The 2011 Polar Bear Plunge…with a duck.

Sometimes it’s easy to get friends to join in my adventures.  Yet other times, the crowd seems to disperse a bit.  Take for example, the Polar Bear Plunge.  I heard all assortment of reasons as to why a few in the small group wouldn’t be able to make it (perhaps last year scared them off).  No worries though, they just wouldn’t get the uber-stylish sweatshirt.

But luckily…at least two friends had no particularly good excuse for avoiding the plunge.  So, we loaded up the car just after lunch on Saturday and headed towards Annapolis, about 45 minutes away.  Once there you transfer at the United States Naval Academy Football Stadium to an army of waiting school buses, which transfer you to the actual plunge site.

The reason for the extra transportation was the sheer number of folks participating.  By some counts nearly 15,000 folks had registered – pretty massive really.  Our arrival at the site re-enforced that the water was indeed cold in these parts:

After disembarking we hit up the registration tent to confirm our registration and sign a waiver prior to getting a wristband.  The wristband ensures that if you freeze to death you can’t blame them for it.

After picking up the all important wristband we went a few tents down and received our epic sweatshirts.  I don’t actually have a good photo of the sweatshirt by itself, but no worries – just imagine something from the 1980’s with lots of wild colors…then imagine it on a sweatshirt…now you’re done imagining.

Because the event is HUGE, they even give you a map covering the whole grounds – like a giant fair or festival – check it out:

As we were trying to find our way to the water (primary mission objective), we stumbled into a ramp with snowboarders on it.  Given the lack of normal ski hills for snowboarding in this region, we could only assume this would end badly for the participants.  So logically we stayed to watch.

We’ve even got some of them on video crashing…but we’ll keep that for the private collection.

Following the face-plant action, we soldiered on in search of the beach.  Along the way we stumbled past some Ms. Maryland USA folk…

…and then we stumbled on some folks that…well…I don’t know what:

On the bright side, after watching her almost fall into the trash can we turned around to find the beach – just prior to everyone bombarding it:

Yet just a few minutes later, pure craziness:

I spent this time getting Mr. Duck all inflated.  Of course I took him all the way home from Jordan.  You didn’t think I was going to leave him behind did you?

Soon he was all set- just like the never ending line of rescue folks in dry suits that formed a human water-wall a few meters into the bay.

As we were just finishing up our preparations, they signaled the start of the 3PM plunge.  In one of the most confusing displays of human behavior I’ve seen to date, thousands of people ran a few feet into the water…and then bolted back the opposite direction towards dry land – all screaming like little 5 year old girls.

We meanwhile, prepared to go in.  Me in the duck, Lindsay in the Pink Hat, and The Girl behind her in the Bear Hat.

We approached the water – with The Girl’s sister taking control of the all important video and photo tasks (and somehow wisely avoiding the actual plunge component herself).

And with a burst of otherwise foolish energy, I bounded into the very cold bay:

Not very long after that…I came running back out...very...very…fast:

(P.S. – It is of my opinion that merely plunging to your knees while wearing a ski outfit does not quite meet the full definition of ‘plunging’…but to each their own I suppose.)

One might think that departure from the sea would equal warmth…turns out – that’s not the case.  In fact, I’m relatively certain that after Mr. Ducky and I went our separate ways, I was actually colder.  Specifically – my feet were colder.  I suppose the snow covered ground probably didn’t help.

Oh – and don’t worry, Mr. Ducky survived to leave another day…another adventure.

And so to did the The Girl (aka…The Fiancée):

A mere 11 minutes after the plunge began…the beaches were empty:

And with that…the 2011 Plunge was over.  We grabbed our complimentary hot dogs and headed on out past the giant polar bear towards the buses:

Oh…and we even got a sticker!

Thank you again to all those who have donated thus far!  In total the event has raised over $2,100,000US towards the Maryland Special Olympics – that’s enormous!  Fear not though, you can still donate here – remember, a couple bucks goes a long way towards making the dream come true for Special Olympic athletes.  Thanks all!

