Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Think of kids with development issues when handing out candy this Halloween!

With Halloween coming up, it might be easy to forget that developmentally challenged kids may not understand the whole trick-or-treat process.


Our son has been really slow to develop his speech and fine motor skills with what he went through early life.  This will be his first Halloween where he is able to really participate and knows what is going on to an extent.  He didn't understand the process of going to the door and saying "trick or treat" and getting candy in the past.  He now knows all about candy and I'm sure will be intent on getting as much as possible.  So, we are hoping for a fun and lucrative outing tomorrow night.  But, his speech is a little hard to understand and I'm sure it will take a few trial-and-errors to get the process down.

I just saw Love From The Oven post this, and had to share as it really relates to our son:

"In a few days, lots of little ones will visit your door. Please be open minded and accepting. The child who is grabbing more than one piece of candy may have poor fine motor skills. The child who takes forever to pick a piece of candy may have motor planning issues. The child who does not say trick or treat or thank you may be non-verbal or have apraxia of speech. The child who looks disappointed when they see your candy bowl may have a life threatening food allergy. The child not wearing a costume may have sensory processing disorder. Be kind, be patient and give a smile. It can make an incredible difference to a child with special needs. And their families. Thank you!"

So, when you're handing out candy or run into a little one pushing his way to the front of a group of kids, have some grace and patience that they are learning and above all else, just have a good attitude and have fun!

Spider Girl and MIKE WAZOWSKI!

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

My Athlete Live athlete tracker review

How do you keep your loved ones informed where you are on those long rides and runs? It’s a simple matter of safety that you’re not out there for hours on end and no one knows where you are. There are several devices and methods to keep track of where you are, so there’s no excuse.

There might be issues of carrying a phone, where to put it, having a smartphone that will work with an app and many more practical issues. There’s also the scenario where the tracker apps on smartphones kill batteries and drain them within a few hours while the GPS tracking is enabled.

Lets also not forget that on race day, many races do not allow cell phones on the course. How is your support crew and sherpas going to find you throughout the day over 140.6 miles of triathlon course? Lost on Donner pass at Lake Tahoe climbing at 3 mph? Need a boost to see your kiddos screaming and holding motivational signs reading “GO MOMMY GO” and “YOU CAN DO THIS” and of course, “140.6, Because 140.7 would be crazy”? Well, they won’t be finding you very easily with thousands of spectators and racers over hundreds of miles.

What’s an Ironman in training and racing to do?

Some companies have come up with an effective solution for tracking athletes that’s no bigger than 4 AA batteries strapped together. A lot of them utilize existing cell phone services and towers to triangulate your position and relay that information from the GPS tracking unit to their website and phone apps for your fans to follow you.

My Athlete (www.myathletelive.com) is such a service. Their My Athlete Live tracker can be worn for a race or training and anyone with your tracker site information can log on and follow you along. It’s a legitimate solution to an age old triathlete problem. We tested them out for Ironman Lake Tahoe and below is our report of the experience.



Packaging / Shelf Appeal / Marketing

At the moment, My Athlete is not selling the units out right and they are not available on store shelves. You will have to contact them and order the unit on a monthly or event basis. So, there’s no real need for glitz and glamor packaging to sell them in the mainstream.

When you do receive your tracker, you get the tracker, race belt with belt clip, seperate clip to use on a waistband, charger, instructions and a pre-paid addressed USPS package envelope to return the unit back to My Athlete. Straight forward and covers the bases. My Athlete is on Facebook and they have a pretty beefy website with cool and snazzy graphics. The site isn’t going to win any marketing awards, but it gets the job done. They invested their resources on the back end to get the data from the tracker to a usable format to viewers online and on smart phones. If it doesn’t work, you can polish a turd all you want and you know what you will get, a polished turd. There is no turd with My Athlete. There’s also not as much shine with the marketing and look of their website, but their product works, and that’s what matters most.

Form / Construction

When you get the tracker device, it’s a rectangle around 2 inches by 1 inch by 1 inch (very roughly). It’s solid and all of the connection ports have protective rubberized covers that fit snugly into the ports to protect them. The covers are flush, for the most part, with the tracker device, so there is nothing to snag on or catch on clothing. It looks like it could take a few drops and be fine… or even a large drop. But, we weren’t interested in destructive testing, so we played nice with the My Athlete tracker.

It was surprising that My Athlete created race belts branded with their logo and name for the belt clip for athletes to use. It works well for those that use a race belt as My Athlete’s belt had the clips for a bib. In essence it was like racing with your regular race belt with the only addition being the pouch and tracker device on the belt.

