DC Rainmaker

Week in Review - May 26th, 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Rainmaker) — Fri, 25 May 2012 21:01:00 PDT

The Week in Review is a collection of both all the goodness I’ve written during the past week around the internet, as well as a small pile of links I found interesting – generally endurance sports related. I’ve often wondered what to do with all of the coolness that people write, and while I share a lot of it on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, this is a better forum for sending it on to y’all. Most times these different streams don’t overlap, so be on the lookout at all these places for good stuff!

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

DCRainmaker.com posts this past week:
Here’s all the goodness that ended up on the main page of DCRainmaker.com this week:

Sunday: Week in Review–May 19th, 2012
Monday: A busy weekend running, riding and testing–including the Magellan Switch and Switch UP
Tuesday: Visiting with the folks at Recon Instruments
Wednesday: A quick pile of odds and ends
Thursday: Garmin releases Edge 500 update, adds TSS/NP/IF & more
Friday: A Paris night run from Notre Dame

Stuff that I found interesting around the interwebs:
Here’s a not-so-small smattering of all the random things that I stumbled on while doing my civic duty to find the end of the Internet:

1) UCI bans live-data tracking for cycling races: A serious bummer coming in the professional cycling world that will likely end various Live Tour trackers for the big races this summer (i.e. Tour de France). Hopefully this will get changed, but I doubt it (short term). I agree with much of what Ken (the author of that post) says. Further, I’d think this may also put a solid dent into various companies plans looking to further integrate standard cycling head units with cell-technology (aka merging a Garmin GTU with an Edge 800, just speculating).

2) Top 20 ‘Must-Do’ Triathlons: A quick list from Men’s Health of the Top 20 races in the US to do. I’d agree with a fair chunk of these (though not all), but there’s a ton of one-of-a-kind races in there.

3) Sweet Olympic Ad: Following on a previous Proctor and Gamble add, this poster-image from Paralympic Canada is pretty awesome (click for full size).

4) I’m apparently featured in a nifty video with Chris Lieto: Ok, featured might be a bit strong – but I’m there! I didn’t know about this until a reader sent it in. Good times!

Me in a video!

5) Boise 70.3 Race Course In Detail: For those of you doing Ironman Boise 70.3 this year, this post from pro triathlete Trish is worth the read. I did it last year and agree with everything she noted.

6) Top Ironman Pro Athlete plans to walk marathon in upcoming Ironman race to prove point: Some interesting news from down under, check out this Slowtwitch thread for a ton more on it.

7) Things to consider with kids racing triathlons: A reader sent this in, which may be a good primer for those parents who have kids looking into doing triathlon races. Much of it may be common sense, but if you’re new to the sport, it’s a worthwhile read.

8) Inspirational video of 13-year old buy doing triathlon with friend: This is a bit older, but the first time I’ve seen it. It shows the story of a 13-year old who completed a triathlon, taking his friend with cerebral palsy along for the ride. Impressive. (Thanks Jacob for sending in!)

Inspirational triathlon video

9) 30 reasons to bike: In case you needed more excuses for getting out there this weekend and working off the cupcakes, here’s a (at times funny) list of reasons to start pedaling (Thanks Ken for sending in)

10) A bit of an update on the swimming HR monitor display system: I shared info about this back in the fall, and here’s an update on where it stands. Ultimately, I think these products are just showing the initial stages of what will become far more advanced down the line. Using LED’s is similar to what 4iiii’s does above water, but ultimately, I suspect we’ll see products move towards actual displays ala Recon, Google Glasses, etc…

11) Laserspoke Power Meter thoughts: A few of you have asked about what I think of the Laserspoke power meter system that ended up on a Kickstarter-ish site recently. Some of you may know this isn’t actually the first time we’ve heard of this company, and I doubt it will be the last. I highly doubt they’ll hit $85K in funding (since they’re only at $700 now), but it’s interesting. I should also point out that using spokes as an avenue for power meters is something others in the industry have looked at. But as others have found, bridging the gap from lab to a durable product is incredibly difficult. Looking at the list of tasks yet to be accomplished on the site above, I’m not convinced they are far enough in the design stage to really be effective in a Kickstarer-like scheme. Just my two cents.