Week in Review–January 29th, 2011

I’ve long since wondered what to do with all the random tidbits of things I collect each week – or the little thoughts that don’t quite make for a full post.  But I finally came up with a solution: The Week in Review Post.  This takes the place of my Weekly Mailbag – which is over on Slowtwitch.  These are just quick snippets of things that I’ve found interesting.  Nice and easy Saturday reading.  Plus, a recap of my Weekly Mailbag post a well.

So with that, let’s get into the action!

Weekly Mailbag Over at Slowtwitch.com:  
This week I covered a wide variety of items over on the big ST.  Check it out:

1) Limitations and choice with Garmin power meter head units
2) CompuTrainer and RacerMate One Software
3) New Nike+ and TomTom Running GPS Partnership (Nike+ Sportwatch)

You can read all my past weekly mailbags at Slowtwitch here.  Or the pre-Slowtwitch days here.

Posts this past week:  
A wide variety of posts this week covering quite a range of stuff.  Here’s what landed on the page:

Saturday: Week in Review – January 22nd, 2011
Monday: A weekend and wedding update
Monday Night: Garmin Forerunner 310XT Giveaway Results
Tuesday: What do you want in your ideal sports watch?
Wednesday: The State of my State: 2010 Review Edition
Thursday: The Russian DCRainmaker Brother from another Mother

Stuff that I found interesting around the interwebs:  
I don’t know what happened exactly…but I went all overboard on links.  There was just so much cool stuff out there this week.  It’s like people finally got all productive after a holiday slump…craziness!

#1) Real Life of the Triathlon Pro’s: Wanna know what a normal pro triathlete’s life is really like?  Wanna know how they have to battle house cats at host family homes?  Read on.

#2) (Hilarious) Interview with Phil Liggettt: I love Fat Cyclist, always amazing writing.  This (real) interview with the voice of the Tour de France (for us watching Universal anyway) is awesome and well worth it.

#3) UCI Smackdown: You may remember last week’s mention on the UCI bike protocols.  Well, it’s been temporarily repealed (yet not repealed).

#4) UCI Smackdown Part II: Ok, Fat Cyclist again.  If you want to read something hilarious…or  informative on the UCI front…just read this.

#5) Ironman Wedding: Given I’m deep in the midst of wedding planning – I thought this Ironman themed wedding was pretty interesting.

#6) Nokia’s Secret ANT+ Chips in Phones: I think the title covers it all pretty well.  It’s been all the buzz this past week.

#7) Are we seeing the end of the Nike & Apple relationship?  A good article exploring what appears to be a slow falling out between the two giants.

#8) Running the twitter bird: Many might accuse me of having too much time (though, I don’t know how).  However, this one takes the case.  In a cool sorta way.

#9) RunKeeper goes free: Forever (not just January anymore).  RunKeeper’s Pro version is now free – hit up the link for all your download goodness.  Oh…and then catch this good analysis about how RunKeeper is killing their business model (Thanks Ben for the heads up on the second article).

#10) Tour down Under behind the Scenes bike geekout: A great and very photogenic look at the bike parts and advanced cycling technology down at the Tour.

#11) Garmin Vector (Metrigear) Update: Albeit brief, this update basically confirms that Vector will be fully compliant with all existing ANT+ power meter head units out there today (there’s been some speculation that only newer units supporting the updated ANT+ device profile with pedal-based right/left power would be required).

#12) Cyclist ticketed for speeding in my hometown: I’m not gonna lie – I’d love to have been the person to get this ticket…especially given this area of the city is pancake flat.  At least in this area if you’re getting a ticket going 31MPH in a 25MPH zone…you’re likely working for it.

#13) CompuTrainer Workout File Generator: Completely random…yet completely cool.  If you use CompuTrainer workout files to create your own text based workouts, this thread covers a cool little page you can use to quickly create workouts via automated means (totally free).

#14) Wanna Intern at Garmin this summer: Noticed this yesterday in their Garmin Jobs feed (always useful for watching what new technologies they’re looking for people on).  FYI that they want interns for next summer.

#15) Note…don’t ya’ll be expecting now you’ll get 15 links next week…that’d be just gettin’ greedy!

Random Note #1: Pool Mate Pro

Thanks to a reader with a spare Pool Mate Pro, I’ve got my hot little hands on one to put together a review.  I’ve been using it and thus far found it’s going lap for lap accurate with the Swimsense.  Look for an initial ‘First look’ type review post next week.  At some point following that I’ll go head to head feature by feature between it and the Swimsense.

