High-tech Running

It's been a really long time since I've posted a blog! My running life hasn't been that exciting lately, given that it's summer and I'm not training seriously for anything yet. I've been doing mostly easy runs, with speed work once per week. We were blessed with an actual spring here in the DC Metro area, so it didn't get consistently warm and humid until around mid-June.

I wanted to share my adventures in getting a new GPS watch! Last year, I wrote a post about what I don't want in a GPS watch. Emphasis on the "don't". GPS running watches are trying to be everything to everyone nowadays, and I really only need the basics.

Garmin Forerunner 45
Last month, Garmin launched their new line of the Forerunner series. I was really excited because it

Garmin Forerunner 45s

seemed like the Forerunner 45 had all the basic features I wanted, plus the ability to customize workouts, without all the extra fancy stuff. And at only $200, the price was right. They even offered an "S" model for smaller wrists, like mine.

My touch screen Garmin 630 was okay, and got the job done. But it annoyed me constantly, wanting to sync my contacts playing the music that was on my phone whenever I accidentally hit the wrong button. It also would re-start when I put it on the charger, and then turn back on with the wrong time of day. Finally, on pre-programmed workouts, the beeps were not loud enough to hear. So I couldn't tell when the intervals started and stopped, which is kind of the whole point of pre-programming the workouts.

I purchased the Garmin Forerunner 45s thinking it would be a less annoying watch, and I also like that it had a heart rate sensor. I haven't worn a heart rate monitor in over 5 years, and I thought it would be cool to analyze that data post run, but not show it during the run.

What I loved:

• The optical heart rate monitor seemed accurate
• The fit was sleek and more streamlined than my 630
• I could turn off all the features for notifications, etc. during my runs
• It was not a touch screen

What I didn't love:

Garmin Forerunner 45s

• There was no auto-scroll feature, so if I wanted to switch data screens while running, I would have to do so by pressing a button.
• The battery life seemed shorter than that of my 630
• The "lap pace" was rounded to the nearest 5 seconds, so I couldn't get as precise of a reading on my pace as I wanted.

I didn't even realize the lap pace was rounding until I went on a long run and the pace kept jumping from 8:25 to 8:30 and nothing in between. And then I saw some 8:20's and 8:15's. But it was always a multiple of 5. That was a deal breaker for me.

I returned the watch, and since it was a brand-new model, they let me exchange it for the Forerunner 245, which is the next level up. Of course that was a $300 watch, but now I was hooked on the heart rate data and the sleek fit, and didn't want to go back to my old touch screen.

Garmin Forerunner 245

This watch solved all of the problems I had with the 45. It has an auto-scroll feature for the data screens, a long battery life, and it does not round the lap pace! I also love that I can customize activity profiles. The 45 offered this, but you couldn't name the profile. I created a "track" profile on my 245 that shows lap time rather than lap pace so I can pace my track workouts by elapsed time. 

It also has a heart rate monitor, which allows it to provide all the cool stats for VO2 max, the race time predictor, and effort level. The heart rate monitor seems accurate, but I don't necessarily think the other stats are; they are just fun to look at.

While I liked the idea of getting a very basic Garmin, the Forerunner 45s was missing a few key items, which forced me into getting the 245. Overall, it does seem like the 245 is a superior device and I'm happy with it. 

Aftershokz Trekz Air

Onto another high-tech topic: running with music. I used to run with music all time when I was a treadmill runner. For long runs outside before I met my husband, I used an iPod shuffle. I even raced with music until around 2010. The reasons I stopped running and racing with music are:

• I started running with Greg, and I couldn't hear him with music playing
• I started running outside more, in neighborhood streets, so I needed to hear the cars
• My iPod Shuffle died, and they don't make them anymore
• Headphones are so bulky and I didn't like having that long wire
• I learned to focus on my running and my thoughts instead of the music

A few years ago, I noticed that you could now get headphones that were wireless (connected to your

Aftershokz Trekz Air

device via bluetooth) and that didn't sit in your ears so you could hear your surroundings. This appealed to me, but by that point, I was so used to running without music that I didn't get them.

But last month, I figured it would be cool to try them. Especially since I have an Apple Watch that holds music, so I wouldn't need to carry a phone or other device. In case you're wondering why I have an Apple Watch, I use it mainly as a safety device. If I'm running alone, I can make a phone call or get an Uber if something were to happen. Also, if I wake up before Greg and I'm out the door running before him, he calls me on the watch to find out where I am so he can meet me for the rest of my run.

Anyway, I reached out to Aftershokz to see if they would give me a pair of the Trekz Air in exchange for a review on Instagram, and they agreed.

