Running on old shoes...

Did you think your old running shoes are useless? Think again. Its materials can be used again. Nike supports this with a special programm as your can read on this site. They use the waste materials for surfacing playcourts. Hence the 'Let me Play' title of the site.
As a matter of fact when running on thse courts you are running on old shoes. Something you never would do as a runner!

IAAF rules amputee Oscar Pistorius ineligible for Olympics

South African Pistorius, who misses both lower legs, wants to take on 'regular' able-bodied runners in Beijing. This dream has come to an end following a ruling from the IAAF. According to the IAAF the South African is ineligible to compete in Beijing because his racing blades are considered "technical aids" which give him a clear competitive advantage. These blades are called "Cheetah". The ruling covers other sanctioned able-bodied competitions as well.

Difficult subject: Does a disability give someone an advantage?

Below a clip from a Dutch sports programm

The Spirit of Marathon

Later this week is the release from an new film 'The Spirit of Marathon'.
This documentary follows six runner in their preparation and on the race day of the Chigaco Marathon of 2005. The six are four unknown, some on their first and one trying to run the limit for Boston, and Deena Kastor and Daniel Njenga . Deena is American recordholder and bronze medall winner in 2004 in Athens. Daniel Njenga is two time winner of the marathon of Tokyo.
Underneath the trailer. For more info explore the site of the film and on this page you can enlist for the e-mail newletter and a notification when the DVD will be released.

Running with music: Analyze BPM

Like I wrote in a previous blog I seldom run with music. However, every now and then, for the long endurance runs I do carry music with me. The trick then is to select music that helps you trough your run.
Of course you can choose music that fits your mood but the best way is to select music that has the right beats per minute so you can run to the beet: Every beat a stride.
OK, easier said than done. First you would have to figure out which BPM corresponds with your training plans. Going for a long endurance? Run the pace and count your steps for a minute. Do this for every running mode you want to train in.
Now you know the various BPM's for the various stages of your traning your next step is to select the music with the right BPM. But how do you know which tracks have which BPMs? Not every audio player shows this info allthough some fancy software even allows you to speed up songs or slow them down to manipulate the BMP. BUt maybe this is something for DJ's. Want to use tracks at their original pace? Then f.e. MixMeister analyses BPM's from MP3 tracks. You can download it here or hit google to find other packages.

If you go to the site run2rythm you can download three podcasts (in righthand column) on this topic with examples of music with various beats. Not really my cup of tea the music they use.

Want a bit more reading on the topic of carrying music for your run? You can do this with this article on about.com.

For those gadget oriented runners, you can consider to go for the Apple / Nike combination with their Nikeplus product. Advertised with the commercial with the voice over from Edward Norton with these words:

“I am addicted. I’ve collected footsteps before dawn, seen places I never knew
existed, run to the moon and back, been a rabbit for the neighborhood dogs,
obeyed the voice in my head, let music carry me when I couldn’t, raced against
yesterday, let the world be my witness, measured myself in metres, kilometres
and finally character. I’ve plugged into a higher purpose, left this world and
come back changed. I am addicted.” > “Run Like You’ve Never Run Before.
Nikeplus.com”

View the commercial:

Kenia

For runners the first link we make with Kenia is that of the amazing runnners comming from this country. However in the recent weeks Kenia hits the news with violence that followed the elections.
On the Dutch site 'Losse Veter' (loose lace) there are e few articles on the situation.

1. A reaction of Feliz Limo ‘Yes it is bad here'alltough he said he still feels save at his home in Eldoret (the town were the church was burned down killing 30 people). He currently in training for the London marathon and plans a run end january to test his shape.
2. Some of the guests from the training centre in Iten run by Lornah Kiplagat and her partner are evacuated.
3. Lucas Sang, one time 4x400m olympic participant (Seoul 1988) was killed near his house near Eldoret.

Lets hope that the situation will calm down and that Kenia will be in the news again for the results of their very impressive runners.

Happy New Year!

A new year is about to start. New plans for the running season are taking shape. Like for example the ambition for my spring marathon this year. According to some calculators such as this one on chatnrun I should be able to make it under the 3 hours and 30 minutes!
Most likely it will be Rotterdam where I will run. However the two previous attempts where dissaters with an end time over 4 hours. Maybe I have to relax a little bit in the months leading up to Rotterdam but I like to run the city pier city run. So that will be on my schedule most likely as well as the Bruggenloop to start with.
Other ideas for 2008? Staying free of injuries and a more regular contributions to this english part of my blog. For now.....