TDBB; Week 4 (Rest week)

Week 4 was a rest or step back week, so I took full advantage of that, in fact I probably took too much advantage and missed one Sufferfest ride but managed to swap it out for a commute so it wasn’t all bad. The digits and gain are pretty low and I was tracking to a target of only 100 miles when I managed to tweak my knee/quad, it feels more like a tweak than overuse as one minute it was fine and the next it hurt. So in addition to the missed ‘fest I cut short my Sunday long ride and then have babied it for the last couple of days, so we will see how it feels by the end of the week. Just short of 500 miles in four weeks is a good start and actually for June its more mileage than I did in my biggest month when I was training for IMAZ…of course I was running and swimming at the same time then too!

Beyond that nothing much to report, I dropped my Cervelo off for a service at a LBS; new bar tape and a new chain, the old one had over 3600 miles on it and with the increase in miles it would have needed replacing in a months’ time! So for this week I am on the TT bike and I’ll be hopefully taking a stab at commuting on trails using the mountain bike, I have ridden most of it…well maybe about 80%  and I can guess the rest of it. It looks like this from Google Maps;

Wicked good cartography skills (and no, I do not work in a Mortuary!)

I have made it to the arrow in about 50 minutes before so I am thinking it will probably take 2-2.5 hours one way so let’s see how that all plays out with my knee!

Other than that the wheels keep turning!

Back to Tempe!

No I am not racing in 2014, but TribeccaTO is and volunteering is best way to get your slot! This race sold out in 3 minutes online in 2012 when I did it!

I case you’re wondering the Speed Pass is a get to the front of the line on sign up day in return for being out on the course till midnight in a hard to fill volunteer spot…sounds like a plan to me!

Review; Mission Care Enduracool Arm Sleeves

I reviewed the Mission Care Enduracool Towel last August I was keen to try the new range of clothing that Mission Care launched this year and they kindly sent me a pair of arm sleeves to try out.

Arms sleeves provide multiple uses throughout the year, warm in the winter, coverage in the summer and I have even used them to isolate a painful ITB flare up! But basically in the summer they provide some cover from the sun when you don’t want to even think about a long sleeve shirt. Mission Care have taken this even further with protection from the sun with a built in UPF45 block. The main feature of these is when wet they active the CoolCore which is what makes the feel cool on the skin…voodoo you cry! For sure I reply but you know it works. With summer warming up in Southern California (yesterday locally topped out at 102f) anything that can keep you cool is a bonus.

Once on they feel soft and comfortable, they are not overly compressive, the tops are elastic but do not have the tight rubber grippers that you may have seen on other sleeves. The construction is of two fabrics with three quarters of the sleeve being solid and the remaining quarter being of a mesh which allows for some “venting”.

The CoolCore works really well and like the Enduracool towel you have to wet it and snap it to activate it, this is easily achieved by just pinching it off your skin and letting it ping back. At the end of each sleeve there is a little pocket which at first I thought would be useful for a gel but the added weight made them a bit uncomfortable. What actually worked really well was to carry a small sponge in them which I could dampen and wet the sleeves with, this is a much more conservative use of water than just squirting water and soaking an area rather than get them wet all over. Also it sits on your Ulnar Artery which is very close to the skin so if you can keep that cool it will actually cool your blood and you down…look at me getting all scientific! 

So in conclusion with the heat of summer coming fast and furious this is a great piece of kit to keep in mind when you are you are heading out for a run or ride, it weighs next to nothing and is actually proactive in keeping you cool.

With the help of Mission I have a giveaway and discount code for my readers.

For the giveaway I am working on the honor system

Liking them on Facebook gets you one entry

Follow them on Twitter gets you one entry

Tweet “I entered to win the @missionathlete EnduraCool Arm Sleeves from @quadrathon you can too, enter here http://bit.ly/11Yvwgz” at least once a day between now and Friday will get you five more entries;

Leave a blog comment on Friday telling me what you did and that’s another entry for a total of eight, I will draw a winner on Saturday!

If you can’t wait till then, just hit up their website and use this “quadrathon25”code to get yourself some goodies with a 25% discount valid today through July 15th.

These Arm Sleeves were provided free of charge by the good folks at Mission. See previous gear reviews under the Product Reviews tab above. If you have a product you’d like reviewed, contact me at quadrathon@gmail.com.