They also sent a belt clip for an option aside from the race belt. The clip appeared to be pretty sturdy and wasn’t some flimsy piece of plastic that would snap at the first sign of distress. We didn’t end up using the clip, but we would not have hesitated if we needed it.

The only real issue is water proofing. The device is not made to withstand swimming or being submerged. It requires an extra step of making sure it’s on your person and turned on after the swim, but after that you can forget about it. But, as most triathletes know by now, GPS devices are not very good in water anyways since being submerged cuts off GPS signals and makes tracking pretty pointless anyways. It might have worked in a swim cap, but we didn’t want to take any chances getting it wet.

Fashion / Appearance

As mentioned above, the device is small and discrete. It can easily fit in a jersey pocket or on a belt with the clip. It’s not as huge as a smartphone that you would bring along for GPS apps. Don’t let this detour from taking your phone, as it’s always smart to bring your phone for emergencies.

Basically you can wear it on your person and no one would be the wiser that you’re being tracked. Even with the race belt option, it blends right in as if you were wearing your regular race belt for riding and running.

The My Athlete logos and graphics that come on the race belt and devices and reading material is attractive and won’t make you want to hide it from your friends. Unlike a wart on the end of your nose, if someone sees it, they won’t shudder or avoid looking you in the face.

Fit / Function

Here’s where the rubber meets the road. If it doesn’t work, My Athlete is out of a job.

We used our My Athlete tracker before the race in training and during Ironman Lake Tahoe. We were in Kansas City and then flew out to California for the race, so we used the tracker on runs and rides in two distant locations.






The directions to turn on the tracker and assure that it’s up and running were not exactly as coherent as we had hoped. They send a printed instruction page and they have instructions listed on their web site, however they weren’t uniform from one to the other. We also received an email from the group closer to the event day with additional instructions. The flow and feeling of cohesiveness from one instruction medium to the next was a little jagged and rough. It felt as if one had information that the other did not.

Also, before your event launches on race day, the tracking page you are directed to is more of a back-end part of the site that you get closer to raw data information. You can select days and activities, but don’t expect the same information as you would find on your activity tracking for your Garmin or Timex trainer. It serves the purpose they advertise, which is real time tracking. They do warn that the data obtained from their site isn’t really meant for training analysis.

The actual tracker is sometimes a little difficult to figure out which lights should be blinking when. There’s a power light, reception light and a few others that escape us. Depending on how long you hold the power button or other buttons, different lights will flash in different manners. We found ourselves repeatedly having to refer to the instructions to decipher what the lights were telling us. What exacerbated our situation was getting our hands on the tracker a day before we traveled to the race. So, we didn’t get as much time playing with it at home as we would have liked and limited cell phone reception and no internet access at our race lodging site caused issues trying to get used to the tracker before the race. That’s just a product of My Athlete having a finite amount of trackers going around the US and other locations and they send them when they get them. It’s just kind of the way it is, and it’s not really something they can control.

That being said, we had a hard time remembering to turn the device off as they lights didn’t always flash when we thought the device was on. We weren’t sure when it was on, off or out of battery. We could not check the device on the web or phone due to our location and lodging issues with connectivity. We were going on blind faith that we charged it correctly and it was running.

Come race day, we charged it all night and turned it on and placed it on our bike for T1. Since the device cannot get wet, we could not wear it on the swim and didn’t want to leave it overnight in our T1 bag at the race site in freezing temps and rain. My Athlete starts the timer at 7am and it’s not going to be accurate in actual race time since it does not record you on your swim. When starting the unit, we could not get a verification that it was on as no lights would blink. As a racer, it wasn’t clear if it was working, but we proceeded like it was. You have to go through the race on faith that you turned it on correctly and it’s sending info to your followers on phones and online.

One item to note is that My Athlete uses phone networks to get your location. If you are in wooded areas like Lake Tahoe, you could lose signal and updates may not be as accurate as in other locations. That’s not really something in anyone’s control, so it is what it is.

While racing, we are happy to report that indeed the tracker was on and working. Friends and family at home were able to track us during the race and see where we were at. At times, the signal was dropped, but from T1 to T2, watchers followed along.

Unfortunately in brain fart moment, the tracker was left in the T2 bag after changing for the run and the run information was not captured. We recovered it from the bag to mail back after the race, but friend and family had to go to the Ironman tracker page to keep track of the run portion.

Afterwards, we could check out our user page on My Athlete Live to see the route and tracking points and other various information.

Had we had a week or two more to get comfortable with the tracker, it might have instilled more confidence in us that the tracker was on and transmitting, but have faith as it did work.

