Are you a runner?

The site About.com delas with many topics that contain interesting elements for runners. They deal with health, nutricion, fitness and of course running itself. on this part of the site I ofund a list with criteria to determine if you are a runner or not. Of course it is supposed to be funny but the thing is....some of them sound familiar.....
In the category Travel:

You Know You're A Runner...

when the drive to the race is longer than the race itself ,

when you keep your family updated on how far you are from your destination by saying "There's only a half-marathon (10k, 5k, etc) until Grandma's house," and everyone knows how far that is.

when you run to your gate at the airport even though you aren't late and you aren't wearing running shoes

when you pack a seperate bag for your running clothes

when your idea of sightseeing involves visiting the local running store and finding the best place for hill repeats and long runs

when you get off an 18 hour flight and go for your long run because a) you need to stretch your legs, b) you want to see the city/country, and c) you have a scheduled run

when you realize that all the traveling you did in the last year revolved around races

when, on trips, you find it entertaining to see how fast you can convert speeds and distances from miles to kilometers and vice versa
you avoid travelling to places where you won't be able to run

when you get back from vacation and the first thing you tell people about is how the running was when you fly with your running clothes and shoes in your carry-on bag

Nutricion:

You Know You're A Runner...

when all your friends think you eat too healthy

when you not only eat gels, but you know the best flavors for every brand

when you consider pasta to be a food group

when the sports drinks are in front of the soda, beer, and juice in your fridge

when you know the name of all the checkers at your local health food store

when you have two eggs, two pieces of toast, a slice of cheese, a glass of juice, and a yogurt for breakfast and are still hungry by 11 AM

when you drink your least favorite kind of sports drink because you know it is what they will be handing out at waterstops for your next race and you want your body to be accustomed to it

when pasta is the only food you'll eat two nights before a race

Family and friends:

when you've run, showered, and eaten breakfast (twice) before your family/roommates even wake up

your family knows that you will run on Thanksgiving and Christmas (or other holidays you celebrate) now matter what

your friends no longer look at you like your nuts, because they know it for sure

when you forget birthdays and anniversaries, even major holidays, but never the date of your next race

when you have to make a real effort to remember to talk to your (non-running)family and friends about something other than running

you register for a race during your honeymoon even though your new spouse is not a runner (and he's not surprised or angry)

when your boss tells you to go run because your having a bad day at work

when your family plans vacations based on where your next marathon will be

when your non-running family and friends know the differences between feet that are neutral, over-pronating, and supinating

when you run so much that your family has a seperate laundry basket for your running clothes

when your family or friends sign up for "bike duty", to bike beside you during long runs so you don't have to carry anything you wouldn't carry during a race

when people stop asking you if you are going to run today, but rather ask you when

when your friends by sports drinks for their party so you'll have something to drink, since they know you have a run/race the next day

when you tell your realtor that you want a house in an area with good schools and a nice area to run

when you tell people you ran a 10k and you are shocked that people think that is a long run

your spouse and kids (and maybe even friends) know your PRs at different distances when you call 4 miles an easy day

when your friends know that if you don't answer your phone, you're probably running

when you try to convince people to run a 5k because it's "only" 3 miles

when you pass on going out with your friends on Friday night because you have to get up early and run

when you no longer have to explain to your friends why cotton isn't the best choice for running attire

when an exciting date for you is going with your spouse to drive your 20 mile route for the next morning and plant sports drinks along the way

when you come back after a 1 hour run and your spouse says 'That was fast. I didn't expect you back so soon.'

when your friends think they need to practice more before they can run with you

when you smirk at people who tell you that you run too much or are crazy for enjoying a run

when your spouse begs you to go for a run because you are in a bad mood

source: About.com: Running

Stretching; Calf Muscle

Do you recognize this: People in sporting gear trying to push over a wall or lamppost? I don't think that is the proper way to stretch your calf muscle. Because you should be stretching it and not put strain on it which you'll do the minute you start pushing. So how should it be done?

1) place you feet next to eachother and make a step of normal length with your center of gravity (your hips) between your feet.
2) Bend the knee of your front leg and have your upper body and back leg in a straigth line. Keep the heel of your back foot on the ground. DOn't push an against a wall;-)
If you need support try to grab something on your side so you use it just for that: balance.

