This morning was intended to be an easy 4 miles. I always have trouble trying to figure out recovery for myself. Typically, my long runs are on Saturdays. Each Sunday in the fall I have a soccer game. Monday morning usually means that my legs are sore and when I wake up it's usually a struggle to figure out if I should run or not.
I lay in bed around 6:45 pondering that this morning. Aside from what I would consider to be regular recovery, I had to deal with the fact that I injured something (muscle, tendon, etc.?) during yesterday's soccer game. I iced it last night, but the soreness still prevailed.
After an hour or so of work, I decided that I would go out very easy. In addition to just getting in the miles, I wanted to try out the new Nike + iPod system that I splurged on Saturday. I was impressed during our 16 mile run on Saturday by Robert's ability to know how far we'd traveled as well as what pace we were running. I'm typically not one to spoil myself, and have never been a fan of buying things (especially those you've lived thus far without) to make myself feel better.
The system is pretty simple and was designed by Nike and Apple. It uses an iPod Nano (the smallest iPod they currently make, I believe) with a small transmitter that plugs into it. It also comes with a small, modular receiver that is supposed to go into the special made Nike shoes. Robert indicated that instead of purchasing the shoes (I've never been a fan of Nike's fit, not to mention all of the political/sweat shop issues that were raised a few years ago), I could merely go to a hardware store, purchase some velcro, and implement my own DIY solution to securing the receiver to my shoe.
The good news is the system seems to work. Though I haven't actually calibrated it yet, it's use of GPS satellite technology presumable gives it an "accurate enough" functioning for my tastes. The bad news is the system works. That means what I once thought was about a 2 mile turnaround from my house (for a 4 mile run), was actually 1.8 miles. So, I had to go an extra .2 miles.
The system allows you to tap the center button on the iPod to have a woman's voice indicate to you the distance you've traveled and what your current pace is. It automatically tells you (again, via a nice voice into your headphones) when you've reached each mile for that run. Before you go out you set the distance you desire to run. So, after the first mile the voice indicated "you've run one mile." When I hit my newly established 2 mile turnaround it indicated that as well. On the way back (once you've passed the half way point) it counts down the number of miles you have left. Eventually, once you've reached the point where you only have 500 meters (why it goes in meters when you've indicated that you'll be running miles and your base unit is the mile, I'm not sure yet) remaining, it counts down each successive 100 meter point. I don't know exactly what it says when you've reached your mileage "goal" for that particular day, as I typically start my runs from my doorstep and end them at the end of the street. That's a shortfall of about 100 meters I found out this morning.
All in all I'm pretty excited about the new technology. When you plug the iPod into the computer it automatically updates the information to your online Nike Running account. This allows you to trace and track all of the runs you've performed while wearing the iPod and transmitter. I've never been one that NEEDS music to run, and I typically do not do my long runs playing any music. However, I have been complaining a bit that the 2+ hours on the roads and trails each Saturday morning have been a bit dull. Now I'll have a convenient way to listen to new music and other things (audio books, etc).
The run itself was okay at best. The normal soreness of my legs and back was present. That combined with the soreness made for a slow run. However, that's sort of the point of the weekly starting 4 miler for me. Tomorrow I'll bust through a quality 9 miles (followed by another soccer game Tuesday night), hit a track workout Wednesday (which has been great for my running as well as my soccer), take Thursday off and then log 18 before heading away for the weekend.
Once I figure out a way to share my Nike account information, I'll make that link available.
I lay in bed around 6:45 pondering that this morning. Aside from what I would consider to be regular recovery, I had to deal with the fact that I injured something (muscle, tendon, etc.?) during yesterday's soccer game. I iced it last night, but the soreness still prevailed.
After an hour or so of work, I decided that I would go out very easy. In addition to just getting in the miles, I wanted to try out the new Nike + iPod system that I splurged on Saturday. I was impressed during our 16 mile run on Saturday by Robert's ability to know how far we'd traveled as well as what pace we were running. I'm typically not one to spoil myself, and have never been a fan of buying things (especially those you've lived thus far without) to make myself feel better.
The system is pretty simple and was designed by Nike and Apple. It uses an iPod Nano (the smallest iPod they currently make, I believe) with a small transmitter that plugs into it. It also comes with a small, modular receiver that is supposed to go into the special made Nike shoes. Robert indicated that instead of purchasing the shoes (I've never been a fan of Nike's fit, not to mention all of the political/sweat shop issues that were raised a few years ago), I could merely go to a hardware store, purchase some velcro, and implement my own DIY solution to securing the receiver to my shoe.
The good news is the system seems to work. Though I haven't actually calibrated it yet, it's use of GPS satellite technology presumable gives it an "accurate enough" functioning for my tastes. The bad news is the system works. That means what I once thought was about a 2 mile turnaround from my house (for a 4 mile run), was actually 1.8 miles. So, I had to go an extra .2 miles.
The system allows you to tap the center button on the iPod to have a woman's voice indicate to you the distance you've traveled and what your current pace is. It automatically tells you (again, via a nice voice into your headphones) when you've reached each mile for that run. Before you go out you set the distance you desire to run. So, after the first mile the voice indicated "you've run one mile." When I hit my newly established 2 mile turnaround it indicated that as well. On the way back (once you've passed the half way point) it counts down the number of miles you have left. Eventually, once you've reached the point where you only have 500 meters (why it goes in meters when you've indicated that you'll be running miles and your base unit is the mile, I'm not sure yet) remaining, it counts down each successive 100 meter point. I don't know exactly what it says when you've reached your mileage "goal" for that particular day, as I typically start my runs from my doorstep and end them at the end of the street. That's a shortfall of about 100 meters I found out this morning.
All in all I'm pretty excited about the new technology. When you plug the iPod into the computer it automatically updates the information to your online Nike Running account. This allows you to trace and track all of the runs you've performed while wearing the iPod and transmitter. I've never been one that NEEDS music to run, and I typically do not do my long runs playing any music. However, I have been complaining a bit that the 2+ hours on the roads and trails each Saturday morning have been a bit dull. Now I'll have a convenient way to listen to new music and other things (audio books, etc).
The run itself was okay at best. The normal soreness of my legs and back was present. That combined with the soreness made for a slow run. However, that's sort of the point of the weekly starting 4 miler for me. Tomorrow I'll bust through a quality 9 miles (followed by another soccer game Tuesday night), hit a track workout Wednesday (which has been great for my running as well as my soccer), take Thursday off and then log 18 before heading away for the weekend.
Once I figure out a way to share my Nike account information, I'll make that link available.
posted by Mike Mowery at 9:44 AM
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