i took advantage of the snowy weather yesterday to engage in some online retail therapy to bust me out of the foul, foul mood i was in.
i'll soon be the proud owner of a polar heart-rate-monitor watch and "coded transmitter." boy am i excited. i tried a timex heart rate monitor last summer but really hated running with it b/c the transmitter strap was incredibly uncomfortable. the one i ordered yesterday (1) can be used w/o a transmitter strap (doesn't give you continuous information, but can give you readings on demand, and (2) allegedly has a soft elastic strap that doesn't feel like you're running in a vise.
oh, and it's waterproof, so can be used in the pool. now i can see with mathematical certainty just how out of shape i am in multiple settings.
but wait ... there more. i also ordered a pair of fancy running headphones. although ... and this is by far the worst thing about this triathalon ... we're not allowed to listen to music during the race. this policy is apparently for safety reasons (moose, bears, traffic). i don't mind running, but for me it's all about the music. running 4 miles without music just sounds boring as hell. but i'm sure the race itself will give my ADHD-addled brain lots of things to look at and focus on -- someone told me that one year there was a moose giving birth on the side of the trail. but the headphones will still be nice for training, since the ones i have now have a freakshily long cord that i'm always afraid i'll trip on....