I have small ears and earbuds always fall out, even when I am not moving. These headphones fit really well, though, because they didn't go inside the ear. They didn't move around a lot while I was running, and the sound quality was great. I was able to hear the music AND my surroundings which was a huge bonus. And no extra wires!

I have to admit I do really love running with music. I've decided to limit it to easy runs only so that I am not "addicted" to them for hard runs or long runs. And at that, I don't wear them on all easy runs. I view running with music as a treat, which I get 2-3 times per week.

The Garmin Forerunner 245 has a "music" version which stores music. This would eliminate the need for the Apple Watch. However, I did not get that version because I don't want to control my music from my Garmin. My Garmin is for tracking my run displaying run stats. I don't want to look down and see the name of the song or even have that as an option. My Apple Watch works just great, and I don't mind "double wristing" it, with the Garmin on one wrist and the Apple Watch on the other.

So, now I am all set with my new Garmin, my Aftershokz headphones, and my Apple Watch! It's important to me that all this high-tech stuff doesn't weigh me down and I refuse to run with my phone. I'm excited to have heart rate data again and I am interested to see how that data changes over time as I build fitness in the fall.

What headphones and GPS watch do you use? Comment below!

What I DON'T Want in a GPS Watch

A runner's watch and its settings are a personal thing. With the massive variety of GPS watches on the market, we have options not only for which device we use, but how we personalize it.

Houston Half Marathon Finish

One on extreme, there are the runners who always want the latest and most sophisticated technology. They want to track all the possible data and they want their watch to be able to receive text messages, play music, track their sleep, predict their marathon time and more. On the other extreme, there are the runners who may not even want to wear a watch, let alone a GPS device.

As for me, I'm pretty basic, with one exception. And the one exception makes it difficult for me to find a simple GPS watch that meets my needs. When I started racing in 2005, I bought a Timex stop watch with a lap button. That worked well for awhile, until I decided to get a Garmin in 2009. I went with the Forerunner 405. I loved being able to run anywhere and know how far I had gone. Before the Garmin, I would typically run on the W&OD trail, which had mile markers, or I would use a treadmill. Those were my options if I wanted to track my distance.

After five years, the battery died and I moved to the Garmin Forerunner 220. This watch was slimmer and more comfortable, but otherwise it wasn't all that different from my previous one. At least in terms of the features I used. When that started acting strangely (not uploading to my phone, cutting workouts short) I bought the Garmin 630 on Black Friday sale last fall. And I hate it. Alright, hate is a strong word, so I'll revise my statement to "I find the watch highly frustrating and I wish I had not purchased it." Greg got the same deal, but he's not as tortured by the device as I am.

As I said above, a runner's watch is a personal thing, so here is everything I want, and don't want in a GPS watch.

The Basics
The reason I use a Garmin instead of my stop watch is because I like to track my speed and distance.

Garmin Forerunner 630

I need my watch to track and display:

• Total Distance
• Total Running Time
• Average Pace of the Run
• Lap Pace

The first three of these I like to have on one screen, in that order. As I run, I want to know how far I have gone, how long I've been going, and what my average pace has been so far. On a separate screen, which I have set to auto-rotate, I display the lap pace only. I like this to be large and take up the entire face of the screen so I can quickly glance down and see what pace my current mile (or split) is. This helps me slow down or speed up when needed.

I used to want to see heart rate, but I have stopped training by heart rate. That got its own screen too.

Data and Integration

I will always be loyal to the Garmin brand because it integrates with my training log (RunningAhead) as well as Strava and Final Surge (my coach's app). So my second requirement, in addition to the basics, is that the watch can upload to the Garmin database and instantly update all those other sources. 

Programmable Workouts (loudly, please)

7:59 lap pace, big and bold!

If it weren't for this one feature requirement, I'd be able to get away with a much simpler GPS watch. But it turns out, if you want to program workouts into your Garmin, you have to buy a fancier model. If it weren't for programmable workouts, I would have a tough time with many of my training runs.

For example, this morning I ran 15 times (1 minute hard, 1 minute easy) followed by 15 times (30 seconds hard, 30 seconds easy). I programmed that into my watch so that it beeped, letting me know when the intervals were starting/stopping. And then it recorded my distance, pace, time, etc. for each of the laps. Now I know exactly what pace I ran for each of the 1-minute segments and each of the 30-second segments. 

With the Garmin 630, the beeps are so quiet, I can barely hear them. And even though this watch has a zillion options for everything (I can even put a photo of a zebra on it), there is no volume adjustment for the beeps. Because of this, if I need to do a pre-programmed workout, I use my 220. The alert beep for the auto-lap function is also quiet, and I often don't hear it when I'm doing my easy runs, especially if I am running near traffic.

