Half Ironman Item Checklist

I started a list of all the items I will need for my 70.3. 

Do you see anything I am missing (other than the kitchen sink)?

What is the strangest item you bring to a race and why?

Basics

• Tri Shirt
• Tri Shorts
• Socks
• Spare Socks

Swim

• Goggles

Bike

• Helmet
• Cycling Shoes
• Computer
• Water  Bottles
• Sun Glasses
• Gloves
• Tire Pump
• Spare Levers
• Tire Rods
• CO2
• Dollar Bill (great for temporary repair of tire tear)

Running

• Running Shoes
• Running Belt
• Bandaids
• Hat
• Running Watch
• Chamois Cream Sample (great for preventing a blister if they start)

Misc

• Cycling Computer Charger
• Running Computer Charger
• Energy Gels
• Water Additive (Gatoraid, Heed, etc)
• Sun screen
• Hole Punch (cool idea I picked up from another site)
• USAT Card
• Drivers License
• Towel
• Advil
• Flash Light

Race Related

• Swim Cap
• Bike Number
• Running Number

Taken Back Tuesday - Rerun What's Happening

I know you would never believe this but for years I use to dance 5 nights a week.  I use to even teach dance.  I was pretty darn good at East Coast, West Coast swing, waltz, cha-cha, etc.  From about age 15 till about age 22 I spend 5 nights a week in dance clubs.  When I was younger I knew enough people that I use to get into clubs even though I was underage.  There was always a group of dancers they like at their clubs because it got people on the flood and drinking.  They knew I would not drink so there were no issues.  My friend Heather and I even won 3rd place in my high school talent show.  I still have that on VHS somewhere.  Maybe one day I will convert it to digital and have proof.  :-)  I secretly taught my cowboy friend and his fiancé how to dance so they could surprise everyone at their wedding.  If I can teach a cowpoke how to dance I have to be doing something right. 

Someday soon I will need to get my dancing shoes back on and drag Bonnie back to the bar to dance.  We use to do that all the time.  Now we are getting too old and staying out past our bedtime of 9:00 pm is hard. 

PS: I do not care who you are but ReRun was a bad butt!!

The Final Countdown - Just about 2 weeks away

The big race is only about 2 weeks away. 

The Swim

I've had to breast stroke for years due to a high school shoulder injury.  Breast stroke was never an issue until I wanted to do long triathlons.  Doing this stroke the whole race would burn my legs out. 

Over the past couple of months I have taught myself how to freestyle.  The freestyle is coming along nicely.  I really need a swim coach but they cost way too much.  I can do the distance but my speed is nothing but average.  I should be fine here but I do not expect my time to be great.

If anyone has some great freestyle swim links please share them with me.  I particularly need help with the “pull” phase.

The Bike

My biking is coming along great.  56 miles on the bike is cake work for me now.  I’ve been riding with several B groups in my area and holding about a 20-22 mph average pace with sprints up to about 28mph.  I should be fine on the bike.  I will be happy when I finally get to jump on the bike.

The Run

Here is where I will tank.  The weather right now in FL is god awful hot.  Yesterday I “ran” 6 miles in mid 90’s heat.  It was harder then heck.  I do NOT run well running in such heat.  Unfortunately, the races run will be in the FL midday heat.  I think the temps will be in the 90’s with the humidity of a tropical rain forest.

Throwback Thursday – Voltron PJs

Throwback Thursday – Voltron PJs

Peter and I are opening our Christmas gifts.  He is sporting the cool skeleton PJs and I have on my bad butt Voltron PJs.  He is showing off his new fishing leaders.  Back then he and I fished in the back yard every day.  If we were not fishing, we were playing sports in the circle or playing Nintendo (usually Zelda, Mike Tyson’s Punchout or some other cool 8-bit game).  

TRiBug Triathlon Appearal and Gear (Swin,Bike, Run)

TRiBug Store Review
Triathlon Appearal and Gear (Swin,Bike, Run)

IMAGE SOURCE

In the world of online ordering you never know the quality of service or product you will receive.  I am always a little leery about ordering from store I have never dealt with before.  When I find a company that goes above and beyond I like to inform others about them.  One such company is TRIBug.

