It's official ...

I've turned into a podcast junkie! I don't know how it happened because I was always the one who never listened to anything but music when I trained (FYI: I never ride my bike outside with headphones on). I couldn't imagine listening to talk radio or anything talk while training. BORING! Or so I thought. Seriously, I think I was abducted by aliens. First I changed my eating, then I changed up my training, now no music? WTH?

I especially enjoy running while I listen to podcasts. Some of my favorites to listen to are:

• America's Angriest Trainer
• Fit Fat Fast
• Fat Burning Man
• 10 Minute Marathon Training
• Relentless Roger and the Caveman Doctor
• PRS Fit Nation
• RunnersConnect
• Smarter Science of Slim
• Rock Star Triathlete Academy
• Endurance Planet
• Nutrition Diva's Quick & Dirty Tips
• Get Fit Guy's Quick & Dirty Tips

You can find all of them on iTunes.

Now I have a question for some of you audiobook nerds out there. I'm thinking I'd like to listen to audiobooks while I run but I'm somewhat confused with all the different apps. I have Amazon, Kindle, Audible, iBook, and a few others already on my ipad/ipods but I'm not sure which one is the best. Can I buy an audiobook and then put it on my shuffle? Will it fit? When you buy an audiobook, can you put it on multiple devices? I have so many questions. I think I'm making it harder than it really is.

And since I'm all about changing things up, the blog is not spared either. I added a neat little feature that I heard about on a podcast (see how much I'm learning listening to podcasts?) on this here blog and it
s called SpeakPipe. Take a look over to the ride hand side, middle of the page. If you are like me, with very limited amount of time to read other bloggers blogs and then leave a comment, you can now leave a voice message and it will be sent to my email. You have to have a microphone on whatever device you are using and that's it. Easy peasy!

What are some of you favorite podcasts or audiobooks to listen to when you run or ride the trainer inside? I'm always open to recommendations.

Much love and peace out!

Headphones that rock even in the rain

I have always had a love hate relationship with the apple ipod shuffle. I've had the pleasure of owning all the generations and the frustration with some of them. 

From left to right: Gen 1,2,3,4. 

Yes, all of those pictured above are mine. I'm not sure why I am saving the first 2 because they died a sad death many moons ago. Generation 1 shuffle was cool back in the day because of its compact size. It doesn't look so compact next to the later one's anymore. The one thing I didn't like about it was the string that it came with, so you could put it around your neck. Nope, there was no clip to clip it on to your shorts, belt, or hat. Design fail if you ask me. Anyway, that one ended up biting the dust after awhile but thankfully gen 2 came out, so I quickly snapped that one up. It ended up lasting about a year, then died. 

Generation 3 ipod shuffle = big fail!

Then I bought the gen 3 model. The smallest one yet and the biggest piece of ipod shuffle crap ever made! Some genius over on the west coast thought it would be a great idea to put the controls on the headset as you can see in the picture above. Sounded like a great idea but it never quite ended up working very well, especially in humid climates. I even went to so far as to google about the problem and read up on a few possible solutions like wrapping the control thing-a-ma-jig with some plumbing tape. That didn't work. Then I took it back to the apple store and they had no clue, so they gave me a new one. Within 7 minutes into a run, the new shuffle crapped out because the controls didn't function. Not having those apple specific earphones rendered this shuffle useless. I threw it in a drawer and used my ipod classic instead, which kinda sucked because I had to run with a waist belt specifically made for the ipod classic. I got used to it but still preferred the smallness of the shuffle for running.

Just recently, I was introduced to these beauties made by a company called X-1 Audio and if you go here, you can check em' out.

Remember the company that made the H20 audio for swimming? They changed their name to X-1 Audio. 

X-1 was kind enough to send me a pair of their women's specific headphones to test out. Not only are they waterproof, but I was able to raise my 3rd gen ipod shuffle from the dead. There are many colors and styles to chose from. I was so happy to get these especially with about 90% of my running being done in very humid and super sweaty conditions. Apple should look into this design because X-1 nailed it. Just by looking at the controls, you can see where it is encased much better to protect from the elements. I've done about 2 weeks of running with them and they have been flawless unlike the apple one's that lasted 7 minutes. 

If you are in need of some very well made headphones, or any kind of waterproof casing for various sports and many devices like iphones and cameras, I would recommend checking out X-1 audio.

Much love and peace out!