If you are struggling with running in the snow and/or ice (and with most every state experiencing that this year) I have a product that will help you tackle the task of getting out the door without breaking your neck for each run.
Yaktrax Pro is shoe traction accessory that literally slips over the shoe before your go out each morning. It comes in three sizes and I wear a Size 13, so if it fits my size, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that there's one that would work for you.
I've tried others and I like Yaktrax Pro the best. The reason is that the bottom contains a strong wire spring/coil that can take a beating and still not lose its grip. Other brands usually have a set of small spikes on the bottom of the rubber sole, but this usually wears down quickly. The other brands also seem to snap off my running shoe easier in deep snow.
One of the season's tests this year in Minnesota has been the number of multiple 2 inch snowfalls occurring every 3 days. This product has held up well in running on streets before and after the plow has gone by, as well as the walk/bike paths that only get done if there is a snow depth exceeds 5 inches.
So if you are looking for a little help skating/skiing, or sloshing through the season in maintaining your running program, Yakima
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Apple Nano, Nike Plus, and bumps in the road
A couple of comments I wanted to respond to on runners that have said that they have problems with the Nike Plus App on their Nano, iPod Touch or iPhone (are any of you using it on an iPad? I'm waiting to see that at the club next...)
The main complaint I hear is that a runner will be running with the Nano and then, all of a sudden they hear the spoken feedback say: "Workout Paused" or "Workout Resumed" or the dreaded "Workout Ended". There are variations of this problem, such as the music they are listening to has the song keep restarting or the skipping to the next song.
So normally, a runner has to slow down or stop to try to correct the problem. But backing out of Nike Plus or doing a hard reboot of the Apple device seems to have no effect. Even if later on that day, you delete the app and reinstall it, within the next couple of days the problem is back. What's worse, is that the problem continues if you start using your iPhone/iPod instead of your Nano.
About now, you are ready to quit Nike Plus altogether. It must be a bad app, right? Well, I'm thinking that's not the case.
If you are one of these runners, I have good news, I know what's causing your problem. It's not your Nano, it's your earbuds.
I found this out the hard way. Trips to the Genius Bar even had them stumped. Replacing my Nano didn't help. Okay, initally for a few days the problem went away, but sooner of later it would come back.
What I noticed about the earphones is that I was using the Apple stereo earbuds. I loved using them because they allowed you to skip a song, pause the music, change volume, etc. But I have a theory [that I prove in practice] that if you generate a charge through the earbuds, by something as simple as your running shoes on the moving treadmill belt, it causes your Nano and any other device to read the earbuds as if they are sending a pause, stop, or advance order. I even experienced this when I had a Timex iPod watch.
I've noticed that this also happens if you use a Nike or Apple device, such as a wrist band remote, or any other type of remote. That static electricity will do wonders for your frustration level.
The simple answer is to change your earbuds. I now only wear ones that do not allow for advancing, pausing or resuming the songs.
Hope that helps many of you that are having this problem. And if you gave up on the Nike Plus app, hopefully this will give you incentive to try it again.
The main complaint I hear is that a runner will be running with the Nano and then, all of a sudden they hear the spoken feedback say: "Workout Paused" or "Workout Resumed" or the dreaded "Workout Ended". There are variations of this problem, such as the music they are listening to has the song keep restarting or the skipping to the next song.
So normally, a runner has to slow down or stop to try to correct the problem. But backing out of Nike Plus or doing a hard reboot of the Apple device seems to have no effect. Even if later on that day, you delete the app and reinstall it, within the next couple of days the problem is back. What's worse, is that the problem continues if you start using your iPhone/iPod instead of your Nano.
About now, you are ready to quit Nike Plus altogether. It must be a bad app, right? Well, I'm thinking that's not the case.
If you are one of these runners, I have good news, I know what's causing your problem. It's not your Nano, it's your earbuds.
I found this out the hard way. Trips to the Genius Bar even had them stumped. Replacing my Nano didn't help. Okay, initally for a few days the problem went away, but sooner of later it would come back.
What I noticed about the earphones is that I was using the Apple stereo earbuds. I loved using them because they allowed you to skip a song, pause the music, change volume, etc. But I have a theory [that I prove in practice] that if you generate a charge through the earbuds, by something as simple as your running shoes on the moving treadmill belt, it causes your Nano and any other device to read the earbuds as if they are sending a pause, stop, or advance order. I even experienced this when I had a Timex iPod watch.
I've noticed that this also happens if you use a Nike or Apple device, such as a wrist band remote, or any other type of remote. That static electricity will do wonders for your frustration level.
