Question for Runners/Walkers/Mile trackers
 

I want to start tracking my miles. This is easy enough to do when on the treadmill, but sometimes I walk outside too. What is the best way to figure out the distance of my outdoor walks? Also does anyone know how to figure distance done on an elliptical? I want to track the next 2 months in order to give me a baseline for setting a 2010 goal. I tried using the mapmyrun site, but since I walk around and around in my neighborhood it is difficult to set a route as the lines I have already made get in the way of new lines. My neighborhood has a lot of tiny little short roads and a gravel trail around a large duck pond, so the lines start getting crazy pretty quickly.

Question for Runners/Walkers/Mile trackers
 

I like to use Mapmyrun dot com. You can open a free account, then zoom in on your house and using the hybrid map setting (aerial photo plus street names) to get a fairly good idea of how far you are going. It's especially useful if you like to use trails or greenways where you can't drive the route to measure it.

Mapmyrun is how I do it but I know what you mean about lines crossing. There is also a river trail that I walk along and that's not shown in mapmyrun, so I just kind of draw it on there and hope that I'm getting it right. I haven't figured out a better way. My elliptical has a readout that tells how far I've gone, so that's how I tell when I am on that.

I know that there are GPS units that you can wear on your wrist that will measure how far you've gone; I don't know if you want to go to the expense of that! I have looked at them but haven't purchased one yet, so I don't know how accurate they are.

You can get a Garmin Forerunner 205 Sports GPS for as low as $120 right now. The 305 with HRM is around $150ish I think (I've got one and love it).

I use the Garmin Forerunner (a GPS watch); I love it and can't imagine having done as much walking without it.

Cheers,

J

cick on the link in my signiture. I walk a lot and you can clear your walk at any time. I do find it difficult when I walk in the woods, but all in all it has been fin to map my regular walks.

I use a pedometer and I love it.

I have a question about ellipticals. What exercise is it meant to mimic? Cycling, running, hopping?

I originally drove my car along my walking routes and found out the distance. After awhile, I knew how many miles I walked in an hour (around 4 mph) so no matter where I went I could calculate the distance by tracking the amount of time I walked.

Back when I started distance running, I bought Microsoft Streets and Trips software and calculated out a bunch of routes around my house. I don't think it's any different than map my run, though. It worked well for me, because I was basically measuring suburban blocks, pretty square-ish. For my long runs, I have a friend with a GPS watch. Since we run loops on the same route, we pretty much have the distances calculated out anyway, but it's nice to have the flexibility to vary the route and still know what you're doing. After a certain point in the really long runs, your brain goes completely numb and simple calculations just get way to hard to do ....

Thanks for the advice everyone.

L144S - that site does look like it is easier to use if I am going to be mapping routes that go back over themselves and do multiple loops and whatnot.

I figure I will eventually get myself a GPS watch or something, but it's just not in the budget at the moment. For now I will just use the mapping sites and see if I can figure out my average pace to be able to use the pedometer feature of my body bugg to figure distance.

Wannabeskinny - Ellipticals are meant to be cross trainers, working several muscle groups at once, they aren't really meant to imitate running or anything. I love mine because it is low impact and easy on the joints. I have a bad ankle (got broken and never healed really well) and the elliptical is something I can do even on the days it is bothering me. I wish I could afford a cybex machine - kinda like an elliptical on steroids.