How I Stay Motivated

Now that I'm back into the staying fit game I thought I would document how I'm staying motivated.  It is compressed of four different things that I'm doing.

Nike+ GPS Watch
My beautiful wife just got me the Nike+ GPS watch which I think will boost my confidence and consistency.   In the past I have been using my phone, but I really had a lot of weird software issues with it.  I really wanted an independent device that was easily accessible during my run and this watch got really good reviews.  It was a hard decision between Nike and Garmin, but since the Nike has a non-GPS feature (running indoor or on treadmill) it wins :-), especially since both sync with Endomondo (more on that later).

Nikeplus.com
There Nikeplus.com website is great so far.  There are a lot of negative reviews about it but those are most about the flash site that has recently been replaced by HTML5.   I have found it very easy to navigate so far and uploads are a breeze.

Endomondo.com
I have been using endomondo for about 2 years now.  There phone application used to be great, however since 8.0 there has been so many issues with my phone and the GPS.  Even with the application woohs I still really liked there website.  Mostly for the social feature as a lot of people at work are using it.  Also they just started syncing with Nike+, so I can still use it with the watch to stay social.

EarndIt.com
Earned It is an interesting website.  You sync your workout website (both endomondo and nike+ are supported) and it gives you points for working out.  After you build up points you can cash them in for giftcards to workout type places.  There are restrictions on what will give you points.  For example: manual inputed runs in endomondo don't count, however if you have a GPS based workout it does count. For Nike+ it looks like both GPS based and foot sensor based get points.  I just hit 300 points and got $20 off a purchase at endomondo's online store.  Got a cool running shirt.  It really didn't take much time to get up to 300.  You can also use your points to help out people in need, which is what I'll be striving for next.  During my runs I'll be thinking, "for the children in Kenya", ha.

Summary
Some people use websites, others use a friend's encouragement.  When it comes down to it, only you can get up off the sofa and go for a run.  These things help, but you are the one steering the boat.  Enjoy!

Minor Setbacks and Looking Forward

Background

This past spring I had a knee injury on a treadmill that prevented me from running as much as I would like.  Its really easy to fall off (training, not the treadmill) when these types of things happen.  I found that using a knee brace worked well.  I used it while training, and never felt better.  My confidence would be high and I would remove the brace, then it would hurt, and I would have to stop due to pain.  Getting frustrated, I think, "well you just have to run with a brace".  So then I would start with the brace again, and all would be well.  I continued on this cycle expecting different results, each time realizing that its not going to work.  I think Einstein would think I was crazy ;)

A New Path

So I decided to take advantage of my awesome healthcare (thanks to my awesome wife) and go get it checked out.  Scared that I was going to have to have surgery or they would simply say "well, your getting old".  So I went in, got a look over and got some handouts on knee related injuries and stretches.  I, of course, didn't do the stretching and went back to my old routine.  A couple weeks later I was stuck on the IR list again.

A New Path : Attempt Two

So I made an appointment with a PT doctor to try and get good stretches to do before/after my runs.  I think they will help a lot (trying to be positive).  I also got some good advice with something that I've been doing wrong.  So my whole running career (that sounds fancier than it should) I stretched first, ran, then I was done.  My PT doc threw the red flag on that one.  Turns out you should stretch before, run, then long static stretch after to help your muscles stretch back out after working them.  In theory it makes sense, now to practice that.

My goal is still to make it to a 26.2 mile race (full marathon) and finish.  Hopefully this is a start of something good and new.  The key to success for me is saying I can.

Wish me luck, I'll let you know how it goes.

Alternative Ways to Watch Sports

I've got into a lot of conversations with people about going cable-less lately and the same topic always comes up, what do you do about watching live sports?  I'm an avid spectator of auto racing including: NASCAR, IndyCar, F1, Global RallyCross, and La Mans.  I also have been known to watch a football game (go Green) from time to time.  You may be asking yourself, but how does one watch all these events without the benefit of the SPEED channel or five different ESPNs or TNT for NASCAR in the summer?