The other day I got a bug to order a new triathlon bag to organize my tri mess going on in my room.  I tried to order the bag directly from the manufacturer’s website but the wanted to change me $20 s/h and I could not get any type of discount. 

So I search the internet and found a company called TRIBug that was selling the same bag.  I quickly contacted them via email to see if they had the bag in stock and within ONLY A FEW MINUTES they emailed be back saying they had several still in stock.  I was quickly impressed by the speed of the response and the great customer service.

I then saw they give FREE ground shipping on all orders over $95.  Cool beans!!  I just saved $20 by not ordering from the manufacturer.  I then did a quick search and found a 10% off coupon.  I contacted the company (via email) and asked if I could use the 10% coupon and the FREE shipping.  Within minutes I got a response saying no problem.  Double cool!! 

As soon as the order was placed I got a personal email from the owners saying thank you for the order and they would let me know when the item was shipped.  Throughout the process I got updates as to where my order was in the process and the tracking number.  The shipping from IL to FL was lighting fast. 

Yesterday I received an email asking me if I received the item and was I satisfied with everything.  They also asked if I could leave feedback on their site.  I said I was so satisfied that I would write a blog about the great experience I had with them.  I soon got an email back with from them thanking me.  I asked if they would be interested in offering my followers a personalized promotion code (I always look out for my peeps :-)  ).  They said no problem.

TRIBug is one online store that I highly recommend.  They have great customer service and products.  They are extremely quick to response to inquiries and orders are delivered lighting fast.  There owners (Max and Konstaintin) are runners and triathletes so they are highly knowledgeable.  You can view their completed races at the bottom the the page here. It is nice to know I am supporting fellow athletes.  Maybe one day I will meet up with them at a future race.

So if you need any new swimming, biking or running toys I would highly recommend ordering from TRIbug.  And to sweeten the deal I have a 15% Mr HalfTRIing discount that my peeps can use when ordering.  Just enter HalfTRIing during your checkout process.

PS - I have no relation to TRIBug.  I am just a happy customer who wants others to know about my great experience with them..

TRIBug Discount Promo Coupon Code * 15%: HalfTRIing

Quick Update

SOURCE

This weekend I went camping with some friends.  We were in southern Alabama.  In the middle of Friday night I was awoke by people yelling to get out of the tent because the city's tornado warning sirens were going off. It was strange hearing a city warning siren.  I thought these were all taken down after WWII.  I was so tired that I said I would die were I was sleeping.  The nearest “safe” area was a barn about ½ away. Luckily were not hit by any tornados but many were not. AccuWeather.com reporting there were “241 tornado reports in 14 states over the three-day period. This will likely rank this tornado outbreak among the largest in history”.

This weekend’s training consisted of a ton of hiking with heavy equipment.  There were many 12oz bottle bicep curls and virtually no sleep. 

My big race is almost exactly one month away.  I’m starting to get excited.  I am also getting nervous because FL is REALLY starting to heat up.  I am guessing the race temperature will be in the mid 90s with the humidity of a tropical rain forest.

I also got my Rocket Science Rocket bag last week but I have not time to check it out yet.  I will post a review of the bag here soon.

Chad at Chad's Triatlon Blog wife Crystal is doing a charity triathlon to raise money for cancer research.  Click here to donate to the cause. 

What did you do over the weekend?  How is your training going?  What are you training for?  Please post a comment.  I love hearing from everyone.

!!100 Followers!!

Holy cow!! I have over 100 followers and I got there without having any giveaways that required people to follow me.   That means there are 100 people in the world who have the same sense of humor as me and ay too much spare time :-)  Thank you all for your time.

My Half Ironman is coming up next month and I am training like a madman.  Thus, the reason for lack of postings. I’ve lost almost 25lbs in 3.5 months.  My legs have become twigs.  :-(

16th Annual Croom Fools Run

16th Annual Croom Fools Run

SOURCE

See last year's race review here. 

