Tips for Quality Run Training Train no faster than one pace quicker than the race you are training for. For example, 5k pace is good for an Olympic-distance race, while half-marathon pace suffices...
6 Tips For Quality Run Training
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Goof Review – Jaybird Sportsband Bluetooth Headset
When I am not running in a group, or during a race when I know the course is not the most scenic, I do enjoy running with my iPod. There is something pretty cool about zoning out and just letting the beat take over my feet.
The problem I face, is comfort in headphones. I have tried just about every headphone out there and my personal preference is not ear buds that are placed inside he canal. I keep going back to the earphones I received with my iPod, that just fit above the lobe where the speaker sits on the concha and faces the canal. Of course, they do not last, and the sound quality has a little to be desired. Not to mention, the inconvenience of those wires.
Enter Jaybird with their Sportsband Bluetooth Headset. Jaybird was nice enough to send me this model, which looks like the older headphones that fit over the head instead of around the back of the neck or just sitting in the ear. They are extremely light, which does not cause any neck pain or strain and due to the fact they are Bluetooth they are wireless. I ran the entire Sarasota Half Marathon without them sliding off my ears, or hear any hesitation or disconnect from my iPod.
The controls are located on the right ear and have nice size buttons that are easy to access and allow you to skip forward or back, pause and control the volume.
The sound quality is probably the best I have heard in a Bluetooth headset. The sound is rich, clear and responds well to the sound controls on my iPod. Needless to say I really enjoyed wearing this headset during the race. 
As, I was looking at the pics…well…the profile is pretty low, but they do look kinda goofy if your looking for them. It figures, look who is wearing them.
I did test them with two different phones as well. The Droid Razor Maxx and the Samsung Galaxy Note II and they responded quick and as expected to Pandora, Spotify, the built-in music apps and the phone.
A friend of mine, that didn’t know she was a part of this review, stated she thought I was using my handset. Most of the time she could tell, when I had a headset on, because the sound quality was usually pretty poor, but with the Jaybird Sportsband this was not the case at all. The sound was clear without static or hesitation.
The Jaybird Sportsband comes in two models, the original the S2 which includes the uSport universal Bluetooth adapter. Both models are compatible with any A2DP Bluetooth device to include iPhone, iPad, iPod(7th Gen), Android, windows devices, PC and Mac. Options include the iSport and universal Bluetooth adapters on the original and S2 models.
The company just so happened to send me apple red, but there are also a wide range of colors available.
I really enjoy running with this headset. It fits over my ear and not inside, which is more comfortable for and it still allows me to hear ambient noise around me which makes my music motivating not distracting.
I give this device 5 out of 5 Goofs.
Carpe Viam!!
Goof Review: Outspokin’ Bicycles-Tampa
A couple of months ago, I was lucky enough to catch the first sign of my favorite bike store coming to Tampa. At the time the stand-alone store was completely gutted without any sign of what it was going to look like. Last week, after the store opened I was privileged to get my first look. In the past I had to visit the Clearwater store strategically around training and races in the area. Now, I am finally able to have the service and quality I enjoy, quite a bit closer to home. What I didn’t expect, when I wandered in for the first time, was the bike store of my dreams. Outspokin has everything that could possibly be needed, and/or wanted, by bicycle enthusiasts and triathletes.
As owner, Val Tavanese, gave me the tour, she explained this location is the store she always dreamed of opening, because it had all the services, products and amenities that she personally wanted for in a bike shop. The reason I continue to make the trip to 35 mile trip to Clearwater is not just because it is the location where I purchased my own Cervelo P2, but it is because Val and her team have always continued to provide top tier service and expert advice when I needed it. Val assured me she is determined to continue the same tradition here in Tampa.
Enough of my praise and rhetoric, let’s get to the gears and chains of this amazing store.
Right outside the entrance double doors sits a nice table and chairs that providing a shady spot to relax after a long bike ride. Walking into the sliding door you immediately see the front desk with smiling Outspokin team members surrounded by by bright colors and cycling accessories of all kinds.
