Babies not Eco-Friendly ?

Seems that some people think that babies are simply not eco-friendly and need to either be banned or taxed.

Meet the women who have decided to ’save the planet’ by not having babies. According to one of them ‘Having children is selfish. It’s all about maintaining your genetic line at the expense of the planet.’ Me thinks that maybe the child has had a lucky escape. (Meet the woman who won’t have babies – because they’re not eco-friendly)

A medical expert in Australia, while not saying ’stop having babies’, wants all families with more than two childern to be taxed. How much? He suggests a baby tax to cover the costs of enough trees to offset the carbon emissions that the child will generate over their lifetime. (Baby tax needed to save planet)

Bizarre but True

Remember The Tree Man from Indonesia..

Appears he’s not the only one causing medical intrigue.

There’s a man in China who noticed that his ‘…underwear and bed sheets were all green, and even the water in the shower.’ Blood tests at the local hospital have not yet revealed the cause. Maybe he’s just a ‘greenie’ at heart. (Doctors Baffled by Green Sweat)

And what about this man who nearly drank himself to death. He arrived at a European airport with a liter of vodka in his carry-on bag. When told he couldn’t take it onto the plane, he promptly downed the lot. Needless to say, he never got off the ground. (Dying for a Drink)

Finally

For those who missed it, ice swimming season has already started in Russia. While not so popular in the States, ice swimming is seen by many as a way of improving circulation, relieving symptoms of arthritis, and helping build up the immune system. Don’t know about that, but sure got a good laugh watching a group of Russian men ice swimming in tutus…

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Tangerine by Potion Factory is an iTunes extension with a sweet twist. It analyzes BPM and intensity of your music for you so you can spend more time listening and less time pointing and clicking. It does cost $25, but you can try it for 15 days first.

An iPod holder that places it squarely between two of my favorite things? It brings a tear this gadget-geek’s eye. Gracie’s Gear POWER POUCH accessories are designed by women for women, and for the entire year of 2007, 50% of all proceeds form Gracie’s Gear sales will be donated to The Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke and the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation.

Marware releases you from Nike’s tyranny! Run free! Or at least run for $9.95 instead of having to drop $80 on a pair of Nike+ kicks so you can use your iPod Nano as a trainer.

Podrunner (iTunes Link) More BPM goodness. Running about an hour each in length. Free, and tailor made for listening to during your workout. No coaching or voice-overs, though. If you’re looking for nicely paced high-intensity music, this is the podcast to turn to. It’s almost worth looking into just for some of the song descriptions: 155 BPM – “…and in this tempo we all pray in unity for the same thing”, 170 BPM – “If this don’t make yo booty move, yo booty must be dead!”, 150 BPM – “Cruise control for your sneakers”

Imojo combines old-an-busted with new-hotness to give you a traditional sweat-band that coddles your iPod while you get fit. Oh yeah and they’re packing “fierce good looks” (I swear), which is really important to me when I work out. Cause I look so cool, red-faced and out of breath.

Swimmam has to be one of the coolest iPod products around. These guys completely waterproof your ‘pod from the inside out so you can use it while your pulling laps at the pool. That’s right, no bulky plastic cases, just what looks like your normal iPod, except it likes to get wet. Shuffles only, and they ain’t going for chump change. It costs $250, but you get a brand new water-proofed shuffle, along with all the standard accessories, and a set of Swimman waterproof headphones. You can also buy the ‘phones separately for $100 or send them your own shuffle and have them do their moisture magic for $75.

Healthbolt.net is not affiliated with any of the companies listed above.

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I’ve always thought the idea of listening to music while swimming would be cool. Especially since it’s the most boring kind of training for me. When is a better time for a little music than when you really can’t see anything anyway?

Swim Man is selling a waterproof iPod Shuffle, but it’s not some bulky case you have to stick your shuffle in. They waterproof from the inside out. So it retains the slick Apple form and function, but now you can take it up to 10 feet under the wet stuff.

Super cool and kinda’ pricey at $250.

Swim man waterpoof iPod Shuffle

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But if you want some real tips, TriSwimCoach.com (who’d have thought?) comes through with this helpful list:

1. Expect the worst. Go into the event expecting that the start will not be easy. Know that you will bump into people, others will bump into you, but 99% of the time it is all by accident. Also know that the chaos at the beginning will not last for the entire swim, it will break up quickly as different speed swimmers separate.
2. Prepare. Learn the course before the gun goes off. There’s nothing worse than having to wonder which way to turn around the upcoming buoy.
3. Don’t panic. Keep your breathing from getting short. Stay as relaxed as you can while everyone else tries to get pole position. Don’t let others being frantic affect your state of mind, and realize that 99% of the other swimmers are just trying to find some open water and are not out to hurt you!
4. Stay to the outside. Many will try to stay to the inside, as close to in line with the first buoy as they can get. Don’t follow the pack. Start outside and work your way in as you approach buoy #1. You many not get perfectly clean water, but you will save yourself from much of the madness.
5. Run until the water level is at your knees. This will maximize your time on land without being slowed by running through water.
6. Use shorter strokes to get through the chop. If you are swimming in the ocean and it is a choppy day, this technique helps tremendously. Once you get to some smoother water, go back to long strokes to maximize efficiency and conserve energy.
7. Practice. Swim in the open water often when you are preparing for a race that has an open water start. The more experience you can develop getting used to the conditions and variables in open water vs. pool swimming, the better off you will be mentally on race day.

