Yesterday, I was very anxious and somewhat nervous. Ate a decent breakfast, a small lunch and a huge pasta dinner around 5 PM. I may have overate, as I felt somewhat bloated, however I knew I had to since big breakfasts and running do not go well for me. I woke up just past 5 AM, having almost overslept (something turned off my alarm clock, well at least I don’t remember turning it off…) and ate a small breakfast. (Coffee and a smoothie) Thankfully my bathroom schedule was in order.

I had to leave my place just past 6 AM since we had to be at the assembly area by 6:30-7:00 for transportation to the start line. I brought along some chocolate almonds to eat just before starting, since they worked well on my last long run. I started very conservatively, but eventually worked my way up and passed the 3:30 pacer.

For the first 20K or so, things were fine. Between 20K and 30K I started to feel the soreness setting in but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t deal with. However things starting getting hard at about the 35K mark. I got passed by the 3:30 pacer at this point. To make matters worse, there was a substantial hill at around the 37K mark that almost killed me. I started cramping up after ascending it and had to briefly stop to stretch and walk for a bit, but by that point I had decided I was not going to give up.

There were few smaller hills after that big one, and each one brought back some feelings of cramping but I pressed on. By this time I was running quite a bit slower than 5 min/KM. The last two kilometers were awful but as you round the final corner and realize that the finish line is in sight, you manage to draw on some reserves that somehow still exist.

I finished with an “unofficial” (i.e. my own watch) time of about 3:32. I’m waiting for the official time from the timer chip that all runners wore. I had to make two stops (i.e. bathroom breaks) since it was so cold early on.

Overall, though it was tough, it was a great experience, especially seeing so many other runners and the great support staff and volunteers of the PEC Marathon. The weather was perfect, the route scenic and there were plenty of people out to cheer you on. I can wholeheartedly recommend the PEC Marathon to anyone who is looking to run their first race, as the organization was phenomenal.

I actually have not been doing any strict “marathon training” per se, but have just been running my regular schedule for most of the summer, which consists of a 10K run three times a week. I usually run it at a relatively quick pace (for me), finishing it in around 41-42 minutes.

I only learned about this marathon two weeks ago from a co-worker. Since I’d run 20K before with relative ease, I decided that I’d try the full marathon: I knew I could do a half-marathon but didn’t know if I could do a full. Plus, if I failed, I had an excuse to fall back on: I simply didn’t train hard enough. (I like making excuses )

After signing up I decided that I’d have to at least see if I could run 30K; I went for such a run (at a much slower pace than normal) last Tuesday and didn’t have too much trouble except for some expected soreness. If I wasn’t able to complete that run, I think I’d have stepped-down to the half-marathon.

I woke up early this morning and went for a 20K run. It was cool and so the run was also quite easy. I’m starting to feel pumped and upbeat for the marathon, but now I’m worried that I’m getting overconfident. I talked again to my co-worker who gave me a link to Hal Higdon’s marathon training guide, which he himself was using. I’m trying to “slip into” the “Novice 1″ schedule right now and am starting my “taper” to give my body some rest.

I still have some unknowns. First of all, I’ve never ran this distance before. Secondly, the marathon starts at 8 AM but I’ll probably have to get up around 5 AM to get ready properly - this is far earlier than I’ve gotten up on a Sunday in more time than I can remember. Lastly, if the weather is hot and humid on that day, I think I’ll have serious trouble finishing.

Nevertheless, I remain optimistic. If I can complete the marathon, that’ll be one of my life’s goals accomplished!

Heat: Everyone knows that when there’s too much of it, things can get very uncomfortable, especially if there’s an accompanying high humidity. However, a high temperature is also something that needs to be considered if you are training under these conditions. Besides the general notions to drink plenty of fluids and stay hydrated, excessive temperatures can also adversely affect your performance, so any benchmarks or goals you set for yourself need to be adjusted depending on the conditions.

Take, for example, the route that I have been running for the past several weeks. During that time, I’ve kept records of my run times along with the conditions that day. (Specifically, the temperature, dew point and relative humidity)

On days where the temperature was above 25C my run times were averaging between 45-46 minutes. On days where the temperature was 20C or lower, average times decreased to around 43 minutes. That’s roughly a 4-6% decrease in time when going from 25C to 20C, or conversely, a 4-7% increase in times when going from 20C or below to 25C or higher.

