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 had to give up on running a couple years back due to a chronic knee problem. No problem finding other things to geek out in, though, such as bicycling, which is my current passion. I've got a cycling computer which has temp, cadence, heartrate, etc. and tracks it for later download to my computer (it's a Cyclosport HAC4) With advances in bicycle construction technology and cycling computers it's a natural to explore and push limits beyond the sweat.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Go to running store or good sports store
Buy shoes
Place shoes on feet
Run, during run observe surroundings, smile at people, collect your thoughts for the day, enjoy self
C'mon guys, give your brain a rest from the constant barrage of electronika, no wonder so many kids have so-called ADD.
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
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.
Who are you really, and how did you get in here? Geeks run only when chased...
I would be interested in any technology that helps me train for my office chair races each day. I stopped running and walking years ago, now I simply roll. Its the future of america i tell ya.
Why the need for RSS news feeds, email etc...
The great part about outdoor activity is ditching the electronic leash.
Basically on topic in regards to XML files from GPSs.
You can map (easily) your GPS tracks via GPS Visualizer. Just upload the XML from your GPS and set the maps up the way you want. It's pretty good for small areas (and can be for even large ones if you fool w/it correctly.
I routinely use the site for mapping out geocaches that I am planning on doing. It does require SVG so you might want to nab that if your browser doesn't already support it.
Ru nnin gforG eeks? R un nung fo rGe eks? I'm not sure I understand. Sir, you're speaking gibberish!
A programmer is a machine for converting coffee into code.
Do you just get used to the earphone wires swinging all over the place and the iPod case rubbing a hole through your hip?
I just started jogging as my exercise regimen (I'd like to be able to finish a marathon before I turn 30) and have come to the conclusion that the Greeks had it right. All this gear is just getting in the way.
I have been pwned because my
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...
geek status confirmed
vodka, straight up, thank you!
Running, marathon, never heard of that... Then again I havn't fully understood that whole fresh air/sunlight thing... *goes back to programming*
I tried to exercise at what I thought was a reasonable speed, but I would inevitably get winded, give up and lose initiative. But then my girlfriend got me a monitor for my birthday and after using it I realized that my heart rate was WAY too high. Use of the monitor validated that even at slow speeds I was getting heart-healthy exercise. It also allows me to see my progress as my cardiovascular system improves and I am able to exercise harder and longer and still stay in my ideal zone. It's a great tool.
Running was a big part of my life- but a mixture of fatherhood, getting into I.T. and gaining weight got me out of the groove.
In february I went on the Hacker's Diet and got running again. The running has gotten much better as I have lost weight. The biggest help tech has been was replacing my radio with an mp3 player. I picked up a Nomad MuVo NX and it is awesome. No commercials, no sucky songs and it is a quarter of the size of my old radio.
The loneliness of the long distance runner is much nicer with my tunes.
I am currently working on developing a full featured 'running log' for the palm os. Once I get it past the initial design stage I intend to GPL it and put is up on source forge. Any other geek runners interested? Is there something already out there I've missed (that is open)?
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
...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).
Holy shit! This is such a great idea, I can't believe it was posted to slashdot!
I'm not a serious runner, but I do have a fairly geeky workout. I have shoes tailored to my feet from roadrunnersports.com, a pretty serious ride computer on my bike, and I used to record my workouts on a PocketPC (I stopped when I reached a "stasis" point, when I adjustment my workout to the point that my lifting and endurance graphs intersected).
It's great to see somebody bucking the stereotypes that claims all geeks are fat and lazy. A lot of us are outdoorsy types in better shape than our peers.
Hey freaks: now you're ju
Does anybody else reading this think of running as something you do only when something is chasing you?
[Disclaimer:except for 10 winter pounds that will be gone soon I'm fairly fit]
For me running is painful on my feet and back. Strangely, it always makes me feel like I need to go "#2" on the toilet. Also, it's more boring than folding laundry. So I mtn. bike, do wilderness hikes, swim a bit, etc. Roller blading I can do pretty well! But I can't stop on them. Not much fun using a bridge abutment as a braking device.
Does anybody have any other ideas for cardiovascular excercise for the warmer outdoor season? Or how to make running less awful?
Does vigorous running make anybody else feel like they have to poop? What's up with that??
Operator, give me the number for 911!
