Join the "Virtualman" Olympic Triathlon Challenge

OK, check it out.  I'm hosting a contest in the form of a virtual Olympic distance triathlon that can be put together by adding up parts of your weekly training schedule.  Here's how it's going to work:

1) All entrants must complete the following distances within any continuous 7 day period:

- 1500 meters of swimming
- 40 kilometers of cycling
- 10 kilometers of running

2) The discipline(s) do not have to be done in the traditional order, nor do they have to be done all at once.  Rather, you will submit your cumulative time "up to" the required distance, using a "first distance done" basis in each discipline.  Here's an example:

Monday (Start):  Swim 1000 meters (30 minutes)
Tuesday:  Bike 30 kilometers (1 hour, 10 minutes)
Wednesday:  Off
Thursday:  Swim 1000 meters (30 minutes, but the first 500 meters take 15 minutes)
Friday:  Run 10 kilometers (55 minutes)
Saturday: Off
Sunday (Finish): Bike 20 kilometers (50 minutes, but the first 10 kilometers take 25 minutes)

Based on these 7 days, the race time would be:

Swim - 45 minutes (All of Monday + the first 500 meters from Thursday)
Bike - 1 hour, 35 minutes (All of Tuesday + the first 10 kilometers from Saturday
Run -  55 minutes (Completed all on Friday)

TOTAL RACE TIME = 3 hours, 15 minutes.

3) There are no transition times

4) The race will start September 1st and must be completed by September 30th.

5) There are two divisions - Male & Female

6) The race assumes a flat course. There's no point for someone who lives in Colorado to go climb a 6000 foot mountain pass while people in Texas will be screaming down flat, straight roads.

7)  I'm allowed to participate but I can't win (not that I would anyway).

There will be 3 winners in each division based on the best 3 times in each division.  The prizes are as follows:

First Place/Grand Prize - I will come to your house and cook you dinner before October 1st, 2011**

Second Place - One container of Fluid Recovery Drink (your choice of flavor)

Third Place - A $20 gift certificate to your favorite multisport store or website.

** If for some reason there is no way I can make it to where you live and/or you think it's creepy that I just invited myself to your house, I will pick up dinner for you and your family or a couple friends at a restaurant near you.

The race will start September 1st.  If you are interested in participating let me know by commenting on this post and emailing me at 17281posse (at) gmail.com.  I will then email you an excel time sheet for you to fill out during your race week.  Once you have completed the time sheet, please email it back.

If you have any questions, please ask them in the form of a comment on this post or email me.

I hope some of you participate and good luck!!!

Erin Baker's Wholesome Baked Goods Giveaway

A few weeks ago I wrote a review about some incredible peanut butter granola I tried from Erin Baker's Wholesome Baked Goods.

I contacted Erin to tell her how great I thought the granola was. We went back and forth on email for a little bit, and she graciously agreed to let me host a product giveaway on The Road.

There will be 3 prizes. The first name drawn will get 4 bags of granola and 2 dozen assorted breakfast cookies. The second name drawn will get 3 bags of granola and 1 dozen assorted breakfast cookies. The third name drawn will get 1 bag of granola and 1 dozen assorted breakfast cookies. Check out all the granola flavors here.

To enter, all you need to do is be a follower of my blog (if you aren't already) and then leave a comment on this post in the form of a Haiku.

Traditional Haiku can get a little complicated when you consider pronunciation differences between Japanese and English as well as a few other rules of form. So let's not worry about that. For the purpose of this giveaway, you just have to follow a 3 line 5/7/5 syllable form, and make a reference to healthy eating and at least one season. Here is an example:

Enter this contest
A tasty prize awaits you
Eating right is good

I'm confident you can all do better than this.

At 10 PM PDT on June 23rd I'll use random.org to pick the winners and post the result on the blog. I'll also try to contact the winners via email. If after 72 hours any of the prizes have not been claimed, I'll pick more names.

Once we have winners the prizes will be shipped courtesy of Erin Baker's Wholesome Baked Goods.

I hope you'll enter and I look forward to reading the submissions. Just think, you may be only 17 syllables away from some amazing baked goods.