The most recent example were two runs I did this week. On Tuesday, the conditions were 26C and 51% RH, and my completion time was 45:35. Today, the temperature was only 18C and RH was 83% and my run took only 42:53. Despite being faster, today’s run also felt somewhat easier (perhaps somewhat of a placebo effect) as I was able “push” myself harder without feeling fatigued. This was despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of my runs during the past 8 weeks have taken place at temperatures 25C or higher.

My experiences tend to correlate with the studies done. Though I can’t remember the source, I remember reading that 15C was the “ideal running temperature”, with run times expected to increase the further you moved away from this point. Obviously, some of this can be mitigated with physical/mental training and depends on the individual, but these provide some good guidelines.

However, there’s a definite physical aspect to it. Just like the CPU in your computer can run at a faster speed when it’s cooler, so can your body. At higher temperatures, your cardiovascular system must work harder to rid the body of excess heat to maintain a proper core temperature. This means that less energy is “available” for movement and is the reason why you tend to fatigue faster in the heat. (At extremely high body temperatures, the chemical reactions and enzymes necessary for bodily functions are disrupted, possibly leading to death)

Conversely, at extremely low/cold temperatures your body must work harder to generate heat to maintain a proper temperature, with the same effect: less energy is available for movement. 15C is perhaps the “ideal” point where the body has the least amount of work to do to maintain proper core temperatures during running, though that value almost certainly differs amongst individuals.

Thus, during training, if you keep a record of your running times, you should also keep a record of the weather conditions so that times can be taken into context.

I’ve just launched RunTrackr. It’s a site where you can create a running route in order to track, among other things, distances. It’s designed to be a tool to aid anyone who runs/jogs a lot, either recreationally or for training. A training log is also provided so that you can easily keep track of your running records and record your progress during training or just to watch your personal improvement.

Here’s a quick overview of what’s possible with RunTrackr as well as what we have in store for the future in terms of improvements to the site.

Adding/Creating a route

Creating a route probably the main reason you’d want to use RunTrackr. By creating a running route, you can measure its distance and keep track of it in your training log every time you run it.

Plotting a route is very easy; all you need to do is enter your location (Eg. “Belleville, ON”) and then click to add points. Existing points can be dragged around to alter the route. When you’re done, just click “Save Route” to finalize! You can also choose to enter a short description, tag your route with descriptive labels or rate your route’s difficulty.

Later on, I plan to add support for uploading automatically-generated routes/plots from GPS devices like those from Garmin, et al. This will make adding routes even easier for those who have access to such devices.

Searching for routes

Searching for routes is a great way to find running routes in your area submitted by other people. Simply enter a location and click “Search”.

If any routes are found, their location will show up on the map as markers and in the sidebar listing. Clicking on one brings up a preview of what the route looks like; clicking the preview image takes you to a full-sized view where you can see other statistics about the route.

Viewing routes

Going to the full view of a route brings up all of its details, such as the distance, description and any tags. You can also choose to add a route to your “Favourites” so that you can easily keep track of it in your Training Log.

Training Log

The Training Log allows you to keep track of the routes you’ve run and provides an easy way to record your progress. Here, each time you’ve run a route you can enter how long it took along with any other comments about the run. Calories burnt are automatically calculated based on an approximation that takes into account your weight and the distance.

The training log is very basic at this point and several improvements will be forthcoming, such as weekly/monthly/cumulative totals as with as some other statistics and graphics like charts and graphs. (Because everyone, myself included, loves colourful pictures)

Summing it up

Registration is optional but takes less than a minute and allows you to use fully use the service. We’ll be rolling out more features as times goes on. I regret not being able to launch this site earlier in the year (when the weather was starting to get nicer and people starting to get out more) but sometimes that’s just how things turn out.

As always, I welcome all feedback about RunTrackr, including any suggestions you might have about how to improve the service! In the meantime, please check out the site if you’re interested and enjoy your time there.

And then not moving for the rest of the day.

If you do a lot of running, you’ll often find that you’d like to keep track of how much distance you’ve accumulated. This is especially important if you’re training for some event, or even if you’re just a casual runner looking to build up your endurance and stay in shape. However, short of running around a track endlessly, it can be hard to gauge how far you’ve gone on your running route.