...is to order them from Zappos.com :) Shameless plug, I know... but how else are you going to buy shoes from geeks?
:)
The system runs on FreeBSD, Linux, Apache, MySQL and is written in perl. The warehouse of over half a million shoes is completely computer sorted by unique barcodes on each box and shelf. The whole system for which was designed and implemented inhouse by our small team (thee coders, at the time). We offer free shipping and free return shipping so there's no risk, and we respond faster than any other online retailer.
Okay. I'll shut up now.
Sorry -- it seemed on topic and I love my job
I do this all the time. There are so many things I'd like to read, but don't have time.
If I put the audiobook on my Nomad Muvo2 4GB, and run/bike it makes the time fly by. I also feel as though I'm not wasting my time. I'm increasing my knowledge (listening to informative audiobooks) while I'm exercising.
I highly recommend this.
I've been moutain biking with my Garmin eTrex Vista for a couple of years now. The best way to create trail maps with your GPS is to bike after the leaves have fallen to get good reception. I upload my tracks to TopoMap 4.0. (Worst. UI. Ever.) Get a GPS with plenty of memory!
The experience is fun and challenging.
Set your GPS to collect current position every 1 sec if biking and every 5 seconds if walking/running. You can get going pretty fast on a mountain bike and long collection intervals make the track on your map seem jagged.
There are helmet cams you can buy from pricepoint for about $200.00(US) as well as lighting systems to light your way in the dark.
Logic is not Divine.
No affiliation, just someone who has used it in the past. I know there will be those who say "Just Do It (TM)", but for me, it helped to have a bit more structure than that.
"If I am such a genius, how come that I am drunk and lost in the desert with a bullet in my ass?" --Otto (Malcom ITM)
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"
The advantages of biking:
- infinitely much easier on your feet, knees and back.
- you can spend much more power, and you have more flexibility in choosing a suitable power level
- you can cover a larger area so it's less boring
- more flexibility in duration. Biking 8 hours a day is no problem for an untrained person, but running is.
- you can carry some luggage easily (iPod, phone, gps, book to read while pausing, drinks)
- you don't need to wear silly clothing (although you certainly can)
- a modern bike is way more interesting technically than running shoes.
Disadvantages:Flourescent (adj): smelling like ground wheat.
I tend to enjoy swimming more than running because if much lower impact on your joints so you don't end up with knee problems if you don't buy new shoes every 9 months. Plus swimming is a great aerobic workout that builds muscle as well.
Of course this means you have to actually get into a swimsuit and go out in public which probably scares the crap out of most slashdotters. But if you can get yourself out there you can bet on seeing some sweet swim chicks in lyrca! ;)
The only thing that will stop you from fulfilling your dreams is you. - Tom Bradley
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."
I began just like you did and made rapid progress, but then plateaued. Here's what works for me now -
a.Skip every other day. The muscles need atleast 24 hours to repair. By working them every day, you are overtaxing them. You will plateau, it is a certainity - ask any fitness specialist or your doctor.
b. When you do run/bike/workout, up the intensity and/or duration. Rather than 30 minutes, shoot for 1 hour, then 2.
c. Best to invest in an elliptical .Since your feet don't touch the ground on an elliptical, you don't bust your knees. At the same time you build rock-hard legs. Plus, you get to vary the intensity on an elliptical by changing the resistance & the incline - very effective.
d. Audio books are a great way to learn something while chugging away on an elliptical. I have loaded up on about 50 hours of philosophy - Locke, Kant, Hume, Hobbes, Machiavelli, Marx, and yes, the usual suspects - Socrates, Plato & Aristotle. As geeks, we are constantly upgrading "tech skills" ( Perl, Java, C++, C# etc. ) while neglecting "life-skills". A sound foundation in philosophy comes in handy like nothing else. Even if you don't care for the subject, you learn things like argumentation, dialectic, persuasion theories, burden of rejoinder...essential skills for making your point when you talk to anybody.
Best elliptical scores so far, at different levels -
3 hours, 19 miles, 2400 calories
1 hour, 7 miles, 950 calories
0.5 hour, 450 calories
Good luck, and watch that caffeine !
They can outsource me, but can they outrun me?:)
I know a nubmer of people who have been injured on a bicycle, some severely. I don't know anyone who has been injured while running.
