Sorry to hear about your crash, Subby. I was wondering earlier where your daily ride to work was. Hope you recover soon!

Lee Majors?

Ouch, Subby! Sorry to hear!

Get well soon, Subby!

Hope you get well soon Subby :(

Oh no! I also wondered where your updates were. Sorry to hear, hope you recover quickly!

So... who's Will Brown?

Present!

Ouch sorry to hear Subby, really bad luck with your bike lately.

Figured it was you... just wanted to double check :)

Sharing this just in case anybody else suffers from chaffing because of their HRM strap:
How to fix heart rate strap chaffing issues | DC Rainmaker

It doesn't happen to me on every run, mostly on longer runs, around the bottom of the sternum and somebody pointed me to this tip from dcrainmaker. Just applied a bandaid, no clue if it'll stop the chaffing, we'll see...

FM

I had some chaffing issues from my HRM strap for a bit after it got a little loose due to weight loss. I used body glide there a bit which helped some, but I found after I re-tightened it so it did not move around as much the chaffing seemed to stop for me.

yeah, been tightening it after almost every run where it happened and sometimes it was very tight and it still happened. Figured the bandaid thing was worth a try. dcrainmaker is a pretty good source for a tip ;)

Just did 20 minutes of the infamous Ben Lewis 15% treadmill incline walking workout and well, it sure gets you sweating :)
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/385379927

HR went to 150+ towards the end when I was walking at close to 4 mph.

Footpod's on the way from amazon so I'll be able to track distance with my Garmin. Treadmill says 2.1 km so a little over a mile or so.

FM

Quick question - I'm not particularly athletic but I jog and play soccer ... my amblings have gotten to a reasonable length (5 miles every other day roughly) and I'm finding my calf muscles seem somewhat 'tight' during normal life (ie. when I'm wandering around during the day) ... this isn't a huge issue and I find if I go for a run they loosen up and don't prevent any exercise, but its 'odd' and I was wondering if anyone knows anything which could mitigate against this (I'm already trying to stretch after running etc.).

Marc - I think something like this could help you.

Cool - looks interesting (if I can find out what you're meant to do with it ... seriously I'm a total newbie with regards to sensible exercising).

Marc, simply search "foam roller calf" on youtube and you should get plenty of hits.

Thanks :D

oh, and it will hurt ;)

FM

I've thought about a foam roller. I just haven't sold myself on it yet. Of course, my idea of stretching before my morning run is waking up.

Day 6 of the Hal Higdon novice 15k plan. 2 miles, too easy.

Thinking I may join the gym that's less than a mile away so I can knock out various types of cardio/cross training stuff.

15k in December. Half marathon in April.

Every running coach that I have talked to have discouraged their clients from stretching before the run. Evidently as far as I can tell, the science shows that it adversely effects performance and possibly even increases the chance of injury.

Stretching and/or after the run though seems to be pretty universally approved of.

First 10 miler this afternoon. Slightly sore, but not as bad as I thought I might be. Stairs were more challenging than usual though :D

OK, vets. My first race (Half Marathon) is two weeks from today, and I could use some help with the whole taper thing. Below is what I've done the last few weeks, and my current plan for the next two. I don't have a lot of options for the weekend before the race, as I'll be traveling to my hometown with my 4-year-old and without my wife. There's a wicked hill right in front of my brother's house (where we'll be staying). I won't have time to work out on Friday or on Sunday morning before I leave, so I'm thinking my best bet is to get some hill work in on Saturday and to incline treadmill Sunday night when I get back to the Lowcountry. Apart from that weekend, I'm flexible. Here's the plan:



Also, at this point, I am a little foggy on what my goal speed should be. I didn't have a chance to do a "self-race" post-surgery. I did get in a Tempo Run and a fairly up-tempo long run. The Tempo Run crushed my 5K and 10K PRs, and the long run, beat my previous HM by 3ish minutes, but neither run was all-out. That said, here are my current best times from training:

5K: 23:33 (during a 45-min tempo run)
10K: 47:55 (45-min tempo run plus part of cooldown)
HM: 1:48:52 (part of 14.5 mile run)

I'm thinking maybe a 1:40 goal for the race. Is that too conservative, too aggressive, or does it look about right? Also, I'd love a link or some insight on how to pace my run. I know that I want to go for a negative split, but beyond that, I guess I'm thinking to let my heart rate guide me. I did most of the 14 1/2 mile run referenced above in the 155-160 range. I'm thinking something like 155-160 up to around the 8-mile mark, then 160-165 from 8 to 11, 165-170 for 11 to 12, then 170+ for the final 1.1. (My max is around 185.)