Short of having a fancy device such as the Nike iPod Kit (which requires calibration), or an even more costly GPS watch (that’ll probably eat through batteries), you can still manually measure your running distance using the many free tools out there, all of which are based upon the fantastic Google Maps API. Let’s have a look at some of them.

Gmaps Pedometer

Gmaps Pedometer was one of the first distance-logging tools created using the Google Maps API. It works well for tracking running/biking routes, and includes a calorie counter based on your weight, as well as some rudimentary elevation information. However, the interface is somewhat bland, and this app doesn’t include some of the features found on some other routes, such as a central repository of user-created running routes integrated with the main app. You can save your running route, however, and users have shared their creations in their forums. No registration is required (or available) for this site. You can easily print maps from within the interface.

Overall, it’s an simple, but effective and easy way to track your distance. It’s somewhat plain though, and a little lacking on features. You also have to enter each point manually, since there’s no option to follow roads. So, if your path goes down a curved boulevard, you’ll have to click along each point to keep the distance accurate, since the path just follows straight lines between each point.

WalkJogRun

WalkJogRun is an application that has a large number of user-created running routes integrated with the map. You can find routes near your location simply by searching for your city; markers will then show up on the map indicating where these running routes are. Clicking on a marker will bring the running route onto the map as an overlay, along with distance measurements for each point along the route. Zooming the map can be done with the mouse wheel, just like in the regular Google Maps.

Times are also included, and are in hours:minutes, and are based on a speed you select. You can configure the distance/speed measurements to be in kilometers or miles (I still like miles, despite being raised metric for everything), and a calorie-counter based on your weight is also included. These options are at the bottom of the screen, and are fairly small, and could be relocated for better visibility.

You can also create your own route by double clicking to enter points. Creating running routes and saving them doesn’t require you to register, but you can, and have to, if you want to mark them as private or be able to come back and alter them later. This seems fair enough, and it’s good that they don’t force you to register to use the service. Also, it’s very nice to be able to see/search for other people’s routes right within the application. Overall, the interface of WalkJogRun seems quite refined, and is fairly easy to use. There are plenty of features, and you can even export routes to Google Earth.

However, one thing to note is that this application feels somewhat sluggish. This is no doubt due to the heavy use of the Google API and the resulting number of Ajax queries that must take place, in order to update the map with users’ routes as you reposition it. This is in stark contrast to Gmaps Pedometer, which while simple and plain, is also faster and more lightweight. I suppose it’s a trade off. And, like Gmaps, WalkJogRun doesn’t support a “follow by road” feature, so entering in paths down curved roads will take more time.

MapMyRun

MapMyRun is like WalkJogRun in that you can search for user-created running routes and also add your own to the mix, and it also has a fairly decent interface that shows information in both kilometers and miles. It has the nice feature that auto-saves your route, and restores it should you accidentally navigate away from the page. It also also gives calorie counts, and supports elevation data as well. You can save this information to a training log, but this requires that you register with the site.

When creating routes, you can specify different types of waypoints, for example water breaks, aid stations and bathrooms. Notes can be added to the waypoints, and the route can be printed out with these notes to keep them handy. This is very nice for operation in the real-world. You can export the route to a variety of sources, such as Google Earth, a Garmin Forerunner or Edge GPS device, or to your blog as some embedded Javascript. This is also very handy, as information nowadays should work across a variety of devices.

However, the best feature is that this application can automatically create paths that follow roads. This is good if your routes follow through a lot of curved roadways, as it’ll save you the headache of manually entering in the path. However, sometimes it’ll automatically create a path from one point to another that doesn’t follow the road route you’d probably run - this is a limitation of the Google Maps system, as it is probably calculating how a car would drive from one point to another. (For example, you can run either way down a one-way street, but cars obviously cannot) Another nice feature is being able to remove a point in the middle of your route without having to re-enter all the subsequent points.

While this application is feature-filled, it also suffers from some sluggish performance like WalkJogRun.

Run.com

With Run.com’s application, you can also search for user-created running routes and add your own. The application is fairly responsive, and doesn’t feel too sluggish because of the way they’ve implemented it - searching for routes shows them on one map, and when you click a route to bring it up, it loads a new page with the route map. This reduces Ajax-activity that is often the cause of poor performance in web applications.