As you may know we (the USofA) are in somewhat of a lul in the money market, and motorsports are hurting.  Sponsorship drives motorsports, so if the sponsors are hurting, the league is hurting.  If the league is hurting, its trying to get as many fans to fill the seats and watch there races as possible.  Some are successful, some are trying, and some, well you don't hear about them :)  Leagues are realizing that they need to start posting feeds on the web to stay afloat.

If you post full races on youtube, for example, more people are going to watch it because no one else does that.  That's exactly what IndyCar did with all of there races so far this year (link).  I must say, brilliant move on there part.  IndyCar has been slowly dieing in the heart of america.  However, this year seems to be a step in the right direction and has them grasping the new generation of tech-savvy people.  Being able to watch any race is really great (are you listening Bernie Ecclestone?!?!) and is bringing more fans to watch the races when they come to a neighborhood near you.

Another great step forward is ESPN.  Having no cable and watching ESPN can now happen with watchESPN.com.  Here they post a lot of replays for the not so popular sports including: Global Rally Cross (a new up-and-coming rally sport), ALMS, college football, and much more.  The best part is, if you have internet (which most people reading this post do) then your provider probably did a deal to get you this.  If not then you should storm the gates demanding action (just kidding, no riots because timtim said it was okay).

NASCAR has taken a similar approach for the races that are not on over-the-air stations (fox).  They added free "race buddy" which gives you 6 onboard cameras (with radio for that team) or a couple battle scenes.  This really helps for the races that are normally on TNT or ESPN.  Just head over to nascar.com and look for "Race Buddy".

Formula 1 is really a disappointment for american fans.  Sure they have the race recap, usually showing up a week or two after a race, but other than that you have to find online streams of replays.  Don't get me wrong, those race recaps on formula1.com are steller, but I want more.  F1 is supposed to be the most advanced motorsport in the world, but yet there coverage is spotty at best.  I do enjoy watching the BBC/Sky coverage more than the guys on Speed, but maybe its because they don't have commercials every 2 seconds.   On another note, speed.com is starting to show practice sessions, which is nice, but it could be better.

I'm hoping with the 1 US GP this year, and two next year that F1 will get more Fox time, and less Speed time.  If it was on OTA that would be best, I mean, there are only 19 races per year, it shouldn't be that tough.  Also I wouldn't even mind them showing it at the live time, that's what DVRs are for.  Not a DVR from the cable company of course, but a computer that is also a DVR, but that is another post.

Another random find is WRC.  WRC is only avaliable in the US via SPEED which you need cable for.  But there is luck, someone seems to have started uploading them on youtube a couple hours after there showing which is great.  You just need to search the correct criteria, like "WRC 2012 Finland part 1/2", and you should find it.

Overall I believe that sports people have a chance in watching there favorite sport online without cable. There will be times of frustration, and other times where you will be completely satisfied.  The point is that its possible with todays push toward an online market.  The goal is simple, spend less and get more.

Be frugal my friends.

Links:

www.watchespn.com

www.nascar.com/multimedia/webcast/racebuddy/

http://espn.go.com/espnradio/play

www.speed.com

http://www.youtube.com/user/indycars

Its so Darn Hot

Milk was a bad choice...

Sorry, I couldn't resist, but seriously this heat wave we are having in the midwest is a killer.  I went running last week only twice, which is really low for me.  I am going to try to get 4 runs in this week but we will see with the heat index being around 100 all week with humidity.

That brings me to my next point, how does one cope with running is given conditions?  Does one flee to the pool/Air conditioning or what?

I got a good suggestion from my sister who lives in FL (where it is always hot ).  Grab a rag, wrap some ice cubes in it, then put that around your neck.  I'm going to try this today, so I'll let you know how that goes.  Also she suggested bringing water.  I don't normally like running with things in my hand but in such extreme conditions its really a good idea.

Does anyone else have any good tips for keeping cool while running through the heat?

PS: The headphones still rock, no problems at all.