Cost

When looking at the costs of renting the My Athlete, you have to remember that these are not for sale and you will indeed be renting them. They have set it up for events, a small time period or a monthly rate if you wish to use one indefinitely.

  • 1 Weekend = $29.95
  • 1 Week = $59.95
  • 2 Weeks = $89.95
  • Monthly = $119.95
Yes, $120 a month for a tracking app is a little pricey. When you can download a $1 or free app to track you by GPS while you train, then it becomes a matter of preference. If you have that kind of cash to dole out, the sky’s the limit.

The real value of the My Athlete is during a race. It loads the course, details where you are at, how far you have to go, almost instantaneous updates and transmits to the web and smartphone apps. Your race sherpa can follow you within a few minutes and find your exact location on the course and your fans at home sipping on their hot toddies while you suffer can follow you along vicariously on the web. That’s worth $30 for a race weekend, shipping included.

Final thoughts

My Athlete is a great step forward for long course endurance athletes. Rather than lugging around a smartphone, you could carry the tracker device in your pocket and your friends and family can track you from their computer. You can also be tracked real-time during a race which pays dividends for spectators and supporters at the event. Even those at home can get a better idea of where you are instead of depending on the timing mats provided at the races. No longer is your spouse waiting in an hour window hoping you are still running at the pace you predicted. They can check their phone and know within seconds of where you are to get that sign and inspirational yelling ready.

The downside is that My Athlete is more for a race setting than training. The site only sets up your tracking page for races, but you would need to distribute the backdoor page web address to friends and family for tracking beyond race day. It’s possible to keep tabs, but a little more cumbersome.

It also can be a safety concern to think you are ok with just the tracker, but if you get stranded or injured, if you leave the phone at home thinking you are ok with the tracker, you may delay getting help sooner. Don’t forget to properly communicate your whereabouts and plans before a long workout thinking you are covered with just the My Athlete Tracker. It’s a good addition to your long day training gear, and a great source for race day tracking.

Disclaimer

* Writer's note - My Athlete provided the tracker device and return arrangements for this review at no cost and did not influence this review.

Monday, October 28, 2013

2014 Ironman Chattanooga triathlon training t-shirt for charity.

So, I've put my creative genius to work and here's a shirt...

I wanted to make a shirt for the event to capture the spirit of Ironman and to also give back to the www.Tri4aHandUp.com charities.  That's where I came up with this:



The www.140PointSix.com is my brainchild... and the spirit behind the shirt.  It's more of a frame of mind for Ironman triathletes that are obsessed with the event and distance.  Ask my wife... it's for those that "get it" why we do this to ourselves over and over.  It's not really normal, but for the crazies, it's a way of life.  Ps - the website will have more to it as time goes on.

I heard about Booster from a fellow IM racer training for Texas.  She's raising funds also for charity and you can read more about her efforts on her Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/youareanironman

So, the skinny is the site is run by Booster.com which is a CustomInk.com run site.  We have to have a pre-order of at least 20 shirts by 11/25/13.  If we do not make it, the orders are refunded and the shirts are not printed.  If we get over 20, the shirts will be printed by the end date and everyone is happy!

Spread the word.  Like and share the site on Facebook, twitter, wherever!

https://www.booster.com/tri4ahandup

Thanks!

Thursday, October 24, 2013

October and November 2013 upcoming Kansas City running races

October 26 @ 7 pm
City Market, Kansas City, MO
   
Wear a costume and join the spooky holiday fun at the Monster Dash 5K with a flat, fast course winding through City Market. The 5K will be followed by the Lil' Monsters Fun Run for kids ages 8 and under. Participants in the 5K will receive a shirt, a large decorative finisher's medal, and have a great chance at a PR! Awards will be given to the top overall, masters, top three in each age group, top individual costume, and top group costume. The Monster Dash 5K benefits Newhouse in Kansas City whose mission is to break the cycle of domestic violence by providing the tools which allow women to make positive choices and lead self-sufficient lives. 

  November Races

November 2 @ 9 am
Shoal Creek Living History Museum in Hodge Park, Kansas City, MO
Runners and walkers are welcome to participate in this challenging cross country race through the Shoal Creek Living History Museum - a village of 17 authentic 19th century buildings in Hodge Park. Participants and spectators are welcome to enjoy the museum on race day. 
   
