TriSports.com Blog

Retirement from Triathlons

Retiring from racing because of health reasons is always something that I find somewhat sad. This past week, Torbjorn Sinballe retired from triathlon racing for health reasons. He has known that the has had a leak from one of his heart valves for some time and was cleared by his doctors to keep racing. This alone should tell you how much this person enjoyed racing. He really is a great athlete. He had great power on the bike and was often the first off the bike at Ironman Hawaii–if he was not the first, he was close to it. One of the things Torbjorn Sinballe helped to promote was Heat regulation clothes from Craft.

Torbjorn Sinballe

Retiring from racing is something we all think about at one point in our racing careers. After all how much can your body take? There are various reasons why we do. Do you stop after you have children, you would be able to spend more time with them. Do you keep racing and enjoy the lifestyle you have know all your life? It is a great and very healthy lifestyle. I think that most people that say they are going to retire from racing will still keep training and possibly even racing–maybe just not at the same caliber as before.

Some people retire because they have injuries that plague their lives. There are some preventative measures that you can take so that you do not fall into this pit. One that I recommend is keeping flexible. The Athletes Guide to Yoga is a great DVD to use to help you achieve this. There are also some great Spinerval videos that will help you with rehabilitation if you recovering from an injury.

Whatever reason(s) that may apply to you, ultimately only you yourself can decide what/why to do. Obviously there are other thing outside of Triathlons and we can certainly decide in a healthy manner the right choices. One of my points I always make to friends is moderation is key. We are not all gifted with the same genetics to be able to do great at races naturally. We need to keep in mind where we are and what we can do.

Best race ever?

There have been some great races in triathlon history, but the men’s Hy-Vee ITU Triathlon in Des Moines this past weekend may go down as one of the best ever.  With $200,000 on the line, Simon Whitfield sprinted to the win over a small pack of other triathletes.  Words cannot do this race justice, so check out the video coverage here.

Simply amazing.  Congrats Simon.  Looks like your winter training time in Tucson is continuing to pay off (literally now).

The Best of the Best

Over the years we have had numerous discussions about sponsoring professional athletes.  We actually have a few pros on our roster that have been on our team for a number of years and went from amateur to pro, but other than Jeanne-Anne Krizman (she won Wildflower in 2001) we haven’t had any top tier pros on our roster.   This year we were solicited by some big name pros and we were fortunate enough to sign on Andy Potts and Leanda Cave.  Both of them are having an incredible season (not to brag, but the bike fits we did on them have helped out a bit - especially for Leanda).  Both of these athletes embody what TriSports.com stands for - they are professional in every sense of the word and they are two great human beings.  I have spent some time with both of them and I am proud to see them flying the TriSports.com.  The next time you are at a race make sure you say “hi” to them and tell them “Gooooo TriSports.com!!!”

Oh, two quick stories:

Andy - At Widlflower I bet Andy that I would beat him (I gave myself a 1 hour handicap) - yeah, that didn’t work out so well; he still beat me by a couple minutes.

Leanda - I was giving Leanda a tour of our warehouse and convinced her to take a ride on one of our man up lifts.  We had a little “incident” with my poor driving skills - needless to say I don’t think I will be conning her onto any of our warehouse equipment any more.

Hanging out with Leanda and Andy at Wildflower

Man vs. Car

I had this 2-part video passed onto me last week.  When I used to own a car and would be sitting in traffic, I often wondered how much faster it would be to walk (or run) - much like the opening scene from Office Space.  They did a little experiment across the pond - check out the video if you have some time to kill.

PART ONE

PART TWO

Under the Fur

A couple months ago I posted a 2-part blog on how to shave your legs (see here http://blog.tri-sports.com/?p=683).  Now that I am full swing into Ironman training, and recently hair free on the legs I thought it would be a good idea to have a refresher on the leg shaving.  Here are a few things I forgot to mention:

Pre-shaved fur

1)       I really do an aweful job the first time I shave my legs, I would have to say the first ride after you shave has to be the worst because you always miss a couple hairs.  The worst part is that I seem to always miss a hair(s) behind my knee.  Absolutely the most annoying thing ever – it’s pretty much equivalent to Jim Carrey’s most annoying sound ever in Dumb and Dumber, except this is the most annoying hair ever.

