Sunday, April 17, 2011

New Toy/Tool: Entering the Geekdom...

I've mentioned before that I enjoy tracking numbers and patterns and whatnot.  With cycling I was practically militant about it... distance, time, average heart rate, usually some extra notes... for every ride, even just biking to work.

Well thanks to my REI discount, my REI dividend, and an REI giftcard... I was able to pick up a new toy... er... I mean, a new tool to augment my training efforts.  I got a GPS watch.  And it's sweet.  Now I can really nerd out when it comes to analyzing how slow and out of shape I am.

So, even though today was supposed to be a rest day after "the race" yesterday... I was so eager to try out my new watch that I decided to take it for a nice easy recovery run (was thinking 10min miles would be good, ended up being just a tad faster).  Distance: 2.6 mi.


(More nerdiness?  sure... Garmin allows me to "embed" the workout into blog posts, but Wordpress doesn't allow the plug-in.  Lame.  Am I considering transferring my entire blog to blogspot.com for this reason?  Yes.)

For those of you whose curiosity level borders on "stalker", you can click on the image above and view the whole work out.  It's really pretty amazing.

Anyway, the watch will be especially nice for three distinct purposes 1) better concept of pacing while running 2) ability to do interval training outdoors without being completely clueless, and 3) tracking routes while cycling.  oh yeah... and 4) being a huge nerd.

Speaking of nerd... I was reading about this running coach named Jack Daniels (not to be confused with the whiskey distiller Jack Daniel), and his theory of a VDOT value.  It's more complicated than this (or than I understand) but the basic idea is that I can use some key race-finish indicators to extrapolate what my times would/should be at other distances.  So according to my 5k time (which really isn't enough data), my VDOT value is 37.  You can check your own VDOT here.

So, theoretically, a VDOT of 37 would mean I should be running a 7:38 single mile, or a 53:28 10k.  Obviously, the number-fun breaks down at some point.  I don't care what they say my marathon time should be, if I run one tomorrow my time will be DNF.  But it's still interesting.

Where it gets really interesting (hopefully you're still sitting down) is in regards to weight... you can measure what theoretical effects weight loss would have on your times... not the training involved to lose the weight, but just carrying around less weight.  There's a whole nerdy formula and everything.  Multiply your current weight by your VDOT value and then divide by the new weight.  For me, if I dropped another 20 pounds...
225*37/205 = new VDOT of 40.6.

If my VDOT value was a 40.6, my theoretical 5k time would be 23:48.  That's a pretty big difference... but, so is losing 20 pounds, I guess.  (this entire hypothesis is based on the assumption that I have 20 lbs to lose (I do) and I'm not losing muscle mass... obviously losing muscle mass will start to affect your running time).

All the more reason to lose weight... running will become easier, faster, and hopefully slightly less punishing on my poor poor knee(s).  Again, this is probably not news ("wait, running is easier if you're less fat?")... just interesting to see the actual numbers.

I'll get to these later, but I'm starting to consider some actual running goals.  I'll have to try to blend them with some of the cycling goals I've been considering and we'll see what we can come up with... but I think it would be nice to be reaching toward something instead of just "trying to run without dying".  If you have any suggestions, or fun-run type things you'd like me to participate in, let me know... I'm up for pretty much anything...

Food was decent today.  I was over at the Hankinssseseeseses, and made the mistake of sitting within reach of the chips and guac before dinner.  Yes, it's true: my best defense against my poor nutrition habits happens to be my own laziness... "Oh, I'd love that unhealthy food item... awww it's so far away!" ... when the stars align and I'm near the unhealthy food... well, that can spell disaster.  Other than that, pretty healthy day though, including a delicious dinner of veggie fajitas.  Food: C+

Weight: 223.8 lbs.

2 comments:

  1. Wow, huge mountain at mile 2.4. Is this Illinois?

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  2. ha... think that's an anomaly... weird data point...

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