Listen to the music as you run, it helps a lot

Lime splashing into water. Extremely shallow DoF Uploaded by matchstick

So we finally settled matter of training plan down. We are good boys and girls and had done good job. Let's talk about our first or one of those first days when we hit the ground with our newbie running feet. First week of training is quite simple when looking at our timers and thinking on training time. You have only 5-15 minutes a day to run, here is almost nothing to fear. Second week reveals new problems -- you run about 20-40 minutes and you need to fill them with something to let you be happy and not fell asleep.

There are options, as usual. Believe me or nit, but there are many. Some say, that listening to the music is the best one, but here we come to the problem of play-lists -- you have to create ideal one for your every run or you would stop every 3-4 minutes and search for a comfortable tune which really fits your current mood. Many people fell nice and like their own breath as it sounds during training. It's an option for those runners, who breathe right. Or who breath good. Or for those who are going to improve their breathing technique (we'll discuss it later). The third option is to use special tracking software with your smartphone. It will tell you your current training data like speed (average and current), pace (all the same), time, distance and even transmit data from heart-rate monitor if you have one. This dataset will change from program to program, but I use runkeeper with android phone, it works good and I sure as hell may recommend it.

So there are no more options and it's hard. Like a rock. You are free to combine these techniques, like mixing up music and software vocalized training data. It's a bes option so you can listen to your favorite tracks and don't have to constantly check your timer.

As for me, I prefer radio, but there are days when I just run in silence or listen to the software voice in between my ears. By the way. Do you remember your first running gadget? Yesterday I spotted ipod mini 4 gb blue model in local used electronics shop. It's almost like the green mini, which accompanied me while I was making my first steps in the running field. Tomorrow I'll show you some shots of this device.

Handy gadgets for designer on the go

Hi there, fellow designer with a running passion in your mind! How the things are going there, where you stay today? It's quite cold here, in  Moscow, Russia. Autumn is finally here, with rains and crap of all other autumn related sort.

Today I'm going to discuss a topic of working on the go. We are surrounded with android and ios devices like smartphones, iphones and tablets with ipads -- let's find out what can we do on the go, while in transport, moving our beautiful heads from home to work and back. Some say that samsung and it's galaxy note is a best choice, I've never used it, but here is some news about second version of galaxy note with 5.5 inches super AMOLED HD display. Weather it worth buying or not, who can say.

I, for myself, have found out that there are few things I can do with mobile devices and few, I can't. With my tablet (acer iconia tab) I can draw sketches and review page templates. Comment them with picsay pro, for example. With smart office or docs to go applications I can take care of budget stuff while on the go -- it's a nice time-savior for me.

With my lg optimus l7 which features 4.2 inch display I can do much point and shoot part of work -- it's really helpful in this area. PicSay pro, camera zoom fx and instagram applications are of great help too. It's quite good for notetaking and social investigations. And it's a google in your pocket, that's the best part.

So in conclusion I can say that if you have same needs as me, you don't actually need any tablet.

Runner's log: modern approach

Hi there, fellow runner. Today's agenda will consist of few tips on setting down all your misstated thoughts on running and trainings in one clean and accessible document. If I were short, I might just call it your running log or sport dairy. And it is one of few key points on your way from newbie runner to professional grade athlete. Just follow these simple advices and fell free to get advantage.

Ancient  looking gentleman writing down some misty thoughts (maybe it's his running log?)

Few years ago when I wrote tips for novice athletes like you, I imagined paper notebook with tables and all that writing carp around. Today's issue is about modern ways of note-taking. A bit techy or geeky a little, it does not matter how you will call it, the min idea is easy to get. You should use one of free blogging platform or maybe some cloud based service for editing documents like tables, mind Microsoft or Google solution. There are few benefits. First one is about accessibility. So you can load web page right with your smartphone's browser just after training and fill in few fields. Second benefit is about cost: you pay nothing for this neither in money, nor in time or weight in your backpack.

You can achieve goals and of course set them with running log, create some sort of table like one you create for planning your expenses and fill  in fields for some amount of time -- you can gather statistics or make plans for future weather it;s time for you to participate in races or not. As for me, I am lazy one and use android apps like endomondo or other of the kind. The choice is yours. You can always add some info from sport tracker to your classic table look alike running log or have just information from the application or even go old-school and fill in all cells manually.

There are always more benefits, but you should find out what really matters for you and feel free to leave some comments. Completely yours, runplusdesign.com

Runner's gadgets #1: smartphones and tablets with android

Hi there, fellow runner! You love gadgets? Smart-phones, iphones, tablets or ipads? Can you imagine your day without one? Can you imagine a training without music? And how can you listen to the music if you have no device to play it for you. Airplane flights with no tablet to watch some great movie? No, thanks! Getting back home from work with no tablet to read magazine or no e-book reader to read book? What a crap, no thanks!

Some tech-related photo by library of congress, Part of the cowling for one of the motors for a B-25 bomber is assembled in the engine department of North American [Aviation, Inc.]'s Inglewood, Calif., plant

So lets say truth -- we are complete addict to gadgets and all that wireless stuff. I've never left home for training without my huawei honor for about two month like i've never left home without motorolla milestone for some time before. Android platform offer so much comfort for our sportsman-hobbyists so I can't stand the passion to use one.

For today my daily gadgets consist of two devices: Acer iconia tab a500 and Huawei Honor smart-phone


 

They are super-cool and awesome by all means. Huawei runs android 4.0 ice cream sandwich and has beautiful 4.0 inch display with 800x480 pixels resolution, it looks nice on sunny days and you can control your run looking at it even if you run on Sundays an mid day. I use endomondo sports tracker and runkeeper for mapping my run and doing some sort of running log, they are almost equal, but I love runkeeper more. The choice is yours.

On my iconia tablet I don't use any run related apps, but I've installed DroidFit by Jefit Inc. -- it's some sort of e-book on building muscles and it's quite comprehensive.

I'll describe my gadgets later, this time I've just focused on their running and sports capabilities.