Swim Bike Run Live

Smell Mortality: Breathe Life

Sunday, October 23rd, 2011

Sometimes, it seems like life only works in extremes. This summer, Poppa B got diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer and had to jump through hoops on top of that just to get treatment. Our whole family had to face his mortality head on. Something I’m not awesome at handling and sometimes the littlest things became major emotional battles.

Then last weekend I got to spend the day with my little nephew, who decided to feed me all of his gold fish by putting his whole fist in my mouth. If his arm was long enough to drop them directly into my stomach, he probably would.

Hand Feeding

Then apparently it was bed time, so he gave me his favorite toys and tucked me in on the living room floor - head first. It is so much fun playing with him and seeing how fast he is growing up and learning. And becoming just like my brother. I don’t spend as much time with I wish I did/could, but it is fun playing Uncle for the day.

Then this Thursday, my brother’s wife went into labor a few weeks early and had their second boy. Both mother and son are happy and healthy. The very next day I get a text from my dad that his latest scans are clear and there aren’t any signs of the tumor. Two of the best pieces of news you can get, all within 48 hours!

The roller coaster of facing a loved one’s mortality to celebrating the life of a newborn, an 18 month old and my pops has definitely put a fresh perspective on life. Sometimes we can get caught up in PRs, the latest gear, aggressive rase schedules, but coming from the last few days that I’ve had, it is easy to appreciate the lives that we’ve got right now and the wonderful people in it.

So I went out to celebrate the good news, my health and the health of the people I love with a cold swim in Walden pond. I won’t always have my health and be able to jump into 60 degree water and swim for as long as my arms will let me, but today I do. And I’m not going to pass that up.

Now, on to spend some more quality time that make me so happy in between training and racing….

| Posted in Life, Triathlon | 8 Comments »

Hungry For Carrots

Thursday, October 20th, 2011

I realized something since Age Group Nationals. I’m really good at following a plan when I have a near-term goal (even if it is a small one). But I’m completely worthless when I’m just “working out” and not “training” for something.

And right now, I’ve got nothing to train for. If you are any good at math, that means I’m completely worthless (training-wise) right now.

First, I went back and tried to take some of my own medicine for getting over a training slump, but the truth is that Jamie needs a new carrot. The wedding countdown is under the 30 day mark, so that eliminates anything between now and Thanksgiving. That means I’m on the hunt for December running races before I sign up for Master’s swimming in January, otherwise this triathlete is going to sputter his way into another triathlon season.

Read between the lines and you’ll see that this guy wants to enter the 2012 triathlon season ready to destroy some old PRs. I just need some carrots to snack on between now and then.

Tags: motivation | Posted in Triathlon | 7 Comments »

What To Do With My Wedding Ring?

Tuesday, October 11th, 2011

I’m in no mans land. About 45 days from my last race and 40 days until my last day of being a single man. The big day is coming soon. Sam and I are busy crossing off a lot of the final t0-dos and we picked up our rings last week.

As someone who hasn’t worn a single piece of jewelry (other than watches) since high school, I’m anticipating a learning curve in making this whole “ring wearing” thing part of my routine. (I wore hemp shell necklaces in high school to pretend I was some hippie/surfer/skater rather than a kid that lived next to a corn field.)

And the biggest obstacle – What do I do with this thing when I’m training and racing?

I’m was thinking that this was some big “married triathlete” secret that I needed the scoop on, so I polled Twitter to get some help. I don’t want to loose my ring right away or not wear it often enough and set some sort of precedent as being a bad husband. Unfortunately, there was no single answer from all my married triathlon friends and they were all across the board. I guess I’m going to have to come up with my own plan, but I’ll probably end up taking it off and keeping it someplace safe when I’m working out. I just have to figure out where that safe place is.

Here are all the responses I got from Twitter. For any married blogger friends that aren’t on Twitter – What do you do with your ring when training and racing?

Keep It On

Lisa-Marie Howe - I wear both rings but put them on my ‘fat’ hand.
Megan Killian - I wear my “engagement” ring (which is actually going to be my wedding ring) all the time, training/etc. Never take it off
Heidi Henry - I wear mine, but not my engagement ring.Didn’t realize how often I checked for my rings until I tried to swim w/ them off once.
bikezen - I keep mine on.
Matt T - keep it on always.
Sonja Wieck - wear it.
George Houston - I keep it on all the time. Rain or Shine.
Kirstine Roberts - wear it?!!!

