Looks like GPS is becoming more pervasive in fitness watches - Garmin today announced new running watch Garmin Forerunner 110 that will bring GPS to what seems like more basic watch than FR205, FR305, FR405 and FR310xt. Main theme seems to be simplicity with high level of accuracy. They will be showing the units at the major marathons in Boston, Paris and London so the watch seems to be geared to runners, walkers and joggers. For triathletes it seems that the 310xt remains the flagship.
Triathletes are probably looking forwards to the release of the new Timex unit that is the first version of Timex watch with built in GPS. They already have experience with GPS technology, but never had it integrated in the watch. We will see how well this will be done. From available information the unit will be ANT+ compatible so if you have ANT+ compatible power meter or HR belt the watch should be able to communicate with them.
Polar is releasing new sleek cycling computer CS500 that is based on their proprietary W.I.N.D. technology used in CS600 and RS800/RS800cx lines of products. The design looks very clever for cycling - I hate switching displays on CS600 especially when I wear my gloves and I'm in traffic. The rocker design seems to make it all very easy. Not sure though if I upgrade. The announcement on Polar site does not list power meter as one of the compatible accessories which is a shame. I hope it will work with it since I'm getting another Polar power unit I found few days ago so I can put it on my new road bike.
And last news is from Suunto that is releasing new designs of T6 line with release of three new color schemes and different packaging under the T6d name. According to their announcement the new units will ship in few weeks and will include the dual belt, but otherwise seem to be exactly the same as T6c. The new designs are Black Flame - black yellow (pictured), Black Smoke (Black and gray) and Black Fusion (Fusion with black housing - as opposed to the greenish one that currently ships). So unless you die to spend over 400 bucks for different design of the watch there is really not much new in terms of technology or functionality. Still the units look very good.
My return from the log run fail from few weeks back has been somewhat slow. But I think I'm on the way back. Last week I did whole 1 hour on track - long run on the track is only little less boring than long run on treadmill. But I was happy to have completed it. The bad part was that the ankle felt sad after the run. So I narrowed it down to the Newtons and my significant supination. On Monday after the long run I went to local running store that sponsors our club to get fitted for more significant shoes for training. I ended-up getting Saucony ProGrid Ride 2 that are neutral shoes. I added Powerstep inserts to make up for my high arches. Now I have run two times withe them and did not have any significant issues with the ankle. Things seem to be coming back. On Friday I did 20 minutes test run outside which felt good and today I did 1 hour on treadmill - still sticking to softer surfaces. Things are definitely looking up considering I did a long bike ride yesterday and did not have any ankle issues. The season opener Duathlon is in two weeks and I hope to be back to normal by then and hopefully will restore some of the fitness I lost by not running as much.
Thank you everyone for well wishes and notes of encouragement. Things are definitely looking much better than few weeks ago.
Well I'm not the only person in our house who got a new bike. Ian got one too - nice blue bike with shiny training wheels. We have been riding our bikes every day since Monday when we got it. It was at least 30 minutes each day and yesterday he managed a full hour. He really likes this new bike and keeps telling everyone we meet on the street how cool his new bike is.
Over the past few days I had done little research and consulted with few people about my ankle issues. There seems to be two issues at play - one is that I'm supinator (pretty serious one - if you check my older shoes you can see that I wear the outside only, saving the other half for later). Second issue is that I have been running in very minimal shoes for the past 2 years and it seems to have irritated a bone right under my ankle. Nothing structural, but painful nonetheless. So going forward I'm moving from minimal shoes to more significant trainers with more cushioning - at least for training or until the ankle pain gets under control. Yesterday I bought new pair of Saucony running shoes - still neutral shoe, but more cushioned trainer and fitted them with new Powerstep insert. We will see if that helps a bit - from the short run I did in them (and other three different shoes) the more cushioned shoes seem like something I need now. So let's hope things stabilize enough over the next few days so I can resume proper training. Until then I'll keep enjoying my new bike and swimming.
While everyone seems to be talking about minimal shoes I'll be going my own way and move to more significant shoe for at least next few weeks ;-).
Few days ago I Found a big box on my porch. I was waiting for it for few days after I made purchase at Competitive Cyclist website. They had a great deal on BMC team machine bike that just seemed to be too good to pass up. More so since I was in market for new road bile which is one kind I miss in my stable. The bike arrived on Wednesday and was packed very well. It took me about 30 minutes to unwrap it and put it together. I have yet to get fitted on it (that is today's plan) and take it out for a ride. But I'm already liking the machine. I also want to give props to Competitive Cyclist guys that provided a great service. They were extremely helpful in advising the right frame size for my needs based on my self measurement and existing bike fit and they let me use free shipping coupon for purchase although I applied it after the physical purchase. Overall great experience.
Today's long run left me with two ankles on my left leg. It started already last week after the Quakertown 10 miler. The ankle got better during the week, but today's long run brought the second ankle back. The picture is taken after 20 minutes of icing. Let's hope compression and more icing will do the work.
I have been sick as a dog today. My training log has a big zero for yesterday and most likely same figure for today. I found this video that Matty Reed posted on his twitter feed very motivating - it is great to see the best athletes in the sport hammer it out in Olympic distance race.
In all the noise in Kona about Crowie beating Lieto by only few minutes there was one competitor that we did not hear much about although it was his first Kona and he did it while injured. Pretty amazing what Rasmus showed on the big island. I was already amazed with his performance when I saw NBC special about Ironman China where he won despite it being his first iron distance race and despite the grueling conditions. It looks like more ITU guys are making the transition to Ironman racing. We will see if that translates into faster times in Kona and other Ironman races. I definitely recommend watching the embedded video from Ironman that was recorded before Kona race last year.
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