People Running with Gadgets Part 2: My Decision

Running is a great way to relieve stress.  It frees endorphines and can make you feel good about yourself.  I like to run with music, and I also like to keep track of how I do.  For about the past year or so I have been using Endomondo along with there free android app on my Droid X.  This has been great until recently.  Lately every time my headphone jack would move my music would pause and then I would be forced to run in silence.  Or even better it would continuously pause/play/pause/play until I rebooted my phone.  To put this lightly, it became really annoying.  A couple posts back I spoke about running with Gadgets and I put a lot of thought into if I need a new device or not (my wife will be so proud).

I finally decided that I don't really need a new device as my device does everything I want it to, just the headphone jack is being stupid, why punish the whole thing.  So after looking at countless reviews I decided on the Moto HD Bluetooth headphones.  They are really zazzy, errr, umm, I mean nice, and here is my pro/con list after a couple uses:

PROS
- Lite weight
- Stay charged for a long time
- The buttons to change songs, pause, answer calls, etc.. work really well. Being able to change your song while on the run, awesome.  For you smartphone going folk that use a arm band, you know what I mean.
- The microphone works well for calls.  The two people I asked said they couldn't tell a difference (this is a good thing)
- $50, originally 80 somethin', thanks amazon.

Somewhere Between a pro and a con
- Long term comfort is okay.  After about 3 hours of wearing them the side of my head felt the pressure but they were fine while I was actually running for about 30 minutes.
- At first they feel like they are going to fall off but they don't.  Just takes getting used to them.

CONS
- Randomly turned off while I was on the phone the other day, hmf, but turned it back on and it was fine.  Weird
- One size fits all, no adjustments.  I have a fairly regular shaped head (I think) and they fit well but not all people are created equal

Overall
Being able to change songs in a middle of a run by a click of a button is awesome.  However, unless you have a moto sized head (see what I did there ;) ) they might not fit correctly.  I would recommend them, but maybe try them out in a store first to make sure they fit.

Life on the Road

I recently moved my whole life from Michigan to Wisconsin.  During this transition we drove back and forth about 4 times for job interviews, apartment showings, etc.  While travelling back and forth we found a couple things necessary for survival.

1) If you see the Oasis (a rest stop for all you Michiganders), STOP!  Driving on the tollway there was only 2 rest stops (where you didn't have to pay to get off then pay to get back on).  If you even remotely have to relieve yourself, I suggest you stop here.

2) Start looking for Gas stations when you only have 1/4th of a tank left.  That way you don't find yourself grabbing gas in a shady town (like Gary, IN).

3) If the exit says there is a gas station, but you can't see it, keep on truckin', there will be one at the next exit.  I found this one out the hard way.  I travelled 20 minutes out of my way (twice) in search for said gas station.  Never again!

4) Avoid driving through downtown Chicago unless you are going to Chicago

5) Google Navigation is great unless you don't want to take the exact route it suggests.  If you do research on your route using Google maps before you go, you can save the map route for later, but you can't access it via your phone so you might have to print it out.  If you wanna be really slick print the directions to PDF and upload it to Google Drive.  When your done with the trip, throw it out.

6) Be skeptical of the moving company estimates.  Moving companies are all cut throat (I won't name names, but they are out there).  They will all try to under bid each other and try to convince you the other companies are ran by the devil.  Be very careful about shuttle trucks.  Some companies include them in the estimate, some don't, but if you need one because the haller can't get in your apartment you will be paying about 600 more dollars on each side of the journey.  When you want your stuff might be important.  The hallers might have other people's stuff with yours.  If that is the case, you might have to wait a couple days in order for your things to arrive.  We went with Two Men and a Truck, they were awesome.  They didn't have a haller, just 2 guys, and a truck.  They didn't share the truck with another client, and it was still cheaper than the others.  Mostly due to no shuttle because it wasn't a semi.

7) Just because Google Navigation says that you can take the ferry whenever you want doesn't mean there will be a boat waiting for you at the dock. (more about this later)

8) Verify your GPS route before you start driving (otherwise #7 may happen).  This almost happened to my wife.  She typed in the coordinates and set off with our cats (that were both drugged up and in carriers).  About 20 minutes into her drive she realized she was headed to Muskegon to catch a ferry, she was all like "WTF mate".  She quickly found a better route, but if it was her first time driving there she would have had #7 happen to her.

