Just finished watching 'Running The Sahara'. It's the story of three guys running the distance of the Sahara Desert from the Atlantic to the Red Sea... that's right - 4000 plus miles.
I'm not going to ruin the story for you but if you love watching anyone attempt this type of challenge, it gives a pretty realistic view on what a person ends up finding out about oneself. Man vs. Man, Man vs. Nature, Man vs. Self, it's all in here.
I think running has a way of doing that every day as well as through a lifetime. Those days that you get up and check the weather and see that it's already 77 degrees and 100% Humidity before 8 in the morning. As well as the days it's 26 below with a wind chill of 40 below. It's times like these that when you tie up your shoes and head out the door your mettle gets tested more than the races you run.
My nephew that teaches in Korea has a saying on the wall of his classroom: "Less excuses and more effort". It's a simple phrase that says a lot.
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Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Monday, January 17, 2011
Running Etiquette
After running the Walt Disney Marathon,i thought it would worth sharing a couple rules of the road to any runners/walkers that may be running/walking in their first race(s).
If walking, move to the side of the road. The middle of the road should be open for any runners following you as a open path. When you stop in the middle of the road, you open yourself to a number of runners either not looking up or talking to another runner, that could cause harm to yourself or the other runner.
If you are walking with a group of other walkers, when you walk on the side of the road, walk in single file [one behind each other]. There is nothing worse for a competitive runner than trying to run around a 'wall'.
When reaching a water table, do not come to a complete stop when you get your water. If you need to be at a stand still when you drink your water, wait until you've past the water table, go to the side of the road, and drink it there. Again, there is the chance mentioned above of another runner slamming into your back if you are stationary and they are moving.
Lastly, be honest with yourself and lineup at the start based on what you truly feel should be your finishing time. It wont be any fun if a number of runners push pass you, or simply just pass you for the first couple of miles in a race. Set a goal of passing more people after you get to the half way point of the race, that passed you up tot that point in the race. Ir's much more encouraging to finish the race that way than feeling that everyone has passed you and you must now try to make up for lost time.
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If walking, move to the side of the road. The middle of the road should be open for any runners following you as a open path. When you stop in the middle of the road, you open yourself to a number of runners either not looking up or talking to another runner, that could cause harm to yourself or the other runner.
If you are walking with a group of other walkers, when you walk on the side of the road, walk in single file [one behind each other]. There is nothing worse for a competitive runner than trying to run around a 'wall'.
When reaching a water table, do not come to a complete stop when you get your water. If you need to be at a stand still when you drink your water, wait until you've past the water table, go to the side of the road, and drink it there. Again, there is the chance mentioned above of another runner slamming into your back if you are stationary and they are moving.
Lastly, be honest with yourself and lineup at the start based on what you truly feel should be your finishing time. It wont be any fun if a number of runners push pass you, or simply just pass you for the first couple of miles in a race. Set a goal of passing more people after you get to the half way point of the race, that passed you up tot that point in the race. Ir's much more encouraging to finish the race that way than feeling that everyone has passed you and you must now try to make up for lost time.
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Sunday, January 16, 2011
2011 Walt Disney Half Marathon
Ran the Walt Disney Half Marathon last Saturday and can report that it is an event not to be missed if you haven't run it already. 27,000 Half Marathoners. Still cant believe that many people really ran that. Last time I ran any race with that many people was Boston 1996 (the 100th anniversary).
The start consists of 6 'waves' (determined by expected finishing time) each about 5-10 minutes a part. Each wave gets a Disney send off with explosions, large music and fireworks. I'm willing to bet that the local Orlando Audiologists showed an increase in visits this past week.
It starts from Epcot, travels the service road to the Magic Kingdom, through thee Magic Kingdom, back to Epcot, through it, finishing right outside the park. along the way, you are able to get photo ops with almost every Disney big name character, they really do this right.
Although i think Disney does its great job of running this race, there are a few changes they could make to improve on it. First, getting to my first observation, the number of runners they allow in this race. I've often heard runners complain at other races that 'the organizer needs to open this race to more runners'. This was an example of why race directors don't.
