Today's Run - 7/20

I headed out this morning after a rough night with the baby boy who has colic. Feeling tired but hoping that my run would clear my head and give me energy to tackle the day, headed down a tried and true track of the Piper and Paddington Loop. The weather was not to bad this morning and I enjoyed the run. I was happy with my average pace of 8:26 and splits.

My new Garmin added excitement to get out for a run this morning, and I enjoyed seeing the different stats as I ran. I am trying to determine how to analyze and react to Heart Rate details provided. The Virtual partner is pretty neat, but I think that will take some time to dial into a pace that is challenging and realistic based upon the course. I really want to work on defining workout routines for speed workouts and repeats.

I am in the process of moving my running data from Runkeeper to Garmin Connect and it refreshed my memory of how much running I have done in the last year and the routes around the neighborhood that I created to hit target distances. I am digging the report data and seeing how things like my speed and distances increased since the beginning of the year.

New Toy

After I cleaned up from my long run this morning, I found a fedex package on the porch. I ordered a Garmin 405CX because my recent struggles with Runkeeper performance / GPS accuracy and looking for more features like the Heart Rate Monitor.

It will be interesting to see how Garmin Connect compares to the Runkeeper site. I expect there will be more detailed data and reporting built in.

I don't know if I will convert completely to Garmin because I really do like the All-In-One approach of using my iPhone. I like a number things about Runkeeper, but if the GPS is not accurate or the app does not perform it is hard to continue using it.

Today's Run - 7/15

A quick ~4mile run this morning. It was not as humid as yesterday as still pretty cool. There were more people out walking and running this morning than usual. I really worked on my pace and strides trying to get a higher foot turnover rate. I have a hard time keeping count and timing, so right now I am just working on how the different turnover speeds feel.

My Runkeeper application misbehaved again this morning. The application stopped tracking me at about 3miles. The IOS4 upgrade to the iPhone seems to have created a significant amount of instability on the platform, not only for runkeeper but other apps. I am about ready to switch to a Garmin, but then I think about I will still need to carry my phone for emergencies and music. I am probably just putting to much thought into this.

Today's Run - 7/4

A true summer day to celebrate the 4th of July. I headed out at about 3:30pm and it was about 90Degrees with limited humidity or wind. I took my water belt filled with water and Gatorade to help me beat the heat. I hoped to get ~5miles in, but the heat was too much. It was so hot that after 1.5miles I was drinking warm Gatorade and water. Yuck! To top it off Runkeeper crashed again... It looks like others are having the same issue based upon this discussion in the support forums.

Aside for the temp of my hydration fluids and the crashing of my tracking equipment it was a good run. :)

Today's Run - 7/2

The break in the summer heat continued today and the morning was excellent for running. I got a later start than usual but based upon the lack of sleep recently I was happy to feel like going out for a run at all. I felt surprisingly good as I started the run, and before the Runkeeper application died at 1.5miles I was maintaining a 8:01 pace. I finished the 5.5mile route in ~46mins, but I can't remember when I started, as I usually have a app for that.

I continue to struggle with the performance of Runkeeper application. The concept of the application is great and works well except the performance of the GPS. I would not be surprised1 if the accuracy of the GPS is due to the AT&T network strength in my neighborhood. So I will temper my frustration with Runkeeper but I must evaluate if it is the right solution for me.

Today's Run - 6/27

Today was my first run since the birth of my son, Wes. I have been itching to get out to run even with the limited / interrupted sleeping situation at the hospital. Emily gave me the green light for a run,I was not able to get out in the morning, but I was able to get a run this afternoon. I headed out about at 5pm and it was hot! With the heat index the temp was in the high 90's or low 100's. The temperature definitely affected my pace, but I was able to get in ~4.5miles in 45mins. I stopped a local store to get a Powerade about 3/4ths the way through to replenish my fluids because I did not have my water belt with me.

While walking around the hospital the past few days, I have been practicing some of Chi Running techniques. The walking practice was great because I had a good feel for it when I headed out for my run. On this run I worked on pealing my feet of the ground during my stride and keeping my back straight with a slight lean. I have found that the small tweaks and changes of Chi Running have affects on the way I feel during the run and even my legs after the run.

RunKeeper did a great job today. The music started when I started my run, it tracked my pace and distance well. I hope that this the start of a nice trend as it is nice when it works as advertised. I like most of the new additions to the new RK website. The combined graph showing pace, elevation, and duration is a nice addition and the new look and feel are nice. I am hoping that they add the ability to modify the previously defined routes and making routes from a previous activity. There is an issue with the embedded map feature which has not been resolved in the last 3days. I hope the embedded maps will be resolved soon.

Runkeeper... do you even know where am I?

Recently I have struggled with the Runkeeper application. I have been a Runkeeper user for almost a year and worked with the BETA team to evaluate new releases. There is a lot to be excited about with the Runkeeper application but as with much in life, I am pondering if you get what you pay for with this application. Things I like about Runkeeper are that it is cost effective, starting to get a good following / community and it is building its features rapidly. The most critical feature of app is the GPS tracking and as of late this has been the weakest performing feature in the app. I have see disparity in the distances recorded and actual distances of runs. I have also had issues with the app crashing, stop tracking my distance during a run, and not starting the selected music playlist during an activity.

Based upon these issues I am evaluating getting a Garmin Forerunner 405CX. Runkeeper recently released a new version with support for iPhone IOS4. I will give it a couple weeks and decide.

Improvement over time....

I should not be surprised that my running times are improving, but I think that this is dramatic. Looking at my Runkeeper history, I found 2 runs with the same loop and compared the times and pace. My splits improved by ~1 min/mile in the last 4 months.

9/7/09 - 38:39
1/5/10 - 35:03

Today's Run - 11/3

Great run today! I am traveling on business to Connecticut again and did a route that I did last time I was here. It was more chilly and brighter due to the time change and fall weather than the last time ran this route.

I really wanted to see if I could run a faster more consistent pace this morning and I was surprised to see my all my splits were well under 10mins! This course is pretty straight and relatively flat with ~200ft of elevation change.

More importantly, my GPS application worked flawlessly on this run. I was notified this morning a new version was released with the features I have been waiting for. Looks like it is time to upgrade to Runkeeper Pro.

Today's Run - 11/1

The weather today was terrible, rainy and cold, when I got up this morning. I decided it would a good training opportunity to run outside. I figured you never know what the weather is going on race day so I better get out there and see what it is like to run a long way in the rain. I needed to run 11miles today, so I put on my weather gear and headed out to run the C-Ville 10Miler course and then extend it by a mile. I did not find running in the rain to be that bad. I had on a hat and rain proof jacket which kept me warm and dry. Under the conditions I was very happy with my pace. Unfortunately I had an equipment malfunction at mile 6 which rendered my GPS tracking software useless. I did not check my progress during my run until I was what I figured was mile 10. I was surprised to see that it thought that I had only run 6miles. I continued with my run and just guestimated what another mile would be to get me to ~11miles.

Once I got home I sent an email to the guys at Runkeeper and received a response in less than 30mins! The initial diagnosis of the problem is that the GPS function on my iPhone failed either due coverage, bug in the app or bug in the phone. Not much I can do about it now expect use the website to edit my path manually. No time do that right now, so I will have to get to it later. Even with this issue I am still happy with the runkeeper app and my experience with the support team.