On Test - Moeben Arm Sleeves

Arm sleeves are a great invention. Thinner ones warm in the Winter and cool in the Summer. They stop sunburn and bright ones can help you be seen in traffic.  They are a fast way to do all of the above because they go on and off in seconds, even while you ride.

And don't call them arm warmers.  The thin material actually keeps you cooler once you start to sweat. Compounded with the prevention of sun exposure, you'll finish a hot ride in better shape than if you went without them.  Just make sure you wear lighter colored ones in the hotter months and you'll be fine.

Moeben sells sleeves that are made in the U.S.A. and come in a variety of fabrics and colors. I ordered the tattoo print ones to fulfill some kind of weird dual-fantasy of having traffic notice me for safety and then having that traffic scared of me because I might be riding home from an opium den.  Just creating a perimeter of safety around my bike, folks!

I was impressed with the packaging.  The story of the founder was written on the cardboard casing.  Nice. They also included some super-tasty ginger candies. Very nice, indeed.  They fit fine because, unlike many other arm sleeve companies out there, they offered a sizing chart.  

I rode with them on my bike commute this morning and it was great.  Cars gave me a double-take and my arms were warm.  Once I heated up, I could feel the wind pulling the sweat off my arms like I was wearing dual air conditioners on my limbs.  Perfect.

The only downsides where I think they could use some improvement is the lack of grippy material at the tops.  They didn't slide down my arms, but many companies put a tiny bit of grip around the top to keep them secure, and that's nice.

Overall, they rock.  Consider some for yourself to keep from getting burned this summer.  Don't get stuck thinking that they will make you hot.  Just like a Coolmax jersey, these actually cool you and the UV protection is gangbusters.  They come in all kinds of colors and materials, so you can have fun mixing and matching them with all your short-sleeved cycling jerseys.

Yoga for Staying Aero

The following is another great guest post from Fred Williams, our resident yoga stud. :)

Aside from talking to folks in my yoga classes about getting and staying aero on the bike, I've been spending a lot of time watching triathlon bike footage on the internet. This has really helped me in my thinking about what it takes to have and comfortably maintain good aero positioning on the bike.

Some components of the position are:

• a strong and stable core.
• open hips.
• Length in the hamstrings.
• Open shoulders.
• Space in the front body/hip flexors.

This next pose we will explore in this series is a bang for your buck pose if ever there was one. The traditional pose is an forearm balance called Pincha Mayurasana. But we don't need to come into the full expression of that pose for our purposes. As is the case with most yoga poses, sometimes the preparatory pose is more beneficial (read challenging) in developing the attributes of strength, muscular integration and access we are looking for than the actual full expression of the pose itself.

Pincha Mayurasana is no exception.  If you've been following along through the last couple of posts in this series we can move easily from Bakasana or Crow Pose into Pincha Mayurasana prep.  Of course you can do all of this work as stand alone poses or you can put them together during a strength workout or a stretching routine to augment other work.

From Crow Pose, you would bring the feet back to the floor and come back into the original squat we started out in.  From here you would come to your hands and knees with the palms under the shoulders.  Then lower the elbows to the ground keeping the forearms parallel to one another.  You want to make sure you keep the forearms from rotating inward to one another.  They should rest flat on the floor extending out in a straight line from the elbows.  Keeping this alignment will be important as we come into Pincha Mayurasana prep as the alignment is what promotes the shoulder opening we are working toward.  If you have tight shoulders perfectly parallel forearms might not be possible but you want to keep the arms as close to this ideal as comfortably possible.

Once you have your forearms situated, you will keep your gaze up between your hands as you raise your hips toward the ceiling straightening your legs.  At this point you will walk the feet in a few inches.  The head will naturally drop but keep the eyes forward looking in between the hands.  You want to use your forearms and engage them from the hands all the way back into the elbows.  This will create the lift as you engage the core to facilitate the posture.

Try to hold this pose anywhere from 5 to 8 breaths.  Come out of it by bending the knees and lowering back to the ground.  You will want to repeat this posture 3 to 5 times.  As you get better and your shoulders, hips and hamstrings open up and your core gets stronger, you can add more challenge/intensity by raising a leg in the air.

Ultimately, as you gain strength and your body opens, you will be able to use the raised leg to bring the hips over the shoulders.  At this point the full expression of the pose can be explored.  But if all you want to do is be more comfortable on the bike, what I've shown you here will be more than adequate for your training. If you are finding keeping your arms parallel is an issue, then you could try using a yoga block. Most men may need two due to the width of their shoulders. If a yoga block isn't available I've used books if I could find one the correct width. The thing to keep in mind is just try to keep the arms a little straighter than they would be if you let them do what they wanted. In time you should see improvement both in the practice and in your position on the bike.

Fred Williams

www.enduranceyoga.com

Podcast - Inside a Swim Meet

Click HERE to listen.

Hey, everybody!  Join me and the gang while we go to a huge swim meet: Masters South Central Zone Short Course Championships!

I detail how swim meets happen, how to swim them, and give out a lot of triathlon training tips.

• Midi intro - "The Sweater Song" by Weezer.
• Guest appearance by MC Transition.
• Tips on habit-building, dealing with getting older, nutrition, and much more!

Click HERE to listen.

How to Make Hummus!

On Test - Blue Seventy Hydra-Vision Goggles

I recently got the Blue Seventy Hydra-Vision goggles and have been swimming with them for a few weeks.  I like!  The gaskets seal nicely around the eye sockets and the yellow tint makes you either see very clearly or very angrily, depending on your mood.

I noticed immediately that the adjustment widgets on the side are nice and streamlined and work well.  When I put them on an hit the Zen-Tri hydro testing facility (neighborhood pool), the sharpness of my vision from the yellowish amber lenses was intense!  I could see objects extremely clearly, making them great for sighting buoys and approaching death-fish (anything that moves in open water).

Side-vision for spotting approaching death-fish and/or opponent racers is excellent.  Not just adequate, but excellent.  Never underrate the utility of peripheral vision in open water.  It will help you quickly assess if your time has come or if it's just a stick.

The best part was when I took them off.  I immediately realized that it was actually not a sunny happy day, but rather quite dreary and gray outside.  On. Off. On. Off.  Happy! Meh. Happy! Meh.  

The non-adjustable nose makes them only for people of the right face shape, so try before you buy.  If your face is wrong, don't blame Blue Seventy.  You obviously should have picked better parents.