Running with headphones - yes or no?

Do you run with music?  A while ago I was tooling around on the web and found this post which I read and sort of ignored until I thought about it some more.  Since then I've been doing more and more runs sans music and it's been an interesting experience.  Today was the first day I didn't even bother bringing my headphones along.  Here's what I think:

• I feel much less pressure to keep looking for new music for running.  That playlist doesn't get nearly as old when I only hear it once a week.
• I like that I can hear the sounds of my feet on the pavement.  It's my own rhythm.
• Without music is much closer to how I run in races, since I'm normally with a pace group so it's good to practice that way.
• Such a better plan for running in the dark.
• I run faster up hills.  There's no music to provide a rhythm or pace and I just want this crap over with.
• I like runners who also do not have earbuds because they always smile and say hi as they run by and leave me in the dust.
• I never have any plans to stop listening to music for any workouts at the gym including track workouts, treadmill or the elliptical.  You can pry my iPod from my cold dead hands.

How I've done it so far:
One day I went out for a run and it was going to be dark when I left so I was all "I'll take my earbuds with me and put them in when the sun comes up or at XX point along the course.  Read more here.  I did that for a couple runs here and then for my 20-miler I kept my earbuds out the whole time I was running in the dark without a sidewalk.  More on that foolishness here.  For other runs in Cincinnati, I did one with music because I was totally unmotivated and wouldn't have left the house without the extra incentive.  The other run was totally without music although I had the earbuds with me as a safety net.  Today I just left them at home for my four miler.

Future plans:
I have no idea if I'll keep this up forever, or even go totally music free on some of my longer runs.  20 miles is a long way without some music to distract me.  For now it's nice in the mornings to feel like I have the energy to run without the boost from the earbuds.  I will probably still post what running tunes I'm using now, even if I don't use them as often as before.

Long Run Friday - 20 Miles Cincinnati Style

For my final 20 miler before Marathon Sunday, I ran up and down big hills in Cincinnati.  Because that's how life is.  For a recap of past years final 20-milers, don't look for 2009 because it was so bad I didn't even write about it, here's 2010 with a bonus musical post and here's 2011. 

Weather - through a strange set of circumstances, this was the only day on the whole trip I could even get in a run this long, so I was stuck with whatever happened weather wise.  It wasn't super hot, in the 60s and 70s, but the humidity was impressive.  Around 90% when I walked out the door this morning.

Sidewalks - I feel like I never have to ask in Minneapolis or St Paul, "are there sidewalks on that street"?  It's an important consideration here, and even more relevant  because my reflective gear is at home.  (I'd planned to be doing this on a bike trail.)  So there I was on Victory Parkway going "wtf?" when there was no sidewalk in sight for about a mile. 

Hills - I'd originally had this slated as 22, but with the Cincinnati sized hills, I decided it could just be a simple 20.  That took me long enough as it was.  I went up a big hill on Victory Parkway between miles 6 and 8; down the big hill all the way into downtown and to the river from miles 8 to 11; and then all the way back up all the elevation I'd lost from miles 16 to 19.  I ran mile 16 and ran/walked from there to the top.  The last mile was literally all down hill which was great.

The route - my parents didn't want me to go out to the bike trail early.  For some reason they thought running through Norwood in the dark would be safer.  I picked this route at the last minute.  Other than Victory Parkway having no sidewalks it was a pretty good choice.  I'd run parts of this route for the Flying Pig but most of it was brand new.  Compared to where I normally run, there were so many stop lights. 

Nutrition and hydration - I think the salt sticks are working great.  I had a ton of them becuase it was so humid out.  I also ate a 'big' breakfast before I left of yogurt, banana and granola.  I took a gu every 4 miles (which I've been told is a lot, like every 50 minutes) and 2 gus at mile 12.  (I barely got down the gu at mile 16 without gagging.)  I had a total freak out about running out of water so I filled my bladder again around mile 15 (and barely drank any of that stuff).

Timing - I ran this route in about 4:40 (which I know is slow) but there is a nature break in that time, time for getting lost and what I think is a lot of time for stop lights.  I'm not sure how I feel about this time.  I mean, at mile 3.5 I was already at 48 minutes which is ridiculous.  Who knows what I actually did.  Here's what Nike thinks, but they also think this was 24 miles which is crap.

Music - The transition to running without music has been so much less painful than I ever would have expected.  I had my tunes with me but kept the earbuds out until about mile 7.  I wanted to have no music for anything in the dark and anything without sidewalks.  Once I started going up hill I wanted something to distract me.  I'm pretty sure I took the earbuds out in one other place along the run but I can't remember now.

