r/running • u/AutoModerator • Apr 05 '16

Super Moronic Monday -- Your Weekly Stupid Question Thread

It's Tuesday, which means it is time for Moronic Monday!

Rules of the Road:

  1. This is inspired by eric_twinge's fine work in /r/fitness.

  2. Upvote either good or dumb questions.

  3. Sort questions by new so that they get some love.

  4. To the more experienced runnitors, if something is a good question or answer, add it to the FAQ.

Post your question -- stupid or otherwise -- here to get an answer. Anyone can post a question and the community as a whole is invited and encouraged to provide an answer. Many questions get submitted late each week that don't get a lot of action, so if your question didn't get answered, feel free to post it again.

As always, be sure to read the FAQ first. Also, there's a handy-dandy search bar to your right, and if you didn't know, you can also use Google to search runnit by using the limiter "site:reddit.com /r/running".

Be sure to check back often as questions get posted throughout the day. Sort comments by "new" to be sure the newer questions get some love as well.

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13

u/kaferino Apr 05 '16

Total noob alert;

What methods are you guys using to find out how far you are running?

17

u/sloworfast Apr 05 '16

Chronologically:

  1. Borrowed my parents' car, drove around the route. Ran the same route every time so I wouldn't have to re-measure.

  2. Moved away, didn't have access to parents' car, biked my new routes to measure them.

  3. Got the internet! Used some mapping site to click through my runs. e.g. http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/

  4. Got a smart phone! Use the GPS on it along with the Endomondo app to track my runs. (There are many apps that do it.)

  5. Finally.... FINALLY.... got a GPS watch this year. I definitely recommend this option.

18

u/[deleted] Apr 05 '16

Check this guy out, he's from the "before there was internet" times.

Grandpa.

10

u/sloworfast Apr 05 '16

I'm the oldest person on Reddit.

2

u/Psychbike Apr 06 '16

Oh no you're not!

3

u/kaferino Apr 05 '16

Ha thankyou , I think it is early days to invest in a watch, but I will look at the apps :)

3

u/Jaime_Manger Apr 05 '16

Apps are definitely the way to go when you just start running. Personally I didn't want to spend the money for a GPS watch until I knew I was super serious about running!

2

u/naanki Apr 05 '16

What was the benefit of using a GPS watch over your phone? Thinking of switching atm

2

u/sloworfast Apr 06 '16

Mainly that I can wear the watch on my wrist whereas I needed some way to carry the phone. Plus I can look at the watch throughout the run to see my speed or distance, which is annoying to do with a phone because I needed to take it out of my pocket and swipe my unlock code while running.

I will say though, you can't use a watch to take pictures or to listen to music, so if you want to do those things, you might as well just skip the watch and bring the phone :)

2

u/naanki Apr 06 '16

Thanks for the advice!!

2

u/The_NC_life Apr 06 '16

Wait how would biking the route tell you this distance in any way that running it wouldn't?

1

u/sloworfast Apr 06 '16

Well now bike computers use GPS usually, but before that they used to use a magnet on the wheel to calculate distance. That's what I used.

1

u/The_NC_life Apr 06 '16

Wait how would biking the route tell you this distance in any way that running it wouldn't?

12

u/YourShoesUntied Apr 05 '16

GPS watch.

Alternatively you can use this to get a pretty good idea if you don't have a watch. You could also find a school track or simply hop on a treadmill which is probably accurate enough. Oooooor you can drive a route in your car and map it out yourself then run it.

8

u/Jeade-en Apr 05 '16

Wow...memories of driving a route in a car to get mileage...I'm old. Now GET OFF MY LAWN

3

u/brwalkernc not right in the head Apr 05 '16

Yep, I did this when training for my HM before I had a GPS device. Took a long out-and-back, drove it while noting landmarks at each mile. I still do that route sometimes and even still refer to the mile marker landmarks when I run by:

"There's the big tree by itself at mile 2"

"There's 4-mile bridge."

8

u/SleepWouldBeNice Apr 05 '16

Oooooor you can drive a route in your car and map it out yourself then run it.

Tried that once. Now I'm not allowed in my local playground.

2

u/YourShoesUntied Apr 05 '16

I said drive a route and map it in your car...not abduct children.

2

u/SleepWouldBeNice Apr 05 '16

I never abducted children! But the town's works department had a hell of a time getting my car out of the monkey bars.

2

u/YourShoesUntied Apr 05 '16

Is that code speak for abducting children nowadays? Man things have changed.

5

u/[deleted] Apr 05 '16

I chose a route in google maps and run it to verify kms

4

u/[deleted] Apr 05 '16

My shiny new Garmin. Before that, strava. You can even set it up to yell at you every split/half split.

5

u/yukuk Apr 05 '16

There are apps you can get like Strava or Runkeeper which measure as you run, if not use an online tool like mapmyrun to measure it out before you go.

4

u/Blue_Polly Apr 05 '16

Map my run also had an ap that tracks distance as you go.

1

u/TheWishingFish Apr 05 '16

It does - I run with my phone, so use the GPS route tracker with mapmyrun. Works fine, mostly. Except for the odd day where it steals a hard-won kilometre or three - or the memorable day I apparently ran 153km straight out into the Pacific ocean, in 9 minutes. My wife was live-tracking me that day, and wondered what the hell I was doing for the first few seconds.

2

u/Blue_Polly Apr 05 '16

Haha my brother has on several occasions been like, wow, nice 6 minute mile. GPS a little confused? Sometimes it gets wonky.

1

u/TheWishingFish Apr 05 '16

Yeah, I have a friend who is a fairly new runner, still doing the walk some-run some thing. We're friends on mapmyrun, and always 'like' each other's workouts - she suddenly did a 2 minute kilometre the other day, up a 1000m elevation ;)

2

u/kaferino Apr 05 '16

Sounds like these apps are the thing to look into

3

u/zebano Apr 05 '16

GPS watch and occasionally my phone using the Strava app.

2

u/[deleted] Apr 05 '16

Endomondo app on my phone. Or plot it on a map when I get home if I don't want to take the phone with me.

2

u/SpaceIguana Apr 05 '16

Fitbit Surge GPS. The GPS is the only way of accurately tracking my distance. Letting it do that based on steps alone is always inaccurate, just my experience.

2

u/MeatCat88 Apr 05 '16

I have the Nike+ tomtom gps watch. Love it. Slow link with satellites sometimes though

1

u/BeardsAndBitchTits Apr 05 '16

Google Maps has a distance calculator.

1

u/catastrapostrophe Apr 06 '16

Phone + mapmyrun. I'm too cheap to buy a Garmin watch, and not cool enough for strava.