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Running
I took up running at RIT. It was too cold to bike (if I'd even had my bike with me at the time), and I wanted to stay in shape (for biking).
I hated running. I hated every minute I spent running. But every morning, I'd trudge through the cold and snow to the campus gym and run silent laps in the tiny 1/8th mile two-lane track suspended in the cold air over the basketball courts. Then, poor and bored living in Poughquag, I'd just run along the highways for hours at a time, both for exercise and just to pass the endless empty time.
Somehow I began to enjoy running.
Some of you know that many months ago I began an experiment. I resolved to run, rather than walk, everywhere. The only limitations were:
1. If I was with other people
2. If I had a good reason not to (crowded sidewalk, fancy dress, pouring rain, carrying shit, etc...)
I've kept it up for a long while up to this point.
Two days ago, I began something new. I'm going to attempt to run a 5k every single day no matter what is going on in my life. I've run two so far, and this evening I will run a third.
I've resolved to attempt to keep this streak going for as long as possible for no particular reason
I hated running. I hated every minute I spent running. But every morning, I'd trudge through the cold and snow to the campus gym and run silent laps in the tiny 1/8th mile two-lane track suspended in the cold air over the basketball courts. Then, poor and bored living in Poughquag, I'd just run along the highways for hours at a time, both for exercise and just to pass the endless empty time.
Somehow I began to enjoy running.
Some of you know that many months ago I began an experiment. I resolved to run, rather than walk, everywhere. The only limitations were:
1. If I was with other people
2. If I had a good reason not to (crowded sidewalk, fancy dress, pouring rain, carrying shit, etc...)
I've kept it up for a long while up to this point.
Two days ago, I began something new. I'm going to attempt to run a 5k every single day no matter what is going on in my life. I've run two so far, and this evening I will run a third.
I've resolved to attempt to keep this streak going for as long as possible for no particular reason
Comments
But biking is not nearly as physically demanding per hour as running. What I've found as I become more and more of a serious runner is that I feel extremely strong, sure-footed, and generally capable in day-to-day life. Couple that with bouldering every few days, and I feel invincible. ;^)
I use Runtastic to measure and track my runs. Are you going to use an app or service, and if so, where can we follow along?
This year I'm trying to keep up a streak, but for juggling. Can I juggle every day in 2015?
My typical regimen prior to this was running 5-10k every 2-4 days, so it's not actually that much of a change. I'm slowing my pace to a steady 7mph rather than my race pace of 8.5-9.5mph.
I mostly want to see if I can force myself to run even when I'm tired, sick, busy, etc... And it has to be a long enough run to be both worth the effort AND at least in some small way a burden.
If my knees give me grief, this ends immediately. Part of the reason I chose 5k is simply that my knees start to act up around the 8k mark, and rarely trouble me before that point. Keeping myself under that threshold and seeing if it holds.
Well, the weather's good here, but the public transit is crap and much of the area is an endless suburban hellscape.
Also, why the fuck are you tracking your speed over 5km in miles per hour? Seriously, work on your pace, not on your speed.
And Luke, it's only like 20 minutes a day ^_~
Normally, I run a course outside. My goal isn't a time or a distance: it's an average speed over a given time. I decide, say, "I'm going to run for an hour" and then I either run at a set speed for that hour or run as fast as I can and see what my average speed ended up being at the end.
So, 8mph for 45 minutes is what I would decide to run. No care for how far that is. I only recently started thinking about "5k," and that's just because Emily and I have started running in competitive races.
For the purposes of communication, saying "I run an average speed of 8 mph for 5km" is just awful. How much conversion are you doing in your own head, and how can it be helpful?
Say "My 5 km pace is 5:38 per km."
Or say "My 5km time is 28:32."
That's it. Those are your two options. Forever leave behind miles per hour. Leave behind kilometers per hour. At human running speeds, those are almost completely useless for tracking progress and even worse for communication.
Everything. EVERYTHING. Is expressed in miles and mph.
Everything except footraces, which are expressed in kilometers.
But most runners think in terms of either their pace or their speed. Running apps all default to mph and show miles, not kilometers, DESPITE independently tracking your "5k" time.
A lot of runners I know actually do say "3 miles" when they mean a 5k.
We still use Fahrenheit. We still use gallons. Yet, we also use litres (when referencing soda in the 2L format, but NOT when referencing a 20oz bottle or 12oz can).
Stores have "1L" bottles of orange juice next to "1/2 gallon" jugs of milk.
That's how America rolls. And I honestly don't think it will change in my lifetime.
I've been rather lax of recent so only hitting 5 miles a week hopefully going to get it back up to 15 then work on the next mile stone. Would love to aim for ultra marathons by the summer.
6mph is a slow jog.
7mph is a comfortable long distance (5+ miles) speed.
8mph is a comfortable 20-60 minute speed.
9mph is a speed interval.
11mph is a sprint.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preferred_walking_speed
I run purely for pleasure.
Merrill Trailrunners for woods running.
11 Tracking Apps for Runners
Of the screenshots of those apps, not a single one displays speed. All of them display pace. Some have pace as time per mile, some as time per kilometer. I don't mind miles, if you want to roll with that.
My point is that tracking running progress or performance by speed is really, really dumb. Especially if you are running under for under an hour, and yet communicating speed in miles per hour. As you stated above, as granular as you can get without going into sub-mile (mile being the single changing base unit) is five different paces. That's it.
And then, what is 5.5 miles per hour? Are you then going to miles and feet per hour? Miles and yards? You are now doing a decimal of miles. That is what kilometers were made for, to make the units elegantly divisible.
When tracking the speed of cars, kmph or mph makes sense, because at car speed the granularity of whole miles is good enough. From 5 to 70 miles per hour, the range of typical speed limits, has enough discreet non-decimal steps to be useful AND accurate.
When tracking pace, the divisions of the changing unit is much simpler: seconds. 5:32 minutes per kilometer, or 7:34 per mile. This is obviously the correct way to do it. Stick with miles, sure, but track pace, not speed.