Running on Thin Ice

What a news filled couple of weeks it has been.

-I have received my official entry into the 2011 NYC marathon
-I bought and tested a foam roller
-I started school again
-I ran 13 of the last 15 days (including several with my dog...)

I honestly could have written about any of these subjects, and perhaps will revisit them soon. But for now, I'd like to tell you about my first run with YAKTRAX Pro, a rubber contraption that you strap on to...whoa, lemme try some other words-- a coil system that attaches to the bottom of your sneakers and cuts into ice to give you better traction while running.

This is easily the most hardcore running gear I own at the moment-- sadly, from the pure logistics of how many days I will run with them, they are overpriced. At City Sports, they went for 30 dollars with a 1 year store credit warranty in the event that they break. Based on the online reviews I read-- I'm keeping that receipt in a safe place, because odds are high that I will need it.

Let's start with the basics-- Yaktrax do their job. You get traction on ice. Pretty cool. I wasn't really scared that I woudl fall at any moment while running with them, and they are extremely lightweight. If you did not hear the consistent crunching of metal on pavement/ice, you might forget that you're wearing them. But you have to be careful about putting them on-- they can change your pronation and make landing and pushing off feel very slightly different than the feel of running sneakers alone. I don't think they changed my style that much-- but there was a difference and as any runner will tell you, the smallest changes can have the largest impacts. Online reviews claim that the rubber straps break too easily. I'll keep you posted on how mine hold up to the cold season and if I feel any new pains as a result of wearing them.

But a quick word on running during the snowy and icy season-- there are major drawbacks. The hidden slush puddle that soaks your socks and shoes when you're 3 miles from home-- the kid who hits you with a snow ball in the back of your head as you run away (seriously, 2x in the last year), the need to keep your clothes consistently in the washer in and dryer so that you have them at the ready-- it's clearly better when it's warm. But if it's snowing on marathon Sunday, I'll be ready.

Altitude = Bad Attidude...

Some of you know that I was on vacation this past week. Turns out that, in large part, it was a vacation from internet, too. The house I stayed in did have internet, but at at molasses speed-- so I largely gave up.

For the time off, I was largely in Utah. "Largely" because I was eating roughly twice the food as previously, but it's tough not to bulk up on turkey chili and delicious BBQ food that was consistently around. This probably contributed to the story I'm about to tell you-- but I think it was mostly the skiing and altitude.


I was really hopeful that I wouldn't have to interrupt my workout routine for the vacation. The house I was staying in (though it is on a RIDICULOUS hill that is un-run-able) had an old treadmill that met my basic running needs. Day one, I jumped on that bad-boy and shocked myself by not being out of breath at the end of mile 1. During mile two, Caesar was stabbed by Cassius. Then a bunch of other senators. By the time I reached 2.25 miles, Brutus was carving. I lowered the speed and walked. Hadn't done that on my worst hangover days back east-- but I needed to now. At 2.5, I pumped the speed back up and finished mile 3. Then got off. And sat.

How do the Broncos not win the super bowl every year? They MUST be in better shape then the rest of the NFL. They should go 8-0 at home every year. Shocking how bad they are.

I was Utah for 6 days-- and managed to run only 3 of them. The other two runs, I confess I was satisfied with a measly two miles. I convinced myself that skiing moguls was enough to meet my exercise needs-- but I half knew that it wouldn't. The saddest run of all was a forth run that only made it .3 miles before I said no. I think getting dressed burned more calories.

The going gets tough for NYC 2011 training in about 4 months. A solid question is-- how do you maintain focus when external factors disrupt your routine? I need to start finding answers. Avoiding altitude is going to have to be a start, because it was a killer this time.

Lack of posts

Sorry-- next two albums coming soon. Just in the middle of moving and unpacking. It's a good thing.

Best Artists (To Run To)

I hesitate to name many full-length albums to run to--agree with Megan's comment that mixes are normally best--particularly after Chris outed the Killers' Hot Fuss. That being said, at the moment I've been listening to Kanye's latest, greatest, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. It would lose points in the important category of consistent beat despite beautifully...dark lulls, but if you don't mind skipping tracks (or just deleting the slow ones from your queue), it's fine.

In any event, among modern artists, Kanye has some good stuff to work with. I think Lady Gaga is probably the most consistent contemporary singer to run to. Other artists on my recent running playlist:

Blink-182

Arcade Fire

Daft Punk

Jay-Z

The Cars

Outkast

Led Zeppelin

The Ting Tings

Electric Light Orchestra

Michael Jackson

LCD Soundsystem

This site may be of interest while we're on this topic: http://jogtunes.com/

Best Album #3: The Killers, Hot Fuss

Okay kiddos, let's get started. My first "great" running album is Hot Fuss by the Killers. Here are the stats as taken from Wikipedia.