Other stuff -

• Running downtown was a blast but I think the novelty would wear off if I had to do it again.
• The "Ohio River Bike Trail" is not complete.  That's how I got lost.
• What's up with all those water fountains not being turned on?  Rude.
• So much fun to be in Eden Park and running into downtown.  Gorgeous.
• The river was amazing.  It looked high to me but I know it's not.  (Who can say drought?)
• I should find a new route for every 20-miler I do to make them less awful.
• No ice bath but I did stretch a lot and kept moving throughout the day, especially when I made dinner for all those people.
• I found myself not caring about this run which was mostly hormonal (awesome) but about two hours later was all "oh awesome, now I get to taper"
• Still trying to decide on which shoes to wear on Marathon Sunday.  The ones today are slightly more shoe but I also had a big blood spot on one sock when I took them off.

Friday Long Run - Ft Snelling

This is my last long run before my weekend of racing.  It was not confidence inspiring.  Sigh.

Things that went not so well:

• My pace: I don't know what I expected, but I was disappointed.  I ran the first couple miles (don't ask how I "ran" a 12:56 mile), then went into running 4:00, walking 1:00.  And I ran the long downhill and steep uphill at Ft Snelling.  Perhaps I shoudl've paused the run when I went to the bathroom in mile 8?  That really effed up my average pace.
• Trying a long run without Immodium.  No more "I'll probably be fine".  Just take the pill like a good girl.  Good news: I did not poop my pants.
• That arm strap for my iPhone.  The strap got all sweaty and I hate that my phone is without its case.  If I take it out to snap a photo I have to be super careful.
• Heat.  Remember, it was 30* last week for the 55* today really freaked my body out.  You'd think my pasty white skin would've reflected all that sunlight but apparently not.

Things that went well:

• Bodyglide: I forgot that on my last long run.  I usually only forget it once a year.
• The arm strap for my iPhone:  I liked that I could feel the phone vibrating when it's strapped to my arm.  I can't feel it in my pocket or in a race belt.  Relevant because I was using the interval timer app like I will on race day and I liked I could feel it without having to have earphones in.
• The route: In honor of my upcoming races I actually needed to practice running both up and down hill.  And this route is my favorite of all time.
• Breakfast - I had muselli in almond milk with a banana and chia seeds.  It was like rocket fuel.  I made myself take a gu at mile four but I didn't want to because I was still full.  I had to, there's not another good place for a long time.  I took another Gu at mile nine but it just made me want to pule.  See above about the heat.
• Running without music - it's my new thing now.  I almost never run with music outside any more.  The track and treadmill other different cases.  Outside I just listen to nature and the sound of my own awesomeness feet.
• Up big hills - you know I ran all the way up the sucker.  I'm now taking the Running Beth approach read: Mountain Goat of go up as fast as possible to get it over with.

Global Running Day: Would you rather?

I'm reading some of my favorite blogs and they're all asking the same questions for Global Running Day.  And I'm all, do you know me? 

Run with no socks or no sports bra?  I do actually run without socks from time to time.  Though this is not well known.

Run a mile naked or in a snow suit? Here's the first "do you know me?"
Run in the freezing cold or in the sweltering heat? And the second, "do you know me?"
Run on an empty stomach or full bladder? I do run on an empty stomach for most of my runs.  This is also not well known.  All of my runs in the morning are fasted, except long runs which usually get half a salted avocado before heading out.
Run uphill or into a headwind?  Uphill.  Headwinds never end.
Run without music or without a GPS watch? I do run without music when I'm outside.
Skip deodorant or Body Glide?  You chafe less than you'd think in a snow suit.

Run as much as you want on the treadmill or only once/week outside? I didn't get this question at first.  I think it's asking would you tolerate running on a treadmill, or would you hold off running unless you could go outside.  And honestly, if the blizzard didn't stop me, what conditions would force me inside so frequently?
Run a beer mile or a color run?  Neither?

Run a trail or the road? I love them both so hard.  I run significantly more miles on the road though.
Run an out and back or a loop? I do both.  Whatever I'm in the mood that day, and somewhat determined by where I am able to run as well.
Eat a slice of pizza mid-race or drink a milkshake?  Here's another random "do you know me?" because I hate pizza.

Run in the rain or snow?  I've done at least one long run and some of my best races in the rain.  I'd pick rain in general, the footing is a bit easier to work with than snow.

Beer or chocolate milk at the finish line?  The final "do you know me?"

Running Music - And Where to Find It

In running, there seem to be those who cannot move without music blasting in their ears and those who do not understand.   If you run frequently, those five songs with a good beat can get old quick.  Where to find more music?   (My current answer is "Zumba Class" which may be the opposite of helpful.)  Here's some better suggestions:

InTheGym is my favorite place to get new music.  They do a great job of having all kinds of different genres and gearing it to different sports or workout goals as well.  The site isn't updated frequently or with great regularity which makes me sad.  I keep them in my RSS feeds and I always smile when a new playlist is out. 
 
