NEW TRAVEL APPS -- FREE FOR THE TAKING!

Do you feel like the only kid on the block who doesn't use travel apps? It's time. PCMag.com’s Lead Mobile Analyst Sascha Segan has named the 10 free travel apps that will make traveling—or planning your next trip—simple.

1. Google Maps. The single most useful travel app is available on every smartphone, and in fact on any Web phone. Google Maps tells you where you are, where anything else is, and how to get between those two spots. When I needed diapers in Barcelona on a Sunday, Google Maps knew where the three nearest OpenCor convenience stores were, and even gave me subway directions.

2. TripIt. There are a lot of "travel management" programs out there that help you keep track of things like flight confirmation numbers, hotel confirmation numbers and such. I prefer TripIt, because it's extremely good at parsing the confirmation emails you get from hotels and airlines. TripIt has apps for Android, BlackBerry and iPhone, and you can access your data from even the simplest phones by sending them to m.tripit.com.

3. TripCase. Sabre's TripCase does a few awesome things TripIt doesn't do. TripCase gives you continually updated flight delay and gate status for your flights, and suggests alternate flights if you're about to miss yours. That said, it can be a bear to import more than just basic flights into TripCase; you often end up generating multiple duplicate itineraries and having to merge them. So I use both TripCase and TripIt. TripCase is available for BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and iPhone.

4. Kayak. There are many travel-booking apps, but Kayak is my pick for the simplest, smoothest, easiest, quickest and most complete. The app lets you search for flights, hotels, and car rentals using Kayak's reliable meta-search engine, which captures the fares both from travel agencies and from vendors' own sites. Kayak's apps are available for Android, BlackBerry and iPhone.

5. Yelp. Yelp is the king of the user-review sites - especially for restaurants in major American cities - and their mobile app is an excellent way to search for places to eat. The Yelp app is available for BlackBerry and iPhone, but other phone owners can go to m.yelp.com with their browsers.

6. WeatherBug. WeatherBug delivers a solid experience across a range of OSes including Android, BlackBerry, iPhone, Windows Mobile and Nokia. Beyond basic weather, it does a few tricks like integrating with your contact list and letting you tap on maps to see how the weather is where you're going.

7. SitOrSquat. Need to pee? SitOrSquat is a crowdsourced bathroom locator that can take you a step beyond the old mainstay of hotel lobbies in most US cities. It's a pity it doesn't work nearly as well overseas. The app is available for BlackBerry and iPhone.

8. JiWire Wi-Fi Finder. If you travel internationally with an iPhone, you know you basically have to turn off cellular data, or when you get back to the States, you'll find your house mortgaged to AT&T. JiWire's WiFi Finder only exists as an app for iPhone, but iPhoners really need it; it tells you where the next little puddle of Wi-Fi will be for you to huddle in while you desperately transfer information from the Internet.

9. Priceline Hotel Negotiator. Priceline’s Hotel Negotiator app, available only on the iPhone, lets you book last-minute hotels at super-cheap rates up until 11 PM ET.

10. Google SMS. A lot of people don't have smartphones, or they're in places where their smartphones' data plans don't work. If you SMS some search terms to 46645 - that's "GOOGL" - you'll get Google search results back as a series of texts.

Thanks to PCMag.com’s Lead Mobile Analyst Sascha Segan.

Avoid Neck Pain While Cycling

I seem to spend at least once a month in physical therapy at Dynamic Sports PT (www.dynamicsportspt.com ) because I have a tendency to injure myself either from running or lifting weights either too heavy or the wrong way. And even though I bike a great deal, I’ve never had a cycling-related injury.

According to Dynamic Sports PT therapists Jon, Pete and Michelle, long hours on a bike can lead to unwanted chronic neck pain. Here are their tips to avoid it:

1. See a bike ergonomist before you go riding

Be sure to see the bike ergonomist at your local bike shop. You'll want a professional to make sure you are correctly positioned while riding. This helps alleviate and avoid unnecessary strain.

2. Use a pillow that supports your neck properly

Get a pillow made specifically for side or back sleepers. The goal is to keep your neck as straight as possible. Avoid using too many pillows.

3. Stretch before and while riding

Before you start your ride stretch your neck muscles by turn your head to the left and right. Hold each side for 30 seconds. Then tuck your chin to your chest. Again hold for 30 seconds.

