It looks like 30 seconds is the magic number between 0% and 1.5%.

So, if the idea of the incline is to compensate for the column of air you're not displacing by remaining stationary, I would think the grade should be somewhat a function of speed.

If you're walking, air resistance is a very small percentage of the effort. But if you're going 15 mph it's going to be significant. Or, looking at it another way, a 3mph tailwind isn't going to relieve a walker's effort nearly as much as a 15mph tailwind will help a miler.

Somehow, I don't think an 8mph tailwind would make me run 30 seconds per mile faster at my easy effort, so I'm guessing that the 1.5% grade is slightly overcompensating on the treadmill for an 'easy' run'.

But on the other hand it might be just about right for my 200m repeats -- as they're faster.

So that's my hypothesis and theory -- put out for peer review.

I always thought that the 1.5% incline was to compensate for the energy benefit you gain from the motor rotating the belt. Never really thought about the column of air theory.

Keep running!

The Lore of Running. It has a lot about energy spent running into and against the wind. And up and down hills. Like if you ran up a hill and then down the same hill, you could never mae up the time lost going up.

But the air resistance idea is interesting. If your going at a certain speed then a certain tail wind is needed to help you. I'm still trying to figuure it out. But as like hills, running into a 20 mph wind will loose you more time than you could make up with a 20mph tailwind. So if your going 10mph and the wind is a 8mph tailwind, I believe it doesn't help. Have to recheck. But I believe a slower runner benefits more than a faster runner with a head wind or a tail wind.

So probably if your jogging on a treamill 1% is probably good, but the faster you go the higher the % probably needs to be. I haven't been able to find to much research about it. But we could do our own research. Anyone interested?

to be the slow runner. With wind, I think size is also a factor. Lots of variables here. What about weight on hills?

Nice job recruiting Steve. It's rewarding to see someone get hooked on running.

My run was fine even with temps in the low teens.

There's a sucker born every minute and I found me one. Oh, ya, I guess that makes me one, too. Just hope I don't scare 'em off. Been known to happen.

Keep running!

Go away, cold stuff!

With my idol, Judson. :-) Thanks for the run!

your longest run to date? I think it must be. Way to go! You definitely should treat yourself to a pair of new shoes. I never realize how broken down my shoes are until I wear new ones.

Yep. Had a nice 14 mile loop plotted on the usatf route mapper, but they didn't point out the bridge under repair at mile 8.5. Had no choice but to turn around. Lost a minute on the split.

Buy those shoes, and you sure got the bug now!

Healing little bone :)

Last x rays: very visible crack and bone fragment.
New x rays: fragment has "glued" itself back to the bone, nice whitish area where the crack used to be.

I am now allowed to bike and go for walks and attempt some light, easy running towards the end of the next two weeks *if* walking feels OK. (!!!)

(imagine me dancing all around my house, which is what I've been doing for the past fifteen minutes because I'm SO excited!)

Keep healing, little bone!

Betcha' the Dr. wouldn't be too happy with all that dancing. Remember -- EZ does it when you get back to it. I know that's not in your vocabulary (nor mine), but we're in it for the long haul.

Keep running!

what means this four-letter word ;)

well, at least I wasn't turning cartwheels :)

now listen to what Steve says.

Are you wearing some sort of thing around your chest? I've thought about it because I suspect my heart rate is frequently on the low end (because I hate to work hard), but I hate the idea of wearing that thing. Does it bother you?

Reading posts is getting me psyched to run today. Will have to be on treadmill because I can't get started until the sun goes down. Pesky work.

Mine has a chest strap -- a little plastic piece in the middle and a soft stretchy band. If you get one, I'd advise putting some vaseline or something on the skin where the plastic piece is; mine dug into my skin once and it took a long time to heal. Other than that instance, I never noticed I was wearing it. They are kind of fun once you figure out how to use it!

Mine is like Aylie described. Today I was typing my post when I realized I still had it on so it can't be too uncomfortable. I am aware of it when I'm running, especially at the beginning and I'd never wear it in a long race but I've had sports bra's that chafed more.
I don't have it all figured out yet BUT it has pointed out some significant flaws in my training that now seem obvious but I've been ignoring the evidence for years: I need to run my first mile slower than all the others. At the same pace my heart rate is dramatically higher than once I'm warmed up. Too many of my training runs are at too high an intensity so I get progressively more tired throughout the week and never really have "recovery runs". It's hard to train strategically with hard and easy days. I suspect that after a month of using it I will set it aside because it will train me to be better at recognizing and reading my body's cues.

That's the typical feedback and benefit of training with a monitor. My experience has been that, while it seems to keep you running absurdly slowly at the beginning, if you stick with it and keep to aerobic levels on your easy days, in time you'll notice lowered heartrates both on easy days and also during hard workouts. (This means, of course, that hard workouts can be run much harder.)

I'd also add that the monitor signals for the first mile or so are often wildly unreliable until you warm up a nice sweaty contact. Until then, even passing under a household power drop can sometimes send the nominal readout soaring.

But your general conclusion I think is correct. Just for the discipline, you might try starting by jogging a couple of 11:00-12:00 minute miles and then, after that, see what the HR-limited pace allows you for the rest of the run. You might be happily surprised.

