Newfangled Dad

*Housekeeping note: I looked at the data for what browser my readers are using & a full 34% of you are using Internet Explorer...the one with errors in reading the new Endurance tab for sports posts. So I'm ending that experiment for now & going back to mixing running/tri into the main blog feed. It's not ideal for the 75% of you who want to read parenting posts, but neither is having a third of my readers unable to see certain updates.  Greetings from Personal Record land! It was a busy weekend around my house, obviously, so I'll try to get to everything in posts this week...though one of the things to blog about is the wave of colds that has taken over. So we'll see how far I get. I'm the last one standing and even this morning I have a blah feeling that is combining with sniffles to make me think it isn't just marathon recovery. Whatever happened, I sure ran a heck of a race though so you won't get medical complaints here. I lowered my PR by o...

Several of you have said you have enjoyed my posts about race-day fueling strategy. So I thought I'd offer a bit of a wrap-up with what I've settled into. I looked at my training calendar last night and realized that after I return from our trip to Ohio there will be 8 weeks left until Race Week. Halfway there! And I'm feeling good. I think it's a combination of many causes. The cross-training on the bike. The new nutrition plan. More experience in knowing when/how to push myself during workouts...and when to back off. I loved the granola. There was even a sale on the half-bars I would have wanted to use. In the end, they're not for Race Day, I've decided. The North Shore Half was a nice, fair test drive for them and they proved to be too sticky, too crumbly, and hard to get down on a hot day. Granted, I hope the Chicago Marathon doesn't have a finish line high temp of 91, but you have to be prepared for anything. Lately, on my long runs I've bee...

There are only two places where points could be deducted from Nuun. It was one of two companies who told me they would send me samples for review but did not. The other is that when ordering from Nuun's website there were shipping charges. The same day I ordered from other companies, got free shipping, and Nuun's paid-for rate ended up being the last to arrive. But don't get me wrong, the product inside the box--or plastic tube as it were--is amazing. For those new to sports nutrition, it's not a powder or a typical sports drink even. It's a tablet which self-dissolves in 16 oz. of water into a refreshing electrolyte beverage--with more essential nutrients that the popular Gatorade Endurance, I might add. Not to mention that it lacks the sugars/carbs of many sports drinks which means you can A) get your calories elsewhere and B) not get an upset stomach from the syrupy, artificial flavors of typical hydration. The Nuun flavors are mild, pleasant, quench thirst...