(Small) Shopping Spree and THE QUESTION POLL!

Good morning,

Monday's Workout(s)

NONE


If you have been reading enough of my posts, then you know that Mondays are my day off for the week. Some Mondays I still do some light training (or weight training), but all in all, I felt like doing nothing yesterday. I got some laundry done, and then decided to go on a little tri shopping spree, following the rear bottle cage purchase @ All3Sports (for training and races equal to or longer than HIM distace). I went to Fleet Feet Sports, a specialty sport shoe dealer that has 3 locations in Georgia, one of which is 3 miles away from me. They ONLY do running shoes! I think that is great! **Note**; I have not bought running shoes in over a year, so you can guess that my feet are yelling at me when I am running.

The girl that assisted me was very helpful (she is on the Princeton track and field/cross country team, home for the summer). I knew just enough to tell her how my foot strikes, and that I tend to run on the outside of my feet (over-pronation I think). She asked me if I had tried anything besides New Balance (my brand of choice for about 6 years, not due to the fact that I was in a fraternity in college), and I told her no, and that I would not be opposed to trying different brands. She had me try out a New Balance 9?? and 1060, Asics 2110, and Saucony ?. I ended going with the Asics 2110, since I felt better in them, and they seemed to have the most support on the outside of my feet, correcting my running on the outside of my feet. If I was to go back and buy a different brand (i.e. 2nd choice), I would probably choose the New Balance 1060, although they were more expensive. I got out of there in just under $100!!! I have never spent more than $60 on running shoes, but then again, I have never been this serious about a sport before in my life.

I then decided while I was at it, I would go over to REI and see what they had to offer in the way of cycling computers. I got a TOPEAK Comp 150 Wireless. About $45.00. By the way, Jackie if you are reading this, then you can thank me later when you see that I used your REI membership number for my purchase, so you can get a bigger dividend at the end of the year. It does not have cadence, but tt has everything else. After purchasing and installing the sensor last night, I thought to myself, "Andy, do your really need the high end Polar models? I mean, you just bought a realitvely cheap bike computer, and why do you need a high end polar to go with it?" I have been debating this issue ever since that point last night. Now that I have the bike function, all I need is the heart rate monitor for total time during my races, heart rate, calorie burning, VO2 max, etc... Do I really need all the extras of a 625X or a 720i at this point in my life? My bank account says I don't, and I feel that if I can get away having all the effective data without spending 300-400 dollars, that would be great in my book.

Now onto the question poll...............

I was going to save this for another post entitled, "To use a wetsuit, or not to use a wetsuit, that is the question."

Anyways, that is my question. I have raced in Sprint and Half Ironman events, and the only thing I could think of to use a wetsuit for is for cold water (i.e. up north (IM Wisconson), or anything on the west coast (pacific ocean)). Does it really help with bouancy and speed that much to have one, other than staying warm in cold water?

I could use some feedback on this one.

Murtha...