Second Run - Blisters...

I've successfully completed my second run, 45 minutes, lowering dramatically the pace (5:49 min/km).








Here is the playlist:

• Invaders 3:23 Iron Maiden
• The Prisoner 6:02 Iron Maiden
• Futureal 2:54 Iron Maiden
• The Wicker Man 4:35 Iron Maiden
• Ace Of Spades 2:57 Motörhead
• Stay Clean 2:52 Motörhead
• Metal Militia 5:09 Metallica
• Master of puppets 8:35 Metallica
• Damage, Inc 4:15 Flotsam & Jetsam
• I've Got The Fire 2:37 Iron Maiden
• Cross Eyed Mary 3:55 Iron Maiden
• Wasted Years 5:07 Iron Maiden
• Deja-Vu 4:56 Iron Maiden

Iron Maiden, Motorhead ... wow. It feels like ... teen spirit [sorry, Nirvana fans, I couldn't resist :-)]. But, after an entire working day I discovered some unpleasant guests in my feet... Blisters.
An excerpt from this site:

Blisters Treatment

• Consider whether it is worthwhile treating the blister or whether it would be more beneficial to leave it to die down itself. Often a blister can be more painful once the underlying skin has been exposed.
• If needs be, release the fluid with sterilised needle and apply a dressing.
• If the blister has burst, trim the skin round the area and apply dressing.

First Run

At last, yesterday I tested the Nike+ stuff and it was nice :-). The "nike- sensor-without-nike-plus-shoes" trick worked out smoothly with a little help from some velcro, and the results coming from the end of session stats were perfectly aligned with those from the Technogym running machine.

I must say, it's easy to face a 45 mins running with a sexy voice telling your pace and distance every ten minutes. Even easier if the background music is my favorite, high performance rock. Really cool. At the very end I even heard the Lance Armstrong voice tell me something like "Congrats, this is your personal record"... was it real or some post-training hysteria?

Bad side... I'm having some annoyance because of bleeding nipples... something I tried to recover with Vaseline and some 80 lengths freestyle swim I made this morning.

On the tech side, a couple notes:

- The sync process with iTunes and the Nike site worked like a charm, and at the first attempt, really a no-brainer.

- I modified the standard iPod armband to fit the Nike dongle. Maybe I'll manage to acquire a proper iPod/Nike armband later, but the mod is working, at least for now. I just performed a tight cut on the bottom of the iPod holder, about 2,5 centimeters, as you can see in the picture. It seems to hold up the 'pod correctly, and the phone jack should help in preventing the device from slipping.

Tomorrow will be another running day, let's see if the configuration is still working.

Day Zero.

Today's was the day. I still don't know if this whole running stuff dementia deserves a blog, but it may help to encourage me in this adventure. All in all, it's me against me, and that may be a stimulating challenge. So, I finally decided to buy some semi-serious running equipment and I spent the whole morning with Mirco choosing the perfect fit.
Budget was surely an issue, I'd prefer to invest more money when I can see and compare results, and possibly when the schedule is taking a good shape. Given the discount rate (50%) I found in an EUR shop (Viale Europa, Rome), I've chosen the Nike's Air Max 360, dropping the Nike+ series idea, at least for now. There are enough info, on the web, to mod the shoes with some velcro or whatever else to fit the Nike+ sensor (actually, the price of the Nike+ shoes was more than the double of the Air Max 360, so I desisted).
I'll try to apply the mod (I've taken this picture to indicate approximately the sensor position I intend to maintain) and evaluate the results. Whether it'll work or not, I don't really care... I'd bring the iPod anyway :-).
Here's the "Run, Gabba, Run..." playlist I've chosen for the first attempts:

• The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner 6:31 Iron Maiden
• The Wicker Man 4:35 Iron Maiden
• The Mirror 8:15 Dream Theater
• Acid Rain 2:34 Dream Theater
• Caught in a New Millennium 6:21 Dream Theater
• Just Let Me Breathe 4:02 Dream Theater
• The Nomad 9:06 Iron Maiden
• Futureal 2:54 Iron Maiden
• Another Won 5:22 Dream Theater
• Afterlife 5:56 Dream Theater
• Under A Glass Moon 7:28 Dream Theater

I'm not going to last that long, but I'll try. If I have to die, I'll die with my boots on (can you guess?).
See you soon (I hope).