Since a lot of your riding time is spent in the aerodynamic position (an end range position) it's important to break the position and give your muscles a rest. About every 30 minutes sit up straight. You can then roll your neck to the left, back, right and front.

It's time to see someone…if you ever have pain that radiates to your arm or hand. This pain indicates a more serious problem and you'll want a medical professional to take a look.

Dynamic Sports, which has gotten me back to working out in record time after my various injuries, times is located midtown at 133 east 55^th St. Call them at: 212-317-8303.

Do You Really Need a Personal Trainer?

Many of the people on my triathlon team work out twice a week with personal trainers. As they’re all much faster than me, I decided to treat myself to three months with my own personal trainer. This was a good thing, because alone, I would not drag myself to the weight room, and I had every excuse NOT to join a strength-training class at my gym.

I LOVED my new trainer. He understood my weaknesses, he never looked at himself in the mirror, he cared about me and what I’d eaten before I came and if I’d properly warmed up, and he always asked how was my body feeling. For three months, it was working perfectly. I felt stronger and fitter than ever before. But then he seemed to be stressed in his own personal life – and started telling me his problems (studying for a degree AND training), and letting me know how tired he was. And then he seemed to become a little sloppy. He’d wait for me to do 6 or 7 reps of something before correcting me. And then, one morning I came in and he handed me a VERY HEAVY (45 lb) weight for dead lifts. I told him the weight was too heavy. Nonsense he said. We’d been working out about 7 minutes since the session started. I hurt my back because of the heavy weight. His response? Stop the session right now – no make-up class, no refund, no apology. What he said to me was, “If you’re going to train, you’re going to get injured.”

THIS IS SO UNTRUE! Both a famous HSS surgeon to sports people said it was nonsense and so did the fitness director of my gym. Now, I am taking classes. They are every bit as hard, the results are excellent, and I’m feeling good again.

I asked the fitness manager of Equinox 54^th Street, Rolando Garcia, if one really needs a private trainer. “If you have specific needs,” he said, “a personal trainer is better. A trainer can adapt the workout to your injury or imbalance. A trainer progresses you. A class is one-size-fits all. Go to Sears and buy what’s on the rack. A personal trainer gives you a bespoke piece of clothing, cut just to you.”

A personal trainer, he said, will also correct you (instructors teaching class cannot correct everyone at once) and stretch you.

So what have I decided to do? I am sticking with the classes – for now. I know my weaknesses, the personal training has taught me proper form, and I know how much weight I should use with both dumb bells and body bars. So for me, the group thing works – not to mention all the money I’m saving per week.

I'M GETTING EVEN WITH PHONY SCAM EMAILS

You know those "diverting of funds" junk emails that manage to clog your mailbox? Dearest Madame, they begin. And it’s always a poor widow or widower who found my name, who needs to get money out of the country and all I have to do is send my name, ss#, and bank account #. This sham has extended to those calling themselvs members of the Armed Forces who claim they need to get the money out of Iraq or Afghanistan. It is APPALLING. So here’s what I’m doing, and I hope you’ll follow my lead:

I am now responding to all of those phony appeals with the message, “I'm calling the police.” It makes me feel better because I know they are scared. But, I want to share this email which I received after I sent back my “I’m calling the police” message. It just goes to show they will stop at NOTHING!

(The spelling is exactly the way the email arrived)

Attn:Margie Goldsmith,

Compliment of the day,Hope you are doing great today?In regardss to your mail i would say you don't know the oppurtunity you are missing because as the saying goes oppurtunity comes but once. I showed you my sincerity by bringing to your notice your fund in other to make sure your fund gets to you but you are not showing any sought of appreciation instead you in turn threaten me with the police because you feel i am a fraud and would be scared of the police but that is a very big no because i know the reason i am contacting you and also have all the legal back up.

I think you should think twice before you take any drastic measure towards this, because i could as well divert this fund in question.I want you to get back to me as soon as possible with the required information in other to avoid any kind of mistake.

i wait your respose soon.

Regards,

Frank Obumname.

I guess they just don’t give up!