Pandora is my second favorite, and has several exercise stations.  They're not exactly easy to find on the website.  If you're like me and can't remember where this awesomeness is hidden, do this: Click "New Station" (next to the search bar on the left), and when the menu comes down click "browse genres", then click "workout".  There's several different genres and some divided by sports and activities like dancing.  My favorite is the Latin Workout station, although I've never been in a position to listen to it on a run.  Those of you with a smartphone and unlimited data, let me know what you think.  

GymDJ lists individual songs and has 30-60 minute mixes, again divided by sport and genre.  The mixes tend to be free for download, while some of the individual songs seem to be 30 second samples (to comply with copyright laws I think?).  I haven't been on this site too long.  The RSS feeds are updated regularly and seem to work right (which is a bigger deal than you'd think).  I've never run with a mix but I understand they're quite appealing because there's no song skipping or silence.

JogTunes is a search engine where you can search by genre, artist, who the tempo of the song, or sport.  I'm not clear on how specifically songs wind up in their search engine (would a FAQ be too much?) but they seem to have many genres and a health dose of indie artists.

RunHundred is also new to me but I haven't been wowed so far.  They also reliably update the site with new music.  Sadly, it's all 30 second samples.  The site also doesn't share the "100 list" without providing your email and more information than I want to share, so I can only see the daily song updates.  The constant pop-ups and advertisements on the site are what really does me in.  Somebody with better ad blocking software (or patience) might really enjoy this site. 

Spotify - Can someone please explain this site to me?  (Do I still need someone to invite me?)  I can't say for sure, but have heard it's an excellent place to find new music.  Let me know.

BeeMp3 is just an Mp3 search engine.  It will not help you find new music.  But if you find a great song on one of these other sites and have trouble finding it for download or purchase, there's a good chance it will be here.  I have a don't ask don't judge policy on using this website.

Taper: Elliptical

Suddenly I hate music while exercising?  That can't be right.

I have the day off work for Yom Kippur.  To those of you who observe, I hope you are having an easy fast.  But for me that meant one thing: sleep in!  I finally drug myself out of bed and hit the gym a little after 9am.  The parking lot was crazy busy but the fitness floor was fine.  I don't know where everyone was.

I got on the elliptical and was all "oh, my old friend" like I really missed working out on the elliptical since I haven't been doing it much recently.  Yeah, that lasted about two minutes.  Then I was all "this is so boring, no wonder I haven't done this in a while".  WTF?  That's unusual becuase I typically like the elliptical.  I started to put in some tunes because as previously mentioned running without music is not the same as the elliptical without music.  I don't know what was my issue though because I hated almost every song that came on.  Apparently I was tired and cranky.  The 'fitness' part of the workout was fine, not too hard and not too easy.  Afterwards I was careful to stretch and foam roller to facilitate recovery.  I'm tapering. 

Walking a cool down lap on the track

I came home and had breakfast.  Followed by a nap.  I think I was a cat in a previous life because laying on the couch and napping is one of my favorite things to do.  Ever.  Shortly after the nap I went on a cleaning jag.  I understand that does not equal the suffering of fasting for 24 hours, but it was impressive for me to get that much cleaning done in one afternoon.  I am now back on the couch where I belong cuing up for my second nap of the day.  I may or may not have dinner plans afterwards. 

12 Miles, 36*. What could possibly go wrong?

7:30am when my alarm clock went off, might as well have been 5:30am.  Why is it so early? I had 12 miles on the plan today.  It was 36* when I checked.  What do I wear for this?  I kept having this internal conversation of, seriously - it will be warm when you're running.  I wound up in wool socks, a light pair of pants, t shirt and long sleeve shirt.  It was warm when I was running in the sun but pleasantly so and not like I was going to pass out.

745 - out the door.  I was doing a Ft Snelling run, made slightly longer by taking "long cuts" and adding some stuff at the end.  I brought my headphones along but started with not listening to them.  This is also only the second run this year where I wore a fuel belt instead of my Cambelbak bag which meant I could take both gatorade and water along.

Miles 1, 2 and 3 Oh seriously!  Already?  This is what happens.  I wake up, I go through the normal getting ready routine, I think I'm good.  Then a mile from my house, just starting into the run I have to poo.  Awesome.  I prayed for peace with the Minneapolis Park Board who maintains facilities over parts of my route.  The facilities are always hit and miss, sometimes being clean and well stocked.  Sometimes they're not well stocked or the door is locked or the thing is turned so you can't open the door or any other kind of nonsense imaginable.  Today was fine.

Minnehaha Falls and the park Per tradition, I was running by Minnehaha Falls as the Women Run the Cities race was starting.  That explains all the cars and the people.  Their race goes from the falls north up the river so we were never really in each others way.  One of the cyclists told me I was running the wrong direction but I knew he was joking and thought it was funny.  Usually this race is the week before Twin Cities, this year its two weeks out because "the first Sunday in October" is falling as late as mathematically possible this year.