Random Note #2: One Millllllliooooon

Sometime late Monday night one of you became my one-millionth visitor…and interestingly just a few hours prior someone viewed a page which became the two millionth page served around these parts.  Crazy…huh?  Thanks everyone!

(For those curious about those spikes in August, it’s from back to back linkage from Engadget on the Edge 800 and then Timex Global Trainer Reviews)

I would throw a party…but instead later today I’m going to jump into a nearly frozen Chesapeake Bay and freeze my ass off.  Hmm…

Have a great weekend all!

The Russian DCRainmaker brother from another mother?

Given it’s a snowy Thursday here in the nation’s capital – I figured this would be the perfect time to unleash a post that’s been sitting in my drafts for months…from one snowy place to another.

A while ago a reader sent me something that no doubt falls squarely the the category of…well…’unique’. Now, I understand this is not far from my normal repertoire, but I have long since excepted that some of you have already given me the label ‘unique’.

Meet Birukov Sergey, of somewhere cold in Russia.  I don’t really know where in Russia…but I do know there’s snow. Thus it’s cold.  Probably really cold.

At first glance you may wonder why I’m showing you a picture of a mountain biker in the snow - after all, there are tons of people who go out and mountain bike each year in the snow.  But in order to see the whole picture, you need to ignore the majority of the picture.

So let’s take a closer look at what’s on his arms:

Yes folks, that’s indeed a lineup of sport devices…GPS sport devices no less.  The stockpile even includes our classic touch bezel friend the Garmin Forerunner 405.

Of course, as we work our way through his article, we find this shot:

Which…looks a lot like the shot I took last year in my post on indoor training devices:

Hmm…I think I’ve got a twin somewhere in Russia!  I have to give him credit in that he’s managed to get all those watches on there and still keep his bike fully functional from a usability standpoint. You’ll notice that in his setup the watches are completely locked in place.  Whereas in mine I probably couldn’t even breath hard without them all falling off.

Of course, the challenge with his likely very in-depth article is that there’s one minor detail: I don’t speak Russian. Which is really too bad.  As I suspect there’s some really good detailed analysis in all those squiggly characters:

However, with a bit of help from Google Translate, I can at least understand at a basic level that he’s providing a super in-depth massively long detailed review and comparison of the watch, GPS and heart rate functionality – appropriate for even the most stringent of DCRainmaker In Depth Review standards.

However…I think he crossed the line. 

That’s not to say I don’t occasionally cross the line into whacky myself. 

Ok, perhaps I cross it more than occasionally.  A lot more.

But I haven’t don’t the following…yet. 

Behold…well…I’m not sure what to call this:

And thus, I have nothing more to say.  I merely leave you to ponder the above photo for the next 24 hours or so.

Thanks all for reading.  And thanks Birukov if you happen to read this, for the awesomeness you’ve put out there!

The State of My State: 2010 Review Edition

Administrative Note #1: Thanks for the incredible response yesterday in the ‘What do you want in a sport watch?’ post.  It’s coming up on nearly 100 comments.  But not just quick comments – these are incredibly detailed and well thought through comments – amazing stuff!  I’ve received notes from folks in the industry that say “We are reading it -  every post, sentence, and word!” – so you’re voice is most certainly being heard!  I hope to consolidate much of the feedback in the next week or so and identify some trends – so keep it coming!

Administrative Note #2: The fact that the State of the Union was this past night clearly goes to prove that my blog is becoming so popular that even the President is copying my post titles (no, the fact that I’m publishing it after his speech doesn’t mean he didn’t secretly copy my draft post).  Nuff said!

-

The majority of athletes in the blog world complete their 2010 recap’s at some point either in late 2010 (last week or so of December), or shortly after the new year.  I on the other hand…have been slackin’.

Every January I go through a ‘State of my State’ post talking about the past year.  That’s typically followed by talking about the upcoming year.

Here is 2009, 2008, and 2007.

