Concerning smartphones…

After seeing all the things that my daughter’s and other folks’ smartphones could do, coupled with lower prices, I decided it was time to upgrade.  I had known for a while that there were several  features of smartphones that could help me as a runner and cyclist.  So, I went to my provider and picked out one of their android-based smartphones and took off.

Well, sort of, took off.  There is a bit of a learning curve for smartphones, but not a great one.  More of it involves getting used to the change in speeds of things happening, but more on that in a bit.

I chose an android-based phone for several reasons: 1) it’s not Apple, and 2) the android operating system is based on Linux/Unix.  I’m not exactly an Apple-hater, but I dislike their prices, their exclusivity, and their fakery.  Yes, fakery.  Underneath Apple’s fancy OSX disguise is just a regular old Linux kernel.  The same kernel that runs my own PC.  Whether that carries over to the iPhone or not, I don’t know.  And, since the android OS is based on the Linux kernel, I am comfortable working with a Linux OS if I need to or want  to do so.

To describe what I expected to happen as far as running and cycling goes with a smartphone, let’s start with how I normally ‘hook up’.  Generally, when I am running, I carry my Garmin 305 and an iPod nano (Yes, it’s Apple.  Please remember what I said about ‘exclusivity’).  On top of this outfit, I also would carry my cell phone for emergencies and contact.  My hope was to reduce three devices into one with the smartphone.

Now, how was I going to do that?  The android smartphone has two ways to handle music; on board mp3 playing and Pandora.  Playing your mp3 files on an android phone is about as simple as the iPod, though getting them there is not.  In order to move my mostly iTunes-based library over requires some artful digging into folders and some conversion work.  Then I have to dismount the micro-SD storage card, put it in an adapter, plug the adapter in my PC and move the files then vice-versa.  Quite a bit of work.  It would be much easier if I could just move my iTunes library over.

But, remember that word exclusive I used in context with Apple?  Yep, you guessed it.  Can’t do that.  Since the android OS is a part of the Google system, and iTunes is exclusive to Apple stuff, I can’t get iTunes for my android smartphone.  So, my library transfers are a work in progress.  Though, for getting new music, the Amazon mp3 store is a good alternative.  And, that brings me to Pandora.

Pandora is an online web site/service that has an app for the android phone.  In Pandora, you look up styles, genres, or artists in music that you like and it builds a “radio station” around that choice.  Pandora streams music to your phone that are similar in style to your primary choice.  As an example, I have a Roy Orbison station on Pandora.  It then sends music from Orbison, but also from Chuck Berry as well as others from the same era or style.

However, Pandora has some features not conducive to all types of running music.  It’s a bit slow to start up because it depends upon your connection to its servers.  It requires a lot of data transfer so you best have an unlimited plan, and you can’t go backwards on the smartphone (you can on your PC).  In addition, whether it’s Pandora or your own mp3′s, the tactile feel of changing songs or stop/start on an iPod is still superior.  However, I have found that on shorter runs so far, in town, that it works well enough.  Oh, and don’t forget, they play ads too, but not as many as a regular radio station.

Now, for the Garmin stuff.  I use MapMyRide.com to log my rides/runs and they offer an app for the android OS to have MayMyRide right on my phone.  In addition to the regular features of the web site (adding routes, logging workouts, logging calories), the android app uses the GPS of the smartphone in order to log the route and the workout simultaneously.

The first time I tried this out was on a walk during my injury recovery.  It was less than stellar.  I couldn’t quite figure out how to change stations, so I was stuck with the shuffle feature of Pandora.  I have since figured that out but I still wouldn’t recommend changing a station mid-run.  Difficult and lots of dead air.  The MapMyRide workout recording did well, but I had a severe problem starting and stopping the workout.  MapMyRide’s server connections are severely slow and too much dependence on that keeps things slow.  They would do better writing the app to use local resources on the phone and only up/download at the beginning and end of the workout.