November 2 @ 9 am
Cure' of Ars, Leawood, KS
Be a part of this 4th annual run and help raise funds for the Cure' of Ars Parish. The course starts at Cure' of Ars and will take you through beautiful, old Leawood. After the run, enjoy a free pancake breakfast! Awards will be given to top runners in addition to the best team theme/costume, largest family/group, and best spirit!   
November 3 @ 8:30 am
Blue Valley Recreation Complex
Overland Park, KS
Participants can run or walk this flat, fast, and beautiful course and will receive a long sleeve shirt. OVERRUN is dedicated to researching ovarian cancer and creating an early-detection test. All funds raised directly benefit ovarian cancer research at the University of Kansas Cancer Center.
November 3 @ 8 am
Liberty Memorial, Kansas City, MO
Participate in the Lung Hill 5K run/walk and help bring awareness and help find a cure for lung cancer as well as help reduce the stigma of lung cancer. All participants will receive a long sleeve t-shirt. Runners and walkers of any level are welcome! A .5 mile course will also be available.
November 9 @ 8 am
KU Edwards Campus, Overland Park, KS
This event offers 10K and 5K courses. Proceeds from We Can Hear You Now go to the research, diagnosis, and treatment for deaf and hard-of-hearing children. All participants will receive a medal and post-race refreshments! In addition to the 10K and 5K, there will be a free Kid's Run.

November 10 @ 8 am
Corporate Woods, Overland Park, KS
Be a part of the first Seize the Day 5K Run/Walk - the course will take you through beautiful Corporate Woods. Bring your family and friends out to the event to help raise awareness and funds to find a cure for epilepsy. There will be food, entertainment, and more after the race!

November 16 @ 9 am
Truman Sports Complex, Kansas City, MO
The Girls on the Run 5K is expected to be a large event! As a participant, you will receive a long sleeve shirt. The event benefits Girls on the Run which is a non-profit program for girls in the 3rd-8th grade whose mission is to inspire girls to be joyful, healthy and confident using a fun, experience-based curriculum which creatively integrates running. 

November 17 @ 9 am 
4800 Rockhill Rd, Kansas City, MO
This 5K is a benefit for the JayDoc Free Clinic - a student-run, free safety net clinic. All proceeds of the race will support the operation costs of providing a free dental clinic for Kansas City metropolitan residents one night a week. Top overall male and female finishers will win a new pair of running shoes.

November 23 @ 7:30 pm 
Zona Rosa, Kansas City, MO
The Kettle Run 5K is a fun, family-friendly run/walk event with a course taking participants through Zona Rosa. Funds from this event will provide food, rent assistance, utility assistance, and other services to meet daily needs of those in the Northland Kansas City. 
  
November 28 @ 9 am 
Pilgrim Chapel, Kansas City, MO
Enjoy this picturesque 5K course through the Hyde Park neighborhood on Thanksgiving morning! Participants will receive a long sleeve shirt. The event benefits Uplifting Westport whose mission is to build strong, family-friendly urban neighborhoods by providing fun, safe, educational activities that support family and community gatherings.

November 28 @ 9 am 
Sprint Campus, Overland Park, KS
Start your Thanksgiving Day at the 24th Annual Thanksgiving Day 5K Run and Family Stroll through the Sprint Campus.  Kids can run in the Tom Murphy Fun Run. The event benefits the Kansas City Sports Commission & Foundation and WIN for KC. By participating you will also be part of a country-wide attempt to set a world record for the most participants running in multi-venues on the same day! 

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

What's a day in the life of a CHD kid and family look like?

As you all know, I'm racing Ironman Chattanooga 2014...

It's housed at www.Tri4aHandUp.com and includes funds for Ride to Give and Mended Little Hearts.  Why did I pick these charities?  Well, for one, they both work for kids in need.  Ride to Give is out getting donations a little bit at a time for sick or handicapped children than need travel expeneses related to illnesses paid for, full time parental care, a fence or a van to transport a child and their medical neccessities.

Mended Little Hearts touches me personally as a way to assist parents of children with congenital heart defects.  Our son was born with pulmonary hypertension, and we were blessed and/or lucky that he was successfully treated without the need for surgery for that particular issue.  He has had several complications that came along with the CHD issues and endured many surgeries, dr appointments and therapy sessions as a result.  The one idea that I cling to was that he was less than a year old for a lot of the surgeries, and while very dangerous for a newborn, hopefully he has no memory of all the surgeries and hospital stays.  They were anguishing enough for us, I can only imagine how he would have held up if he was cognitively developed at that time.

I'd thought I'd share a day in our life that included some therapy and how we have dealt with developmental issues he has faced.

Monday was an appointment at a local children's hospital clinic where they have assessed him and his developmental shortcomings.  We are now at the point where they can work with us and observe him and show us methods to help him learn to function better.