Sports Technology Software/Firmware Updates This Week:

I’ve been trying something new where I quickly highlight some of the new firmware, app, software and website updates that I see go out, each week. If you’re a sports technology company and release an update – shoot me a quick note (just one liners) and I’ll make mention of it here. Sound good?

MapMyRun and MapMyRide receive updates: Mostly a graphical/user interface overhaul, but a few new features and bug fixes as well.

With that – hope everyone had a great weekend! Thanks for reading!

A Paris night run from Notre Dame

noreply@blogger.com (Rainmaker) — Thu, 24 May 2012 21:01:01 PDT

(Quick Heads Up: REI has the Garmin FR610 down to $299 (with the heart rate strap, usually $399) on some sort of temporary sale. Thanks to all that sent this in. And, that particular REI link helps out the site as well. You have to add it to your cart to see the cheaper price.)

Today was a very very long day. One could argue it started yesterday, nearly 4,000 miles away in DC. Our flight from DC to Paris was delayed nearly three hours due to a cloud based electric light show. People in IT always talk about ‘moving to the cloud’, well…our airplane wanted none of that action.

For reasons that aren’t entirely clear to me, I only got 2hrs of sleep on the plane (it’s not a super-long flight, only about 7hrs). By time we got to Paris it was around 9:30AM. After deplaning and customs, close to 10AM, and by 10:58AM we had arrived at our hotel in the heart of Paris. Just in time to zip over to meetings that I had. From 11AM till 6PM, one after another like traffic reports.

Around 6PM, I headed back to the hotel and took care of e-mail for about 2 hours before managing to get about 40 minutes of sleep. At which point, it was time to run! I didn’t want to miss my run, since it’s important that I keep fitness levels fairly high for the next two weeks going into the Alcatraz triathlon.

The run tonight was a mixed tempo run. The intensity fluctuated a little bit over the course of the run, somewhat alternating up and down without at 5 and 2.5 minute intervals (though 2 minute rest sections only every 15 minutes). It’s a fun workout that I enjoy a fair bit, since it keeps things changing/shifting.

This time the trip was booked at the last minute, and the hotel options were somewhat limited for the holiday weekend (it’s a holiday here in France too on Monday). But I found a place fairly close to Notre Dame, so I figured I’d try out a different neighborhood this time (compared to my last trip two weeks ago).

I started at the above sign post, which is roughly where the GPS unit finally picked up and figured out where I was. I wasn’t helping matters by walking instead of just staying put. Plus, showing up nearly 4,000 miles away from the last known location didn’t help either.

At the start of my run, the sun was just finishing setting (at 10PM!). All these pics are taken just using my little point and shoot camera, simply on a ledge. At mostly at either the beginning or ending of my run. Since I forgot to put the SD card in it before leaving the hotel, I only had four shots to work with.

My run started from just outside of Notre Dame, and then continued downriver towards the Eiffel tower. You can see it in the below photo out in the distance:

For the most part, I was racing one of the faster dinner river boats (actually seen above). We were going about the same speed, roughly 10MPH.

The weather was fantastic this evening for a run. A wee bit warm and humid, but it brought out lots of people – so it was fun to just enjoy the vibe of the city around me.

My route along the way would rotate me back and forth across the bridges, simply based on whether I would hit a stoplight at an intersection. If the light was green or safe to cross, I’d stay on the same side. Otherwise, I’d bail across the bridge and usually succeed at crossing on the other side.

Here’s a map from the Magellan Switch UP GPS unit of tonight’s run (I was doing 200m intervals at the end in the lower right back and forth on an empty street, hence the squigglier overlapping lines):

By time I got back, sunset was no longer. But Notre Dame was still quite illuminated, just hanging out there greeting my return.

At this point, now past 11PM, it was time to head back to the hotel, take a quick shower and change – and then find some food.

