I tried the recommendations from Polar on my speed sensor issue. It was really more of a "going-through-the-motions" effort because Polar is assuming my speed signal is intermittent. But the issue is that my speed sensor is intermittently wrong, often for extended periods. Yet hope springs eternal and I didn't see the erroroneous speed until about a mile into the ride (when it began displaying what was probably double my actual speed). And to validate my contention that it's not electrical interference causing the bogus speed display, I noticed that once the speed appears wrong it continues to display wrong until I either stop or my speed changes dramatically. Today I rode for almost a mile with the speed display showing between 35 and 37MPH (when I was actually traveling about half that speed). It was until I slowed down to roll through a stop sign that it corrected itself.

So, my Polar Speed Sensor doesn't work. I bought it in Houston and returning it would be a hassle. Trying to send it back to Polar would be even more troublesome. I'll live with it.

The training continues to go well. Ran 24 miles this week with a 10-miler today. Part of today's run took me through the newly refurbished Brackenridge Park. They've apparently converted some of the interior roads to hiking trails and I ran on one of them today. The longest one I could find was just over a mile but the trails are smooth and firmly packed. I'll be going back there again.

Tried out my new Saucony Triumph 3's on a short run today. I ordered these from Road Runner Sports because the three running shops here in town didn't carry them. Road Runner seems okay, I liked the way they handled my order, like the no-questions-asked return policy, and liked the coupon they provided in case I do return them. The shoes are pretty good, too. I've never been a big fan of the Saucony styling, they always look a bit like nurse shoes on my feet (an earlier version of the Trigon was the exception) but these Triumphs are much improved, aesthetically speaking. Ultimately it doesn't matter to me—I'm wearing some ugly ones now—as long as my feet like them. But some good styling is an added bonus.

. . .

I think the training is catching up with me. I'm only on my fourth week of real training and it's going well but these last few nights I've been beat. This Saturday is my "long" run of ten miles so I'm laying low tomorrow to prepare for it. It's been a long time since I 've run (ran?) more than ten miles (8/24/2005 according to my Polar running log).

On my long runs I like to carry the pre-mixed Accelerade in the 16oz bottles. The consistency is better than the ready-to-mix and it doesn't foam like the ready-to-mix does. I use the ready-to-mix all the time because it's cheaper and takes less room in the pantry but I figure I can splurge for my long runs. But now I don't see any references to it on the Accelerade web site. I use to buy it at GNC in Houston and haven't checked the GNC here in San Antonio but the missing info on their web site had me concerned. Then I found this blog that is sponsored by Accelerade and, lo and behold, guess who's bought Accelerade? The same group that's touting "100% Natural" 7UP. That's right, Cadbury-Schweppes, the name you kinda know but aren't sure what they make, has bought Accelerade and apparently has plans to be bringing the bottled version to the masses. Let's hope that goes better than their 7UP plans. So, unless I find some leftover cases of this stuff it looks like I'll have to mix it myself.

Holy Mackerel! How'd I miss this story about the corn syrup debate, A Sweetener With a Bad Rap, in the New York Times just two days before my post about 7UP and it's "100% Natural" campaign? As I read the article I began to feel like a reactionary, a poor victim of mob hysteria. High-fructose corn syrup is very close to sugar, 55 percent fructose and 45 percent glucose with sugar being 50 percent fructose and 50 percent glucose. Could the 5-percent difference in fructose really matter? Some comments on the article . . .

So sure, it's close to sugar and you can get fat from real sugar, too. But it's still to processed for me:

Produced in large manufacturing facilities scattered mostly across the flat, golden expanse of the American corn belt, high-fructose corn syrup is not a product that anyone could cook up at home using a few ears of corn. The process starts with corn kernels and takes place in a series of stainless steel vats and tubes in which a dozen different mechanical processes and chemical reactions occur — including several rounds of high-velocity spinning and the introduction of three different enzymes to incite molecular rearrangements.

And then, it's the usual suspects that own this industry:

The major manufacturers of high-fructose corn syrup — the farm giants Archer Daniels Midland, Cargill and Corn Products International and the ingredients company Tate & Lyle — say that their product is natural because it is made from plain old corn (though some of it is genetically modified) and contains no synthetic materials or color or flavor additives.

Apparently I'm not the only one wondering about the 7UP's "100% Natural" campaign:

The Food and Drug Administration has never established rules on what, exactly, "natural" means, allowing companies to pitch products as natural even if they contain high-fructose corn syrup. Cadbury Schweppes recently began promoting 7-Up, which is sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup, as "100 percent natural."

So maybe it's not the bogeyman it has been made out to be. But food manufacturers use it purely for cost reasons and I just don't get the feeling that the manufacturer really gives a damn when the ingredients list says high-fructose corn syrup instead of sugar.

I was reading an article on MSNBC when the web ad below for 7UP caught me eye:

Wow! Is 7UP bucking the trend, switching to sugar in place of high-fructose corn syrup? 7UP has always been the also-ran, the Schick of the lemony carbonated beverage world. But this could actually work, I thought. With the popular press obsessing about the "obesity epidemic" and the theory du jour about its cause (including America's food being loaded with corn syrup), maybe 7UP has a real angle here. Whole Foods isn't carrying carbonated beverages sweetened with corn syrup (because of the GMO issue) and perhaps this "healthy" angle would make 7UP the crossover drink for the healthy crowd. Sure, the shelf space that Whole Foods delivers would be tiny in comparison to some of their other outlets, but when's the last time anyone actually ordered a 7UP?

