Internal Mono(b)log

.. that I never train without, ever, is my RoadID.

I have 3 of them: dog-tags, elite and slim. In fact, my 3 dogs each have one with their names and our contact info on them.

I’ve never needed my RoadID but knowing I have it with me and that it can speak for me if I cannot gives me great peace of mind, especially because so much of my training is done in remote areas and solo.

I want to share the love. Like this post on Facebook, Retweet it, and/or comment below for 1 entry each. Email me at “rick -at- internalmonoblog.com” and let me know how many entries you’ve earned. I’ll pick 3 winners from all the entries on July 1 and send you a coupon code for a RoadID of your very own.

Good luck!

I’ve had some time to gather some initial thoughts on the new Finis Neptune mp3 player.

A few things are obvious upon unboxing and a quick visual inspection:

• The waterproof cover on the usb charger has been replaced with a removable cable and surface contact mount on the display unit.  The original swimp3 had a little removable plastic cap over the usb port, the Swimp3.2 the usb cover was made of rubber and connected to the cable with a little tether.  The solution on the Neptune is, by far, the best to date: No extra bits that shouldn’t be exposed to water, no caps to lose.
• The previous Finis mp3 players had very simple user interfaces which were functional but limited: no play lists, no track selection.  With the display on the Neptune the UI has evolved to something more in line with what people expect of MP3 players today.   Most of the controls are on the display unit but Finis has also added a play/pause button on the left speaker.  The left speaker play/pause is very easily landmarked the tactile push provides great feedback.
• Stylistically the speakers look different and the cable interfaces look a little beefier than in previous player iterations.  I’ve always been a little nervous of the cable connections as they seem like a design weak-point to me.  (That said, I’ve never had a problem with a loose or broken wire, so maybe I’m just paranoid).

Loading music onto the Neptune was straightforward and easily accomplished, just as with the swimp3’s.   I put my long-time swimming tracklist onto the Neptune: This is a track list that I’ve had on successive swimp3’s for 3 years (yea I’m getting a little tired of it, but it’s comfortable like an old friend).

Taking the Neptune to the pool some additional 1st impressions:

• I thought the display unit may be heavy, clunky, or cumbersome in the water, but because of it’s placement it was really not noticeable at all.  Furthermore, with the swimp3’s there was the question of what to do with all the extra wire and charging plug.  The Neptune’s placement of the display unit (and I think shorter cables) cleans up this problem.
• The clips on the old SwiMP3s were always an issue for me: my fat thumbs just have a hard time hooking the little plastic tabs to get them on my goggle straps.  I was always concerned that I was going to over-stress them and break them off.  The Neptune fixed this peeve for me: the clips are now hinged like clothespins and are SO much easier to use.
• Last, but hardly least, the sound quality of the revised speakers is substantially improved!  I listen to trance when I swim.  Trance music generally has a pretty solid bass-line and I’d become accustomed to not having that bass response when I was in the pool.  When I started swimming with the Neptune the bass was back!  It was great to have the full depth of the tracks back playing in my head.

I’ve only had the Neptune in the water for about 3 hrs, but so far I’m really enjoying the Neptune.  I’ve always said that the SwiMP3s were the only real choices for underwater music players. The Neptune has definitely raised the bar!

Wow… quite the.. um… interesting(?)… tarnished past (and present)…

Monsanto’s Dirty Dozen: The 12 Most Awful Products Made By Monsanto.

Well it appears that my efforts to “go big” for the Heart and Stroke Foundation’s Ride for Heart this year fell pretty flat.  Currently sitting at $2500 of my $10,000 goal and I’m as tired of asking for donations as you are of hearing me ask.

This is my final, last ditch, surrendering call for any straggling donations.  Thanks to all who helped raise what I did.  I doubt I’ll do the ride again, at least for a few years.. I just hate the fundraising part.  Click below if you can free-up a few bucks for the cause.

Yesterday Finis officially announced their newest underwater MP3 player: the Neptune

Neptune is a waterproof MP3 player that provides the highest quality sound in the water without the use of ear buds. Neptune uses revolutionary Bone Conduction audio transmission to transmit crystal clear audio through the cheekbone directly into the inner ear.

My player is through customs and should be here shortly for evaluation and my review.  Stay tuned for updates.

The Neptune definitely addresses one of my (very minor) irritations with the SwiMP3: no way to select tracks/playlists.  It also appears to have potentially addressed some of the fragility around the wire connections to the earpieces.  From the literature it looks like Finis may have revised/improved upon the bone conduction speakers as well.  These and other questions will be answered soon 🙂

For now: Just Keep Swimming… Just Keep Swimming… 😛

This week the City of Toronto is planning to aerial spray for gypsy moths.  Thought they say the spray is safe for humans, we’ve all heard that before.

Aerial sprays will begin on Thursday morning between 5 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. in seven Etobicoke areas including Humber Valley Golf Course, Valecrest Road and North Drive, Royal York Road and the Kingsway, Thorncrest Road, Herne Hill, Princess Margaret Boulevard, Kipling Avenue and The Kingsway and Edenbridge Drive.

The second spray will take place on Friday morning at Moore Park, Cherry Beach Park, Toronto Island Park and Tam O’Shanter Golf course.

Two aerial sprays planned to combat European Gypsy Moth

Please spread the word and everyone train safe out there!

Day 3 brought us a 50ish KM time trial on the bike and then some short tempo runs with video analysis in the afternoon.

Here’s my TT.  Was pretty happy with it, especially given the baked feeling my legs have at the moment.

Was definitely channeling Jens Voigt for portions of this ride.

Fuel today for the TT was EFS Liquid Shot and a big portion of my continual ability to push this hard day after day is definitely thanks to ExtremeEndurance.

Plan for today was a big brick.  Here’s the bike before the ride.

My legs were pretty smoked from hill repeats yesterday and my power file shows it.  Saddle sores starting to be a bit of an issue, which sucks, but my tea-tree oil will hopefully help remediate that.

My back started to cramp up in the last 45 minutes and so I scrapped the run and did water support for the folks who did the 21k run.  I may still run tonight but my back is still kinda angry, so gonna play it by ear.

My fueling today was PickyBars and Gu Rocktane Drink, used some EFS PreRace to help push through the fatigue and ended the ride with a First Endurance Ultragen.

Hill repeats today on the Lac Superior segment.  Here’s my TrainingPeaks data.

Good Times!  Easy recovery spin planned for this afternoon.  Fueled with a flask of FirstEndurance EFS liquid shot and a couple of PickyBars

Most people are here, still waiting for a few to arrive tonight, but those of us who are here start punishing ourselves training today.  We’re doing hill repeats ad nauseum today.  Currently it’s a bit cool 6C, but it’s looking like it’s going to be a nice day.

People are drinking coffee, eating breakfast and generally waiting for the temps to come up a few degrees.  We’re probably going to head out around 9am, so a few hours to kill.

Individual athlete goodie bags containing ExtremeEndurance, a Finis swim cap, PureProtein bars, socks from TrainingPeaks and 1st Endurance Water bottles were a hit and our nutrition buffet with 1st Endurance, GuEnergy, Pickybars is setup.

Good times!