Don't be confused, he walks, he talks (sort of) and he eats.  Many kids with his initial CHD condition do not fare so well.  He is highly developed compared to others that have not made it through the woods, but he's behind in a lot of categories when it comes to kids his age.  Without intervention, he would not be ready for kindergarten when he is age eligiable, and by that time, the precious years of brain development would have passed us by.  From multiple stints under anesthesia, staying in hospitals and the need for extra love and coddling, our son has lost precious moments to develop like a normal child would.

But, we are trying to stay on top of it, and with my flexible work schedule, I was able to get him in for this appointment.

It was an hour, and we worked on food aversions developed from choking while eating at a younger age.  We worked on following verbal instructions.  We worked on color recognition.  We worked on redirecting when he gets frustrated and cannot verbalize what he wants or when we cannot understand him.

It's not glitz and glamor, but he has blossomed so much with being in preschool and the developmental program there and at our local kid's hospital.  It's been a blessing to be with him and help him like I have been able to.  Before last March, when I was in a full-time salaried office job, I could not make it to nearly the same appointments I can now.  It's been a great bonding experience for us.  It's bridged the gap when I was working and my wife was with him every moment when he was in need as a newborn.  Sure, I took long lunches and went after work, but it's just not the same.  When your son wants mom when he's hurting, you can't deny him.  It's nice to have that feeling of helping your son and building that father-son bond.

It's also funny and endearing when he knows it and is already abusing the relationship.  But, don't be fooled, he's still a mama's boy.  =)



How can you help?

You can donate to the Fundrazr page, or you can utilize partner deals specifically set up for the Tri4AHandUp charities.  The list is HERE.

A special right now is for Xterra Wetsuits.

XTERRA Wetsuits is finally discounting the fastest, most buoyant wetsuit in existence, the Vendetta Sleeveless. Regularly $500, the Vendetta Sleeveless price has been cut in half and will be available for the all-time low price of $249 for a very limited time.

In addition, they will be selling the Velocity-M Speedsuit at a discounted price of $129 (regularly $350). If you haven't already heard, the Velocity-M Speedsuit had the fastest swim time at the Kona World Championships in both 2012 and 2013.

Use code "C-SETTHEPACE" for the discount at Xterra Wetsuits. 7 percent goes to Tri4aHandUp charities!

Sale Ends October 29th, 2013!


Tuesday, October 22, 2013

2013 KANSAS CITY MARATHON RECAP - 10/19/13

I need to get better organized with my approach to marathons...


"You've done been shrunk, tiny bladder!"

Oh ya... my bladder is way too small.

There's so many things that went right, but so many things to work on improving for marathon running.  Honestly, I approach the marathon as if it were a part of a triathlon.  Kind of systematic and utilizing aid stations and being patient and methodical.  I could cut out some time if I changed mentality a little bit and had a larger bladder.  Stopping 3 times to pee over 26.2 miles is no way to get to the finish line quickly.  Sure, you feel better without a full bladder, but I need to find that line where I'm hydrated enough to start and what I'm expending in sweat is enough to justify what I'm taking in.

Here's how I train...

Most of my long runs are 3 miles running and then stopping for water and recovery for 0.10 miles before the next 3 miles.  That keeps me pretty much at fluids every 30 minutes and every other stop is powerbar blasts or nutrition and water.  So, I'm on the 30 / 60 minute plan for fluids and nutrition.

Here's how I ran...

KC marathon aid stations were every 2ish miles.  So... that threw off my timing from training.  I decided to get fluids every other aid station and nutrition and water with a minor walk break on the other aid stations.  So, I was utilizing every aid station, but not walking every one of them.  It was a delicate balance of water with nutrition (either powerbar blasts or my home brew of hydration with extra suppliments) and gatorade on other stops.  GI upset is always on my mind and with the temps starting around freezing race morning and the high only forecasted around 45 degrees, I knew I would not be sweating off very much of the fluids I drank and I did not want a sloshing gut at mile 20.

The theme for the marathon was, less is more.  I was going to pace myself at 150 beats per minute, short choppy gate on the hills, and open it up on downhills after the major hill at 22 miles.

It seem to have worked.

With a new PR of 3:48:13, shaving around 4 minutes off my previous best.  It wasn't a monster PR, but it's always nice to do better with age.  It also met my expectations of getting under 3:50.  I thought I was going to have a chance at sub 3:45, but it just wasn't in the cards.

I did spend way too much time stopping at port-a-potties at aid stations, though.  My bladder was not on the same game plan as sweating was a non-issue with the low temps.  During the race, I drank appropriately to stay hydrated, but not have excess in the gut.  I didn't even thing I drank an excessive amount before the race, but obviously my bladder thought different.  It was nice as mostly the port-a-potties I did take breaks at had no lines and I was in and out.  And let me tell you, it's a huge relief to get that weight off your shoulders when you're running.  Nothing's more distracting than having to pee when running... well, maybe having to poop when running?

