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Why the animosity towards miles?

  • 28-06-2012 8:32am
    #1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10,762 ✭✭✭✭


    I thought this used to just be a Triathlon thing but it seems to be creeping up more and more. What gives?

    Personally I have grown up training off miles along with most people I know who run. Everything from weekly mileage, pace, training segements (non track based reps or tempos)

    Would never dream of changing either, maybe I am just set in my old ways (despite being of the younger demographic around here:D)


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Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 3,617 ✭✭✭Enduro


    The Europeans are on at the moment. Can you (without using any software aids!!!) list off all (or any) of the distances being contested in miles (or yards) accurately?


  • Registered Users Posts: 15,704 ✭✭✭✭RayCun


    ecoli wrote: »
    training segements (non track based reps or tempos)

    Do you not think it's a bit irrational to use metres when you are running on a track and miles when you step off it?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 10,762 ✭✭✭✭ecoli


    Enduro wrote: »
    The Europeans are on at the moment. Can you (without using any software aids!!!) list off all (or any) of the distances being contested in miles (or yards) accurately?

    Good point. But can you name any athlete at the Championships who has used km in an interview regarding their training

    Even track elites refer to their training as mileage and I cannot think of any interview or discussion with any elite track athlete who has used km's in discussion of their training


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 10,762 ✭✭✭✭ecoli


    RayCun wrote: »
    Do you not think it's a bit irrational to use metres when you are running on a track and miles when you step off it?

    Metres fit better on a track (logistically doing .5 or 804m reps just wont work) however where fit I have done mileage in training on track (mile reps is marked on track)

    Same reason distance runners run in lane one for longer reps it just makes life easier in that occasion.

    Move to roads or grass though and the difference is arbitrary so its as easier to measure one as the other

    Not having a go at people just generally curious as to why there is such a disliking for the use of a measurement of distance


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,361 ✭✭✭Kurt Godel


    ecoli wrote: »
    I thought this used to just be a Triathlon thing but it seems to be creeping up more and more. What gives?

    Personally I have grown up training off miles along with most people I know who run. Everything from weekly mileage, pace, training segements (non track based reps or tempos)

    Would never dream of changing either, maybe I am just set in my old ways (despite being of the younger demographic around here:D)

    A mile per se has has no intrinsic value, being just an arbitrary unit of length. It originally came from a Roman thousand paces ("mille"), before being conventionally defined as 1760 yards. 1760 has more factors than 1000, which should make it more beneficial as regards measurement and subdivisions, but glaringly does not contain the factor 12 (or 6, or 3), the basic units of the yard, foot, and inch. So 1760(y) has no benefit of use over 1000(m), as a unit of measurement. The km has the advantage of being in the System Internationale (SI) metric system, meaning you can use it interchangeably when defining power, or velocity, for instance.

    The rest of the world has moved on to the more mathematically useful decimal system, so the use of kilometers represents progress. What did you do for the Jubilee, ecoli?;)


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  • Registered Users Posts: 15,704 ✭✭✭✭RayCun


    I don't dislike the measurement, I just think it's old-fashioned, imperialist, and irrational :)

    As you say yourself, on grass or roads it's as easy to measure one as the other (and I'll switch back to miles for a race measured in miles). So why not use the same units as you do on the track, from a measurement system with sensible units?


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,320 ✭✭✭MrCreosote


    Maybe we all scarred for life by those old direction signs.

    You know the ones- Ballybejabus 2 3/4 then drive for 20minutes and it's Ballybejabus 2 1/2. Less of an accurate measurement and more of a state of mind really.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 10,762 ✭✭✭✭ecoli


    Kurt Godel wrote: »
    The rest of the world has moved on to the more mathematically useful decimal system, so the use of kilometers represents progress. What did you do for the Jubilee, ecoli?;)

    Ah but by using miles we make it look like we are not overdoing it. After all to run 125mpw is normal for an elite, but running +200 km per week is just crazy talk :D

    Sure if the athletics organisations aim to stunt growth and progress why should the athletes have a different mind set :p


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 5,656 ✭✭✭norrie rugger


    ecoli wrote: »
    Metres fit better on a track (logistically doing .5 or 804m reps just wont work) however where fit I have done mileage in training on track (mile reps is marked on track)

    Same reason distance runners run in lane one for longer reps it just makes life easier in that occasion.