I remind myself to START SLOWLY but then the cold air hits me and I have to move. Plus, the thought of 11:00 to 12:00 minute miles, although it's probably sound advice, panics me. My brain says, "NO! The goal is faster not slower!" I'll have to talk to myself about that.
Good to hear about the wild initial readings. I suspect that with the cold dry weather that lasts even longer. I can be talking and joking and it tells me I'm at 102%. I don't say anything when I'm running as fast as I can and I'm really in the 100+%

...to talk yourself into training slowly:

A five mile run that lasts an hour is 33% better for your aerobic base than a five mile run that's over in 45 minutes.

And, as your aerobic condition is the foundation that supports all the apparatus of speed, speed will follow to a certain extent automatically. Slow training miles will make you race faster, especially if your racing habit is positive splits.

I'm sure I'll have to chant it for the whole hour to make it stick but I will try. Patience is a virtue, but . . .

That's a lot better then nothing and probably more exercise then 95% of our fellow citizens. And by posting you may inspire someone else to exercise. Keep it up it's worth it.

Kevin

your travelogue and Brian's photos were much appreciated. Lauren won't return until Jan. 18. Her descriptions of Indian Santas and trees decorated for the tourists in Pondicherry were hard to imagine.

Wow - that's a nice, long trip. She must be having a great time.

and almost as important - where can you get Agnes bagels these days? I have not had any since the bagel factory on Cottage closed.

Kevin

Thanks, Kevin.

As for Agnes ... you've been missing out! All this time, she's been hidden away in a little shop just a few steps away from the old Bagel Factory.

Here's the secret: On the opposite side of Cottage Street, there's a little alleyway tucked between Mache Bistro and Little Anthony's. You head down the alley, past a framing shop, and into what appears to be an empty parking lot. Look to your left and there's her shop, with a rainbow flag and a little "open" sign in the window.

The great thing is that Agnes loves the new location. The Agnes I remember from the old Bagel Factory was always grumpy and frazzled. But the new location is hidden away from the tourist flow, and full of light, and Agnes is all smiles and stories. And the bagels are just as good.

For those of you who haven't been to Agnes, she makes the best bagels north of NYC. She usually sells out by noon.

I'll stop in on my way to work tomorrow. She was grumpy on cottage, kind of like Seinfeld's "Soup Nazi", I thought. Great bagels but watch out.

No bagel for you - next!

KJ

Seriously. Only we don't float through the turns, they give you momentum!

"occupational" hazard. It won't go away!!! I've gone through half a bottle of scented body wash in the past three days -- candy apple scented, it's not taking.
I just wish my hair would turn green, all the other blonde swimmers I know have green streaks where it reacts with the chlorine. Mine won't, I feel left out.

Have you tried "UltraSwim Chlorine Fighting Shampoo"? They used to make a soap, too, but I can't find it any more. You could try washing with the shampoo. You can get it on-line or in a sports store.

Also, you mentioned a few days ago having swimmer's ear in both ears. When I was swimming 3 or 4 hours a day (decades ago!) I put alcohol in my ears after every swim to make sure no water stayed in them. Have you tried that?

JoAnne

I've tried the alcohol/vinegar mix that ed suggested, it helped a little but I suspect that I've been spending so much time in the water that I'm fighting a losing battle. I have antibiotics, those are making it clear up :)

...are good for clearing it up. But alcohol and vinegar might help prevent you getting it as often. I remember that my mother mixed ear drops with alcohol and vinegar; I just use alcohol now, but that's just because I forgot about the vinegar:-).

I'm guessing yes, because you said you had done some 3-4hr days in the pool. If so -- what team, what events?

Like my three sisters, I started out on an AAU racing team in Wichita, Kansas at age 8. But however well I did in workouts, I ended up hitting the water and flailing at meets because I would get so excited. So when I was 10, my mother decided I should switch to the synchronized swimming team, which she hoped would teach me some control. At that time (in the 1960s!) synchronized looked a lot different than it does today (required stunt competitions as well as routines, etc.) So in the summer I worked out maybe 3 hours a day, and spent another hour or so at a different pool just playing. It was too hot in Kansas in the summer to do anything else.

I stayed in synchronized swimming through high school, but not beyond. I raced for a year in college, but then gave it up for lack of time. But swimming, like riding a bike, is one of those things you never forget.

I never could have raced a 200 fly, though! :-)

Alyie--try racing the 200 fly sometime (just for "fun")--it's totally about strategy. i used to do 0:56 100 fly, but only a 2:12 200 fly, because it's soooo hard. so many people try to swim a 200 fly like a 200 free, and unless you're exceptionally strong, you end up just blowing up. of course, i was only a 2nd string swimmer, but i used to swim 10 X 200 fly all the time in practice, but could still never get below 2:10 in a race.

it's good that you love swimming so much since you're running is limited. you'll need to start on your cycling training pretty soon--how's the leg?

I'm allowed to bike now, too. I'd be out doing that right now, if it weren't for my parents (IT's FREEZING RAIN! WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?"). Kelly promised she'd spin with me this evening, though. Anyway, it feels a lot better and the Xrays looked good yesterday.

A 2oo fly race is in the near future; there's a master's meet in January here that I'll most likely swim in. I've always wanted to race a 4oo IM too. And a 1650 free.

0:56 for a 100 fly, that's awesome.