I had fun because I was not taking the run seriously. But if I was, or if I had trained for 12 plus weeks for it, i would've been mad about the number of walkers, width of the running path, etc. that would've made that serious training useless. Its a party race, not one that you are using for any PR (personal record) or qualification standard. So if you are going to run this race, put it in perspective.
Another change would be in how the 'waves' are set up. Yes, they did it by predicted finish times - fastest in first wave, slowest in last one. But unfortunately, it was the runner's predicted finish time. So, since I was in wave four with my wife and son, we were constantly running into walkers from wave one, two, and three within our first five miles. And yes, I know there are runners that use the Galloway Run/Walk method, I'm one of them. But these walkers were wearing clothing that i know were for walking only. This led to bumping throughout the race for those that didn't like the swerving around the runners... that weren't running.
Lastly, I would consider having the start of the race closer to a parking area that didn't have 27,000 runners walk a mile to their starting chutes/wave. I felt already warmed up by the time i got to the start, and then had to wait 40 minutes until my wave started. If there wouldn't have been such a walking jam, I would've ended up waiting one hour for the start. Disney does make it clear you are expected in your 'corral' by 5 am, regardless of you starting time. Since the first wave starts at 5:35 [five minutes after the wheelchair racers take off], that is long time to wait. Thank God it didn't rain!
But I don't want this criticism to diminish the fact that it was a fun race. I know I had fun at least. But it was an expensive race, at least I haven't paid $135 for any race I entered before that, so if you are going to run it, remember that you are doing it not to get a PR, but to be part of an event.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
The start consists of 6 'waves' (determined by expected finishing time) each about 5-10 minutes a part. Each wave gets a Disney send off with explosions, large music and fireworks. I'm willing to bet that the local Orlando Audiologists showed an increase in visits this past week.
It starts from Epcot, travels the service road to the Magic Kingdom, through thee Magic Kingdom, back to Epcot, through it, finishing right outside the park. along the way, you are able to get photo ops with almost every Disney big name character, they really do this right.
Although i think Disney does its great job of running this race, there are a few changes they could make to improve on it. First, getting to my first observation, the number of runners they allow in this race. I've often heard runners complain at other races that 'the organizer needs to open this race to more runners'. This was an example of why race directors don't.
I had fun because I was not taking the run seriously. But if I was, or if I had trained for 12 plus weeks for it, i would've been mad about the number of walkers, width of the running path, etc. that would've made that serious training useless. Its a party race, not one that you are using for any PR (personal record) or qualification standard. So if you are going to run this race, put it in perspective.
Another change would be in how the 'waves' are set up. Yes, they did it by predicted finish times - fastest in first wave, slowest in last one. But unfortunately, it was the runner's predicted finish time. So, since I was in wave four with my wife and son, we were constantly running into walkers from wave one, two, and three within our first five miles. And yes, I know there are runners that use the Galloway Run/Walk method, I'm one of them. But these walkers were wearing clothing that i know were for walking only. This led to bumping throughout the race for those that didn't like the swerving around the runners... that weren't running.
Lastly, I would consider having the start of the race closer to a parking area that didn't have 27,000 runners walk a mile to their starting chutes/wave. I felt already warmed up by the time i got to the start, and then had to wait 40 minutes until my wave started. If there wouldn't have been such a walking jam, I would've ended up waiting one hour for the start. Disney does make it clear you are expected in your 'corral' by 5 am, regardless of you starting time. Since the first wave starts at 5:35 [five minutes after the wheelchair racers take off], that is long time to wait. Thank God it didn't rain!
But I don't want this criticism to diminish the fact that it was a fun race. I know I had fun at least. But it was an expensive race, at least I haven't paid $135 for any race I entered before that, so if you are going to run it, remember that you are doing it not to get a PR, but to be part of an event.
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Sunday, December 5, 2010
iPod Nano V6 (6th Generation)
After 3 months of use of the new (for 2010) Version 6 (V6) Nano, I think I have enough experience to give you my two cents.
Pros
-My favorite new feature of the Nano is the Radio Live Pause feature. I'm sure that most runners that would like an option to their iPod that allows them to pause while listening to a radio station. More important than the V5 (Version 5), you can pause what you are listening to for up to 15 minutes if you meet someone at the health club or out on your run. The radio on the V6 Nano allows just that. Like the V5, when you are running in a health club, the radio channels listed under the TV screens are available on your iPod.