The simple answer is to change your earbuds. I now only wear ones that do not allow for advancing, pausing or resuming the songs.
Hope that helps many of you that are having this problem. And if you gave up on the Nike Plus app, hopefully this will give you incentive to try it again.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Grandma's Half Marathon Lottery Opened Today
Happy Valentine's Day!!
Registration for June’s Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon began this morning. The race entry process is conducted through a lottery in which 5,700 participants will be randomly selected.
Beginning Feb. 14 and continuing through Feb. 25, registration will be available at GrandmasMarathon.com for all half-marathon hopefuls. Lottery participants can submit their registration any time during the 12-day online registration period. Participants will be randomly selected and their acceptance into the race will be confirmed via e-mail during the week of Feb. 28. Runners not selected will receive an e-mail notifying them that their entry was not among those chosen.
The entry fee for the 2011 race is $75, plus a processing charge. Only those 5,700 runners selected through the lottery will have their credit cards charged.
The 21st annual Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon is Saturday, June 18, at 6:30 a.m., and is run on the second half of the Grandma’s Marathon course.
Registration for June’s Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon began this morning. The race entry process is conducted through a lottery in which 5,700 participants will be randomly selected.
Beginning Feb. 14 and continuing through Feb. 25, registration will be available at GrandmasMarathon.com for all half-marathon hopefuls. Lottery participants can submit their registration any time during the 12-day online registration period. Participants will be randomly selected and their acceptance into the race will be confirmed via e-mail during the week of Feb. 28. Runners not selected will receive an e-mail notifying them that their entry was not among those chosen.
The entry fee for the 2011 race is $75, plus a processing charge. Only those 5,700 runners selected through the lottery will have their credit cards charged.
The 21st annual Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon is Saturday, June 18, at 6:30 a.m., and is run on the second half of the Grandma’s Marathon course.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Guaranteed Entry to the New York City Half Marathon March 20th
I wanted to send out a shout out to any runners that are planning to run the New York City Half Marathon next month. There is a worthy cause that you can add to your effort by joining The Fresh Air Fund. The Fresh Air Fund is looking for runners to join their Fresh Air Fund-Racers team for the NYC Half-Marathon on March 20th. This is a great way to participate in NYC's premier road race while helping Fresh Air Fund children.
Information is on their website: http://freshairmarathon.com/
You get a guaranteed entry in the race in exchange for helping them with their fund raising for a very worthy cause, getting kids a one or two week experience that they will remember the rest of their lives. You can email kbrinkerhoff@freshair.org or call (212) 897-8890 for more information.
If you also want to open your home this summer, Fresh Air Fund is also in need of host families. Host families are volunteers who open their hearts and homes to a child from the city to give them a fresh air experience they never forget.
It's a great way to give something back to what running has given you.
Information is on their website: http://freshairmarathon.com/
You get a guaranteed entry in the race in exchange for helping them with their fund raising for a very worthy cause, getting kids a one or two week experience that they will remember the rest of their lives. You can email kbrinkerhoff@freshair.org or call (212) 897-8890 for more information.
If you also want to open your home this summer, Fresh Air Fund is also in need of host families. Host families are volunteers who open their hearts and homes to a child from the city to give them a fresh air experience they never forget.
It's a great way to give something back to what running has given you.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Surviving Week One of Half Marathon Training
Hopefully if you are reading this, you've completed your Saturday Long Run and are looking forward to a day off tomorrow.
The long run usually is the one run that gets runners to a point of realizing that not only can they complete the Half Marathon Planned in the future but also run it for a predicted time. You probably noticed that your last two miles, in which I had you step up the pace a bit, gave you a sense of whether you are an endurance runner or a speed runner. If you felt like you could've gone faster, keep that thought, as later long runs in the coming week are going to test it. If you felt like you couldn't set it up, that was your body telling you that you may not be built for endurance. Don't let that bother you, all runners have good and bad long runs. This program will get you over the bad ones.
So now to next week's program. I'm not going to give you day-by-day instructions like I did this past week. Hopefully you can just go back over the past blog entries for any refresher information that you need. But here's the mileage plan for the coming days:
Sunday, Friday - off
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday - 4 miles easy (under 70% HRM)
Wednesday - 5 miles Speed (90-100% HRM) This you will do by warming up one mile under 70% MHR, then alternate between ¼ mile 90-100% of your MHR and ¼ mile walking or slight jog 7 times, and then a half mile cool down.
