Slashdot Mirror
Running for Geeks
ptorrone writes "It's certainly possible to geek out while you run and there are in fact running geeks. I started a new resource for geeks who like to jog, or who like me, are training to run a marathon. This month's features: Getting the right shoes and socks using technology, the Garmin Forerunner 201 GPS watch (also using the XML files for mapping), using the iPod/iTunes, with audiobooks as a training aid and lastly videos and photos of the 'Geek Gym' as well as the portable version for checking email, RSS feeds and IRC on the go as well as at home while exercising." If you're having trouble getting motivated, there are people who can help.
I don't care how big of a geek you are, one of the healthiest part of jogging is getting away from my RSS reader and e-mail, and just get my head in order.
Strap on some running shoes and shorts, and enjoy some nature.
Why the need for RSS news feeds, email etc...
The great part about outdoor activity is ditching the electronic leash.
In this case, as the parent points out, less is more. I couldn't imagine running carrying more weight than I need to. Besides, getting away from tech for a little while will do wonders to help clear your head.
Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
How about a section for non-rich geeks? I thought running was supposed to be cheap. This is the reason why a lot of people give up on trying to keep fit - every guide thinks it's essential that you buy a bunch of crud.
...to strength train. Jogging is great for cardiovascular endurance but strength training has several other health benefits. You don't have to be a heavy bodybuilder or powerlifter to benefit. Even twice a week is excellent. Many people believe that jogging burns calories. It does but very little compared to a regular, fairly moderate weight training, as your body's overall metabolism shoots up during the process of rebuilding the muscle fiber (please don't nail me on the precise medical wording, ok!). It greatly prevents ostereoperosis(sp?), among many other benefits, and also is effective in eliminating the risks (newly found research, check CNN) involved with the non-genetic diabetes type. You can't exactly mix the extremes of both weight lifting and cardiovascular endurance very well, but moderate amount of both for someone concerned about their own health and well-being is an excellent lifestyle choice. Exercise like jogging releases neurotrophins and promotes healthy neuron function/growth (if someone could elaborate on that specifically i'd appreciate it)
Look, I'm (almost) as geeky as anyone else on /. but one of the most wonderful things about running is that it strips you down to your soul.
When you run as much as I do (up to 140 miles per week), you quickly learn that everything has weight and carrying even a few extra ounces (be they on your back in the form of a camel-back, strapped to your arm in the form of a GPS/MP3/gizmo-du-jour or in the form of fat in your belly) becomes a very heavy burden after enough miles.
Don't be like people who go "camping" in their big-ass RVs complete with satellite TV. One has to question why they even left home. When you go out to run, leave everything behind in both a physical and metaphysical sense. Enjoy the scenery, enjoy the air, enjoy feeling the fire in your lungs and being alive.
Try leaving everything at home except your shorts, socks, shoes and a watch (and a key to get back in).
When you leave it all behind, you might be surprised with what you find within.
The great thing about running is that it requires so little preparation. No tires to pump, no pool to drive to, no weights to buy. Just you and your shoes.
I come home and can be out the door, ready to run, in five minutes.
I permit myself one bit of tech: a walkman. In the current case, and actual Walkman-brand walkman, but I'm going to replace it with an MP3-type player. Since I only listen to books on tape, which sound just fine at 32 Kbps, you can fit an awful lot of stuff on an inexpensive player. Perfect for three-hour-long LSD runs. (LSD=Long Slow Distance).
A healthy dose of paranoia while cycling or running is called for. I try to pass parked cars at a distance greater than a door should take. Not much help where bike lates are 3 feet wide and people park in them (then drivers honk and bitch about you being in the road, even though cyclists have the same rights and responsibilites as automobile drivers.)
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Keep in mind that whatever sport you practice, try to do so only every other day. In the days in between, do something different (e.g. swimming, biking, roller blading) in order to recover from the strain put on your muscles and tendons. :-)
Different sports will use different parts of your muscles and enhance your ability in other disciplines. Also, have at least one rest day per week! Even pushing just once beyond this will have you tired and lacking energy, a signal that your body needs to run its "weekly cron jobs"
Unless you like the sounds of raw automobile metal crushing against human bone, nix the iPod (even for audiobooks, the author's favorite). iPods are okay for running on tracks, treadmills, and in the woods, of course. But if your running on a street with any amount of traffic, you'll need full hearing capacity to be sensitive to cars -- especially in this age of ultra-quiet engines, like those in Lexuses and gas-electric hybrids.
Road running is one of the most dangerous sports in the country, because it's one of the
few sports accomplished in an evironment in which cars outnumber people. More seasoned runners die of car accidents than heart attacks. All runners can attest to scary close calls with cars.
Your best bet is to consider running a time for meditation, which it is very conducive to -- if you're on the road for 2 1/2 hours, with no tv, no radio, no net, it frees the mind to expore places that you wouldn't go to otherwise. That, combined with the long-distance runner's high, is why P. Diddy, while prepping for the NY marathon, commented that "At 17 miles, you talk to the angels."
The number of runners who die every because they can't hear the cars coming and automatically step out in front of one ...
Thank you! Shoes are important, but you don't need the rest of the schwag.
Running shoes can get expensive, and are worth what you pay for them -- my quarterly Mizunos run about $80 a pair, and if I run in cheaper shoes, I get shinsplints and knee-pain from hell. Other people, like my boss, are lucky -- he can run in anything without having leg problems, and he's ten years older than I am. But shoes are worth spending money on, just to protect your joints.
As a note for beginners, make sure that you go to a *running* store to purchase your shoes -- not a Big 5 or a Foot Locker. The guys and gals at places like Sacramento's Fleet Feet are all runners themselves, and keep up on the latest in training techniques and technology, whereas the guys at Foot Locker are usually high-school students making minimum wage. A running store will suggest shoes, watch your form, and help you select form-correcting footwear.
So, shoes are important. But don't go out and buy hundred-dollar running outfits, and an iPod, and a heartrate-tracking watch, and all kinds of other crap that looks cool. All you need is a good pair of shoes, some old sweats, and some self-discipline. When you start running, it'll be hard, and you won't get far, but your endurance and distance will slowly creep up on you, and one day you'll realize that someone replaced your gut with a washboard, and that you can run four or five miles without dropping dead afterwards...hell, you'll feel refreshed.
--
I Hit the Karma Cap, and All I Got Was This Lousy
I agree about the running stores- some here in FL actually video you on a treadmill so they can check your pronation and prescribe the right shoe. And heck, what is 100 bucks for a pair of shoes when that is literally *all you need* to run? Try saying the same thing about most other sports.
He is talking about protecting tendons, that is why he is suggesting short runs initialy. to which I wholeheartedely agree...
Do something else to raise your heart reate, but running should be always approached with caution and information.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.