Touch Screen

I do not want this! I purchased the Garmin 630 fully knowing it was a touch screen, but I thought it would be as easy to use as my iPhone. But it's not. navigating the touch screen is not intuitive. I always end up pressing the wrong thing. And when I go to put the watch on my wrist before my run, I inadvertently touch the screen so that it tries syncing my iPhone contacts. WTF? Why do I want my iPhone contacts synced to my Garmin device?!? No thank you. Plus, in the winter I wear gloves, so I usually need to remove them to use the touch screen, whereas I don't have to worry about that with plain ol' buttons.

Auto Upload

My feeling about the Garmin auto-uploading to my phone is similar to my feelings about automatic flush toilets. Let ME decide when please! I do not want my workout to upload to my phone until I say so. Maybe this is a setting I change, but I haven't found it. Because it integrates with Strava and my coach's Final Surge app, I don't want to publish my run until I am ready to say something about it. Otherwise, it's just hanging out there as "morning run" for people on Strava to view with (gasp) no context on what it was!!! But in all seriousness, sometimes if I am running near my phone, (I don't run with my phone, but sometimes it's in my car and I pass it), the Garmin will try to upload the workout still in progress. And if I'm doing a cool down, it will automatically upload the warm up and the workout itself, which I log as three separate activities.

Backlight

I often run in the dark so I need a backlight so I can see my Garmin. I use the "stays on" feature so the watch is always lit once I turn it on. With the Garmin 630, if you select the "stays on" feature, but do not un-select the default "backlight is part of an alert" then every time you lap, your backlight will come on and stay on. This drains the battery. I discovered this one day on a treadmill run when I realized the backlight kept coming on and staying on.

Activity Profiles

I look at lap time instead of lap pace on the track

I'll end on a positive note with the Forerunner 630. This watch offers different activity profiles, and I use three of them: run outdoors, run on a track, and run indoors. For running outdoors, my settings are as I described above. If I select track running, instead of my lap pace showing, it shows my lap time. Because GPS watches are not accurate on tracks, I pace the workout using the elapsed time of the lap rather than lap pace. And for those rare occasions when I run on a treadmill, the watch turns off the GPS and using my cadence (I assume) to measure distance. And it's fairly consistent with what the treadmill says.

Even though I'm not a fan of the 630, I'm using it for most of my runs. Ultimately I'll probably buy the 230 which does not have a touch screen or a lot of the fancy features I don't use. My 220 works well enough, so until that dies completely, I will probably hold off on getting a new one. I wore the 220 in Houston because I didn't want the 630 doing anything funky. I'm carefully considering which watch comes with me to New Orleans in two weeks.

I'd love to hear from my readers on this: 

• What features do you need?
• How is your watch face configured when you run?
• Do you log your warm up and cool down as separate activities, or put them all into one?

I'll post a training update next weekend, but that's going really well. I just wrapped up 69.3 miles last week and I'm feeling strong.

10 Things Runners Remember from 10 Years Ago

I celebrated my 38th birthday on November 11. It seems like just yesterday I was 28 and just starting to get into long distance running.

I ran my first marathon in 2006, and even though running still involves simply putting one foot in front of the other, quite a few things have changed. If you've been running for 10+ years, enjoy this bit of nostalgia. If you haven't, then maybe you'll learn a bit of history!

Stopwatch, white shoes, sports beans!

1. Stopwatches with lap buttons
If I remember correctly, the Garmin GPS watches were just starting to come out in 2005, and it took them a few years to go mainstream. Back in 2006, I was using my trusty Timex stop watch in races and for long runs. I did all of my long runs on the W&OD trail, which has mile markers, so I would press the lap button at each milepost. The same was true for races. I had no idea what pace I was running until I approached the mile marker and hit the lap button on my watch.

2. Mainly white running shoes
If you walked into a running store 10 years ago, all the shoes would be white with small pops of color accents. The more popular models offered a choice of up to 4 color accents, but the shoes looked pretty much the same: all white. Nowadays, the walls of running shoe stores are covered in bright colors and you'll be hard-pressed to find anything that's mainly white. It used to be that runners were cautioned not to buy shoes based on color, but now runners actually have a good range of colors for any given shoe.


3. iPods--not iPhones
10 years ago, many people were running with iPods, myself included. I used the iPod Mini for awhile, but then the shuffle came out and I loved how compact it was. Nowadays, I see some people still using Shuffles (which is what I use on the treadmill) but the majority of runners who run with music seem to be using their phones to do so. Oh, and also using the phones to track their route, take pictures, and a number of other things that could not be done with a simple iPod.