I was so impressed with this feature I figured that my new iPod iTouch would have this. But in case you are wondering, it doesn't… go figure.
-Weight – an item that allows high on the list for runners is the weight of what they are carrying, especially for long runs/distances. Yes, this is lighter than version 5. But seriously, any of the Nanos that have come out in the past 6 years have met this requirement. Okay, it's lighter, but I can't believe anyone would notice the difference from any of its former predecessors.
-Touchscreen. If you are an owner of an iPod iTouch or iPhone, you will understand the advantage of the Touchscreen vs. the scroll wheel. But this can also be a disadvantage (see below). Because it is so small, there is so getting used to it, especially those folk with large thumbs, but I found it easy to assimilate to.
-Clip – don't know why they waited so long to add this feature but it was a good add. Instead of needing to buy an accessory to hold you Nano when you run, you now have that built in to your device. I find that I use this all the time, but it wasn't as if I had to have it. As a marathoner, I own shorts with multiple pockets for gels, etc. and the smallest pocket can easily fit the new Nano. I have to believe is that the accessory dealers aren't crazy about adding the clip, but for the rest of us it a good add.
-Heart Rate Monitor – in case you didn't know this, you can buy a Polar Heart Rate monitor that works with your Nano V5 or V6. This one syncs easily and it shows the beats on the bottom of the screen which I find cool.
Cons
-My first one is a big one, no external speaker. One thing that I loved about the V5 Nano is the external speaker. I don't know if everyone ran into this problem with past Nanos but I would religiously pick up the Nano and find that I had no battery life left. That's because I forget to turn it off! When the V5 came along, as soon as I pulled out the ear buds from it, I could music playing and it would tell me that it was still running. That alone made the V5 worth the price, no more not-so-smart battery draining. It also was nice to know you could listen to music if you didn't bring along your ear buds. For the life of me, don't know why they got rid of that.
-Removal of Video. I know I should be upset that I'm losing this feature while having to pay the same price, but I'm not. I didn't watch many movies or MTV videos with my Nano in the past, and the screen is so small why would anyone? I can count the number of times on one hand that I took videos with the Nano. To me, it was a nice feature but far from a necessary feature. But I can understand if someone only had the Nano as their lone iPod device.
-Glitchy with Nike Plus system. I am currently on my second V6 Nano. The first one I had has the same problem that my second one has. When I run an extended period of time, say over 1 hour, it starts to skip, and say "Workout Paused", then skips to next song, "Workout Resumed", skip again, "Workout Paused" very annoying to say the least. I can't figure out if it's using the remote stereo Apple ear buds, the Nike Plus app or what, but it takes away from using the Nike Plus to have this happening. Because I am on my second V6 Nano, I know it wasn't just one bad unit; it must be something in the iOS.
So my overall rating of the new Nano? I'd give it 3 out of 5 stars. (My rating on the V5 was 4 out of 5). If you've never had a Nano, I'd say get it. Or course I would recommend a V5 Nano if you can pick one up, but if not, the V6 has enough of the bells and whistles to make it worth the money. If you are looking to upgrade, I'd say wait. I think there are some bug fixes that they need to deal with. Also, as I stated above, I really miss the external speakers on the last Nano. That alone was reason to just keep a version 5 instead of going to version 6. I actually wish I wouldn't have sold mine to a friend so quickly. But I couldn't have justified keeping two Nanos. Overall, I say wait until the next version to have them fix the bugs and get the external speaker added to the next version.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Can a runner be competitive on a Low Carb Diet?
I had a bad stretch of running during October. I'm having a harder time keeping up with my running partners. There's also just a general tiredness my legs.
I've spent some time going through my running journal trying to find any clue to help me turn this around. So far the only thing that seems to make sense is my weight.
I lost 23 lbs. since the beginning of the year training for Grandmas in June. But since then I gained back 9 lbs. Sure, I'm not putting in the mileage that I did back in the spring, but if I've gained wait while still running 30 miles a week, I've got to change something. It's not like I haven't noticed it before, but cutting back on total calories hasn't worked, so maybe something new will.
