Top 10 list

Yesterday was a day for listening to my body and remembering one of my own key pieces of fitness advice: "grass won't grow on a busy street."

I headed out for a 12 mile run, but cut it to 8. Bonked a little bit. The legs were dead from Sunday's ride, and I thought back to WF practice weekend. I ran a decent half-marathon without ever having run more than 8 miles--so I don't think it'll hurt to cut the mileage a little.

Anyway, I was all alone on my run and to amuse myself, I came up with my personal top 10 list of tri gear/stuff with accompanying explanations. After all, it's a ridiculously gear intensive sport.

1. My sunglasses: Not only do my sunglasses reduce UV damage to my retinas, cut glare, and protect my eyes from flying debris on the bike, they also liberate me from contacts. They're prescription. Saints be praised.

2. Kinesys sunblock: It's oil and alcohol free. It never makes me break out. It actually works, really well. Most important, it has a cool name and comes in a weird looking bottle.

3. Body glide: Okay, it's gross. But participate in an endurance sport for any length of time, and you'll appreciate it's propensity for reducing chafing on your feet, underarms, the back of your neck, and um....other places. I mean, really--what tri-geek hasn't stolen an intimate moment with a stick of Body Glide while hiding behind a car, 3 minutes before a long ride?

4. My Sandisk: Essential for loner spin bike workouts and long runs. It lets me up the cadence with mashups and thumping club-type beats, drop the hammer with NIN, Rage Against the Machine, Tool, L7 and Ice Cube, and slow it down a bit with Perfect Circle, Nirvana, and Moby. Yeah, yeah, shut up, so I haven't updated my music collection in a while. Sandisk also lets me hide selections far too embarassing to list here. Oh yeah, and another great thing--it's NOT an iPod. *thumbs nose*

5. Fast Eddie: Ah, my beautiful little Italian steed. He's steel-framed, sleek, silver, strong and resilient, and tiny enough to accomodate my short little torso. He's meant to go a lot faster than I ever let him, and one day I hope to do him some justice.

6. Cool socks: I was into cycling socks before I even became a cyclist! Even when you get tired of rotating the same few jerseys, you can mix it up with your sock collection. One look at my feet and you can tell what kind of mood I'm in that day. Feeling tough and sassy? Mudflap girls. Optimistic? Four leafed clovers. Wicked? Pink skull & crossbones. Relaxed? Hula girls. And so on and so forth...

7. Under Armour: Heat Gear rocks. Thin and sleek enough to fit under a jersey without messing up the lines. Quick drying enough to wear under a wetsuit for a chilly swim. A base layer for cool runs that keeps me from getting clammy and cold. Also, quite possibly the only synthetic material that doesn't hold onto a wicked stink forever once you've sweated in it...it actually washes clean!

8. Ultra Swim: I've been an Ultra Swim devotee since I was a kid...at least, my mom was back then, after she started noticing my hair turning green before the summer was half over. It gets all the chlorine out of your hair and doesn't smell half-bad either.

9. Endurox: My favorite of all the Accelerade products. Decent tasting recovery drink that helps me bounce back fast after a breakthrough workout.

10. Bike shorts, tri shorts, and tights, oh my!: You can never, never, ever have enough extra pairs. They lift, separate, and support. They provide padding and wicking in strategic places. Also, they eliminate the need to pack extra undies, since anyone who's anyone knows you're supposed to go commando underneath! :-)