The temps will be cooling off soon and you’ll need to pull out your arm warmers. If you’ve never tried De Soto fleece arm warmers you must give them a shot. We doubt that you’ve ever had an arm warmer that is this comfy. Click here to check them out.
If you obsess over Ironman results like most triathletes do, you must check out the enhanced race results over at Slowtwitch.com. They give details that you’ve only dreamed about. See what place you were in after each leg of the race (including transitions and much more. Click here for a direct link to the results list. They go back pretty far in history.
We j
ust picked up a bunch of new UVEX sunglasses, included a few polarized styles. Check them out HERE.
If you dig around online, you may find special discount codes for Buyathlon through sites like 1001coupons.com. However, your best bet is to sign up for our special deals email list. Visit our home page at www.buyathlon.com and enter your email into the HOT DEALS ALERT box. You’ll get a deal from us once a week.
Workout recovery is something most of us could improve on. It doesn’t have to be a complicated matter. Eating well and staying hydrated will help quite a bit. Below is a link to a video that is short, yet very informative about the topic.
As mentioned on our facebook site, we’ve been testing the Finis SwimSense watch over the past few weeks. Our overall thoughts are “it is sweet.” Below are a few things that I (Alex) think makes it useful for swimmers.
- Lap counting: I don’t mind getting lost in lap count during longer sets. However, I would like to know what I ended up doing. You can look at history on the watch (but I haven’t figured that out yet) our look at the data after you plug it in to the SwimSense data dashboard. As it turned out, my 600 yard set the other day turned out to be 650. This is what I get for day dreaming during the swim.
- Stoke Count: SwimSense counts the number of strokes it takes for you to get through the pool for every length. You can look back and see where you became inefficient during your workout and work towards perfect form in the future.
- Swim Golf (SWOLF): If you’re not familiar with swim golf, it is simply the number of strokes it takes for you to cross the pool plus the time it took (15 strokes + 20 seconds = 35 for a SWOLF score). The idea, like golf if to lower your score. The SwimSense watch gives you a SWOLF score for every length of the pool.
- Ease of Use: The SwimSense was super easy to figure out. The manual is easy to understand and I had the majority of the functions locked in my brain in about 30 minutes.
NEGATIVES
There really are not any so far. If anything, I think the START/PAUSE button should be on the face of the watch, not on the side. It is a bit of a pain to squeeze the side of the watch when starting a new interval. This is far from a deal breaker and more of a convenience issue.
We have the SwimSense in stock. Check it out here.
Most of us here at Buyathlon.com use Garmin GPS watches exclusively for running. It is a fun toy to look back at historical information, including pacing data and mapping your previous runs. GPS tools can also help you figure out your training zones and help make you a better athlete.
This is a good link that gives an intro into running with your GPS watch. We really like DC Rainmaker for reviews on different GPS watches and other electronic devices for athletes. He’s very thorough and really knows his stuff.
We believe that cycling with a power meter is one of the best investments you can make for your cycling life. However, you must know how to use it. This means becoming a student of power training. Here are a few layman resources that will put you on the path to “rocking the power.”
1) Endurance Nation Webinar: This by far is the best education you can get for the triathlete. Not only is it super cheap, but you’re getting hours of education from the very basics to how to use at power meter in your training and racing. These guys know their stuff and dumb things down for those of us who do not want to be a sports physiologist.
2) Google Wattage Group: Here you will find like minded cyclists trying to make the best of their power training. This group not only contains “average Joe’s” like yourself, but also some of the brightest (and not so bright) cycling coaches. Get to know the members of this free board and take information with a grain of salt until you know the author is legit. Generally the posts are very informative.
3) Slowtwitch Forums: There are athletes that distance themselves from Slowtwitch forums due to the feisty nature of some community members. However, we love to dig through the posts and find the nuggets of information. There are lots of them if you look closely. Our link the their forums takes you to a search on “training with power.” You may also want to check out this search on these key words: “lifting ftp.”
These links are a great start if you’re just getting into power training. We will caution you though. Training with power is addicting and once you fall into its web you’ll never get out.
We enjoy reading the words of athletes who have excelled in triathlon. Here are a few blogs and threads that have some great info and will certainly inspire you to kick butt.
http://caughtontherun.blogspot.com/: Incredible cyclist. Big guy who is a top IM age group finisher.
http://spencerwoolston.blogspot.com/: Another incredible cyclist. Top IM age group guy.
This thread over at slowtwitch.com has been pretty inspiring too.
Any inspiring reads you think we should check out? Let us know.
YOU MUST BELIEVE YOU CAN GET TO KONA!
I think most athletes will be pleased with this change. According to the updated maps on the Ironman St. George website, the out and back on 1250 North will now be done twice. Not four times like last year. You’ll hit this stretch of short but steep climbs on the returning leg of each loop.
To make up the distance, the course will be extended to 900 East (on the far end) and the lap two turn around (lap two start) will be closer to T2 instead of the roundabout.