My Karma: ran over your Dogma
StrawberryFrog
Women lose bone mass at a greater rate than men, so weight training is especially crucial. Typically, after age 35, women lose 1.2% per year, whereas men lose 0.2% per year. For optimal bone remodeling to occur, significant resistance must be used. Ideally, this means progressing beyond the light weights used in group fitness classes.
Additionally, the increase in lean mass associated with weight training strongly correlates with a faster metabolism. This means that women will burn more calories twenty-four hours a day, not just during or immediately following the exercise sessions. If you consider that a pound of fat contains roughly 3,500 kcals, exercise alone is not the most efficient mechanism to reduce that fat. However, generating significant metabolically active tissue (muscle) will cause an increase in the basal metabolic rate, thus burning off those excess calories more efficiently!
Source: http://www.deepsquatter.com/strength/archives/lady lift3.htm
People say I'm crazy, I got diamonds on the soles of my shoes...
I got into running into 1974 for health reasons. I was 28 and wanted to lose a few pounds around my middle.
It worked like a charm. In less than two years I went from a very flabby 155 to a very trim 139. I later on went up into the 140s. Yes, my build is very thin. Most men should not try to get down to my weight unless they're much shorter than I (still about 5'10").
You don't need to be a marathoner to get real benefits from running. In fact some people claim that running a marathon can actually be bad for your health. I finished the DC area Marine Corps Marathon in 1996 -- and wound up sick in bed with the flu a little over a week later. But running 36 miles/week (6 days of running 6 miles a day) can be very good for you.
I will give some suggestions:
You may not like running after giving it a try. It may also be bad for your joints. If this happens, quit running -- but try something else. I might have to quit running when I'm 85 -- but I'll still be able to swim.
When I started running all those portable techie toys weren't available. How did I cope with the boredom? Well, to be honest about, sexual fantasies really helped. Just thinking about the woman I was dating at the time certainly helped pass the time. Other kinds of thinking also help pass the time.
You might try joining a running club. Some of them are pretty good. They help provide friends with the same interest -- and companionship for long runs.
Today I look forward to my daily run/swim.
"Beer is proof God loves us and wants us to be happy." -- B. Franklin
You may wonder how, exactly, lugging all this expensive gear helps anyone get a useful workout.
You'll understand when you see a geek rocket past you, sweating and puffing and running at a tremendous rate of speed, with several muggers in hot pursuit.
A cheaper motivational method: tape a hundred-dollar-bill to your back and jog through the bad part of town! The locals will swear they're in Pamplona.
...
The advantages of running:
- Running gets you a higher amount of aerobic benefit in a shorter period of time
- You can do it in smaller area
- running shoes are way more affordable than a good bike
- running does not require a helmet
- you can run anywhere
- if you go on vacation- just bring your shoes and you are good to go
Disadvantages:- you have to be very careful to avoid injury
- the high impact is too much for some people
I think it is good for people to do something- I don't care what it is as long as they like it. I have never found running to be boring. I love it and find biking to be boring.It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
Because extreme cycling to the exclusion of all impact related excercise can promote early osteoporosis. Bicycling magazine had an article on it earlier this year. It was a fairly informative article. I believe it was in the january or february issue.
Problem with GPS is the bulky unit, and loss of coverage around trees / skyscrapers.
-Laz
Ok, a little off-topic, but I took sailing lessons last summer and have fallen in love with the sport. I now have a little Laser 2 boat to race in local races, and have found that there are good boat clubs and sailing associations close to most areas (and not necessarily yacht clubs costing big $ to join). It is easy to apply your geeky tendencies to sailing optimizations and racing strategies. I'd highly recommend getting a lesson or two to see if it works for you. At least you'd get out in the sunshine and water for a few days. Also good for people with knee problems, like me.
I've found these guys to be really helpful. There's plenty of advice on all things running... choosing the right gear, where to run, how to run, how to deal with strains & sprains... how to avoid strains & sprains. There's also a nice community of people there for advice and support. I started their beginner program last year... aptly named the "Couch to 5K" program. I've dropped 20 pounds, and I'm still going down. Good stuff. As pointed out in another post, the hardest thing for me to learn for me the right pace to run. I run significantly slower than I originally thought was optimal. After a while, you learn to listen to your body and keep a pace you can maintain. Running 30 minutes at a pace you can maintain does you a hell of a lot more good than running 5 minutes at a pace you can't.