The past year was focused on short distance triathlon – with nothing longer than an Olympic Distance race.  This was for two reasons. First, I needed a year of ‘less Ironman’ after 2009 having two Ironman races and some marathons.  And secondly – I knew my work travel would be increased. Given the amount of international travel that was on the radar, it would simply not be possible to effectively train for a competitive Ironman time.

So, let’s start at the beginning of the year.  And I because I want to slowly work my way to my ‘A’ races, I start off with some less critical stuff.

January:

There’s only one word for this: Cold.

Sorry, actually, there are two words: Very Cold.

My first ‘competition’ of sorts was the Polar Bear Plunge.  You know…It’s the same one I’ll be doing again this weekend…the same one I’m raising money for!  And there’s still time, you can donate to help out the Special Olympics here!

Suffice to say, we had a blast!  If you haven’t viewed the video in that post – it’s one of my all-time favs!

Oh, and before I move on…did I mention you can help support the Special Olympics here…you know – competing athletes – just like us!

February:

The second month of the year didn’t have a race per se, but it was technically still a running event.

The Washington DC Cupids Undies Run – benefiting a good cause.  And while all the photos here are normally of me, I figured I’d spice things up a bit and give you a photo of Rob instead, since we ran it together.  Here he is pondering something profound in front of the Supreme Court.

Happy ladies?  Good deal.  You can check out the rest of the pics here.

March:

With some solid winter training under my belt, I hit up my first legit race of the year.  Like most in the triathlon community, this time of year it’s still running race time.  So I started with the St. Patrick’s Day 8K running around Washington DC.

I was pretty happy with this initial season opener.  I clocked in a sub-30 time which gave me an average split of 5:59/mile – my first race going sub-6!

I then followed that up a week later with an indoor triathlon race out in Seattle – the Rainman Indoor Triathlon.

I won that.

…and I ran sub-6 again!

Off to a good start!

April:

April brought my first fully outdoor triathlon of the season.  It also brought the one race of the year with the best name – the Rumpass in Bumpass.  Pretty awesome really.

While the kinks were still getting worked out in my race execution, I was happy with a 2nd place AG finish, and a Top 20 overall.  Plus, who could forget the epic RV adventures?

May:

And this is where things all went a bit downhill.  I was signed up for my first ‘Elite AG’ race – the Rev3 Knoxville Olympic Distance Triathlon.  I came out of the water with a pretty good time for me – I’m not the fastest swimmer - but this was a solid PR, and thus I was happy with that position.  From there I was making progress on the bike during that leg, just ticking away folks as best I could.

And then…well…then this happened mid-race a few miles from finishing up the bike portion:

Aside from the dent in his car and my bike, this would ultimately put a bigger dent in my training.  Though, I did get a new bike out of it.

After weeks of back and forth the doctors found that I had fractured my femoral condyle (femur).  Go figure!  That led to reduced running and thus, reduced performances.

June:

After weeks of little to no running, I had a race scheduled in late June – the Tidewater Olympic Distance Triathlon.  While certainly not ideal from a race timing standpoint, the course being flat offered an opportunity to try my hand at a few new PR’s.

Despite my best efforts, a subpar run did me in from a PR standpoint.  I did manage to take a 3rd place AG award though!  And, perhaps even better – I got this sweet photo on the beach!

July:

Ahh…July!  Finally, my ‘A’ race on the calendar.  The New York City Triathlon…Elite AG Wave.  Ready for the big show!  Well, that and an unreal dive start!  Craziness!

After the madness that was the downstream swim, I was onto the bike.  Though, for reasons that still aren’t clear to me today – the bike just didn’t jive.  You know when it just doesn’t feel right?  Well, that was the bike portion that day.

But, on the bright side – my run was pretty kickass.  I went 39:00 on the 10K run and was passing folks like crazy.  Additionally I tossed out a 10K triathlon run PR – so I was pretty happy to with that portion.

August:

I was prepared.

I was set.

I was totally ready to dominate.

And then…

…I got three flat tires…in the same race.

Who gets three flat tires?  Seriously?  WHO!?!

That’s over $200 in replacement tires.  Crazy!

Too bad really, I was in very good position to take an overall podium spot. :-/

September:

At this point my schedule was week after week of both domestic and international travel – so any races were merely ‘for fun’, which at that point in the season is what most folks want anyway.  I was up near my hometown Seattle, so I gave the Kirkland Triathlon a whirl.