Cycling manufacturers enforce their own rules and guidelines for retailers carrying their line of product. Most cycling lines will only allow retailing of their product within a certain distance between stores carrying the same line. For example, Cervelo only allows a store to carry their product within a 50 mile radius another bicycle shop in order to keep the shops from competing with one another. Outspokin Tampa is carrying three amazing retail lines in Road, Cyclecross, Mountain, and touring bikes; BMC, Giant and Scott.
What sets Outspokin apart from most bike specialty stores is their services. The most important service, in my opinion, is maintenance. Bike parts wear out, cyclists fall, and a good portion of the time adjustments need to be made do to change in technique, training regimen or even transport of the bike itself. Outspokin has always had a great team of mechanics, and they need some room to work in right? Well, the mechanics bay in the Tampa store is immense and Val has outfitted all of her maintenance team with a complete new set the tools necessary to assemble, repair and adjust their customers equipment without any sacrifice to quality.
The next superior service is fitting. In my experience, fitting the bike to the person is crucial for comfort, power and speed, especially in a road and triathlon bikes. Outspokin spares nothing when it comes to fitting. The fitting room is outfitted with the Retul system including Muve bike accessory. Retul is a complete system for measuring every length, and angle of the rider to the bike which determines the athlete’s personalized adjustments. For instance, when a riders leg is extended to the very bottom of the pedal, there is an optimum angle for the knee to be bent. This system will measure the distance of the seat post and calculate what the precise height and the horizontal position of the seat is optimal in order to achieve that angle.
The Muve bike accessory to the Retul system allows for quick changes to those measurements which then can be transferred to their bike. When I was fitting utilizing the Retul service, the Muve bike was not available, so for every change in angle I had to dismount and the technician had to pull those parts off my bike and replace them at the right measurement. With the Muve bike, when the angles change the tech can adjust with the rider still on the bike. This makes those adjustments faster and more accurate, because the computer will provide the adjusted angles and measurements as the tech is making those adjustments in real-time.
Two more advantages to do a fitting with Retul, are all of the adjustments are saved in Outspokin’s database, so when doing routine maintenance the techs can re-assemble the bike with the personalized adjustments. Also, when cyclists travel with their bike it needs to be partially disassembled. A print out of the angles and measurements can be placed with the bike, so either the rider or a mechanic can reassemble the bike without sacrificing personal comfort or performance. What about those customers shopping for a bike and really have no idea what brand or geometry is best for them? If a Retul analysis is completed, the measurements can be compared in a database that will then determine the line and models that will be the best fit for comfort, power and speed for that individual. Pretty cool, am I right?
Do you want to ride in the morning, but it is raining, cold or you just do not have the time to drive out to a safe place to get a good workout in? Outspkin to the rescue with their CompuTrainer room. Eight CompuTrainers are connected to a HDTV and will allow you and a few of your fellow cyclists the ability to ride a stage of the Tour de France, or the bike course of the Lake Placid Ironman on your own bike. The CompuTrainers have the ability to add or remove resistance matching the elevation of the course as you are looking at the screen which is projecting exactly the point of view as if you were actually riding the course. Pretty Sweet, right? Outspokin makes it sweeter by providing showers, so you can ride that stage of the Tour and still make it to work that morning. Tampa to France and back in time for work. (It is almost like transporter rooms were finally invented.)
These are just a couple of services that are being provided. Other services that are coming soon include in-store Lactate Threshold and VO2 Max Testing.
I am thrilled to be able to give such a glowing review to Outspokin. I hope you get a chance to visit soon and take advantage of all the products and services they are offering.
Outspokin’s Grand Opening is this weekend, March 15 & 16th, and there will be plenty of events and vendors at the Tampa location, so check out the store, take a look at some the products vendors will be carrying and take a test ride on a new bike. Oh, and tell them you heard about it from the IronGoof. Maybe, just maybe they will reward you for it.
Carpe Viam!!!
