Gear Review: GPS Watch/ Application

Running is an expensive sport. Sure, you start with a good pair of shoes and one running outfit. Not so bad, right? But next thing you know, you're signing up for races, buying new gear and supplements, which add up to become quite expensive. We're always looking for the next must-have running equipment to make us run and recover faster. I, unfortunately, get sucked into a good sales hype. I'm going to do a multi-part gear review to (hopefully) help you decide what/ what not to buy and save some money.

Let's get started! The one thing I absolutely can't run without is a GPS watch/ application to track my hard work and progress. I've had two Garmins and I've also used the RunKeeper application on my iPhone. I have a clear favorite, but what works for me may not work for you. It's all about your running preferences.

RunKeeper Pro:

 

I used the RunKeeper application before I got either of my Garmins. What makes it worth while is that it pretty much does everything the Garmin does, for free. (average pace, current pace, splits, etc) You can also view your route right on the screen instead of having to plug your phone into your laptop. However, I've found that the problem isn't with the app itself, but with carrying an iPhone. 

You have a few options when running with an iPhone. The first, is to hold it in your hands. However, if you have sweaty palms like me this isn't a great option as it makes it easy for you to drop your phone. Also, I've found that my form suffers severely when I'm holding something in my hands. If you don't mind running for a few hours at a time while holding onto your phone, the RunKeeper application is a great option because you also have your phone and music all in one device.

You can also hold your iPhone (or any other smart phone) in an armband. I use an incase iPhone sport armband case. I personally don't like using this because again, I tend to sweat a lot when I run. This makes it extremely difficult for me to use my phone's touch screen. Even when I'm not sweaty, I've found that you need to press quite hard through incase's plastic covering to navigate your iPhone.

When I run with my iPhone as a Garmin substitute (when it's out of battery) I tend to bring my iPod shuffle along so I don't need to navigate between applications. I simply leave my iPhone on the RunKeeper app and glance at it every so often to check my pace and distance, solving the sweaty hand problem.  To make things easy for yourself, if you tend to keep a passcode on your phone, disable it so you don't have to punch it in every time your screen turns off.

Garmin Forerunner 305:


I got this as a surprise gift from my lovely brother. He knew I really REALLY wanted one so he went ahead and shipped one to me at school. I only had this Garmin for about 6 months before it broke, but he had gotten it used so I don't know what the typical lifespan is for this version.

I loved the large screen and the button controls. I never had to worry about trying to navigate the screen with sweaty fingers. I had mine set up to show average pace, current pace, total time, and total distance. Since the screen was large enough to show all the stats I could ever need/want, I never even had to deal with tampering with the device on my runs. 

However, the 305 does have some downsides. It's quite large. I have very small wrists so sometimes the watch would bruise me. Additionally, I'm upset that the Garmin broke so easily. After a training run in hot, humid Taiwan, the 305 would start turning off mid run despite being fully charged. After reading forums online, I finally opened up the 305 to check the internal circuts. To my surprise, water had corroded the circuits, rendering no connection between the battery and the screen. In order to prevent corrosion from happening, I'd recommend doing a thorough wipe down of your Garmin post run. The water seemed to enter from the small speakers on the back of the watch.

Garmin Forerunner 210: I just bought this watch a few weeks ago after my 305 died on me. So far I have no complaints. It's smaller than the 305, which works for female wrists. Additionally, I like that it has button controls. I don't know if I've been lucky so far or if it's because the 210 is a newer model, but the 210 tends to locate satellites MUCH faster than the 305. I'm a pretty patient person, but the 305 would sometimes take 15 minutes to connect.

One downfall is that the 210 only displays three types of data at once due to its smaller screen. I have mine set up to show total distance, current pace, and total time. You can change it to your preferences but these three are what work best for me.

Sorry for this incredibly long post... I hope that this helps you decide what type of GPS watch/application works best for you!

*Note: I don't know about the distance accuracy of the Garmin vs. RunKeeper, but when I use them both at the same time, they tend to be about .1 miles within each other.

What type of GPS watch/application do you like to use?
Do you run with music? If so, what device do you use?


Right now I'm loving the 210/ iPod Shuffle combo.

Marathon Mistakes and the Redemption to 26.2 Glorious Miles

A few months ago I tackled my first marathon. I decided to run the GO! St. Louis Marathon in April, relying on my half marathon training for my base fitness. I followed a 12 week program by Runner's World's Smart Coach and was logging about 60-70 miles per week. 