4. The Boston Marathon didn't fill up
You could BQ in February and then run Boston just two months later! What's more, you could BQ in the fall of 2005, and that time would be good for Boston 2006 AND Boston 2007. There were no "cut-off" times because there didn't need to be. 10 years ago, running marathons was not nearly as popular as it is today. It was a lot easier to get into Boston back then because there simply wasn't as much competition as there is today. Part of me wishes it would go back to being the way it used to, but another part of me enjoys the fact that it's more challenging now.

5. The ChampionChip
Back in the day, most all races were timed using a chip that you would affix to your shoe. That chip was replaced by the D-Tag somewhere around 2009, which I absolutely hated because it was so bulky and it had accuracy issues. But then the B-Tag that attaches to the race bib came along in the past 3-4

My ChampionChip collection

years which is both accurate and convenient.

Some races still do use the D-Tag and a shoe chip, but they are few and far between. Also, I'm only familiar with races in the Washington DC metro area and large-scale marathons. There may be races in other parts of the country that still rely heavily on the timing chip. I had my own personal ChampionChip that I purchases from the Rock 'N' Roll Virginia Beach half. I used this to register for local races and it would save me $2 on registration. Some races also provided souvenir chips that would not work for future races. I have these from the Houston Half Marathon, the New Jersey Marathon and the Marine Corps Marathon. Before the ChampionChip, there was the ankle strap, and I ran several marathons with that. Super uncomfortable!

6. Social Media wasn't mainstream
Some people were on MySpace, but not nearly as many people were on MySpace talking about running as there are today on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Strava, and numerous forums. So chances are, if you went for a training run, the only person who knew about it was you and maybe the people you lived with. There wan't as much "inspiration" going around so runners had to be more intrinsically motivated to get out there and run.

7. Sports Beans or gels?
Fueling options were limited 10 years ago. There were only a few brands of gels and the alternative to that was Jelly Belly Sports Beans. Today we have plenty of options available: UCAN, Shot Blocks, Tailwind, Honey Stinger Waffles, and probably a bunch of others I don't even know about.

8. Lottery? What Lottery?
Races used to be easy to get into. Chicago, Marine Corps, Houston, Cherry Blossom -- just to name a few. None of these races used to have lotteries and you could register for them as late as a few weeks prior! It was nice because you didn't have to commit to a race so far in advance. You could basically just wait until you felt ready to race and then go for it. Also, if you were injury-prone (like I used to be) it made sense to wait until a month or so before to register.

9. The Philadelphia Distance Run and the National Marathon

The Philadelphia Distance Run 2006

In 2006, the Rock 'n' Roll series had like 4 or 5 races to choose from. I remember San Diego, Arizona, and Virginia Beach. What we know as Rock 'n' Roll Philadelphia used to be called the Philadelphia Distance Run. Today's Rock 'n' Roll DC used to be the National Marathon. As part of the Rock 'n' Roll series, these races are now more expensive and commercialized, but you know that the race will be well-organized.

10. Brightroom Event Photography
It used to be that a company called "Brightroom" dominated the race photo industry. You could preview your photos online at a decent size (see photo to the right) without the huge word PROOF over your face. You could buy printed copies of your photos for a reasonable price. At some point, Marathonfoto emerged onto the scene and gained a monopoly over the industry. They are now able to get away with charging and arm and a leg for race photos, while sending horribly-formatted marketing emails. While their prices have gone down ever so slightly over the past two years, I predict that they will soon either need to reduce their prices more or face new competition. Smaller race photography companies exist, they just aren't mainstream yet.

Who knows what running will look like 10 years from now? Overall, I like the technological advances that we've made and the fact that more people are running marathons. But it is nice to reflect on "back in the day" when things were much simpler.

Well, not everything was much simpler! 

Shamrock Half Marathon: Breezy, Brutal, Beautiful

This morning I ran the Shamrock half marathon in Virginia Beach. And it was hard.

I had fond memories of this race from 2009, where I surprisingly smashed my PR by over 4 minutes. I was hoping for some Shamrock magic this year too.

Preparation
I went into this race well-trained and optimistic. I had been logging 45-55 mile weeks for the 2 months or so, with some quality tempo run thrown in there. Due to weather and travel, I hadn't been able to access a track so my intervals were lacking, but I figured those weren't as important as tempos for half marathon prep. Based on some of my workouts, I was very confident in my ability to PR, and hopefully even break 1:40.