I know that's a lot. I really appreciate any advice from you vets. Thanks in advance.

I had bought a pair of PMX680, the previous version, on eBay but bought a pair of these Sennheiser PMX685i and they are absolutely amazing. Good sound, they sit in my ears very well and they've got volume and play on/off control as well as a mic if I ever get a call that I feel like taking while running.

FM

Ben, just my thoughts on your various questions..

Regarding the taper.. my belief is that you want to cut back on the distance AND the intensity, but more importantly the intensity. Gains that you get from the speedwork reportedly don't show up in your performance until 2 weeks after the exercise. So any speedwork you do during that two week window up until the race will not add to your fitness for the race but it will add to your fatigue. So your goal for the taper should likely be to try to keep some form of routine going, to keep your legs moving up until the race but try to recover the fatigue as much as possible during that time.

I think what worked well for me was going from 6 runs a week to 5 runs two weeks before the taper, with one speed work that week. Then the week of the race, I did one speed work, and ran only 3-4 days, taking off the two days prior to the race. Some people like to do a very easy run the day before the race just to get their legs moving, but I personally haven't done that myself.


For your race pace... you have been running enough miles and enough long runs that I think your aerobic fitness from your race paces should be able to hold through your race. Your 10k VDOT score is of a higher quality than your 5k one and suggests that you should be able to handle 1:45:43 in your current fitness from that time.

You mention negative splits, but I think the true goal is even splits, but that is pretty near impossible to nail perfectly (maybe you can if you're a professional I suppose). So most science indicates negative splits will give you a better time than positive splits will. So starting off the race with a more conservative pace is better, but you don't want to start a long race too slowly, or those 30 seconds per mile will add up to be several minutes without much gained from it.

I created a race route in strava and shared it with you in strava Ben just to try to learn what the course looks like. For the most part it seems very flat.. less than 100ft elevation according to strava in the entire thing, which is almost nothing for 13 miles. Even though Strava seems to underestimate elevation, it looks like you finish the race lower elevation than what you start which should also help your time. It seems the first half of the race is run on one street at a slightly higher elevation than the second half. I would probably use that downhill stretch that is close to mid-way as the point of a mental check to see how you feel during the race.

I think the "conservative" pace of 8:04min/mile which would equal a 1:45 half is probably a good start for the first half of the race in my opinion. On the down hill stretch (looks like mile 7-8 somewhere) you go down about 30-50 ft during that mile, which is not much but a nice mile of downhill that you can speed that up some. After you flatten back out on North Ocean Blvd you probably want to find your final good pace. You'll have less than a 10k left at that point, so if you feel like you can do a 7:43 pace for the remainder go for that.

I don't have much experience in heart rate monitor pacing for a race, My experience is at race pace my HR ends pretty high and stays there the entire time, so don't know if I have any suggestions if you want to go that route.

Anyways this is just my thoughts on what I would do with your fitness, but I probably am more conservative than you too, just don't blow yourself up too early or it will be a long 13 miles :)

They have held up very well too. Between the wind and my excessive sweating, I usually go through several pairs of headphones through the season. I received these from my wife in early June for my birthday and they're still going strong.

I agree with Alan regarding the negative splits. I think it's a fine concept if you can make up the time at the end but I know my ability in this area is lacking. YMMV, of course, but running even splits was my main focus my last time out. The last two weeks I cut down on my runs and distance and just practiced my pacing. This probably isn't recommended by any real runner but I thought it helped me a lot.

I agree with this, except I would try to maintain the 8:00/mile pace a little longer (through mile 10 maybe) and see how you are feeling. If you can let it out for the last 5K, go for it. 1:45 seems right. 1:40 a little too fast.

So in my efforts of searching for a decent hill around my relatively flat neighborhood, I finally found one only 5 miles away from my house, using the strava route creator. A 1/2 mile stretch with a 8% grade, just over 200 feet elevation gain.

Now, what to do with it? I've never run hills before. Should I just do a few repeats up and down that hill? At what pace or effort? Jog or walk back down?

I'll probably go and check it out today after work.

Trying to find this shared route and I can't. Little help?

Thanks to both of you (Alan and digamma) for the good input. That helps a ton.

I'm not exactly sure how it shares with you. My guess is either you will have a message in your strava notification center that you can click on to go to it, or it would show up in your "my routes" page in strava perhaps? Let me know if you can't find it, perhaps I messed up on the sharing, and I'll resend it to you or try sending it through facebook or something instead.