2)       I’m not a huge fan of fresh new razor blades, I am just way too sloppy to be messing with that slicer and dicer (even with the Silk Effects razor).

3)       It’s always good to see what’s under the hood.  When you have hair, well let’s be real – fur, like me on my legs it is sometimes quite amazing what you can find.  Check out this picture below – ripped and ready to go!

Ready to unload some watts

The New Kid on the Block

Let me preface this by pointing out that at one point in time I was a “normal” person. I happily ordered pizza through my TiVo service to avoid getting off the couch and I laughed out loud at the thought of a grown man wearing spandex. That was all before Ironman Arizona came along and ruined everything. I now have more spandex than a ballet troop and I can’t find time for either TiVo or pizza. Don’t even get me started on my vast knowledge of various creams and glides that no man should have to know about (if only I owned stock in Chamois BUTT’r). All this in order to participate in one silly little race in November?? (note: a participant is one who strives to survive an event, a racer is one who hopes to do better each time, I am the former)

I explain it this way; imagine all the highs and lows of your entire life condensed into 17 hours or less. One minute this is the greatest day of your life, you are running like an Olympian not quite sure why everyone around you looks like the living dead (not me though, I feel fine). A few more miles pass and you are explaining to the imaginary person next to you just how strongly you feel that cats and dogs should not be allowed to drive in the carpool lane, all the while dressed like a contestant hopeful for Dancing with the Stars.

This was the beginning of the end for me, capped off by a glance at the return address of this cool triathlon store I found online. It turns out that Trisports.com is located just across town, what are the odds? It was as if someone had built a store with the simple goal of feeding my addiction. After basically living there for several months, I came to the conclusion that I would look less conspicuous if I became an employee of Trisports.com. So this is where the story begins for me, floundering in a sea of super-athletes at Trisports.com, trying hard to absorb as much information as fast as possible. I still have the upper hand though; I don’t think anyone here knows how to order pizza through their TiVo

PS - This picture really wasn’t part of the plan :)  You never know who has a camera in their hand around here!

Tires

Sometimes we do not pay much attention to the tires we ride on. They stay on our wheels and as long as we do not get flats we are good with them. This last week I got a few flat tires on my bike. I somehow seem to go through cycles where I do not get any for some time then all of the sudden, I get them every few weeks or so. Not sure what to make of it. I have tried to keep track of where I ride, keep my eyes on the road as to not run over any sharp objects, keeping my tire pressure up but I am still not sure what it is that makes me get these flats like I do.

To prepare for these flats, I always make sure that I carry a few things in my bag. I have at least one tube, two CO2’s and an inflator, a patch kit (glueless), and two tire levers. This really is all you need to get a new tube on your bike tire. If you need to review the how to Check out this video we have:

How to fix a flat.

Things I try to do to prevent flats include keeping new tires on my bike. When tires start to break down, you start seeing cracks in the tire, it may be time to get new tires. Not only will these cracks allow for small pieces of glass and what not to get through, these cracks will reduce the integrity of the tire itself possibly causing an accident.

Tires are an important part of the quality of your ride on your bike. They determine the rolling resistance, how you will be able to corner…etc. Perhaps one of the important qualities of tires are how they will protect you from getting a flat. Some people give this quality up for weight. Usually the tire will be a little heavier due to the added protection. Nowadays, you can get a good compromise between these two issues.

Tires

For Racing, I always like to use a tubular tire. Not only do these offer lighter weight for the wheel but they generally offer greater protection against pinch flats, you get better traction and a better ride quality. They are easier to change when you get a flat. The disadvantage is that you have to carry another tire with you. I usually just carry Vittoria Pit Stop and if I cannot get going after that I usually call it the day.

Vittoria Pit Stop

Whichever tires you like to ride on, you will want to give your wheel a quick spin to look at the tread to see if there is anything out of the ordinary. This is especially important if you are training for Ironman distance races and you are riding 110+ miles at one time. You do not want to be stuck somewhere because your tire is bad. Your time is valuable and this is a simple 20-30 second review you can do before each ride.

