 May 2011

Possible breakthrough on the running today. We were discussing running at my Tri-swimming class Monday and the instructor threw out that if we were having knee problems to try shortening our stride. Since me knees have been feeling very good lately, I figured I'd give it a try. Turns out it worked perfectly. No knee pain at all during or after the workout. The Tri is one month away and I'm back on track. (I hope.) 

So the Sobe water having 15 grams of carbs and zero calories thing was still bothering me. I checked the label and I figured the second ingredient must be the sweetener which turned out to be correct. The sweetener is called Erythiritol which is a natural sugar alcohol. (Not the kind that makes you feel good though.) While it is technically a carb, it's in a form that can't be used by the body as energy, so it gets passed through the system and out the other end. Since this is the case, they are allowed to say it has no calories even though it has carbs. Apparently it occurs naturally in many plants and is considered very safe. The worst side affect you could potentially suffer is that if you ate vast quantities of it, you could experience bloating and gas. I haven't noticed any of that after drinking 2.5 servings (1 bottle) at a setting so I think it's ok. It does not appear to be one of those deals like they do with trans-fats and put just enough bad stuff in something to where they can round it in such a way to say there's nothing bad in there when there really is.  

AWESOME news about the knees. Just build up slowly now. It does always seem weird but if you want to go faster when running, longer strides is not the answer. Faster turnover is. Kinda like cadence on the bike. Bigger gears isn't always the right way to go. You'll do great! I am familiar with the Erythiritol....I've had it. It's on some of the whey powders I have used. It's not my favorite artificial sweetener, but I do tolerate it fairly well. I believe it's the one that's generally processed from either corn or beech trees. The corn one is a little less "processed" as it goes. But that's neither here nor there. I'm glad you have found something that works for you and can help you kick the pop habit. I truly think aspertame is evil. 

No Diet Coke or caffeine for about 3 weeks now. I did have a few sugared soft drinks when that was all we had in the fridge and I wanted something besides water. Now we're stocked with sparkling water and some sugar free vitamin water so I should be good. 

Nice!!! Good work and congrats!!