Hill repeats and long hill repeats generally have you running like 1/10th or 1/8th of a mile for short hill repeats to 1/3 of a mile for long hill repeats at roughly your 5k or 10k pace. ( So pretty fast for a climb). Some people do longer hill repeats of 1/2 mile or even a mile but at a slightly slower pace. It basically works like intervals though where the goal is to have high effort on the pace in the interval part.

The rest in between the intervals is solely for decreasing your heart rate to be ready for the next interval. You don't need to run/jog/whatever at any certain pace there. You simply want your HR back down to be ready for your next repeat.

Most people I know either jog slowly down the hill or even walk down the hill before the next one.

DC Rainmaker had a blog entry a while back where he was doing 1 mile hill repeats and planned it out to run on a hill between two bike share locations in paris. He would run up the hill, check out a bike and ride the bike back down the hill to the other station to check it in and then do the hill repeat again, pick up another bike and ride back down, etc. :)

Way to work the system!

I figured it out. It was in notifications. I was looking in "My Routes." Thanks!

So, this newfound hill is pretty versatile for me then? I can do short hill repeats (partway up) and long hills (the entire 1/2 mile stretch) on the same course? Cool!

Recommendations for a HRM?

Generally you will want one that works with whatever watch/app that you use. Having a stand alone HRM could be useful but for the price is not really as good as one that you can record your data with.

That said, generally most people seem to believe Polar HRM are among the best, but usually people are not as high on their watches that they connect to. I use a Garmin watch with a Garmin HRM myself, and the HRM has been fine until just recently the strap has started to give out on me and I've ordered a new replacement one (just a $20 replacement).

One of the things I recently read about that I am going to give a try is people found a specific Polar Wearlink+ strap can be used with the Garmin HRM and you can have the best of both worlds.. so I'm going to see how that works out for me.

If you're looking for bang for the buck and use an iPhone when you run, then the Polar H7 is a great buy. It works with all the major iPhone apps. I've used it with iSmoothRun, RunKeeper, Endomondo, MapMyRun, Polar Beat, and a few others and it works great. (I recommend using the free Polar Beat app with the H7 if you're wanting to get a more exact net calorie burn count.)

I've been doing this for a few months now and have had no issues so far at all. I'm hesitant to blame the Garmin strap for being a piece of crap, because I learned that I wasn't cleaning it as frequently as I should have been... but I sure found a lot of site/forums/posts with people who were very unhappy with the durability of the Garmin one who were also quite happy after switching to a Polar strap.

unhappiness has also been wildly reported by the runners on the Lose It! forums.

FM

I got my polar wearlink+ soft strap in, and it worked with my Garmin transmitter without a problem. Looks like I'm good to go. I didn't have any problems with my Garmin strap though for 6+ months, so guess we will see how long this one lasts. It might just be that they wear out eventually too. Who knows.

is this Polar replacement strap the one you mention that you got for only 20 bucks?

If so, that's a prettyy cheap change to make if it works. I'd read on the dcrainmaker that he had it work for him...

FM

Yes technically I got it for $15 with a discount through my running club but normally it is $18.

Amazon.com: Polar Soft Strap Set (XXX-Large): Sports & Outdoors

That's the one I bought, it works perfectly with the HRM I got with my Garmin Forerunner 410.

Do note that that link will take you to the largest size strap they sell, you'd want a smaller one I am sure.

Sorry, didn't realize you were asking which one I got. I couldn't actually find the medium size at amazon for some reason, but got it at runners warehouse.

http://www.runningwarehouse.com/descpage-PWLS.html

Should have clarified a little on the HRM. I am using Android phone(S3) and currently the only running app that I'm using is Strava.

Also, I think it's finally time to get some real running shoes. The inside of both of both feet are getting bruised from my running style and my current shoes. Makes for a painful run.

Finally, would my feet falling asleep after about 2 miles be attributed to my shoes being too tight or just not the right shoes or something else?

this happens to me as well (well my toes) but i do not know why. For me, I don't think it's the shoes being bad or too tight, because it happens for multiple shoes and even when laces are loose.

I have the same thing happen sometimes on longer walks (3 miles plus).

Your feet swell (sometimes up to several sizes) in running and walking activities. Having your feet fall asleep or toes go numb are both signs of a possible issue with the box of the shoes being too small. This can also present itself by eventually with longer distances possibly getting black toenails or even toenails coming off.

Both running coaches and runners at the nearby running stores recommend to me to get a running shoes larger size than what you normally get for every day shoes.

