No GPS, No Map...

The temperatures have been awesome here in Memphis that last couple of days. In the mornings, it has been in the 50's, which has made for some great running weather. Which is perfect for training for a marathon! It makes want to break out the arm warmers and tights, but I think I would be getting ahead of myself. Tuesday morning I could actually see my breath as I was running!  Which was weird, but very welcomed!

So during the weekdays, my runs have been somewhere in the range of 4 to 6 miles during this phase of my training. As you know, and as I have been blogging about, I have not been using my Garmin or iPod anymore when running. I have been mapping out my runs the day before and going off that. It has worked out really well for me also. It really is no that hard for me to remember the routes, so I thought.

Tuesday I went out to a nice, cool crisp September morning to run my 5 miles and killed it. I wasn't even trying! It was awesome, so awesome that I beat my PR time I hit a few weeks ago for 5 miles.It was effortless and I could have gone faster had I been trying to get a PR. So when I got back to the house and saw my time, I had to go and check my mapped out route to make sure I did not miss anything, which I didn't!  So I was feeling pretty good.

Fast forward to the next day. A 4 mile run. Easy Greasy right? It was still cool and I was riding high from the previous days run, but it was a little harder for me to get out of bed. I had mapped out this route the day before suing the route manager from BT.com, printed it off and filed it with all my other route maps from previous runs (this way I can go pull out a distance I need and already have it mapped out.). So off I go, feeling sporty, but not too sporty, I know where I am going and feeling good. I get back to the house and my watch says 31:04 for 4 miles. BOOM! Bout time the speed is coming, I am really getting faster! I am talking like holding a 7:22 pace here! I am stupid enough to think it is all due to the cool weather! Then, when filing my maps back in to the drawer, I catch a second look at it in passing and something doesn't look right.

And there it is, I missed a turn and about a 1/2 mile of my 4 mile run. Talk about a kick in the butt. My 7:22 pace turned into an 8:53 pace. It sure felt fast. It was somewhat disappointing, but I know I am not that fast over that distance. Yet.

So tomorrow I am planning on doing an 11 miler, and I am working on mapping it out, the easiest way possible. I can't go short on these long runs.Long runs are easier for me with turns, I hate long down and backs, so I will see what I can come up with.

Also, I have been doing core work on the days I do not run. Hanging knee raises are my torture of choice right now, and soon will be adding to these workouts! I almost prefer the runs than the core workouts! I can definitely use more core work and hope to keep it up.

Stay tuned for a Daily Training's giveaway!  I am excited about this one!

MRTC RRS 5K Race Report

That's a lot of letters in that title, so let me explain. The Memphis Runners Track Club Road Race Series 5K Race Report. Whew! The is such a great race series that the MRTC puts on every year. One of the goals is to help people prepare for the St Jude Marathon in December. The series consists of 10 races. 2 5K's, 2 5 milers, 2 10K's, 2 10 milers and 2 half marathons. My goal has always been to make at least one of each of the distances, but life always seems to get in the way, but I think this year is going to be my year! So on to the race report.

The course is new this summer. Totally new location, so I did not get a chance to run it or even drive it, so I really had no idea what it was like. I had talked to some other running friends that ran the 1st 5K, but hearing about a course never does it justice. It was basically a rectangle course with a few rolling hills on it.

I got to the race site early and walked around, hit the porta-potty, then jogged maybe a 1/4 mile, and I felt like crap. My legs and ankles were tight, it did not give me a strong sense of  me having a good run. So I did some run/walk back to the start line, another big time confidence builder. I usually like to hop around while in line to loosen up, so I got where I wanted to be in the starting pack, and jumped around (get up get up and get down!)

The siren went off and I hit start on my watch and tried to avoid people. I did not wear my Garmin or iPod during this race. My goal was to run a consistent pace. This race series was going to be used in mainly to help with my training for the marathon, so I really had no expectations for any type of PR.

It was very crowded. When you have over 1000 people all running 3.1 miles, there is not a lot of opportunity to run in a straight line, so I headed out to the center of the road, 1. to avoid people and 2. it was level. I was running well, feeling good about it all. I must have missed the one mile marker so I really had no idea how far I was or how things were going, but I knew it felt good. I saw people start fading back in the pack, which kinda fueled me. I finally saw the 2 mile marker and I decided to look at my watch and I saw 15:20! I knew I had something good going, so I thought I might be able to hit my PB on this race!

So I started trying to run it harder, thinking about my pace, which I should have just kept running. I finished in 24:42, good enough for 21st place in my age group (96) and 217th overall out of 1100.

I was surprised. I was just over a minute behind my personal best this year, and I wasn't even trying for it, I was just running! Running my race based on feel. I really think not having my pace accessible from my Garmin helped me on this race. Now if I can get it through my head that I am not a 9 minute miler all the time, and start believing that maybe, just maybe I am faster than I give myself credit for, then I can start making some progress. So I will not be using a GPS watch or iPod in my training (running at least, trainer rides will have the iPod or something) going forward. It really felt great just to run a race.

Don't Be a Tri Nerd!

I have been looking at purchasing a new GPS watch since I lost the charging cradle of my old watch. This time I am wanting to add the HR monitor on to it because I think I would benefit  from training that way. I have read many reviews of GPS watches and done some research on different models. But there is always one person I always talk to before I buy anything triathlon related because I know he will give it to me straight.

We will call him Ted cause that is his. Ted is a very accomplished triathlete and endurance athlete and he is actually the one person that got interested in this hobby many years ago at an 80's party attended by our friends from college! Anyways, Ted has also been a great source of information for me, whether it is about training, equipment or going into a race with the right attitude. So I do value his opinion a lot. So who better to call and get input on the best GPS device than Ted right? I thought so too, so I texted him. Here is our conversation:

Names have been blacked out to protect the innocent.

So after that text message conversation, I really got to thinking. Do I need a new GPS watch or is this just another device I think I need. So I posted that question on the FaceBook page of the Brooks Fanatics and the Target Triathlon Team page. I got a lot of answers ranging from I love my Garmin to, I am a numbers nerd and like the data, to even some people saying they never look at it until after their run, which is hard to believe.

So my conundrum is this, do I need a GPS? What do I really use it for anyways? Honestly, I like it to tell me how far I have ran, and secondly I like to see my pace I am running. However; it can frustrate me to look down and see that I am going a lot slower than I think I feel like I am going. I am not sure the benefits outweighs the cost of buying a new one. Maybe I should just get a heart rate monitor and learn to utilize that while running, or learn to manage my engine as it has been said to me.

So I have been thinking about this and I think I am going to forgo using a GPS and focus on actually running. I trust Ted completely when it comes to training and racing advice, he knows what he is talking about. So I am willing to try it and will look into getting a decent heart rate monitor and start learning to use it, especially for the marathon coming up in December. I will keep you updated!!