BAM Race Report: The Good and the Scary

TriSports.com once again made the pilgrimage to the mountains of Utah for the annual Battle At Midway Triathlon.  It was a rare treat for our Sonoran Desert crew to get out of the summer heat of Tucson and enjoy the cool mountain air for a weekend (even if it left us perpetually out of breath).  Luckily, we arrived the Thursday ahead of race day to set up our expo, which gave us a bit of time to get acclimated to the altitude.  It had been raining off and on in the days leading up to race, so we were a bit nervous about being caught in a storm during the race - and well, we were half right.

Race morning greeted us with partly cloudy skies and cool temps.  Water was in the low 60’s, and I was very happy I had sprung for the blueseventy Neoprene Swim Cap - we didn’t have much chance to warm up in the water and I needed every bit of help I could get.

The bike was a pleasant surprise, however.  I had laid out my TriSports.com Arm Warmers on my bike in T1, expecting a chilly start to the 22 mile course.  Coming out of the water, however, the sun was peeking through the clouds and just warm enough to convince me to leave the insulation behind.

Nick L. had finished the swim well before me, having (wisely) opted for the “Lite” distance, but Lisa R. blew by me in the first miles of the bike, acting entirely too cheery.  After that, I just enjoyed the scenery and marveled at the speed of the Zipp 606 wheelset I  was demoing.

I finished the bike in just under an hour, which was another pleasant surprise, but I knew the hurting was just about to begin.  The 9k run in Soldier Hollow is infamously brutal, and it did not disappoint.  I had just finished the bulk of the first climb and was looking down on the finish, hundreds of feet below and too many miles away, when I heard the announcer call out Nick as he finished.  After a few more miles running a roller coaster of lung-busting ups and knee-pounding downs I entered what I thought was the home stretch, but turned out to be a cruel joke of a climb in the last mile.  I was especially cursing Lisa (or would have, if I had any breath to spare) as she finished the race.

So all in all a great race - beautiful scenery, a fast bike course, and a butt-kicking run.  Congratulations to Lisa on finishing 3rd overall (took the sting out of her destroying me by 12 minutes!).

If only the story ended there . . .

After the awards ceremony, and just before packet-pickup for the Xterra Duathlon, a freak Thunderstorm came through and completely obliterated the expo.  Luckily, all that was hurt was gear, and not the TriSports.com crew or any of the fabulous BAM race workers (who were superstars in helping us gather and dry all the merchandise we could).

The severe wind and lightning shut down the rest of the day, which was a bummer to the athletes in the Duathlon, but it was undoubtedly the right call.  Kudos to the BAM staff for putting on an excellent event under difficult circumstances, all while keeping safety as their top concern.

Welcome to America - Part 3.

Here is the third and final entry in the series about product trends making their way to America.  Last week, we discussed Electronic Muscle Stimulators - a trend that has yet to take hold in the States.  Watch out, if this ever catches on you will be behind the curve with your training and recovery without an EMS system.  If you want to stay ahead of the curve, now is the time to make the jump on your competition.  This week’s trend has been around for a while, but will soon catch fire in the triathlon market.

[b]  BASE LAYERS.  Cyclists have embraced base layers for years - that is no secret.  But did you know that athletes in many other sports wear base layers non-stop across the pond in Europe.  Why you may ask?  It is all about temperature regulation.  No one addresses this issue better than Craft.  Once you understand the concept and science behind how base layers can improve your performance, there is no going back.  Even here in sunny, hot Tucson our employees are wearing base layers under their cycling gear during the hottest parts of the year.  Triathletes are finally starting to catch on and once again Craft is the leader.  They have incorporated the temperature regulating properties into a new triathlon line.  TriSports.com has worked with Craft to produce an exclusive line of product for 2009 in limited quantities.  For all seasons of the year, include a base layer or two in your gear list.  Your body will thank you.

TriSports.com TV

Today we officially released our new TriSports.com TV.  We have shot and produced over 90 videos and add several more every week.  There is a ton of product information with a few fun videos mixed in.  When you have a minute you should take some time to watch, we have a lot of knowledge to share!

Check out all of our cool videos.