9) If you are redirected in Google Navigation, your major route might have changed.  This seems like a bug in the software to me.  If i'm set on going a specific way, but I get off the road to grab a hot dog with chilli, onions, and stuff (mmm, that sounds sooo good) should my route change?  I wouldn't think so but I've seen it happen.  Steps to recreate: go somewhere that has alternate route, take the alternate route but before you get to the part where it is different make a pit stop somewhere.  The nav will redirect you to get back on the highway (like it should), but then when you continue on you are set back to the normal route and not the alternative like you requested.  Are you listening Google???

Overall, moving is stressful.  New jobs, house, state, etc...  Coordinating it could not have been done alone.  A big thanks goes out to my wife who helped me though it.  Couldn't have done it without ya :)

Fitness note:
Wisconsin has a shit load of hills!  Its crazy!  Running/biking is a lot harder here.  If you need some tips on running hills, here is my post on that.  I'm trying to bike more so I can work up to biking to/from work (which is 11.1 miles each way).  Wish me luck!

Does anyone have any good tips when travelling by car/plane/boat/superman?

Gadget People Go Running Too

Gadgets are EVERYWHERE!  There is a gadget and/or an app for just about everything you can imagine.   The old days of running are gone.  Majority of people you see running today have the ear buds in connected to some type of fancy device.  There are so many choices to what that device could be.  You have: your smart phone, ipod, GPS device, other MP3 player, etc...  So which to choose, I leave it up to you...

Smart Phone:
The great things about using your smart phone is: 
1) You should have a lot of music on there, or Pandora is always available.
2) You can use awesome applications like Zombie walk and Endomondo to help keep track of your progress
3) Built in GPS so you can track where you go
4) One device to rule them all, no additional hardware so no additional cost (assuming you have a smartphone)

The lame things about using your smart phone: 
1) If you sweat a lot the smart phone gets wet, that isn't covered under most phone insurance,
2) the GPS on most phones suck the life out of your battery.  Once your battery is drained you are stuck by a wall charging said smart phone OR you go without your amazing device.  (the latter makes me sad and stuff).
3) To bulky for an arm band.  I found smart phones are turning more and more into Zach Morris style phones when it comes to size.

iPod Nano:


The great things:
Small, Nike+, Genius feature, price tag, watch, itunes

The lame things:
1) NO GPS,
2) no one knows if you need the tab for your shoe or not (not even the apple geeks),
3) Not sure if sweat resistant.
4) itunes (notice it is a great and lame thing)

Pebble

The great things:
1) It has the display like the kindle,
2) it integrates with your phone wonderfully (iphone/android/crackberry),
3) Open SDK so nerds can create apps

The not so great things:
1) You still have to lug around your smartphone (I think its hilarious that we think that carrying around a little smart phone is a pain).
2) You have to have a smartphone and a pebble
3) price, 150 for an accessory of your phone?....

Motoactv

The great:
1) All in one device: music, GPS, watch, timer
2) has wifi for auto upload to the intertubes (assuming you have wifi)
3) has bluetooth, everything is better with bluetooth,
4) Sweat resistant
5) Neat accessory list: watch, arm band, bluetooth headphones (with heart monitor?), heart monitor
6) Its a watch too

The not so great:
1) Its the first model that moto has come out with, might wait for version 2.
2) It runs on Android, so if they keep developing on it then it will be awesome, but if it fails then not so much.  Kind of a gamble in that aspect
3) Price, 250 for just the base model, then you have to get the arm band or watch accessory which runs another 20 or so.

Garmin Device

Great:
1) Top of the line GPS
2) durable

Not so great:
1) No watch

iPad

j/k, just making sure you were still paying attention :)  Can you imagine though, someone running with an ipad, bhahahaha.  Actually though, I've seen people running with them on a treadmill, or a stationary bike.

The End Result:

It depends on what you will use it for and how often you drop things.  The great thing about so many different types of devices is the selection.  If you don't like what you have then do you didn't do enough research before purchasing your device for running, or you fell victim to false advertisement.


So what do you guys/gals run with?  If you were to pick out a new device what would you pick?