Week in Review–January 4th, 2015

The Week in Review is a collection of both all the goodness I’ve written during the past week around the internet, as well as a small pile of links I found interesting – generally endurance sports related. I’ve often wondered what to do with all of the coolness that people write, and while I share a lot of it on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, this is a better forum for sending it on to y’all. Most times these different streams don’t overlap, so be on the lookout at all these places for good stuff!

So with that, let’s get into the action!

DCRainmaker.com posts in the past week:

Here’s all the goodness that ended up on the main page of DCRainmaker.com this past week:

Saturday: Week in Review – December 27th, 2014
Wednesday: Huge Garmin Edge 510/810/1000 Update: Cycling Dynamics, Di2 Support, Edge Remote, Segments and more
Friday: Why you shouldn’t always trust “peer reviewed” studies: The Polar vs SRM papers

Definitely got a busy week coming up now that Christmas is past, and then the extra-crazy week at CES to follow in the first full week of January.

Stuff that I found interesting around the interwebs:

Here’s a not-so-small smattering of all the random things that I stumbled on while doing my civic duty to find the end of the Internet:

1) Ron Hill tops 50 years of running every day: Yup, one mile every day…for fifty years.  Pretty incredible accomplishment.  (via Neil C.)

2) New anti-drafting initiative proposes 1KM extra run: I love this idea.  I’ve always felt that the time penalties (such as at the tent) simply don’t do enough to deter drafting on long-course (iron distance).  The reality is that drafting not only saves you time but energy as well, by some estimates up to 30%.  Thus, having to run an extra 1KM seems rather appropriate as both ensuring you aren’t just getting 5 minutes of rest but also having to work for it.

3) US Army considers relaxing physical fitness requirements for cyber soldiers: This is definitely interesting, and I certainly see both sides of the issue – especially as one that understands both groups at hand fairly well.

4) Shooting Bikers at Night with DIY Black Light Flashes and Colorful Paint: In the event you want to rock some seriously unique mountain bike shots for next year’s Facebook Year in Review timeline feed, here ya go on the behind the scenes.

5) Ken Griffey Jr. & Randy Johnson as pro photographers?  Growing up in Seattle with both Griffey and Johnson as major baseball stars on the Mariners at the time, I found this kinda neat.

6) Oleg Tinkov’s comments on how Russian sanctions impact pro cycling: In the event you wondered what one of the richest (Russian) guys in pro cycling thinks about the sanctions, here ya go.

7) Ultra Marathoner Non-Pro Mom pops doping test at race: Two interesting tidbits to this story, first, the testing of amateurs (which I’m in favor of for podium contenders). And second, as much as I’d like to give people the benefit of the doubt, I have a hard time believing someone who consistently is in the front of the pack and owns their own physical therapist shop.  That type of person is more than familiar with regulations/trends in the sport.  Worthwhile discussion over on Slowtwitch.

8) Man will attempt to cycle 75,000+ miles in 2015: Yes, just one year.  That’s some 205 miles a day.  You can follow along on his Strava feed (in order to feel completely inadequate about what you’ve done that day). (via reader Chris Barber)

9) How the Fitbit can lower your insurance costs: While this is nothing new, this is worthwhile to keep in mind as we go into CES this upcoming week and you see the continued surge of activity trackers.

Crowd Funded Projects of Athletic Note:

I regularly sift through Kickstarter and Indiegogo (plus a few others on occasion) looking for sports projects.  If you’re unfamiliar with projects, read my detailed post on how I decide which projects I personally back.  Note that as always with crowd funded projects, assume the project will be late and will under-deliver on features. Thus far, on the numerous products I’ve helped ‘fund’ (except a leather bike handle), that’s been the case.

(I didn’t see anything worthwhile this week, but I suspect we’ll have a bunch more timed to CES next week)

Sports Technology Software/Firmware Updates This Week:

Each week I quickly highlight some of the new firmware, app, software and website service updates that I see go out. If you’re a sports technology company and release an update – shoot me a quick note (just one liners is perfect, or Tweet it at me is even better) and I’ll make mention of it here. If I don’t know about it, I won’t be able to post about it. Sound good?

Garmin Edge 510 Firmware Update: Addition of Shimano Di2, Garmin Segments, Cycling Dynamics, Edge Remote control and much more.  Discussed in detail in my post on Wednesday.

Garmin Edge 810 Firmware Update: Addition of Shimano Di2, Garmin Segments, Cycling Dynamics, Edge Remote control and much more, also some course related tweaks.  Discussed in detail in my post on Wednesday.

Garmin Edge 1000 Firmware Update: Addition of Landscape Mode, Shimano Di2, Cycling Dynamics, Garmin Segments, Edge Remote control and much more, also some course related tweaks.  Discussed in detail in my post on Wednesday.

Garmin FR920XT GPS Chipset Firmware: GPS related improvements including first fix and openwater swimming.

Polar V800 Firmware Update: This update introduces speed and pace training zones, as well as improvements in swimming accuracy for the V800.

Polar M400 Firmware Update: This update introduces speed and pace training zones, as well as GPS improvements for the M400.

Polar Android app release: This is definitely notable in that now Polar has released support for the M400 and V800 within their Android app.

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