The Official Thread for Runners

[Joe Public]

I ran a half marathon this morning. 1:28:08 10-minute PR 7th overall and 2nd in my age group. It was a good confidence builder since I've been feeling fat and lazy since Ogden.

That's blazing; nice run.

[OhioBlue]

I ran a half marathon this morning. 1:28:08 10-minute PR 7th overall and 2nd in my age group. It was a good confidence builder since I've been feeling fat and lazy since Ogden.

Holy crap. That's the kind of time I can only dream about. Nice work Sea Chicken. maybe you ran so fast because you cut back since the marathon?

[SteelBlue]

I ran a half marathon this morning. 1:28:08 10-minute PR 7th overall and 2nd in my age group. It was a good confidence builder since I've been feeling fat and lazy since Ogden.

That's 6:43/mile! You're going to go under 3 hrs in a marathon in the next couple of years.

[Slim]

I just finished Born to Run.

The author is king of the superlatives but it was an excellent read.

Incidentally I just finished another 6 mile run. Completely barefoot.

[PaloAltoCougar]

I just finished Born to Run.

The author is king of the superlatives but it was an excellent read.

Incidentally I just finished another 6 mile run. Completely barefoot.

No way would I attempt running barefoot at all. The soles of my feet are so sensitive that a stray grain of sand on the sidewalk sends me into paroxysms of pain.

Yesterday I ran nine miles, longer than I have ever gone in my life. At 58, I guess that's kind of sad, but I felt proud.

[Eddie]

I'm feeling a little lost since I dropped my 305 and no longer have the crutch of knowing distance, pace, etc for the past couple of weeks.

Part of me is feeling like I need to replace it ASAP. Another part is intrigued by the notion of continuing my regular training regimen - speed one day, hills or pace another, and a slow long run for my 3rd of the week - and then just see where I end up after a couple of months.

Not sure I'll make it much longer without "knowing". Which has also kept me from adding to the calorie burn contest the last little while.

[Slim]

No way would I attempt running barefoot at all. The soles of my feet are so sensitive that a stray grain of sand on the sidewalk sends me into paroxysms of pain.

Yesterday I ran nine miles, longer than I have ever gone in my life. At 58, I guess that's kind of sad, but I felt proud.

Your feet are screaming at you because they are designed to tell you a lot about your surroundings. You keep covering them up to "protect" them and they, in turn, become more sensitive in order to compensate and to try to do their job.

I'm feeling a little lost since I dropped my 305 and no longer have the crutch of knowing distance, pace, etc for the past couple of weeks.

Part of me is feeling like I need to replace it ASAP. Another part is intrigued by the notion of continuing my regular training regimen - speed one day, hills or pace another, and a slow long run for my 3rd of the week - and then just see where I end up after a couple of months.

Not sure I'll make it much longer without "knowing". Which has also kept me from adding to the calorie burn contest the last little while.

You don't have a smartphone? I just use an app with my phone's built-in GPS. I stream pandora on it as well during my runs and it interrupts every .5 miles to tell my my distance and pace.

[Eddie]

You don't have a smartphone? I just use an app with my phone's built-in GPS. I stream pandora on it as well during my runs and it interrupts every .5 miles to tell my my distance and pace.

No. My phone is as dumb as they come. I really need to upgrade, but it will cost me if I do so prior to February. I'm thinking I'll hold out for the next few months until then.

[PaloAltoCougar]

Your feet are screaming at you because they are designed to tell you a lot about your surroundings. You keep covering them up to "protect" them and they, in turn, become more sensitive in order to compensate and to try to do their job.

That's interesting. Are your feet really calloused?

You don't have a smartphone? I just use an app with my phone's built-in GPS. I stream pandora on it as well during my runs and it interrupts every .5 miles to tell my my distance and pace.

What app is that? My wife runs with her iPhone only for the music. She'd love the app so should could leave the Gamin behind.