The urge "to go #2" is not uncommon. It is known as runner's trots. You can find plenty of discussions on this topic on various runners message boards. Most articles say essentially the same thing re: remedies. here is one
I need that GPS to complete my arsenal.
Seriously, I used to have my heart rate monitor on all the time I ran. After I broke my habbit of running regularly I was setting my goals way too high based on the heart monitor's readings and that in turn made me quit alltogether.
I suggest you go running on a warm day in parks during peak hours. All the ass and tight tops with hooters popping out you'll see will make you forget about how fast you run. MP3 player is still usefull though. It's not like the hot chicks will want to stop in their track to talk to you but you'll have an excuse for why you didn't talk to them.
The advantages of driving:
Disadvantages:
(yes I do prefer biking over jogging, but now I have to actually start looking at bikes. I'm not sure what I want yet)
-CausticPuppy "Of all the people I know, you're certainly one of them." -Somebody I don't know
Go to a specialist running store, on their quietest day. Find a knowledgeable assistant -- at the specialist stores the assistants are usually runners themselves -- and take 90 minutes of their time trying on a great many pairs. Give them details of what you intend to do with them, and ask their advice. If they've got a machine that gets an imprint of your footstrike and can detect common idiosyncracies like overpronation, so much the better.
Try lots of brands, as they're all subtly different shapes (New Balance and Brooks suit me; my friend swears by Nike.) As a beginner, I'd recommend going for the extra comfort / cushioning models. You won't notice the supposed benefits of the lighter race shoes anyway.
Athletic Scholarships to universities make as much sense as academic scholarships to sports teams.
The US Government and a few other non-profit organizations has gotten a site together called America On The Move, where you can keep a step log and get some really good basic info about getting active. Here's the link: http://www.americaonthemove.org/
There is a downside about wearing a pedometer. One, you have to turn it off when you get in a vehicle. Sometimes you forget, and you then wonder why you got in way more steps than you thought you did. Two, you have to turn it back on after you get out of a vehicle or you cheat yourself out of some steps. Three, if you are wearing a particularly high-waisted pair of pants, you might not get a proper reading at all. Four, it can get physically annoying to have a little plastic box attached to your pants all the time.
I don't wear my pedometer anymore, but wearing one taught me what a proper amount of exercise feels like for me and gave me a feel for what I need to do to stay healthy. It is a truly geeky way to kick-start your exercise plan...it's like playing a video game where you are constantly motivated to beat your high score.
Here are a few other elements of my food and exercise plan. I wrote this journal post in November of last year, and I am still more or less sticking with it. I haven't lost a huge amount of weight, but I feel healthier and I'm capable of doing more physical activity than I used to when I was strictly sedentary.
It's a good start, Mr. Seigen. Keep going with it.
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
The number of runners who die every because they can't hear the cars coming and automatically step out in front of one ...
My feeling is that the technology isn't 100% there yet. The device logs your position every few seconds and these can be viewed as a map or uploaded to the PC. But at three positions the GPS tracking had clearly failed. For them to be correct I would have had to have dropped 2,500 feet and travelled at 80mph. I don't mind the hardware failing to track accurately because it's easy to fix in software. But with all the experience of this stuff Garmin have they didn't think to filter the data and they provide no way to manually delete the bad data points. Luckily you can export the data to XML and I can write my own code to clear the data up. But it's kinda disappointing because without writing my own code the total distance it thinks I've run is likely to be way off. And their logbook software looks like it was written by a junior developer over 3 or 4 lazy afternoons. Not being able to delete erroneous points is just so dumb. And yet clearly, in order to get a GPS device to work at all, they must have at least some developers who know what they are doing.
So overall I have mixed feelings about the device.
BTW Anyone know what CPU these devices have? I was trying to disassemble the firmware (which you can download in apparently unencrypted, uncompressed form) but I can't tell which disassembler to use. Doesn't look like an ARM. What else might be used on a device like this? Atmel AVR? Something else?
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
I'd like to know how good I am at running. The only way I know to assess that is to compare with other people. Are there published percentile running speeds so that I can tell what percentage of the population I run faster than for any given distance?
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
http://www.employees.org/~bozceri/training
and the link to the Polar heart rate monitor data download project:
http://daveb.net/s710/
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.