Category Archives: resources

Feeling a Little Twitter-pated?

Many of us in the Running Blog Family have taken advantage of new fangled technology called Twitter. Many runners probably first learned about Twittering from the podcaster Steve Runner who, with the help of his son, twittered his way through this year’s Boston Marathon.

My “twitterverse” or my universe of Twitter has quickly grown with lots of running friends, most of whom I’ve never met except through blogging and e-mail. In the past month or so that I’ve been active in Twitter I’ve encouraged other runners and they have encouraged me. Especially after finding this blog post with a list of running tweeps.

So What is Twitter? Simply, Twitter is the most popular micro-blogging site on the web. The official definition is:

Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?

Twitter will help you fill in the gaps in-between blog posts about what is going on in your friend’s lives. Common Craft has a great video that might help you understand Twitter a little better.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddO9idmax0o

Still not convinced you need Twitter? This article written by a CEO Twitterer is what convinced me to take the leap and now I’m hooked to this 140 character phenom. I say go on over and try it out today!

You can find my Tweets here.

I will say that initially I used Twitter every few hours, but now have gotten into a more realistic mode of posting every few hours and tend to post more highlights, while many people post lots of little details of their day. I have also seen tons of encouraging tweets from runners to other runners who are struggling to get on the road or with other personal issues. If you have 5 minutes a day and want to meet some other great runners and people – Twitter is the way to go. It might be a little over-hyped but it is a great tool.

[tags] Twitter, Running Blog Family, Micro-Blogging [/tags]

One Hundred Push-Up Challenge

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100 push-ups in a row. 6 weeks. 3 days a week.

That is the plan. Doing a prescribed set of push-ups 3 days a week for 6 weeks should allow you to complete 100 push-ups in a row. That is the claim of the latestet Internet fitness revolution. Bloggers (and non-bloggers) everywhere are taking part in the Hundred Push-Up Challenge created by Steve Speirs at Run Bulldog Run.

If you’ve been following my marathon training, then you know that I’m in the middle of Week 4 3. I’m almost up to 100 push-ups total in one setting – but within 5 sets. It can be pretty challenging some days.

I decided that I wanted to add a little something to my workout and started the challenge using a swiss ball. In addition to the regular benefits, I get a little extra benefits for my overall core. During an exhaustion test at the end of Week 2 my arms felt great doing the push-ups but my abs couldn’t hold my legs on the ball anymore and I fell over. My plan is that this will greatly strengthen my overall core and I’ll reap a little extra benefit for the marathon training.

It seems that pretty much everyone has had to repeat at least one week, including Steve himself. If you fail to meet the required workouts you should repeat the entire week to make sure you get the strength needed later. I repeated Week 2 because I skipped a workout! If you are thinking about starting it now, make sure that it fits in with your training schedule for fall races – you don’t want to try doing 100 push-ups the day before your marathon!

Are you one of the thousands doing the push-up challenge? Where are you at in the challenge and how does it feel?

[tags] push-ups, Hunderd Push-Up Challenge, Core [/tags]

Midtown Greenway: Recreational Mecca

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Image from Flckr

There are hundreds of miles of trails – maybe even thousands across the greater Twin Cities metro area. Some have no real purpose other than winding around, enjoying nature. Some serve as vital arteries of transportation and commerce. The Midtown Greenway falls into the latter category.

Cutting East-West through the heart of South Minneapolis, the Greenway is a major commuter artery connecting the Western Suburbs to the Mississippi River. It is also a three lane recreational mecca of sorts easily connecting with the chain of lakes, Midtown Global Market, West River Parkway, and a variety of other bike trails.

Officially the “Midtown Greenway” is only 5.5 miles long but the trail continues on after leaving Minneapolis and Hennepin County. The Star-Tribune recently reported that for the the quarter ending on June 30th that overall trail usage was up 30% and three-fold since 2003. From a running standpoint this means the trail is quite busy. I would argue that this facility maintained and advocated for by the Midtown Greenway Coalition is invaluable as a paved trail for those who need paved surfaces to recreate.

Living only 4 blocks from the Greenway and 6 from an entrance/exit I use the trail for many of my runs and bike commuting to work. From a running standpoint it is extremely nice to be away from cars and to have a flat surface to run on – although it does get a little boring and repetitive. The trail occasionally has a dirt shoulder that I can run on to avoid the pounding pavement but you can’t count on being able to run there. I said flat, but the newest addition – Martin Olav Sabo bike-pedestrian bridge over Hiawatha Ave – provides a pretty steep incline for both the runner and biker. However, it can provide some pretty sweet views of downtown at the right times of day.