Ft Snelling State Park - Down  I love this part of the run.  There was a tree blocking part of the path, it must've fallen recently.  Nothing nearly as dramatic as the time I climbed that fence during a 20-miler.  I took some Gu, had some Gatorade and generally enjoyed myself.  Did I mention the weather was gorgeous, despite the chill in the air.

Ft Snelling State Park - The Hill I took the hill without music today, possibly for the first time ever.  I was all "you'll go faster if there's no music to distract you" and I was right.  The hill is really broken into two segments - the looooong painful steep part and the little steep part at the end known as the finisher.  There's about 200' of flat in between the two parts.  Usually I run up the big part, catch my breath on the flat and run up at least half of the finisher before needing to catch my breath again.  Today, a pick up truck was on the trail coming at me as I started up the finisher.  Good, I needed another walking break.  Let me just get out of your way and stand over here.  WTF?

Ft Snelling State Park - Top side  The view along the river was tremendous as usual.  I can't tell if I'm seeing fall colors or if the trees are just burned out this year because of the drought.  I'll take a closer look and let you know when I go back next week for my 10-miler.  Still no music.  Also, the river is down.  Wow.

Minnehaha Falls - part 2.  As I mentioned I had a long sleeve shirt on.  It was bright green and kind of hard to miss.  So I was astonished when not one but two people on two separate occasions heard me coming, turned and looked at me, turned back around, stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and were startled when I almost ran into them and wanted to pass them.  I'm in bright green.  How do you not see me?  Also, how do you look at me and then forget I'm coming?  One was a racer who'd finished so she's mildly excused. 

The parkway again - I ran on the side of the road opposite where I'll be for Marathon Sunday just because for these last two weeks I try to stay off the course as much as I can.  It's a mental game.  I had gatorade and a gu and then was all "why do I feel like I just poured acid down my stomach?"  Probably important to remember that for the marathon. 

Back into the neighborhood Running Beth says I live in hill country.  While anything outside of Austin, Cincinnati and San Fransisco can't rightly be considered 'hill country' for running purposes, there are some rollers on the way back to my house that hurt more at mile 11 then they would at mile 3.  I started thinking I just want to stop and cry.  I'll never make it through a marathon if this is how I feel at mile 11.5  That was followed by the voice of reason Calm down, this is normally when you'd take water and another gu and you're not doing that so just live with the pain.  It's almost done.

Running around the block a few extra times I knew this route, long cuts and all, was still only 11.5 or so and I needed 12 miles so when I got close to my house, I ran around the block a few extra times for what I thought would equal another .5 miles for an even 12.  I have become one of those runners who runs around the block so their Garmin shows an even number at the end of the run.  I don't even own a Garmin.  (Side note - now you know what to get me for Christmas.)  I was highly encouraged when I stopped the clock at 2:30, including a poo break and that hill at Ft Snelling, that's must faster than I thought I went.  May be fairer to say that's much faster than I thought I was going at mile 11.5 when I just wanted to stop and cry.  This may be one of the more accurate readings my Nike+ thing has ever taken, it's off by about .4 miles.  Given how wrong the thing normally is, that's excellent.

Another great thing about running when it's in the 30s and 40s: no guilt about skipping the ice bath.  My arms and legs were freezing already and my skin was all red.  After the run I had a power smoothie of oats and nuts (put in the blender and grind first, then add the rest), banana, two kiwi, a plum, yogurt and chia seeds.  Apparently I have a "breakfast" date at 1pm. 

Long Run Saturday - The good, the hot, and the ugly

It's been a rough week; a rough couple weeks actually.  I can always tell my mental health is taking a turn south when I can't get up to run, I stop keeping food in the house and all I eat is crap.  So yeah, it's been rough.  I actually had what I'm calling a long workout this week, 6 mile track workout followed by 4 mile elliptical workout in no air conditioning that almost killed me.  You think I jest.

I was still 10-12 miles short on my goal mileage for the week, and I knew I needed to get in a run today.  Originally I'd planned to run before Zumba.  Alas, the 3 alarm trick didn't work today.  I went back to sleep, woke up and made breakfast, skipped Zumba entirely.  Then it was a morning and afternoon of mental negotiations to get my ass off the couch.  It was such a pretty day I didn't want to be at the gym but such a hot day I couldn't really see a long run.  Eventually I was all "do the 12 mile course, and after a couple miles just start doing intervals".  I picked a course I liked, and one that does have some shade.

It was an interesting run.  I can't tell if I'm happy with the way it turned out or not.  My brain refused to leave without music.  My playlist had tons of Pitbull which made both my brain and my feet happy.  I didn't have any firm time goals, even thinking I'd do intervals 'most of the way'.  Intervals really only came out in force in the last mile or two.  I'm not sure how long I stopped to snap photos of birds, or how much the heat slowed me down.  All in all, I'd like to run faster in the marathon, but I'm not totally discouraged either.  Even better: within the first two miles I'd already made a poop stop.  Awesome. 

