How the MIO Alpha compares......

Here is a quick comparison video of the MIO Alpha (No Cheststrap) tracking my heart rate along side with the MIO Energy Pro (Cheststrap) and MIO Quest (Cheststrap).  Like clockwork, right on the money.  Both the Energy Pro and Quest were getting heart rate info from a chest strap I was wearing.

My first look at the MIO Alpha

Here is my first look at the MIO Alpha.  I have been using it for just over two weeks.  I have the BLE  (bluetooth low energy) version and have yet to connect it to a smartphone to gather information into an app.  I have entered my heart rate zone I am wanting to workout in for now and its very accurate.  Keep in mind there is no chest strap involved gathering my heart rate.  I look forward to doing more updates on innovative heart rate monitor from MIO. 

Hot workouts in the heat.

Last week I pretty much moved my workouts indoors on the rollers.  With night time low temperatures not really dipping below 90 degrees, any kind of outdoor activity has been rough.  Set of the rollers and a small fan in front of them to keep some kind of airflow going around me.  I was able to beat the sun rising and start a morning ride Saturday at 5:30 am.  I only got in about 40 miles before running low on fluids.  I felt very strong on the bike and before heading out made a small comfort adjustment on my saddle height.  My training has me keeping my heart rate right near 80% of my maximum heart rate, using the Miowatch Quest, the readout and alarm on the watch keep me in check.
I started doing some rehab work on my IT band on my right leg, and look to attend a free clinic at a local bike shop to help me speed up the rehab and get my right hip feeling better after long rides and runs.  Just the exercises I have started doing are starting to help and I am looking forward to what will learn at the clinic.  

50 mile training ride

 
Last Saturday morning I joined the tri group for a 50 mile training ride.  Not sure I would be able to hang on, I was stoked about getting in some good miles.  The route was planned but no course set in stone.   Met up with them at 5:30 to get much of the ride in before the heat arrived.  There was 9 of us out there, and the first 12 miles or so the pace was pretty fast. The pace slowed down after a member flatted, and we  were able to regroup.  I just sat near the back of the group and focused on my hydration and my nutrition so I would be able to finish the ride strong.  33 miles of the ride were on pretty flat roads or very little incline.  Near the end of the ride we headed down the backside of Usery Pass down to the river bottom.   At the river bottom we turned around and climbed back up the backside and back to where we started.  I was glad I brought my three bottles, two insulated bottles with frozen electrolyte fluid (perfect)  in them and the other with just plain water.  I mainly used the plain water to drink after eating a gel, to get it in my stomach and then also used the water to spray on my Recofit Icefil cooling sleeves.  The ride ended just before the heat of the day started to rise.  Getting back on the trainer at home every night this week and looking forward to another group ride next weekend.

Tour de Mesa, next race on the schedule

So Saturday April 14, is my next race.  The El Tour de Mesa has a few distances, in which I will be doing the farthest distance of 70 miles. My training is coming along both on the rollers indoors and out on the road. 
I have really noticed a huge difference in when I wear a cotton t-shirt indoors on the rollers.  The heat is really kept in.  I am looking at placing a small fan out in front of the rollers to help cool me down a little. I've been getting some great workouts in with my Miowatch Quest, a GPS watch with heart rate monitor. I have the GPS turned off and just using the heart rate monitor function.  My workouts have moved from three weeks ago in Zone 3 to now Zone 2, 45 minute workouts.
The El Tour de Mesa is a new race for me and I look to have some fun.  Bib numbers have been issued online and I am #297, if your out there before the race or on the course say "hi".  

What does not kill you makes you stronger

What does not kill you makes you stronger. This is very true.  Over the past month and a half, I have been pretty much riding my rollers at home.  Inside the house or outside in the driveway while I watch my kids play outside. 
I went out on the road for a ride on Saturday afternoon, a quick out 7 miles and back 7 miles.  I can definitely say that working out on the rollers has helped me in many ways.
The rollers, like a treadmill, might be boring, but with them I have been able to improve my strength on form on the bike.
I have the bike set up on the rollers with my Miowatch Quest, a GPS enabled heart rate monitor, which while riding I have placed on the handlebars. I have the alarm set on the watch to help tell me when I am in my training zone I need to be in.

I could feel my form on the bike was more efficient, even though it was only a short 14 mile ride. 