I have since taken a couple of short runs using just the smartphone.  I have been able to improve upon my use by adjusting what I am doing.  I start Pandora and choose my station before I leave the house.  I start the MapMyRide app and let it sit idle and getting ready right up until I start my run.  I know I have to get the phone back out before I end the run and make sure it’s ready to stop the workout recording before I get to the end.  And, it’s important to keep the MapMyRide app on your display so you don’t fumble with that when you’re ready to stop.

Smartphones can certainly make things easier on cell phone users and athletes.  However, they come with their own new set of difficulties and limitations.  In their place, they operate just fine.  Out of their place, our older devices will still work better.  I am just starting to test the use out on bike rides.  That’ll be a future post.  For now, I will continue using my smartphone on shorter runs (<5K) and stick to my Garmin and iPod for my longer runs. There are probably lots of other apps for android and iPhone users that might be better, simpler, faster, and/or easier.  If you know of them, comment and let me know.  Happy running!

The Three Stooges…

I used to love watching the Three Stooges, until I became one.

So, here we are in the fifth week of injury repair.  I was doing well.  Hadn’t had any “zingers” from turning the ankle the wrong way in several days.  I was walking good.  I could spend 20 minutes on the trainer without problem.  I had only gained two pounds.  If I remained patient and calm, things would be just peachy.

Then there was Wednesday.

Once a month, we set up for a men’s night at my church.  That was this Wednesday.  We start early in the afternoon because it’s a pretty big deal.  There are several scaffolds to set up, TV’s to install on those scaffolds, and lots of things to prepare for.  We were starting with scaffold assembly.

We had one put together and we checked it well, but not well enough.  When I turned my back, the preacher had gotten on the platform and it fell through.  One of the sides was not locked in well enough.  He landed well and only seemed to have a bummed shoulder.  We kept working.

Then, one of the other men working with us put one of the scaffold extensions on and it came down and pinched his arms.  He had two neat cuts where they were pinched.  Two accidents in five minutes.  Not looking good at this point and it should have told me something.  Got him patched up and we continued.

I set the brakes on another scaffold and climbed up and around to put the top together.  Apparently, though I did this the previous month, I did something wrong.  It overbalanced and started to fall.  I went down with it and landed hard and then hit my head on the wall.  Good grief.  Three accidents in less than ten minutes.  I got up and tried to hobble it off.

But, a nice bump appeared on my head where I had hit it.  Not good.  I didn’t want to be one of those that hits their head and then passes out 12 hours later, so I sucked it up and called my sweetie.  It was time to visit the ER.  Of course my daughter already had seen the accident because she works in the office with us.  This just wasn’t going well.

The ER visit turned out alright.  They seemed more worried about my foot than my head.  The head didn’t actually hurt any more, but my heel was very sore.  I couldn’t put weight down solid on that foot.  Which foot was it do you guess?

Yup, it was the one I had already injured.  So, now, instead of being half way through with healing from one injury, I had to start on a second; on the same foot!

I did OK that evening and got up the next morning.  Walking was certainly out, but I thought I would try to ride.  Fortunately, that worked.  Apart from getting the shoe over my bruised heel (Ouch), I could ride fine.  Didn’t need hell pressure to ride.  I did my twenty minutes and got ready for work.  Oh yes, and I drove to work instead of walking.

So, I don’t know what was up in our gym this week, but we are certainly going to have to work diligently next month on finding safer ways of putting things together.  And, maybe I might be near ready to run by then, I hope.  Happy running!

Swimming Injury, week 3…

Yes, I think the jury might finally be in on the cause of my injury.  On my Thursday visit to the fitness center, I ran into a triathlete friend that is also swimming at Heritage.  He asked me where exactly I had pain from the injury.  He asked if it was right across the top of the ankle on the foot and I agreed.  He said his ankles are also having some pain issues in the same place.  Ah-Ha!

My friend is working on increasing his swim distance just like I am (only he’s a good bit ahead).  I had been in disbelief that swimming could CAUSE an injury.  I did some more research and found just what my friend and I are experiencing, though in different amounts.  Competitive and long distance swimmers can injure their foot/ankle in just the way I did.

