Following up on yesterdays post I found this Nike commercial on Youtube.

This is the second time my motivation has lagged. I haven't run in some time. Other interests have monopolized my time. World of Warcraft, sleep, swimming. All have stolen away the one to two hours a day that I would dedicate to running previously. Even some of those new obsessions have quickly waned with the reality of my layoff fast approaching. I have two months to find a job. Instead of scheduling my days and my weeks to optimize my time, I find myself sleeping late and browsing the internet, not even interacting on the internet, but just browsing and wasting time. I'm currently on a plane back from two weeks in Paris, my sons Christmas gift to his mother. I packed a swimsuit, running shorts and top, but was quick to drop the running shoes when I saw the suitcase was full. They would have fit, I could have found a way but didn't try. Instead I opted for the path of least resistance. I did bring one redeeming item. A stack of running magazines. On the flight out I just couldn't get into them. 10 pages into the new Canadian Running magazine (now entertaining someone on the flight from Amsterdam back to Paris hopefully) I felt numb and disinterested. I put it down and opted for the in seat entertainment system to watch Die Even Harder ( or what ever it was called.... Stuff blows up, Bruce Willis saves the day) and let my mind and body turn to goo. In Paris we did a lot of walking. We spent two days at Europain (does it count as exercise if I'm munching on gooooood pastry while walking?) and then saw all the sites. The first couple of days were train hopping as we hit all the hot spots, but the last couple involved lots of wandering as we took in Paris and filled the time.

Flying back I feel different. Refreshed and renewed a bit. My legs want to run, I want to ride. Not in the way you feel during the taper and before the race where your legs keep twitching, but in a way that says I need the exercise and the alone time. That says wind, rain, snow, sun I want to get moving. I devoured both of the running magazines I brought with me and flipped through Triathlon mag. I'm trying to decide what to do first when I get back, an early morning run or an early morning ride. If I run, I can ride in the evening, but if I ride, then I may be able to run in the evening if my wife goes to meet her friend and takes our son along.

I realize that I've put on some goo and the Vancouver Marathon is out of the question now, but I can still train for a sprint triathlon at the end of May while still finding myself a new job. If I do a good job early in the job hunt, then I won't even need to worry. Sunday morning I'll be back up and rejoining the ranks of the dawn patrol. Redrawing my plans to train for the next few months and recommitting to meet my weight goal of 180lbs.

To make things easier, in Paris we discovered really good coffee. A Starbucks latte doesn't hold a candle to a good cafe au lait or espresso! Good-bye and good riddance to that morning latte and scone!

What Makes You Run is a project inspired by the This I Believe project. I see this turning into a collection of works that explain many reasons why people run. Anyone can create a page and I encourage you to do one yourself. Express yourself in whatever way you see fit from a written essay, to a poem, to a photo essay. The "rules" are simple.

1. Keep it short. Aim for 3 to 5 minutes. If you're writing an essay, this is about 350 to 650 words.
2. Stay focused. You should be able to sum it up in a single sentence. It is better to focus on one strongly held reason than to try to provide a broad overview.
3. It should be personal. We all know the general health reasons for running. Why are these important to you?
4. It should be positive. Please avoid preaching or editorializing. Tell us what makes you run. Avoid speaking in the editorial "we." Make your contribution about you; speak in the first person.

Tell the world what makes you run!

The Garmin Blog announced the new Garmin ForeRunner 405 yesterday. This looks awesome. From the videos and the blog post, this looks to be a competitor for the 205. With a more traditional watch like style, wireless transfers to the computer and other watches this will definitely make the ForeRunner easier to wear during the day. What I think is really a nice touch is the lack of buttons. The watch is operated with the bezel. If they got this right, this will be great. No more pressing the wrong buttons when trying to mark a split! I'll be looking for this one when it hits the stores.

Update: I found the watch on Garmin's website and there is an optional heart rate monitor available for it. What do I do with the 301 my wife gave me now?
Here's a short video of the watch in action:

Merry Christmas! Santa's bringing a couple of major new features with him this year that will totally change the way this site works.

