2009-03-30 My Run This AM

Ran 3.8 miles today.  Got started about 6:40am.

It's Vacation, so it's OK right :)

Ran cane garden bay, end to end 4 times.  Attempted to 'run' up some of the way on the hills on either side.  This really wasn't fund and quickly turned into a walk.. a slow walk.  

It was barely drizzling when I started on my Run, but by the end it was raining pretty well.  As the rain picked up it was clear that traction was going down.  I think it was a mixture of the sand and the rain.  The good part about the rain was that I was not thirsty, the bad part was that I was soaked.

Locker Room Chatter

Lots of talk in the locker room today. Most of today's discussion focused on permitting costs for hooking your House to the town sewer.

In Hingham it costs 1620 dollars in permits to connect. The overall cost (including the permits) is just over 10K. There was a comment that was basically 'what can you do'... perhaps you could find a relative in government so you would be exempt or just take care of it the old fashion way payoff some corrupt official, but maybe that is what the 1600 dollars is for.

2009-03-25 My Run This AM

Ran 6.34 miles today. Burned 1345 calories.

This run was back to the normal 70 minutes. I pushed the pace up through the whole run. Ended with a few minutes at 6.0 miles an hour.

The first 20 minutes were not fun, but the rest was actually nice and easy. Well, not easy.

2009-03-21 My Run Today

Ran 6.7 miles today. Burned 1424 calories.

It was a good run. I added 5 minutes to my normal length gym run, and ran a bit faster than I have been. It felt good.

I realized that the Garmin seems to do better tracking my distance at slower speeds, but not at higher. I think it is likely because I somewhat change my stride length instead of my cadence...

Wondering if i need to recalibrate... Guess i should do some reading.

The new shoes still need some breaking in. My left foot right arch is hurting some, but not too bad.

2009-03-17 My Run Today

Ran 6.04 Miles tonight on the treadmill at the Gym.

Broke in a new pair of Saucony ProGrid Rides tonight (see pet peeve #2 for a full explanation of why).   The arches bothered me a little for the first 2 miles or so, but then the shoes started to feel much better.

good to run the usual distance again after running outside this past weekend.

Official results: 7th Annual Ras na hEireann U.S.A. 5Km

The race results were posted today. Here are my results from the main results page.

Place Div/Tot  Div   Guntime Nettime Pace  Name                   Ag S Race# City/state           
===== ======== ===== ======= ======= ===== ====================== == = ===== =======================
3177  21/39    CLYO3 36:45    32:26  10:27 Jim O'Brien            34 M  3334 East Weymouth MA

Here are my results within my category:

Place Guntime Nettime Pace  Name                     Age Sex Race# City/state          
===== ======= ======= ===== ======================== === === ===== =======================
21   36:45   32:26   10:27 Jim O'Brien               34 M    3334 East Weymouth MA

Some un-glamorous pictures of me made it on the results site as well:

http://jimrhoades.com/09/rasna/images/090315-733.jpg

http://jimrhoades.com/09/rasna/images/090315-734.jpg

http://jimrhoades.com/09/rasna/images/090315-735.jpg

What the pictures don't show the casual observer was that I had just turned on a huge burst of speed and was passing all the other people pictured ahead of me.

Quick post-race post

The race was really fun, very well organized... and very easy to participate in. A credit to the people organizing it.

Thanks to Marissa, my parents, Joe and Mandy for coming out to the race. Always nice to have someone cheering you on.

My unofficial time (love the garmin) was 31 minutes and 50 seconds. This is a little off as i didn't press start right at the start line. This would be about a 10.2 minute per mile pace, not bad.

More ramblings on this topic later.

2009-03-14 My Run Today

Ran outside today. In Norwell. In an area where many of the roads had names containing the word 'hill'. Needless to say this wasn't the most elegant run ever.

Ran 3.3 miles today. Wanted to run in prep for tomorrows race.

my 5k time was under 36 minutes. Not bad i think.

Jim's Gym Pet Peeves #3

This is perhaps the most evil pet peeve.

Today at the gym about 20 minutes into my run I noticed out the window a golden retriever locked in a maroon Chevy mini van. I noticed the dog because he was climbing around the van. After a little while I noticed that he was panting. I saw that the owner of the vehicle had opened the rear most windows the crack that they do open, you know the pivot out kind of minivan windows. 40 minutes into my run I really couldn't contain myself. I stopped running and went to the front desk.

I asked if they knew whose vehicle it was, explained that a panting fog was locked in the van that was sitting in the sun and that the owner had less than 5 minutes before I called the ASPCA.

I left this with the gym staff. I returned to my run. 1 to 2 minutes later a swimming mom with two kids comes out to the van. I hope she was embarrassed by her abuse of her dog. They didn't let the dog out. They didn't walk her/him. The mom just sipped her dunkin donuts iced coffee (must have been warm in the van) as she got in and zipped away.

Lovely people.

2009-03-08 My Run Today

Ran 6.06 miles today.

Did another quarter mile calibration and this time i got it extremely close over the run. The garmin read 6.05.

Weekly Mileage 3/7

Ran 24.24 Miles this week (including the calibration quarter, because hey, it's my statistics).

Average run was 6.06 miles this week.

Wanted to get in a 5th run today, but didn't happen as we had a busy day including daisy's visit to the vet (love the new vet) and a trip with the crew from Windy City Eats to the Bruins vs. Blackhawks game.

2009-03-06 My Run Tonight

Ran 6.03 miles today.