The biggest unknown going into the race was my hip. For the past three weeks, it has felt sore toward the end of long runs, and finally last weekend it really kicked in. I felt it just three miles into a recovery run and decided I needed to rest it. I did zero running Monday-Wednesday, and did a 2-mile test run on Thursday. It was fine on Thursday, but then it acted up again on Friday's 2-miler. So going into the race I didn't know a) if my hip would be okay or if it would hurt and b) if missing a whole week of training directly before the race would impact my fitness.

My mental preparation was fairly strong. I got plenty of sleep in the week leading up to the race (well. . .except for two nights before-- but that wasn't due to pre-race jitters). I felt calm, cool and collected at the start line. I didn't even check the weather every day leading up to the race like I used to do.  Only a few times, and I certainly didn't worry about the forecast. The morning of the race, Greg's weather app indicated 15 MPH winds, but I chose to ignore it and I told myself it wasn't going to be that bad. Thus, I wasn't mentally prepared for wind.

I used to go into obsessive mode the week before a race, but this week, I just felt normal. I made sure to eat well (with the exception of the large piece of s'mores pie on "pi day" at work) and hydrate, but I didn't obsess over these things.

Before the Race
On Friday, when I went for my 2-mile "test run" my Garmin stopped working. It had been acting up for a few days with the battery indicating a full charge, but then going to 0% by the end of the run. Classic symptoms of a dead battery. So on Friday, I stopped into my local running store to purchase the Garmin 220. I know you aren't supposed to do anything new on race day, but I wanted to have a functioning Garmin, and I figured I had enough time to learn how to use this new model. Previously, I had the 405.

I played around with it, and adjusted the screens to the data I like to see when running. I like the "lap pace" to be displayed largely, because I think that's the most important metric when racing, so I gave it its own screen. On the other screen I displayed distance, total time, and total average pace.

Greg I drove down to Virginia Beach on Saturday morning and got to the expo just after 10:30. This race is

At the expo in my bridal shower attire.

notorious for never having the shirt size I reserve. I always request an XS, and it's always gone by the time I get there. And they are not gender specific, so a men's small tends to be too large for me. Anyway, when I walked up to get my shirt, they said "the XS shirts are running small, so would you like a Small instead?" I said no, and looked at the shirt, and it was plenty big. Greg then later theorized that they probably realize that they always run out of XS, so they try to get XS selectors to take the Small size instead. Ha. Didn't work on me. :-)

One of my friends who lives there was conveniently having her bridal shower that day, so after the expo, I dropped Greg off at the hotel and headed to her shower. I found myself fully engaged in the conversation at the shower and focused on the bride-to-be and not at all thinking about the race. I think that previously I would have been so nervous that I might not have enjoyed the shower as much.

The morning of the race, things went as they always did. Bagel with peanut butter, plenty of water, bathroom, getting dressed, attaching the bib, etc. We left the hotel about 30 minutes before race start, and walked just a few blocks to the start line.

It was windy and cold (45 degrees) at the start line. Greg and I shivered in the corral and ditched our throwaway shirts a few minutes before the start. I still wasn't worried about the wind. I knew that the wind would be coming from the northeast, which meant it should be easy for the second half. What I didn't realize was that there would be a 2-mile portion of the course at the curvy turnaround that headed directly into the northeast. I saw a few of my teammates on the other side of the corral but decided to stay put as I like to run my own race.

Miles 1-4

My race strategy was to start out in the low 7:40's for the first three miles and then speed up from

Happy first mile, photo by Cheryl Young

there. However, I didn't want the Garmin to run the race for me-- I wanted to run based on feel. The first mile was a little slower than expected, but I didn't worry. I figured that I didn't have a warm up, so it would be good to ease into the race.

Everything felt great, as it tends to do at the beginning of a half marathon. I was confident in my plan and my preparation. The hip was pain-free, and I was so relieved that I didn't have to deal with that. It was unfortunate that I missed a week of training, but at least I was able to run without it hurting.

The course was flat and not windy. The temperature felt good. Everything was going according to plan and I was excited. The new Garmin was working great and I was happy with my choice of display screens! I took my first gel at mile 4 and it went down well.

Mile 1: 7:54
Mile 2: 7:49
Mile 3: 7:43
Mile 4: 7:39

Miles 5-9

OUCH!

I had this nice, gradual acceleration going and I felt like I could keep accelerating and feeling strong. Mile 5 was faster than mile 4, and mile 6 was pretty good. Mile 7 started out great. But then-- boom! At the end of the 7th mile we turned directly into a 15 MPH headwind, with 25 MPH gusts. I figured I would just draft off of other people, but they kept running too fast for me. I noticed that my pace had slowed down significantly and most people around me were passing me. I think that's what was mentally the most difficult thing about this race. Nobody else seemed to slow down here, or at least not to the extent that I did. I didn't have anyone to draft off of because there were going to fast. I tried and pushed hard, but it was a really tough battle.

