This is what Darcy had to say about the Nike plus! Thanks for the information Darcy! You rock!!!!
Hey alyssa,
When I first got my Nike+ I had the same reaction. Bruno told me that out of the package it is 80% accurate, and a much better tracker then when you are on the treadmill. The most important thing about the Nike+ is that you need to calibrate it. Which means that you need to go to a track, like gresham High Schools, which you know to be a fourth of a mile and run that with the Nike+ in calibration mode, set at .25 miles. you can do this once in running mode, and once walking. This will give it a much higher accuracy percentage. Also remember that how Nike+ works is that it tracks your foot steps, so if you end up running with a longer pace one day then you did the previous it again wont be as accurate.
Dont get me wrong, I LOVE Nike+, it is a great tool for keeping track of your runs, graphing them, and seeing your progress. Congrats on your ongoing running!
Have you ever wondered what tracked more accurately a Nike plus or the treadmill? When I first started running I would track my time by writing down all of the stats the treadmill gave me after a workout. When looking at the numbers I thought the numbers were a little off, was I really only running at a 10 min pace mile? So I decided to use my Nike plus and compare it to the treadmill information. To my surprise the treadmill was off by .25 a mile! Now that is a lot to be off by! Yesterday when I used my Nike plus I ran 3 miles and it paced me at 9.5 a mile. Those numbers made me feel really good. I am running under a 10-minute mile! From now on I am only going to use my Nike plus. Also the great thing about the Nike plus is it keeps track of all of your past times so I don’t have to write anything down after a work out. If you are a runner and don’t have a Nike plus you need to get one! They are the best investment ever!
On Sunday according to my training coach I was scheduled to run 4 miles. Now I cannot run 4 miles with out a few walking brakes involved. By three males I was right around my usual time of 34 minutes. The 4th mile was by far the hardest mile but once I made 4 miles I was so proud of my accomplishment. My goal this week is to be able to run 3 miles under 34 minutes. I keep trying to increase my speed each run and so far that method seems to be working pretty well. I can’t wait until I no longer have to take brakes but I have a feeling it is going to be a while before that happens. My training coach has me slowly increasing distance over time to reach my final goal of the 8k races I am training for.
When I woke up this morning I was so sore I could hardly walk! I talked to Misty and she said that it is normal to be sore and that it just means I trained harder then my body is used to. We also talked about warming up, cooling down and stretching after a run. These steps are very important and help prevent injury.
Those pictures are awesome Darcy! I wish I had a paved trail like that I felt comfortable running on at dark. There is not a lot of options here in the dark so I have been limited to running in the gym, which gets really boring. This week it doesn’t matter becuase I am just recovering from Sunday, but in the coming weeks I’m going to have to figure something else out.
Alyssa, nice blog about organic food!
I’m am feeling pretty crappy so I’m going home to relax and get cozy in my bed.
Misty sent me this great resource called smart coach. It has you answer some questions and then it sets up a running schedule that will help you train for a race in the length of your choice. You tell it how hard you want to train, how often and fast you are currently running now and what length of race you want to train for. I did mine in preparation for the Shamrock run. It then lays out a 16-week plan of attack to get you on track. The link is http://www.runnersworld.com/cda/smartcoach/0,7148,s6-238-277-278-0-0-0-0-0,00.html it is a really cool tool. The funny thing is when I printed my running schedule out it was the same days I am currently running and the first couple of weeks were what I am currently doing now.
I am trying to stay on track and keep a good schedule and this is a great way to make sure you are headed in the right direction for training. If you do not currently use any tools like this and you are on your own like I am it is a good resource to use! Good luck fellow runners and happy running! Ps. I am reading up on the Shamrock run right now so I will post on my next blog the deadlines and website if anyone wants to sign up with me ☺
Alyssa, thanks for the shout out and encouragement! The half marathon was really fun and such a great accomplishment. Andy was a strong support all along the way. He went to about 2 different spots along the route to cheer me on and was at the end when I finished. The weather was perfect and I finished in 1 hour and 51 minutes, and my goal was to finish in under 2 hours. Alyssa you know I will be there to run your very first half marathon with you, and can’t wait to run the shamrock run with all of you. Darcy, I am still waiting for you to run your first race, so I can see if you beat my time, which I’m sure you will. I think registration for the shamrock run opens Dec 17th, so make sure to go to the website and check it out. If you need motivation, you do get free beer at the end of the run! Hope everyone had a good weekend and keep training!!
Hello everyone! Misty congratulations on the completion of your half marathon! That is such a huge accomplishment! I bet you feel amazing! I am working on keeping the habit of running every other day so that I can someday run a half marathon. So far it is going very well. When I first started running it was the beginning of November and today is the first day in December! So it has been one month since I started training. One month ago I could barley do 2 miles in 30 minutes and now I am almost completing 3 miles in 30 minutes. My best time so far was 3 miles in 34 minutes but I am hoping by the New Year I will be completing 3 miles at 30 minutes. The good news is that not only have I inspired myself to run but I also have inspired Brian to go to the gym with me. He sometimes runs by me but he is not training the same way I am so I am on the treadmill a lot longer then he is. My goal has been to go running three days a week. The days that I have gone consistently are Tuesday, Thursday and then I go either Saturday or Sunday. Everyone keep up the good work and don’t forget to log your progress on the blog! 
Hope everyone is having a good week so far. I had a good work out this morning. I didn’t want to run too much with the marathon on Sunday, so today I did 10 min on the precor, ran a mile, 10 min on the stair step, ran a mile, and another 10 min on the precor. It helps me to mix things up bit so I don’t get bored. Yesterday I worked on strength training my legs and tomorrow I will do upper body strength training.
Andy went onto lime wire for the first time today and says it is awesome! We just stopped using bear share and were looking for somewhere else to downloan music, so I am very excited. Thanks Darc!
Hello all fellow runners! I am so excited because I am getting better and better at running! On Sunday I decided to go to the gym and start my week out right. I ran on the treadmill and I had my best time yet. I ran 3 miles in 35 minutes. I cut my rest time to 1 and a half minutes and then I ran 4 min, then 5 min, then 6 min, then 5 min. etc. It felt really good! Also I took the time before I left to down load some new songs. The ones I recommend are Brittany Spears “Womanizer”, Brittany Spears “Piece of me”, Pink “So What”, Pussycat Dolls “When I grow up”, and Stella “American Boy”. All of these songs have great beats, are high energy and great to run too. Darcy I will have to check out Madonna’s new cd as well. I love good music and it makes all the difference to have good beats to run to! I have been going running every other day, which seems to be a good fit for right now. I really enjoy my running time and I look forward to it by doing it every other day, I also feel like it will help me from burning out.
Hey everyone!
Glad to see were all still using the blog, especially Darcy, who no one can get a hold of anymore. Kitri it sounds like you had a great run on Saturday. The weather was beautiful here too. I think the shamrock run sounds perfect. I would do the 8K or the 15K. When do you need to know who will do it? Darcy I will look in August to see if I can find some fun runs for us to do and get back to you. I’ll try to check out those websites tonight, and let you know what i think.
Like ALyssa said, we ran about 2.5 miles on Sunday outside before we went to the Seahawks game (WooHoo!). Yesterday I didn’t run, but did precor instead and then did some upper body lifting. Tonight I am going to try for a 7 mile run. ANdy and I are preparing for the Seattle half marathon the Sunday after Thanksgiving, so we can run off all food we ate!
Keep up the work outs everyone!!