But my cynicism wins out again. After hunting around for the new "100% Natural" ingredients, this is what I find: filtered carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, natural citric acid, natural flavors, natural potassium citrate. I guess those smarties in Plano think if you use the word natural enough times it makes it so (3-Mile Island is now 100% Natural: natural uranium-235, natural plutonium, natural deuterium!). Yep, corn grows out of the ground, that's about where the natural part ends for corn-based sweeteners.

So, too bad. Just more of the same in a slightly different package.

Polar finally responded to my inquiry about my troubles with the bike speed sensor. As I feared, they're assuming that I'm having problems maintaining a signal from the wrist unit to the speed sensor. That's not the problem—it's that the speed displayed on the wrist unit is often wrong. They suggested I ensure that the magnet is within two millimeters of the sensor (it is), that the sensor is close to the wrist unit (it is), etc. They also provided the documentation on how to boost the signal (which I did on the cadence sensor). I know about the issues with the sensor having to be very close to the wrist unit, I finally gave in on the cadence sensor and mounted the wrist unit to the bike so I could pick up the cadence signal (that now works very well).

I've resigned myself to living with faulty speed data that it's giving me. I don't bike enough to buy a different device and it does give me my cadence but I'll have to live with bogus speed and distance data. My best guess is that it's some type of interference. The problem with this theory is that with interference on the heart rate data you'd get really bogus results, a heart rate of 225+, for example. With my speed issue it always seems to jump to about twice my current speed and there's no drop of signal immediately before this happens, it just suddenly climbs. (see graph of this here if you're really interested)

. . .

A good training week. Just over 20 miles and the body seems to be holding up fairly well. One of the fun things about training for a particular event is that you're your own manager, having to decide when to push it, when to back off, whether the stretch for the weekly mileage target is worth it or whether you should back off and take the lousy mileage week in order to make it for the long haul. I like to strategize during my runs—how can I get at least two 20+ milers in before November 5th without killing myself and with enough time for my body to recover? Is a weekly "speed" session worth the chance that I'll aggravate my groin which is always lurking, ready to flare up any time it thinks I'm pushing my limits? Forget Fantasy Football leagues, I've got my own sports team to manage.

Buying running shoes has always been a challenge for me. But I never knew how good I had it in Houston when it came to where and what to buy. My shoe is the Saucony Triumph and I was able find these shoes in Houston at Luke's Locker, Run Sport, and Fleet Feet. But here in San Antonio, despite my efforts, I can't find them. My neighborhood Fleet Feet doesn't stock them, nor does Soler's Sports and Run Gear Run. Oh sure, they can order it for me, but if I'm going to have it wait for it I might as well have it shipped to my house so I can return it, if necessary, without all the associated guilt of returning an item the retailer had to order for me. Because the shoe styles change so often, you never know if your feet will agree with the new model.

So, despite my efforts to support my local running retailers, I've had to go online to Road Runner Sports. My new shoes are on their way with a 45-day no-questions-asked return policy. I wouldn't want to buy an entirely new type of shoe online, but if you know what you want it's sure easy to get them from these folks.

. . .

No response from those laconic Finns on my Polar speed sensor issue. Not even a "We've received your inquiry" automated response.

Arrrgggh. Nothing like being frustrated by the very technology that is supposed to help you. I finally got the cadence sensor on my bike working with my S625X. I had to use the Polar wrist-unit mounting bracket. The good news is that the cadence sensor works. The bad news is that I have to mount the watch to the bracket which means I can't easily remove it during a triathlon. Why the cadence sensor doesn't work when it's on my wrist but does work when it's in nearly the same location but mounted to the bike is a mystery. But I can live with it.

What I can't live with is the speed sensor—it's frequently doubling my speed. I'll be riding along at my slow 16MHP and the wrist unit will display 32MPH. If I stop the bike and start it will temporarily resolve the issue but it will happen again a few minutes later. Very frustrating because the incorrect speed screws up the distance reading (because it thinks you're going twice as fast as you are). So at the end of my ride I have garbage for data—wrong maximum speed, wrong average speed, wrong distance.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: The S625X is a good running watch but it's been one problem after another with the bicycling functions. I've contacted Polar's Help Desk to see what they can offer but I'll bet you I get vague response of "Check the batteries on the sensor (not easily done because I have to cut the zip ties that hold it to the fork), check for electrical interference from overhead power lines, consider moving the sensor to a different location on the bike."

Update: Polar has this posting on their site but this if the speed display drops out. Mine isn't doing this—it displays, but at the wrong speed.

This was a decent training week—16.7 miles total, up from 9 last week. My long run of 8 miles today took me through the old Pearl Brewery and the perimeter of Fort Sam Houston. Just a couple miles more and I'll be able to run to downtown and back. During my run I was trying to figure out if I can somehow work my way up to a long run of 21 miles by October 15 which is three weeks before the New York Marathon. It's going to be tight, but if I can stay healthy I should be able to do it.

. . .

Polar now has a S725X, essentially a bike version of the S625X. With the 625 you can buy the optional bike components (speed and cadence sensor) and the S725X appears to be the opposite—it comes with the bike components but the foot pod for running is a separate item. Hopefully they've improved the bike functions. I have the speed and cadence sensor mounted to my bike and I wouldn't buy them again. The range of the cadence sensor is too short—I can't get a reading if I'm riding upright and the speed sensor often starts reporting bogus information about my speed (usually when this happens it will double my speed). Stopping and starting often corrects the problem. I'm going to try and ride tomorrow, we'll see if it has somehow cured itself of this ailment.