My recommendation would be to go to a running store to get looked at and have them recommend shoes or shoe size to you. (Not a sports authority or multi-sport place, but a true running store)

Official Strava/Runkeeper Thread
 

I need to go back and read your dynasty from the beginning but I wanted to post this here, piggybacking on your goals. When I first read your goals thread, you got me thinking. I mean, I've never really given myself long term goals with my running because, well, I've not been running for very long. The last few longer runs I've done have shown me what I could do and after seeing you and a few others (namely Ben, Rodney, a unlikely little lady nicknamed yuha on Lose It! who just ran a marathon in 5h33m and many others around here and on Lose It's forums) push themselves, I've decided it was time to set some goals for 2014.

I've got an 18k race coming up in a week (October 20th). When I started running, I never thought I'd even race, but I did a 10k in August. At that time, a week later was the local marathon and I was thinking that a year from now, a half-marathon would be nice. That's when I learned about the 18k which I decided to sign up for. So now, after a couple of 18k run, I've become fairly confident that I can run 21k. So much so that now running a half in early May seems quite feasible but what after that? I have now decided that I will run a marathon in August of 2014!

Told my wife about it yesterday, she's ok with it. But I will not up my mileage like Alan, I've not been running for long enough to do that.

I'm currently looking at a 12 weeks training schedule from Hal Higdon (half-marathon advanced) that would start around mid-February and would get me to my half, and then from there, another 16 weeks training schedule (actually an 18 weeks modifided intermediate 2 marathon from Hal Higdon that I would start at week 3 to make it end on time) that would bring me to my marathon. That schedule has three 20 milers in it that would fit perfectly with the kind of worlkload I have at the dojo and with my vacations. The start of my half-marathon training will be mostly treadmill work.

I'm actually pretty excited about all this. Putting it down in writing kinda makes it official about what I plan to do. :)

Time objectives will come later, for now I'd just be happy to call myself a marathon runner next August, and I'm too focused on next week's race to think about times for a week in 6 or 10 months ;)

I am also looking at some of the various races on the Quebec area circuit, including one stairs challenge around Old Quebec that looks daunting.

FM

Awesome FM! Looking forward to it!

Thanks, Alan. I think I'll go do that this weekend. Going to have to take a day or two off anyways to get over the bruising. Never realized how bad my running technique/style was in H.S.(10 yrs ago) because I never ran anything over 2 miles.

Thinking about next steps for me. There's a Marathon in Charleston on January 18th. Can anyone recommend a training plan of 3 to 4 days per week? I recall some discussion far back in this thread about such a thing, but am having a hard time finding it. If I could get a solid plan in place that requires less than 5 days per week of running, I'd probably work toward doing that race. (And start eating like 3000 calories per day to keep from losing any more weight. ;))

Just signed up for what I expect to be my last race of the season - 5K two weeks from today. That will be the 5th one this year for me. Regardless of results on that one, I'm pleased with having gotten out and actually done races rather than just thinking about doing them like I have in past.

I think you are referring to the plan I posted for you before called FIRST Marathon training. Has three key runs a week (but does have additional cross training on other days though). I'm not home so can't link it again for you, but just google FIRST marathon and you should find it easy enough

Awesome! I find the races help give me the motivation to keep going and not just rest on what I have accomplished so far. By continuing to sign up for new races, I don't want to skip my training and it helps me stay accountable with myself.

Found this and freaking love it.

http://www.wu.ece.ufl.edu/marathon%2...20marathon.pdf

It's actually extremely similar to what I've been doing:The two weekday key runs are Tempo and Intervals, exactly what I've been doing on Tue/Thu. Basically it looks like this plan has you running faster than McMillan, but less frequently. I was already thinking rest and recovery runs for the 21st-27th, then getting back to it starting the week of the 28th. There would be 12 weeks to go until the Charleston Marathon at that point, and the workouts for 12 weeks out on the FIRST plan really look like a perfect fit for where I am right now anyway. I want to chew on it a bit, but this is seeming like a "go" right now...

There's a pace calculator that spits out the training program, too. Suh-weet!

FIRST Marathon Calculator » First Running Calculator

oh that's nice - thanks. running my first half marathon in 2 weeks. hey who needs sufficient training?

Frankly, I still wasn't feeling great about the rest of my taper plans for next Sunday's HM. I just plugged in recent bests into the FIRST calculator, and I think I'm gonna just go with that the rest of the way.

SUNDAY: 8 miles @ 8:05
MONDAY: Cross-Train or Rest (REST...It's my normal rest day.)
TUESDAY: 6x400 (400 RI) @ 6:29
WEDNESDAY: Cross-Train (I'm thinking 45-minute high-incline treadmill walking)
THURSDAY: 3 miles easy
FRIDAY: Cross-Train (Upper-body circuit training)
SATURDAY: Rest
SUNDAY: Race

Maybe it's because I've trained very similarly to this, just substituting "easy run" for cross-training days, but this feels more right for me than anything I've seen or come up with so far.

