The 18 minute 5k

You don’t know me yet, but I’m going to be an irregular contributor to this blog, as opposed to the originator of the blog, who is, if anything, perhaps a little too regular.  My name is Genewich, and I am partly responsible for this farce.  It all started when I took him out if his natural environment,

and into rural Virginia.  I had not too long ago begun running 5ks, and in true holier than thou form, began mocking his 18+ lb weight gain from when we lived in Florida. It turns out that he is surprisingly sensitive, for someone that lives in the soul-sucking metropolis of DC, and thus was planted the seed of the hubris.

The strain was apparently too much for him, for the next thing I know he is throwing cigarettes in to the  campfire and proclaiming his intent to run, not one, not two, but three consecutive sub-six minute miles.  I snickered.  Maybe it was more than a snicker, maybe it was an outright  laugh, maybe I fell out of my chair and rolled around on the ground guffawing like an idiot. I may have peed a little.

 Just to give him a little motivation, here is my 5k history, of which Mackey has none: 34:41, 27:23, 23:42, 27:10

My first run was powered by Linkin Park’s new CD, Minutes to Midnight. If anyone listened to their 2000 release, Hybrid Theory, you know why this is good running music.

Not anymore.

But I’m not panning the Minutes…it’s awesome, just about completely different from earlier stuff. Slower songs, less intense beats, and way, way less anger. Linkin Park’s growing up…good job, guys.

Perhaps I’m late in posting this, but here are the stats from my first run:

Date: 5/27/2007
Time: 16:07:78
Distance: 2
Max HR: 201
Avg HR: 183
Time In: 3:16:33
Time Above: 12:32:08
Time Below: 0:20:17
Min/mile: 8:04:09
Per. Exertion: 17

A quick overview of the above…date and time are pretty self-explanatory, and distance is in miles. My Max HR is the highest my heart rate got, right at the end, which is where I usually sprint out the last 150 feet or so. Average HR is simply my average heart rate, and time in, above and below track my fitness level and pace by telling me how long I spent in the proper HR zone, and how long I was (way) out of it. (My HRM automatically calculates my optimal zone…though that can be changed, I need to look it up, as I can’t remember quite what it is.)

Perceieved exertion is an interesting onethat not everyone will be famaliar with. This is how you feel. Though I’ve used scales such as this in cyclining, I’m using a different one for running that’s more widely accepted. The CDC has an excellent explanation of the Borg scale here. This is a high-value stat, as itteaches one to listen to their body, provides a fairly quanitative value not based on HR, provides insight into how different conditions affect performance and…teaches one to listen to their body.

Which was my great failure this time. As usual, I took off on a pace way above where I should have pegged it, ran hard for mile, walked for a minute, and started running back, only to blow up about half way through the second mile. By the end of the second mile, I was suffering more than I was enjoying it. The time, given that I haven’t run in more than a year, is acceptable, but I could shave lots ‘o seconds off if I can get my pacing down.

Just as important, my course is against me, as well. There is a steep hill starting off, following by a slow dip. The return (this is an out-and-back style run) is murderous, because you’re then running up that slow dip. Running back down the steep hill is just painful. Maybe I’ll find some flatter ground.

While I don’t know if it has anything to do pushing too hard the first time out, I woke yesterday day feeling an impending head cold. Not making the same mistake twice, I decided to forgo the run and take a couple days off. It’s marginally better today, but tomorrow’s when I’m supposed to be back out. We’ll see how that goes.

Running is, for the most part, a blissfully gadget-free sport. Although completely accessible without anything other than a decent pair of shoes, I find some extras make it much more enjoyable.

My running shoes were…a sad excuse for running shoes. About three years old, they were covered with the leftovers of activities other than running…painting, moving, drinking. With this being the most important thing, I decided to take the risk of dropping big bucks on them–but not over $100. I went to my local running-specialty store, and came out with a pair of Saucony Trigon 4’s. They’re excellent, though I have little to judge by, and I got out of the store with them for less than my target of $100.

Additionally, and some might find this important and some might not, I dropped a few on a new heart rate monitor. Some hunting on ebay netted me a Cateye MSC HR20. Cateye’s a brand I’m familiar with from cycling, and the HR 20 has several memory functions I felt were really important, such as Max HR, Avg HR, and time in, below and above my optimal HR zone. The HRM’s really important for me to pace myself when running solo, as I tend to take off in a mad dash and blow up after a mile or so.

Lastly, and of exceeding importance, is the iPod and arm holder. Personally, I have a 30GB video. There’s a lot of debate about whether runners should go with a hard-drive based iPod (the big ones), or the Nano or Shuffle. Both the Nano and Shuffle are “flash-based.” The only thing that means is that they don’t have any moving parts, and are not going to be as susceptible to failure as an iPod video, which has a spinning hard drive in it…spinning hard drives don’t like vibration. Now, that’s the theory–in practice, very few people seem to have problems even after a couple years of running with a hard-drive based iPod. Besides that, the Nano is the only one of three that works with the Nike + iPod device…essentially a way-cool pedometer/coach/self-masochist assistant. So, if you’re going to get an iPod specifically for running, the Nano’s probably the way to go. Otherwise, consider how else you’ll use the ‘pod…I use mine for a variety of things, so a Nano would not have worked for me.

The thing here is that it’s not about the iPod…it’s about the music. So, any music player will do, but iPods are my area of expertise. Or, you may not even like running with music, but I couldn’t do it without.

Lastly, the holder. Since I’d already spent a good deal on shoes and the HRM, I went with an inexpensive, though quality, one made by XtreamMac. These guys make random accessories that aren’t overpriced and work “just fine.” They don’t have a lot of bells and whistles, but they’re one of the better deals out there.

And, that’s it! I’m off and running…