I ran the first five miles outright; mile six involves that hill.  I ran up the hill and was sucking wind by the top of it so I took a longer walk than normal.  Then again about five minutes later, I took a true walk break, snapped some pictures and had a gu.  Turned out to be my only gu of the run.  I had a second surprise walk break during mile seven when I came upon a mama turkey and her babies.  Since I'm all about self preservation, I stopped running, walked and gave them all a wide berth.  The mama isn't so protective because she ducked into the weeds and left her little ones right in front of me where I could see them.

Minnehaha Park by the falls was a complete zoo.  I gave up the running path and went across the street to the bike path.  Not one biker complained to me; I think they understood my desperation.  I didn't even want to do intervals there I just kept running to make it go by faster.  Point of information: the tree in this post is still down across the path.  It's taped off now at least.  Since it's not threatening any people, power lines, or property we'll assume it's not a high priority.

All of the bodies of water I passed today are really high.  The river is at flood stage, although not quite high enough to close the Ft Snelling trail yet.  It does get that high sometimes.  The creek is absolutely busting at the seems.  I saw some tubers heading down.  That looked fun and relaxing.  Lake Hiawatha has overflowed its bounds and eaten up part of the running path.  The bike path is still above water.

After mile 11, I told my brain that it could start doing intervals of one block running, one block walking.  I wound up running a bit more than that.  The last half mile was just running around the block by my house.  Because we have to finish what we start. As soon as I got inside I jumped in the ice bath, partly for my legs and partly just to cool off.  I had a whopper of a fruit smoothie for a snack.  Yeah, I was freezing by the time I was done.  I was even more surprised to come home and enter miles in my running log and find out I had in fact made it to my goal mileage for the week.  We'll see how that combined with next week being a step back week helps me feel.

New Running Soundtrack - the sound of my own awesomeness

Summer came back to Minnesota with a vengeance this week.  Sunday I took a 3 mile walk with a friend and was drenched with sweat by the end.  It was pretty to walk along the river.

Monday I woke up to run my long run of the week (14 miles).  At 545am I checked the weather in order to make final preparations.  It was 75* and a billion percent humidity.  I went back to bed.  I woke up later and hit the elliptical at the gym for "6 miles" and then the rowing machine for 30 minutes.  I'll do the long run on Friday when it cools down.

Today (Tuesday) I knew I had to get in a good run.  I left when it was dark so I was all decked out in my safety gear.  Or my runners suspenders as Jarrod calls them.

The weather was definitely better than on Monday, but only just barely.  The air was basically supersaturated with water, to the point there was fog everywhere.  It was gorgeous but it was hot.

I did something new on this run.  I ran without music for the first 2.5 miles or so.  (I had a landmark in my head that I wanted to get to.)  I started thinking about running sans headphones when I read this blog post.  I'd been toying with the idea for a while.  When I started off this morning and it was dark.  For safety reasons, it felt like the perfect time to give it a try.  I had my headphones with me and music playing, I just kept them in my pocket for a while and listened to the sound of my own greatness.  (There's a running joke on the internet that runners don't need music because they have the sound of their own awesomeness to entertain them.)

Around mile 2.5 or so, I put in my headphones, after the sun came up and I was on a trail away from the road.  I also took a few pictures since my iPod was in my hand.  Did I mention the fog? And the humidity?

All in all, this was a much faster run than I was expecting (for me).  I took the beginning too fast and kind of bonked at the end.  (There's this really steep hill...)  But I was still pretty satisfied with how it turned out.  This run just felt good.  Until that hill.  Also, according to Nike, I couldn't run a consistent pace if my life depended on it.  I must've really worked it because it took me forever to recover when I got home. 

I also tried a new breakfast smoothie (based partly on some fruits I needed to use up).  The ingredients were a super ripe nectarine, sans skin; vanilla yogurt (I hate plain); one kiwi.  I thought I'd need to throw in a liquid to make it more 'smoothie' like, but it turned out great as it was.

Long Run Fridy - Lucky 14

I felt like garbage when I woke up.  Awesome.  I forced down a Luna Bar (the raspberry icing so did not help) and got myself together for a run.  It was about 60* and super humid when I left.  There were on and off sprinkles, mostly off, but it was humid pretty much all day.

14 Miles were on the calendar for today *Monday*, but I deferred to today becuase of weather.  I'm still following this training program, and modified it only slightly to allow a 3 week taper instead of 4.  For my 14, I hit Lake Nokomis and Ft Snelling, and caught a glimpse of the improved Coldwater Spring National Park.  I ran with and without music, just alternating based on how I felt and how much motivation I needed.  Here's what it was like:

The Nike+ kit seems to work much more accurately if I turn it on when I've already started to run instead of in my warm up run.  It's nice and somewhat reassuring to have actual data about a run.

