Training Tunes in the Pool

For years, swimmers have been relegated to swimming in silence, without music to fuel their workouts. Well, Pool Jockeys rejoice! Finis Inc has released a new MP3 player that uses bone conduction technology to give you crystal clear music underwater. The "speakers" clip onto your goggles and send the music through your cheek bone, to your ear drum. It sounds painful if you ask me, but apparently it's not....and it delivers the best quality sound in the water...whereas normal speakers just sound muffled and quiet.


The MP3 player holds 256 MB of music (about 60 songs) and can last 10 hours on one charge. It retails for $150 and you can get more information from Finis at http://www.finisinc.com/Technology/swimp3_technology.aspx

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Recon

heading to falls lake to check in, ride the course and get in the water.

Carry on,

-E Click Here for Full Post

Swimming

Clearly the most hated part of most folks triathlon training.

Why? For me its the sheer boredom of the black line...and the fact that I am the most hungry after a swim session is over.

Anyone else?

Just for the record I did swim during the lunch hour, even though I totally did not want to be there. Click Here for Full Post

Death in Triathlon

Not good news...well really not good news if you are a male between the ages of 35 and 55 who happens to not be the best swimmer out there.

Anyone know someone fitting that description?

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/booster_shots/2009/03/triathlons-and-marathons-are-amazing-fitness-feats-of-fitness-but-neither-one-is-without-risks-dehydration-exhaustion-bro.html

-E Click Here for Full Post

"We Love Adversity"

Sandwiched between the long course duathlon in Cary last weekend, and the Knoxville half-marathon this weekend, this was a challenging week for Team P-11. Not only did we have to deal with training in inclement weather, but we suffered our first injury of the season. Here's the backstory.

I am taking a swim class at the gym and was sharing a lane with a more experienced swimmer who was doing flip turns. In the middle of a drill, she flipped into my head, puncturing my left ear drum. I tried to swim on, thinking I just got my bell rung and could swim through it. Alas, it got worse instead of better. Therefore, as much as it pains me to admit, I sought medical treatment at the ER. Doctor verified a punctured ear drum and advised no swimming until cleared by and Ear, Nose, and Throat doc, which I will see on Monday. Suspect I'll be out of the pool for a few days and will probably be a couple of months before I can hear again. No worries, I couldn't hear that well to begin with. Biggest worry is that I can ill afford to miss any swim sessions, as I'm staring at two tri's in the next 5 weeks with a mile swim leg each. I'll have to resort to survival swimming techniques taught during plebe year at West Point to get through them.

When Eric and I were discussing the setback, he says "we love adversity". While its a nuisance to ride or run in the rain, or play through a minor injury, these adversities are nothing compared to what cancer patients deal with. That's why we're doing this - to raise money and awareness for the Lance Armstrong Foundation in order to help cancer patients fight the disease and Live Strong, just like Tim did for 11 years.

Push yourselves hard this weekend. Relish the adversity and remember, there are folks out there who aren't just practicing how to deal with pain, they're in the middle of a fight for the lives. Beat Navy. Out.
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Create a Caption

I was just browsing through some old photo's of previous races and found this one. I am going to turn it over you to write a caption for it.

I can tell you what I was thinking. When we woke up in the hotel that morning the radio was playing, The Fray's Over my Head. Not the most motivating song to have playing over and over again for the next 5 hours as your are racing a half ironman. A race that tore you up the year before. For our readers not familiar with this song, Jackie, check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpiEEl_5pmA

Everyone has doubts at the start line, start of anything, beginning of a presentation, etc...if you are not the least bit nervous, then you are not trying. Clearly the only reason we take on challenges that are bigger, larger than we are is to simply prove to ourselves and everyone else that we are not in over our heads. It was pretty awesome crossing the finish line that day with the song rattling between my ears, "with 8 seconds left in overtime...everyone knows, everyone knows I am in over my head, over my head, over my head...." and you cross the finish line. Kiss and hug Gina, thank god for the opportunity, and ask Gina if dad had called yet. He always had the stop watch running at home to keep tabs on me.

Anyone want to take a crack at giving the picture a caption.
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