Image from Flckr

In the winter the Greenway is extremely useful because it gets plowed on a regular basis and you don’t need to worry about cars sliding around and hitting you – just a bicycle!

I have really enjoyed being able to utilize the Greenway so much. It wasn’t until I started training for the marathon that I really started branching off and running different routes from my house. The Greenway is just so convienent!

Hope to see you out there!

[tags] Midtown Greenway, Bike Trails, Minneapolis, Recreation [/tags]

Product Review: Pearl Izumi Go Shorts

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Last year I purchased a pair of Brooks running shorts with side velcro pockets, but after my gels fell out during a race I became disappointed in their ability to carry nutrition for the long runs. I needed another option for my upcoming marathon. Blaine Moore recommends the Race Ready short. I personally don’t like how the Long Distance (Race Ready LD) shorts look – if you’ve never seen them they basically look like they have a bunch of mesh pockets hanging off your waist on the back – and the others aren’t really different from other shorts. I guess the mesh pockets are a little better than just pinning a bunch of Gu to you shorts as is often done!

So I was looking at all the various options at Marathon Sports after a MDRA training class and they offered 3 or 4 different shorts that had ample room for nutritional products. One of the other runners recommended the Pearl Izumi Go Shorts and compared to the others they looked the most like a regular short.

They offer 2 velcro closed pockets and 2 other pockets on your back and a key pocket built in the seam. His only comment was to make sure you actually tie the drawstring so that your crack doesn’t show while running! A good point. Being all sweaty and dirty I didn’t try them on but bought my normal medium. Oops, when I got home they were a little tight in areas where they shouldn’t be and that was even before I loaded up the pockets – so back I went to purchase a large – which fit wonderfully.

They do have a little different feel than most of my other shorts, the inner liner fits a little snugger than my other shorts and is made of a different fabric. From the product description:

Pearl Izumi has built its reputation on creating the highest performance technical fabrics in the world. On the Go Short Pearl Izumi Light II Ripstop fabric is made with channeled polyester yarns that quickly wick moisture away from your body for optimum fabric performance. The Ultrasensor float liner adds to this high moisture transfer performance, providing needed support while keeping you cool, dry and abrasion free during long, all-terrain runs.

The lightweight Go Shorts feature two Velcro mesh backed pockets, two open, mesh backed pockets, and an internal key pocket so that you can take essentials with you on the run. The shorts feature a straight hem style, elasticized waist, and laser perforated side panels for additional ventilation.

I’ve worn them for 2 long runs now (1 with Gu and 1 without) and they seem to do a pretty good job. They did dry out during my 14 miler after getting wet from hitting wet foliage! I didn’t really notice the Gu packet during the run either. One thing of note is that the key pocket is a little lower than on any of my other shorts. Most shorts have the pocket sewn into the seam – on the Go Shorts it is about a inch lower and actually hangs a little lower than others too. Not a big deal as it still feels comfortable on the run – its just a little more akward trying to dig the key out afterwards!

So far I have really enjoyed the shorts and would recommend them to you if you are looking for a safe way to carry Gu or other nutrition on a long run.

[tags] Product Review, Pearl Izumi, Go Shorts, Running Shorts [/tags]

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Heading to the (All)top

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If you could only go to one website a day to find out all the latest information about running what would it be? Aww shuck you didn’t have to say this one!

Seriously though…

Check out one of the newest sections at Alltop – running.alltop. Since June 1, 2008 Alltop.com has been collecting feeds from various running related blogs into their nicely laid out site. You can go to the page and see the last 5 posts from 72 different running blogs. That is a lot of blogs but it also a lot of good information!

Some of the blogs are personal training logs while others are great resources such as The Final Sprint, Runnerville, Team Cross Runs, Run to Win, Runner’s Lounge, Nike, Cool Running, and The Complete Running Network.

So you get the idea there is a plethora of information. Overloaded? You can actually close out some of the feeds so it is less distracting.

Be sure to head on over and at least give it a look. They are constantly adding new sites all the time.

[tags] Alltop, Blogs [/tags]

Team Cross Runs and…

Follow the path of a runner, running where runners run! And so much more!