Eventually, it became clear that I just couldn't keep this up. Who wants to be so dependent on coffee that if you don't get a cup you end up with a headache? That being said, I don't want to give up on coffee altogether - I want to be able to enjoy the occasional cup, but I'd rather not be dependent on it. So just before Christmas, I decided to take advantage of FRS's free trail offer.
For a long time I've discounted FRS's validity because you saw their ads everywhere. Everywhere online that is, and I tend to be suspicious of products that I only see advertised online (like "one weird tip to flatten you belly!" or "refinance your mortgage for 1 1/2 percent"). Even with Lance Armstrong as their key spokesperson, I wasn't buying. But as time has gone on, I've learned more about free radicals and have seen FRS add ultrarunner (and "personal chef specializing in holistic natural meals") Devon Crosby-Helms and NFL Quarterback Tim Tebow to their sponsered athletes, I figure I'd give it a try. (Hey, if you can't trust Tim Tebow, who can you trust?)
Like many companies, when you order a free sample, you still pay shipping which I was shocked to see was only $4.19 (to my zip code). That's less than half of the shipping for my All Pro Science free sample. My shipment arrived a few days before New Years, and since I got a ton of coffee for Christmas, I decided to wait until I went back to work to try it out.
The free trial included three four-chew packs and a box of low-cal orange drink powders. 20 servings in all, enough to last 10 days. I decided I'd give up coffee during the week and depend on FRS to get me through the day.
I decided to start with the drink powders, since they had the equivalent of 1/3 of a cup of coffee in caffeine, while the chews had only the equivalent of 1/4 cup. Monday went okay, I wasn't entirely feeling great, but I was coming down from two weeks of sugar and caffeine imbibing. Tuesday was much better and as my trial went on, I found that when I followed the instructions - one serving in the morning and one in the afternoon - I rarely had "that 2:30 feeling" which 5-Hour Energy promises to prevent (a promise that I've found they rarely deliver on).
As far as taste, the chews were excellent - they had a bit of that "energy drink" bitterness to them, but that didn't bother me in the least. The same with the drink powders, although I found I had a hard time getting the powder to dissolve in my water bottle and was constantly shaking the bottle to keep some of the powder from settling on the bottle. At one point I forgot I didn't have the cap on and managed to spill some on my keyboard. That was a little embarassing.
It wasn't very far along in my 2-week trail that I decided that FRS was totally worth it and totally worked. But I decided to give it one more test. I used the coupons they have linked to on their website to get a couple more cans and a couple more packets of chews "buy one get one free."
Throughout my trial, I hadn't used their suggestion that I take one serving a half-hour before working out. It's sort of impossible for my morning workouts and I had exactly enough for two five-day work weeks and didn't want to have to shorten it. But I did want to see if it would help for a workout. My workouts lately have been pretty slow - partly due to the weather (snow) and partly due to just plain not having the pep in my legs that I had last summer.
This morning I ran the Saginaw 5K with my friend Scott. I didn't have very high expectations. I knew despite the slow workouts that I was in as good shape as ever, but didn't think I'd really be able to challenge my PR of 22:28. I drank a can of orange (not the low-cal kind) FRS about a half-hour before the race's start to see what it would do.
The race was on a flat out and back course along the Susquehanna River in a rural area of York County. The only major hill was right at the start, and of course just before the end. When the race started I decided to charge the hill at the start to get it over with since my legs were fresh. I was shooting to finish each mile between 7:00 and 7:15. The first mile went by a little fast in 6:59. Then in the second my shoe came untied! I lost 20 seconds tying it back up , but still finished the second mile 7:05.
I was still feeling strong in the third mile and turned it up a bit. I started passing people left and right and reached the finish in 21:40. That's a 48-second PR! Now, I'm not going to credit FRS with my PR, but it certainly didn't hurt.
Ultimately, I'd have to say that I'd totally recommend FRS Healthy Energy. And their Tim Tebow commercial:
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