Tempo Run in Central Park

I am gasping – my heartbeat monitor reads 148 -- even though I’m just standing there listening to running coach Spencer Casey of Terrier Tri http://www.terriertri.com We’ve just done warm-up, strides (which I consider a full workout) and even though everyone else has already recovered, I’m still winded. I don’t like strides, but Spencer says they improve leg turnover and build muscle memory ---and God knows I need all the memory I can get – so I do them. The goal of a stride is to be quick, light, stay tall, and get your knees up high. My knees don’t like that. Nor do my hips.

“Okay, we’re doing a tempo run today,” he says. (Tempo running trains your body to sustain speed over distance). The Ironmen group are to run six miles, the Olympic and sprint will do 4 miles, then we are to meet back at the southern end of the Park for speed work. “It’s a hard workout,” Spencer says, “But it will make you tough.”

I head off early (because I need every extra second I can get), but soon the group has overtaken me on Cat Hill. Now I’m running alone -- as usual. Sometimes it’s hard to get motivated when you’re breathing like a panting dog and you wonder if Cat Hill will ever end. My heart rate monitor reads 152 – will I just crumple over and die if it gets any higher? I take a short cut through the Reservoir (because otherwise the entire team will be finished with speed work and I’ll just be arriving there). I run on the soft earth and see my heart rate has dropped. I tell myself, Come on, go faster.

I am moving like a slug – I wish it were over and I were now smiling at Derek, the vegetable juice guy on 52^nd and Lex, my treat after a workout. But this workout has just started, and I need a plan to keep me going. Usually, I can think of little Cody, the challenged 7-year-old athlete who never gives up but today, that doesn’t work http://www.challengedathletes.org So I try a new approach and tell myself: I don’t have sinus, I don’t have shin splints, no plantar fasciitis, I don’t have my usual hamstring attachment pain, and I have no cold or cough. So shut up and run. The day is perfect – 60s. My health is perfect. And so what if I’m gasping? Just ahead is a twenty-something girl with a blond pony-tail. She’s not running very fast. GO GET HER MARGIE. I do. I actually pass someone in the Park! HAPPINESS! Granted, two minutes later, she passes me back because I’m out of breath again, but so what? Isn’t life just a series of moments?

Cycling Downhill Fasssssttttt

I have just returned from a MOST AWESOME private bike camp in Aspen (CTS: Carmichael Training Systems (http://www.trainright.com) with the extraordinary Coach Jane Rynbrandt, who not only drove from Colorado Springs, but just so I wouldn’t have to lug my custom Seven from NYC to Aspen, she brought me a demo Trek Modone OCCV carbon – just 12 pounds and so light I could pick it up with three fingers. In this two-day high altitude climbing camp, we did Maroon Bells day one (oh my aching legs) and Ashcroft (much easier) day two. Part of CTS camps is they have you ride with a Power Tap, a sweet computer which they then download onto a computer which gives you your watts, intensity, strength, speed, calories burned – this little gadget does everything but make your coffee. After Day 1, Jane showed me the graph and told me that at one point, I’d come down Maroon Bells at 38.6 mph. I think that’s faster than I’ve ever come down a hill in my entire life (then again, I’ve never gone down such a steep hill). I emailed a good marathoner from Wisconsin and told her about my speed and she wrote back:

"38.6 mph?! Are you crazy, Margie?! I can't believe it. I'm a total WIMP when it comes to going fast on my bike downhill. I think the fastest I've hit is maybe 24 mph. I always brake a lot because I don't want to wipe out and break a lot of bones. I've seen too many people in my health club -- younger and fitter -- with terrible bike injuries. Still, my goal is always to get myself to go a little faster downhill without being afraid. Any tips?”

I was also a wimp when I first started riding as an adult, and used to have sore palms from squeezing my brakes so hard. Then I joined NYCC (New York Cycle Club), and while I was with the 18mph group, I noticed they all went down Harlem Hill much faster than me. Here I was squeezing and they were flying and I was so terrified I would be “dropped” (left behind) once we left Central Park and headed out to points west across the GW Bridge, that I started gripping the brakes a little less each time we went down the hill. And one day I dared myself NOT to brake (as none of them ever used their brakes) – I was up to 23mph, FLYING! And since I didn’t crash, I realized I COULD do this. So, if you’re a hill wimp, just slowly slowly ease off a little more on the brakes each time you do a hill, and eventually, you, too, will be screaming with joy as the wind hits your face (and not the pavement!).