• Mile 1 and 2 - running in the neighborhood on my way to the Lake.  I was trying to decide if it was raining or if the wind was blowing water out of the leaves most of the way.  Also, I felt like garbage.
• Miles 3, 4 and most of 5 - running at Lake Nokomis.  Sunrise was gorgeous.  There were a lot of clouds so it really added to the drama.  Some of those miles are slower because I got caught at stop lights twice.
• Mile 6 - Minnehaha Parkway.  I have a love/hate relationship with this street.
• Miles 7 and 8 - one of those miles is slow for potty stop reasons.  Don't panic.  Thank goodness I'm near the falls and Ft Snelling because this is my favorite part of the run.
• Mile 9 - up that damn hill.  I think I took it faster than normal but I can't remember.  I was so out of breath at the top I nearly blacked out.
• Miles 10 and 11 - back through Minnehaha Falls, and caught my glimpse of Coldwater Spring.  (There's some controversy over this park, like nobody wanted it until they threatened to build a road over top of it or something?  Also, it's sacred to the tribes here.)  The parking lot is not paved.  Is this on purpose or not finished?  Also, took my last bit of food and my last salt tab.
• Miles 12 and 13 - Minnehaha Creek running trail and Lake Hiawatha.  Slow and steady wins the race.  But I was basically still moving at a respectable pace.  Is it possible I stopped listening to music on this stretch?  Just being entertained by the sound of my own feet.
• Mile 14 - I hate this stupid hill.  I'm sure it's good practice but whatever.

When I logged on to Nike to see my run data, I told me I sped up at the end (ha!).  That can't be right.

Nike also told me it's my five year anniversary?!?  There have been some extended absences from using this thing, but I have stuck with it an impressively long time I think. 

  

I'm trying another new thing in training called "eat right away after a long run" because of all the things out there to tell runners we should.  I made a smoothie and hit the ice bath.  Ugh.

 

When you go for a run and feel so fortunate to be alive and running

I love it when I go out for a run and the moment I step outside I feel so lucky to be heading out for a run, excited about the route, and generally feeling good.  I'm sure I've made my feelings about Ft Snelling quite clear.  See the running review and the out of town parents review if you need a reminder.  Per tradition, my last "long run" before marathon Sunday is always completed at Ft Snelling if possible.

As I was running on the parkway I saw the guy putting up the signs saying "this road closed first Sunday in October" (hell yeah it is!).  I also sort of saw the start line for Women Run the Cities.  Good luck to my friends who were running the 10-miler!

I may have figured out part of the issue with my phone.  (I have a love/hate relationship with Android.)  I use  Endomondo to track my runs.  (I've checked out other apps like RunKeeper and I really like this one.)  I use the default "Music" player on my phone for music.  For some reason, every once in a while (like every freaking run), DoubleTwist will just open and start playing music.  (Excuse me?  Did I ask you?  Was that the playlist I wanted to hear?  WTF?)   I finally just uninstalled DoubleTwist.  It appears that I can keep the desktop app and be able to sync playlists, even without the app on my phone.

Now I'm having an issue with Blogger (what is the deal today?) where I can't post photos.  Did Blogger stop supporting .png files? 

After my basically joyous run this morning, that vague sense of dread is sinking in.  Less than one week to go!

Quite a relevant Wednesday Mind Hump

List your top five methods of goofing off.

1. The internet. While RSS feeds and blogs are my best friends, they are also really my worst enemy. You know about most of my favorite sites including Overheard in the Office, Post Secret, and Eyeteeth. Some of my less well known eqaully favorite time wasters are Car Talk, especially "Time Kill Central", Sudoku on the Strib, Cindee's Web Page, and Most Popular News on Yahoo.

2. Aside from poking around on the internet, I love to blog. Today I need it anyways to get some stuff out of my system.

3. Taking pictures. I love my digital camera. Which explains some of the more odd photos that have appeared here.

4. Running/exercising/walking. In the summer I will run or walk forever. The weather's getting nicer so I can do that again. Today I had some pent up anger from some bad news I got last night so I ran an extra long time before going to work. I ran 4.75 miles at 11:21 miles. (Yea me!)