Goof Review: Elf The Musical
The Tampa Bay Bloggers had an opportunity to see Elf the Musical on opening night and as a new member I was thrilled at the chance to take part. Now as I am a new member I am not sure of the background of my fellow bloggers, but I do have a modest amount of training and experience in theater (www.bradminus.com), so I may be just a tad more specific especially on the acting, but nevertheless I hope my review will be informative enough to help you decide whether to see it or not. Just a little foreshadowing….go see it.
Elf the Musical is based on the 2003 holiday movie Elf starring Will Farrell about a human baby who found his way into Santa’s bag during his Christmas visit to a local orphanage. Since the boy was already an orphan, Santa and his elves decided to raise the child at the north pole just as they would any elf child. The problem was Buddy, the human boy, grew to be over six feet tall. After a small slip of the tongue by one of the other elves, Buddy learns that he is indeed human and asks Santa about his parents. It is then that Buddy decides to go and find his father in the big city of New York.
NETwork Presentations LLC’s production of this family Christmas musical was alive with high energy musical numbers, colorful set pieces and smooth transitions from scene to scene. In the past decade or two, Broadway and national tours have started to move toward high tech sets and stage work which include hgh intensive set changes, creative light and sound effects, and even some pyrotechnics. Very recently I have noticed a small shift back to a more classical route where the set pieces are simple but painted well, the lighting is simple and the music and sound are achieved by a live orchestra instead of musical tracks. This musical is a perfect example. This simpler style has shifted the responsibility of the quality of productions back to the performers and less to the designers of sets, sound and lighting. In my opinion it makes for a better show, but I may be a little biased.
The play opens up with Santa (Gordon Gray) sitting in his living room fighting with his television set. He opens the fourth wall and greets the audience as if we were sitting on the floor right in his living room. After subtly turning off his cell phone, he opens a book and prepares to tell us the story of Buddy the Elf. At the point the living room is whisked away to Santa’s workshop where the elves are preparing for Christmas. Gordon’s depiction of Santa throughout the play is wonderful. His energy and boastfulness helped me to get lost in the show and actually believe I was at the north pole.
Matt Kopec’s characterization of Buddy is spot on as his high energy, child like characterization makes the audience believe this six-foot boy really does believe he is an elf and is horrified when he finds out he is actually human. Matt’s singing voice is pure musical theater and was a joy to hear every time he opened his mouth. I found myself waiting impatiently for his next number.
The real treat came from the character of Jovie (Kae Hennies), who captures Buddy’s heart the moment he sees her in the office of his biological father, Walter Hobbs (Drew Culver). Jovie has to be coaxed in to singing during the number “A Christmas Song”, but when she finally decides to sing out, her voice beautifully resonates throughout the theatre and when paired with Buddy’s the duo create pure musical brilliance for any ear.
Other notable performances were by Michael, Buddy’s half brother played by Connor Barth who even as a young actor, had a mature voice for his age. He tended to get a little pitchy in the upper registers, but because of his characterization was easily missed and forgivable. Julia Louise Hosack played Emily Hobbs, Buddy’s step mother, also had a fantastic musical voice and she was able to lead Michael into musical duets that gave me the “warm fuzzies”. The connection and chemistry between these two well trained actors allowed me to believe they were really mother and son.
The only drawback of this production that tugged me out of my holiday nirvana, was the voice of Drew Pulver whom played Walter Hobbs, Buddy’s father. His performance was not inferior, it just did not mix well the rest of the ensemble in my humble opinion. It was obvious to the audience that most of the ensemble were trained in contemporary music or musical theater When Walter sang it was clearly operatic, to a point where the words were garbled and I couldn’t make out the lyrics. Unfortunately, every time he sang it was distracting and his voice did not meld with the rest of the ensemble.
This show is classical musical theatre with simply painted sets, wonderful acting, and is sure to bring a smile to you and your family should you decide to see it. It is a true Holiday treat.
Elf the Musical is playing at
Straz Center for the Performing Arts
1010 North W.C. MacInnes Place
Tampa, Florida 33602
November 20-25
Wed. 7:30 p.m.
Fri. 2 and 8 p.m.