Before I did the main run I ran a quarter mile to calibrate the garmin. It ended up reading 6.09, not bad, but likely need another round of calibrating.

2009-03-04 My Run Tonight

What a difference a day makes.

Ran 6.1 miles today, easy going. Got to the gym at 7:20pm or so.

Perhaps it helped that i was all gadgeted up. I should have read the manual more closely, figured out the placement of the heart rate monitor, and likely calibrated the food pod ahead of time. Live and learn.

More details on the geekery in another post.

Jim's Gym Pet Peeves #2

Outdoor Shoes inside the Gym.

This one boggles the mind.  Why do people feel that this rule does not apply to them.  So many people feel that they can wear any kind of sneakers outside and come into the Gym with them, even on a wet or snowy day.

The Gym has signs up reminding (people who know how to read, or choose to read) that you are only supposed to use indoor shoes at the Gym.  From the Gym's point of view it makes the carpets last longer.  From my point of view the less dirt inside the less that gets tracked into the locker room and all over the floors/machines etc.

Lets not even talk about when it's swim team day and parents set their kids loose all over.  The amounts of water and dirt tracked around is ridiculous.  The tile floors in the locker room suffer the most.

Forerunner 50 received

Got the Forerunner today, setup of everything seemed pretty straightforward.  buydig.com was really fast with shipping (they sent it Monday, I got it Tuesday).

The watch seems to just work with the foot pod, the heart rate monitor strap, and the ANT usb dongle for the PC.  Had to install a driver for the ANT dongle, and signed up for the online tracking tool.

I'm ready to take it running tomorrow am, hopefully...

2009-03-03 My Run This AM

Wasn't fun.

Ran 5.75 miles.

Started out just not feeling comfortable and in rhythm.

After 40 minutes the iPod battery was drained (I guess I should charge it more often than once every 2 weeks...

The last 20 minutes were brutal.

I did learn that today is a "square root day" according to the local news forecast.  3*3=9 

2009-03-01 My Run Today

Ran 6.11 miles today. Burned 1297 calories.

Good run. Nothing to complain about too loudly. Good start to the week and the month.

The arriva head phones and I appear to be approaching an understanding. They get annoying once per run, but then settle in.

My index toe on the right foot has developed 2 blisters just above and below where one had been. I've got one of those nice finger and toe wrap blister band aides going, so while annoying, its not bothering things while running.

Sushi lunch at Hanaford. Okios greek yogurt by Stonyfield Farms is pretty good, 0 fat and 14g of protein. But it is no Chobani. Mmmmmm. Mmmmmm.

Nerding Up Running

So... The title of this post is courtesy Mr. Steve.  Steve's question, at about 5 minutes into our discussion, was simply "So, does Nerding up running make it more fun."  The simple answer is, how else do you expect me to approach a new hobby.

I've been looking at lots of of fitness watches, that are really way more than a watch.  This has become a part time addiction.  There are infinite combinations of goodness and badness.  Thankfully I don't feel too alone as 'people who really run' aka the writers at Runner's World, also share some of this OCD.  Here is their latest tome on the subject.  Now truth be told, I don't have one of these magical devices, yet... but it's where were headed... sort of.

So you need a watch for running, right?  Because ya' know, the clock on my cell phone that sits in the left hand cup holder of the treadmill certainly doesn't do functions like tell time :).  Or the TV news that is usually on in the morning (on the TV's in front of the treadmills) doesn't have a clock, or the clock on the wall behind me...  This is all not mentioning that the treadmill itself keeps relative time from when I start.  So one can only conclude that I need another timing device.  Now this device should be made for exercise, keep laps, and count things, functions that I can't imagine ever using...

So you need to know your heart rate while exercising, correct?  And the treadmill's heart rate monitor is something you have to grab and hold onto.  We all know that this completely ruins the running experience.  Additionally, you cannot hold this for the entire time, so the accuracy of an average heart rate from a few random samples is inherently flawed, and it's weighted towards the end of the running experience, so it is inherently flawed data... Or at least that's the plausible excuse for getting something else that monitors your heart rate.  

Then we have the issue of how far did I really run each day.  So there are pedometers and there are GPS systems.  99.99% of any running I've been doing is on a treadmill.  GPS systems aren't exactly great in-doors and I really don't run outside.  Now it's in my plans to do that, With the upcoming 5k in Davis Square (March 15th), and I'm even thinking about running in the Marathon Sports 5 Mile race on April 5th, but needless to say most of my miles are inside.

So there are a bounty of interesting products to look at (nerd research) .  It took me ab out three weeks of endless searches for yet another review, realizations that GPS is very cool, but almost useless because I really don't run outside....  and that when I am running inside I need something with a pedometer.

I decided on the Garmin Forerunner 50.  It's cheap (comparatively), it gets great reviews, it has the heart rate monitoring, and a pedometer.  Additionally to increase the nerd factor, it syncs automatically with your PC, uploads your runs, and charts all the stats either using PC software or a web based program.  Cool!

If your shopping for one of these items, or a GPS'd model, check pricegrabber... Prices vary wildly (basically between 105 and 210 dollars.  Make sure you select the bundle your interested in as there is a bundle with just the watch, the watch + heart rate monitor, the watch + foot pod (pedometer), and the bundle I got with the watch + heart rate monitor + foot pod.

Weekly Mileage 2/28

24.06 Miles this week.

4 Runs.

6.025 miles per run average.