Endurance Meg’s Holiday Wish List
The holidays are coming! Eek! My list hasn’t even been tackled yet. Double eek!
If you are like me, you already know what to get your significant other who 1) likes to ride his bike, 2) is in grad school and 3) lives in a snowy, cold place. Ok, so I have this one a little easy. But other than buying him a case or two of Pamela’s lemon shortbread cookies and a 5lb bag of Snowshoe Brew, I might be at a little bit of a loss. Endurance athletes aren’t really all that hard to shop for, if you have a billion dollars to spend on them. I thought I’d make it a little easy for those quirky endurance athletes on Santa’s list this year, no matter what your budget.
$5-35
- Energy-o-rama: A nice variety of energy treats will bring a smile to their face. It will also give them an opportunity to restock their supply for the upcoming season or give them something new to try. I bought Baberaham a grab-bag of energy foods a few years back that had all sorts of awesome stuff, and it gave him an opportunity to try new things that he otherwise may never have tried before.
- Gift cards! Good places include:
- All3Sports so they can put it towards some new tri gear
- iTunes so they can jazz up their music collection
- or
…
Categories: Product Reviews, Technology, Tips
Holiday Gift Ideas For Your Athlete
It’s that time of year, and if you are still looking for some great ideas that are relatively inexpensive AND that will be used and appreciated by the athlete in your life, “here are a few of my favorite things….”
…
Categories: Product Reviews, Tips
Tags: all3sports, rev3, tri-slide, Tri-Swim
Beginner Triathletes: How to pick the best bike for you
My Facebook News Feed is full of friends talking about how they’re setting up transition/pumping their tires/putting on their wetsuit for the last time of 2010. The end of the racing season is upon us, and although I have one more race left on my calendar this year, I’m pretty much ready to put my feet up (with a glass of scotch in hand) and relax for a while.
One of my friends is particularly interested in the end-of-the-season deals that she can get from her local bike shop. See, she doesn’t have a bike, but she’s been itching for one for a while. Right now is probably the best time to buy a new bike, because of course, bike shops are looking to dump their extra stock of 2010 bikes so that when spring rolls around they have a full room of flashy 2011 models. And dump they will. My LBS is having a sale this weekend, and all their bikes are on sale for one amazing discount or another.
Anyway, her questions about what bike is best for her got me thinking about how I got into cycling, why I chose the bike(s) I did, and why it was important (for good and bad reasons). So, I thought I’d put together a little help list of different things to consider when purchasing a new bike:
What different kinds of bikes are there?
I’m going to…
Categories: Athletes, Biking, Tips, Triathlons
Saucony AMP Pro Recovery Tight
If you’ve looked around in our sport, you’ve noticed this trend of compression. Compression shorts and especially compression socks. There are all sorts of companies claiming the benefits and importance of compression socks, and to be quite honest, I’ve been a bit of a skeptic and not very fond of the new fashion statement. They kind of remind me of the tube socks of the ’80s pulled up, or the leg warmers of the Jazzercise era…but science says it works. While I still may not be a fan of sporting the socks with shorts, I have become a fan of compression.
Saucony has released a new line of compression and it is amazing!! As of now, you won’t be seeing me in the compression materials walking around or racing, but I’ll wear them under clothes for recovery. I’ve been hitting some pretty big training blocks the last few weeks in my preparation for Ironman Florida, and have been sleeping in the Saucony AMP Pro Recovery Tights.
Since, I’ve gone to sleep with tired legs only to wake refreshed and ready for another big training day. When trying to decide on a size, if you are at the lower end of one size, you may want to go ahead and size down. When I first tried these on, I though my legs were going to get really hot, but they actually breath pretty well.
The video below from Saucony will…
Categories: Product Reviews, Tips, Training, Triathlons, Videos
Tags: compression, recovery, saucony, trakkers
Don’t Drink The Water!!!
This last weekend I was getting ready for a long ride on my TT bike and was feeling a bit lazy about taking off the Speedfil bottle that had been on there for about a week. I used it last weekend in the Evergreen triathlon with my rocket fuel (EFS & PreRace) mixture, and then went on two other rides early in the week, and just added some water to it with out cleaning it out….ya you see where this is going!
So, on Saturday I gear up, air up the tires, and see that I still have some liquid in the bottle….hmmmm? It’s been in the garage with this 90+ degree weather we’ve been having, and as I’m airing up the tires, I catch a hint of rotten milk…..
Of course I stick my nose down to the straw to see if that nastiness is coming from my water bottle and YUP it is! But like a dumb ass, I decide I must taste the fluid to see if it’s really bad, or just smells.
