Posts Tagged ‘cycling’

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Independently Wealthy Runner

July 24, 2009

A little while ago I came across this blog post, which was actually inspired by this one, and was about what your day would be like if you were independently wealthy and had no job. Obviously, the two people who wrote those posts were runners and so a large percentage of their day was taken up with running.

When I run I tend not to think of anything in particular, I just let my mind wander, but the other day I started to think – what would my day be like if I was wealthy enough not to need a job and had no desire to start one? I suppose it would be pretty similar to my day right now! Though the added security of having a bank account without a minus sign in front of the numbers would mean that I wouldn’t spend my afternoons job hunting and I could afford to join a gym, go to a pool/have a pool built in my luxury house etc.

The posts I mentioned above start their days early – one with a run at sunrise and one with a run before. While I love the idea of getting up before everyone else to get a run in before the morning rush hour, I couldn’t really do it living here. If it’s anything less than about 11 degrees (that’s about 52 in Fahreneit) then my asthma will stop me from running and, living in England, there’s a good chance that it’s going to be less than 11 degrees for at least 3 quarters of the year at sunrise. Therefore, in order for me to fully embrace the hypothetical question of what my day would be like as an independently wealthy runner then we first have to assume that I’ve taken my wealth and moved somewhere warmer (you can tell that I have a lot of time to think on runs can’t you?).

O I would get up early, have breakfast and do normal morning stuff like read the news and my e-mails.
O Go for a run once it was light but before it was busy. Morning sessions would be the hard work, so intervals, fartleks, tempo and long runs.
O Back home for a Shake, stretch and shower.
O Catch up on social networking sites and other blogs. Read, tidy, do anything that needed doing.
O Lunch. Something small coz I like to snack in the afternoon.
O Afternoons would have to be varied depending on what I felt like at the time. I’d like to say I could get some cross training in, such as some resistance work or swimming, but at my current fitness level that would have to replace one of my late afternoon runs instead. So afternoons would be spent learning new things, taking a class or picking up a new hobby. There’s a lot out there that I would like to do – learn the piano, ride a horse, do a photography class etc.
O Late afternoon run. This would be the easy run, doing whatever distance I felt like. This could be moved to after dinner if I didn’t have evening plans. Could also be replaced with swimming, cycling, weights, archery or basketball…or maybe something more adventurous – like days out rock climbing or surfing.
O Dinner. Either prepared by me during the afternoon or my nutritionist/chef :-)
O Evening at home, or out with Ally.
O Early night (and some good quality sleep!)

In depth? Yes. Too much information? Probably. Good fun? Definitely. Think about it and then either comment or repost on your own blog, I’d be interested to read it.

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Peculiar Product Test #3: Garmin Forerunner 405CX

June 17, 2009

I was fortunate enough to come into possession of one of the new Garmins a little while ago (thanks Al!) and it really does deserve a post of it’s own. While this particular piece of kit doesn’t seem ‘peculiar’ to me (as the title might suggest) I can see how other people might find a GPS watch for running quite odd (namely Scribs).

I had the Garmin Forerunner 305 first and loved that. Not only was the GPS a lot more accurate than the glorified pedometer in Nike+, but it also had the heart rate monitor. The screen was big enough that I could display 4 different things and still be able to read it easily. I’d often have the stop watch, heart rate, distance and pace when I was running and then stop watch, time of day, distance and speed when I was cycling. The size of the screen was also the biggest disadvantage. The unit itself is huge, meaning my little wrists were swamped by it and running was a tad lopsided. As a result I would only take Steve (the 305) out when I needed to measure a distance on a regular route and I felt guilty for not maximising it’s potential.

Forerunner 405CX. Picture courtesy of wiggle.co.uk.

Forerunner 405CX. Picture courtesy of wiggle.co.uk.