Ran a personal best half marathon this morning, which was fun. Didn't take a watch either--just kept picking out runners ahead and reeling them in. It was nice in that it broke the race up into three or four minute intervals.

Very encouraging run this evening for me: 8 miles @7:46 overall, average heart rate 154.

Run Profile | 8 Mile Run | Times and Records | Strava

The temperature was around 73 degrees, a good 10-15 higher than it's looking like it'll be next Sunday morning in Myrtle Beach. I'm thinking I might be able to pull off a 7:40 pace most of the way and then kick it in to finish under 1:40. I'd be utterly thrilled with that time, and pretty darned happy with 1:45, which at this point is seeming like it *should* be a lock unless something weird happens between now and then. But I'm also trying to keep perspective: I couldn't run for more than 60 seconds less than 10 months ago, I should probably be happy just to be able to finish this puppy.

Also, the bride and I have talked it over and training for my first marathon commences the week of October 28th, with a target of running the Charleston Marathon on January 18th, 2014. I'll set an "official" goal time once I see how I do next weekend in the half, but right now I'm thinking that shooting for an even 3:30 seems to make sense.

you're a beast Ben!

FM

I'm very excited about the HM on Sunday in Myrtle Beach. The weather forecast has been holding steady at 55-60 degrees. Perfect! The course is on a beachfront road, so I'm expecting some wind. As a complete racing n00b, I have a few questions:

1. Do I need to do anything beyond just upping my carbs a bit this week? Basically my plan is to swap out a little fat for carbs. Typically I'm somewhere around 35% carbs, 35% fat, 30% protein. I'm thinking I'll just replace some calories from walnuts and almonds with quinoa, short-grain brown rice, and sweet potatoes to get me up around 225-250 carbs per day this week.

2. Do I run my warmup out on the course, or go in some other direction?

3. I've read some references to starting based on expected times. Should I expect to be put somewhere based on my expected finish time?

4. In my head, I've planned to do a final lower body strength training workout today, but now I'm starting to question myself. Should I do it, or forego?

5. Any general tips for noobs or "I wish I would have known that..." type stuff from your first race anyone would want to share?

I think that's it for now. I'm feeling good about the taper plan the rest of the way (except maybe the aforementioned lower body strength workout,) and think I'll feel refreshed and ready to run on Sunday.

Your warmup can usually be wherever you want it to be: on the course, elsewhere, wherever's available.

Whether there's a formal starting position depends on how organized the race is. Most races are self-selecting and pretty impressionistic at that. If you are planning to run a 1:40+ half you would be fine to start about 1/3 or 1/2 of the way back from the starting line. If you start farther back you can spend the race passing people, which is part of the fun of being in a large race.

You have a long time between now and Sunday and you've been training extensively. A strength workout today sounds fine to me.

My biggest nutrition issue on race day is usually blood sugar. It's an intense issue for me--I thought for a long time that I couldn't handle distance running until I realized that the issue was really that my blood sugar was dipping into dangerous territory during long runs. I rely on those Gu packets, one about 15 minutes before starting the race, one about 30 min into the race, and one about 75 min into the race. For me, advance nutrition planning wouldn't alleviate this, but YMMV.

Stay hydrated but don't overdo it.

Let yourself get into the vibe of being part of race day.

Have fun!

I'm also following the FIRST training method, 3 key runs per week and some cross training (MTB for me).

There is a paid app for Iphone/Ipad with the pace calculator and different training plans.

As for my goal, i'm going to run my first half marathon in Madrid on April 27th with a goal of under 2 hours. Will be tough as i have been said it has some tough hills.

Clearly I need to just stfu when it comes to predicting what I will and won't do in the future...







5 years? Yeah, more like 5 months. *shurg*



:lol:

Ooh. Thanks for the heads-up. Purchased. Downloading right now.

Good info. Thanks!

The more experienced racers can correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think you want to start using the Gu now if you haven't trained with it already. I've read that using it the first time on race day can lead to some undesired digestive issues and you'll want to avoid that.

The race may have corrals set up with expected pace times. On both HM I've done, people don't use the correct corral and the beginning of races are a little annoying as you have to deal with people walking in front of you.

