I’ve discovered a new running podcast, Phedippidations.
Permalink is on the right —————–>
This is a sometimes entertaining, almost always very well-written and produced podcast about various aspects of running. The latest edition is a dissection of the inflamatory screed about slow runners “ruining” the marathon that I mentioned in an earlier post.
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Came across this in my couch surfing this morning: www.runningmovies.com.
The site is an actively maintained (and, from the looks of it, quite comprehensive) compendium of running-related movies: from Olympic highlights, to dramas, to instructional films — and more.
Too bad most of these aren’t available on Netflix.
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Oooh, this is tempting. At Running Banana, you can create your own technical shirts. For only (cough cough) $31-37.
I may need to put out my own line of Runs Like a Girl tees. You’d pay $50 for one, um, right? Especially since the designs they have up there are, well, kind of lame. Okay, really lame.
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I discovered this in my trawlings last night: An interactive calculator that gives you your mile (or kilometer) split times for races up to the 50K.
Running Times Split Times Calculator
The best part? You can print out your split times on a strip of paper to tape around your wrist. So you can look like a hospital patient. A mental hospital patient.
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It’s still racing season, and today found me rolling out of bed at 6AM after a very restrained Saturday night (two reasonably sized glasses of white wine) to head to New Canaan, CT for the annual Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation 5K race.
Like most races, this is the first time I’ve run it. It was a great day for a race: Cool, dry and sunny. But the wind was kicking up, averaging 14 MPH with gusts of 25. The starting line was set up using some sort of very hazardous rolling contraption. Not wanting to be shoved into the contraption and trampled on by enthusiastic runners, I did something I never do, which was to line up right in front. I saw little kids and a guy in jeans doing this, so I wasn’t about to stand on formality.
My goal for the race was to finish under 25 minutes. The gun went “blam” and we were off. I had no idea what the course was like, so I tried not to go out like a rocket only to die on a surprise hill later on. Still, I was running 6:45, over a minute per mile faster than I’d intended to, for the first half mile or so. The start of the race was a long, slight downhill incline, so I took advantage of that and kept a quick sub-7:30 pace until around the mile 1 marker. Then I settled into an 8:00 pace. I needed to average that in order to come in under 25 minutes and I figured I’d bought myself some time on the first mile.
The rest of the race was pretty easy — only a few small hills — so I was able to keep that pace for most of the way. The times they were calling at the mile markers were totally off, though, which was pretty silly. As always, I was happy to have my watch/footpod setup to let me know how fast I was really going. They also called the 3 mile mark way, way before the finish line. Instead of a tenth of a mile, it was more like a quarter mile.
Anyway, I crossed the finish line at 24:23 and was very happy with that time considering the wind and unfamiliar course, which made me a bit cautious. My heart rate monitor said I maxed out at 93%, which means I could have run harder. I’ll do that next time. I suspect I did well in my age/gender group. If that’s the case, I’ll update this post with some horn tooting data.
This was my best 5K time. By way of comparison, I ran my first 5K last fall at 28:10 and my second in early March at 27:17. In the past two months, my average race pace (this is an average of all distance race paces, not just the 5K) has dropped from 9:09 (April) to 8:39 (May) to 7:51 (June). Still no speed demon, but I’m getting faster. I will be trying for more cheap plastic trophies in the coming months.
My next 5K is scheduled for 7/23 (if the weather isn’t a killer). Goal time for that is 23:45. If I can do that, according to this nifty calculator it means I’m in shape to run a sub 1:50 Westchester Half Marathon in October. With the rest of the summer and early fall to train, perhaps I can make it very sub 1:50. 🙂
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Once you make a running a habit, you’ll probably want to chart your progress by keeping a running diary. The best one I’ve found to date is Running Log. Best of all, it’s free! You’ll need Excel, but what with the Microsoft hegemony being what it is, who doesn’t have access to that these days?
My favorite feature is the way it tracks mileage on your shoes. If you rotate several different pairs (which you should if you’re a daily runner, since allowing the midsoles a day or two to “rebound” helps your shoes last longer), this program makes it a lot easier to keep track of the miles so you know when to retire a pair.
In addition to its overall usefulness for tracking training and race runs, weight and mileage trends, the spreadsheet has some other fun features, like a chart that shows you how close you are to the equivalent of running around the earth — or to the moon! Somehow, my total mileage looks very unimpressive when placed in that context.
Full review of Running Log (and link to download) at RunningTimes.
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Like lots of runners, I have an MP3 player. Believe it or not, it’s not an iPod. I’m a fairly loyal Mac user, but the cost of an iPod is daylight robbery! Besides, I wanted something with an FM radio and a decent belt clip.
I have a Creative Labs Muvo TxFM and I like it very much (although I often wish I’d sprung for the 1GB model instead of 512MB). I also tricked it out with a pair of noise-canceling headphones from Shure (but I don’t wear them outside because they really do block out all sound…very dangerous). These are perfect for hiding the sound of my treadmill, so I can actually hear what I’m listening too. Also good for blocking out the white noise on commercial airliners.
Anyway, while perusing the Westchester Library System’s web site today, I discovered a pilot program for downloading audiobooks from the library. This is exciting stuff! So far, I’ve been using interlibrary lending to get my books on CD, then a laboriously ripping them in iTunes into MP3 format in order to get them onto my player. With this program, life (or at least this aspect of it) promises to get much easier.
My favorite recent audiobook “read” was Stiff by Mary Roach.
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Races Like a Girl 