I have been trying to tell myself that there must be some benefits to running in these high temperatures and humidity, the fruits of which I'll reap come autumn/winter time with super fast half and full marathons! I just can't think what those benefits are? It's tough to go out and put in a descent pace during those long hot runs, despite being done by 6am most days.
I'm not the kind of runner who worries too much about the pace and what the watch says. I do wear my watch (when I remember) but it is mainly so I know how far I've gone to make sure I'm getting the prescribed number of miles in. Oh, and so i can let my coach know my times from track workouts but I don't even bother telling him any other times. Once I have more routes in my head (I have just started running early and therefore outside as opposed to on the treadmill later in the morning at the gym) so I need to get 6/10/12 etc routes worked out from my house) I will more than likely ditch the Garmin for a stop watch and just keep a note of time I take but not necessarily on every occasion.
I heard someone say recently that they didn't know what pace they were running as they didn't have their watch???? That is kind of a strange one for me as I think I always have a pretty good idea of what kind of pace I'm going and I don't need a Garmin to tell me that. I also think it's dangerous to get too dependent on the watch, I kind of feel like it's trying to tell me how I'm running whereas I am a mood runner and know if I'm feeling good or if I'm struggling. I don't like to force my running in the sense if I am feeling heavy of leg then I'll back off and take it easy and likewise if I'm full of beans I'll go for it! I guess I generally don't like being told what to do(!) and find the Garmin to be a mini dictator on my wrist!
Running is most definitely about times for me, I am all about PR's and getting faster, as fast as i possibly can I just don't dig these newfangled watches!
Having said ALL of that here are my splits from todays early morning 12 miler! :D 8:54, 8:31, 8:21, 8:23, 6:55, 6:36, 6:24, 9:07, 8:28, 8:17, 7:58, 7:49. The three faster ones were my threshold miles, again I don't look at the watch whilst running just go for it and feel it out. I know that once the temperature and humidity fall the slower miles will naturally pick up so they don't worry me.
A few photos too today, wow training times AND photos, this blog is on fire!
Happy birthday to me, with my 3 favourite little people. I have no good photos of myself but even I look particularly scary in this one!
I do some of my running on the greenbelts where I stay, this one is right behind our house.
One of 2 ponds close to our house, I don't run with the kids just thought I'd post these to show what I have around me :)
Lake Houston, I ran part of my one and only marathon on this very bit of greenbelt...4 times!
Maybe I'll post more training times, every now and again I might even get organised and start telling you what training I'm actually doing but I'll have to start to record it first before that happen. Yes, you heard right I do not keep a training diary. I have a heap from my youth but haven't got back into it yet. Maybe you can help me, I'm not sure I see the point? I have a coach who tells me what to do, I do it, tell him... the end. I have no idea how many miles I run each week, I mean I could add it up reasonably quickly but off the top of my head I don't know. I FEEL like I ought to be writing it down but again I'm not sure I understand why exactly? I guess if my coach were to ditch me I could look back and have an idea of what to do but I think we're good for the foreseeable future so don't feel any urgency!
ok, here goes....6+10+5+4+5+6+6+12= 59 for last week, wow that's with 2 track sessions and tomorrow's 6 still to do so 65 for the week. I've been cutting back on my mileage and concentrating on speed work for the summer. Coach Doug told me we will shift the focus from speed to milage starting mid July, he also asked if I could fit 100 miles a week in 'YES I CAN!', touch wood my knee doesn't mind.
I am so looking forward to sinking my teeth into some BIG miles (I never have) and setting some new half and full marathon PR's.....once this heat and humidity goes away of course.
You're so right about the dependence on Garmins! I was just thinking that recently too, and read an article about how important it is to have an idea of your pace from feel... which I'm guessing most runners these days can't do. Not sure how close I would get either, but I have a general idea. And heat- whew, it is crazy how hot it got so quickly! I'm counting down til October... :)
ReplyDeleteI grew up running without such technology maybe a lot of 'new' runners have never had that experience and that's why pace is hard for them to judge? I also feel very strongly that the watch can be a BIG deterrent to the goals you set yourself. That's my biggest bugbear with the satellite watch. I mean the thought of having to average 6:52 for 26.2 miles is HUGELY daunting to me and yet that's what I'm going to have to do if I want that sub 3 hour (and faster if I want that Olympic qualifier!) What the watch doesn't tell you is how, if you keep working hard, keep being consistent then these paces will become attainable and then some! I think the watch limits people, imposes a barrier to what they believe they can achieve. DOWN with the Garmin! Of course you've got to keep pushing and working hard but that's the easy bit, it's your head that will mess you up and the Garmin is those 'can't do thoughts' secret weapon ;D
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