podrunner: fixed-tempo music podcasts

Thanks to Neil, I got turned on to the PodRunner web site where I download an hour-long music podcast I can run to.

DJ Steveboy serves up a great set of fixed-beats-per-minute tunes described as "a smooth, driving mix that intensifies over the hour with a classic late-90s trance and progressive-house sound that doesn't let up until around minute 50."

It's the perfect acoustical distraction for me while I'm putting in the miles on the pavement, especially when I'm doing intervals on the local high school track.

And DJ Steveboy just announced that starting in February 2008, he'll be releasing Podrunner: Intervals designed as a soundtrack to help train for distances from 5K to half-marathons. From his latest newsletter:

Podrunner:Intervals is a new podcast of varied-BPM music mixes for interval training. "First Day to 5K," the first 14 mixes, take you from absolute beginner to 5K runner in nine weeks! P:I will feature sets for beginning, intermediate, and experienced levels, as well as sets for 10K and half-marathon training

Can't wait for these varied-BPM mixes... by then I'll be five weeks into my training schedule for the ICE Breaker tri.

favorite part of nike+ experience

I've had the nike+ipod setup for six weeks now, and I'm just beginning to realize the possibilities of the marriage between the iPod sensor and the online tool:

• Run Diagnostics: For each run I've logged, I get to see how my pace changes over the course of the run (slower as it gets longer, of course). On my quick 2-mile loops, I can see my progress at getting faster running up the steep hill that comes at the 0.6 mile marker. I'll reduce that "V" to a minor divot by the end of February if it kills me!
• "Compare to Best": An off-shoot of the diagnostics bit, this allows me to plot my fastest run against the current run to see where/when I ran faster/slower so I can work on consistently improving my pace.
  
• Challenges: I've set up my first challenge on the web site (40 miles in 4 weeks) and it'll track how far ahead/behind I am in reaching that goal as a stark reminder to get out and put in my miles.
  

Still a mystery to me: In the diagnostics, I'd expect my fartleks to be more pronounced on the pace curve. Either I'm really not going any faster than I think I am, or the length of the dash is too small compared to the overall run. I'll spend time this coming month figuring that thing out.

Oh, and one annoyance I've experienced so far: my Nano completely drained while I was out of the country on travel, so my first run back was logged out-of-sequence (as happening January 4, 2000) instead of December 16 as it should have. Gotta remember to sync the nano to my mac next time it drains completely so I can reset the date.

Happiness is: donating oversized clothes

This past weekend I finally ventured to Macy's to buy some new pants. Why's this news? My collection of 36-inch sized pants are now too big.

This means since I first started exercising last July, I've dropped from a 38-inch waist to a 34-inch waist in pant size.

Woowoo!

I took seven pairs of dress slacks and a half dozen pairs of jeans to Salvation Army on Monday and practically skipped back to the office in delight.

As my Neil would say, "You never get tired of giving away too-big clothes."

Amen, brother.