If the race is chip timed, I don't see a reason to start ahead. I wish I would have started my first race further back so I could have hit the start line running and not deal with the walkers in a congested space. The second race was pretty small and it didn't use chip time at all, just a gun time. On that race I wish I wouldn't have started so far back. It was ony like 10-15 seconds wait to take off but it seemed like an eternity at the time.

I've been using Gu gel on my longer runs, so I'm definitely planning on that. Per the FAQ for the race, it is chip timed. Good tip about hitting the starting line running. Makes sense.

My personal thoughts on race day is simply don't do anything new that you haven't already done in your training.

You have been training for months for this and are totally ready for it. On race day you will have extra adrenaline that will help improve your performance some but don't let it wreck your run. Even if you feel like superman at the start just stick to your plan, it is a long run.

As for the placement when you start, I have found it doesn't matter where you line up you have to wind your way through people at the start. It usually thins out after a quarter mile in most cases in my opinion.

Most importantly have fun and enjoy yourself. This is what you have worked for. Don't forget to enjoy the accomplishment

I guess to go further on my last comment to not do anything different, this also includes leading up to the race the day before and two days before. Everyone talks about carb loading but if you go overboard it can wreck you if your body is not used to it.

Try to get full nights of sleep the two nights leading up to the race, try to not eat late in the evenings especially if it is a morning race.

You have experience running long runs in the morning so I would just do the nutrition the way you have been doing those pre-run and during the run

Also got a race of my own coming up this Sunday, an 18k that'll be run on a 6k loop around a local lake. Went to the race site to test it out this past Sunday and I think it's a good thing I did. This is gonna be a hilly affair for sure! Over the two loops I did, about 12k, I had an elevation gain of 640 feet but the good thing is, since it's a loop and you always come back to your starting point, what goes up must come down. Kinda hard on the ankles but I'll try to make up for the slowdowns going up by pushing it while resting on the way down.

Here's a link to my Garmin workout from this past Sunday:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/390113554

kilometers 4 to 9 were done at about race pace and ended averaging out in pace at 4:48 per km (7:43 per mile). I'm shooting for something between 4:45 and 4:55 per km over the race which would give me a finish time between 1:25:00 and 1:30:00.

Weather forecasts are looking sometimes good, sometimes rainy as heck. Temps should be in the mid-40's, about perfect. About the rain, I honestly don't know what to think. I guess it would bother me more thinking about my fans coming to the race (wife, my two sons, my mother in law and possibly my parents) more than for me. I plan on running with a long sleeve technical shirt. Don't remember what the temps were last year but looking at pictures from the race's website, almost everybody had gloves, long sleeve pants/tights, jackets. Don't see myself running with a jacket...

did an easy 5.5 k this morning, 6k planned tomorrow with 4k at race pace and another easy 5 k for Thursday before taking a couple days off leading to race day...

FM

Went to the running store and got a pair of Brooks Adrenaline GTS 14! Can't wait to run in them tomorrow!

Couple of other thoughts...

-For a half marathon and longer, don't worry too much about warming up. You are going to be amped up, particularly considering it is going to be your first race. OK to get rid of some nervous energy, but more than that and you run the risk of using energy that you will need in the race. Warm ups diminish in importance as your race length increases.

-Along the same lines, you may have to force yourself to slow down a bit the first couple of miles. You will feel great and want to let it out. Resist. You want to let it out over the last 3-5 miles, not the first.

-Don't pin your race number on too high on your shirt/top.

-I advise taking water at most, if not every stop, even if it is only a single swallow with the rest being dumped out or poured on your head. If in traffic at all, wait until the middle or end of the water station (usually a couple of tables long) to grab a cup. Say thanks to the water station volunteers.

-Agree with the Alan T advice to smile and have fun. Give kids high fives.

-Wait until you are several steps past the finish line to stop your watch or phone. I know you are a data freak, but many a finish line photo has been ruined by a head down, frantic grasp to stop a watch at the line. A few seconds won't matter in your run tracker database and your official time is going to stop because of the chip.

Digamma, you reminded me of what one of my friends said on Sunday when we were talking at a race. She had run the Hartford marathon the day before and we were talking about warming up because the race organizer we were at had group yoga activities for people interested (I personally don't stretch before running, so we used that time to just chat).

Anyways, her comment about her warmup before the marathon was... "Warmup? That's what my first six miles were called" :)

I've been thinking about getting a Garmin. Good deal here?

Garmin Forerunner 310XT Waterproof Running GPS Watch

For that particular watch it is a good deal, probably $50 less than I usually see it. The 310 is the entry level multi sport watch, one that I have looked at because I also want a bike sensor and that watch supports it. It is not purely a running watch, but can be used for that.

