Friday, April 29, 2011

No Runner Is An Island

No runner is an island.   We all need help along the way-the help I often need is a port-a-potty and emergency TP, but some need help with what to eat, training advice, encouragement, or news on whats going on.  HAVE NO FEAR! I have compiled a list of great things that help me and many others along our running way. 

Food: www.dailyplate.com
Daily Plate is a great tool for logging the food you eat.  It allows you to search a massive database of store bought as well as many restaurants' items and easily log them.  Daily Plate has a ton of great visuals and charts that make it easy to keep track of daily, weekly and monthly caloric goals (as well as keeping track of fiber, protein, fat, sodium and others).  Best of all-its free!

Training Logs:  www.mapmyrun.com
I can’t say enough about how wonderful mapmyrun is.  It is a site that allows you to map out how far you ran using interactive google maps.  The site has an incredible training log section which I have been using for the past 5 years to keep track of my mileage.  Once again there are a large amount of interactive graphs that you can access making it easy and fun to see your weekly, monthly and yearly mileage.  The site is undergoing a new look/additional features so it is currently quite glitchy (use classic.mapmyrun.com to access the “old” site which is awesome).  I pay a monthy fee for extra stuff but the free version is super awesome too. 

Social Media:  http://www.dailymile.com/
This has been described as the “facebook” of running and won best running site a couple years ago.  Dailymile is similar to mapmyrun in that you log how far/fast you ran and then post it.  The difference is that you have a profile and “friends” who are notified whenever you log a workout.  This site is heavily focused on encouragement and has built in comments sections that have smiley graphics and “keep doing great!” type built in responses if you would so choose.  I found the nicest running group in New Jersey and befriended all of them and they constantly say nice things about all of my runs.

Message Boards:  www.letsrun.com
Lets run is a hardcore message board site where you can find the latest up to date news on what’s going on in professional and collegiate running.  The site is renowned for having the nastiest and most unforgiving members who will naysay the best of runners for the smallest things.  The boards are really fun to read and will easily get you upset if you have a favorite professional runner (i.e. Ryan Hall, my favorite, who they constantly hate on). 

Magazines:  Runner’s World, Running Times 
Runner’s World is far different from Running Times.  Personally, I find Runner’s World to be a much more enjoyable magazine.  It is geared towards beginners as well as seasoned runners and features articles that contain; wise words, humor, celebrity runners, recent racing news as well as recurring specials that help you pick out the perfect shoe and other gear.  One of the best days of each month is when I get my Runner’s World Mag in the mail.   www.runnersworld.com

Running Times on the other hand is a magazine that is geared towards veteran runners.  It’s articles are much more technical and do not lend themselves well to the beginner (i.e. a few months ago they had an article explaining how to best run a 100 mile week-give me a break!)  However it does have great information about who is running fast in the competitive world as well as college level up and comers.  http://www.runningtimes.com/

The Short List
www.coolrunning.com A nice site with some running news and a decent message board forum
http://www.usatf.org/ Good place to find out what is going on with the US national runners.
www.roadrunnersports.com  A nice selection of running gear with some decent sales usually. 
www.ultrarunning.com All the training, articles and latest news you need to keep track of those crazy ultra distance runners. 

These are just a few great things I wanted to share-please let me know of others you use so I can enjoy them with you!

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for the post and nice comments!

    Chris Carter
    MapMyFITNESS Community Manager

    ReplyDelete