TriSports.com Blog

Introducing De Soto and Louis Garneau Spring 2009 clothing

While it seems that we are still in the Christmas cookie haze and some of us may even still have our Christmas trees and lights up, it is that time of year again. You know, that time of year that the newest and innovative products start hitting us. We in turn get to highlight them on our site and offer them to all of our friends in the triathlon world! The newest offering we have for clothing is the De Soto Sports and Louis Garneau 2009 spring lines. Check them out on our site aand indulge in the newest items on the market today. Come on! It’s time to work off those cookies!!

Assumptions…

Assumptions stink, but of course I am guilty of making them but have been a victim. We assume the guy on the corner with the cardboard sign in his hands hasn’t done enough to help himself. We assume the kids on the playground feel safe and have a carefree life. We assume because our co-workers or friends laugh each day and function as normal people that life is easy or not filled with problems. I do this all of the time, make assumptions that is. I assume because people are smiling that they are happy, or that because they are in line at the grocery store buying things they have money. Funny, from where and from whom we learn our life lessons from. I learned a really large lesson from a very small person recently, to not to make assumptions. I already knew this, as we all do….but it is good to be reminded. I also learned that very small things that I do can make a huge impact on people around me. So with my renewed lesson, I am trying to remember to not make assumptions and learn a bit more about people around me before making up my mind about them. Just some food for thought….

Sense of competition

When does it hit us? Are we kids in the open lot playing kickball and we want to be the one to kick the home run? Is it as a teen and you get your first taste in the spotlight playing sports in front of the crowd at a high school game? Or does it wait to hit us as adults and we really want that promotion (or that specific job), or even as simple as “hey that was my parking space!”. It is hard to judge when it hits us, as kids, young adults or even later but when it does…it hits hard.

I remember being a kid and it feeling like everything I did I was competing. Maybe it was because I am the youngest of 6 kids, and you had to stake your claim or you were not eating or being heard if you wanted to talk. Maybe it is because of my type “A” personality and I feel like I have to be really good, every day, whether it is at home or work. Anyway here is why I pose this question, about competition that is.

I have a young daughter who swims; she can swim her butt off. She is good, on the best (in my humble opinion) swim teams in our city. She gets to practice and most of the time is there to work, (she’s a tween so that can vary from day to day). But for the most part she is there to work and work hard. Most of the time she is the first to finish a set, the first to come in and wait at the wall, passes her lane mates. But here’s the thing, when it comes to swim meets she is just there, doesn’t really care about the outcome and is out for a Sunday stroll. It drives me nuts!!!!

I just want to take some of my drive to win and win it all (yeah right, I wish) and give her some. Inject it into her, give her some kind of shot to the rear that will all of sudden have that jump start effect. I wonder where those kids who are the Olympians or championship tennis players or what-not got their drive from. I wish I could bottle it and serve it to my kid with her oatmeal in the morning. Anyway in the mean time I do my best to sit back, watch her grow; as she figures out the world and wait with baited breath for that fantastic moment she gets the wave of how awesome she really is. When she steps up to those starting blocks and hands all of the girls around her one of the best butt kicking ever….she’ll be there, someday. I just need to wait for it.

The coolest thing….

Ok we are all fans, fans of something or someone. Some of us love football (go Cowboys!!) some of us game-shows (I love to show off how smart I am, or think I am while playing Jeopardy at home). Maybe it is UFC fighting and you like Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell, you get what I mean…we all have something or someone out there that we think it would be really cool to meet that person or an event to experience.  Well I got on my chance at “That was so COOL!” experience.

I was “racing” (cough, cough…another story for another day) this weekend at Red Rock’s SOMA triathlon. I was participating in (again not really “racing”) the Half IM distance.  While at the packet pickup and expo I learned something new, that Nicole and Tim DeBoom are partners in the Red Rock Company and would be at the expo that day (what!! Nicole DeBoom?!?, I have to meet her!) For anyone who knows me, knows that I am a huge fan of Skirt Sports products (which of course we sell here at TriSports.com ) and admire Nicole. It was like a two for one day for me.  One because I wanted to have a chance to tell her how much I love the product and philosophy behind Skirt Sports and of course an opportunity to meet a successful woman in Triathlon. I was able to achieve both of these!