Saturday - 9 miles (under 70% first 7 miles, 70-80% last two miles)
You may be already noticing some changes in you first week. For any of you that have been over-training, some extra energy. You might actually feel by the end of the week that you wonder if you are going fast enough because you only do a Tempo/Speed once a week. Believe me, this is enough to get you where you need to be. As I written about in the past, Half Marathoners only need 5%, at the most 10%, of their total running distance with speed exceeding an Easy run speed. Runners do have a problem with this concept as a lot of them believe "More is Better". But again, my advice is that you show up to the starting line uninjured and ready to give it your best effort.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Tempo and Long Run
So how did your Tempo run go? If your experience is anything like most runners in training, you should've found that you can run a half mile at a 2-3 minute pace faster than than your easy runs. Your 12 MPM turns into a 10 to 9 MPM.
This week was just the start of your Tempo Runs. Each week, you will notice that we will be increasing the length of the run as we acclimate to endurance that allows us to keep this as our long race pace.
A word about tomorrow's long run. You will run the first 80% of your distance at your easy run pace, again, staying at less than 70% of your MHR. The last 20%, you will increase it 7 to 10 seconds per mile until your hit your Tempo pace in the last .25 mile of the 9 mile run. What this will train your body to do is to prepare to bring your race home in the last 5K of your Half Marathon.
If you're doing this on a treadmill, you can increase the speed .1 each minute to get you home. For instance, if you are keeping a 5.2 pace, you would increase the speed .1 each minute starting with mile 8, until you get to a 7.0 pace at the end of the run of 9 miles.
I will recap the week with summary tomorrow and give you next week's runs.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
This week was just the start of your Tempo Runs. Each week, you will notice that we will be increasing the length of the run as we acclimate to endurance that allows us to keep this as our long race pace.
A word about tomorrow's long run. You will run the first 80% of your distance at your easy run pace, again, staying at less than 70% of your MHR. The last 20%, you will increase it 7 to 10 seconds per mile until your hit your Tempo pace in the last .25 mile of the 9 mile run. What this will train your body to do is to prepare to bring your race home in the last 5K of your Half Marathon.
If you're doing this on a treadmill, you can increase the speed .1 each minute to get you home. For instance, if you are keeping a 5.2 pace, you would increase the speed .1 each minute starting with mile 8, until you get to a 7.0 pace at the end of the run of 9 miles.
I will recap the week with summary tomorrow and give you next week's runs.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
First week on 12 week Half Marathon Plan - Easy and Tempo
So it's Tuesday in the first week. You've run your first run by now, how'd it go? If you had a hard time with the run, you may want to incorporate walking breaks (idea first mainstreamed by Jeff Galloway) into your runs. You might want to try these if you had trouble just staying under the 70% HRM.
To try these, there are a number of ways but I'll simplify it by asking you to run 5 minutes at > 70% and then walk 30 seconds, run to the 10 minute mark, walk 30 seconds and just repeat until your 4 miles are done. These walking breaks help your body adjust to the new stress. These walking breaks can be incorporate the same way for your long runs if you find them difficult also.
Tomorrow you are slated for a Tempo workout. For Week One, move into these carefully by warming up for one mile at >70%, run a mile in the 80-88% range, .25 mile walk or easy running, mile at 80-88%, .25 mile walk/easy run, 80-88% mile, finish with a half mile walk easy run.
Remember, you need to stay in these zones in the training. You may find that you last Tempo mile is at a slower pace than your first Tempo mile. That's okay, what's important is that you stay in that zone 80-88% during the mile. We're looking at heart rate zone, not timed speed for this exercise.
I will have another update for you Friday before the Long Run, so that you get started with a good first long run.
To try these, there are a number of ways but I'll simplify it by asking you to run 5 minutes at > 70% and then walk 30 seconds, run to the 10 minute mark, walk 30 seconds and just repeat until your 4 miles are done. These walking breaks help your body adjust to the new stress. These walking breaks can be incorporate the same way for your long runs if you find them difficult also.
Tomorrow you are slated for a Tempo workout. For Week One, move into these carefully by warming up for one mile at >70%, run a mile in the 80-88% range, .25 mile walk or easy running, mile at 80-88%, .25 mile walk/easy run, 80-88% mile, finish with a half mile walk easy run.
Remember, you need to stay in these zones in the training. You may find that you last Tempo mile is at a slower pace than your first Tempo mile. That's okay, what's important is that you stay in that zone 80-88% during the mile. We're looking at heart rate zone, not timed speed for this exercise.
I will have another update for you Friday before the Long Run, so that you get started with a good first long run.
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