Take It Off

Meredith Trowbridge - I take engage ring off-crashed bike w it once almost impaled myself wed band I wear ride/run in train. None racing/swimin
Alex Gonzalez - I leave my ring at home. It can come off to easy and a lake is not a good place for it.
Kelly Covert - i take mine off for racing and OWS…especially when the water is cold!
Jen Small - i stopped wearing mine for fear of losing it (swim) damaging it (weight room) but a mens ring would be different
Joe Vukson - I’ve got a good fit on mine but I don’t wear it to race. I typically take it off for rides when I’m wearing cycling gloves too.
Kiersten Henry - Leave mine at home. Spent my entire ows last weekend worrying about it falling off because I forgot.
Patricia Brownell - I don’t wear mine. It would fall off in the beginning & I wouldn’t be able to get it off at the end (I swell a lot).
Colleen Lasko - just leave it at home then you don’t have to worry about it. I never wear mine anymore since the diamond is lose anyway.
Chris - when racing, I give to my wife.I always feel like I will lose my ring on the swim.Had a friend lose his this summer in a sprint
Andy Rosebrook - I take mine off for the swim and put it on my glasses waiting for me in T1. Had my ring come off in a pool once badday. When I played basketball they would make me take it off so I laced it on my left shoe.
Stephanie Buckler - don’t wear it that’s my take anyways
Heidi L - We don’t wear them – leave it at home. Not worth losing. Sometimes I’ll wear my band, but never engagement diamond
Triathlon Funster - remove at home or put in wallet if to/from work.
dan kazup - My wife wears it on a necklace or I hide it in the car.

It Is Complicated

Jill Poon - I leave it on for training, I give it to Alex during races (or some poor unsuspecting teammate passing by)
Barb - I wear mine but my husband takes his off and leaves it in a safe place at home.
Jan Hawkins - I put it on my watch band
ransick - I wear it unless I’m wearing tight pearl izumi full fingered gloves. It’s uncomfortable under those.
Sean Prior - take the ring off for swimming, usually leave it on for anything else.
Sir IronWorm - training I keep it on. Race I give it to the wife. If she’s not there it goes on my car key chain
philiplavoie – on a necklace.

Tags: Triathlon, wedding ring | Posted in Life, Triathlon | 13 Comments »

Recovery Pump Review

Thursday, October 6th, 2011

One of the biggest trends in triathlon products is recovery devices. From massage sticks to foam rollers to compression socks, athletes are paying much more attention to recovering from their training and paying for a lot of products to help them do it.

This triathlon season I have had the opportunity to use and test one of the latest additions to the endurance sports recovery market, Recovery Pump. The inflatable compression boots have been used for years in Physical Therapy and rehab clinics for patients with circulatory conditions, but only recently began offering products to the athlete community.

What it does:

Your body is extremely efficient at getting oxygen-rich blood through your arteries and into your muscles, but is less efficient at clearing the metabolic waste that comes from anaerobic exercise (lactic acid, CO2 and a laundry list of other waste) out of your blood stream and into your kidneys to clean out. This metabolic waste is a significant obstacle to increasing your VO2 max and Lactate Threshold, two major determining factors for performance in endurance events.

The thigh-high boots each have four separate chambers and are connected to an adjustable compressor through a series of hoses. Each chamber progressively inflates from your feet up, applying pressure sequentially to your feet and legs. This facilitates your body’s natural cleansing of metabolic waste. The compression helps actively move metabolic waste from your muscles, just like a long easy walk with compression tights would, but without the demand for additional fuel from your muscles – making it much more effective.

The boots can be used for as little as 10 minutes before a workout to help warm up or even longer (I usually go from 1-2 hours) after an intense training session to promote recovery and be better prepared to tackle your next workout.

If you are interested in more information on the science behind Recovery Pump, they have a great list of studies and abstracts here: http://recoverypump.com/Page/Science

Does It Work?

After using it extensively over the whole 2011 triathlon season, I can confidently say that it does what it is supposed to. I first used the Recovery Pump boots in March after a hard day of spring skiing in heavy melting snow that destroyed my legs. I spent 90 minutes in the boots to prepare for a long ride on the bike trainer the next day. I was incredibly surprised how fresh my bike legs felt the next day considering how I was practically limping the day before. I thought it may have been a fluke, but with consistent use over the rest of the season, quality time with my Recovery Pump boots became a staple in my training plan.

The one caveat worth noting is that while it does help flush out plenty of metabolic waste, it doesn’t completely repair all your muscle damage from high-intensity workouts. That your body has to do on its own. But you can get there faster with good nutrition and recovery.

Also, there may be a little sticker shock for anyone considering purchasing their own pair. At $1,195 they aren’t a bargain product, but are MUCH more affordable than some other competing products and will undoubtedly have a bigger impact on your finishing time than the $2,000 carbon disc wheel that you only use on race day. Add up all of the massages you get throughout the year and think about having your own in-home recovery device that you can use every single day. It starts to make a lot more sense then.

Plus, because the science behind Recovery Pump is so solid you can even use your FSA, HSA or HRA to pay for it. When was the last time you were able to use those accounts to save some money on triathlon gear?

If you are seriously invested in better performance and want to make the most out of your training and recovery, Recovery Pump is definitely worth some investigation.

Disclaimer: Recovery Pump is a sponsor through Team Trakkers/Rev3, but in no way contributed to the content of this review.

Tags: compression boots, compression recovery, normatec mvp, recovery pump, triathlon recovery, triathlon training | Posted in Reviews, Triathlon, Videos | 1 Comment »