anti-social media guru

It may be a little premature to do up a how-to before I've even fully tested to see if it works, but I'm a little excited to try this out. I don't feel like spending another $200 for another watch so I can track heart rate underwater, especially when I don't know if I'm going to even find it practical or useful to have that data yet. So back to the spare parts bin to try to hack together something that will work.

My first attempt was to just wear the heart rate strap in the tub, and having the GPS unit close to it. Reception was spotty. There didn't even seem to be any rhyme or reason to why it would or wouldn't pick up a signal. Sometimes it could be right next to it and not work, and sometimes if it was far away it'd get a signal. I decided that I'd probably have to keep them close to each other, or at least have no water between them. So I figured out another way to sort it out.

I started with a basic original style Garmin heart rate strap.

...and an underwater camera bag.

First I applied a thick bead of silicone around the main part of the strap.

...then just stuck the underwater bag onto the strap and let it dry.

It doesn't even look awkward at all!

Here's the GPS in action, obviously getting a reading (I was out of the water).

Next I tested it in the tub, and it definitely got a solid signal the whole time. Sorry, no pictures, but I DO have a chart showing no dropouts during the five minute impromptu bath I took!

Monday I'll be testing this, so I'll be sure to update this post. Hopefully I don't get laughed out of the swim session!

Since the end of last year when I was told I have a touch of tibialis posterior syndrome (basically a glorified form of tendinitis involving the tendon connecting the back of your shin to the bottom of your foot), I've been completely off running, and only able to handle very small amounts of cycling at a time.

I could spend hours explaining exactly why (if you've read my training blog you'll know I'm not exaggerating), but I believe that trying this midsole position will take much of the pressure off my tendon, which might actually allow me to start cycling again, and if I'm very lucky I can resume a regular training schedule. [fingers crossed]

For more info on the midsole cleat position, check out some of the archives on Joe Friel's blog (author of the Triathlete's Training Bible and the most vocal proponent of a midsole cleat). His latest midsole cleat post is about how it can improve running performance off the bike, and it also contains links to his previous articles.

This guide is based on Joe's how to post, which uses a very similar shoe to mine.

Step one: Mark a line down the centre of the shoe. I used the hole in the top with the indentation in the bottom

Step two: Measure the halfway point in the sole and...

Step three: Make a perpendicular line.

Step four: Drill the holes. This shows the mounting plate in it's position, which I used as a template to drill the holes (I'm not sure where they came from, but I had a few in my bag of parts).

Step five: Dremel out a square in the inside of the soles to give a spot for the mounting plate to be recessed into.

Step six: position the mounting plate.

Step seven: Screw a couple random bolts into it.

Step eight: Laugh at the pain from sticking your foot into the end of a randomly long bolt.

Step nine: Grab some appropriate-length machine bolts from Home Depot. Interestingly this non-metric size is a direct match, not only with thread pitch and length, but they're tapered exactly the same as the originals.

Step ten: Install new machine bolts

Step eleven: Consider dremelling a deeper recess for the plate, and possibly reinforce with epoxy if appears that any structural integrity is lost.

Step twelve: Admire your work. Oh yeah, and test it when you get home tonight. [fingers crossed again]