    Move to roads or grass though and the difference is arbitrary so its as easier to measure one as the other

    Not having a go at people just generally curious as to why there is such a disliking for the use of a measurement of distance

    If you run 8.63 miles can you think calculate the yardage, off the top of your head? KM is just easier to do the math with


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 10,762 ✭✭✭✭ecoli


    RayCun wrote: »
    So why not use the same units as you do on the track, from a measurement system with sensible units?

    Growing up on training for miles I guess its just easier to work out splits in my head for races and work on paces. Last thing I need in a race is a melt down trying to check am I on pace for a PB :D


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,361 ✭✭✭Kurt Godel


    ecoli wrote: »
    Ah but by using miles we make it look like we are not overdoing it. After all to run 125mpw is normal for an elite, but running +200 km per week is just crazy talk :D

    Sure if the athletics organisations aim to stunt growth and progress why should the athletes have a different mind set :p

    Ok, you've entered the realm of fantasy now!

    My bete noir- all tracks should be dug up and replaced by 500m circuits, with standard races 100m, 250m, 500, 2 laps, 3 laps, 6 laps, 10 laps, 20 laps. If not- can someone explain to me why the current 1500m should not be a 4 lap 1600m race?


  • Registered Users Posts: 711 ✭✭✭cwgatling


    Miles all the way here. Certain things are better in imperial: miles, pints...

    Bear in mind the race series has 5 miler, 10 miler.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 10,762 ✭✭✭✭ecoli


    If you run 8.63 miles can you think calculate the yardage, off the top of your head? KM is just easier to do the math with

    Immediately when I see that arbitrary distance 1st thought in my head is thats 8 miles and 1km on the Garmin:D

    Why would I want the yardage though? suppose its what ever you grew up with for me I could give you the splits for marathons all day long in miles, try km pace and I would have an absolute brain fart


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 10,762 ✭✭✭✭ecoli


    Kurt Godel wrote: »
    Ok, you've entered the realm of fantasy now!

    My bete noir- all tracks should be dug up and replaced by 500m circuits, with standard races 100m, 250m, 500, 2 laps, 3 laps, 6 laps, 10 laps, 20 laps. If not- can someone explain to me why the current 1500m should not be a 4 lap 1600m race?

    But thats crazy talk 1600m races way to close to the mile to not run the extra 9m the whole time :D


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 10,762 ✭✭✭✭ecoli


    cwgatling wrote: »
    Miles all the way here. Certain things are better in imperial: miles, pints...
    Bear in mind the race series has 5 miler, 10 miler.

    One sentence that just sums up my feeling perfectly :D


  • Moderators, Regional Abroad Moderators Posts: 26,928 Mod ✭✭✭✭rainbow kirby


    Force of habit really - I got my Garmin 3 days before a marathon where the course was marked at each km and every 5 miles so it made sense to have it in km right from the start, and just never really went back. I tend to be able to switch fairly easily though so that's not really an issue.


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,370 ✭✭✭pconn062


    Miles make champions! 'Nuff said! :D


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,361 ✭✭✭Kurt Godel


    ecoli wrote: »
    Good point. But can you name any athlete at the Championships who has used km in an interview regarding their training

    I'd imagine that if you heard any non-english speakers interviewed, they would talk of training in term of kilometers. It's the english-speaking world (GB, Ireland, US, Aus & NZ) that talks in terms of miles. This might explain why Tri guys talk in km's (cycling being a continental sport).


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,029 ✭✭✭Pisco Sour


    One auld chap in my club keeps banging on about the 400 and 800 as the "quarter" and the "half". I cringe every time!

    It's not even mathematically correct anyway!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,612 ✭✭✭gerard65


    Can't rewire my brain to think in KM's, tried a few months ago but found I kept doing the calculations to convert to miles:(. When I'm driving I still calculate to speed limits back to miles. Silly, I know, but 8min/miles means more to me than 5min/km's.
    It's not easy to change 47 years of learned thinking. Look what happened to the Ulster Bank's systems when they tried to install a patch, that might happen to my brain.:D


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  • Registered Users Posts: 19,492 ✭✭✭✭Krusty_Clown


    Kurt Godel wrote: »
    This might explain why continental Tri guys talk in km's (cycling being a continental sport).
    Fixed your post. Isn't the Ironman (pinnacle of all things triathlon) measured in 70.3 and 140.6? :) I'm making that shift to metric, but still like the terms 'miles' and 'mileage'. They're synonymous with training distance. I'm pretty sure that the word 'kilometerage' is not in anyone's regular vocabulary.