I had a good solid swim, an entertainingly hilly bike – and a pretty darn fast run…despite falling flat on my face in the process.  Doh!

But, who else gets cool blood photos like this?

Nobody. That’s who.

Finally…October!

After arriving back into the states about 12 hours before the race started from another whirlwind international trip, this race was definitely a hail-Mary of sorts.  Last race of the season – throw it all out there…whatever little I had left in my jet-lagged body to give to the Giant Nut…well, the Giant Acorn.

Once the race started I simply just went as hard as I could until I found the finish.  It wasn’t the pinnacle of my racing season – but it was enough to get me a rock! A shinny rock no less…which meant that I got on the podium!  Woot to rocks! 

And just like that my 2010 triathlon season was over!

What’s next:

With no fall running races on my calendar due to non-stop international travel, I wrapped up racing for the year.  But next year…well…that won’t be the case. :)

More on this year’s (2011) schedule soon…

What do you want in your ideal sports watch?

Let me just state this up front: Everyone’s reading...so here’s your chance.

Everyone…your chance.

But…let’s not get ahead of ourselves quite yet.

This past summer I put together a post titled “How I would design the ideal sports watch”, which basically outlined exactly what I want in a sports watch.  To date, nobody has delivered on that yet.  To date, companies have put out products that ultimately fall short of the sports community’s expectations and requests.  And to date…I keep waiting.

Last week during the survey and subsequent FR410 review, I heard over and over how you’d love for me to be a bigger public advocate for some of the features and functionality you want in sports technology devices.  You all know (and noted) that I push behind the scenes for quite a bit of change – and generally succeed in getting it.  Though there are of course some areas I’m still chipping away it.

At the same time, when I go into meetings and conference calls with the big sports watch makers one of the most talked about items is what trends and feedback I’m seeing.  In addition, they often request that I forward repeated feature requests to them that are of note…which I do.

But…why not just put everything out on the table?  I visit forum after forum, and read e-mail after e-mail about what you guys want – and love the suggestions!  But the challenge is consolidating that feedback into an easily consumable and distributable package, that’s then deliverable to a variety of companies.  From the companies standpoint, it’s not easy to track down ideas across thousands of posts in dozens of forums or sites.

So, based on some of your suggestions in the survey – I want to change that.  Thus, this post.

Here’s your chance to let the sports watch makers know what you want in a device.  Most of these companies are in the final stretch of design for products releasing in the spring and summer.  They’re all sitting around the table every day making decisions about which features to cut, and which ones to save.  They’ll be making those decisions day after day until the products ultimately end up on store shelves.  And even after that – they’ll revisit those decisions in firmware updates week after week.

So – what do you want?

What’s important in a sports watch/device to you?

What are the things that keep you from buying product XYZ? If you would have bought product XYZ, but aren’t because it’s missing feature ABC – say that.

Be blunt, but be reasonable.  Focus on constructive things, and I suspect we’ll see constructive results.

As for everyone…yes, everyone is reading.  Yes, Garmin reads this daily (I’m told I’m a have a ‘cult following’ there).  Yes, Timex reads this daily.  Yes, Polar reads this daily.  Yes, Saris/CycleOps too.  And yes, every other sports technology company out there in the endurance sports world reads this.  They’ve asked for the feedback – and I think you have a ton of it you want to give.

So – what do you want?

Giveaway Results!

Thanks all for patience in the giveaway results!  Being the busy weekend, things pretty much just got packed (like the wedding invites).  Sorry!

But fear not…after 1,500 folks entered (representing over 2,200 entries!) and a lot of time sifting through Excel (I seriously need to find a better way…) – we have a winner!

Which, in my little Excel sheet is:

Woohoo, congrats Aninha!

For those that didn’t win – don’t worry – you can still go out and pick up your very own little orange watch and enjoy it for the upcoming tri season (or, if you’re upside-down in New Zealand, the peak of your current season). 

And if you utilize the link above, you help to support more giveaways like this.  It’s sorta like recycling: Utilize linkage > More Giveaways > More good stuffs for you.