I did commit a major error by leaving my running gloves in a port-a-potty before the race.  Cleanliness is next to godliness, except when you forget to put your gloves back on after taking care of business.  They were cheap throw-aways, but I would have LOVED to had them for the entire race.  The shade and head wind was a little chilly.  I survived, but it would have been much more comfortable.  I realized it after getting to the start chute, and had 10 minutes to try and go back... but I wasn't really interested in waiting at the door and stalking the johns looking for my gloves.

It was cold.  I wore under armour long pants, shorts, under armour short sleeve undershirt, tech t-shirt, and arm warmers under a light long sleeve.  I was planning on tossing the long sleeve, but opted to keep it the entire race.  It worked out well until after I finished and realized the sweaty clothes were getting COLD just standing around.  I didn't really think I would need 3 layers, but I did.

Speaking of finish line... I was very heart broken to realize they had chocolate milk at the finish line, but were completely OUT by the time I got done.  And, it's not like I was last.  Someone didn't plan accordingly or all the 5k and half marathon people took more than their fair share.  That's all I wanted besides a banana... sure, they had BBQ and beer for finishers, but that just doesn't sound appealing to me after running a marathon.

Overall it was a great 4th year...

My marathon running has shown steady improvement after 4 years of KC and Northface marathons.  I've learned a lot from those races and from my Ironman race about perspective and training.  This was by far the best I felt immediately after a race.  Mentally cognizant, wasn't overly exhausted and was able to get to the car, change and get home with major cramping.

Heading home to switch gears to daddy and husband was pretty seamless, but Sunday was a little rough.  My body was a little angry at me, almost more so than after lake Tahoe.  I was moving and doing stuff all day, but my lower back, legs and knees were grumpy.

More than likely a combination of leftovers from Lake Tahoe and the impact of combing recovery and immediately turning around to race another long distance endurance event.

But, that's probably the end of the long course events for 2013.  Kind of sad, but kind of relaxing as well to change gears to focus on the other disciplines of triathlon, nutrition - and lots of it at Thanksgiving and Christmas!

Friday, October 18, 2013

2013 Kansas City Marathon preview

October 19th, 2013 is the Kansas City Marathon!

...and this would make year 4 of running the full marathon.  I think I'm ready...

My patella tendentious is flaring a bit and I'm looking at wearing my BRD knee brace for the race.  Cold + early morning = grumpy patella tendon.  Time will tell.

Here are some past KC Marathon results:

2010 KC Marathon - 3:53:10
2011 KC Marathon - 3:52:05
2012 KC Marathon - 3:52:57

If nothing but consistent!  Depending on how the knee treats me, I'm hoping for sub 3:50.  My training since Ironman Lake Tahoe has been maintenance mode since the race as I don't want to get aggressive post Ironman and injure myself.

It's odd... but I'm not super anxious and I actually keep forgetting about the race that's this Saturday.  I mean, for a lot of people, this is the pinnacle for their year or life in regards to endurance sports.  I'm not trying to be egotistical, rude or thoughtless, but after a full Ironman the likes of Lake Tahoe, the KC marathon will be like a vacation.  It's more along the lines of a dilemma to figure out how to keep on task and keep my mind busy during the 26.2 miles without daydreaming.

But, my suffering is your opportunity!


What's that mean to you?  Well, it's a chance to win a PlanetBox Launch Lunch Box!

Yep, the very one I reviewed HERE is up for grabs!  It's $75 worth of lunch box, containers and a messenger bag carrier.


Here's how to get in.

As you may know reading the blog, I'm raising funds for Tri 4 a Hand Up charities.


So to keep the momentum going, I'm offering up the PlanetBox for someone who guesses my exact race time and donates that amount on the Fundrazr page.

So, if you think I am a super athlete and can run the 26.2 in 3 hours, 31 minutes and 10 seconds, you round to the nearest penny, donate $3.31 and write in your whole time guess on the Fundrazr timeline.

Directions
  1. Guess my time
  2. Donate that in dollars per hour and minute on the Fundrazr page
  3. Write a comment on your time in hours : minutes : seconds for the KC marathon time guess.

Make sense?

To give you perspective on my athletic prowess, here are some past results:
2005 Dublin Marathon - 5:11:27
2010 KC Marathon - 3:53:10
2011 KC Marathon - 3:52:05
2011 KC North Face Endurance Challenge Marathon - 4:12:12
2012 KC Marathon - 3:52:57
2013 Ironman Lake Tahoe marathon time - 4:49:11

I think it would be safe to say, it won't be much below 3:45.  I feel good, but not superhuman good.

