Product Giveaway

Before I get to the product giveaway, I'll answer some questions left in the comments on my blog. I'm never sure whether I should answer them on blog blog, email the commenter or something else.

Jill asked how I get so lucky to get free gear? Well, one of my product reviews generated a lot of traffic so I'm guessing people hope my review generates as much traffic as my Tommie Copper knee sleeve review. It receives 10x more views per day than any of my other posts. To get the knee sleeves I emailed Tommie Copper and asked for some to review. All my other reviews were at the request of the manufacturer. Last week I was contacted about putting advertising on my site and asked me what my terms were. I politely declined.

James asked how we sign up for a giveaway? Read on James, read on :-).

When Steven at Kiefer asked me if I wanted to review some swim gear I jumped at the chance hoping it would help me find my swimming mojo. I hadn't been swimming since my last triathlon which was four months earlier. Well, it took me several weeks to get the motivation to go to the pool so I can't say I found my mojo. I did figure out where I left it though. I left it in Door County!

That was the best swim I have ever had by a long shot. Four years ago, I couldn't even swim 100 yards and here I was swimming 1.2 miles in open water in a 70.3. Not sure how to get it back. Maybe I'll need to go back to Door County and retrieve it :-).

On to the giveaway. I'm giving away one pair of slightly used Kiefer Mach 5 goggles. They have only been worn once :-). To enter, you get one chance for following my blog, following me on twitter @ransick, and following me on instagram @ransick. One entry for each, please leave a comment for each. Yes, Facebook isn't an option because I'm one of at 17 people on eart that don't use it. Some dude named Shivam tried to use my email address to make an account but never was able to activate it.

I'll give them away in my next post, probably over the holidays, maybe sooner, mayber later :-).

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Where did I misplace my training mojo?

love this trail sign

Since my first half, my volume has really dropped off.  I need another race to get motivated or I need to cut my calories.  I'm up another couple pounds again this week, yikes!  Two months ago I was at my lowest weight in 10+ years.  I'm now almost 10 pounds heavier than that.

I thought it would be hard to stick to a plan in the winter since the weather is so crappy, but it turns out it is harder to get motivated to train in the summer when there are so many other things to do.  Couple that with my tri club coached swim schedule and my Y pool summer schedule and I just don't like the way my workouts fall.

For my first half, I experimented and came up with a good schedule for me.  I routinely missed a workout or two during the week due to life but overall, I like this structure.
Fri - rest day
Sat - long run
Sun - long ride
Mon PM - swim (perfect after two long workouts)
Tue AM - run, Tue PM ride
Wed PM swim (perfect after a 2 a day)
Thur AM run, Thur PM ride

now my swims need to be on Tue and Thur evenings so it's looking like

Fri - rest day
Sat - long run

Sun - long ride

Mon PM - ride (not perfect after two long workouts but better than a run)

Tue AM - run (not so good 12 hours after a ride), Tue PM swim

Wed PM ride

Thur AM run (not so good 12 hours after a ride), Thur PM swim

The good news is my tri club is paying for a coach on Thursday evenings.  I went this past Thursday and one of the drills was swim golf.  6 lengths of the pool taking one less stroke each leg.  I started off at a pathetic 21 strokes and ended up at 16.  Coach says guys should be able to hit 12-15.  I have some work to do.

I am signed up for an Oly in four weeks.  It has not motivated me to increase my training at all.  I'm MOP and that is where I will be for this race (maybe lower with my current attitude).  It doesn't help that I had a good friend die three weeks ago, went on vacation two weeks ago, had a business trip this week, had a friend's wife die this week along with a couple other lame excuses.  I'm about to sign up for a HIM on October 2nd.  I need to do this to get serious about training but dread being a slave to the plan.

I did have a really nice 8.5 mile run Saturday.  It was one of those runs that felt great and was perfect for letting the mind wander.  Big storms moved through in the morning so the smell of fresh rain, sounds of rushing creeks, sight of vibrant lush vegetation was perfect.  I also ran one of my favorite loops.  It was a little humid but it really didn't bother me for some reason.

I also had a really nice ride Sunday.  I experimented with Pandora playing on my Blackberry for the ride.  I kind of liked it but it did detract from my mind wandering and figuring things out.  I think it is unsafe to wear headphones so I won't do it.

Enough about my lost mojo :-), what's for dinner?  Before we get to that, my daughter signed her and I up for a 5k run this fall for my present.  This will be her first 5k and I'm really excited about it.  Really a cool present.

So for dinner the main portion was a beef tenderloin I trimmed and cut in to fillet mignon.  Our local meat store has beef tenderloin on sale a couple times a year and I usually buy a couple and freeze them.  This 7.2 pound bad boy was $5.49 a pound!

yum

first you remove the silver casing

 

then remove all excess fat and loose pieces

slice about an inch thick and wrap in bacon

everything is better with bacon

loose pieces were wrapped in bacon for appetizers

asparagus coated in olive oil and Parmesan cheese, wrapped in aluminium foil and grilled

Not shown, black eyed peas (I love those!), turkey sausage (Italian seasoning flavored) and sun dried tomato and basil chicken sausage.  The turkey and chicken earned a spot on the regular rotation this weekend.

If you found my mojo, please return it :-)