KILOS - MILES - Page 2 - General running

Xerxes

30/10/2002 at 19:58

Shouldn't we be converting kilos to pounds?

Bionic Ironwolf pirate

pirate

30/10/2002 at 20:49

PB - after so many years living in Germany and working with Americans I don't convert them. I have a measuring scale that shows both kilos and pounds, and a set of American measuring cups for American weights.

Test

31/10/2002 at 12:10

But how many Angstroms are there in a chain? That one always throws me.

Xerxes

31/10/2002 at 20:58

Or a furlong, for that matter!

We also bought a set of american cup measures - very useful.

fat buddha

01/11/2002 at 09:46

Nigel - why bother converting? Just stick to either metric or imperial and work with that - preferably metric in my view (see another thread about this). Don't see any point in working with both measures.

Mike S

01/11/2002 at 09:54

yes there is - we live in a country which uses both sets of units & run races measured in either

fat buddha

01/11/2002 at 10:03

Exactly - it's about time the UK got rid of imperial as it's not taught these days; apart from pints in pubs you can't buy anything measured or weighed in imperial; so why we have to persist with it is beyond me.

Mike S

01/11/2002 at 10:10

How old are you FBF? This may be an age-related thing.
I'm 43, and while I'm q capable of coping with either set of units, I still tend to think instinctively in terms of the imperial version for most things - they were the only units in town when I was growing up.
E.g. on a warm day I tend to think of temperatures as being in the 70s rather than the 20s.
As previously stated, minutes:seconds per mile is a pace (and effort) level I immediately have a feel for (and, to a lesser extent, seconds per lap).

fat buddha

01/11/2002 at 10:33

Sorry Mike - I'm older than you - 49 in fact. I gave up with imperial a few years ago as a conscious effort. I also find metric so much easier to calculate with. I'm at a loss to understand how those taught in metric want to use imperial measures. Just seems daft. The only imperial measure I can't do without is pints - beer for the use of!

fat buddha

01/11/2002 at 10:35

P.S. Would one of those "youngsters" taught in metric provide some explanation of why they want to use imperial? I'm curious.

Womble

01/11/2002 at 12:18

How about the Epsom Oddballs 2000 Perch on Jan 19th? A pb distance for sure..... It's in the RW race listings.

orangehead

01/11/2002 at 13:28

Fatbutfit
I think of my height in feet and inches, my weight in stone and pounds, I drink pints, I run 10 min miles and I think of 5k as 3.1 miles, and do split the race into 3 chunks accordingly. I was taught metric at school but grew up in a world where everything still seemed to be imperial. A few years ago i worked in a deli while I was a student and we measured everything in pounds and ounces.
I just find imperial measure much easier to envisage.
I will be 26 next Friday, and if the diet goes well 2 pounds lighter than I am today.

fat buddha

01/11/2002 at 14:10

Daisy - I find it really sad (and annoying) that we live in a culture that will not, cannot, move forward into the future. What you say sums up a lot that annoys me about the UK that, although you were taught in metric, you have been "indoctrinated" (not the best description but you know what I mean) to adapt to imperial. It's much like one of the arguments about the Euro - we cannot give up the pound. Why? It's only a term for money.

I'm giving up on this thread now before I really start ranting about the way the bulk of the UK stick their heads in the sand and wonder why this country is rapidly going backwards in world terms - it's because we can't give up the past and move into the future! AAAAAAAARRGGHHH!!

After all this is a running forum, not a political one.

PS - if you worked in that deli now you would HAVE to work in metric.

orangehead

01/11/2002 at 17:12

sorry FBF
yes I know I would have to work in metric, but I also know I would have to translate into imperial for a lot of people (esp the over 60s).
However, although this is not supposed to be political, I would like to have the euro over here, it seems so stupid that the rest of Europe has integrated themselves together with the single currency and we are one of the only countries not to have joined, isolating ourselves further.
Basically I sometimes feel there was no point being taught metric at school, because everytime you gave a metric measurement to someone they would ask 'whats that in pounds/inches/miles?'.

Now work for a sheet metal company, aluminium ordered in millimetres.
:)

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