Running for Geeks

 After a 2 year hiatus from running, I finally decided to start again. I knew that I had to get myself motivated, so the first thing I did was buy the new Nike Air Max 360s:

These shoes are amazing. The midsole has been replaced by Air-Sole. They are also extremely lightweight. Try them out, they are definitely worth their rather hefty price.

Then I bought a running shirt and running shorts. Too bad I look like an Armo when I wear them, but hopefully I'll be running too fast for it to get noticed =)

 

 

Now onto the technology. I'm a statistics freak and need every single thing tracked, charted, and saved! I used a combination of 2 websites to make this happen.

First was traineo. This very Web 2.0 AJAX-ified website makes you want to exercise again! Their very nice design and colorful sections make exercise fun. I set up an account and set my weight goal to 130 lbs. Right now I'm 154 so that's a 24 pound drop. A great feature of the website is that you can set up "motivators" to help you stay on target. These are people you know that get emailed every week with an update on your status. Knowing that someone else is going to see your progress gives you that extra push to try harder. You can see my traineo account at http://chaparyan.traineo.com/

The second website that is very useful is Walk Jog Run. They have done a nice job of integrating Google Maps, allowing you to select your starting location and trace your route. In the end it will tell you your average speed, total miles, and how many calories you burned. I'm mainly using this to keep track of my distance.

So how was my first day of running? Not bad at all. I ran for about 1 hour, walking about 30% of the time. I covered 3.9 miles and averaged 4mph, which is not bad considering I want to be running around 6 to 10 miles per day within a couple of months.