It seems that the constant flexing of the foot during freestyle and breast stroke (my two) can lead to overuse injuries just as too much pounding can injure a runner.  I found information on LiveStrong and Lane’s Health Clinic.  So, I can reasonably rule out the stress fracture from this information and my experiences.  But, I still have to live with having a swimming injury.

In addition, it seems that I managed a new slight injury.  My ‘enthusiasm’ at strength training may have given me a muscle pull in my neck.  For a week and a half, I’ve had headaches during the afternoons when I get tired.  The most intense days have been…hold it…the day after a workout.  This past Thursday evening, I avoided any upper body strength training and just worked on legs and walking.

It does seem that walking is just fine right now.  I can walk all I want and not have any pain.  So, me and the treadmill at the fitness center have become friends.  It has also meant I got to go walk some with my sweetie as well.

I also got on the trainer today just for 15 minutes.  Everything was fine.  I kept the gears down so I didn’t push hard.  I could feel the stress just slightly in my foot and ankle during the ride, so I will have to keep the trainer to a minimum during my “rehab”.  But, at least I can get on the bike.

Next week, I ought to be able to get back to my regular schedule of workouts, even though the level of working out will still have to be quite low.  I am in what is probably the critical time.  My pain level is down and I will have to be patient.  I still get reminders from time to time.  My ankle will not allow much twisting to occur without a zinger of pain.  I am happy with improvement and will just have to make my workout job to keep from any further injury.  And, then to figure out how in the world I created a swimming injury.  Happy running!

Running injury, week 2

Yep, the big man is injured.  Really injured.  I am in my second week of not running.  I am not sure which it is, but I either have some torn ligaments in my foot, or possibly a stress fracture.  In either case, it is 6 to 8 weeks of not running.

I went the first week without doing anything.  I tried spinning on Friday, but that hurt after a while as well. I can walk fine.  I just can’t extend my foot or bend it backward much.  Any real side to side stress also hurts.  And, no I didn’t go to the doc.  I wasn’t bleeding profusely (well, not on the surface anyway), so I looked up the possibilities and their usual treatments.  It doesn’t matter which injury, both torn ligaments and stress fractures are treated most often with R.I.C.E.  That’s rest, ice, compression, and elevation.  I’m hitting well on three out of the four.

Of course, most of the literature says that any non-stress activities should be just fine; like swimming or cycling.  That’s not happening here. The injury occurred while swimming, so the movement of swimming creates the same motions as the injury and so does spinning.  Strike three!

Finally, this week, I figured at least I could do strength training on just the upper body and core.  Sweetie and I dropped in on the Senior Center to sign me up for a month of the fitness room.  I also thought maybe I could just do arms-only drills in the pool.  Those are where you hold a floatie or kick board between your legs and use just your arms to pull.  I might still get in some workouts anyway while I heal.

First night, this past Tuesday, Sweetie and I go to the fitness center.  She does her workouts on the dreadmill and the recumbent cycle while I move about the room and use my old weights routine from loooong ago.  Everything is going just fine.  I spy the elliptical and check it out.  It works!  The movements aren’t causing pain and the pedals keep my feet flat.  I make five minutes and stop just to not overdo it.  Then it’s off to the pool.

I forgot a bandana to tie my legs together, so I had to wrap my good foot around the injured ankle to hold the floating barbell.  It was working.  I could do a lap at a time then stop like when I first started.  At least it was swimming.  I made it 15 minutes and could start to feel the pain again. Uh-oh.

Yep, the pain was back.  OK, either I overdid it or the movements are still causing the pain.  That’s not good.  It hurt that night when I slept, but by morning things were getting back to normal.  I could still walk and the bruise on my foot was dissipating.  Today is Thursday and I’m fine again.

Ok, so just walking and upper body.  That’s all I can do for now.  Tonight is Thursday and Sweetie and I will go back to the fitness center again.  At least, I have a workout I can do.  I’ll just have to learn patience again.  But, you know I’m not good at that.

Cowtown half-marathon is out for me now.  Even if I could run by then, I wouldn’t be ready.  I’m just going to have to work on being cool until the time is up and then build back up again.  But, those are the breaks (maybe I don’t like that word so much now).  At least, I’m getting to sleep later since I can’t get up so early to run.  That’s pretty nice.  Happy running!