New tunes to keep me moving

 So hear it is, pun intended.  Whether I am running, riding the rollers or swimming wearing my H2O Audio set up I will be listening to some great tunes. The playlist is almost 50 minutes long and consists of

• Headlines                      Drake  
• Brighter Than the Sun  Colbie Caillat   
• Ass Back Home      Gym Class Heroes  
• Blackout                   Breathe Carolina   
• I Like It Like That    Hot Chelle Rae   
• Ni**as in Paris          Kanye West & JAY Z   
• Turn Me On               David Guetta & Nicki Minaj   
• International Love      Pitbull   
• Right Above It           Lil Wayne & Drake  
• What's My Name?    Rihanna & Drake   
• Not Afraid                Eminem              
• Rhythm of Love       Plain White T's
• 4 Minutes                  Madonna               
• Crushcrushcrush       Paramore              

With the shuffle option on the iPod the order will never get old.
I tried looking at old CD's, yes I said CD's I purchased over the past 15 or so years but nothing seemed to keep my interest or sound good.

The Mio Quest, another look

Here is a video looking at the displays offered on the Mio Quest.   I use the watch for all my workouts, indoors and out, with a chest strap for showing me my heart rate.  The information captured by the watch is able to be downloaded with the Mio software and then uploaded to MapMyRun.com

Rolling rolling rolling, winter training is rolling

The weather here in Arizona has been great this winter so one might ask why am I doing so much training indoors?  I did a great ride of 20.12 miles on New Years Day to start of the year, but really got my winter training off to a start about two weeks ago riding rollers, an indoor way of training on your bike. Riding the rollers allows me to stay close to home (how much closer can I get) and focus working on my heart rate training (Aerobic Zone (Endurance Training) 70-80% HRM).  Riding the rollers is not easy and I have done a lot of research on them before getting them.  They have been compared to riding a bike on ice!  With the power being forced on the back wheel a belt drives the roller on the front so your front wheel rotates also. They help a rider overall perfect their form and balance. They also force to keep pedaling.  No coasting or you will fall.  The workouts I have done on them so far have been great.  Unlike riding outside, there is no stopping at "stop" signs or coasting to a stop.  They allow you to use your own bike, so the set up and feel of your position are exactly how my bike has been fit to me. They take a little getting used to, starting off holding onto a wall or object to get going.  Yes, I have fallen learning to ride and most likely will fall a few more times before I really get comfortable on them.  The first wreck I took with them was while riding along the couch while my wife and I watched TV.  Next thing you know I was flat on the ground with her laughing.  I am tall already on my bike and the rollers boost the rider about another five inches off the ground, making the distance to fall from a little farther.  I hope to soon post a video of myself on the rollers to show what it's all about.  There are plenty of videos on YouTube showing riders on them. 



Healthy Heart Zone -- 50-60% HRM
Fitness Zone (Fat Burning) 60-70% HRM
Aerobic Zone (Endurance Training) 70-80% HRM
Anaerobic Zone (Performance Training 80-90% HRM
Red Line (Max Effort) 90-100% HRM

Mio software

I have had a few question and wanted to address them here.  Gathering info from the Mio Quest is very simple.  Above is a sample of the data captured on a ride I did on Monday. The map is just one of the features.  Also you can track your Waypoints, Heart Rate and Speed, as well as a summary of all your workouts.  If you want, you can also save the file and import it to your MapMyRun account if you have one. All of which is very easy.

2 weeks ahead of schedule is better than being behind

After sitting down last week,  I found out I am two weeks ahead of schedule on my training program.  How did that happen?  I guess I started the program two weeks early I was so excited to get it going.  More long rides and runs then for the next two weekends, thats for sure.  Anyway, last weekend I had two of my best training sessions, all keeping my heart rate in Zone 2 using my Mio Watch Quest with GPS. An open water swim for just over 1.5 miles and a 40 mile ride.  The ride had a few hiccups with a flat tire, then when I was changing it realized I had worn the back tire down to seeing threads in the tread.  Both tire and tube have been changed and while I was at it slapped a new chain on the ride too.  I have been meaning to swap out the old chain for awhile and had just a little extra maintenance time over the weekend.  I now have a few weeks to break the new gear in before race day, which a quick ride after the installation was smooth.

Labor Day Open Water Swim

After swimming 1.34 miles in Canyon Lake on Labor Day.

I was able to beat the crowd of those headed out to the lake for the holiday Monday (Labor Day).  Before heading out to the lake I fueled up with PowerBar Protein Plus Chocolate flavored drink and followed by a pouch of PowerBar Protein Bites, so I was ready to take on the over mile swim for training.  The water temperature was perfect.  Put on my goggles and swim cap, had my brother hang out on his kayak around me, just in case, and headed out.  The entire swim I felt strong. Had no issues with fogging goggles like I normally do, which made the sighting much easier.  The stroke drills I have been working on in the gym pool have been paying off.  I didn't worry about pace or time really, just worked on good form and being comfortable in the water.  I know when race time comes around, it will be wetsuit conditions and I plan on getting a bunch of training swims wearing that.  My brother wore my Mio Watch Quest with GPS to track the distance while trailing me. 

