GPS watch, sites like mapometer, measuring wheel/bike or something else? I've found mapometer can be 6% out which for 800m means +/- 50m. What's the most accurate?
GPS watch, sites like mapometer, measuring wheel/bike or something else? I've found mapometer can be 6% out which for 800m means +/- 50m. What's the most accurate?
Go by time or map out the distance.
Roads are not consistent surfaces.
Measuring with time is quite easy to do.
I used to want to measure everywhere that I ran, or else to run on a track. What a waste.
not always wrote:
What's the most accurate?
A Jones counter, used with a calibrated bicycle.
Measuring wheel. Paint numbers/dots/lines on the road and you’ll have permanent distance markings. Or you could do chalk or flour for non permanent alternative.
GPS watch. It's close enough for road intervals. The difference between running :73 and :75 does not matter as much as you think it does.
If you want more accuracy, careful use of straight-line segments with a satellite view of the road can be slightly more accurate that a GPS watch.
The shortest i run intervals on the roar is 1 mile. Anything shorter and i go to the track. I just use my gps watch and dont overthink it. Whether i run a 5:58 mile or a 6:03 mile. It doesnt really matter as far as my workout is concerned, as long as the effort is right. If i want the workout to tell me something accurately, ill go to the track
start here wrote:
If you want more accuracy, careful use of straight-line segments with a satellite view of the road can be slightly more accurate that a GPS watch.
How does one do this? My road has good pictures on google maps satellite and things like that. Is a good tool to measure distance on the web?
I always would estimate a distance by what I thought the pace felt like.
Make note note of landmarks.
Run intervals with those marks and compare workout to workout for any improvements.
I do every run pushing a jones counter. I don't need any of those fancy new gadgets to tell me how far I ran. I just divide the number on the wheel by 5,000 and write my miles down.
I count my steps.
Gravy wrote:
I count my steps.
My watch does that for me but last week when I was building trail, it counted a step every time I used my cutter mattock. Ended the day with over 39.000 steps.
True. There’s really no difference in your training whether you are doing 8xmile at 4:26 or 4:28.
If your favorite track/field is in use by soccer team or if track is covered by three inches of ice or a foot of snow, you are doing your workout on the road. Instead of your planned 7 x 800m, as you stated you do 7 x 750m or 7 x 850m. No problem. The quality of the workout is still the same.
Most of the rural US and probably even urban centers are laid out in a grid in 1 mile increments. (Marked and measured by real surveyors! Once I figured this out, I never worried about measuring my runs. Cross street to cross street >> 1 mile.
Angry Willy wrote:
Most of the rural US and probably even urban centers are laid out in a grid in 1 mile increments. (Marked and measured by real surveyors! Once I figured this out, I never worried about measuring my runs. Cross street to cross street >> 1 mile.
My gps says it's only .99 and .98 miles. I nave never wheeled it though
I just use a GPS watch on a linear road or path. It's ok for mile reps or half miles since the workout is roughly the same quality as the track. But for 400m or 200m reps I definitely prefer the track. If I can't access a track for short intervals I would do short hill sprints instead.
I will say that it is incredibly annoying to run intervals on a busy bike path full of bicyclists especially if you're running faster than them, or blowing past the other walkers/runners, stopping, then blowing past them again.
For any interval shorter than a quarter mile, which i could measure on my GPS, i would do it on the track. If i wanted a similar workout off the track, i'd do hills.
asdfasdfsdfd wrote:
How does one do this? My road has good pictures on google maps satellite and things like that. Is a good tool to measure distance on the web?
On Google Maps, satellite view, right click on your starting point and choose "measure distance." Then left click to get the measurement. Be sure to zoom in enough to be accurate.
Angry Willy wrote:
Most of the rural US and probably even urban centers are laid out in a grid in 1 mile increments. (Marked and measured by real surveyors! Once I figured this out, I never worried about measuring my runs. Cross street to cross street >> 1 mile.
I first came across this one-mile grid during a 20-mile run on Oklahoma. Very obvious from the air, of course, when flying over the Midwest, but I don't think you'll find much of that here in the Northeast or New England. Or in any mountainous area. Roads generally follow natural terrain like ridges, valleys, rivers.