I Run

The second in a series of question and answer posts based on the search terms you hapless browsers use to fall into the clutches of my blog.

when do days get longer in new england?

When the earth's rotation slows down, which isn't happening any time soon.

when i run my toes get hot?

You're running too fast, Mario. Slow down.

running 6 miles a day does what for you?

It gets you off your duff for about an hour. Not a bad thing.

stink running outside?

Yep, and you'll stink more inside.

best way to run faster miles?

Run downhill.

The band on my Timex Ironman watch has deterioriated to the point where I've resorted to using duct tape to hold it together. Unfortunately, the tape has covered up the holes that make it snug around my wrist, so it just flops around. That's annoying - and the battery is fading - so recently I haven't bothered wearing it at all. Today's run (8 miles with 4 at tempo pace) was done by perceived effort rather than time, but I did note the time I left home and the time I returned. Fortunately, I got out the door about a half hour before it started snowing, so I was just inhaling snowflakes for the last couple of miles. In order to get at what I thought should be tempo pace, I counted the number of steps I took for each breath in and out (4 steps to one round trip breath). And I asked myself two questions: 1) Can I sustain this pace for 30 minutes, and 2) Can I go harder? The answer to the first question was "Yes", but it would feel really good to slow down. The answer to the second was "Yes", but I'd die. Based on these questions and answers, my average pace worked out to be around 8:15. I figure the 4 miles in the middle were at about 7:15 to 7:30. This is pretty close to the pace I'd have run if I wore a watch. For my general aerobic runs, a watch isn't necessary at all. But this is the first time I'd tried a timed sort of run without a watch, and it seems to have worked out OK. I'll still get a new watch, though, since I'm shooting to improve my race time and it's good to have some solid numbers to correspond to an increased level of effort.