One Mile Run

Today my son and I went out for a 1 mile run. He is 8. We have been running off and on for a few months. Mostly off for him the last 6 weeks or so. I just have not been motivated to take him out here in the new neighborhood. To anywhere we have to run on some pretty busy roads.

But, I mapped out a 1 mile run last night and we had a go at it this morning. He did it in 12:11. He thought the 1 mile was nice and short since he has been running as much as 30 minutes at a time. I am afraid to let him run just 1 mile though. He might like it so much that he will not want to do longer runs. He likes to talk when he runs. If he has something to say for 30 minutes, he can run 30 minutes. But if he runs out of words after 10 minutes, he is done.

I ran the 1 mile again by myself afterwards. 8:02 was the time. I was very pleased with that. Some day my regular running pace will be that low.

Running Watch

I got a watch for Father’s day this year. Today was the first time I actually got to use its features. It is a Timex Ironman. Has a memory of 50 laps. I thought that was a nice modest amount to start with. Some day I will need a 100 lap watch, but right now, more than 25 laps is out of my need zone.

I ran a 5 Km. route. With Google Earth I was able to know where each of my kilometers ended. I ran “laps” of 5:38, 5:35, 5:38, 5:33 and 5:37 for a total time 28:02:47. That is not wonderfully fast for some people, but it is for me and I am happy. That works out to 9:01:something per mile.

What is cool about it is with the 2 tools of Google Earth and a watch with a lap counter, I can do speed work without having to go to a track. I can just step out my door and start on my run for the day. On the other hand, going to the track is much safer than running on the road.

Since I moved recently, I have not had any routes at the new house that were measured. I have been running the last several weeks on time only. Just run a certain number of minutes and call it a day. That works fine if you are not actually training for anything, but since I am starting to train for the Phedippidations World Wide Half Marathon, it is helpful to actually work certain distances (or close to those numbers) at certain speeds. Some days it will be all out running, where some days it should be a very casual pace.

I have all the tools I need to be ready for the race. Now I just have to get out there and train. That is the fun part.

Google Earth

Have you checked out Google Earth yet? I had heard much about it, but since it was not available for Linux until just a couple of weeks ago, I had not downloaded it. I installed it 2 days after it came out. I played with it. Was impressed. But saw very little use for it other than the novelty of it. Admittedly, it is cool to fly through the Grand Canyon and see the mountains on either side of you as you skim across the Colorado River. But, beyond that (and being able to see the swimming pool in my back yard), I could not see much use.

Until a couple of days ago. I had been frustrated by all these people in running forums talk about using Google Maps (or similar) to route out runs, or see how far they had run. That is great if you live in the US, and I would guess some other places. But it does not work here in Mérida because there is no map data for Mérida in Google Maps. But…since Google Earth is satellite data that is tied to known coordinates, assuming the photos are stitched in right, you can get very accurate distances using the Ruler | Path tool.

For my run this morning, I mapped out 5Km and where each 1Km split would be. That allowed me to do something I have only done one time before–run with known mile/kilometer markers. I could “see” where each kilometer started and ended. That made the 5K go so much faster. Plus I am excited in that for the first time in about 6 weeks I have been able to see what my actual minutes per mile time is. I ran about 1.5 minutes faster per mile than I normally do.

Poor attendance for Maratón de la Marina

The marathon run this last weekend apparently was very poorly attended. This is according to an article in the local newspaper which came out the day after the marathon. There were, reportedly, over 200 runners. To me, it seemed that there were a good number of runners. This an opinion coming from one who has never been to a marathon before.

The reason cited was that the purse was too small. People did not want to travel for such a small purse. Which makes me wonder…what is a good purse for a local marathon? This year’s purse was supposedly smaller than in the past. Here is a short breakdown of the numbers.

First place overall: $20,000 Mex Pesos which is about $1,800 USD.
First place for the first Yucatecan: $10,000 Mex Pesos, $900 USD.

This is in addition to the age category money. For example (men and women had the same amount per category):
Open (19-29): $8,000 MP, $720 USD
Sub-Master (30-39): $5,000 MP, $450 USD
Master (40-??): $4,000 MP, $360 USD

So it was possible to be first overall, first Yucatecan and first in the Open category and bring home $38,000 MP, or approximately $3,420 USD.

It only cost $50 pesos ($4.50 USD) to enter the race.

I think that the fact that it was 84 degrees with 84% humidity when the winners crossed the finish line may have more to do with the low attendance than the money to be earned. Most people go into a marathon to finish it, not to win it. But when the heat is up, people will stay away from a race. Grant it, most of the locals are used to running in this heat. But people don’t want to travel and be subjected to this.

Training programs for the Phedippidations World Wide Half Marathon

The training programs for the Phedippidations World Wide Half Marathon have been put up on BuckeyeOutdoors.com. There are four programs to choose from. Obviously they can be mixed around as needed.

Thanks to Terry for putting these programs together. I will be using the Intermediate program in my training. I am looking to pick up some speed this time around and I will also get some extra rest going into the final week. Last time that really hurt me. I finished in just under 2:30. I expect to get much closer to 2 hours this time.

The programs can be picked up via PDF as well. You don’t have to use the Buckeye Outdoors site to work the program. Though using Buckeye Outdoors will help you keep track of your needed runs and workouts.