Don’t worry, the night didn’t disappoint – after dinner, it ended well:

With that, off to bed for another round of meetings tomorrow before getting to enjoy the long-weekend ahead here in the city.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Oh P.S. – For you local Paris folk, if you have any recommendations for a good place to rent a road bike or two, that’d be greatly appreciated. Something that can do about 50-miles. In other words, not a Velibe bike. ;)

Garmin releases Edge 500 update, adds TSS/NP/IF & more

noreply@blogger.com (Rainmaker) — Thu, 24 May 2012 11:00:37 PDT

It’s been nearly 10 months since the announcement that TSS/NP/IF metrics would come to the Edge 500, and as of 11AM central time – it’s finally available.

For those that want to get right to the action, you can swing over to here and download the update (or if you have the WebUpdater software installed on your computer, just plug the unit in and update).

The update follows in the steps of the Edge 800 update we saw back in October, and adds the following capabilities (official listing):

- Added two additional training pages.
- Added various power-related data fields, including left and right balance for supported power meters, Normalized Power (NP), Intensity Factor (IF), Training Stress Score (TSS), maximum lap power, last lap power, and Watts/kg power.
- Improved support for power-based workouts.
- Added the ability to modify the FTP value and to recalculate the power zones based on the new FTP value.
- Made improvements to the power meter calibration process.
- Fixed an issue where Auto Zero was incorrectly displayed as an option when paired to the PowerTap hub.
- Improved the calculation of elevation gain/loss.
- Improved the calculation of time behind on the Virtual Partner page.
- Fixed various issues with viewing activities in history.
- Fixed various issues related to courses.
- Fixed various other issues.
- Updated translations.

Updating the Edge 500 is pretty straight forward. Assuming you’re using the new dashboard driven process, it’ll go ahead and see your device, then download the update:

Alternatively, you can use the WebUpdater software instead. I prefer this method – it’s worked for years.

After that’s complete, the unit will restart and start installing the software:

For most, it’s these two lines that are the big ticket items:

- Added various power-related data fields, including left and right balance for supported power meters, Normalized Power (NP), Intensity Factor (IF), Training Stress Score (TSS), maximum lap power, last lap power, and Watts/kg power
- Added two additional training pages.

The first item is the addition of TSS/NP/IF, along with some additional power data fields. The TSS/NP/IF calculations are exactly the same as how TrainingPeaks calculates them, and are the resultant of a partnership between the two companies that started last summer. This ultimately ensures that the different sites and devices align.

This means that in order for metrics to align between the device, Garmin Connect, and Training Peaks, you must have your profile settings identical between the three. In particular – your FTP (Functional Threshold Power) must be identical. Any deviation from that will result in differences between the device and the site.

On the device itself, TSS/NP/IF can be added as a data field just like any other data field:

In total, here are the power related data fields now on the Edge 500:

- Balance (Instant)
- Balance – 3s Avg
- Balance – 10s Avg
- Balance – 30s Avg
- Balance – Avg
- Balance – Lap
- Power (Instant)
- Power – %FTP
- Power – 3s Avg
- Power – 10s Avg
- Power – 30s Avg
- Power – Avg.
- Power – IF
- Power – Lap
- Power – Last Lap
- Power – Max
- Power – Max Lap
- Power – NP
- Power – NP Lap
- Power – NP Last Lap
- Power – TSS
- Power – W/kg
- Power – kJ
- Power Zone

On the second big item of two additional training pages, it brings you to 5 training pages in total. On the Edge 500 you can add up to 8 data fields per data page.

Note that this isn’t the new lap-summary information that was added to the Edge 800, that feature didn’t make it to the Edge 500.

Finally, this update adds support for left/right power metrics – in line with supporting Garmin Vector (once it releases), as well as current generation power meters supporting power balance, like the newer Quarq 2012 units. This will also support other left/right power meters down the road, like the Brim Brothers cleat-based unit, the Pioneer unit and the O-Synce unit.

At present, while I have the software successfully loaded, I won’t be able to give it a full whirl until this weekend. So feel free to drop your post-update feedback below in the comments.

Thanks for reading!