So I'm going to see if I can't get back to losing some weight while maintaining 30 miles or less a week. I'm going to go after this with a three-fold attack.
Weight training (because muscle mass burns calories), a new running program (FIRST - a 3 day a week running program) and a low carb diet.
I know the low carb diet is controversial for runners. After researching it on the net, there is a small but becoming more vocal running community that claim there is no loss in running speed or endurance. I'm a skeptic, but what I've tried so far isn't working, so I'm giving this a whirl.
I'll keep everyone up to date as I try this. I'm dedicating my next 9 weeks of training, so it will be interesting to see how this works for the Disney Half Marathon. Wish me luck.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
I've spent some time going through my running journal trying to find any clue to help me turn this around. So far the only thing that seems to make sense is my weight.
I lost 23 lbs. since the beginning of the year training for Grandmas in June. But since then I gained back 9 lbs. Sure, I'm not putting in the mileage that I did back in the spring, but if I've gained wait while still running 30 miles a week, I've got to change something. It's not like I haven't noticed it before, but cutting back on total calories hasn't worked, so maybe something new will.
So I'm going to see if I can't get back to losing some weight while maintaining 30 miles or less a week. I'm going to go after this with a three-fold attack.
Weight training (because muscle mass burns calories), a new running program (FIRST - a 3 day a week running program) and a low carb diet.
I know the low carb diet is controversial for runners. After researching it on the net, there is a small but becoming more vocal running community that claim there is no loss in running speed or endurance. I'm a skeptic, but what I've tried so far isn't working, so I'm giving this a whirl.
I'll keep everyone up to date as I try this. I'm dedicating my next 9 weeks of training, so it will be interesting to see how this works for the Disney Half Marathon. Wish me luck.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Hamilton Dr,Eagan,United States
Friday, November 5, 2010
2011 Walt Disney Half, Full, Goofy or Dopey January 9th &10th
For any of you interested in running the Walt Disney Full or Half Marathon, they are 91% and 94% full, respectively. The Goofy Challenge (that's doing the Half Marathon on Saturday and the Full Marathon on Sunday) is 97% full. So you might want to commit this weekend if you don't want to miss out.
I've been struggling with the urge of doing the Goofy or the Dopey. You won't find the Dopey on the WDW website. It's called that informally by runners, it's the Goofy plus doing the 5K on Friday.
With the 5K filling up on Tuesday, my Dopey option got eliminated. I am currently signed up for the Half on Saturday. Should I do the Marathon on Sunday and make it Goofy? Or just stay with Half and save myself for a Spring Marathon?
Let me know if any of you have done the Goofy. It's an expensive option and I would to know if any of you feel it's worth it. Email me at MarathonMadman@gmail.com and let me know.
Clock is ticking...
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
I've been struggling with the urge of doing the Goofy or the Dopey. You won't find the Dopey on the WDW website. It's called that informally by runners, it's the Goofy plus doing the 5K on Friday.
With the 5K filling up on Tuesday, my Dopey option got eliminated. I am currently signed up for the Half on Saturday. Should I do the Marathon on Sunday and make it Goofy? Or just stay with Half and save myself for a Spring Marathon?
Let me know if any of you have done the Goofy. It's an expensive option and I would to know if any of you feel it's worth it. Email me at MarathonMadman@gmail.com and let me know.
Clock is ticking...
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Lost in Chuncheon
Got lost on what was supposed to be a simple 30 minute run. The kind of 30 minute run that ends up being 55 minutes before you are done.
Made a zig when we should've made a zag but it is amazing how lost you can lost in Korea when you don't speak Korean and can't pronounce the dorms that you're staying in.
But an old lesson re-learned. When running in unfamiliar territory, remember to tap a map, phone, or GPS with you. Never know just how lost you can truly get.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Made a zig when we should've made a zag but it is amazing how lost you can lost in Korea when you don't speak Korean and can't pronounce the dorms that you're staying in.
But an old lesson re-learned. When running in unfamiliar territory, remember to tap a map, phone, or GPS with you. Never know just how lost you can truly get.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
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