accurately measuring my jogging lap

[MonDie]

I've been using Google maps to route and measure my course. I've been doing a two mile lap with my best time as 13 minutes 30 seconds. Recently I did a one mile course, jogging it in 5:20, and now I just jogged it twice in 12:50.

 

Obviously Google maps isn't accurate. A cost effective approach might be to buy a 1-mile length wire, but the length might not be precise and it would probably get dragged off the sidewalk as I go around. Any other ideas?

 

Thanks!

[StringJunky]

A pushbike with a mileometer or a wheel-on-a-stick with a counter that civil engineers use

[MonDie]

Apparently they call it a

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surveyor's_wheel

 

A surveyor's wheel, also called a clickwheel, hodometer, waywiser, trundle wheel, measuring wheel or perambulator

 

A simpler version is the "trundle wheel".

 

Thank you so much!

[StringJunky]

Apparently they call it a

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surveyor's_wheel

 

A simpler version is the "trundle wheel".

 

Thank you so much!

That's the one! Memory failed me.

[MonDie]

Alternatives would still be nice. It looks like I'll only get one that goes up to 1,000 feet (< 1/5 mile) for a under twenty dollars. I suppose I could just reset it and keep going.

[Sensei]

Personally I would write Android app to gather data.

Devices have GPS, which can be periodically, say one time per second, read and stored.

I have done such app. Records are stored in database/file (CSV), that can be transfered to computer.

We can also read accelerometer periodically.

Then you can make script/app on computer analyzing these data, filtering out and ignoring obviously wrong entries. Compare results from GPS <-> accelerometer.

GPS locations (latitude,longitude) can be used with Google Maps (even directly in Android app, but there you have to get special certificate and include it in app; there is needed full Google developer account (you have to pay for it)).

But in desktop computer version there is no such high level requirements.

So, database entries will end up as series of lines in map, satellite view mode, you will verify whether path is correct.

[MonDie]

Actually, after reading that, I would guess that Google maps is calculating the distance from coordinates, in which case it might not handle curved roads well, particularly short neighborhood roads where the offset is irrelevant.

 

The accelerometer is interesting, but about as expensive, and the method you propose is more complicated.

I'm still only a noob scripter.

[Sensei]

Expensive if bought alone (as whole device, electronic chip is cheap), but I am talking about built-in smartphone. What is your model?

[Acme]

Handheld GPS receiver of course, though they may be too expensive just for your jogging. (If you have a smart phone you can probably get an app to track your jogging.) Inexpensive handheld GPS units can be had for less than $200. If you want very inexpensive, get a pedometer for less than $15.

 

'Cheap' handheld GPS @ REI for $112

 

'Cheap' Pedometer @ $12

[MonDie]

It's a G Pad. It has a GPS.

[DrP]

Hi MonDie,

 

Are you sure you aren't just getting better each time you go out? I uses to run and it is suprising how quick you can improve your 1 and 2 mile times.. If you were starting by doing sub 7 min miles, then you can very quickly get that down to close to 6 mins. Also - if you can run it in 12.50, then it is not unreasonable for you to be able to run a single mile in 5.30. You times will vary depending on your state of mind, general fitness in the day (tiredness and hydration levels play a part).. but if you haven't ben running too long and you keep at it then can see some seriously quick reductions in your mile time.

 

Good luck with it all any way. I should get back into some it for sure!

 

P.

[MonDie]

If they're really the same distance, then my best 2-mile times are:

12:50

13:30

13:35

13:35

13:40

13:40

13:45

[Acme]

It's a G Pad. It has a GPS.

I'm not familiar with that device so can't say just how it differs from the handheld GPS receiver I have. Mine is about 10 years old and has no maps, but it does have a screen that has two resettable odometers as well as a scalable speedometer. Can't say either if newer handhelds have these features, but I have read the newer ones are accurate to about 10 to 30ft. In any case, your exercise regimen is better than none.

[John Cuthber]

Given the normal day to day variations in the weather, how you are feeling, the crowds etc, I suspect that the error in measuring the lap distance is too small to worry about.

If you add things like hills, I don't think you need to do a better measurement.

 

If you stick to a small number of routes then you will be able to watch how your lap times improve.

