Can someone recommend a good (for running) and cheap (under $30) metronome?
not sure about cheap, but the korg metrognome sounds pretty cool
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Search e-bay for “Seiko DM-10” or DM-20
Credit card size, cheap (got one for $10)
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Can I ask you a dumb question? No? Well, I’m going to ask you anyway. Do you hook these devices up to headphones or do they have a built in speaker? I wouldn’t want to use one at the gym unless I could hear it through speakers.
No headphone jack - although there are some that have one for a little more. You can “see” it as well. Basically makes a small, tick, tick, tick sound. It is loud enough that you should be able to hear it on a treadmill in a healthclub (shudder).
No headphone jack - although there are some that have one for a little more. You can “see” it as well. Basically makes a small, tick, tick, tick sound. It is loud enough that you should be able to hear it on a treadmill in a healthclub (shudder).
Will I be able to hear it over the treadmill bimbos who talk on their cell phones the entire 15 minutes a week they powerwalk.
Ha! Well, since I don’t do the treadmill, healthclub gig - I just turned mine on and asked my wife. She said “no”
And she is never wrong …
Seiko DM50. You can clip it onto your clothes and it will beep a variety of rhtyms.
Do you think it has helped your running?
I don’t use it very often anymore, but early on, it did help me to raise my cadence and more importantly to keep a focus on cadence as I grew tired late in a run. I didn’t run with it going the whole time, I would leave it off and check my turnover every 5-10 minutes.
Cool, thanks for the advice. It sounds like they are worth at least the $30 they cost.
Your mouth…
4/4:
1 2 3 4
1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and
1 e and a 2 e and a 3 e and a 4 e and
If you wanna get crazy, you can count in 3/4 (would make for fun running):
3/4
1 2 3
1 and 2 and 3 and
etc.
I’ll second the Seiko DM50 - I just bought 3 from teacher’s discount music - free shipping and all 3 for about $68. I like having a few as I misplace them/drop them. They handle some drops but occ. break…
I previously used the DM30 but I guess they upgraded to DM50. The DM50 has volume control and goes quite loud - which is good if you run with traffic. No ear phones though they do make them (haven’t tried those).
It clips on your pants/shorts - or put it in a pocket - light - I do not notice it.
Dave
I use the “in my head” counter.
Run easy for 10’, then for the next 10’, run quickly (doesn’t need to be 5K pace or anything) for 30" while counting your left- or right-foot strikes (your goal is about 45, which gets you to 180 RPM), then walk 45" (maybe back to where you started). 10’ will get you 8 of these repeats. Then finish your easy to steady-pace run, and bet you are running with a better cadence.
Do this once a week and you will train yourself to run with the higher cadence automatically. This is also a good workout for a “recovery” type day. Once your cadence is set, use the 30" of time to focus on your foot-strike or some other element of your running form. Fun to do these on grass when weather permits, or on a track.
Play around and put the strides in the middle of the run or at the end. During other runs when you feel you are slacking, just count for 30" and see what you get.
You can send me $30.
I use the “in my head” counter.
You can send me $30.
You only get $30 if you do the counting for me.
But your comments brings up a question, once you’ve trained to run at a consistent pace, do you need any of these tools. One member yesterday suggested listening to “Think I’m Japanese” because it has the recommended beat of 180 or whatever. This would drive me crazy, counting would too. So can I use a metronome to get a sense of what different cadenece feel like and then throw it out the window? Or are they long term tools people use to improve their running and/or swimming?
My MP3 player has a record function. I was wondering if i could just record this silly online metronome http://www.metronomeonline.com/. The only problem is that I wouldn’t be able to change the tempo while running.
I jsut got a Metrognome $19.95 including shipping. ONly tried it once, but it worked fine.
Here’s my post and another thread.
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?post=1094793;search_string=Metrognome;#1094793
I’m counting right now…
After a few months of doing strides once a week, I found that I pretty much ingrained that cadence. But I still do strides once a week, as I said, more as a recovery-type workout. It can’t hurt to reinforce a good habit.
Unless I’m really tired, if I do a pop quiz on myself, I usually find my cadence right where it needs to be. During HIM and IM runs, I will count my steps just to keep me going, and that helps to keep the cadence up.
When I’m running to music, I can tell when it’s right around 180bpm, since that is what a lot of aerobics music uses, and I used to do step aerobics way back when, so I sort of know what that feels like. When I’m on the treadmill, I usually listen to up tempo dance music, and most of it is around that cadence, too, so it’s easy to stay in pace with it. Seems like a much more fun way to practice cadence than a metronome.
The only time I used a metronome was when I was learning to play the piano.
I have a Seiko DM22 which does have a headphone jack, though its smaller than the standard earbud jack. You just need an adapter from Radio Shack to use it with your standard mp3 earbuds/headphones.
I just ran 75 minutes listening to one of those crazy 180 bpm club mix tunes somebody posted recently.
Damn. That was some tough sh*t. My legs weren’t getting tired, but I sure wanted to stop running after a half hour.
I’m going to stay with it for a while. I did this two years ago with a metronome, and PR’d at 5k and half marathon. Figure I’d do it again.