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Gear and equipment
June 16, 2010
Taking the stink out of exercising
As a swimmer, runner and bicycle commuter, I sweat a lot. I also generate some seriously stinky clothing and wet, musty towels.
I’m testing a new product called Fresh Wave Pearl Packs. The “pearls” come in little pouches that look like tea bags filled with clear, rubbery beads.
I’ve tossed pouches in my bike “trunk,” which I use to haul clothing to and from work. I also dropped one in the duffle bag I use to stash my cycling clothes during the day.
I’m not sold yet, but I think they’re helping a little to keep the stink down.
Fresh Wave Pearl Packs are billed as eco-friendly, which makes me happy. They’re made with plant extracts like lime, pine needles, aniseed, clove and cedar wood — not a bunch of unpronounceable chemicals. They’re biodegradable and non-toxic, which also makes me happy.
The packs sell for $15.95 for a set of five sachets. Each one lasts about 25 days.
Now I’ve got to decide if it’s worth the cost…
In Austin, they are available at Bed Bath & Beyond (5400 Brodie Lane, 10225 Research Blvd., 11301 Lakeline Blvd.) and Eco-Shoppe, 10225 Research Blvd.
Anybody have any other suggestions for reducing odors in gym bags and lockers? Preferably inexpensive ones?
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February 17, 2010
Win free camping book
Need some tips on where to find the best tent camping in Texas?
I’ve got a signed copy of Wendel Withrow’s great book, “The Best in Tent Camping Texas: A Guide for Car Campers who Hate RVs, Concrete Slabs, and Loud Portable Stereos,” to give away.
The book includes maps of 60 campgrounds, plus information about fees, restrictions, dates of operation and facilities. Included are some of the state’s most popular parks, such as Garner State Park, Big Bend National Park, Palo Duro Canyon State Park and Bastrop State Park. Also included are some you might not know about, including Canyon of the Eagles, Palmetto State Park, Purtis Creek State Park, and Goose Island State Park.
Withrow is a University of Texas graduate and chair of the Dallas group of the Sierra Club.
I’d love to see this book in the hands of someone who loves to camp. Why do you deserve it? Best answer posted here wins the book.
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November 25, 2009
Fitness freebies!
Austin trainer Christine Tusa dropped off a copy of her new fitness DVD, “tusafitness: Core Workout.”
“If you do this three times per week, you’ll see significant results in eight weeks,” Tusa says. Your posture will improve, you’ll lose weight and you’ll bbe more flexible, she says.
The workout was developed with Dr. Michael Luan, a biomechanics specialist in California.
Want the DVD? Post here, telling me why you need it. I’ll pick a winner next week. And be patient. I’m out of the office at the moment, so your comment might not go up right away.
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October 10, 2009
Fitness freebies!
Got some freebies for you!
To win, post here which prize you prefer and why you deserve it. I’ll pick winners early next week.
Up for grabs this time? A slew of exercise DVDs:
- ”Dances of India, Urban Bhangra Bounce.” Meera guides viewers through a cardio driven workout designed to raise the heart rate and burn calories while teaching some basic Indian hip-hop moves.
- ”10 Minute Solution: 5 Day Get Fit Mix.” A selection of five quick workouts, from cardio kickboxing and fat blasting intervals to power yoga, belly fat burning and lean body sculpting.
- Slim & Tone Pilates.” A dynamic pilates workout that includes both standard mat exercises and apparatus mat exercises.
- Prenatal & Postnatal Yoga.” Two yoga sequences, one designed to strengthen and tone during pregnancy, the other to restore energy and help you reconnect to your own wellness.
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June 24, 2009
Battle of the Bottles
First we had single-use disposable plastic water bottles. They’re environmentally unfriendly and we hate them. They wind up in landfills. Besides, who needs to buy water when you can get it free from your tap?
Then we had soft plastic reusable water bottles. They’re still around. They’re light, inexpensive and do the job. But some of them are made of plastic that contain BPAs. That’s bad.
Next came the hard plastic, Nalgene-type bottles with screw-off caps. They took over the planet for a while. Drop one on the hard floor, though, and it might crack.
Sigg started a new revolution with its classy-looking aluminum water bottles.
And now come the stainless steel bottles.
I’ve tested two new models recently, one by Blue Q and another by Camelbak.
I’m torn. I love the 16-ounce Camelbak because it’s insulated (a non-insulated version is available, and it holds more water) and keeps water cold, even in this hideous 100-plus heat. It’s got that great Camelbak bite valve, too, which eliminates spills. (Definitely a desirable feature.) The lid screws off and reveals a nice wide mouth that makes it easy to load the bottle with ice. But it costs a whopping $30. (The non-insulated variety is $24.) Who can afford that? Mine is also kind of plain looking — solid silver.
