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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

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Comments

  • Everybody keeps telling me how much they really enjoy running. I think it's a cult. I'm onto your Scientology ways.
  • muppet said:

    Everybody keeps telling me how much they really enjoy running. I think it's a cult. I'm onto your Scientology ways.

    Heh.. Biking is still my preferred activity. I enjoy traveling far, fast. I enjoy maneuvering and mountain biking.

    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. ;^)
  • Although I've been told that my exercise induced asthma would probably be improved by running after I'd built up the necessary stamina, that up front cost is a bitch. One of these days I'll probably do it only because so many of my friends and peers are getting into it. I have such a sedentary job that I've got to do SOMETHING like this.
  • Cool. I run 5km a few times a week, and for me that's a good balance of good exercise and time spent. 5km per day, I think, would be a bit too much time per week, and I'd be worried about the health benefits not balancing. Too much running might put a strain on your knees and not offset the health gains in general fitness.

    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?
  • Yeah I'd worry about the shock and wear on your joints and so on. It doesn't seem as though the 5K per day thing is intended to last forever, though, just a "Shit, what can I actually do?" sort of a thing. That's cool.
  • Sadly, I'm not tracking them except when I run outside. I use the Nike running app, and it auto-tracks all my stats. Tonight I'll note my time.

    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.
  • The big test will be the next time I boulder. Will I still run the 5k after it?
  • Didn't you just tweet how it's cold and that's shitty? Isn't running in the cold really unpleasant too, even if you might enjoy it otherwise.
  • Apsup said:

    Didn't you just tweet how it's cold and that's shitty? Isn't running in the cold really unpleasant too, even if you might enjoy it otherwise.

    There's a full gym in my apartment building, and also one at the rock gym we frequent a few blocks away. Treadmills if it's cold or shitty.

  • You could always move to the Bay Area. ;)

    Well, the weather's good here, but the public transit is crap and much of the area is an endless suburban hellscape.
  • You could always move to the Bay Area. ;)

    He's not that rich.

  • You could always move to the Bay Area. ;)

    He's not that rich.

    I would be if I moved there. =P
  • edited February 2015
    I love running, but I have no desire to run in the city. When I lived in a college town with lots of low traffic roads and vistas of wildlife it was incredibly relaxing. It was the same when I was growing up and living in a quiet neighborhood. I don't see anything relaxing about running around my neighborhood even though there are a lot of people who do it. I have to dodge traffic just walking home from work. So I usually just bike or go run on a treadmill and watch TV.
    Post edited by MATATAT on
  • Running is something that I used to hate when I was younger, but ever since I ran a 5K a couple years ago I have gotten really into it. I tried to do the long distance thing a few times a week, but I find that I'm much better at doing interval training most of the time and then doing a race once a month.
  • Ah. You are counting treadmill running as real running.

    Also, why the fuck are you tracking your speed over 5km in miles per hour? Seriously, work on your pace, not on your speed.
  • muppet said:

    Yeah I'd worry about the shock and wear on your joints and so on.

    Cool. I run 5km a few times a week, and for me that's a good balance of good exercise and time spent. 5km per day, I think, would be a bit too much time per week, and I'd be worried about the health benefits not balancing. Too much running might put a strain on your knees and not offset the health gains in general fitness.

    Of course, everybody has a different body and predisposition to injury, but in the grand scheme of things 3 miles a day is like nothing. If you're a fit adult you can handle it no problem.

    And Luke, it's only like 20 minutes a day ^_~
  • Ah. You are counting treadmill running as real running.

    But, to be fair, I hate every second of it. I can't express to you how much I dislike running on treadmills. As soon as it's warm enough (next week hopefully) I'm getting outside.

    Also, why the fuck are you tracking your speed over 5km in miles per hour? Seriously, work on your pace, not on your speed.

    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.

  • Treadmill running is really weird and I've never quite gotten used to it. I often find I'm somewhat bad at it because occasionally I'll subconsciously speed up or slow down and it doesn't work when you have a fixed speed movement platform.
  • My point is WHY ARE YOU USING MILES PER HOUR when talking about RUNNING 5 KILOMETERS per day??!?!?!

    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.
  • My point is WHY ARE YOU USING MILES PER HOUR when talking about RUNNING 5 KILOMETERS per day??!?!?!

    Because I'm American and that's how we roll?

    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.

  • AmpAmp
    edited February 2015
    Running is one of the few times Im glad I live out in the sticks. Running through fields and tracks is so much better then pounding along on tarmac or concert. Does anyone else notice the difference or is it just me? Also hills, towns and cities really miss out on them.

    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.
    Post edited by Amp on
  • Personally, I only think of running in terms of my current speed and how it feels to be running at that speed.

    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.
  • Is your end goal speed or distance?
  • lol. The wikipedia page on walking speed pointedly uses both km/h and mph for every number.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preferred_walking_speed
  • Amp said:

    Is your end goal speed or distance?

    My end goal is a number of days I did this.

    I run purely for pleasure.

  • The 5k a day? Not long it'll shag your knees out something bad. I'd swap it to KM over the week, gives you some rest days otherwise you end up walking like an old man who's crapped himself.
  • The real question is whether Rym is one of those Vibram wearing yahoos.
  • I think we all know the answer to that question.
  • MATATAT said:

    The real question is whether Rym is one of those Vibram wearing yahoos.

    I run short runs (1-3 miles) in vibrams pretty regularly. But long distance or heavy running over multiple days? Nike Frees.

    Merrill Trailrunners for woods running.

  • I just looked at the first google result for "tracking running times":

    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.
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