Hold this position for at least eight seconds. Than come back to the starting position and repeat the motion with the other leg. In video it looks like this (thanks to the Asics site):

Lose weight, run faster

Every runner has his own reason for running, Roughly you can divide it into two categories
1: Running for the exercise burning calories, being healthy, being outside instead of in the gym, etc.
2: Running for the performance: Further and Faster
Most runners know you’ll get reason one for free if you start working on number 2.
On one of the blogs on complete running I found this table which also shows that the reverse is true. If you loose some weight you will gain speed. According to research 2 seconds on a mile:

Unfortunately no link is present to the research that resulted in this table. There should be some optimum minimum weight. However I would not go for this optimum. Most top runners look like a running skeleton wrapped in a skin and nothing less. For me, and I think for most recreational runners, this is a bit over the top. So I stick to my current weight and try to gain these second with a little more trainingeffort!
Added on 21st of june: I found a nice calculator that gives an indication of the effect of weight on your performance. The results are in line with those of the table above.

Running in Poland

Last week I found myself in a different environment for running. Instead of the well kept level bicycle paths of Holland I found myself on (dirt) roads in the hills of Poland. I have been there before and I always enjoy the change off environment.
Running in Poland is not as popular as in Holland so you tend to turn some heads while your running. Furthermore most roads outside the towns do not have a path for cyclists or pedestrians. On the other hand: Beside for the main roads there are many smaller roads connecting smaller towns or more isolated houses that have no busy traffic and are therefore perfect for running.
I did two runs in the surrounding of Kielce. A medium sized city in the heart of the country. I started both runs taking unpaved tracks throught the fields overlooking some of the Kielce subburbs. The first I looped back clock wise finding myself on one of those major roads without any room for runners. However I noticed that the extra adrenaline generated by the passing traffic helps increasing speed to leave this stretch behind you as fast as possible. The second run I looped back the other way around on this more quite type of roads making the run more relaxed.
At the end of the week I decided to go running at the beginning of the Friday night. THrought the parcs and one of the main streets with cafes in the Polish capital off Warsaw. Nice to start ou in the green parcs to the south of the city center. Even better still explore the city center between the local people having there drinks in the bars and enjoying their Friday night. One advice: Take a quick sohwer after your urn and revisit Nowy Swiat to join the Locals and have a drink with the friendly people of Poland;-)

Following runners live during Leiden Marathon

During the Marathon of Leiden last weekend the spectators could follow the runners live on the course. Not just by textmessages on the mobile phone with the lap times but also on an big screen.

With the use of modern technology supplied by TNO it was possible to trace a number of runners during their race (speed, hartrate, location). For people at home the runners could be followed using google maps or google earth.
It was also possible to cheer on the runners using textmessages. All this as part of a graduation project.

Just for starters: Training for the 5k (or 3 miles)

A good post on an new blog on running: How to start?????
Just starting to run, getting yourself together, away from the TV en onto the road can be hard. Most people start simply to run every time the same route through the neighborhood. In the beginning they see progress but then they settle for the same route always in say 20 minutes and that’s it.
This scheme from coolrunning will help those who start to run 5K (or 3 miles) in 30 minutes and by following the program, creating a good base to head on for longer distances en who knows….marathons? Remember every marathon runner had to start sometime!
My biggest problem with the schedules was that I wanted to increase the rate of progress and started skipping runs. However someone who completes the 5K within 4 weeks and stops for a week or won’t be able to repeat the 5k. If you follow the program and then rest you’ll see you can easily run the 5k e second time and once you have….start looking for a new schedule that takes you up to the 10k or even more.
Double clikck the image for a readable format. I made a nice table in HTML the blogsoftware cannot handle it......

Gebrselassie still capable of fast run on track

Although Gebrselassie has swithed his focus from the track to the marathon he is still capable of running a fast race on the track as he showed last weekend during a tournament in Hengelo in the Netherlands. He ran the 10k during the FBK-games under the 27 minutes in 26:52.81.
Check out this remark on runnersweb.com:

".....his official age is 34 but many observers believe he is at least a few
years older..."

Maybe there is still hope for me being 34.....