More on gentle pickups and weird injury…

This past Monday, I decided to restart my speedwork again as it groweth closer to Cowtown time again.  None of my speed workouts for my marathon training were pickups, so I had not done any for several months.  I thought it would be a good time to run some (not so) gentle pickups again.  And, as usual, I would run mine with my trusty Garmin and heart rate monitor.

Now, if you’ve read my original post on doing pickups by heart rate, you know that I set a heart rate alarm on the Garmin that is slightly under my max heart rate.  My max heart rate had been running about 180-182.  When I first started running with the Garmin, I calculated my max HR (220 – 50; my age) at 170, but I measured my heart rate going to 180 when running flat out.  For a couple years, I’ve been using an alarm setting of 172.  When my HR gets to 172, I hear the beeps and run out the pickup for as long as I can hold, then slow down.

As long as I have run, that formula has worked just fine.  Until last Monday when I took off on my first pickup and kept going and going and going.  No beeps.  No alarms.  I look down and the Garmin says, “162.”  Ok, so slow down, jog a while and try it again.  My HR drops back to 130 and I start off again.  Maybe I didn’t run the pickup out fast enough?  You’re only supposed to reach about 80% of top speed.  Maybe I am just out of practice.  So, I’ll make this one faster.

I’m waiting, and waiting, and waiting for the beep.  None comes.  I’m going all out now and I look down, “164.”  What’s wrong?  Why won’t my HR go up?  I run the rest of my pickups by feel and just monitor the heart rate.  It never exceeded 167, and that was on the last one.  What has happened?  I know I’m fit.  Has something change?

Of course it has.  I’ve dropped 30 pounds!  And, I’m slightly older now.  OK, so my age only drops the max HR by 2 bpm, but when you go in with the idea that I’m now back to my calculated HR (220 – age), which is now 168, almost 167, you see the difference.  My extra weight artificially raised my max HR because of the extra stress.  Now, I need to figure out a new HR limit for pickups and try it again.

Of course, now, I’m not sure when that will be.  Tuesday evening I went for my regular swim.  Every time I tried to fully kick in the freestyle stroke, my left foot hurt.  I eased up on my kicking and could keep the pain under slight control, but at least once every lap, one strong kick would make me wince.

Just when I crossed 800 yds., it got worse.  Now it was throbbing and moving up the leg.  I stopped and made it back to the shallow end to see what was going on.  I could feel a large knot on top of my foot near the ankle.  It wasn’t hard and after a while, the know moved when pressing on it.  The pain was increasing.  My friend stopped to see how it was and I told him I was done for the night.

I hobbled home and put some ice on it.  I took some ibuprofen and wrapped it for the night.  It remained quite painful all night, but when I got up, the pain when down, the swelling went down, and I could walk.  I went two days at work with no real problems at all.  No problem walking.  I jogged a little coming home and didn’t feel anything either.  However, I got up this morning and could see a small bruise down near my toes.  That was odd.  I didn’t have any pain down there.

I thought I’d try spinning and see if that would be a problem.  For 52 minutes, it wasn’t.  Then it started again.  I got off and checked.  Sure enough, the swelling was back and the bruise had gotten larger.  Well, that bites.

Now, I am going to have to stick to my plan to do no workouts until Monday at least.  I can’t find any medical conditions exactly like it on the Internet.  The only one that is close sounds really bad.  I don’t think I’ve ripped a ligament or tendon.  That pain would remain…I think.

Well it happens.  You can’t get everything right.  I’ve gone a considerable length of time without an injury.  I guess you might say I’m overdue.  It’s just not a good time with a race coming up.  I’m going to be patient and wait until Monday.  Then, I’ll have to reassess whether this needs a doc or not.  I sure hope not.  They tend to go overboard when there is an injury.  And, my experience with a lot of docs is they aren’t all great diagnosticians.  But, we’ll just have to see.  Be careful and have fun running.

