A touch of OCD?
Honestly, I don't normally see myself as an obsessive OR a compulsive person, but today I've been a real wacko.
For starters, it was a beautiful beautiful day outside, and I just couldn't bear the idea of running on the indoor track when there was so much sun to soak up. So I headed over to Queen's Park to do a couple loops of the dirt trail there. I thought it would be a nice change from my regular road route, and also easier on the joints. One little gripe: I didn't know how long the QP loop is, exactly - and I still don't.
I measured it with gmaps, and it said a little over 800m - but I couldn't be accurate, because the trail itself isn't marked on the map, so I had to estimate its contours. I measured it with my cycle computer, and it read out 850m - which I thought was great. Then, I did a tempo run and calculated my pace based on that distance - and realized, much as I would love to believe I suddenly became a speed demon overnight, 850 must have been pretty generous.
I know it's roughly 800m, but I want to know exactly how long it is - it bugs me not to know precisely how far and how fast I've run. I'm so quantitative when it comes to running, and every little bit counts, in my mind. I hate to feel like I might be "cheating" by running a shorter distance and counting it as more.
I'm also completely in a tizzy over my pending ipod purchase. I'm having a hard time deciding whether to go for a 1G, 2G or 4G nano. Do I want monstrous amounts of songs, or a cheaper price? How many songs do I really need, vs. how much money am I willing to spend? And don't even get me started on the accessories - skins, clips, armbands, all in different colours too... I want to protect it and I want to be able to run with it. But there are such an overwhelming number of gadgets to do that with... and they all seem to cost an awful lot of money. I know, I know - I'm buying an ipod, it's not exactly bargain shopping - more like a statement of how cool I am, and how much I'm willing to spend to look that cool.
Little itty bitty irritating things. Choices, choices, choices. Both very unjustifiable reasons to feel like I'm going totally insane.
If only I would be this obsessively committed to studying. Which I should be doing right now, in a serious way. Okay, enough nonsense - time to cram many many little factoids into my poor overworked head.
For starters, it was a beautiful beautiful day outside, and I just couldn't bear the idea of running on the indoor track when there was so much sun to soak up. So I headed over to Queen's Park to do a couple loops of the dirt trail there. I thought it would be a nice change from my regular road route, and also easier on the joints. One little gripe: I didn't know how long the QP loop is, exactly - and I still don't.
I measured it with gmaps, and it said a little over 800m - but I couldn't be accurate, because the trail itself isn't marked on the map, so I had to estimate its contours. I measured it with my cycle computer, and it read out 850m - which I thought was great. Then, I did a tempo run and calculated my pace based on that distance - and realized, much as I would love to believe I suddenly became a speed demon overnight, 850 must have been pretty generous.
I know it's roughly 800m, but I want to know exactly how long it is - it bugs me not to know precisely how far and how fast I've run. I'm so quantitative when it comes to running, and every little bit counts, in my mind. I hate to feel like I might be "cheating" by running a shorter distance and counting it as more.
I'm also completely in a tizzy over my pending ipod purchase. I'm having a hard time deciding whether to go for a 1G, 2G or 4G nano. Do I want monstrous amounts of songs, or a cheaper price? How many songs do I really need, vs. how much money am I willing to spend? And don't even get me started on the accessories - skins, clips, armbands, all in different colours too... I want to protect it and I want to be able to run with it. But there are such an overwhelming number of gadgets to do that with... and they all seem to cost an awful lot of money. I know, I know - I'm buying an ipod, it's not exactly bargain shopping - more like a statement of how cool I am, and how much I'm willing to spend to look that cool.
Little itty bitty irritating things. Choices, choices, choices. Both very unjustifiable reasons to feel like I'm going totally insane.
If only I would be this obsessively committed to studying. Which I should be doing right now, in a serious way. Okay, enough nonsense - time to cram many many little factoids into my poor overworked head.
posted by Liv @ 10:48 p.m.
7 Comments:
At 11:35 a.m.,
Hilda said…
Just don't forget to talk about the one you finally choose, I want to know your opinion to take it on counts since its been months since I started thinking which one to choose.
At 2:47 p.m.,
Jessica DeLine said…
Yea... it drives me CRAZY when I can't figure out exactly how far my routes are. I measured the planned run for Saturday on gmap and with National Geographic Topo. Both came out with different measurements and both of them I did twice. So how far is it really? Geesh...
At 8:44 p.m.,
onepinkfuzzy said…
oh, man! well, at least you got out and ran, even though you don't know exactly how many meters. And at least you are going to get an ipod, even though you don't know exactly which one. Okay, I'm not much help :)
At 9:05 p.m.,
A Deal Or No Deal said…
It actually is roughly 850 metres, which is one of the lower estimates I've heard.
You can also just use it as a course and gauge each workout relative to other times on there. For example, I know that these days I run two laps in 6:25 at tempo pace. If I'm doing hard speedwork, each lap should be closer to 2:50.
At 11:13 p.m.,
Unknown said…
I know how you feel about accurate mileage, but I like to have my accurate routes and then also the ones where I forget about the time and distance and just run and then mark a relatively feasible distance in the log book. Psychologically if you believe you ran 5 miles then it does not really matter if it was only 4.78. I am a bit OCD so who am I to talk.
At 6:15 p.m.,
Olga said…
When I run trails, where I've never been before or never cared to figure the distance, I divide time by effort: if I ran moderate, I'll go by 10:00 pace (there are hilly trails, you know), then hard calls for 9:00 and easy for 11:00. Small incriments don't matter.
As for I-Pod: I have 2G Nano, it's enough for 12 hrs of songs (what i don't even have half of), and I use old headphones from my son, no caring gadget (I stuff it into a short pocket) or anything else. I am a cheapo and simple, I am surprised I even got one, but do love it.
At 5:32 a.m.,
psbowe said…
Hey, you got out there, did some running, that's what counts.
Good luck with the ipod!
Post a Comment
<< Home