Review: Athlinks

Disclaimer: I am promoting Athlinks as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review or find race reviews.

I have been a fan of Athlinks for years. It is a great website to find all the races you've run and collect the times, places, etc in one place. This is the electronic version of a race log! But now, they have an app! Yay! Makes it easier to find your results now along with seeing who is going to be running races that you've signed up. You can have rivals or friends to follow....I choose friends. 

The nice thing with Athlinks is you can sort your races. When someone asks how many 5ks have you run or 1/2 marathons? Now you can easily check. I've run 31 5ks and 11 half marathons. Boom. You can see your times improve over the years or slow down. If you have a coach, this is a great thing to share with them for seeing your whole running career in one spot. 

How do you claim your results?
It's easy:
Step 1: Sign up (it's free) online or the app

Step 2: Look up your name under the unclaimed results! You can limit it to State or age so your not looking at all the people with your name. (at the same time- kinda cool to see your name shared with other athletic peeps!)

Step 3: claim the result and you can ignore other results. For example, my friend raced under my registration for a local 5k...I ignored that result since it isn't really me. Same works for people with the same name as you. 

If you are a runner, then you need to get on Athlinks. Takes the work out of looking up your past race results! 

Product Review: Aftershokz Trekz Air

Disclaimer: I received the Aftershokz Trekz Air as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out Bibrave.com to review, find and write race reviews.

Last year I was first introduced to Aftershokz (see here) and I was really impressed by well they sounded and loved the fact they stayed put while running. The one thing I didn't like with the last pair was the cord and battery/power pack that was attached to it.  So when I had an option to test out the wireless Aftershokz Trekz Air I jumped at the chance. 

Here's what their website say about them:

• Bone conduction technology delivers music through your cheekbones, ensuring ears remain completely open to hear ambient sounds
• A 20% lighter build than its counterpart
• A new organic design delivers increased comfort
• Complete wraparound titanium design provides a flexible fit for unnoticeable all-day comfort and stability
• OpenFit™ design ensures maximum situational awareness and comfort during long-term wear
• PremiumPitch+™ guarantees a premium audio experience, including wide dynamic range and rich bass
• Bluetooth® v4.2 connectivity and convenient multipoint pairing
• LeakSlayer™ technology significantly reduces natural sound leakage
• IP55 certified to repel sweat, dust and moisture, from workouts to wicked weather
• Enjoy six hours of continuous music + calls on a single charge
• EQ presets boost bass and reduce vibration on the go
• Dual noise canceling microphones exclude surrounding noise, effectively enhancing speech
• Audrey Says™ voice prompts guide users through power, pair, play and talk
• Hassle-free 2-year warranty

super easy & comfy

When I got the Trekz Airs, it was super easy to set up. I paired my phone and headphones within a minute or two of getting them out of the box. Then it was off to the gym to test them out!

awkward cord on JayBirds

I've haven't been running (7 weeks now, not that I'm counting...) so I've had to become friends with the elliptical at my local rec center. Going wireless has been amazing and with the Trekz Air even more so. I got a pair of Jaybirds wireless for Christmas and they are in the ear with a wire attached and the power buttons on them. Anyways it's weird and the buttons always make that side heavier and lopsided. I was always adjusting them, which is hard when your on an elliptical! The Trekz Air just hang over your ear and since they are made of titanium they are super lightweight. I never need to adjust them or think about them. I will never go back to my Jaybirds.

looks weird but it worked

When I tried the Aftershokz with the wire, I didn't like that I couldn't wear a winter hat since the headphones made the hat stretch out over the ears and my ears got cold. This time I tried the headphones and put them over the hat and they worked great! I thought maybe the headphones had to be directly on skin, well apparently not!

Last weekend,  I spent almost the entire day wearing them, listening to music while I cleaned up the house. I was able to walk around almost the entire house with them on and had my phone charging. The bluetooth connection was fabulous. The only time I had a problem was upstairs and a few plaster walls between the headphones and my phone. They were so lightweight I almost forgot that I had them on.

I would highly recommend these. Is it worth the  $179 price tag? I think so. You can listen to your music yet be aware of your surroundings. You never will have to deal with earbuds falling out of your ear or missing the rubber covering on the earbud. They are so light weight you won't even feel them.

I can't wait to try these out on a run outside but I got to get my knee better first!

Knee questions answered

Here's the deal. I've been having knee pain for a year. It's always hurt under the knee cap or around the knee cap on stairs, going up or coming down, some days not at all. It started off just hurting after a long run here and there last January.

 By March, it was becoming more of a problem, interfering with my training. I added in some xtraining, when to my chiro, dry needled and KT taped it. Ran my marathon at the end of April with no knee pain at all (well at least not this knee pain, IT band issues on the other leg)

May- I rested for weeks. I xtrained. I went to the Dr. who told me it was runner's knee and handed me a paper with exercises. I did those, nothing. Changed my shoes- seemed to work went back to my follow up. No pain in knee (with the new shoes- and I wasn't running that much). Started picking up my running, knee pain back. Frustrated, called a new PT instead of another Dr appt.

PT- I went from July til Dec. Not much improvement. Lots of dry needling, ASTYM, estim, etc. I was able to run, just would get a day or 2 of reprieve. I ran well too. Thanks, Coach Becki! I raced a decent 10K, PRd in 15K and 5 milers this fall. My last race, the Turkey Trot, was the last straw. My knee was killing after it. I couldn't run, yet alone walk without some pain.

Back to Dr, MRI ordered.

"Chondromalacia and chrondromalacic osseous changes involving the lateral facet and critical zone of the patella with extensive marrow edema involving the patella"

I'm not sure what grade mine is...assuming grade 4 since I have "osseous changes" Feel free to correct me.

In layman's terms the Dr said "In any other bone this would be a stress fracture" Read- zero running for 6 weeks.  The chondromalacia means my cartilege is thinning/damaged. Options for that were a Visco injection or PRP. Visco is used for arthritis and isn't covered with my insurance (read $700-$1400 an injection that might work and might need to be done every 6 months) or PRP (platelet rich plasma which isn't covered by insurance and is *only * $500.  I went with the PRP since it is more a healing thing than covering up pain.

More later on the PRP injection.

So, what's in my future? I'm not sure right now. Although, it looks like I'm going to have to ease up on the running and definitely find my fitness elsewhere for the time being. I hoping PRP will work and I can get back to running since I'm running the Indy Mini this May 5th. I registered before I knew what was going on with my knee so there's that. Feel free to join me on May 5 in Indy. I mean, you get to run on the speedway! Plus Meb will be there! Discount code is BRP2018 for $5 off.