The first of these is direct download from Garmin GPS receivers. Santa brought you a ForeRunner for Christmas? Plug it into your computer, click the download from GPS link when creating a new workout and we'll pull all the data from you GPS receiver!

The next is integration with Google Maps. If you've created your workout from the data in your GPS, you'll see a map with the route you ran on the published page.

At this point, I'm happy with the functionality of the site. I'll start working on some cleanup of the layout and theme but this is the 1.0 release. Welcome to It's That You Run.

My initial impressions were of a nicely packaged accessory. Nike has put together a receiver, accelerometer, and custom firmware to create an inexpensive way to turn your iPod into a workout tool. There is also a website and a whole line of clothing to support this accessory. Or is it the other way around? Does the Nike+ kit exist solely to sell more clothing and drive repeat purchase of Nike shoes?

The Nike+ only works with the iPod mini. It's supposedly supported on all generations of the mini. I purchased one of the latest generation 8 gig iPod minis with video. I also purchased an Apple armband and an Amphipod Nike+ sensor holder for my Brooks shoes. I plugged in and updated iTunes and the firmware, plugged in the receiver, hooked the sensor snugly into my laces and took off for a 60 minute run.

The first thing I noticed was how nice it was to take music on my runs again. I stopped listening to music when my son grew up and started talking to me while I was running. It was partly influenced by the crappy headphones on my smartphone at the time as well. I refused to buy a separate MP3 player because the Audiovox had a decent player that I had installed. When that phone died, I switched to a Sony Walkman phone thinking it would have a decent MP3 player, but the playlist editor sucked. It couldn't access the flash card to build playlists. That broke me and I finally caved and got the iPod.

The Nike+ interface is simple. Once running, pressing the center button gets you your current stats read out to you in either a male or female voice. Holding the center button starts your "Power Song." A song that you've previously selected to give you some extra kick at one of those tough moments.

At the end of a run, you press menu and select end workout. You'll hear a summary of your run. If you've achieved a new accomplishment either Lance Armstrong or Paula Radcliffe will congratulate you. I was a little started the first time this happened at the end of an early morning run.

The PBS show Nova recently took a group of 13 novice runners and trained them to run the Boston Marathon. The show is available to watch online.

I found some time to watch this last week and found that I enjoyed it. I think some of the science aspects were a little too simplified, but the intended audience probably has no exposure to Noakes or Maffetone.  At the end I was cheering for the group as they crossed the line. 

Daylight Saving Time has come to an end on the west coast of Canada and it was time to change all my clocks back this weekend. When it came to changing my ForeRunner 301 back to Standard Time I took a quick look for updated firmware on Garmin's site but found nothing new. This leaves me turning off DST manually. I posted instructions for turning DST on a few months ago. Follow those instructions and instead of switching to On, switch the setting to Off.

I purchased a new pair of running shoes the other day. My current shoes had about 600km on them so it's time to start breaking in a new pair. I've been running on a lot more unpaved trails this time, so I was looking for a shoe that was a little closer to a trail shoe.

The local running room offered me three shoes they thought would be good based on a review of my current shoes. Apparently the wear was even on my current shoes telling her that they were a good fit. The Nike Air Pegasus+ Climatif was their first choice as wel as an Asics and a Saucony. The Asics was not in stock in my size and when I compared the Nike to the Saucony I felt the Nike were more comfortable. The other pair seemed to bite my ankles.

I purchased the Nike and put them aside until the next run at work. I was planning to run on the treadmill to test them out. This is the preferred method so they are not dirty and soiled if there is a fit problem and need to be returned.

Things didn't go as I planned. I took them to work and between the start of the day and lunch I slowly grew self conscious of my slow pace. I decided the fit in the store was good enough and headed out for a run. The first thing I noticed was the warmth. These shoes have a weather proof upper that has less ventilation. The first kilometre was a little nevous. Did I feel something? Are the too tight? After that first kilometer my questions disappeared and I tuned into the trees, wind and the chirps from my Forerunner telling me to solw down.

I like these shoes. It's nice to come home from a run with fairly dry feet.