The blogs I read every day –a compilation of awesomeness

I read a lot out on the web, well, I try to read a lot anyway.  Sometimes I fail, and sometimes things slip through – but my general goal is to consume as much goodness as possible and pass it along to you.  In my Google RSS reader I’ve apparently got 208 feeds that I subscribe to.  Add to that another 30-40 that go straight into Outlook via another RSS tool.  Now, the reality is that I don’t quite read all of that every day – there is a lot of skimming. But there are some feeds that I really do read the entirety of, which is the basis of this post.

So, for your enjoyment (and their unexpected link love), here’s some of the best stuff that I read daily – sorted by category (the same way I sort by categories).  I’ve limited it to the top 4-6 per category…otherwise you’d likely be distracted reading their cool blogs for hours!

Sports Technology Industry:
These are the folks in the industry that have active blogs, or rather interesting blogs. There are more out there, but these guys update frequently.

Garmin Blog: This one’s probably pretty self-explanatory.

RunKeeper Blog: From the folks behind RunKeeper, who appear set on quiet world domination in the sports industry.

The Quantified Self: If you like tracking data about yourself, you’ll probably like this blog. It’s a health geek’s heaven.

Brim Brothers: While their product is a ways out still, this is the place to get information on it as it becomes available. Updates are rare, but when they pop into Google Reader, it’s like a little Christmas present.

The Zeology Blog: These are the folks behind Zeo, the sleep analysis machine that I use. Their blog goes into lots of cool sleep related topics.

TrainingPeaks Blog: While they talk about their product (obviously), they actually spend more time talking about training tips and how to get the most from your training.

Austin Tri-Cyclist: This is the blog from a tri shop in Austin, but really – it’s about just about everything else triathlon related. Always fun and informative reads.

Endurance Sports News:
There are plenty of cycling-specific news blogs, and even some good triathlon news blogs. But I like the folks below since they tend to have unique perspectives.

EveryManTri – Pretty much anything to do with endurance sports gets on here, usually the more unique stories.

Slowtwitch: Of course you can find my stuff here, but you’ll also find the latest on the sport’s top athletes as well as some usually very detailed interview posts.

Science of Sport: Just imagine my sports technology review posts, but applied to sports science. Imagined? Good, that’s them.

Cycling Tips: If you love great photos, videos and commentary about cycling – you’ll love these guys. Sometimes I wish I could figure out a way to frame their videos on my walls at home.

Professional Triathletes/Coaches/Etc:
There’s a lot of pro triathlete and coach blogs out there – and some of them quite good, but these are the handful that I actually follow and read daily.

Ben Collins: ITU triathlete, tri geek, from Seattle (my hometown!), and winner of this years NYC Triathlon.

Simon Whitfield: Three time Olympian triathlete, two time medalist, and full of interesting and photogenic/videogenic stories.

ChuckieV:  Chuck’s a triathlon coach with some opinionated views…but views that generally match that of my own coach.  Always a good reality check.

Joe Friel: The godfather of triathlon coaching, not reading him would be like not reading Julia Child’s cookbooks.

Paulo: I don’t always agree with everything he writes, but then again – many don’t.  But his opinion is always worth a read. In his spare time he’s the coach of elite national teams, and Simon Whitfield’s past coach.

Joel Filliol: Once the head of the Canadian National Team, then the British National Team, he’s always got some interesting things to say about the elite levels in the sport.

Up and Coming Pro triathletes/athletes:
I enjoy following along as folks work there way through the sport. It’s fun to see successes, and to read about how they also learn and adapt from the days that didn’t go as well.

Lindsey Jerdonek and Lauren Harrison: Ok, it probably doesn’t hurt that Lindsey is regularly at the house with The Girl and I cooking dinner, but from a triathlete standpoint these two have been working their way onto both the short and long distance pro scene. Funny stories abound.

Jackie Crowell: A cyclist that’s been competing on the women’s national team and travelling the world as part of it.  Pretty cool, and usually funny posts.

Justin Harris: A triathlete that’s been working his way up the system for the past few years.  He’s a good reality check on what it really means to start at the bottom and work your way up.

Kirsten Sweetland: I probably should have put her in the ‘Pro’ triathletes category since she’s already ‘arrived’.  Nevertheless, a more entertaining look at the pro triathletes life from both a training and non-training standpoint.

Non-Professional (Regular Peeps) Triathletes with cool/fun blogs:
While reading from the pro’s is impressive, I find that sometimes reading from everyone else is even more so impressive.  Plus, where else would you get to read about someone’s miscalculation with using poison ivy as toilet paper on a trail run?

Running and Rambling: If you like running, and you like reading about running – especially trail running – then Don’s blog is the place for you. Seriously, just click.

Sun Safety Barbie: From Hawaii (though racing IM Louisville shortly), she takes a hilarious approach to pretty much everything with triathlon.  Always funny. And also fun to swim with, swam with her in Honolulu a few years ago.

Frayed Laces: Frayed was hanging out in Hawaii with SSB (above), but is temporarily in Providence. Why? She’s following a boy (though her official cover story is following a job).  Either way,  good reads from triathlete/runner.

Coach Liz: She’s from Texas, and coaches TNT triathletes – but is also a veteran Ironman and marathon runner.  Antics aplenty.

A Code Geek’s Trail: A generally straight forward blog of training…with just the perfect amount of occasional geek tossed in – hence why it makes the cut.

Spokane Al: Al’s been there with me since the beginning. Like, years ago beginning.  Him, Curly, Running Shorts, Quad and Spinster ((read them too). Plus he’s fast, like dang fast…for an old guy. ;)

For everyone else in this category I follow, just see my sidebar list…

Stuff that has absolutely nothing to do with triathlon:
While I do love sport, I’m interested in quite a few other things as well – food, aviation, travel, photography, etc… Here’s a sampling:

Bertie’s Bakery: What, you thought I wouldn’t include my wife’s blog? I read it every day – primarily to ensure I haven’t done something wrong.

Seattle Food Geek: Imagine DC Rainmaker meets the kitchen.  Same crazy geekness, but applied to food.

Barefoot Kitchen Witch: My Aunt. She cooks awesome stuff, and writes about it. Oh, and their family was in our wedding – kids were ring bearer and flower girl, while their dad played the guitar. Cuteness pictures may show up someday.

The Pioneer Woman: If you like endless photos of pretty food…and lots of humor – read her.

Chase Jarvis: A photographer from Seattle with quite a following.  Good little tidbits thrown about.

View from the Wing: A travel blog keeping me up to date on various promotions in the points world.

The Cranky Flier: If you travel a lot, you’ll love Cranky’s well informed (and bluntly hilarious) views on the airline industry.

Information Dissemination: Stuff related to naval policy and ships. Interesting insight that tells the story much better than the short clips you see on CNN.

Flight Blogger: Detailed reporting of the commercial airline world – again, kinda like what I do here, except with Boeing, Airbus and others.

Greater Greater Washington: A blog about how to make Washington DC better from a livability standpoint.

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Ok, I didn’t exactly intend on that being as long as it was – sorry! And just think – there’s another 200 or so blogs that I didn’t list, eek!  So if you read me but weren’t listed above – I still may read you, it’s just that I realized my whole goal of 4-6 per chunk didn’t quite work out…so I had to cut back.

Thanks for reading – and go out and enjoy some of these folk’s blogs – they rock!

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