PTown Stand Up Paddle Boarding and PEAR!

My memorial day started a little later than most and was dedicated to my triathlon training primarily. On Saturday, I woke up and went for a swim using a workout that Josh Crosby gave to me. Marni, one of the Oakley gals, is also a triathlete and gave me some pointers so I was excited to hop in the pool! Afterwards, I headed down to the Cape for some fun! On Sunday, I went for a quick run before heading to Ptown! 

The weather was not in our favor. It was super cloudy and cold! A family friend was opening up a new business called Provincetown Aqua Sports on Monday so we went to check it out before hand. They offer kayaks and stand up paddle boards which I’m most excited about. If you are looking for a fun day trip from Boston in the summer and don’t have a car, it’s easy to take the ferry to P-town for great restaurants (Victors is my favorite), fun bars (too many to recommend just one) and now a little beach exercise. 

I was trying to convince out friends to offer yoga on the Stand Up Paddleboards in Provincetown. They seems to think the idea sounded crazy so although it’s popular in California, maybe the East Coast isn’t right for it just yet? If you are a yogi who goes to Ptown in the summer, let me know if you would try it! I just might have to go down and teach something myself. 

On Monday back in mid Cape, I finally was able to take my mom’s bike for a spin on the roads. I had not yet tried it and will be using one for my race in June. It is super light and easy to ride but I was passed by two people who were going MUCH faster than I was. I’m curious if I’m using the gears wrong now. I have a month to figure it out. 

Josh also gave me a training program for the bike and run legs of the race. He suggested at least once a week doing two disciplines. I was sent a Pear Sports heart rate monitor recently which goes with a free app you can download on to your iPhone. The app gives heart rate monitored coaching, including intervals and when you should raise or lower your heart rate. It’s so sophisticated it knows how intense you are working out at any given moment and makes suggestions. 

I was too impatient to do the calibration test so I was struggling to meet the recommended heart rate zones as it does not know my fitness levels. You recallibrate every few weeks to get the target heart rate accurate. As you can see in the blue shaded areas above, I did an interval brick bike and run. I rode the bike for about 40 minutes and then ran for 15 minutes with intervals during each segment. The blue is where my heart rate was supposed to be. 

You do need at least an iPhone 4s or newer or iPod touch. I have neither but have been so excited to try out the app that they sent me an iPod touch to try it out. I have to send it back but hope to get a new iPhone when they release the next version. I’m excited to continue using Pear and trying out the different workouts given by various instructors. They have a few tri training plans as well as strength workouts, long runs, and even stretches. Since this is an iPod, my pace and distance was not calculated. 

The calories are not accurate as I forgot to enter my personal info. This was based on a man who had the iPod before me. He was 6’0, a year younger and weighed 200 lbs so it’s more calories than it should read. Have you heard of Pear? It’s free to download on you iPhone but you need a heart rate monitor that syncs up.