Dog Runs Half Marathon

Not only does the dog finish, but she ran it faster than I ever have. Maybe I should try that barefoot running.

My Running Year in Review

I ran just under 1,400 miles for the year.

I had two months with over 150 miles.

I ran three 5k, two 10k, one 15k, one 10 miler, four half marathons, one 30k, one trail race, one 200 mile team relay, and a marathon. I had a personal best in all of those distances this year.

It was a good year.

Garmin 220

Despite the fact that GPS always overestimates the distance, I still wouldn't run without it. I linked to the Garmin 620 on Friday, but if $200 is too much for your budget, you can try the Garmin 220 for $166.

DC Rainmaker review of the 220 and 620.

Garmin 620

I've enjoyed my Garmin 610 for years now. It's had a few hiccups, but it works and the battery is still going strong, so I'm not inclined to shell out for an upgrade. If I was in the market, I'd definitely grab the Garmin 620, since it is discounted to $200 now.

Via The Wirecutter

Racing!

VIDEO: This is what it looks like when Sumo wrestlers race https://t.co/Hbbl2LWWhK pic.twitter.com/0wu0Rb28zW

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) October 22, 2015

Secret Marathon

If you don't tell anyone, it's just a long run.



And I forgot to mention I did Ragnar this last weekend. Two hundred-ish miles as a team over about a 30 hour period. No sleep. Spending lots of time in a van. And my first leg was up a mountain. Good times.

Runner's High

Dude, let's go for a run...

To Your Brain, A Runner’s High Looks A Lot Like Smoking Weed

Two Wrongs

Black Lives Matter protesters to block finish line at the Twin Cities Marathon.

I don't think this will help bring support to their cause. Attention, yes. Support, no. I'd be most upset if this happened to me.

Cut and Run

Getting faster at any cost...


Um, no.

Running Truism

Once you see a three foot snake cross the greenway in front of you, every stick for the rest of the run looks like a snake.

Cardio Fitness vs Strength Training

Missing cardio workouts result in faster losses than missing strength workouts. So, if you must, skip the weights, but not your run!

Running - The 10% Rule

Conventional wisdom says if you want to avoid an injury never increase your mileage by more than 10% week over week. This article questions the validity of that rule:

"These two studies clearly indicate that prescribing to the 10 percent rule does not reduce your chance of injury. The question now becomes: How do you decide how much can you safely increase your weekly training volume while minimizing injury risk? While the answer is certainly individual, over the following pages we’ll take a look at some more flexible “rules” to follow."

I suggest replacing the 10% rule with another bit of conventional wisdom - listen to your body. For me, my problems* are usually tied to poor nutrition, lack of sleep, or over doing a workout.

*Problems include injury, but also running slower than expected or not being able to complete distance goals.

New Kicks

I cheated on my Asics when I could no longer get the GT-2170. I tried a pair of Brooks Ravenna 5, but took them back after a single run. I then moved to a Saucony Guide 7. It became obvious from my wear patterns that I no longer pronate like I did when I started running. My foot strike has changed dramatically. So now, I'm back to Asics - this time in the Gel-Nimbus 15.

METERS Knoxville Marathon Support

In the latest newsletter from the Knoxville Track Club, there is an article about a woman who cheated during a marathon by not running the full distance. One of the local ham radio clubs gets an acknowledgement for their part in ensuring the integrity of the results:

"At our Knoxville Marathon, we have a somewhat similar course layout. Our full and half marathons start simultaneously, and both finish on the 50 yard line of Neyland Stadium. They run together for 12.5 miles before the half splits off toward the finish line. Every year, we get folks who have signed up for the full and for some reason (bad day, cramps, underestimation of the hills), opt for the half when the split comes. One of two things has always happened."

 ...

"We get novices that don’t know better. They finish the half, grab some food and drink, and then they head home. They assume that we’ll know that they only did the half. Do we?

Yes. We use METERS (Middle East Tennessee Emergency Radio Service) to spot participants running the half wearing the full bib. They radio in the bib numbers so we can switch them in the results. Our timing crew also checks the top finishers to make sure that they have a 10k split, a half marathon split, and a 20 mile split that correlate to their marathon time. If someone only has a split at 10k and it is for a 10 minute mile, there is no way that they finished the marathon averaging 7 minutes a mile.

Never, have I ever, seen one of these folks stick around for the full marathon award ceremony and attempt to claim an overall or age group award."

1,000 Miles

As of today, I've run 1,005.61 miles for the year. It's the first time I've run more than 1,000 in a year. Along the way, I ran marathon, half marathon, 15k, 10k, 8k, 5k, and 1 mile races. I even did half marathons on back to back days.

Picking the Perfect Running Shoe

Another running related infograph... this one for picking the best running shoe so you can run 26.2 miles more or less.


Source: Fix.com

And you should pick up two different pairs:

"The results of two studies, one published in British Journal of Sports Medicine and the other in Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, suggest that runners who train in more than one pair of shoes were indeed at a reduced risk for injury. The researchers suggest that the parallel use of more than one pair of running shoes varies the load applied to the musculoskeletal system, which can help protect runners from injury."

So basically, I'm doing it wrong.

GPS vs. Certified Course

An infograph:

I see the difference even on short courses. I have a goal of breaking 20 minutes for a 5k. I've come within three seconds of doing that - except for one race, my time was 19:40 for the course. I don't think I magically gained 20 seconds - and my watch that normally reads high for distances, only reported 3.03 miles.

Double

I've been a little busy this week-end. I ran a half marathon on Saturday. I ran another half marathon today. If you ran the double, they gave you a third medal.

Not a Sub 2-Hour Marathon

So yesterday I posted a link about running a sub 2-hour marathon. One additional note for success is avoiding Beijing as the site of your run.

This is what it's like to run a marathon in Beijing http://t.co/2x9RgL4o02 pic.twitter.com/PIrconVTRU
— i100 (@thei100) October 19, 2014

Sub 2-Hour Marathon

What will it take to run a sub-two hour marathon? Someone faster than me.