A funny thing happened on the way to the stress test…

OK, so nothing funny happened on the WAY to the stress test, but the test was rather humorous.  You see, my doc had wanted me to go and get a stress test done since my first visit.  I was already a runner when I started to see this sawbones, and I told her so.  She was quite surprised, I think, that someone of my “advanced” age was actually out running the streets…literally.  She wanted me to have a stress test done as a “baseline” in case anything were to…happen.

I put her off for about a year.  Then, I decided to actually run a marathon.  I thought it might be a good idea to actually do what the doctor said, for a change.  I got around to finishing the marathon before I got round to the stress test.  But, I got the referral, made the appointment, and today, was the day.

My doc had referred me to a cardiologist that did the stress test in his office.  In his office?  You have to know at this point, that I have spent 30 years or so in the engineering departments of hospitals.  No one could do a stress test in their office.  You had to at least go to an outpatient service, right?

Nope, this doctor had the gear in his office to take care of everything.  Dreadmill..I mean treadmill and even an echocardiowhatsitthingy.  So, off to the doctor I went this morning with my sweetie.  I also have to let you know that the cardiologist is..is, well, he’s either Indian or Pakistani.  No, it’s not a racist, “I can’t tell them apart.”  It’s an honest, “I can’t tell them apart.”  Both cultures are similar to an Anglo like myself and so it’s better to include both so as not to insult one or the other.

After I go through the usual endless filling out of forms, and the waiting, I got to go into the office.  The nurse comes in to do the expected blood pressure check, and in this case, take a resting EKG.  Those two things seemed normal.  After a little bit, the doc comes in and starts on the history.  First question, “Didn’t I come see you in hospital?”

“What???” went the brain.  “No, I don’t think you came to see me in the hospital, since I haven’t been there.”

“OK…,” and then he went on with the rest of the history questions, which include me telling him my primary doc wanted me to have the test done as a baseline sort of because she was worried about something happening.  I didn’t volunteer yet that I was a runner or triathlete.  I had planned it that way.  I wanted him to find out the hard way.  He asked about drinking and smoking (a little and not since 30).  He was glad of that, especially about the smoking part.  He went on to listen to my heart and lungs to see what he could find out.  “Good…Good…Good…” was all I could hear.  I tried to make a joke about what he would do if he found something bad, but he didn’t get it.

I had to wait in the waiting room for quite a while until they were ready to do the stress test.  They were running another one before me.  The doc told me it would take about fifteen minutes, but I forgot to count in doctor minutes, so about a half hour later, I got called back.

Two young ladies were the techs assigned to me and they carefully explained what they were going to do.  First would come the echocardiowhatsit and then I would be put on the treadmill.  Right…soon comes the treadmill.  They wired me up and hooked me to the EKG and then had me lay on my side so they could “slime” me with the transducer for the echocardiowhatsithingy.

While the tech was deftly seeking the best picture with the transducer and working the keyboard of the scanner, she decided upon small talk.  “So, why are we seeing you today?”  O-kaay, so I figured she probably didn’t know why I was there.  I gave her the same story as the doc, which was true.  Didn’t seem to phase her at all, she just went on with moving the transducer around and getting readings from different angles, similar to a photographer looking for different angles for a picture.

After taking several readings, the techs finally let me sit up and clean off the “goo” from the transducer and one went to get the doc for the treadmill portion.  Oh, yeah?  The doc is going to run the treadmill test.  What a hoot!  Me the crazy runner against the doc controlling the treadmill.   But, instead, this machine was automatic.  The doc just started it up and watched the screens.

The doc warned me when it would start and off we went…nowhere.  Well, it’s still a dreadmill.  You don’t go anywhere and no amount of medical technology changes that.  It was OK at first.  Just an easy walk on a little incline.  No biggy.  After a little of this, the doc tells me that it will go “faster” in 10 seconds.  Oh boy, faster.  When it kicked up, I was expecting it to go to a run, and I prepared for that.  The doc says not to go to fast.  It should just be a walk still.  I slowed down and settle in as it was just a fast walk.  The doc tells me that he didn’t want me to get too tired too fast.  Nooo, certainly not.

