Just got some sweet new gear in the mail from my pals at Saucony. Woohoo!
Now that I have some more running gear (because you can always use some new threads…), I just have to wait for spring to come so that I can get ditch these hair pants and get some sun on these pale white things!
The visor beanie and top are from the winter gear line, so if you want to snatch them up, get on it now before they are gone. They are on sale too!
Tags: Saucony, tram trakkers
If you haven’t been paying attention lately, Rev3 has become a steamroller lately! The news just keep coming and these guys don’t mess around. The busy beavers over at Rev3 HQ clearly have their sights set pretty high and are aiming to completely dominate the triathlon world.
After just one year, the series has generated so much attention that Triathlete Magazine named Rev3 Knoxville and Cedar Point some of the most anticipated races of 2010 and Quassy as the most family friendly event of 2010. No joke.
Just the number of world champions that are signed up to do a race series only in its second year is unprecedented. First Mirinda Carfrae and Matty “Boom Boom” Reed announce their return. Then Craig “Crowie” Alexander and Natascha Badmann signed up. Having my heros battle it out just miles from where I grew up in Connecticut is just so freaking cool. Winter isn’t even over yet and I’m itching to start racing again.
But the news keeps coming. Today Rev3 announced that 70.3 and XTERRA world champion Julie Dibens is joining in on the fun. She is hardcore, jacked, and definitely going to do her best to give Mirinda a run for her money in my opinion (if she leave T2 with a big enough lead).
This Wednesday Stu and Heather Gollnick are going to do a live Web interview with Julie about her prep for Rev3. I’ve been listening to Stu for a really long time now, but I’m not sure if he has ever done a live interview before. I’m looking forward to listening in and sending some questions her way.
Live Interview with 70.3 and XTERRA World Champ: Julie Dibens
Date: Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Time: 8:00 pm ET
Link: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/rev3tri/2010/03/04/rev3-interview-with-julie-dibens
Me? Besides knowing how she is able to rock both the XTERRA and 70.3 worlds, I want to know what is up with this crazy reflective tri suit that she wore at 70.3 Worlds a while back. I’m not sure if it was supposed to ward off attacking birds, keep her cool, distract guys trying to suck on her wheel, or to try to stop guys from checking out her booty. Not quite sure, but I’m pretty intrigued. Will crazy silver tri suits be the next big trend in triathlon gear? Compression socks ARE getting pretty old. It is time we moved on to something else.
Oh, and if you aren’t sold yet on total Rev3 domination, just look at their cancellation and withdraw policy. If you get injured up to two weeks before the race, they will credit you for the entry fee. If you have ever tried to transfer or withdraw from a race before, you know how much of a PITA most race directors can be. The guys at Rev3 aren’t just trying to dominate the triathlon world to get greedy and suck as much money as they can out of athletes. They are athletes themselves and totally “get it.”
And remember, if you want to join me at any Rev3 race this year, you can get $10 off of any/all races if you use the code “Trakkers108” at registration. Note: I don’t see a single dime if you use my registration code, just a pat on the back for helping to promote the race series.
Tags: julie dibens, rev3 cedar point, rev3 knoxville, rev3 quassy
One of my main goals this year is to really get my nutrition in check. When I was focusing on Olympic distance, I could still get away with eating just about whatever I wanted. It was pretty awesome. Endless hunger without having to worry about getting soft around the middle. When I stepped it up to racing half ironmans (and now doing a full this year) it is a completely different story. Getting my nutrition straight is now a requirement to getting across the finish line with a smile on my face. Part of that is revamping my race day nutrition and training supplements with the help of First Endurance, and the other part is cleaning up my day-to-day diet and ending some bad habits.
I used to have a pretty typical “bad American” diet. Tons of sugar, processed food, sugar, meat and barely anything that grew out of the dirt. I’ve done pretty well with getting rid of a lot of sugar and processed food, but cutting down on the meat for more veggies is always a constant struggle. A guy can only eat salads so many times before going insane, so I decided I needed to mix things up and test out some new recipes. The first on the list? Veggie burgers. I wasn’t too confident about this one since the only time I ever had a veggie burger I practically gagged and couldn’t finish it, but decided to give it a try.