Sat. 2 and 8 p.m.
Sun. 1 and 6:30 p.m.
Fri. 2 and 8 p.m.
Sat. 2 and 8 p.m.
Sun. 1 and 6:30 p.m.
Milestone Monday & Magic Number 6
Happy Monday Everyone. I know it isn’t much but this will be a small milestone as it’s the 20th blog I have written. I have not achieved the frequency of my friend Kat at Sneakers and Fingerpaints who writes 30-40 entertaining and quality posts a month, but I am working up to it. I would really like to allow you to follow me through this last week as I get ready for the Revolution 3 Florida 70.3 this weekend, so I am going to attempt to write a blog a day on my thoughts, workouts and other tasks I am doing in order be as fresh and strong as possible for this 70.3 Triathlon. The Magic Number is 6. Six days until the race.
This weekend was filled with slightly less intensity of training as I started the tapering process for the Rev3. On Saturday the A-Train completed a pretty intense 6 mile run followed by a swim in the extremely choppy surf of Clearwater beach. It was perfect weather for a run which took us along the beach and over the Sand Key Bridge. This was a good last quad burner for some explosiveness during the run portion next week. I always like running with Nick Z. He is an extremely fast runner so even though he is not running at his pace, he pushes me to keep my pace a little faster than usual. Not quite a tempo run, but fast enough for this shake out run.
I went up to the ballroom level of the Hyatt right near Pier 60 after the run and had a chance to get to know one of our new members Jessica M. The hotel is very plain from the outside but inside it is really beautiful. We bought a couple of beverages at the coffee kiosk and then went outside to chat and found comfy couches and chairs with views for the water and the beach. A perfect wind down to a tough workout. Jessica is a recent transplant from Brooklyn, New York, with a love for working out and running. We found out during the Miles for Hope ride how tough this woman really is. I mentioned in that post that we averaged about 18.5 mph during that ride. Ms. Jessica kept up with us the whole way on a recently purchased bike, with no cages or clips on her feet. She did the whole thing with running shoes and flat pedals. That had to be really difficult. I probably couldn’t have been able to keep up.
Sunday we rode a semi-fast 42 miles on the Sun Coast Trail. We started with seven riders and it was very comfortable. of course I lost the valve to my Speedfill early in the ride, but with two backup bottles I was still able to hydrate effectively. The ride started a little chilly for Florida. I don’t know the exact temperature, but it felt low 60s. I was concerned at first because I really wasn’t prepared with long sleeves or with arm warmers, but after a brief warm-up spin, Pete broke away for a bit and I followed. At 23 mph and spinning at at a cadence of 95 rpm, I ended up getting my heart rate up and I warmed up very fast. As we closed in on the baseball fields, marking the halfway point, Pete took it up another notch and we were both hitting 25-27 mph for the mile prior. Oh did I mention the first half was with a decent head wind? I didn’t realize it till I looked down at my Garmin and noticed I was working pretty hard to keep 19-20 mph. The group and I took quick break and then headed back which turned out to be faster and easier due to the tail wind. Pete and I kept a pretty good pace the rest of the ride with Jaime, Stephanie and one other gentlemen on our wheels. About 6 miles prior to being back to the cars, Pete decided to hang back a bit and Steph got rolling with a really nice pace so we played cat and mouse sticking to about a 21-23 mph pace. It was a fun ride, but luckily not too intense to keep our legs for next weeks race.
I went home, showered, rolled, stretched and then headed for a really good brunch at Grillsmith. If you have not had their brunch I highly recommend it.
This morning I woke up extremely lazy, but I knew if I didn’t jump into the pool, I would come up with every excuse in the book not to do it later. Amy, my coach, had me doing a short workout but was form focused which is what I need right now.
