VanderTri.com

OK....I admit it I love technology.  I can try and deny it but I can't.  I work for a technology company and I compete in a sport where everyone thinks techology will give them an edge.  Lighter shoes, power meters, carbon fiber bikes, deep dish carbon wheels, aero drink bottles, high tech fabric race suits, speedsuits for swimming, HR monitors, GPS gizmos and the list goes on.  I've bought most all of them.

Although lately I've tried to hold back on my technology purchases, aside from the fact I pretty much already own everything I've found that hard, smart training does more for you than any technology.  

However I did breakdown recently and purchase some new training technology.  A new watch...yep a watch...well a swim training watch.  Now how is this watch different from the literally 6 other watches that I have, well let me tell you.

This watch was created just for swimming.  It's really more of a swim computer than a watch (however it does tell time and I think it might have an alarm as well).  So what does it do.  

When you get ready to do a swim workout you simply hit start and swim, when you get done with your  interval (lets say 100 yards, it will allow you to set either yds or meters) you hit the start button again and it reads this as a pause (or rest) in the workout (you also need to do this when doing kick with the paddle board or breast stroke) and when you're ready to start your next interval you just hit start again.  Pretty cool huh?  Ahhh, now for the cool part.  The watch will capture how long your interval took (time split), number of lengths of the pool for the interval, yards or meters, your pace (pace/100), your average number of strokes per length and your efficiency (I haven't quite figured this one out yet).  Here's the crazy part it really works.

It uses an acelerometer to measure the strokes and that's about as far as I've gotten in understanding the technology but the damn thing is accurate.  I swam 4100 yds the other day, when I got done I went back to scroll through my intervals to log my workout and I found that it only logged 3800 yds.  Great it doesn't work, then I remembered I had done 200 yds of kick drills and 100 of breast stroke with the watch on pause (it doesn't count that yardage of the workout but does count the time in as part of the total time working out).  It really did work.  What I really love is the stroke count feature.  My average strokes per 25 yds is 9 strokes, no counting just swim.

I have only complaint is that it's very difficult to see the screen when swimming if you want to check splits in an interval (say your 100 split or 200 split in a 400), but I've found that most watches are difficult to see.  The other complaint is that when you finish your interval when you hit start to begin your rest period it doesn't display for a moment your lap split so getting real time splits is difficult. 

Otherwise it's totally cool.

I don't like change well at least when it comes to my running shoes.  For the past 18 years I've been in love with one shoe the Asics Kayano.  I've tried other shoes but usually I know within a couple runs whether or not a shoe is for me.  No this isn't going to be a story about me giving up my shoes because barefoot running is the magic pill that makes you faster, sorry I don't buy it.  I do believe that some barefoot running is a valuable part of training but I won't be the guy I say two weeks ago on my long run plodding along in complete bare feet in 40 degree weather, rain on a paved trail, c'mon really.  No this is about finding a great new shoe.

Last year I tried the KSwiss K Ona lightweight trainer as my long course triathlon race shoe (again after only racing in one shoe for years the Asics DS Trainer) and I immediately fell in love with the shoe.  After that I decided to try the KSwiss Mi Soul as an everyday training shoe and for me this was a miss it just didn't feel good so I've shyed away trying any other new shoes.  A couple weeks ago I was browsing the KSwiss site and decided to order a pair of the Konejo II and it was love at first run. 

The KSwiss shoes fit very much like Asics in fit (however they run bigger than Asics, I wear a 9.5 in Asics and 8.5 in KSwiss).  This shoe just feels great, a perfect mix of stability and cushioning.  It's got a little more cushioning than the Kayano which I like. 

I've only got 50 miles on this first pair so I don't know how they'll wear so we'll see how that goes.  I know within about 5 miles how many miles I can get out of a pair of the Kayano's.  The only complaint I have so far about the KSwiss in general is that for those of us that live in cool climate locations this shoe is very ventilated which makes them bordering on cold on cool days but that will be a blessing in those sizzling days of summer here in the Northwest.

I have to say KSwiss has made a huge splash with their running shoes in just a couple years and I'm definitely becoming a fan and may have a new shoe love.

I love surprises.  When I came home last night I found a big surprise box from GU on the front step.  My friends at GU rock!!!

Water bottles, visor, boxes of GU Chomps (Blueberry POM and Strawberry), GU gels (Blueberry POM, Jet Blackberry and Plain), GU Brew Electrolyte (Blueberry POM and Orange) and GU Brew Recovery (Pineapple Orange).  They totally set me up.  Having great nutrition and hydration is critical to getting the most of yourself in training and racing.

I'll share some of my secrets to hydration and nurtrition and the mistakes I've made along the way later this season so stay tuned.

Can't wait to race wearing that new visor this season!!!

I know, I know, where have I been.  Well to be frank I've been busy.  Busy with work, busy with life and well busy with work.  I have still bee working out and am now beginning to kick off my serious training for 2010.

Just to recap 2009 was going great until a bike crash at 110 miles.  This was followed by 6 weeks of recovery and then catching a cold which frankly turned into a some nasty virus that hung on until mid January. 

Finally things have turned.  I'm finally feeling like myself again and my training is reflecting that.  I have to admit I was beginning to wonder if I'd get back to that fit feeling well I'm there and frankly I really haven't started the serious stuff yet which has me feeling confident heading into the season.

So what's on the plan for 2010.  A couple half marathons to get the season started and test out my fitness.  My first race of the season will in Kona after a big training week at Ironman 70.3 Hawaii.  Then 3 weeks later I'll be hittig my "A" race at Ironman Coeur d'Alene.  After that I'm considering a trip east to Whirpool Steelhead 70.3 in Michigan, Beaver Lake Sprint and the Grand Columbian Half Iron and with a little luck and hard training a return trip to Kona in October. 

For the time being however it's just one workout at a time.