The 405CX is much smaller, but unfortunately not small enough to be worn as a regular watch (it displays the time in Sleep Mode instead of just turning off but needs charging every few days if using the GPS a lot). The face and surrounding strap (where the GPS is stored, what’s shown in the picture) is still too wide but this really is it’s only downfall, and as soon as Garmin make a GPS HRM that fits me I’ll be queueing to buy one.

So where to start? Well it took me a few days to come up with a name for the new Garmin. As you may have noticed from previous posts I called it ‘the CX’, which then became Charlie X-Ray, which was then shortened to Charlie. So the new Garmin is called Charlie. It does pretty much everything you could want. Turning it on to training mode it will pick up a satellite signal in seconds. Unlike Steve (the 305) which could take up to a few minutes, I’ve had Charlie take less than 2 seconds, no exageration.

It’s incredibly simple to use. I managed to set up my custom displays on the fly as I was about to start a run. Everything is controlled by touching the bezel, which works a bit like the scroll wheel on an iPod but doesn’t depress. When I’m running I have my distance, time and speed displayed on the screen. By tapping the bezel I can scroll through pre-set screens. Tap once and my heart rate will appear, tap again and I have a diagram of my ‘virtual partner’ (or imaginary friend in my watch, as Scribs calls it) – a virtual pacesetter, complete with time and distance you are ahead or behind by. The last tap will bring up the time of day.

I can also display any of about 35 other elements, in a combination of screens of my choice. I can work to heart rate zones and pre set routes. I can mark locations using the GPS and then use the feature to find my way back to one of these locations (I swear I’ve never got lost in the woods whilst running, regardless of what Ally might say!) I haven’t really begun to explore all the different things I can do with this thing, and that’s only the running setting, just wait til I get back on my bike!

10k run on Tuesday 16th

10k run on Tuesday 16th

When coming home I stop the timer, reset the fields ready for next time and put it on to time mode whilst I’m collapsed on the floor in a red sweaty heap stretching properly. When I take the watch back upstairs it’ll automatically send my run information to my PC (which I tend to leave on) due to the USB stick I have permanently plugged in. The Garmin Training Centre will display anything and everything that you might want to know. Pace and heart rate show up on the graph, but I can also add in HR as % of max, elevation, speed etc. There’s a whole table of information available as well. I have set my laps to 1km so I can get accurate times for each km (which you’ll see in Monday posts), as well as my average and max speed, calories burnt, average and max heart rate and total ascent and descent (for each km as well as a total).

Charlie does have a bit of a problem when going through tunnels and might randomly spit out that I’m running at 23km/h, but otherwise it’s pretty accurate. I’ve sat here for a few minutes trying to think of other things that are wrong with it (this ‘review’ is somewhat one-sided) but I can’t really fault it. The price is maybe a bit hefty but everyone should have a boyfriend that buys them graduation gifts!

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Last Week: w/c 6th April

April 13, 2009

Haven’t really run much this week, but don’t fret because I’ve been doing other things! Which brings me to the reshuffle of my ‘last week’ posts. Apparently these other sports have been complaining about being relegated to the end of the post and so from now on they’ll be listed in chronological order along with my running.

Taking a break on the bridge.

Taking a break on the bridge.

Monday: Claire and I decided to go for a bike ride in the morning. It was too cold for me to run outside but not too bad for cycling. We went the furthest we’ve been together – 25km – to the outskirts of Stone and back. Took about 130 minutes overall, which isn’t too bad considering the terrain. Hopefully when the exams are over we can take a whole day out to cycle as far as we can :-)

Tuesday: So much for outdoor running. I got up and it was cold and overcast so I went to the gym instead. Bit of a wobbly 8k due to yesterday’s bike ride. Finished in 48.5 minutes, though shoes were a bit off again so technically I only ran 7.91km.