Here's the catch, since I will mail the PlanetBox on my own dime, I need the total raised to exceed at least the shipping cost.  I would suspect it will cost around $15 to ship, so all donations for this contest need to total more than $15.

We also need a minimum of 20 guesses.

So share with your friends, get people to donate (TAX FREE!) and hide and watch on 10/19/13.

AND, please have trust that I won't finish on a per-determined time to rig the contest and in the event of a tie, the PlanetBox will go to the first person to guess that time.  So, don't double guess someone's time and check the Fundrazr activity for previous guesses.

THANKS!

Also take advantage of a discount at a local massage shop after the race!


You’ve trained hard.
You’ve raced hard.
Now’s the time to take care of yourself.

From October 14 through October 26, 2013 you can enjoy 35% off an hour massage from Sunrinity Health (www.SunrinityHealth.com) in Leawood, Kansas.

Mention this flyer or Tri 4 a Hand Up when making your appointment (call 913-832-0768) and you will receive 35% off, with 10% of the proceeds benefiting www.Tri4aHandUp.com charities.

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Product Review : FlapJacked Protein Pancake Mix

If you’re at all interested in eating better (http://www.examiner.com/article/avoid-processed-foods-for-proper-triathlon-and-endurance-sports-training) to go along with all those hours you swim, bike and run, then you have probably realized the importance of breakfast. Don’t think that just heading out the door on instant oatmeal or a slice of toast with jelly is going to get you through an hour of swimming AND get you to lunch without a serious wall at some point.

But, how do you make sure you are getting what you need from your breakfast without the empty calories that the great tasting, yet nutritional lacking donuts, processed pancake mix or some syrup slathered french toast might offer?

You could go basic with old fashioned oats and adding in supplements like flax seed and protein powder to make sure you are getting enough fuel to get you to the next meal without a severe crash and burn. Or, you could find products already geared towards the health conscious in mind. That’s how we found FlapJacked.

Forget about trying to figure out all of the ingredients you need and where to find the most natural components for a sustainable breakfast, and then mixing is all together. Just grab a bag of FlapJacked and start cooking. That’s what we did with a sample box of their 3 main flavors. Read on to find out what we thought about FlapJacked from an Ironman athlete perspective and a family with small children perspective.

Packaging / Shelf Appeal / Marketing


When you look at their website, Facebook and other social marketing outlets, they are uniform, clean and crisp and appealing. Their logo ties into their family values and all of their graphics are very high quality. It’s not a cracker box website.

One issue is finding the products in person. Unless you live in Colorado, you will be buying online. That’s not a bad thing, but you won’t be able to handle, sniff and grope their packages in person until the postman delivers.

Once you get the pouch in your hands, you will get a glossy plastic pouch that is re-sealable and very visually appealing. It’s also convenient to carry around, travel with and store.

The actual powder is very similar to your run-of-the-mill pancake mix. The various flavors do have their own tinges of color depending on the spices or ingredients mixed in, but it’s nothing out of the ordinary. It’s also not a one size fits all operation at FlapJacked. They offer mix portions in a 4 oz, 12 oz and 24 oz size pouches to accommodate families or groups of any size. Want more than just the standard buttermilk pancake mix? Well, FlapJacked has buttermilk, banana hazelnut and cinnamon apple. They also have mix tips to add your own flavors to their mixes to make even more flavors at home.

Want more than just pancakes? FlapJacked web site contains numerous recipes using their mixes that achieve the same nutritional goals and you don’t need much more past their protein pancake mix. One stop shop and it’s not pancakes every morning. They hook you in and won’t let you go.


Form / Construction


FlapJacked created their protein pancake recipe with the following standards in mind:
NO GMO ingredients
NO Preservatives
NO Artificial color
NO Artificial flavoring
NO Artificial ANYTHING


They smartly use coconut flour, whole oats and whey isolate protein powder. It’s subtle, but using more “natural” ingredients such as these instead of the large corporate manufacturing components often littering pancake mixes will result in better sustained energy, feeling fuller longer and putting more good than bad down your gullet.

From a mixture perspective, FlapJacked contained everything our family looks for in a healthy breakfast. We avoided pancakes in the past due to the processed mixes do not have the ingredients we wanted and the time and cost it took to make a mix from scratch to get what we wanted in our pancakes and to get them to taste right.

Fashion / Appearance


When you mix them up, cook them and serve them, they look as appealing as any pancake commercial out there.