The Blue Q bottle looks great — it’s silver with a cool retro people design on it, and all kinds of groovy graphics are available. I like the one with an Eskimo on it, and another that says “Holy Water, Tap Into It.” The downside? It’s not insulated, so the ice melts quickly. The bottle itself also feels too cold to the touch — before the ice inside all melts. And the mouth is smaller than the Camelbak’s mouth. This one only costs $18, though, and 1 percent of bottle sales supports The Nature Conservancy. I like that.
Do you have a fave bottle?
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June 10, 2009
Grease Monkey Wipes
I’m not exactly sure why, but whenever I ride my bike, I end up with a grease print of my chain ring on my right inner calf.
You should have seen me after a seven-day mountain bike trip from Durango, Colo., to Moab, Utah. We had no water to bathe in, and I had a lot of grease on my legs. Lovely!
What I needed was a pack of Grease Monkey Wipes.
These individually wrapped, pre-moistened towels — like Handi-Wipes for cyclists — are marketed as a way to clean grease and grime off people and bikes. (I wonder if they work on monkeys, too?)
I tested one of the wipes out last weekend, after riding the park road between Bastrop and Buescher state parks. Worked like a charm! They’re small, so you can tuck one into the bag beneath your bike seat or the pocket on the back of your biking jersey. You’ll want one if you have to change a flat or pop a dropped bike chain back in place.
The wipes sell for $1 each and come in packs of six, 12, 18 or 24 (just like beer!). They’re available at most Austin bike shops, including Jack & Adam’s, Bicycle Sport Shop, Mellow Johnny’s and Nelo’s Cycles (new location at 8108 Mesa Dr.). You can also buy them online at www.greasemonkeywipes.com.
Wish I’d had some on that Moab trip!
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June 7, 2009
HUG light versus headlamp
I love to camp. I drive my husband crazy with this. I get giddy when we pitch our tent, whether it’s at Colorado Bend State Park or Yellowstone National Park.
Since I love to camp, and camping requires a light source, I recently tested something called a HUG light. It’s advertised for campers and late-night readers. I camp and read — both simultaneously on good days — so I figured I should try it.
I was curious how it would stack up against my headlamp, which I think is the greatest camping advancement since the flashlight. The headlamp is attached to a stretchy band that I wear on my head. It aims its beam wherever I look. It’s hands-free and magnificent.
The HUG is essentially a two-foot stretch of foam rubber-covered wire, with a rubber neck grip and a LED light at each end. Each end of the light has spot and wide-angle mode. Mine is cute: A pink-and-white color scheme. (See photo taken by my iPhone, above).
But could the HUG keep up?
It depends what you are doing.
The headlamp, in my book, is superior for around-the-camp tasks like finding a stick to cook the marshmallows after the sun goes down. I like it for reading, too, because I can aim it directly at the page.
But if you need a steady, fixed light, the HUG comes in handy, too. I liked wrapping it on inanimate objects, and using it in hard to reach spots (like under the desk, in the spaghetti bowl of electrical wires). It beats a flashlight and the headlamp hands down in both those instances.
I didn’t like using the HUG as suggested — resting around my neck, with a LED light at either end. I couldn’t make it point exactly where I wanted because it moved too much.
Still, the HUG has a place in my world. Just maybe not on a camping trip.
The HUG costs $19 at www.mylight.com.
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February 1, 2009
More freebies!
This is it, folks. Your chance to win fabulous fitness freebies!
Please follow these instructions carefully. You must do TWO things to have a chance to win — first, post your name (or a nickname) on the comment section of this blog. That’s so I can see who posted first and give stuff away in that order. Second, send your name and snail mail address to me at pleblanc@statesman.com.
This time, I’ve got a stack of fitness DVDs to hand out. We’ve got everything from “Banish Fat Boost Metabolism” to “Tai Chi for Beginners.” Other titles? “Country Line Dance,” “Totally Fit Mel,” “Walking Strong” and “No More Trouble Zones.”
I’ve also got a nice water bottle, some Fit City running singlets, and a few odds and ends from the fitness grab bag.
Let me know what item you’d prefer. First folks to CORRECTLY follow directions get the prizes.
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December 1, 2008
I'm in love (with my heart rate monitor)
I think I’m in love with my new heart rate monitor.
It swims with me. It aqua jogs with me. It cycles with me. Soon, when my injured calf muscle is healed, it will run with me.
It’s called the Polar FT60, and it’s sparked a whole new facet of my obsessive/compulsive personality.
At first, I resisted its lure. It was just one more gizmo I’d have to figure out how to use. And all my techno-savvy brain cells were being fried learning how to use my new iPhone (which, by the way, I also love dearly.) Did I really need to know how fast my heart was beating and how many calories I was burning every moment I was exercising?
In a word: Yes!
