Sick of HR Monitor Chaffing?

A few months ago my husband and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary. Being a pretty active couple, our gifts to teach other are a little off the wall ranging from Rogue bumper plates, Lululemon diggs, and Betty Design stuff to chaff-free HR monitor straps.

Yes you heard me right-- I got a chaff-free HR monitor strap that no longer goes around your chest but fits snuggly around your wrist like a watch. We are such a romantic couple right? HR chaffing definitely is not sexy.

Anyway this new strap is called a Mio Link. Its a watch strap that is much smaller than your typical Garmin that detects your HR via your wrist pulse. I wear it in addition to my Garmin 910xt to replace the pesky HR strap on the opposite wrist.

Let's say goodbye chest chaffing and old chest strap! In addition to being uber comfortable, there is also a colored flashing light that correlates with your heart rate zones. Now you have both a heart rate and a flashing colored light to keep you in the zone! No more excuses right coach?

Here is a view from the back and the removable sensor:

The only small downside of the Mio Link, is that it requires charging. Since I'm doing mostly Olympic distance triathlon training,  I haven't had a problem charging 1-2x weekly. If you doing 70.3 training and beyond (15+hrs), you would need 2-3 charges weekly.

So what about compatibility? I have paired my Mio Link seamlessly with Garmin 910xt. It supposedly pairs with all ANT+ technology including most iPhones/Androids. I also set my 5 HR zones with the color coordination system:

So are there any downsides? The product description states that the strap is water resistant up to 30m, not water proof... From what I read, you should avoid doing any type of diving with it. Would it be ok in a triathlon? I'm going to test it out this weekend.

Either way, I'm happy do do lots of training minus a battle wound on my chest :) Send me a message if you have further questions-

And thank you Scott for continuing to take care of me-even if it's just reducing HR monitor wounds !

Swim Paddle Review

A few weeks ago I was provided with the opportunity to do a product review for Aqua Gear. Given I ripped my 5 year old speedo paddles during IM training and had a hair tie holding the strap together, I thought it was time for a replacement pair. I opted to do a product review of the Vortex V8 Hand Paddles: 

 This is how they are packaged prior to assembly: 

 Post Assembly: (Very easy to assemble I might add)

 New paddle size vs old paddle size: (with my hand comparison)

Overall, I love the ergonomic hand contour design. The hand strap fits nicely and does not cause any hand cramping. Although I love the contour, the size is a bit excessive for my smaller hand. I've used these for the past 2 weeks but have only pulled 200-300meters with them. After a few hundred meters, I starting to feel a little too much upper trap and shoulder cramping.  Great product for anyone with a larger hand size with no history of shoulder problems. I wish there was an in-between size available for this product. Please feel free to contact me if you have any additional questions about this product. Thank you Aqua Gear for the opportunity to do this review!