Saturday, September 11, 2010

8 Mile Run, New Balance, and Mapmyrun.com

Today I have a few things I'd like to talk about; today's workout, New Balance, and a site called Mapmyrun.com.

First, today's workout.  I went out and purchased some running socks based on the fact that I've been having blisters lately and had read that you should stay as far away from cotton as you can.  I got some PowerSox.  Then today I headed out hoping to be able to put in a 10k.  I got to the 10k around 53:00 and figured "hey, why not finish off the full hour?"  So I continued on out to a 1 mile mark and came back.  I ran a total of 8 miles in roughly 1:10.  It was incredible.  While I admit that I still had to work through a bit of hip pain through mile 4 and toe pain in the last mile, my feet in general felt GREAT!

Second, as I mentioned before, I found that New Balance has training schedules on their website for a 5k, 10k, half marathon, and marathon for three levels of runners - beginners, intermediate, and advanced.  I've used New Balance shoes for over three years now because they offer various widths for most of their shoes (great for people such as myself who have wider-than-normal feet) and now I love the company even more for giving that extra support of fitness.  I do admit that in looking at their beginner 5k schedule, I think they should have you run at least 30 minutes once or twice (based on the fact that I can run a 5k in 20 minutes, 30 minutes should put most people at over a 5k distance).  But either way, the schedules are there and that's great!

Lastly, I've been talking to a friend from college who has started keeping up with my blog and she informed me of what I think is an amazing site called www.mapmyrun.com.  This site allows you to map out your run to determine the distance, log your daily training, share planned out paths, and such.  There's also a site called www.mapmyride.com for those of you who prefer cycling sites.  I have only used the former site for a couple days, so I'm not sure of many differences, but if you're looking for paths other people have mapped out and made public, obviously the individual sites have their respective advantage.

I'm always happy to make use of and promote fitness items.  So please let me know if you find either of these useful.  I'd be overjoyed to hear that I've led people to something that makes their fitness goals or maintenance easier or more enjoyable in any way.

Ok, time to make some food.  I'm STARVING!!

Ciao!

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