I introduced myself to her and she gave me the biggest hug! She spoke with me as we had known each other for years and was so friendly, gracious and very sweet.  She of course wished me luck out on the course and said that she would be handing out finisher medals at the end. I thought to myself that would be so awesome to have her give me my finisher medal! Well needless to say after a very long day, I finished way too late to get my medal from her.  I did get see her again as I was going to get my stuff from transition.  She was so nice, asked me how my day was, asked me how I felt and again was so sweet.  I will admit that made my very long (very hot, and full of suffering) day much better!

The only thing I regret was not having a camera….bummer!

Did you know?

It is funny how you can train and train and train for the sport that we all love and still not know things. I know, I know of course you can’t know everything but simple things that would seem so basic to someone else to me was an eye opener. So I am here to share some of the little nuggets of wisdom that I have learned since starting to work for TriSports.com and I hope that I will help open someone elses eyes.

Like I said some is so basic but, “WOW, I could have used that last year!” has popped through my head many times while learning more and more about the products we sell:

Toe covers: Did you know that we sell toe covers to help keep your feet warm on those long windy and cold rides? I didn’t six months ago, but you can bet I have a pair now. I stopped a 60 mile training ride back in February because my toes were freezing and I had no idea these even existed! I ended up finishing my ride on the trainer rather than on the road, not as much fun but much warmer!

Camel back replacement parts: Ok so if you have a three year old who want to wear your Camelback and chew on the end. You might want to get a few of these beauties. Again something I did not know that existed until working at TriSports.com and I have desperately needed!

Gel Flasks: I never knew that you could buy your favorite gel in a Costco® sized container and pour it into this gel flask. Who knew?? You can save money (the jumbo size is cheaper than the individual packets) and the environment at the same time (by not having little packets slip out of your inside pocket while on the run), who knew??

Bar extender: Oh my goodness this saved my life not three days ago. I am a small girl (ok I’m 35, but I can still call myself a girl ) and the cockpitt of my bike is taken up by my aero bars and computer, no room for the light. Needed to go on a super early ride and was afraid because there was no where to put the light. Well after talking to a few people here at work I learned about this nice invention. I attached it with llittle problem and could see! I was able to complete my training ride at 4:00 am without mishap, but now I discovered it would really be nice to have a better light. (Once I find out which is a great one, I will let you know!!)

Oh there is so much more to share, but I do not want to bore you with too much of what I have discovered. If something else really strikes me I will be sure to let you know….stay tuned, there are ALWAYS great things at TriSports.com!

You want to do what?

How many times do we hear that in our multisport world, mostly from the people who do not understand the whole swim, bike, run thing. You know when that moment strikes you that you want, no need to accomplish something? That moment that seems to stick in your brain for years afterward. Well mine came two years ago. I was out jogging (yes I said that bad word) with my 1 year old son in the jogging stroller and the thought came to me, I have always wanted to run a marathon. I have always had that as a “bucket-list” item when it came to me; “how can I do this if I don’t do something about it”!?!  Now let’s not even talk about the other 40 plus items on that list (of course one of the loftiest was to participate in an Ironman) that I never thought to be achievable. But never say never……

I went home from that jog (I know I said it again) and thought ok need to act now. I sat down at the computer and thought about it, ok let’s start with a half marathon (it was June at this point). Not knowing that races (both tri and running) were rampant in Tucson I was not sure what I would find. Of course I found that it was like a dream, hundreds of races, all distances and sizes to choose from, WOW! I am the type of person if I pay my hard earned money for something, I am going to do it (except for that DVD set and ab roller in the garage; but we are not talking about that). So I signed up for the Tucson Half Marathon. Then I went into my handy-dandy search engine and typed “how to train for a half marathon without killing yourself” this great training plan popped up. I figured that I had just enough time to get ready.

Let’s just say that my son and the jogging stroller stayed home almost each time. I now changed from a jogger that was trying to lose the left over baby weight (we won’t talk about how much baby weight, let’s just say it was not pretty) to a runner who had a purpose. No, I was training not just running! It was awesome, I trained and I trained hard. I never skipped a run; always made sure I was done with my workouts before 7am and thought I was having the time of my life. Wait I was having the time of my life! Met some friends along the way; one of which would change my life in the tri world (never say “I would love to do an Ironman someday” to this person, someday comes very quickly).

Race day came on a cold December morning and I had a blast, ran faster than I ever thought possible and was smiling and almost skipping the whole way. It was one of the best races of my life. I finished the half in under two hours (about 9 minutes under) and was so proud of myself. I knew that there was more to come…..and boy was there.  Since I have run in lots of races, three marathon’s, ton’s of 5k’s, tri’s and even that lofty Ironman. But that is another story for another day….stay tuned for that one!