Miowatch Quest

I can tell you this, if you want to take your outdoor workouts to the next level, the Mio Quest is the way to do it.  I have been using the GPS enabled watch for the past three weeks. It takes a little getting used to, but after looking over the instructions you will on your way, and out the door in no time.  The Quest has Waypoints, which are locations you can save.  After saving the location you can then rename it for easy access for locations you wish to return to later.  The watch uses chest strap to gather your heart rate too.




I have been using to track my workouts, the Mio Quest.  The heart rate monitor with GPS is able to be downloaded and information can be then uploaded to MapMyRun. 
Stay tuned, diving deeper into using the Mio Quest in a new video coming soon. 

Learning from the past and changing the future

Over the past few years I have been training and racing, I have learned a lot about myself and my strategies during racing. Over the last week, I looked back on my training schedule and nutrition from my half Ironman race.  During this race I felt very weak at the end and over the 6 hours on was on the course lost about 11 pounds of weight.  CRAZY!  I was really only concentrating on liquids and gels during the race.
Things I am doing different this time around are:
1.    I have started in my training using more solid easy to digest PowerBars and Gel Blasts.
2.    I am eating more calories prior to training rides and runs as well as before races.
3.    I am taking in more plain water during training.
4.    I have started watching my calories being burned wearing my Mio Quest heart rate monitor

Training from last weekend

This past weekend I was able to get my longest ride in this year at 51 miles. On Saturday, I rode the first 20 miles with a local tri group.  The last 30 was done with a friend after I had a flat and he stopped and waited while I changed the tube.  I am once again working on getting more comfortable in the aero position with some adjustments I have made.   
I felt very strong through out, with an average heart rate of 142 for the just under 3 hour ride.  A little cloud cover helped hold off the heat so my workout was done before 8am. 
On Monday, I took in a 20 mile recovery ride, which was very humid.  I stayed away from the hills and just concentrated on a spinning and keeping my heart rate up.  The just over an hour ride had my heart rate averaging 136. 
My nutrition for both rides this weekend was perfect, with recovery time better than I expected.  Using a PowerBar gel still every half hour needed or not, and consuming 40 ounces of water an hour.  

What I am using to track my heart rate.

I can tell you this, if you want to take your outdoor workouts to the next level, the Mio Quest is the way to do it.  I have been using the GPS enabled watch for the past three weeks. It takes a little getting used to, but after looking over the instructions you will on your way, and out the door in no time.  The Quest has Waypoints, which are locations you can save.  After saving the location you can then rename it for easy access for locations you wish to return to later.  The watch uses chest strap to gather your heart rate too. 




I have been using to track my workouts, the Mio Quest.  The heart rate monitor with GPS is able to be downloaded and information can be then uploaded to MapMyRun. 

Two days away from race day!

I am ready!
Training has went great the past few months. I am starting to play the course in my head. I still need to pack my small bag later tonight and pick up my packet tomorrow. Nerves and excitement start just as I will try to sleep tomorrow night. My ultimate goal is to beat my time from last year, but also place high in my division. The later all depends on the other locals who show up. Thank you to everyone who has helped me through my training and along the way.

Mio Quest

**********2015 UPDATE to this POST************

This device is not longer in production

I can tell you this, if you want to take your outdoor workouts to the next level, the Mio Quest is the way to do it. I have been using the GPS enabled watch for the past three weeks. It takes a little getting used to, but after looking over the instructions you will on your way, and out the door in no time. The Quest has Waypoints, which are locations you can save. After saving the location you can then rename it for easy access for locations you wish to return to later. The watch uses chest strap to gather your heart rate too.

My BioAge is.......

Using the Fitstik I sat down this evening and performed a very easy and simple test wearing a heart rate strap. This test was done in under a minute and found out that my BioAge is 41, adding 2 years to my real age. I am hoping the training I am doing and stress reducing techniques will help bring this number down to my real or shooting downward even past it. A very cool test and just one of three that can be performed with the Fitstik. The other two tests I will take, in the next two days will be the HealthMeter and CardioCapacity tests.

45 mile training ride, great weather

Today I was able to get out and give a "first test" on the Mio Quest Heart Rate monitor with GPS. The 45 mile ride was done with a friend, so I was not really focused on keeping my heart rate in a certain zone, nor did I really keep track of my speed. What I did do is ride a bunch of hills in the area. I am looking forward to many more training runs and rides with the Quest after uploading its info to look over.