Depending on what features you want, you may find a different running specific model for around the same price or maybe a little less depending on your luck. For that particular model I think it's a good price

OK. That was a poorly phrased question. Here's a better one: I would prefer one that would record my running and treadmill walking. I will probably start some cycling down the road. What's a good Garmin option for running, treadmill walking, and cycling? Also, I've read mention of using Polar with Garmin. Are you talking about just the strap, or the actual HRM and strap? (i.e. would I need to buy a Garmin wtih HRM since I already have a Polar BlueTooth HRM?)

from my understanding, the Polar HRM itself uses a proprietary device and wouldn't be recognized by the Garmin. When they're talking of using a Garmin with a Polar, it's the HRM unit of a garmin watch with a Polar soft strap.

I could definitely be wrong though...

FM

That's correct for me.

dola, to clarify/give more detail (I didn't see Ben had asked specifically), I already had a Garmin watch and the HRM that came with it. The heart rate monito stopped working/became very unreliable after just a few months, and some googling suggested that the strap for the Garmin HRM was shit, and that Polar straps are much better, and compatible with the Garmin HRM. So I bought a Polar strap and have been happy since then. So I have a Garmin watch, Garmin Heart Rate Montior, and a Polar strap, and it works just fine. I don't know about any other sort of combination as far as compatibility goes.

The one you linked would be a good option if you want to include cycling as well and plan on at some point including a bike cadence sensor. The pure running watches do not support those. If you don't care about a bike cadence sensor, you can simply use a running watch while riding a bike (which is what I do right now). If you have any desire to get into triathlon or duathlon brick type workouts (one workout split into run and bike segments), you should go with a watch like what you linked.


If all you want is a running watch, the 310 would work fine for that too, but it is a little bigger of a size on the arm that bothers some runners (especially smaller runners). For the features you want.. you need a foot pod to record treadmill walking steps (or an accelerometer, even though those seem to be less accurate), and you want a HRM. So that means you would need at least a Garmin 210 or 220 level watch for both of those. The 220 just was announced and is not out until later this month though.

Regarding the HRM compatibility, that is correct, you can not use a Polar HRM with a Garmin watch. The strap part is fine, but you need the actual Garmin HRM chip piece to communicate with the watch.

So the end decision is probably on which is more important to you:

Including Bike hardware capabilities - go with the 310
Having a smaller watch that is pure running - go with the 210 or 220
Whichever is cheaper - Then either would be fine, just shop for best price between them.

So then....

The 310 is 170 right now. Looks like the HRM is ~60 and the footpod is ~50 (bottom of the page I linked.) That's $280. The 210 with HRM and footpod is $300 both at the HRMUSA site and at Amazon.

Garmin Forerunner 210 Club Bundle (with Foot Pod and Premium Heart Rate) with $25. REBATE!

Amazon.com: Garmin Forerunner 210 GPS-Enabled Sport Watch with Heart Rate Monitor and Foot Pod: GPS & Navigation

I'm not a small guy. Is there *any* reason you can think of that I wouldn't pull the trigger on the 310 at that price immediately?

Well, there are always reasons why you may want something else :) The 310 is a good watch I hear (I don't have one myself but it always gets good reviews), so you won't get a piece of junk. If you want to be absolutely sure, check this very in depth review of the 310 before you pull the trigger. At the end, it also has a list of pros and cons as well as comparison to other watches. Just keep in mind this is a multi-sport watch, not a pure running watch. Which may be good or bad for you. You definitely can use it for running only though.

Garmin Forerunner 310XT In Depth Review | DC Rainmaker

Only reason why I personally would not necessarily pull the trigger on a watch today is because the new generation of watches come out later this month. If you want it for your HM though, then you can't wait for that though.

Heh. Missed this. They have it for 190 WITH the HRM:

Forerunner 310XT GPS Personal Trainer w/ Premium Strap: HeartRateMonitorsUSA.com

Dola:

To compare to the 210 which is the other watch you are looking at there price wise:

Garmin Forerunner 210 In Depth Review | DC Rainmaker

And his exact comments on the 310 vs the 210:

I use a bike specific unit when cycling, but was bought this watch for a birthday present for my runs. It does what I need really well: easy to read at a glance, customisable, instant mile by mile times, and although it is a little large, when running I don't notice it either in regards to size or weight. The only thing that i do find difficult due to the size is if I'm running in long sleeves, it's difficult to stretch the top over the watch

Having a bike specific unit, i personally wouldn't and don't use the 310 for cycling: the maps display is limited on the watch, I like being able to glance down at a unit fixed to the handlbars and i do better with a cadence monitor on a bike, which i don't think the watch allows for

but if you got a mount for the frame and were OK with a slightly more basic bike usage, as far as data recording, HRM, etc it'd work OK

I personally was thinking about just getting an Edge 810 for my bike maybe next year after the winter thaws. Right now I use my 210 to track my time/HRM on the bike, and use an iphone for my bike maps. The 810 seems to be the best of both worlds on the bike. From a running standpoint I am totally fine with the 210 how it is and probably not going to bother upgrading to the new 220 when it comes out. My wife wants to upgrade from her FR10 to the 220 though because she wants a HRM.