I just felt like this tiny little body, fighting this huge force and failing. I tried to keep a positive mindset. I told

LOL- people drafting off of ME!!!

myself to just keep running, no matter what, keep pushing, and that it would eventually end. I started feeling like I was just going to bonk and they wave of "I feel horrible" overcame me. Which is not good news during mile 8!  I decided to take my second honey gel, mainly so I could drink water with it and then toss my water bottle (I always carry a disposable hand-held during races). With my water bottle gone, I figured I would feel more "free" to push and really exert myself.

Slowing down to take the honey was a bad idea. I lost my momentum, I didn't get all of the honey in my mouth, my hands got all sticky. I was jut in a bad place. I poured water on my hands, wiped them on my skirt, ditched the water bottle, and realized that a curve was coming that would hopefully put an end to the wind.

Another thing that just sucked was that my foot fell asleep. It didn't go numb like it has in the past, but it had that tingling-falling-asleep feeling. And it was very difficult to run like this. I was hoping that it was just because of the cold wind hitting it, and that once I got out of the wind, my foot would wake up. My foot was asleep for just over a mile until it finally returned to normal.

Mile 5: 7:36
Mile 6: 7:40
Mile 7: 7:53
Mile 8: 8:07
Mile 9: 8:08

Miles 10-Finish
Once I turned a corner and was out of the wind, I resolved to stay strong and run my fastest. I refused to believe I was "bonking" and that I was just going to get progressively slower. I knew that a PR was probably unlikely, but I was going to salvage this race and run the rest of the miles as close as possible to goal pace.

Photo courtesy of Cheryl Young

I was really proud that I turned things around mentally and my speed picked up. I kept reminding myself that I had many high-mileage weeks behind me which meant I could endure at a decently fast pace for a long time. I kept reminding myself that I was physically capable of running in the 7:30's or 7:40's for the rest of the race, so I should do that.

Miles 10 and 11 were smooth sailing, but I started to feel a bit like death during miles 12 and 13. The last mile had some turns where we ran directly into the headwind again, and I felt like it stopped me dead in my tracks. I did not feel good during these miles and I just couldn't wait for the race to end.

About half a mile before the finish, we turned onto the boardwalk. The turning point featured a very strong wind gust, but once I was on the boardwalk and could see the finish, the wind was no longer there and so I gunned it. I was so determined and I felt very strong. I was fighting back for the time I lost in the windy section. I only had about third of a mile left and it wasn't windy so I figured I needed to make the most of this time.

Mile 10: 7:39
Mile 11: 7:38
Mile 12: 7:47
Mile 13: 7:48 (this mile started out in the 8:20's!)
The last 0.1: 6:45 pace

The finish and beyond
My final kick was pretty hard, so I felt destroyed after crossing the finish line. I easily found Greg and some other friends of ours. I ended up crossing in 1:42:24, which was better than I had expected at mile 8!

Greg and I took a very cold walk back to our hotel where we looked up our times, showered, and talked about our races.

Once I started thinking about my time, I felt a pang of disappointment. I really thought I was going to PR. And probably break 1:40. I was in great shape, the weather wasn't hot, I had slept well, and I felt relaxed. Meanwhile, most everyone I know who ran it set a PR. I know, I KNOW I am not supposed to compare myself to other people. But the notion that PRs are extremely rare at my level was totally proved wrong. And, most all of them had negative splits. I felt like I was the only one with a positive split. Everyone else had sped up throughout the race, but I slowed down. And on the windy part, I was passed by tons of people-- it just didn't seem to affect them the way it did me.

I felt very discouraged. I do realize that wind can be tough, and without seeing other people's PRs or the people passing me during the windy sections, I would have been very satisfied with my performance. But I wasn't. I felt like most everyone was able to push through and PR except for me.

My half marathon PR is over three years old. I've done SO much training since October of 2010-- and I

Photo by Cheryl Young

know I am in better shape now, both physically and mentally. Very frustrating that my time isn't budging.

I later had a text message exchange with a friend of mine who totally understood where I was coming from, and reminded me that yes, it can be tough when everyone you train with out-performs you. But she helped me focus on what was important-- that I ran a strong race and pushed through after having that whole hip issue to deal with.

Greg was also very supportive, reminding me that the "old me" probably would have gotten so discouraged by those 8:08 miles that I would have given up. And that previously, if I had run the race with the same level of fitness, I might not have gotten as much sleep, or been as relaxed, or had the mental strength to keep pushing after the wind had taken so much out of me.