Also, a quick thought for anyone thinking of going running:remember, however slow you are, you are still lapping the guy who isn't moving.

[imatfaal]

download strava/map-my-run for your android phone. The distance measurement is pretty shoddy - but it is consistently shoddy. You will find yourself getting addicted to checking your times fairly soon. Some cyclists (not me) have GPS systems (Garmin520) that tell you whether you have beaten your time / others' time on millions of street segments whilst you are still moving - within about 10 seconds of finishing the segment. It can be quite depressing to see that you are 16,457th on that segment when you felt you did pretty well. My strava account has details of about 30,000 kilometres of my riding - speed, cadence, altitude change, heart rate, comparisons with others (all, my age/sex, my friends, clubmates etc), temperature, other riders who were on same route at same time. Other riders even update with their power-meters, film footage

[MonDie]

I often feel I'm doing good only to find I did okay, or break a record completely by accident.

https://www.strava.com

http://www.mapmyride.com/

They both seem to require registration on desktop, but I'll see whether the apps can measure distance. Anyway it's hard to control data as it is.

 

I broke my old record twice in a row on this new course (12:50, 13:25).

[imatfaal]

There are distinct privacy issues with both apps. They take a log of your GPS reported position at regular intervals and store this information - you can give a nickname but this is still linked to your phone/gps unit. I have signed up for both - but use strava for logging my rides and map my ride for investigating new and interesting routes to take.

[MonDie]

---

Four Year Bump

I did get a trundle wheel.  I recall that, with the sidewalk's bumps smoothed out, the measurement was reliable at something like 12,XXX feet plus or minus 10-20 feet.  I think that's right, and I think that was after slowing for the bumps.  I remember the last place digit changes so rapidly that I would ignore it in favor of the second lastest digit, but the error margin wasn't more than 50 feet.  That is less than half of a percentage point of error, which was better than the several percentage points of disparity by maps.

---

I also wanted to share some physiological tips for anyone who shall run regularly (or daily).  None of the physiological insights were obvious, but it was noticed over the years.

The most important thing is symmetry, and, per the relevance to backpacks, I thought some protesters or whomever might find it to be useful for some kind of moving distribution system.  I have been jogging with backpacks and drawstring bags, and their symmetry will make or break a long distance jog.  With backpacks, a box of some kind, a cardboard box, should house all of the items.  This will guarantee symmetry.  A cardboard box with tape will not become wet and soggy, and a plastic bag can protect the contents from rain.  For my drawstring bag I only use plastic bags, and a few layers of bags will fend off flooding conditions.  There are a few ways to tie the draw-strings, but I prefer: with each string, to twist that string 360 degrees and to place the resultant loop over that same arm on the same side and then over my head.  No choking, no asymmetry, and negligible breathing restriction.

If you want to get a better time, your muscles, your calves particularly, should be totally relaxed during stretching.  I DO NOT stretch my calves on stairway steps, but if I must I must b grasping a handle that fully supports my body weight.  Preferably, I take a chair with horizontal bars that are low to the floor.  I relax my feet against those horizontal bars while pulling on it with only my arms.  My preferred outdoor technique is what I call the tree hugger, and on those few occasions of its use I reasoned that it was far safer than using a wall. I find a pole with a large circumference, a telephone pole, and, with one tightly snug heel and the other foot nearer rather than farther , I try to give the pole a big ol' hug with my arm muscles.

With foot pain I noticed some problematic postures that worsened the pain I already had.  Those are the bone tips.  Recently I pulled my leg again, and I noticed upon the next jog that my pulled leg wasn't as tight as the other leg.  This is the basis for the muscle tips.  Obviously, you should not slow too much and accelerate too rapidly else you will pull your calves.  Darn traffic.  Darn geese.  In motion (bones first), your jogs should be turned by both legs and not merely the outside leg.  If you grab a pole and twirl around it, you will notice that it relieves the pressure that would be felt in the feet in a jogging turn.  In motion (muscles second), it might be wise to walk slowly with outwardly pointing toes.  This is what doesn't pull on your calves.  In standing (bones first), try not to straighten one knee or the other.  In standing (Muscles second), try not to stand on curled toes (...yes, like a girl).  This posture tugged on my pulled calf muscle.  In sitting with elevated feet (bones first), DO NOT rest the balls of your feet against hard edges, and (muscles second), on any surface, try to rest on the heels of the feet rather than the balls of the feet.  In sitting on the floor (bones), try to extend out your feet rather than pulling your feet toward your thighs.