...and when in doubt, check Craigslist.

Some burnout had a 310XT up on there. I emailed and just met him. No charger. No manual. No box. And it was fairly clear that he had no idea how to use it. There were only two workouts recorded on it, both from 2011. The user data said the user was 55 years old, 6'3", 235 pounds. This dude was about 25 maybe 5'7", 140 (and not a "fit" 135...think "druggie".) When I finally pressed him, he said it belonged to an old roommate who moved out and left it in a drawer. I tend to doubt this dude had a 55-year-old roomie, but whatever. Anyway, long story short, over the course of talking to him for 20 minutes and doing a few test short runs, dude talked way too much. At one point he offered up "duuuuude...I'd forgotten about making that post. I hadn't heard anything from it!" When all was said and done, this ol' J.R. Ewing wannabe got him a 310XT for $25. :D

Now I just need to figure out if I actually need the ANT+ stick, since I believe this one can sync wirelessly. I might just be able to get the HRM/footpod/charger.

well, change of course announced as of this morning. No clear picture of what the race course will be but because of some road construction that are running late, this will not be run as a loop around the lake but as a 6km back-and-forth stretch on the North side of the lake. I don't like that as much to be quite honest. To make it 6km back and forth, this means a stretch of 3 km going one way and since my race distance is 18km, I will be doing it 3 times, so a lot of running on always the same road. I never do that kind of running because I find it boring. Now I'll have to do it in a hill so the race now becomes a long hill workout, heh...

FM

Good luck Ben and FM on your races this weekend (and anyone else racing )

Not a race but the first time I'll be attempting a 4 mile run will be sometime Saturday between a youth football game and a dinner mystery party.

Ouch. Kind of a bummer there. Good luck!

Did my last pre-race run this morning and it felt good. It has gotten a little warmer and muggier here lately: around 70 with 98% humidity. It's supposed to be around 60 in Myrtle Beach on Sunday morning, so I'm hoping that will work to my advantage. I don't know for sure, but based on training so far, it seems like around 60 is the optimal temperature for me.

Based on studies from Jack Daniels, 60 degrees heat index is roughly the temperature where your body starts having to do more work to keep itself cool from the outside heat. Obviously this is complicated if people wear warmer clothes to run in also, but around 60 degrees is where your body is not having to exert extra effort to cool itself (effort that you otherwise could put to increasing your pace). For a half marathon distance, the difference between 60 degrees and 70 degrees could be several minutes of performance.

Other studies have gone to show that temperature could go a bit further below 60 degrees to continue helping improve performance, some down in the low 50s even, but I think at some point it seems to depend somewhat on other conditions (such as different people handling it differently) though. The studies also show that some of the effect of warmer temperature is a mental effect of fatigue more than a physical one as well though.

Heh. Interesting. We had a morning or two here in the mid-50s, and that's where this South Georgia boy livin' in the South Carolina Lowcountry starts feeling a little chilly/uncomfortable. ;) Once I get running, it's possible that mid 50s could be better, but as far as my own personal comfort, right around 60 has felt perfect. So I tend to like this forecast:

	Saturday Night Partly cloudy. Low of 59F. Winds from the West at 5 to 10 mph.
	Sunday Partly cloudy with a chance of rain. High of 68F. Winds from the NNE at 5 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 20%. » ZIP Code Detail

The race starts at 7am, so it sounds like I should expect it to be right in that range. It might feel a hair on the cool side because of wind.

I can relate a little bit. Keeping in mind I'm a Georgia boy livin in New England now :) I actually found that once I got running 1-2 miles now my body heats up enough that it is honestly not too bad. The only part that really just stays uncomfortably cold for me is my hands. I have various pairs of running gloves because I hate my hands feeling cold.

My legs and body all start sweating once I get going. Occasionally I'll have an issue if I sweat too much and it is cold out that it will cause me to get chills though if it is windy. In that case a running windbreaker helps me.

Ha. Yeah, I hate cold hands. I experienced that exactly once this winter before buying gloves.