Title Writer(s) Length
1. "Jenny Was a Friend of Mine"   Flowers, Stoermer 4:04
2. "Mr. Brightside"   Flowers, Keuning 3:42
3. "Smile Like You Mean It"   Flowers, Stoermer 3:54
4. "Somebody Told Me"   Flowers, Keuning, Stoermer, Vannucci 3:17
5. "All These Things That I've Done"   Flowers 5:01
6. "Andy, You're a Star"   Flowers 3:14
7. "On Top"   Flowers, Keuning, Stoermer, Vannucci 4:18
8. "Change Your Mind"   Flowers, Keuning 3:11
9. "Believe Me Natalie"   Flowers, Vannucci 5:05
10. "Midnight Show"   Flowers, Stoermer 4:02
11. "Everything Will Be Alright"   Flowers 5:45

Total time: 45:39 -- Perfect for a 4-5 mile run.

Lotta great songs on there. For starters, you have the radio hits: "somebody told me," and "smile like you mean it..." both which will really get your arms pumping and legs floating across the pavement. But my favorite running song on the album...despite a REALLY slow start...is "All these things that I've done," which has the bridge section of "I've got soul, but I"m not a soldier..." very fun tune and great beat once it picks up.

Da criteria:

1) Has GREAT first song to get you psyched to run
When you click play on the album, you'll get the siren like thing and the helicopter thumps-- you get pumped. Jenny WAS a friend of yours! SO GET GOING! Rating: A-

2) Good, consistent beats
Really, I don't think you have to skip a song because it's too slow... Rating B+

Not all songs sound the same
Nothing really to say here. I guess you can say the songs are a bit too similar, but there is some serious variation, too... Rating: B+

4) Walks the fine line of "I'm embarrassed to listen to this" and "I'm proud I'm rocking this"
It's no longer "cool" to like the Killers, but I still think they're a solid band. I'll give them an A- here.

5) Has many shifts in songs-- mini explosions of excitement
As previously noted, good amount of this. Rating A-

6) Can be listened to over and over...
Arguably the album's best asset. Tough to get tired of this sucker. Rating: A

7) Songs are not too long, not too short
Shortest song, 3:11 ; longest, 5:45. Great lengths. Rating: A

Sombody told me, that you wrote a blog post, that looked like a blog post, that I wrote in February of last year...IT'S NOT CONFIDENTIAL, I'VE GOT POTENTIAL!

Sigh.

The best albums of all time (to run to)

I'm hoping this will spark a bit of a debate. Running music is a bit of a polarizing topic, and given that I've been running to the sound of silence (and I don't mean simon and garfunkel) for the last few months, I am not as attached to it as some folks.

That said-- a good beat can be be the difference between a good and a bad run. And back when I was running longer distance (training for the 2006 Brooklyn Half Marathon), I noticed that songs were the most consistent way to get a "runner's high." Let's debate if those exist another time-- for now, they do. Deal with it.

I think the best running songs consistently have one thing: a beat that is in time with the landing of your feet-- and hopefully one that pushes you to run just a tid-bit faster.

But making a running mix is really overrated. You spend way too much time crafting it like you're putting on a party-- and then what? You get bored on listen 3. Eventually, you get lazy and start playing albums instead. Don't lie-- you've been there.

SO. I've decided to give you a top 3 "run-to" albums of all time (with commentary). Here are my criteria:

1) Has GREAT first song to get you psyched to run
2) Good, consistent beats
3) Not all songs sound the same
4) Walks the fine line of "I'm embarrassed to listen to this" and "I'm proud I'm rocking this"
5) Has many shifts in songs-- mini explosions of excitement
6) Can be listened to over and over...
7) Songs are not too long, not too short

Stay tuned for the first album tomorrow.

Hello, Abridged Running History, Upcoming Posts

Good morning, folks. Chris, thanks for the...kind introduction. In terms of hand-eye coordination, my guess is Chris is more of a "natural" athlete than I am, but my long chicken legs do give me an advantage in distance running. We'll see how each of us does about a year from now.

The only thing more boring than training for a marathon has to be reading about training for a marathon, so I'll do my best to entertain over the coming months. For those who don't know me, I'm one of Chris's old college friends/running buddies. I moved to Washington, DC four months ago to attend graduate school after spending five years in New York.

One of the defining characteristics of my various homes over the past 10 years has been my running route. In college, there was the Charles River, which I always romanticized as the perfect spot. After graduation I spent a year in China, mostly in Beijing. While that city has many strengths, air quality is not among them. To keep up my running, I hit the dreaded treadmill in the glocal Bally's gym, accepting the near-constant ogling from curious Chinese gym rats/gym attendants who had apparently never seen someone run faster than 6 mph.

I then moved to New York a year and a half after having last run outside. I continued hitting the treadmill, paying $80/month for the privilege, until realizing the East River path was only a few blocks away. For the next few years, I dodged adventurous fishermen (do they eat those?), amateur tuba players, homeless people, and New School potheads on jogs through the dystopian Lower East Side industrial landscape. If they haven't filmed a climactic Batman battle scene there, they should. I wouldn't have gotten into these runs without a little help from friends Brian and Alex, the latter of whom most of you should know.

Today, I live in Kalorama Heights, Washington, DC, two blocks from Rock Creek Park. Man do I love this park. Beautiful rolling wooded paths hugging the Creek and cutting under grand bridges and arches. DC loses to New York in many categories, but not outdoor sports. The running and biking scenes here are legit.

So, that's the running path that has gotten me here. In upcoming posts I hope to share my thoughts on cold weather running, marathon motivation techniques, PEDs, and more. For now, it's time to study...