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Quick tip for carrying gels while running

— Posted in Hardlopen by

Here's just a quick tip for carrying gels while running longer distances. I only carry them for marathons, and I kind of hate the feeling of those waist bands. Turns out, you can carry them safely without buying anything.

All you need are your regular safety pins – you know, those things they hand out at every race for attaching your bib to your shirt. Take a gel, put it inside your shorts on the left or right side, and flip the top over your waist band. Attach the top to your shorts using a safety pin and it won't go anywhere during your race.

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When you need it, just tuck it from your waistband - it'll let go easily - but be aware that the pin might open, so don't get stung. I found this works great and the gels don't bounce up and down while running. I carry three gels at most, so I don't know whether this works for more gels.

Prime symbols for minutes and seconds

— Posted in Hardlopen by

So, when I was still on Strava, I quite often saw fellow runners notate interval times using prime symbols instead of writing down 'sec' or 'min'. Although you might think it efficient, or simply cool looking, I always get a bit confused by it. However, I sometimes find myself using these symbols just to keep my running log from expanding too much.

Just as a quick reminder, I'll list the use of prime symbols for time below, together with some examples.

  • Single prime for minutes
    • 3*5′@MP (3 times 5 minutes at Marathon Pace)
  • Double prime for seconds
    • 20*30″@i4 (20 times 30 seconds at intensity level 4)
  • Combining minutes and seconds
    • 5*3′30″@i3 (5 times 3 minutes and 30 seconds at intensity level 4; I would rather just write 3:30 here, by the way)

If you find primes hard to find on your keyboard, you can just use quotes of course, as in 3*5'@MP.

I got my information from Wikipedia. The relevant page offers a line that actually pretty much sums up what you need to know.

Primes are sometimes used to indicate minutes, and double primes to indicate seconds of time, as in the John Cage composition 4′33″ (spoken as "four thirty-three"), a composition that lasts exactly 4 minutes 33 seconds. This notation only applies to duration, and is seldom used for durations longer than 60 minutes. (source: Wikipedia)

There's some useful information in this StackExchange thread as well.

Thanks for reading!