    But I would walk eight hundred and four kilometers and six hundred and seventy two metres,
    And I would walk eight hundred and four kilometers and six hundred and seventy two metres more.
    Song would never have gotten to number 1 (maybe metric isn't all bad).


  • Registered Users Posts: 54,495 ✭✭✭✭walshb


    ecoli wrote: »
    I thought this used to just be a Triathlon thing but it seems to be creeping up more and more. What gives?

    Personally I have grown up training off miles along with most people I know who run. Everything from weekly mileage, pace, training segements (non track based reps or tempos)

    Would never dream of changing either, maybe I am just set in my old ways (despite being of the younger demographic around here:D)

    I agree. I can easily switch between metric and imperial. Like it or not we were brought up on imperial in this country, and even though metric is taking over it is not that easy to simply forget or block out imperial. I still use imperial for height and weight.

    I hate it when I hear a news bulletin say for a missing person and the person is described as 70 Kgs and 1 metre 80. I can visualise this, but far more people will visualise it if it's reported in stones and lbs and feet and inches.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,029 ✭✭✭Pisco Sour


    Fixed your post. Isn't the Ironman (pinnacle of all things triathlon)

    Don't mention the war! :) I'd personally see the Olympic Games as the pinnacle of all things triathlon, and so would plenty of others.


  • Registered Users Posts: 19,492 ✭✭✭✭Krusty_Clown


    walshb wrote: »
    I agree. I can easily switch between metric and imperial. Like it or not we were brought up on imperial in this country, and even though metric is taking over it is not that easy to simply forget or block out imperial. I still use imperial for height and weight.

    I hate it when I hear a news bulletin say for a missing person and the person is described as 70 Kgs and 1 metre 80. I can visualise this, but far more people will visualise it if it's reported in stones and lbs and feet and inches.
    If someone offered you 10 gallons of petrol for sixty Irish punts, would you know if you were getting a good deal or not? We do move on eventually. It just takes time.


  • Registered Users Posts: 54,495 ✭✭✭✭walshb


    If someone offered you 10 gallons of petrol for sixty Irish punts, would you know if you were getting a good deal or not? We do move on eventually. It just takes time.

    Well, I am quite well versed in imperial. But, let's be real. General terms it is feet, inches, miles, stones etc; just like metric is centimetres, metres, kilometres, kilogrammes. Not many (general joe soap) people go deeper into either system of measure. So, mentioning say gallons or quarts is when people will get stuck, just like mentioning, milligrammes and decigrammes etc will get tough.

    A gallon is roughly 4.5 litres or 8 pints. That is without me checking.


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,969 ✭✭✭hardCopy


    Metres and KMs for me. They're everywhere. Road distance signs, speed limits etc. When I'm on the bike I can relate my speed and distance to what I can cover in a car, likewise, when I run I can compare it with a bike distance. ( I also love when I see a distance marker on a motorway of less than 42KM, "Sure I could run the rest of the way")

    The first thing I trained for was a Sprint Tri so I have the concept of 5K as a distance fairly hard-coded in my head at this stage.

    Height and weight I still find difficult when it comes to my own weight. For food though I'd always weigh stuff in grams/ml etc, have no idea how much an ounce of flour would look like.

    I look forward to the rebirth of metric time.

    Like Krusty, I would never use the word Kilometrage, so even if I say mileage, I'm still thinking in KM.

    Litres are better than pints any day!


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,842 ✭✭✭Micilin Muc


    KM splits come quicker than mile splits, allowing you to keep a closer eye on pace. I also don't like doing 0.06-mile intervals!


  • Registered Users Posts: 54,495 ✭✭✭✭walshb


    KM splits come quicker than mile splits, allowing you to keep a closer eye on pace. I also don't like doing 0.06-mile intervals!

    .06 or .6 mile intervals?


  • Registered Users Posts: 7,748 ✭✭✭corny


    If i was describing directions to a person i'd say go down that road 100 metres and not yards but greater distances i'd always use imperial. Little idiosyncrasy.

    Which ever you measure it you still run the same distance;)


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,120 ✭✭✭Gringo78


    km's or miles all the same to me but PACE has to be min/mile, I just can't compute min/km. If someone starts using min/km as pace in their training log, thats me finished with reading their log.


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