5. Listening to music. Ahh, music. I've been on a tour of media players lately. I love Windows Media Player 11. It's super slick and I love how it deals with art work. Sadly the thing eats RAM like no other and I just couldn't deal with it. Also it doesn't support drag and dropping files which is something I need. I explored several other media players including Media Monkey and WinAmp before deciding on Songbird. Songbird is a great media player but it's on version 0.2.5 right now so it's only available as an unstable developer release. I used it anyways and it's really slick. However, it's got a lot more bugs than I am emotionally prepared to deal with right now. My favorite features: whenever I add a song to any "watched file" like the file I download music into, Songbird automatically adds it to my library without my telling it to do anything. When using an Mp3 search site like AllTheWeb or Mp3Realm it integrates the search results into the player and gives me the option to play or download the music in the browser/media player. Things I wish they'd add: Songbird doesn't know what to do when I delete music from my computer, it leaves said files on the playlist. There's a button to remove songs from the playlist but no "undo remove" function, either a key shortcut or a button. Drag and drop from Songbird into other apps is not supported. I have recently discovered iTunes which I swore off a while ago. My favorite iTunes feature: it supports dragging and dropping files, especially dragging and dropping files onto my Palm sync list. What I want from iTunes: sync to my Palm.

I think that was longer than I meant this post to be. Oh well, I'm putting off homework so it seems appropriate.

Android to iPhone - additional thoughts

I wrote about the initial switch from Android to an iPhone (hello, I've missed you so much).  Here's some more thoughts.  FYI - I was running Android 2.2 (Gingerbread, which is quite old) and now running iOS6. 

iOS - let me tell you which contacts to always send straight to voice mail.   Android had a feature that let me send any contact directly to Voice Mail without the phone ringing.  iOS sadly does not.  I mostly used this when places would call me for donations and I wanted to ignore them without having to be rude or say no, but I'm sure we can all think of some other uses for this feature too.

iOS - would a "week view" on the calendar be too much to ask?  The calendar situation is kind of like, "you are known for graphics and elegant design and this is what you came up with?"  Apparently I just needed to turn the phone sideways.  Sigh.

Android - get a feature like 'photo stream'.  I know with Android/Google I could've linked to Picasa pretty easily but my free Picasa account is full from hosting pictures from this blog, so I didn't have the option unless I wanted to fork over more money.  I call shenanigans.

Android - I should really be able to take a screen shot without rooting my phone or paying mega bucks for some special app.  Boo.  Now you know why I have no screen shots for the android features I miss most.

Android - All phones should be able to receive software updates.  I hate that by the time I got rid of this phone, Android 4.2 was released, but my phone was stuck with 2.2 and no hope of ever getting an update.  For Android, it seems to be basically up to the phone manufacturer to roll out firmware updates and OS updates.  I got one update from Android 1.6 to Android 2.2.  After that, it was radio silence.

Android - for the love of all that is holy, figure out how to sync music between my computer and my phone.

I think in general I'm much happier having my phone and my computer have (essentially) the same operating system.  I very much miss my operating system being so well integrated with a web based email/calendar client (Google - sigh). 

All the posts are coming. This is just a warm up.

Thanks to HRG for the survey. 

Favorite place you’ve traveled to?  South Africa.  Hands down.

Worst pain you’ve ever experienced? I remember a couple migraines I'd rather not.

Who was the last person you took a picture with? According to my computer, it was these selfies with the Dungeon Master. (I'm pretty sure that's going to be her blog name.)

If you could talk to ANYONE right now, who would it be? I want to call Mom and Dad and tell them I had a nice day.

Ever had stitches? Yes

Nail polish… yay or nay? No. Because when I do it, it looks like a five year old did it.  Sigh.

If you could have any career, what would it be? I actually really like the career I've got right now. Again, I am lucky.

Does pineapple belong on pizza? I hate pizza in general. Therefore I am unqualified to answer this question.

You have the remote; what channel? Right now it's between BBC America, HGTV, and catching up on The Voice.

If you were an animal… what would you be? Everyone thinks I'd be a bat.

Did you grow up in the city or country? I'm a city girl all the way.  It makes me nervous to park on people's grass.  I will walk around the house to get to the front door versus knocking on a back or side door.  Because I'm a city girl.

Are you taller than your mom? No, and this has always made me a little sad.

When was the last time you cried? Mercifully, I can't remember.

What percentage of the time are you listening to something while you work out? 
Outside running - about 10% of my workouts.  
Inside if I'm running more than a mile, or on the elliptical - 100% of the time.  
Inside if I'm only lifting - about 10% of my workouts.    
There was a time I couldn't make my body move without music.

iOS 8 Updates: Nike and Strava and Endomondo

I use my running apps on an iPhone, so the iOS 8 update was a big deal.  Every year I notice an iOS update the week before Twin Cities Marathon, and every year I refuse to update until after race weekend.  This year was the same.  Here's what I've noticed about the apps.

Strava: I cannot tell one single difference.  In a very good way.  This app wins the prize for being the only one that found my heart rate monitor straight away, without needing to re-pair it.

Nike+: Nike+ and I have always enjoyed strained relations but we had recently achieved a detente of sorts.  The iOS 8 update blew that all to hell.