So what did I do this weekend?  Well I did my first marathon and ultra.  I was scheduled to run 16 miles but had a change of plans. 

At the beginning of the run several people (about 45) of us took the “scenic route.”  We then got back onto the trail and took another “scenic route”.  We were really lost and I started to wonder how we were going to survive living off GUs and water. 

By the time I got back onto proper trail we added about 1.5 miles.  Just after getting back onto the route I heard Bonnie talking.  This must have been a sign I needed to run with her so I decided to run the entire race with her and her friend.

Bonnie and I

At the 16 mile mark I felt pretty darn good and I figured Bonnie would really like the company on her first 50K (30 mile) run so I said I would finish the race with her.  She seemed pretty excited and I think I won some brownie points :-).

I'm the hot guy on the left!

Needless to say the second loop was very hard but the two of us made it through the pain, suffering and temperatures in the low 90s to cross the finish line.  I finished the race with about 31.25 miles under my belt. 

This race is great and I highly recommend it.  Grade A+!!

The Team Donkey crew was awesome!

The race support is great.  Each rest stop is loaded with food, candy, heed, water, etc.  The staffs at the rest stops treat you like royalty.  They even grab your water pack and fill it up for you. 

At the end of the race the grill is fired up and you have a small buffet of food awaiting you.  There were cheeseburgers, hotdogs, veggie burgers, pasta salad, vegetables, ziti with marinara sauce and lots of cookies, cakes, etc. 

Yummy!!

The course is very challenging and whoever designed it was a sadist.  The start of the course has about 1 mile of Florida sugar sand.  The last 6 mile is nothing but hills.  Some hills are at 45 degrees with sugar sand.  Even many of the best runners had to walk up and down.  My quads were (and still are) on fire.  Then you get to do that torture loop again for the 30K.  Even more times for the 50 mile course.

Again, I'm the hot dude on the left.

I had a great time and I am proud of Bonnie’s accomplishment.  It was nice running a race with her for once.

Hills!!

I'm on the top of the hill.  Bonnie is on the bottom left in the pink shirt.

PS: I would like to thank Rick (Bonnie’s friend’s husband) for being our “race crew.”  He brought us food, water, cookies, replacement running pants, beer, etc.  He is a great guy and I wanted to say thank him again.
For some reason no great ultra race review is complete till you get a picture of your feet.  So here are mine.  I love the dirt line.  My socks are ruined.

This will pull some wierd google searches

Triathlon Bags

Currently, my triathlon sports gear is all over the place.  It’s a disorganized mess.  When I go to events I use my sporty (and stylish) green $1 grocery bag.  It is not a pretty site but it is cheap and does the job.  The $1 grocery bag also fold up flat and takes up no space in the transition area.

Sporty, stylish and compact
(Image Source)

My Half Ironman is coming up in about a month and I wanted something better than my grocery bag.  Something a little more organized and more professional looking.  I did some research and it seems like Rocket Science Sports makes some of the best tri bags around.  But their prices are MUCH higher than my $1 green bag. 

So here are my questions to you.  What do you use during events to store/transport all your stuff?  What do you recommend?  Do you use a tri bag?  If so which one and do you like it? Where do you put the darn thing when you are done?  Is it worth buying a Rocket Science bag or use my $1 grocery bag?

New Products

GU DermaCharge Topical Gel

SOURCE

GU describes it as "DermaCharge is Gu Energy's first product in the small but growing market for Transdermal Topical Electrolyte and Energy Infusion Gels. One recent laboratory athlete noted "It's the next greatest thing since the original Energy Gel - getting your electrolytes and calories through osmosis is great - I don't have to worry about digestion or drinking - I just apply it and hit the gas!" (SOURCE)

Google Motion

SOURCE

This is a a new way to communicate. The mouse and keyboard were invented before the Internet even existed. Since then, countless technological advancements have allowed for much more efficient human computer interaction. Why then do we continue to use outdated technology? Introducing Gmail Motion -- now you can control Gmail with your body. (SOURCE)