My Polar FT60 has many parts. First, there’s the watch, a big, kind of ugly pink monstrosity with silver trim and five silver buttons. There’s a stretchy black band that fits snugly around my chest, and a little black computer pod called a WearLink that snaps securely onto it. I’ve also got a GPS unit that attaches to my upper arm, and a separate little tray called the Polar FlowLink that lets me download all the information gathered by my heart rate monitor to my computer.
Polar introduced the FT 60 in September, targeting it to what they call “fitness and cross-training enthusiasts.” That’s me! I especially like it because I can take the heart rate monitor (not the GPS) into the pool with me. I just have to be sure to snap the little computer pod off the chest band when I’m done, so it dries off completely.
It took a while to get over the intimidation of setting it up. Polar should re-edit the user manuals — I cursed more than once trying to figure out the basics. That done, I set up the watch and WearLink to test my current fitness level. (It’s easy; you just lay there quietly and it predicts your VO2max.) My fitness level is already good, so I told the device my goal was to maintain that level. You can also put it in weight loss or improve fitness mode.
It takes a bit of practice to get used to how it works, but now it’s a snap. Before swim practice, I put the chest band and WearLink on under my swimsuit, strap on the watch and press the start button when I hop in the pool. It gives me a constant readout of my heart rate. At the end of the session, it tells me my maximum heart rate and average heart rate. It also breaks down my workout into how much time I spent in each of three intensity levels — light, moderate or hard. You can read more about what each of those levels does at the Polar website.
The GPS unit is handy when I ride my bike. It tells me how far and how fast I’ve gone. And when I start running again, that info will be really useful in my marathon training program.
The whole system takes all the guess work out of my training. I don’t have to estimate how hard I’m working — I can look at the monitor and see.
When each session is done, I press the stop button and the watch stores up all kinds of interesting info, including calories burned. During one particularly tough swim practice last week, for example, I burned 666 calories during a 63-minute practice. My average heart rate was 147; my maximum was 170.
I can set weekly targets, and get guidance on how to improve my fitness, too.
When I get back home, I head straight to the computer to download all the data. That’s easy, too. I just lay the watch on a little tray. A light flickers to let me know it’s working, and just like that, the info is transferred to my computer. I can call it all up by going to a special website at www.PolarPersonalTrainer.com. Besides logging all my exercise sessions, I can look at my long-term progress and chat with other Polar users.
It’s OK if I don’t download each workout right away, too. The watch holds 100 workout files and 16 weekly training summaries that I can scroll through.
My only complaints? Polar should update its graphics. There’s a lot of info there, but it’s not so easy to grasp looking at the webpage. Definitely not very pretty to look at. The GPS sensor is a bit bulky on the arm, too.
Oh, and there’s the cost. The Polar FT60 sells for $239.95. If you buy it with the GPS sensor, it costs a whopping $349.95. The PowerFlow data transfer thing tacks on $54.95.
Not cheap. But for the exercise obsessed, it might be worth it.
I, for one, am hooked.
Anyone else use one?
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November 26, 2008
My car is a rolling gym bag
You should look in my trunk. Actually, you shouldn’t.
My car is a rolling gym bag. It’s bursting with exercise gear. It sometimes even smells like a locker room.
It’s an on-the-job hazard.
I popped the truck to toss in my gym bag (that’s my actual bag, above) after swimming this morning and it scared me: Besides my big swim bag, packed with fins, goggles, cap, hair dryer, etc., I heaved in a big wet towel, a wet swimsuit, a heart rate monitor, a pair of sweat pants and a dirty T-shirt.
It’s madness, I tell you.
Depending on the season, you might find a water ski back there, a wetsuit, life jacket, at least one change of clothes (being delivered to the office so it’s there when I ride my bike the next day), running shoes, running shorts, a kick board, swim buoy or a big baby-blue Aqua Jogger (for rehabbing my injured calf muscle). Sometimes there’s even a bike. And bike helmet. Occasionally there are hiking boots. Maybe a tent, or a backpack. Energy bars and gels. Sunglasses. Water bottles. Sun screen. Maps. A brown bag lunch. Mud. Hibernating bears. (OK, I made that last one up to see if you were paying attention.)
Crazy thing is, it’s all stuff I need. And no, my husband doesn’t believe that.
When I get home from work, it’s normal to make two trips back and forth from the car to the house. Besides all my gear, I’ve got work stuff — notebooks, cameras, calendars, magazines. I need an extra arm!
Which explains, in a way, how I lost a heart rate monitor in there for a day and a half. It was hiding, under the driver’s seat. I excavated down to it in a frenzy after work last night, frantic that it was gone for good. I’m addicted to my heart rate monitor. (Stay tuned for a future blog.)
I’m still missing two swimsuits, which have somehow vanished in the last two weeks. Two weeks! And they’re not in the car, I promise.
What kind of gear do you haul around in your car?
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