• Health kit: I never uploaded/integrated/whatever the health kit.  Apparently now there's a way for me to connect some kind of heart rate monitor?  I can't figure it out.
• Music controls: are 10 kinds of screwed up.  The music sort of insists on having the controls go through the app while listening to itunes, but interacting with the app at all during the run seems to impact playback in less than ideal ways.

Endomondo: Still my favorite app and my favorite website.

• Heart rate monitor: I had to re-pair my heart rate monitor after the update.  This wasn't the only app that had this issue, but I didn't notice until some runs were completed so I was kind of bummed.
• Vibration: A feature lost in an earlier update seems to be restored.  The phone now vibrates at the end of a lap in addition to giving an audio cue.  I really missed that feature and am glad to see it back.

Some other information, since many many people seem to search these things:

• Interval workouts: Not available with Nike+ nor Strava, available with Endomondo Premium (or legacy Endomondo Pro)
• Goal workouts: Nike+ allows goals by distance, time, or speed.  Endomonodo allows goals by distance, time, and on Premium accounts also calories burned.  Strava allows goals of time or distance on premium accounts only.
• Foot pods: No.  Just, no.
• Heart rate monitors: Endomnodo and Strava seem to support loads of these. I use a Mio Alpha with no problems.
• Running indoors: Nike+ has an indoor setting that uses the accelerometer on the phone.  Endomondo and Strava do not support indoor running.

Vacation - Running

Wednesday night as I was going through my mail, I found this gem.  I can't believe I signed up for another marathon.  What was I thinking?  I also got my save the date postcard for the Dreidel Dash. 

Thursday was a day of travel and carb loading.  There was no exercise.

Friday was my last 20-miler before the marathon.  This pictures weren't taken on the run but this is what some of the views looked like.  I know in Minnesota we love the Mississippi River, but the Ohio River Valley is really something to see.

 

Saturday was a day of recovery from the big long run.

Sunday I did a short run becuase I knew I'd be in the car most of the day and it would feel good.  Also, I'm nicer and more patient after I run.  (Serious.)  This was actually the best weather of any of my runs.  It was nice and sunny but not swamp like.  I ran the "hill" route from my parents house.  It's a lot of going up at first and a lot of down hill at the end, just the way I like it.

  
Monday I did Jazzercise with my mom because for Mondays in September you can bring a friend for free.  When Danza Kuduro came on, I absolutely could not do the routine correctly because I kept trying to do the Zumba routine instead.  Fail.

Tuesday I did six miles, totally without music.  (More on that later.)  It was a super humid day and the weather ultimately devolved into rain for periods of the run.  Great.  I did a longer version of the out and back hill course from my parents house.  The elevation profile is in blue/white and my speed profile is in the red/yellow rainbow.  I ran really fast at the end because it was both downhill and I was over getting rained on.

Mileage got a little wonky with moving the 20-miler from Sunday to a Friday.  My plan for the rest of the week is to keep running and then to truly start the taper after my next 12-miler over the weekend.    

running

I ran 2.5 miles today. According to Google maps almost all of my running route is up hill. Should I be worried about that?

I also started running with music. I think I breath much better when I have music. It actually slows down how I breathe. Although today I though, "oh crap, what's going to happen at the end of August when I try to run a 5k without headphones? That should be interesting.

Right now I'm working on creating a better list of songs that I can jog and listen to. Anyone have any suggestions?

Lots of short runs this week

After surviving last weekend I promptly got a migraine and then had some other issues so there was no running Sunday or Monday.  Tuesday I grudgingly got on the elliptical for an hour.

Wednesday I started feeling more human.  (Thanks for the run Bethy!)  I got up at the crack of dawn and headed over to St Paul to run with one of the girls.  I refer to it as my speed workout.  I also knew that if I made a running date I'd go no matter what and if I was dateless I'd probably stay home and feel sorry for myself.

Wednesday night I ran with Team:Work and we took a new route.  I do not like this route.  Randolph is actually a good street for running until we cross West 7th.  Between West 7th and Shephard there's the double whammy of no sidewalks and live train tracks so I probably won't take people this way too many more times.

I've unilaterally decided that everyone who's still with Team:Work can run a 10K by the middle of September so that's what we're training for now. Maybe next time we'll just do an out and back on Shephard instead.

This is a step back week (yes, after a week of tapering for Ragnar) so I'm not doing too many miles. This morning I ran another 4-miler at a "fast for me" pace, which was especially fast without Beth around to help me move.

I've been fairly happy with Endomondo and running with my phone. (I have the free app but am considering an upgrade.) The main downside is my phone battery won't last long enough to use GPS and play music for long runs. (Yes, I am that slow.)
Every once in a while though, there's a weird quirk. Like today when one piece of information says my top speed was an 11:06 mile and another piece of information says I ran miles 2,3, and 4 all at under an 11:00 pace. (See the images above and below?)  No way was 11:06 my top speed.