Tri Talk Tuesday - These Are A Few of My Favourite Things!

Hey Hey Hey...it's TRI TALK TUESDAY!  I'm super excited for today's post because Cynthia, Courtney and I are talking about our favourite triathlon things.  This is anything triathlon related - it could be your favourite race, your favourite running shoe, whatever.  I love posts like these because they inevitably introduce me to new products.  Just what every triathlete needs...MORE things to add to their "I want" list, ha ha.

There are lots of things I own that I like and that serve me well, but there are only a few that I absolutely LOVE and wouldn't want to train without them.  I also threw a race in there because why not?  These are my FAB FOUR.

1.  My Garmin 920xt.  I have to admit, I have a love / hate relationship with my Garmin stuff.  When it works, it works REALLY well.  But when it doesn't...it's a failure of epic proportions.  They've gotten a bit better at keeping software updated to fix glitches.  I found the 920 to be a bit glitchy (the screen would freeze a LOT) when I first got it but this latest software update seems to have fixed the issues.  I love how connected this machine is.  I just recently paired it to my iphone and now I get text messages and other alerts ON MY GARMIN.  Mind=blown.   And I can instantly upload my workout to the Garmin Connect app via Bluetooth.  No more waiting until I get home, hoping that the wifi automatically connects.   And no more connecting it to my laptop and hoping it syncs.  I've also just started using it to track my sleep.  Yes, it means I have to wear it to bed but I don't really notice it.   I don't even think I've scratched the surface of what this piece of equipment is capable of!

Clearly I need to sleep a little deeper, ha ha

2.  My Cervelo P3.  I've had Tom Sawyer for a year now and I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE this bike.  I had a 7 year old Scott Plasma Contessa that was wonderful but wasn't suited to my riding abilities any longer.  I needed something responsive and light.  G had gotten a P3 the year before and I was very envious.  I probably should have done the same thing at the time but we were going to Europe and I didn't want to spend the money on a new bike.  Looking back I probably could have used the extra gears, ha ha.  But I waited a year and ended up getting the same bike with race wheels for a really good deal.  I've logged some serious km's on this bike over the last year.  My first ride on it was my very first stand alone time trial and I ended up in 3rd place overall, averaging just over 36kph.  I knew right then and there that was money well spent.

3.  IM Luxembourg 70.3:  Maybe because this was my first Ironman branded half, and maybe because it was in Europe...but I absolutely LOVED this race.  If money was no issue, I'd go back and race it again in a heartbeat.  For a race that we picked totally randomly, it suited my abilities perfectly.  The swim was in a narrow river, which helped keep me calm (always close to shore) the bike was 50% flat and 50% rolling hills with 2 good climbs.  The run was 3 loops (I love multiple looped courses) and it was also flat.  And there were lots of spectators on the run course which always makes it better because I draw a lot of energy from people cheering - it really gives me a boost.  It's also the only course on the Ironman circuit that goes into 3 different countries.  You swim in the Moselle River, on one side is Luxembourg, on the other side is Germany.  If you swim wide enough in the swim, like I did, you cross the border, ha ha.  About 10km of the bike course goes through France.   It was one of the coolest races I've done.  And Luxembourg is absolutely stunning.  One more reason to go back.  Look at how happy I was coming down the finishing chute!

4.  My Mizuno Wave Sayonara 3's:  These are a brand new addition to my shoe rotation as they are a really new shoe.  I wore the original Sayonara's and LOVED the responsiveness of them but I found that the ride was really firm especially if you are heavy on your feet like I am (I may be small but I'm not light on my feet).  After racing a half marathon in them, my feet actually hurt.  They were sore.  But I could go REALLY fast in them.  Mizuno has now beefed them up a bit.  There is more cushioning through the mid-foot but they are still super light and responsive.  I'm pretty confident I could race a marathon in these babies with no issues where as before I'd use my Sayonaras for a half marathon or shorter and then I'd use my Wave Riders for anything longer.

Tell me a few of your favourite things!

And of course, don't forget to check out the link up for even more favourites!

An InLinkz Link-up

Horseshoes Anyone?

I'm normally not one for entering contests but once in a while I figure why the hell not.  I never think that I'm actually going to win anything.  Imagine my surprise when it's happened not once but 6 times this year.  Seriously.  I'm thinking I should probably start buying lottery tickets. This is taking the January hashtag of #lucky2013 to a whole new level for me.

My first win was 2 pairs of injinji socks from Lisa at Yo Mamma Runs.  That was a couple of months ago.  At the beginning of June I won a $200 gift certificate for Rudy Project gear at the Binbrook Triathlon in the post race draw they always have.  A week after that, I won a $500 gift certificate from CP24 (local news station) for playing the hashtag game.  The hashtag of the day was #whatwasIthinking and this was the picture that landed me that prize.  It was my Grade 12 Grad and it was in the 80's.  Need I say anything else?  Those of you that follow me on Instagram would have seen this on one of my Throwback Thursday posts.  Yes, I have no shame and I am totally not above laughing at myself.  

Flock of Seagulls anyone?

The big roll started to happen a couple of weeks ago when I won an Allied Metal Displays medal holder from Danielle at Work It Wear It Eat It.   I had been meaning to get one because the amount of medals I have from various races is ridiculous.  They are all piled into a vase on our book shelf.  It looked nice when there were a few in there, now it just looks messy.   Now I have this awesome piece of hardware.  I just need to find a place to hang it, dang it.

 Fast forward to the first week of July when I get an email from the editor of Canadian Running informing me that I won a pair of Senneheiser headphones for entering the 3 Favourite Running songs contest they had.  Sweet!  In case you were wondering, my song choices were:  Beautiful Day (U2), Red Barchetta (Rush) and I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor (The Arctic Monkeys).

The icing on the cake was winning a pair of these babies from Christina at The Athletarian.  I did a little happy dance in my office when I found out.

Yup, those are the new Mizuno Wave Sayonaras.  I took them out for a good hard 5km yesterday and they completely blew my mind.  Expect a review in the coming weeks.   They are going to be my go to shoes for my next few tri's as well as my half marathon in October.  I sense that they have some serious goal crushing potential.  Bring on the mezamashii. 

To say that these past couple few months have been lucky for me would be a bit of an understatement so I'm heading out to go get that lottery ticket.  

Do you enter contests often?  Have you ever won anything?