WARM UP:
200 WARM UP
50 CATCH UP STROKE
50 ON YOUR SIDE (1,2,3 X 5 KICKS ON SIDE)
50 ARM STOP AND LOOK
50 KICK BOARD CATCH UP
50 KICK FREE STYLE
100 PULL BUOY, FEELING THE GLIDE
MAIN SET:
All repeats are with a steady Rest Interval (RI):
10 X 100 ALL OUT!
10 SEC REST BETWEEN INTERVALS
COOL DOWN:
2 X 25 UNDERWATER NO BREATH
200 FORM FOCUS SWIM
LUNGES
As you can see it wasn’t a long swim by any stretch, but it was enough for me. I actually love these workouts, because of the intervals. It doesn’t seem like it takes as long. This workout took me about 45 minutes, where I am usually in the pool close to 75-90. See since I really do not like long workouts, I probably need to do more of them, you think?
My diet today will consist of a good amount of protein with vegetables and a good amount of water. Breakfast was 4 eggs, sweet potato and turkey sausage with salsa, Lunch will be a spinach and romaine salad with a lot of chicken, vegetables and a splashed with a light balsamic vinaigrette and dinner with be a lean steak with another sweet potato and green beans with almonds. In between, I have a protien shake for morning and an apple and almonds for this afternoon snacks. Pretty lame for a day of eating but I’ll enjoy it nonetheless.
That should take care of Manic Monday. Tomorrow I hope to start a regular post called Tribute Tuesday where I choose one person whom has greatly affected me positively and give you my story of the why and how, and then I interview them in order to let you into their personalities.
CARPE VIAM!!
Magnificent Monday & a Goof Restaurant Review
The mailbox provided a gift when I got home today. It will seem pretty cheesy to most people, and by most people I mean almost everyone. Vistaprint offered me a free sample prototype while I was trying to negotiate customized t-shirts for the A-Train. Of course I didn’t need to give them our final design, since I didn’t have one yet, so I gave them something quick, but I thought it was kinda cool. Ready for a laugh? Here ya go.
(Pause for laughter)
On a serious note the t-shirt is soft and is decent quality and the printing is well done. If you need quick turnaround on shirts I would say that Vistaprint does a decent job. I wouldn’t say it did as well as Fit2Run here in Tampa, but it may be a little less expensive.
The weekend was filled with some great training and some pretty good pizza. “Wait. Did he just say pizza? ” Yes, I said pizza from Anthony’s Coal Stone Pizza. Those whom know me understand that I usually follow a pretty strict Paleo lifestyle, but one meal a week I treat myself, especially while I have been training as hard as I have been. Pizza is something I cannot seem to drop completely, and I really don’t have any intention of doing so.
I am a pizza connoisseur. I have had pizza from all over the world, so it takes a lot to impress me. I have had a hard time here in Florida finding a decent pie, but luckily Anthony’s just opened up here in South Tampa on Dale Mabry. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised. My favorite pizza of all time is in New York City, at John’s Pizza on 44th St between 7th and 8th Avenues, but obviously it takes a little bit of effort to eat there. Anthony’s is by far the best I have tasted in Florida and it takes 3rd or 4th on my list of pizza’s I have had the pleasure of gorging on.
Not only is the pizza extremely tasty, but the service is second to none with a great selection of beers, wines and coal fired wings that are absolutely to die for. The first time you eat at Anthony’s they give you a couple of wings to sample with grilled onions on them. They have no buffalo sauce on them and they do not need it. They have an excellent dry rub that after being cooked at 900 degrees the meat is tender and nearly falls right off the bone with an exquisite taste. Everything at the restaurant is cooked in a coal fired oven. There are no other ovens or microwaves, everything is cooked fresh.
The pizza comes straight from the oven to your table with just this little bit of charing on the edges. It is a super thin crust that is flakes and is crispy. The sauce is made everyday where the you can still taste the tomatoes, garlic, salt and pepper as it mixes with the rich blend of cheeses and topping in your mouth. Truly a treat, and it pretty much has to be because it is by far not the least expensive pizza in the world.
Anthony’s Pizza gets – G, G, G, G – 4 out of 5 Goofs. (I know, I know that makes this blog even more cheesy, but give me a break I am trying to start a brand here.)
(Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza did not compensate me to write this review)
Have a great week!
Carpe Viam!