A little while later and the doc warns me again of it going “faster”.  When it kicked up this time, I did have to go to a slow run, probably about a 12 minute pace or so.  I was noticing it get harder, but it wasn’t feeling like it was elevating.  Until, I noticed that the poster on the wall to my left was getting lower and lower on the wall.  Yeah, we were going up.  A little later and the doc tells me to hold it for one minute.  One minute?  Sure thing doc!  One minute it is!

Well, the dreadmill finally came to a halt and I got off.  No more fun.  The doc tells me in his sing-song voice, “You did 9 minutes!  Excellent!”  Nine minutes on the treadmill?  It better be excellent.  I finally told the doc that I was a runner.  “Well, of course you can run.  You are in good health,” the doc replies.

“Yeah, doc.  I think I can run since I’ve been doing that for three years now,” said with not too much pride.  The doc seemed pleased.  The techs pulled off all the leads (Ouch!) and I prepared to leave.  It seems we took so long that the office staff were now on lunch.  I waited at the desk to see what was next.  The tech started to mention I should return in three months, but asked the doc instead.  “No, no need to return.  You are in good health.  No problem.”  And, those were all the words I needed to hear.  Happy Running!

Twitter and Runchat…

Originally, I didn’t want to get involved with Twitter.  It seemed kind of pointless.  As I told others, “My life doesn’t happen 140 characters at a time!”  So, I kept myself out of the loop for quite a while.  However, when my kids and my wife were finally on Twitter and it appeared it might become an important feature of my job, I decided it had to be conquered.

So, I signed up and “tweeted”.  It seemed innocuous for a while.  Until, I started getting followers.  That was cool.  Someone actually wanted to hear what little tidbits I had to say?  Seemed surprising to me until I got a follow from Bart Yasso.  Now, unless you’re a regular reader of Runnerhttp://www.runnersworld.comsworld.com, you might not know this guy.  But he is one of the Runnersworld writers and he often writes about things to improve your running.  He even has his own workout named after him that many runners hate to do during marathon season, but they do them anyway; the Yasso 800′s.  I won’t go into details.

That was pretty cool and then I learned about hashtags.  They are a Twitter shortcut that you use to help identify what you are writing about so others can easily find your streams of thought on the same subject.  You create a hashtag by putting a number sign (#) in front of a key word in your tweet.  As an example, if you want others to know your tweet is about running, you would use #running.  If it is about cycling you would use #cycling.  Twitter also collects data on hashtags to determine what subjects are ‘trending’ or getting a lot of press.

And therein, comes the point of this post; the hashtag #runchat.  I had been on Twitter for a while and though I would find something good that a person would say or they might like something I said, I had yet to see Twitter as a conversation place.  Until I found out about #runchat.  There are currently two moderators for runchat, @iRunnerblog and @runningbecause (The ‘@’ symbol identifies a Twitter user).  They establish a time and date for a runchat and post it so that everyone can be ready.  At the appointed time, the moderator (or guest moderator sometimes) posts the first question, such as :Q1: What are your 2012 running goals? #runchat”.  If you are on Twitter, and you search the hashtag #runchat, your feed will include the question and the answers from the community because everyone adds the tag in their tweet, just like the question.  At predetermined periods, the moderator posts a new question and this goes on for five to six questions or so while everyone responds and commiserates.

It is a lively (and sometimes chaotic) discussion as we try to follow the questions, figure out our responses, and read everyone else’s along the way.  You have to be on your toes to know what is being said and who is responding to whom.  The questions are well thought out and allow the Twitter running community to discuss topics, comment on how they are doing, and gain other running friends.  Through runchats, I have picked up several new Twitter friends and it’s a good source of runner information, new tips, and most importantly, encouragement from other runners.

Yes, old dogs can learn new tricks.  Twitter is a good way to connect with other runners, cyclists, triathletes, or other interests.  You get to hear how they are doing the same things you are and then you can realize that we are all in the same boat together.  There is information, community, and encouragement available on Twitter and runchat is part of that.  It took me a while to get used to the technology, but I am glad I put in the effort.  I have now marked the next runchat on my calendar.  It’s at 8PM on January 22nd.  See ya there and happy running!