7 Tips to Surviving the Triathlon Start

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Don’t urinate on it! This is gross and doesn’t help. It may actually make the pain worse, because the drastic change in outside saline and PH conditions may cause the cnidocyte (microscopic jelly fish stingers stuck to you) to “fire” again.

Don’t rinse with freshwater. This has the same effect as the above, erm, “treatment.”

Do rinse with saltwater. 5 percent acetic acid or vinegar will also usually work. This will deactivate the cnidocyte.

Do have a shave. Once you’ve deactivated the little stingers you can shave off the tentacles with a razor or even any handy straight edge. Just coat them in sand and seawater or shaving cream and then scrape them away.

What you can expect: most jelly fish stings are painful for a maximum of 24 hours with peak pain 5 minutes after the sting. Keep in mind this is for almost all stings. More serious stings should be handled by a professional first aid provider.

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Trying The Triathlon…

After just over a year in the sport, Spank is very confident that through his own triathlon experience he has amassed several golden nuggets of wisdom that, in all fairness, should be imparted to the rest of the world. In ALL fairness to the rest of the world, we should note here that, as yet, there is still no official coaching certification course offered for Monkeroos.

This article is written in the spirit of one Monkeroo (and his owner) giving friendly advice, from knowledge gained through experience.

The word “triathlon” is very daunting. Before I ever did triathlon, I produced them (as my job). When people asked, “so, do you actually do the triathlons?”, I looked at them from below mocking eyebrows and replied, “uh…no.” However, after loads of encouragement (and threats; my boss felt that an Assistant Race Director should actually DO a race), I finally did do a triathlon. I loved it, and have now sucked in my husband, my brother, my sister-in-law, a very good friend and Monkeroo.

In a group effort, we have now convinced my sister to do a 5K. The 5K, FYI, is a gateway race. We all started there. When you consider trying a triathlon, don’t think about swimming and biking and running and transitioning and fancy equipment and everything else that is scary.

Start from the beginning, with a simple plan.

1. Set a goal. Find a triathlon, or a duathlon if you are uncomfortable in the water, and sign up. There is a great list of races at trifind.com, and you can find online calendars by doing a “triathlon” search. Spank Says… Set a reasonable goal. If you don’t run now, don’t expect to run 6 miles in a month. Find a race that gives you several months to work up to a few miles.
2. Find a training plan. The simple rule of thumb is to do what you can do now, and alternate your bike and run days, keeping one day a week to simply rest. Each week, increase your total mileage by up to 10% (more can cause injury) until you can go the distances necessary. Spank Says… It’s better to get a plan formulated by an expert. You’ll find lots of (free) plans at Tri-Newbies.com.
3. Get your gear. Running is easiest; shoes. Swimming is more difficult; suit, goggles AND a gym membership. Biking is a hardest. It’s not difficult to find a bike, but you may not want to spend $1,000+ to buy one. You can borrow any bike for your first race (my brother, editor of this site, did his first HILLY triathlon on my dad’s old bike with half as many gears as the rest of us have).

Spank Says… Take the time to have someone fit you for shoes (many stores will do this), as it really does make a big difference. Now get started…you CAN do it.

Get more info from ultramaxtri.com/training.php

* a Monkeroo is a monkey with a kangaroo pouch… if anyone hasn’t guessed, Spank is a stuffed monkey onto which Shandra pinned a pouch… not a living animal.

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I had the privilege of racing on the Columbia Multisport Club’s Team (we won) last year at the National Triathlon Team Championship in Las Vegas. One of the racers on our team who was way ahead of me was Amy Livesay. 10 years ago, she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Disease. She’s been destroying the competition ever since.

She’s a really supportive team member and was an inspiration to my wife and me as we competed in the event in Las Vegas, this fall. I didn’t even know about the Hodgkin’s at the time because she never mentioned it, she just talked about winning all the time. I’m pretty sure “push ’till you puke” or at least something very similar was her battle cry. It says a lot about her character to note that the first time I heard about any of this Hodgkin’s stuff was when I saw this news story from a local station in Columbia, MO, where C.M.C. is located.

I’m not sure I could be so modest had I accomplished what she has. What a cool lady. Oh, and this is all not to even mention that she’s a freakin’ ringer at almost every event they take her to.

From the Ultra Max Website:

Amy Livesay – Amy is a triathlon coach and owner of The Starting Block*. She has completed dozens of running races and triathlons, including several Ironman Triathlons and the National Ironman Championship (in Hawaii). Amy has placed at several triathlons, taking first place overall at the 2004 Ultramax Iron-distance Triathlon. Recently, she won her age group (out of 56 competitors), and was the 7th woman overall (out of over 350) at the 2006 Spirit of Racine Half Iron-distance Triathlon. She has coached several Columbia athletes, as well as led several training groups.

Congrats on all your accomplishments, Amy, you rock.

*Amy and her husband, Mark, just opened The Starting Block in Columbia, MO. They know a thing or two about shoes if you want to stop by.

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(Disclaimer: said video is a commercial for Cliff Bars. No I am not Cliff, I’m Wade.)

[tags] Triathlon, swimming, humor, food [/tags]

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