Ultimately, yes, I do realize that I have a lot to be proud of. And now, 10 hours after the race, I am "over it" and no longer feel that sinking feeling of disappointment. I know I am capable of running faster, I just didn't do it today. There will be other races, other opportunities.

Here is what I did do:

- After years of not being able to sleep well in the week leading up to the race, I slept straight through the night almost every night.
- I didn't obsess about the race or the outcome beforehand. It was just "what I was doing" that weekend.
- I didn't give up after the windy miles. I pushed hard and got my pace back down to goal pace for the next two miles.
- I had a nice final kick.
- I enjoyed the race. I high-fived someone during the last mile, which I usually never do. I laughed (internally) at a funny spectator comment.
- I ran my second fastest half marathon ever.
- I finished 163rd out of 5,500 women, putting me in the top 2.9% of female finishers.
- Even though most everyone I knew PRed, and it made me feel badly about my race, I worked through the feelings (relatively quickly) and resolved to not let it overshadow everything else. This was probably the hardest part about the day. Harder than the wind even-- overcoming that automatic feeling of disappointment when others around you seemingly out-perform you. It's not easy, and I will continue to work on it.

The "beautiful" from the blog title comes from my custom-made shoes matching my singlet perfectly. And the bib matching the "zebra" verbiage of the shoes.

Ringing In Hope 10K: Strong, Not Clumsy

I ran the Ringing In Hope 10K this afternoon at 1:00pm. Definitely a weird time for a race, but it worked out great.

Ringing In Hope offers a New Year's Eve race and also a summer race. Greg and I have run every New Year's Eve race and summer race since they began in December 2010. We like this race because it's relatively close to our house (20 minutes), the parking is easy, and the course is decent. It's not flat as advertised-- however the hills are manageable because they aren't steep. They are quite long, though.

It was time to put my sports psychology stuff to work. My past few races have all been mono comeback races, so there was no PR on the line. No pressure to perform. Going into today's race, I knew I was in excellent shape but I wanted to keep the same relaxed mindset I had at the Turkey Trot and the Richmond Half Marathon. I wanted to focus on my race strategy as opposed to a time goal. Here are the things I was super focused on in the days leading up to the race:

• Run the first half relaxed, and then really hammer it home in the second half. Note: the course is two loops, so the first 3 miles are the same as the second 3 miles.
• Do not look at the Garmin until after crossing the finish line.
• Instead of looking at the Garmin, focus on running strong, pushing your hardest and trusting that you will run the best race you have in you that day.

So, this race was really all about trusting myself and my ability to pace myself while also pushing hard. Lately, I have been running all of my interval workouts without looking at the Garmin until after I am done with each interval. I've been hitting (and even beating) all of my target paces, so I had every confidence that if I run by feel, I would be able to pace it appropriately. By doing my intervals on the track without looking at the Garmin, I know that it's a more "freeing" way to run. I am focused on getting around the track, looking ahead of me, and focusing on my form. I cannot focus on all of that stuff when I am looking at the Garmin and thinking about that number. 

Usually I consider the Garmin an important part of restraining myself in the beginning of a race and not going out too fast. But today I was going to trust myself. I had no idea what I was capable of, and I didn't want to restrain too much. I also didn't want to have negative thoughts going through my head if my paces weren't as fast as I had hoped for.

I've been told many times over the past few years to try racing without the Garmin. I've actually run some 5Ks that way, and they turned out pretty well. Last May, I ran a 5K on a very hilly course without looking at the Garmin. I knew I was running at my absolute maximum effort. My time wasn't even close to my PR, but I  won my age group and walked away feeling confident that I gave it everything I had. If I had been looking at the Garmin, I think I might have gotten discouraged and let negativity creep in, which is never good during a race. 

This non-Garmin thing was somewhat of a risk. But my sports psychologist is always telling me that I need to "try stuff" and if it doesn't work out, then I need to see it as valuable learning. I was willing to risk going out too fast or poor pacing in order to see if this approach would work. 

So there were many reasons for not using the Garmin. This is not to say that a successful race would cause me never to look at my Garmin again during a race-- I'm not trying to make rules for myself. But it would be nice to have it as a potentially helpful option.

Alright, enough about the Garmin or lack thereof. I had to come up with a fueling strategy for a 1:00pm race. Typically I eat a bagel with peanut butter for breakfast two hours before a race and that works well. But now, I would need to be eating more than once beforehand. I decided I would stick with my bagel and peanut butter at 10:30, so that I would have just over 2 hours to digest it. And then I would also have a bagel (sans PB) for breakfast, as well as a banana, at around 8:00. I also drank plenty of water.