Just as with any pancake mix, you can add and subtract water to make the pancakes more or less moist, crumbly or whatever you need to get the food in your mouth.

There’s really nothing different than other pancake mixes after you cook them up. It’s all up tp the cook to not burn them or cook them just right. Obviously if you are cooking up the cinnamon apple mix or another recipe, the color will vary depending on what’s mixed in.

Fit / Function


When it’s all said and done, if the food isn’t good, what’s the point in eating it? Sure, you might want to think of eating as “eating to live” and not “living to eat”, but surely most of us want to enjoy what we throw down our throats.

Well, FlapJacked fits the bill. We tried all three flavors they had to offer and we ranked them in order of our taste:
1. Cinnamon Apple
2. Buttermilk
3. Banana Hazelnut - we did add chocolate chips to this one

They served us well to keep our family of four on the run for a Saturday and a Sunday until lunch. We ate, we cleaned, we ran errands, we played outside, we worked out and we had no hunger issues getting from breakfast to snack and lunch.

We fed two adults, 1 kindergartner and 1 toddler with three-12oz packs amply for two mornings. It was almost a free-for-all getting enough pancakes of our favorite flavors. Luckily no one lost a finger or hand in the testing of these pancake mixes.

As mentioned, FlapJacked pancake mixes contain ingredients we look for when making our breakfast choices. Instead of creating a mix from scratch and finding all of the ingredients to make our pancakes, we just had to open the pouch, add water and cook.

Cost


If you can buy in person, the prices range from $3.99 to $19.99 before tax. If you have to order online, you will need to account for shipping unless you order $24.99 or more of products.

If you check out prices of mixes online, you can get around 28 oz for around $15. But, remember that’s not including the ingredients you might want with health in mind and limited protein content.

We found that pretty comparable to buying separate ingredients to make the mix healthy ourselves. It’s not all that absurd in price from what you could get from the store that’s not as healthy.

Final thoughts


We loved FlapJacked at our house. It serves the many roles that we require at our house. It serves as a simple breakfast, easily made, healthy ingredients, more protein than standard pancake mixes, sustainable energy for a triathlete training for an Ironman and fulfilling enough to get kids and adults to the next meal without hunger pains. It also appeals to adults and kids alike and magically the kids are eating something they think is a treat all the while the adults know it’s healthy and nutritious.


With 3 flavors and many recipes to choose from, consumers won’t get bored with the same ole FlapJacked every day and can find their favorites that keep them eating healthy.

Disclaimer


* Writer's note - FlapJacked provided the products for this review at no cost and did not influence this review.

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

What's post-Ironman training look like 3 weeks after?

It's been an odd mixture since Ironman Lake Tahoe...

Obviously I didn't want to push it and start back into a routine too soon and injure myself after the race.  I felt good 3 days after the race and managed a few swims, bike rides and I think I ran the kids to school Friday morning the week after.

All told, the week after Ironman Lake Tahoe was under 6 hours of "working out".  Really, my goals were to get the body moving, don't push it and just enjoy a few workouts with no real goals.

Two weeks out was a little over 8 hours as I do have the Kansas City Marathon on the horizon on October 19th.  I signed up a LONG time ago with early entry in the chances I was feeling good enough to go 26.2 miles a month after an Ironman.

So, most of that week was running and not getting too aggressive.

Three weeks out was a 11.5 hour week with most of that being running.  I felt good minus a few patella tendinitis flare-ups. Sadly it was my shoes that I ran IMLT in and they need to be retired.  They felt great, but it was time.

It's been different shifting to mostly running.  My cycling needed work leading into Lake Tahoe and will be a big focus in the winter.  After the Kansas City Marathon, I'm looking to get more time on the saddle than running, which with cooling temps will mean more time in the basement grinding on the trainer.  Joy.  ;)

All things being equal, I feel pretty good.

And have had no real setbacks from racing a tough Ironman course.

It's even crazy to say that I am looking forward to IM Chattanooga with Ride to Give.  My first marathon in 2005 and you could not have paid me enough to run another one for a few years.  My how times have changed.

So, for now I'm sweating it out being "that guy" running with too much Ironman gear, hanging with the kiddos and pickin pumpkins!


So, keep on the lookout for deals for Ironman Chattanooga and Ride to Give!

Right now we have 60% off at Xterra Wetsuits with code C-SETTHEPACE and 35 percent off at Sunrinity Health for a 60 minute massage when you book and appointment between now and October 26 and mention www.Tri4aHandUp.com.

I'm looking to get more activities going local for discounts and fundraisers.

It's also comfortable since IM Choo isn't until September 28, so a little time to get back into the swing of Ironman training.