The Photo

The Great Yorkshire Run was fun. And out of it I got another memento.

The Watch Issue…

Now running using the Nike+ iPod application and technology on a treadmill has meant that I have never cared about the whole GPS thing. I have the treadmill display to also show me my time, distance and pace too, so why would I need something else to tell me the same information?

In short, sooner rather than later I will be running more outside. And with longer races coming along, maybe I would benefit from knowing my splits, so I can increase or decrease my pace to get a better time, rather than simply running and listening to my body. If I saw that I was close to PB coming into the last couple of K maybe I’d pull one out of the hat and start legging it. Who can say?

Anyway talked to a few people, all telling me to go GARMIN, and thought about it a little, knowing the options are really GARMIN, Polar and Nike, and then realised I do need one with a foot pod for treadmill time.

This narrowed it down to:

Some of Our Headphones Are Missing…

I run with regular ear buds at the moment but have this annoying situation where I look down at my feet when running that means, when I straighten, I pull the ear buds out of my ears as they were tucked in my running top, or the cord gets long and flaps around.

So, I borrowed a set of Philips Running Headphones that clip around the ear and do not move

Long story short I experienced what is commonly known as Swamp Ear. I sweated on the treadmill and the sweat filled my ears. Very unpleasant and prompted me to ask the Twitterati what they thought. In short, after a few silly ideas, all those who used Yurbuds were happy. And so I have my heart set on a pair of Yurbuds Ironman Endure Pro earphones.

They look like something Geiger would have painted, or Batman would wear and look awesome. UNFORTUNATELY, and it pains me to add, they are not for sale in the UK yet. The only vendor in the UK, The Sweat Shop, are not stocking anything yet. I shall bide my time.

The Running Playlist…

And so to music. I have the perfect 10K running playlist. Well, it is 10K for me, faster runners will have a few tracks to skip if they want to end when the music does. And here it is.

1. AKA… What a life BY Noel Gallaghers High Flying Birds – great track to start with
2. Beautiful Day – U2- nice for when dodging in and out of slow starters, and trying to break out
3. Hurt Less – Qemists – by the second K you should have more space to get into your rhythm, although this drum and base track is a little fast, I love it for the fact it gets me moving. I should be putting my fastest split here and with the next
4. Choose Life – Ewan McGregor and PF Project – another fast one, to help me clip off a couple of K before I get tired and want to walk a bit. The first four tracks should get me toward the 3K mark before this happens
5. Step on – Happy Mondays – a slightly slower one to slow me to a slow run rather than a walk. There are a few songs I do this to, FARTLEK training with musical accompaniment.
6. From Extremely Far Away – Camp – speeding up again to a faster pace
7. Reason is Treason – Kasabian – ditto
8. Sabotage – Beastie Boys – ibid
9. Setting Sun – Chemical Brothers feat Noel Gallagher – four tracks in a row that will push me to run 7 min kilometers
10. I’m Free – Soup Dragons – before I am allowed to slow again with this classic Brit Pop number
11. All You Good Good People – Embrace- and even walk to this if I like
12. Sweet Harmony – Liquid – before this rave track gets me moving again
13. The Sun Always Shines on TV – A-HA and I speed up again.
14. Hurt Less – Qemists – and then a reprise of my favourite running track to keep me going to the end

And there you have it. I can switch some songs in and out to stop the boredom, but this will get me through an hour of plodding.

Kip Litton

So finally onto a bit of running folklore. I read this article and am still a little in shock. You should just read it and, if you wanna talk about it later, just message me.