Running Roundup – a collection of running-related links around the Internet

 

* Well, I guess you’d expect the RunKeeper CEO to say this, but he believes smartphones will win out over fitness trackers. I’ve toyed with the idea of getting a Garmin GPS watch, but it’s hard to justify the cost, etc. when RunKeeper works perfectly fine for my needs.

* Um, things I’ve never had to worry about when I go running, but for which I express sympathy: “10 things no one tells women before they run a marathon.”

* Being somewhat fascinated by engineering technology, I couldn’t resist getting a Columbia Sportswear Omni Freeze Zero tech shirt (from the outlet store, of course). This is the shirt that cools you when it gets wet (i.e., absorbs sweat). How does it work? It’s got tiny rings sewn into the shirt; when the rings absorb water, they expand. But it takes energy to expand, which the rings draw from your body heat. I went running with one last Monday, but I guess I didn’t sweat enough to feel a difference.

* Hey, my core interests intersect!: “Is the poor fitness of Americans a national security risk?”

* Speaking of national security, ever wonder what it would be like to run a marathon in North Korea? The adrenaline rush must be something, when you’ve got North Korean soldiers telling you, “Don’t worry about not having photos, we have men to shoot you.” Ha ha ha, gotta love that Axis of Evil humor!

* Why do healthy people die while running marathons? tl;dr: a miniscule number of people die during marathons, but there are so many people who run marathons that it happens once in a blue moon; and then people who hate running make a big deal out of it (“see, running can kill you”).

* Other than relays, running isn’t a team sport, is it? Here’s a really good explanation of how Ryan Hall (who finished 20th) still helped Meb Keflezighi win the 2014 Boston Marathon by, essentially, sandbagging the 14 Kenyan and Ethiopian runners. Kind of a neat example of turnabout being fair play, considering that athletes from those two countries are known for using the same kind of team tactic in international competitions.

* Sigh, lifters who trash running, again: It’s been a month since Mark Rippetoe last trashed running, so I guess that means it’s time for him to do it again, with supposed reasons “you should not be running.” It’s really a bizarre column, since the linchpin of his argument is that running all the time at a slow easy pace doesn’t stress your body and doesn’t build muscle. It would be like writing a column to say you shouldn’t lift weights because it won’t do anything for you, since all you do is lift the same light amount of weight over and over…. (He does say in the beginning that he’s not addressing competitive, elite runners, but even some of us who aren’t elite do, you know, actually engage in speed work — like intervals and threshold/tempo runs.) And just to be clear, I do lift weights 2-3 times a week, so I’m not a runner who trashes weightlifting.