As many people know, I’ve been really REALLY bitten by the running & triathlon bug. Help me win a pair of running shoes from Pearl Izumi. All you have to do is go to http://bit.ly/bcEPdA and click the “Thumbs Up” next to my name “Jason Wiener.”
I’d REALLY appreciate it!
Vote for Jason Wiener @ the Pearl Izumi "Respect the Run" Contest
Just pushed an update to Twiike (figured why not make an update the same time Twitter was doing theirs).
Enhancements in this release:
Please keep it coming with the suggestions. I received a ton today and would love to know how to keep making it better for users.
Over Thanksgiving, we went up to Tahoe to cook and chill with friends. Every time we go to South Lake, we stop in at the Pearl Izumi outlet to see what sort of wicked deals they have. For those of you living under a rock for the last 20 years, Pearl Izumi is probably (IMHO) the BEST gear for riding, running, training, living, etc that one can own. Their apparel is an excellent fit (assuming you take care of yourself) and will just about last forever if you take care of it.
During this trip, Lauren (the spunky manager of the store) pointed me toward a sweater in particular that had me drooling. Dubbed the Woolie Mammoth Long Sleeve Jersey. It’s simply something that you want to live in non-stop. Sporting two-toned ribbed (gotta love ribbed) Merino Wool, I’ve basically been wearing it non-stop since coming back Friday night. SO DAMN NICE!
Lauren has a bunch in stock and will ship anywhere you need for a $4 (yes I did say $4) flat-rate. Check out their site for more info and how to contact her. They regularly post deals as they get new shipments.
If you get a chance to roll in there, do so. She’s super nice and will set you up with killer gear…AND since it’s an outlet, you get away with sub-Amazon prices.
This year’s Bay to Breakers in SF, CA was a insane experience. Starting at 5am getting on Caltrain to the city, we we joinged about about 50 Santa Clara Univ students on the car who proceeded on polishing off agout 3 gallons of high-octane alcoholic prep for the race in the 1.25 hr ride. NON-STOP laughter as everyone from the students to the 35 yr old HP execs to the 50+ mom’s and dads took part in the fun. Off the train and to the race, was hilarious as well seeing the Playboy float that was made up of beds and kegs and a bevy of ladies. Even more fun times.
The actual race start took a little longer than expected walking at a snails pace for about 3 blocks (to the line) and then 2 blocks after the start. Got off to a good pace. Brooke, Scott, T and I all started weaving in and out of the walkers and started to get a decent pace going.
Hopped up onto the sidewalk at 2nd Street and WHAM! uneven surface caught me off guard which quickly followed by my ankle turning and hearing a very audible POP! (even T heard it from 10 feet back).
Stopped VERY abruptly as I could hardly stand and knew immediately that the race (and my F2000 hopes for Cleveland, the Glen and Mid-O) went away with the sound of my foot breaking. T managed to stop some float-bound peeps and got me some ice to compress it right away…Thank Goodness!
In the following 2 minutes another 4 people went down at the same spot 2 major ankle injuries (one girl’s ankle blew up to a grapefruit in less than 5 minutes ~eeeew~!) and a couple other went down onto their knees. Uggh!
The rest of the day was spent in the ER and then several malted beverages in local saloons. The official word: Right Proximal Fifth Metatarsal Fracture (at least it sounds cooler than it feels).
Saw a lot of cool stuff, but was really looking forward to the run. Alas…like the Cubbies…there’s always next year!
Have been doing karting leagues for the last couple weeks to get my mind back into the car in prep for the Summer races. OH boy….now, if you’ve seen me in the last couple years driving, I have think annoying tendency to stick my tongue out while I drive (reminiscent of the all-powerful #23 MJ — although not quite so talented 😉
Well, in the 3rd and final race of the evening, I was battling fatigue and a general crappy frame-of-mind as I ran the fun as all hell Monza circuit at GoKartRacer. Coming out of the last chicane onto the fast front-stretch I misjudged the final turn of the sector a WHAM!!!?!@!$%@?%@ ran into the anchor portion of the turn instead of the flexible end section. CRAP! the whole kart came to a sudden and very definite and abrupt halt. I bit into the protruding tongue, the right side back portion of the meat of the tongue and my left cheek. What a boneheaded move! Well at least nothing was bitten off!
Rule goin forward…No more mouth breathing with the tongue stickin out. Sheesh!
Today was the best run yet. Nearly broke 5mi in 45mins. The NikePlus gizmo for my iPod Nano is a Godsend. If you really want to get serious about training though, use it with a Polar Heart Monitor (I use the S625X). You don’t need the REALLY SUPERSIZED POLAR shoe pod, cuz the Nike+ attachment takes care of that. It’s better to watch your heartrate if you’re really gonna be banging out the distance.
For race training I do cardio for 45mins at 155-160 avg bpm (although i was at 146 today) and be in my VO2 max for the last 15 mins @ 172-177 bpm.
Having the NikePlus tracker with my iPod Nano is SUCH the way to train. Since I have super-flat feet, I can’t run in the Nike shoes made for the Nike+ dohickey. I’ve made a realy nice and basic velcro holder for it to go on top of my shoe. If anyone wants instructions on how to rig it, let me know (post a comment) and I can post the recipe. Mine’s a little nicer and more portable when compared to the others I’ve seen detailed.
JasonWiener 