Any runners?

[spud_gun]

I beleive that this chap is very high on the pedometer scale.



Glad to be of help

[Neil Young]

It's £90 here for the Watch/ HRM and wireless dongle

http://www.outdoorworld.co.uk/garmin-forerunner-fr60-ladies-lilac-hrm-ant

I've been having a bit of an email exchange with Nike about HRMs as they've told me that the Polar Wearlink will work with my GPS watch. However, it won't work with my 2nd gen Ipod Nano or (amazingly) the Nike+ App for the Iphone. So in short, if she wants a combined Ped/ HRM she'll need to pay. I didn't previously use my watch at the gym but it looks like I'll need to now as otherwise I'd be using two different systems.

Long way of saying it's better to have one device doing the work than two

Thanks. Makes sense.

[smu1977]

The Nike+ is a really useful setup - and a fair bit cheaper than the adidas version. I bought it for my wife about a year ago and she loves it.

She also uses a Polar watch with a HRM, but they are a bit more expensive.

[Pablo]

The Nike+ is a really useful setup - and a fair bit cheaper than the adidas version. I bought it for my wife about a year ago and she loves it.

She also uses a Polar watch with a HRM, but they are a bit more expensive.

Nice present: "Get back in shape fat lass"

[Darth Marty]

If she has an i-phone the Nike + app is fantastic, I love it and it makes running solo competitive.

[Big-Red-Ed]

At a beginners level I think the more you complicate going for a run/cycle/swim the less likely you are to keep it up. Good comfortable kit, proper running shoes suitable for her foot type and a basic stopwatch is all you need. If you run every other day for 30 minutes you are doing well.

Once things get serious then heart rate monitors and/or GPS devices become useful. I have always used the timex ironman range. I have never used phone aps because I never take my phone. I don't want to be contacted by phone/text while I am running. The joy of running is the meditative aspect of just you and the road. I sound like a Nike advert there!

A top place for cheap kit is Decathlon, if there is one anywhere near it is worth a visit if you are serious about sport in general but their running gear is fantastic. Not so good for shoes. They have some excellent budget watches and heart rate monitors.

Go to a good runners shop like Up and Running and get a bit of gait analysis done. Once you find out your shoe type (stability, motion control etc) you can buy one pair in there just to be fair and then shop online somewhere like sportshoes.com.

[little dave hedgehog]

i've a question.

i'll be 35 this year, and about 3 years ago, i stopped playing footy because i started getting incredibly sore and it took too long to recover. i've quit smoking and stopped gaining weight, though i'm still probably carrying an extra 10 pounds.

anyways, the chicago lfc guys talked me out of retirement, and after doing some running initially, i can just about make it through a whole match now, but at a woeful pace. they put me clean through twice last night, and i just couldn't move fast enough to catch up to the ball. given my age and history, am i **** out of luck, or are there some specific exercises i can do to get back my speed and reaction times, and maybe also my explosiveness? and if so, what are they, and will it make me too sore to get on with trying?

i realize i'm over the hill, like, but this is extra slow and embarrassing.

[PTP]

i'd say ur **** out of luck

[PTP]

only joking...

it's one thing having stamina to play a full match of 11 a side (something, i'm **** at ) but another thing having a burst of pace (ie 5 a side matches)

i can't explain it, and i know it's a smaller pitch.....but i shock people in 5 a side....lads i've played 11 a side with, and i'm decent at 11 a side, but they are much fitter and quicker than me - play 5 a side and just get blown apart.


i would suggest that longer steady runs are great for losing weight and building stamina/fitness - but for sharpness you could try a few other things...


Shuttle runs - just sprint about 5 metres, touch the ground, sprint back to the starting point, touch the ground turn and sprint 10 metres etc


shorter length running, but with sprint bursts in between - ie....jog for 200 metres, and turn and sprint back on yourself 10 metres - the turning should help get ur head and body into 'exploding' into a sprint - do it for about 20 minutes with about 5 20 metre sprints in it

other thing is tie a weight ie a tyre to a rope and have the rope round your waist....and sprint 10 yards....walks 10 yards sprint 10 yards etc - dragging the rope behind you...it's 'resistance' training that should build up some speed.

not very scientific, and i may be wrong, but that's what i'd be looking at.

[Darth Marty]

Yeah, same age as me and like you I came out of retirement this season to play striker. I realise 5 years out has turned me from Torres to Bergkamp so you have to adapt. What little pace is gleaned from reading the game better than ever before and trying to have a turn of pace just for a few metres to get ahead of the defender where my strength holds them off. H.I.I.T is the only answer for you my friend, sprint like **** for a minute or so, then walk, then sprint, rinse repeat.

Next year I may play CB

[Neil Young]

i've a question.

i'll be 35 this year, and about 3 years ago, i stopped playing footy because i started getting incredibly sore and it took too long to recover. i've quit smoking and stopped gaining weight, though i'm still probably carrying an extra 10 pounds.

anyways, the chicago lfc guys talked me out of retirement, and after doing some running initially, i can just about make it through a whole match now, but at a woeful pace. they put me clean through twice last night, and i just couldn't move fast enough to catch up to the ball. given my age and history, am i **** out of luck, or are there some specific exercises i can do to get back my speed and reaction times, and maybe also my explosiveness? and if so, what are they, and will it make me too sore to get on with trying?

i realize i'm over the hill, like, but this is extra slow and embarrassing.

Ah yes, I remember that. I was playing 11-a-side in central defence and some zippy little 18 year old striker ran past me like I was dead. I started to chase but gave up, swearing, and all my team-mates who should have been p*ssed off with my terrible defending just laughed.

And then about a year later, playing 5-a-side, I was turning with the ball and noticed I was spinning more slowly than a spaceship in 2001, I even had time to think "****, I'm turning slowly here, I wonder if I could do it more quickly, I'll have to look into that...Oh look I'm over a quarter of the way round...I could ask someone but no one has invented football forums yet, otherwise I could ask for some advice on how to get my speed back...ah, nearly there...Maybe there are some secret special exercises you can do that somehow reverse the effects of ageing even though that's impossible...OK, made it, now where's the ball gone, wait, I've been tackled and the ball is up the other end, how did that happen..."

[Chazza]

The old 'Titanic turning circle' syndrome