My Top Five Favorite Running/Triathlon Links

Here are my top five favorite running links.  Some, I visit several times a week (or even daily, in the case of Bonktown), and they've all made planning run and triathlon training easier or more fun.

5. Cool Running Pace Calculator-   - I need every little victory I can get, and seeing that I dropped a 6 mile run pace from 9:21 to 9:15 per mile is a big plus.

4. G-Map Pedometer - brought to you by your friends at Google.  I use this to map out all my new runs ahead of time.  You can also use the elevation feature to see where the hills are- if you're training for a race with big hills at miles 3 and 8, you can set up your training run to do the same.  You can also share your routes with friends, or people you're inviting to run with you so they can stake it out ahead of time. Here is the Belmont-Vandy route I ran when I lived in that area. (By the way, all the Vanderbilt people reading this are really upset that I called it the "Belmont-Vandy" route instead of the "Vandy-Belmont" route, and almost made them spit out their chardonnay in disgust at being mentioned after Belmont.)

3. Daily Mile (with Electric Miles App)- .   #5 and #4 have more to do with planning and results. This has more to do with accountability.  Daniel C. White suggested this to me as a way to keep not just friends in the loop, but people who read my blog as well (you can see it over on the right).  It just looks bad if I haven't put anything on for a day or two.  There's also a nice little app (you can find it under Electric Miles in the App Store) that you can put on your phone to more easily download your info, and it just pops up on your blog.  If you decide to friend me on Daily Mile, you'll get to see my picture of when I had an awesome Geraldo mustache!

2. Athlinks-  Once you sign up, it automatically adds in your races (you can usually find the race and add it if it misses).  I love to back and see the 39 of the 40 or so races I've done over the past 8 years, compare all my times, split them up into years or events, and see the improvement.  You can also pull up and compare how you're doing against your 'rivals' (people who you may not even know who run 3 or more of the same races you've run) and your friends as well- kind of a facebook for runners.

1. Bonktown- This site has helped me save a TON of money.  I still strongly encourage folks to make their big purchases from their local bike/running/tri shops- but for certain things or taking risks on new products, Bonktown is great.  Every 20 or 30 minutes, a crazy 50%-90% off deal comes up (you can set it so the bottom right hand of your browser shows what is currently offered). I'd heard how bib shorts are all the rage, but they're three times as expensive as regular bike shorts- UNLESS you get them on Bonktown.com.  I ended up getting a matching Castellini jersey ($99) and bib shorts ($129) for $110 total- not any more than I'd pay for regular bike shorts and a jersey, and they've been great- now I only want to wear bib short. I also get my Accel Hydro ($16 instead of $40) and some various odds and ends there like arm warmers, tri tops, or sunglasses.  Great site.