He Wants, She Gets (I Mean Wants)

She Wants: She Gets: Though I haven’t been running as much as last year, I still want to be prepared for those runs in the cold of winter. However, when I wear a hat, I have to take down my ponytail and I hate having my hair down while running. So TrailHeads has come up with a solution! The ‘Goodbye girl ponytail’ hats! Lets you put your ponytail out the back but still cover your whole head

So I’ll be honest…I love my bike; my Cervelo P1. It works so well and I feel so good on it. But as Cliff knows, if there was one thing I would change, it would be to make it pink! During the Timberman 70.3 I rode almost the whole bike ride near a girl who had a pink bike…halfway through, I realized it was a Cervelo! My DREAM bike!! I didn’t know you could get a pink Cervelo! So here it is…on my wish list…(this isn’t the same one that the girl at Timberman had….I liked hers better!)

He Wants: Garmin 305.  If your still one of those people training with a Timex watch or even just a heart rate monitor, it’s time to get with the program.  You don’t have to be a total data head to enjoy the benefits of tracking all your data.  Uploading your last run or bike into a exercise tracker like Training Peaks makes it easy to see your progress.  You can also create workouts based on HR or distance.

She Gets: The next thing is something that I already have 2 of, but it might be a good idea for a gift for your running lady-friends! In the winter, its hard to find something that holds up to the wear and tear of 3-5 runs/week and washes well and stays very functional. I received this hoodie from my friends in 1^st year of med school and it was the best present ever; I bought myself a 2^nd one last year! It is the MEC thermal hoodie! Now I noticed this year that the 2009 model has added zipper…not sure if I like this feature or not as sometimes I wear it with nothing underneath. It has a light fleece lining and sleeves that run long, with thumb holes and a nice tight hood. The ratings on MEC are very positive and I agree! I love mine (wearing it right now actually!) And compared to similar styles, it is relatively cheap at $59.

He Wants: This is something I’ve come to find really handy in my swim training.  It’s very simple but also quite practical.  The Finis trainer is basically a metronome.  You can set it from 0.5s to 60mins,  the lower range is of the most interest to me because this little gadet can TELL you when to take a stroke swimming (not dying).  How many strokes do you take a second?  Olympic swimmers take 0.7 (thats basically wind milling for us amateurs).  Good triathletes go at about 0.88-0.9.  Pretty fast but definitely saving their energy.  The Finis trainer is water proof and fits inside your cap.  The downside is it DOES get really annoying between sets when you have to hear it keep beeping.

She Gets: SlimFins: As most of you who know me are very well aware, I am an AWFUL kicker. When I first started swimming, during the kicking drills, I could actually go backwards while full out kicking. My ankles are very inflexible, like most runners, but I am also doubly blessed (cursed?) by having very noticeable bow-legs. Therefore my legs are perfectly suited to do breast kick, but completely opposite for accomplishing a propelling freestyle kick. These fins would be perfect as they help to strengthen the muscles needed for kicking (because the toes are cut out, it distributes the force so that your upper leg muscles-the ones needed to kick-are engaged). It also helps the increase the flexibility of the ankles as well. And as a bonus, it’s a huge ego boost to strap on fins and FLY down the pool! You feel amazing!

He Wants: Powertap.  You probably hear your local roadies saying that if your not training with power, what are you training for.  I can’t agree more.  Although heart rate and percieved exertion are a decent indicator of fitness, power, doesn’t lie.  I’ve been lucky training with my Power Tap Pro that my numbers have been going up for the most part but at some point they will go down and I can see what happened from looking at my previous training.  It is an exspensive investment but if you want to up your cycling game; do it.

She Gets: Last but not least is one of the most important parts of being a triathlete: recovery! So this is my final wish…as Cliff  knows, in our future dream house, there are only 2 requests that I have. 1) a wood stove/fireplace and 2) a hottub!!! I have a bath almost every night because after walking around a hospitalal day/swimming/running, my back aches. If I had a hot tub however, it would make it so much easier to sooth those sore muscles…

He Wants: Disc covers to make your ordinairy training wheel into a super fly disc wheel.  This is probably the best money saver if you don’t have the cash to blow on lots of different wheels.  Simply call up WheelBuilder, tell the type of wheel you have and they send you the covers that can be mounted (and easily dismounted) to your wheel.  A $90 price tag that acts like a $700 purchase.