This is the first time in my life that I can remember being healthy for a long period of time without getting some sort of illness (either exhaustion or catching a bug from a compromised immune system due to exhaustion). My aunt and her boyfriend, who had not seen me since Christmas, were remarking this weekend that I look very relaxed and healthy. I'm getting a lot of help and support with this; anytime I stress out about something, J. takes care of it for me. Also, we've been eating lots of fresh fruits and veggies; trying to stick to whole (unprocessed) foods in general and the 100-mile diet when possible. And once I made the "NO LESS than 8 hours of sleep per night" rule and stuck to it, that made me feel even better. So my improved cycling performance has been reflective of my healthy lifestyle. Last year I was always tired and never felt good enough to ride strong. I had come to accept that my health was unstable. It was very frustrating.

I take vitamins and recovery drinks after workouts, but I don't think that any athletic performance-enhancing product really works all that well, especially in isolation. The best performance enhancing products are low cost and legal: adequate rest, low stress levels, and eating healthy foods.