My weekly training consisted of Monday, Wednesday, Sunday runs of 8-12 miles. Tuesdays were speedwork days, (mostly done on the treadmill with 1.0 incline so I would be held accountable to the pace) and Fridays were long run days. I ended up completing 3 20 mile runs, 3 16 mile runs, and 3 half marathons in my training cycle. On race day I was confident that I was ready for the challenge. None of my long runs ever felt too labored, I completed my last 20 mile run with an average of 8:22 pace, and I was in the best shape of my life. 

The number 3:35 resonated in my head for months. I may have been overambitious on my goal of BQ'ing in my first marathon, but I honestly thought my half marathon PR of 1:41 indicated that I was ready to take on the challenge. That, and I thought I had the mental toughness to run through the mile 20 wall and grind out the last few miles at around a 8:12 pace. Reality check. The marathon is NO JOKE, and quite humbling.

That 3:35 turned into a 3:56, 21 minutes off schedule. I ran with a pacer, keeping up until about mile 18. Then I just could not do it anymore. My right hip felt like it was caving in on itself and my stomach was so confused. That mental toughness I had been proud of carrying me through a rough 12 week training cycle quickly faded away. The last 8 miles felt like a march to my death. If it weren't for my friends waiting for me at the finish line and the fact that my splits were being posted to my facebook account, I don't know if I would have finished. Well, I finished, but it was not pretty. I stopped to go to the bathroom and walked more than I ran. At the finish line, I proclaimed in tears lying on the pavement that I'd never run 26.2 again.

A few days later, I reflected upon my performance and quickly had a change of heart. I went from not being able to run ONE MILE to a marathoner in one year. That alone is something to be proud of. Additionally, as a first time marathoner I was able to run a sub 4 hour marathon. I have so much room to grow and so many more races to run. NOTE: I do credit my relatively fast race PR's (for a new runner) to my natural ability as I've been blessed with long legs and a slender body.

I knew I had made critical mistakes leading up to the race. Here they are. Plain and simple. You'd think that with all the research and running magazines I read that I would have avoided these basic rules. Nope. I guess I was in denial and rendered myself invincible. 

1. I never really practiced taking in adequate nutrition/hydration during training runs. Sometimes I would drink water and slurp down a Gu, but more often than not, I would run 20 miles without putting anything in my body. I thought that by training on "low energy" I would be even faster and better come race day with the added boost of hydration and glycogen. WRONG. On race day, I ate a Gu at mile 7 and 14, and drank water at every aid station, which was about every 2 miles or so. This left me EXTREMELY bloated and uncomfortable by mile 18.

2. I did not taper. at all. I had good intentions to taper for a good 2 weeks. However, the week before the marathon I walked into a local running store to buy compression shorts for a lingering hip pain. The lady at the counter asked me if I was ready for next week, taking me by surprise. Apparently I had written down the wrong date from the start... causing me to run my final 20 mile long run a week before the race. How tragically embarrassing. I think that if I had rested longer, the lingering hip pain would not have surfaced at mile 18.

3. I ate an entire 12 inch pizza the night before.. so I was still full the next morning. I still ate my pre-race oatmeal with peanut butter. For the first few miles of the race I was still digesting food in my stomach. Not fun.

4. I went out too fast. This is one of the downfalls of running with a pacer. Pacers maintain a constant pace throughout the race. I would have benefited from studying the course elevation and running strategic splits with the uphills and downhills. 

Lessons learned.

I'm ready for redemption. July 29th. Four weeks. Bring it, San Francisco. 

Finding Your Identities

Pure Running Joy. St. Louis Marathon, 2012.

Hi, I'm Angela and welcome to my first post!

It's been about a year since I started seriously running and calling myself a "runner." I finally caved and decided to start a blog chronicling my running adventures and relieving my non-runner friends from the duty of listening to my rambles (you're welcome!)

Running is a passion I strongly identify with and see myself doing for many years to come. In middle and high school, I participated in various extracurricular activities. Singing in a choir? Playing tennis? Practicing cello? Check. Unfortunately, none of these stuck with me long-term. I loved dancing,  hence "slippers" in my domain name.  However, aside for the occasional move I shamelessly bust out in my car or room, dance doesn't play much into my life anymore. Now you can see me lacing up my sneakers and heading out for a run on local trails to enjoy the weather, on the track for a speed workout, or on the road racing for a personal record.

So who am I? I'm a runner, but I'm also a college student, a daughter, a sister, a friend, a baker, a reader, an adventure seeker, an arts enthusiast, and much more. Running is not my entire life, but this is where I will share the bits and pieces of my life as a runner.

What are some things YOU identify with? What are your passions and how do they fit into your daily lives?