Wedesday: A resistance day today. I intended to recalibrate my shoes again before I start running outside but the treadmills were turned off in the gym so I used the bike and the rower to warm up. Felt distinctly unsweaty when I got home so I spent half an hour on the Wii Fit, not that it actually helped, but it was fun :-)

Thursday: I finally went back to the pool, after I’ve been saying I would since Christmas. Swam 1km but it was probably more for all the people dodging I had to do. You’d think they’d put the lane ropes up with that many people there. I told Chris (who was manager in the afternoon) that he would need to sort it out before I swam again (ah, the joys of working there!)

Saturday: Another 8k…well, it wasn’t really 8k because my shoes were off again (I can’t work out whether it’s my stride length that changes or the sensor is just rubbish). I actually went 8.4km in just under 52 minutes. However this was made marginally better by the fact that Claire and I got into the gym for free. Thank you gym man.

This part looked like a Winter Wonderland

This part looked like a Winter Wonderland

Sunday: As per my last post, I went camping just outside Stratford for the weekend. Come Sunday morning I was tempted not to run because I was tired from a night in the tent, it was raining, and Ally was ill (and I felt I should do the good girlfriend thing). In the end running won out and with just a vague idea of where I was going I ran from the campsite to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and back. Was a very nice run actually. Only about 7k round trip but the miles were hardly noticed as I was too busy taking in the scenery. The first part was a road but I found the canal path and that was quieter (and lot prettier – see pic). Walked it again today and it seemed to take forever!

Total run: 23km

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Last Week: w/c 16th March

March 23, 2009

Tuesday: My first attempt at 7.5k. Not much of a jump from last week’s 7ks so fairly easy. Finished in 47 minutes.

Wednesday: Another 7.5k in 47 minutes.

Friday: A 20 minute warm up for a weights session. Only went 3.5k but I was very happy at not being remotely tired afterwards (my asthma usually gets me when doing a run with no walking breaks). My iPod also informs me of a new pb for the mile (9’01″) though that’s only with this sensor – I’ve done a sub 9 minute mile with the old sensor, so it doesn’t really count :-)

Sunday: 7.5k again. I tried a new tactic and managed to finish in a little over 45 minutes. Not a massive difference to the runs earlier in the week but I’m getting there. At least now I’m on target for a 1 hour 10k.

Wednesday evening was basketball. This time it was a game against the Wolverhampton Rhinos – look out for a post about it later in the week. Thursday I went cycling with super housemate Claire. We went 20km in a rather leisurely 120 minutes (and had a good chat along the way).

In other news, I’ve tipped over the 150lb line, and by ‘tipped’ I actually mean ‘leaped’. Not too bothered about it at the moment but will have to make sure I don’t gain much more. More weight is more to carry 10k!

I also went onto the British 10k Run website and checked that I was entered (I was). Looking forward to it now.

As a side note, this blog has now made it to 1 month :-)

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Last Week: w/c 2nd March

March 9, 2009

The more observant of you may have noticed a few minor changes on the blog this week. It’s just a few bits and pieces, though you’ll see that I’ve now added a guest book, should anyone want to leave me some love :-) Moving swiftly on…

A less successful week this time. You may remember that my knee started to hurt again after stretching last Sunday, well unfortunately it would appear that it’s going to take longer to heal than I had hoped.

Tuesday: My first 7k. Took me 45 minutes but I don’t think that was too bad for a first attempt. It was after this run that I decided I needed more time off to recover, much to my disappointment.

Sunday: 15 minutes of speedwork as a warm up for a resistance workout at SSMSC gym (which came in at 2.3km). Knee sore but not as bad as I was expecting. Things are looking good.

Wednesday evening I played basketball in West Brom as per usual now, and Thursday I played 1-on-1 baskteball with Ally. To make up for the lack of running in the week, Claire and I cycled 17km (10.5 miles) along the canal in a timely 100 minutes on Friday afternoon.

With the little bit of sun we’ve had I’ve been tempted to try an outdoors run, but I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t get very far in the cold with my EIA. Not long now though!