It was bad!!! Really bad!!! With just the small gulp that I had in my mouth, I could feel chunks in the water….yummy!! I removed the cover to look inside the bottle and there was a tropical rain forest growing in it. I started gaging at the smell and then threw up the water I just swallowed. The smell…oh the smell, it was…
Categories: Tips
Meridian Stretching
My goodness I think I grew inches after the 90 minute stretch session I had! check out www.meridianstretching.com
It was more “work” on my part, and “stretching” is not the most accurate word. Faschia is lengthened so the muscles can move better-and even strengthen. In 10 minutes my shoulders did not hunch! Quite an interesting techique that I can not fully describe. Next session he will teach me some self resistant stetches.
I encourage any athlete to see if there is a certified therapist in your area!
Rev3 Cedar Point Training Plan Evaluation
This week marked a major turning point in my adventure towards my big ironman (FullRev) race in September. As Jill so clearly put it, we are both now in uncharted waters. I’m floating around in some strange place where the finish line of a half ironman is not the end, but just another stepping stone towards a much greater goal.
Over the last three years I’ve managed to learn enough about racing and training to know what it takes to get myself to the finish line of a half ironman and that is what I did last week at Rev3 Quassy. Moving past that and keeping my momentum going towards a full 140.6 mile race is an entirely new animal. That is why I had this week marked in my calendar as my “re-evaluation” week. A time to sit back, look at the training plan I’ve been using, how well I’ve followed it, how my individual swim/bike/run strength is progressing and retooling my plan as needed so that I can nail the next three months and get myself to that finish line at Cedar Point.
Here is where it all stands:
- The “out of the box” training plan has been effective at getting me to a new course PR at Quassy, but is very bike heavy. My bike is definitely stronger than my run right now, so that focus needs to change.
- I’ve been doing regular track
…
Categories: Race Schedule, Team, Tips, Training, Triathlons
Tags: rev3 cedar point
Mental Notes
First off, on the way home from Quassy we got news that Lauren’s uncle had suffered a cardiac arrest. He was on day two of an MS150 bike ride in North Carolina which he had done many times before, in very hot and humid weather. He collapsed 5 miles from the finish line and by the grace of God was defibulated (sp?) very quickly. He went through some tough times over the following few hours and needed open heart surgery. We got word this morning that he was removed from the ventilator and is speaking although suffering some short term memory loss. God works in amazing ways and He definitely has bigger and better plans for Ken. He’s not out of the woods yet but the recent news is very encouraging.
Things like that really make you take a step back. Here’s a fit man in his 50’s that was seconds from not making it back home after a weekend of doing what he loves. We as humans and as athletes are truly blessed. Blessed that we have great families, great bodies, and an incredible country where we live free of violence, where our children can grow up without any worries and where we have an abundance of all of our needs. I don’t know why God has provided me with the blessings he has, but I am grateful that He has and I hope that I can glorify him…
Categories: Events, Nutrition, Product Reviews, Tips
What’s wrong with this picture?
My guess is the driver didn’t have a case of the Taper.
I have been reading a lot of blogs about “my A race is approaching, its time for taper, OMG WTF! ROFLCOPTER!” and I am not sure what the big deal is. I personally like tapering. I put in the training, it was hard; Now I get to bank on the fact that, no matter what I did for training, there’s nothing I can do now in that department to make me race any faster.
At this point, do I want to go for a long run? Not really.
Do I want to ride up Brockway four times until I puke? Not particularly.
Would I rather be doing a 120 mile road ride this weekend, followed by a 5K tempo run off the bike? Um, gonna have to pass.
I’d rather be splish-splashing during an open water swim than putting my head down and heading for the dock that is a mile away. I’d rather be cruising nice-and-easy on my bike with my cadence up than hammering out hill after hill until my quads burn like battery acid.
I want to race. The race is the reward for all that hard work. I want to take all this stored energy that has been filling up my legs for the last week, and put it toward something fun. I want to compete, get in the zone. I don’t want…
Categories: Athletes, Tips, Training, Triathlons
Rev3 Quassy Bike Course Tips
There is only one week left until Rev3 Quassy!
I’ve been looking forward to this race since last year. The race was a blast, but the course totally destroyed me. It is by far a PW half and I definitely have something left to prove.
This year I’m coming back with a whole new perspective on my training, a sweet new tri bike and a year of built up adrenaline to prove to myself that I have it in my to rock the course. I’m definitely not hoping for a PR since it is the hardest half I’ve ever done, but I’m at least hoping for a much smoother race day execution.
It is one of my favorite rides and when I heard that the RD made some changes, I must admit I was a little worried. After pre-riding it last week, all my worries were washed away. There are some slight tweaks to the course, but its personality sill remains the same. I’m still very much a happy triathlete.
For all my buddies out there that I’ll see in CT next week, here are some tips for destroying the bike course instead of letting it destroy you.
- The first two miles is a nice easy downhill to help get your legs underneath you, but after that it is pretty constant undulation. Don’t bother waiting for that long flat section to hammer it home. It doesn’t exist.
- 90% of
…
Categories: Biking, Events, Racing, Tips, Triathlons
Tags: rev3, rev3 ct, rev3 quassy
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