Earth Day Running

In honor of this Friday being Earth Day, I am dedicating a blog post each day on ideas on how to incorporate environmental ideas into your running. My friends and family that know me wouldn't describe me as Mr. Green when it comes to environmental issues. I have questions about many of the claims made on how men or women affect the world environmental system. But regardless of your political bent on ecology, we can all do simple things that help saves the planet for future generations while just making common sense (and cents) at the same time. I'm what you might label an 'economical environmentalist'. If the benefit of the practice outweighs all of the costs, why not do it?

First and foremost, probably the biggest immediate impact you can have – bottled water. For Christmas 2010, bonnie bought me a Kleen Kanteen Bottle. I love the bottle, easy to clean, light metal, cool color and easy to keep in the side pocket of my gym bag. Since the start of the year, I have drunk 1500 ounces from it. I have not used bottled water once this year. Now that's 4 cases of bottled water. I know what you are thinking, 'Sam's Club sells a case of water for $5 a case, big deal." But that's still $20 vs. free. And think of the 100 empty water bottles that would've ended either in a landfill or recycled with additional use of energy. And you want to know something that made this practice a habit? It's easier. When I think of hauling the cases of water that I did in the past from the car, the searching for the bottled water before going to the club, paying $1.50 for water at the club Aquafina machine because I forgot the bottled water, etc. – this is a very easy practice to get into.

So Tip 1 for the Green Runner: Can the use of Bottled Water.

Boston Marathon

Two hours until the start of the Boston Marathon. No, I'm not running it, just waiting for it to begin on TV. I probably have a unique love for the race different than most runners. My second sport love is baseball. And for those of you that may not be aware of this, The Boston Red Sox have a game that starts at 11 am on Patriot's Day (the day the Boston Marathon is run each year). They do this so that the game should finish (barring a tie and extra innings) and have the crowd get out about the same time the leaders of the Boston Marathon are passing the 23 mile mark of the race. Mile 23 is approximately where the Stadium is located.

When I did run Boston, it was one of my favorite memories seeing baseball fans cheering you on, just when you needed it. You could imagine they were cheering you because of your race or if you had just hit the game winning homerun. Or in my case, you could imagine both.

Week Eleven in Half Marathon Training Plan

You made it to the tapering phase of training for the Half Marathon. The next two weeks you will be tapering. I want to warn you that some of you might feel that this is too easy and that you might be losing some conditioning, and therefore try to do more than I'm recommending. Don't. These two weeks are just as important as the ten week base you've already put in. Don't blow it but trying to do too much.

Week Eleven program:

Sunday, Friday - off
Monday, 5 mile Easy Run (under 70% HRM)
Tuesday, 5 miles easy (under 70% HRM)
Wednesday - 7 miles Tempo (80-88% HRM) This you will do by warming up one mile under 70% MHR, then alternate between 2 minutes under 70% HRM and 10 minutes 80-88%, then again between 2 minutes under 70% HRM and 10 minutes 80-88%of your HRM, etc., to a distance of 6.5 miles and then a half mile cool down.

Thursday - 4 miles easy (under 70% HRM)

Saturday - 6 miles (under 70% first 8 miles, 70-80% last two miles)

You will no doubt feel more rested at the end of this week just from the mileage decrease. Watch your diet these last two weeks. Runners tend put to pick up weight from trying to store extra carbos for the race, but it is really unnecessary,

iPod Nano... After the wash and rinse cycle...

Well I do have to admit, I've gone through my share of Nanos during it's product life but they finally got small enough for me to have this happen.

Yes, I left it in my marathon running shorts that went not only through the wash and rinse cycle, but showed up on the bottom of the dryer (wonder how that rolling around helped..).

If any of you have ideas for me to dry this out, I'm all ears. Right now I'm having it sit in a sealed bag of rice. That worked once when I had an older model shut down during a rain storm. But I am open to other ideas.

Otherwise, the screen is probably going to keep the 'wave action' look that I'm getting for some time to come.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Energizer AP 1201 for iPhone 4

Finished a 20 miler this past weekend with a great rechargeable battery for my Verizon iPhone. If you aren't the type of runner that uses GPS for any of the apps they use for running, this might not mean a lot to you, but for everyone else, this should be good information.

I've found that my iPhone/iPod can usually last 2-2 ½ hours on a full charge if I'm using my GPS. I use the RunKeeper app for my long distance runs as it is pretty reliable on the mileage tracking. But as we all know, the GPS on any phone just drains it at double the rate of normal use. So I have been plugging in a reserve pack for any of those runs going more than 2 ½ hours. But no need to with the Energizer AP 1201.

The battery bills itself as giving your iPhone double the battery life. But I found that you actually get more than that, probably 5 ½ to 6 hours life. What I really like is that it's a silicon case that also protects the iPhone. If you get caught in a quick rain, it's nice to flip the phone in a pocket or on your sleeve so that it isn't getting water directly, which just kills an iPhone.

One of the other advantages of the unit is that it you can plug your iPhone into it, then plug both them into a wall socket and charge them both at the same time (no charging them individually). The iPhone automatically charges first, and when it gets full, the unit then starts taking the charge, pretty slick.

Again, if any of you that need to take an iPhone with you on a long run (because of using a running GPS app, a phone to call for a pickup if you die on your run, or as protection in running in an unknown area) the Energizer AP 1201 is a great accessory. I would give it 5 out of 5 in this category.

If you are interested in buying this, Best Buy has them available at a discount price, but I found the best deal on Amazon for less than $30. See:

http://amzn.to/f8zXVE

Week Eleven in Half Marathon Training Plan

You made it to the tapering phase of training for the Half Marathon. The next two weeks you will be tapering. I want to warn you that some of you might feel that this is too easy and that you might be losing some conditioning, and therefore try to do more than I'm recommending. Don't. These two weeks are just as important as the ten week base you've already put in. Don't blow it but trying to do too much.

Week Eleven program:

Sunday, Friday - off
Monday, 5 mile Easy Run (under 70% HRM)
Tuesday, 5 miles easy (under 70% HRM)
Wednesday - 7 miles Tempo (80-88% HRM) This you will do by warming up one mile under 70% MHR, then alternate between 2 minutes under 70% HRM and 10 minutes 80-88%, then again between 2 minutes under 70% HRM and 10 minutes 80-88%of your HRM, etc., to a distance of 6.5 miles and then a half mile cool down.

Thursday - 4 miles easy (under 70% HRM)

Saturday - 6 miles (under 70% first 8 miles, 70-80% last two miles)

You will no doubt feel more rested at the end of this week just from the mileage decrease. Watch your diet these last two weeks. Runners tend put to pick up weight from trying to store extra carbos for the race, but it is really unnecessary, you will get these from the drop in mileage, but not to the point of bloating yourself. Again, don't change anything in your diet by eating too much or cutting back. Just eat like you have for the past few weeks.

Week Nine of Half Marathon Training

Alright, you just got an easy week, time to get back to endurance training.

Week Nine program:

Sunday, Friday - off
Monday, 5 mile Easy Run (under 70% HRM)
Tuesday, Thursday - 4 miles easy (under 70% HRM)
Wednesday - 7 miles Tempo (80-88% HRM) This you will do by warming up one mile under 70% MHR, then alternate between 2 minutes under 70% HRM and 10 minutes 80-88%, then again between 2 minutes under 70% HRM and 10 minutes 80-88%of your HRM, etc., to a distance of 6.5 miles and then a half mile cool down.
Saturday - 12 miles (under 70% first 8 miles, 70-80% last two miles)

You have now built up to 10 minutes for a Tempo Workout.