I can't hear you la la la la la

Hey hey hey! (said to the tune of Fat Albert, of course).  Hows life going with ya?  I've had one of those days where I run around like a chicken with my head cut off.  I'm a tired girl, but the bonus is that the day just few by.
The workouts:  A recovery bike and an interval swim.  My bike's been out of commission since Musselman-just got it working again, so I took her for a ride to test out the gears.  There are a few tweaks needed, but the new (pink!) cable housing is awesome and I can't wait to see how she rocks out in my next race (Sodus Sprint Tri in August).  I also had a red letter day with my lunchtime swim- a set of descending intervals 800-600-400-200 with 50 kick interspersements.  When I got to the pool, my mp3 player was dead (bummer), so I was a bit apprehensive...I tend to go faster with music to distract!  However, my arms came through and made my worries baseless...I sailed through them strongly and was pretty darn fast (for me, at least!:-P)
Which brings me to my thought of the day.  Music.  It's a beautiful thing.  Especially when you're an endurance athlete.  A ton of my friends use it for long runs, tempo runs, and speed sets.  A well chosen song can really boost your speed or keep you going!  I also adore it for pool swims-it makes the black line at the bottom of the pool so much less boring!!

Nice helmet and headphones, killer.

But what about outside of training?  Do you wear your headphones when you enter a race?  Up until a few years ago, headphones were banned for running races, but the ban was rarely enforced, and rarely do you see a local 5k, 10k, half marathon or full starting line without people that have buds in their ears and Ipods on their arms.  USATF has amended their policy for several races to state that you can wear headphones, but cannot win cash money at a race when you do.  So unless you're looking at a sub 3 marathon or a sub 1:20 half, you're probably good to go.

But what about triathlons?  Until a few weeks ago, I assumed it was a non issue.  USAT (the governing body of triathlon), flat out forbids the use of headphones during a triathlon.  Now, I've seen people wearing headphones sporadically on the run (which, incidentally, pisses me off), but it wasn't really prevalent until this year.

Between Musselman and Shoreline, I saw at least a dozen people wearing headphones while racing.  Now, the refs caught some people during Musselman, and gave them a penalty (2 minutes-big whoop).  But I passed 8, count em, 8! people on the 4 MILE RUN of Shoreline wearing headphones.  Seriously?  I don't know if any got penalties, but it momentarily made my blood boil to see it. Granted, I passed them.  But I do feel that music makes the perceived exertion less on the run...aka "easier" if you will.

The kicker?  As I was waiting for my relay leg to start, I saw a guy mount his bike, slip his hand into his picked, pull out his earbuds, and pop them in.  WOW.  Where to start with this?

Source

First of all, it's against the rules.  I would DQ you.

Second of all, I am super nervous for the people around you on the bike.  On your left!  What?  What!  Yeah, forget that one.  As someone who has been the victim of crashing due to bikers not paying attention, this really grinds my gears.

Lastly....can we talk about the fact that the course IS NOT CLOSED TO TRAFFIC?  And while you're listening to Lil John, that big John Q Trucker is blazing by in his semi.  Hopefully he won't hit you.

Yikes.

Is anyone else noticing more and more headphones popping up?  I know Roth ( a full Ironman in Europe) allows them on the run, and that's cool.  If everyone is allowed to do it on a closed run course, I have no issue (hell, I'd love to have my music for 26.2 on an Ironman run!  Well, except for Placid.  No tunes needed :-P) but otherwise, I think it's unfair, especially if there's no penalty involved.  Or a little 2 minute penalty.

Am I overheated on this one?  Or does anyone else feel the same way?  Or...am I hypocrite, because I wear my headphones during a race (running race, but still)?

Call it my hot button issue of the week.  I know, I'm a wild woman.