I took this recipe and modified it a little to switch out the bell pepper for corn.
Ingredients
- 1 (16 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 (16 ounce) can of corn, drained and rinsed
- 1/2 onion, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 1/2 cup bread crumbs
Directions
- If grilling, preheat an outdoor grill for high heat, and lightly oil a sheet of aluminum foil. If baking, preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C), and lightly oil a baking sheet.
- In a medium bowl, mash black beans with a fork until thick and pasty. Add corn to bowl
- Finely chop onion, and garlic. Then stir into bowl.
- In a small bowl, stir together egg, chili powder and cumin.
- Stir the egg mixture into the mashed beans. Mix in bread crumbs until the mixture is sticky and holds together. Divide mixture into four patties.
- If grilling, place patties on foil, and grill about 8 minutes on each side. If baking, place patties on baking sheet, and bake about 10 minutes on each side.
The original recipe says that they only have 190 calories and 3 grams of fat each. I know that most triathletes aren’t super concerned with cutting calories a ton, but not too shabby, right?! It was actually pretty filling too.
Looks pretty nasty, right? Trust me, it smells a lot better than it looks.
Looking a little more like something edible, right?
The final delicious patty of love, garnished with lettuce, pickles, ketchup and honey. 
The final verdict? I’m pretty freaking proud of myself. I love burgers as much as any red blooded American man. This definitely isn’t one, but sure holds its own. The consistency was a little mushy inside, so I’ll have to play with either making them thinner or adding more bread crumbs, but this won’t be the last time that I’ll be making this burger. I can’t wait until spring comes and I can try grilling these babies outside.
Tags: food, veggie burger recipe
Sunday I went downtown to Landry’s for the Boston Triathlon Team’s indoor time trial/suffer fest.
I had only done one computrainer time trial once before (last March), and I was doing a LOT more running and was teaching hardcore spinning classes twice a week, so needless to say, I was in much better shape. I didn’t need a test to tell me that I wasn’t in the shape I was last year, but I was pretty curious to see exactly how much farther back I was (and how much ground I had to make up).
I did last year’s 10k TT in 15:56 (283 average watts/ HR: 174 avg – 189 max). As long as I finished in sight of that 283 avg watts, I’d be a happy camper. The course profile was the last 10k of the Boston Marathon, backwards. From Copley square to the top of heartbreak hill. Almost completely uphill. Yikes.
The results:
Time: 18:21 (CLEARLY a much harder course)
Avg Watts: 259
Avg Speed: 20.3
HR: 177 avg – 189 max
I have to give credit to a few of those watts to Kim who was behind me screaming almost the whole time, cheering me on. She is an awesome motivator. THANKS KIM!
24 watts isn’t a TON, but definitely enough of a difference in my fitness to hopefully motivate me to get my butt in gear. It is pretty interesting that I had almost the exact same HR as a year earlier, just lower watts.
This season one of my main goals is to focus on recovery more. Not just physically, but nutritionally too. I don’t think I paid enough attention to that last year and led to me getting pretty burnt by mid-summer. Feeling wasted before your workout even starts isn’t good. Thankfully I’m loving the cappuccino flavored Ultragen. I’ve only used it a few times so far after some of my hard workouts, so I can’t say much yet about how effective it is (yet), but it definitely is freaking delicious.
Oh, and last year I somehow just barely edged out Triathlon hall of famer Karen Smyers. This year, (I think, but am awaiting the final results to be posted) I think I beat out ‘08 Lake Placid winner Cait Snow. I’m sure that there is something wonky going on with the computrainers since I know for a fact that both ladies can tear me apart on the road, but it is still pretty cool thinking that I can compete with them on SOME level (albeit fake).
Now that I know where my fitness stands, I’ve gotta get this whole ironman training plan thing squared away so I can hit it hard once March hits. More on that soon…
Tags: boston triathlon team, computrainer, computrainer time trial