Routes show elevations, and distances in metric or imperial. Different waypoints (water break, aid station, scenic view) can be specified, and users can enter descriptions as well as difficulty ratings for each route. Tips entered by the person who created the route are often useful. (Eg. BE CAREFUL - LOTS OF BIKES)

Though I don’t have much to say about this application, I actually think I like it the best. Even though it doesn’t provide all the data or features that WalkJogRun or MapMyRun might, it’s lightweight, fast and easy to use, all of which are important hallmarks of any application, especially web apps.

One last thing

You don’t need to use one of these tools to measure your running distance. You could easily use Google Earth’s measure tool to map out your running route, but it’s a bit tedious, and these online applications will greatly simplify the process. Personally, I liked WalkJogRun and Run.com’s offerings the best, but you should give them all a try to see which fits your style best.

Lastly, these tools are probably best for road running, such as planning training for a marathon of some sort, or for the marathon itself. If you do a lot of trail running, they won’t work that great, since most of that data isn’t available on Google Maps, the basis for all of these tools. However, these tools do a good job of highlighting the features and flexibility of the Google Maps API by showing what can be accomplished.

First was an Xbox 360 wired controller, to be used with my PC. (I don’t have a 360) I’ve always liked the feel of the smaller Xbox controllers, and the 360’s is even better to me. It’s working great with games like the Lego Star Wars series. Sure, it was more pricey than competing PC gamepads, but my experience with other PC gamepads has been somewhat lacking - they’ve always had some shortcomings, whether it was a fidgety D-pad or weird button layouts. I decided to go with something I knew would be good. Plus, it has the added bonus of being compatible with friends’ 360’s, should the need arise.

I also went down to the local MEC store to get a heart-rate monitor watch. I do a lot of running so I think it’ll get put to good use. Also, it’s neat to see how much you can make your heart rate rises when you get up from your chair. I decided to go with a Timex Ironman model, and so far it’s working pretty well. We’ll have to see if it pasts the durability test though - if something can’t last five years, it’s not worth it to me. (Though, by that measure, university would be worthless!)

MEC is a great store as well. Not only do they have a wide selection of stuff useful for almost any outdoor activity (though admittedly I’m really only interested in the running stuff), but their prices can’t be beat. Though it costs $5 to become a “member” (which allows you to buy stuff from them), that cost is negligible and you’ll easily save many times than on your first purchases. Also, many of their products are designed and made by MEC themselves, and provide a higher level of quality - all at prices that are lower than competing brands from what I’ve noticed. The downside? They only have stores in major Canadian cities, but you can always shop online from them - though it’s generally not ideal to buy stuff like clothes or backpacks without trying them out.

I also got a few nice gifts from MEC, mostly running wear, that should make me look less like a bum when I’m out for a cold-weather run.

I’ve been running ever since high school, so moving to Kingston for school didn’t change that. However, the route hasn’t always been the same, but I think I’ve settled on this one for a while. Yes, I do run this same route most of the time, and while many would find this unbearably boring, I actually do not. It’s actually useful for me as I can get an idea of how I’m improving.

I like the route because it isn’t all flat nor is it too hilly. I start off going down Albert St. (along the west edge of the Queen’s main campus) until it ends at King St.; this part is all slighly downhill and thus it’s ease is part of my warmup. Then I turn west and head down King St. until it intersects Sir John A. Macdonald Blvd. This part is probably the most uphill part so it’s good to get it out of the way at the start. Then I head north up Sir John A. Macdonald Blvd. until it hits Johnson St.; this part is a little uphill but not as much as before.

Then it’s east down Johnston St. for a bit until I turn off on to Earl St. and head all the way down until it intersects King St. This part is almost all flat except for a downhill section at the end. After that, it’s just going west again down King St. until I turn and head back up Albert St., the same way I started out, except this time I’m going uphill, which is a nice finish that makes you “push hard” at the end.

Google Earth says the path length is 4.55 miles but I think that’s an overestimate or at the very least an upper bound. I actually think it’s only 4 miles or so. I usually run it three times a week, and it’s a nice way to burn off any stress or get my mind thinking about anything creative.