Have good jogging!

October 13th, 10:40 AM CST

[MonDie]

I forgot about it because I already put a total stop to it.  DO NOT DO NOT sit cross-legged in what we american's call "indian-style."  This half-ass version of how Guatama Buddha sits is actually the worst thing for your feet.

Anyway, the peripheral point of this post was that these things might impact the actual speed of motion (e.g. improper stretching) or your perceived exertion vis-a-vis joint pain.  You shouldn't experience any joint pain ever.

11:45 AM CST

Oc 13

Go far!

[Airbrush]

The way I measured my jogging course is I drove circuits in an old car, with an odometer that has tenths of a mile, around my hood.  I tried different circuits beginning and ending at my driveway around my neighborhood because I wanted a circuit at least one mile.  So a nice circuit turned out to be 1.2 miles which I do almost every day.  Later I realized that 1.2 miles is 2 km.  So I do this circuit, twice for 4 km, or 2.4 miles.  My best time is about 23:50 for 4 km.  Usually I jog it in a leisurely 25 to 27 minutes.  And I'm 65.

I always time myself because I know the approx. half-way point, and third-way points, so I can estimate in advance what my time will be.

[MonDie]

On 10/14/2019 at 9:08 PM, Airbrush said:

The way I measured my jogging course is I drove circuits in an old car, with an odometer that has tenths of a mile, around my hood.  I tried different circuits beginning and ending at my driveway around my neighborhood because I wanted a circuit at least one mile.  So a nice circuit turned out to be 1.2 miles which I do almost every day.  Later I realized that 1.2 miles is 2 km.  So I do this circuit, twice for 4 km, or 2.4 miles.  My best time is about 23:50 for 4 km.  Usually I jog it in a leisurely 25 to 27 minutes.  And I'm 65.

I always time myself because I know the approx. half-way point, and third-way points, so I can estimate in advance what my time will be.

How much I run is abnormal, but what I am saying might be so important for the older people on this forum.  You stop building bone density in the latter part of your life, so you have to maintain it.  I don't know kinesiology, but I I was running ten miles per day until I ran fourteen to fifteen per day for a week before our move.

I learned that the vertical legs of a foot stool can be used for the stretch I described above, but I still strongly prefer the chair with the horizontal bars.  Also, I injured my foot on the day after we moved.  After I was running along the inclined grassy hill beside a sidewalkless road, I immediately noticed the soreness on the pavement.  Four days later, I avoided irritating the sore foot by adjusting my style, extending the sore foot farther than usual and compensating with a "springing" push from my other leg.  I just did a test run through the hallway, and I am deducing that extending the step in this way puts pressure on the fleshier parts of the foot.  The soreness is inbetween my heel and the ball of my foot, and moreover it is on the outer side of my foot.  I guess my tendency was to run by lifting my feet over and over, but extending the step seems to undercut this tendency so that I am landing on my heels and pushing ("springing") from my balls.  Alternatively, I might be directing more pressure to the inside side of the foot that has more padding, but intentionally redirecting the pressure toward the inside side had little benefit.

Also, the drawstring bag can be tied more easily, if one is wearing a jacket that provides cushioning below their neck, by simply twisting the strings around eachother.  I prefer the other tying method, which is more symmetrical via being more stable, if it isn't too tight.

I seemed to have less joint pain when I was attempting to meditate during my jogging.  This might be coincidence, for the meditation significantly slowed my pace.  Anyway, fighting with your HPA axis in this way has some unexpected consequences, if you don't close your eyes and trip and fall.  Without closing my eyes, I try to consciously detach from the visual stimuli.  One might enjoy this if they have a nice view.  Don't run along any inclined hills!

If you start extending your steps in that way, you will probably find that you are running more quickly.  The paradox might be that a faster jog is healthier.  I also jog at that leisurely pace, Airbrush, but for much longer distance.