[ERCougar]

That's interesting. Are your feet really calloused?

What app is that? My wife runs with her iPhone only for the music. She'd love the app so should could leave the Gamin behind.

I love running barefoot, and I'm not just saying that in the attention-getting way of these people who walk around in their VFF's everywhere. It's really fun and it wakes up your feet. Your feet sort of feel like they've been massaged afterward. If you run an out-and-back type route, try kicking off your shoes for the last 1/4 mile and you'll see how it feels. Ideally, it should be on a walking trail so you don't have to deal with a lot of extra nonsense on the road but you'll get a taste of it and it will instantly fix your form. You'll hate putting your shoes back on, I promise. The only reason I don't run barefoot all the time is that I got a little sick of little cuts and scrapes on the bottom of my feet. That said, my shoes are super-minimalist and I have about 1000 miles on them--at this point, they stop the cuts and scrapes and that's about it, but I'm dreading having to replace them.

As for apps--I have runkeeper and cardiotrainer on my phone for the times when I forget to charge my 305 (like today). They're not quite as handy but pretty close.

[OhioBlue]

Yesterday I ran nine miles, longer than I have ever gone in my life. At 58, I guess that's kind of sad, but I felt proud.

Quit the self-deprecating. That's awesome. Period.

[Slim]

That's interesting. Are your feet really calloused?



What app is that? My wife runs with her iPhone only for the music. She'd love the app so should could leave the Gamin behind.

Feet aren't really that calloused. They look pretty normal (I think).

I use Runkeeper on my phone but I have Android.

[OhioBlue]

I'm feeling a little lost since I dropped my 305 and no longer have the crutch of knowing distance, pace, etc for the past couple of weeks.

I run with a $9 watch from Walmart. As long as I can map my run I can figure out my average pace and distance. I'm honestly ambivalent on getting a Garmin...I'd like one, but at the same time I don't want to have to have one. If that makes sense.

[Sea Chicken]

I run with a $9 watch from Walmart. As long as I can map my run I can figure out my average pace and distance. I'm honestly ambivalent on getting a Garmin...I'd like one, but at the same time I don't want to have to have one. If that makes sense.

I use a Garmin because I hate math.

[Eddie]

I use a Garmin because I hate math.

This. Dad was a math teacher. He didn't pass on the genes. At least not to me.

I run with a $9 watch from Walmart. As long as I can map my run I can figure out my average pace and distance. I'm honestly ambivalent on getting a Garmin...I'd like one, but at the same time I don't want to have to have one. If that makes sense.

I get what you're saying as far as being able to see what you did.

With the 305 it was nice to know calories.

It was fun knowing distance so I didn't necessarily have to plan out my run to know how far I'd been. If I knew I wanted to go 10 miles, I could change the route mid run and still hit my distance target.

But the greatest benefit, for me, is knowing the pace. For fast runs, I can set a target and stick to it - knowing when I am slowing. For slow runs I can stick to the pace when I have a tendency to speed up. For intervals I can pick how fast the interval will be, as well as how slow the "rest" run will be.

I credit how well I did (for me) in Ogden with being able to stick to some pretty good training schedules as far as distance and pace. Particularly when working on speed.

That's what I miss by not having the 305.

I'm actually curious about replacing it and then doing more training based on heart rate. IE: knowing what my racing HR should be, and doing pace runs based on HR and not speed.

Long & slow runs based on keeping my HR at 80-85% of what it is for a race.

Speed workouts in which I'm not targeting a pace but a HR at, say, 115% of race HR. Or hills in which you go a speed that allows you to keep your racing HR.

I could be wrong, but it seems to me that if you use HR for the measurement that determines how fast you run, as you get in better shape your speed and endurance would both increase at the same HR. I like that idea rather than deciding "OK, my race pace used to be 7:30 for this distance, now I'm going to make it 7:15."

But now I'm just thinking crazy, like.