Before the Race

Greg and I arrived at the race and began our warmup with one of our teammates, Cristina. The warmup ended up being 2.5 miles, which was good because it was cold out. 37 and overcast. But after the warmup, I felt hot. I went to my car and changed from my long-sleeved shirt into my singlet. I knew I might be cold, but cold was better than hot. 

During that process, I accidentally left my gloves in the car. There was still about 15 minutes until the race and Greg went to the bathroom, I chatted with my coach, we did some jogging around to stay warm. All of a sudden, I realized I didn't have my gloves. Instead of panicking, I just booked it back to the car. There was only 5 minutes until race start but I knew I could not run this race without gloves. I have reynaud's syndrome and my hands get numb and start to feel frostbitten very easily. I sprinted back to the car, which was almost a quarter mile away. I didn't want to panic about being late to the start, but I did need those gloves. I worried that running so fast just 3 minutes before the start was wasting precious energy, but the gloves were worth it. I did a jog back to the starting line, and arrived just as they were finishing the national anthem. 

Mile 1

Mile 1, Photo Courtesy of G. Buckheit

Greg and I started a little further back in the crowd than I would have liked, especially with lots of kids in front of us. It was a weaving game for most of the first mile, and I tried not to expend too much energy doing so. The first 2/3 of the first mile is uphill. It's a very long hill, but not that steep. I focused on my effort level and not my speed. It's tough to know what pace to start a 10K. Everything of course feels great at the beginning, but you never know how you will feel a few miles into it. 

Miles 2-3

It wasn't until the second mile that I had passed most of the kids and felt like I had my own area to run in. I noticed a teenage kid who was running very sloppily and clumsily. I wondered how I looked. I told myself, "run strong, not clumsy" and that became the mantra that I repeated over and over again for the rest of the race. These mantras just come to me in the middle of races and they are always different! Somewhere in the third mile there was a photographer with a "smile" sign. It was the professional race photographer. I smiled and tried to get a nice photo.

Mile 4

During this mile, I had two women in my sights-- both looked younger than me. One was about 4-5 seconds ahead of me, and the other was about 10 seconds ahead of me. I caught the first one and we were neck-and-neck for awhile. I encouraged her by saying "we got this" but at the end of the forth mile she had fallen behind. The other woman was running really steady and I used her as a bit of a pacer. 

Something that I noticed that was very annoying was the cone placement. I have run this course many times in the past and there never have been cones. They essentially had us running the widest part of the course, so that it was impossible to run the tangents without feeling like we were cheating. In the past, there were never any cones, so I could run the tangents of the neighborhood streets, and the distance ended up being pretty close to 6.2 miles. I kept hearing my Garmin beep well before I passed the mile markers, so based on that, and the fact that the cones prevented us from running the tangents made me suspect that the course would be long. 

Mile 5-6

Running by feel sometimes means closing your eyes!

This was when things really started to hurt and I really had to hang in there. I just kept pushing and pushing at the same effort level and refused to back off.  That last mile seemed to last forever and I kept wondering when that final hill would come because I knew that would mean the end was close.

I passed the photographer with the "smile" sign again. This time I did not smile- I was pushing too hard!

I saw some of my teammates who had finished the 5K during the last mile. They cheered loudly for me and that helped perk me up. The final hill came, it seemed to go on forever, but I powered up it focusing on my form-- strong not clumsy!!! And then there was a nice downhill finish and I really picked up the pace for a very strong final kick. As I approached the finish line, I saw the clock was reading 45:xx. As I crossed it had just turned into 46:00, but since I started a little far back, I was pretty hopeful that I broke 46:00.

After the Race

I saw my teammates and Greg and everyone was all giddy. Most of them had run the 5K, but a few of them had done the 10K. Greg set a new PR of 43:22, which is about a minute faster than his previous PR from the summer. He's getting super fast!

My teammates and I after the race. Can you tell who ran the 10K?

I looked at my Garmin and realized I had averaged a 7:18 pace for the run. This is the exact same pace as my PR from last November when I ran a 45:19.  However, this course was 6.3 miles according to my Garmin (and 6.33 according to Greg's Garmin) so instead of tying my PR, I ended up with a 45:57. I don't want to get hung up on the fact that I could have potentially PRed this race had the course been a true 10K, but it is a little bit frustrating to not "get credit" for the pace you actually ran. It seems that the course was measured properly for the tangents but the new addition of the cones made everyone run really wide.

I was super excited to see my splits and find out how my pacing was after the race. Here's what the Garmin said:

Mile 1: 7:23

Mile 2: 7:17

Mile 3: 7:19

Mile 4: 7:24

Mile 5: 7:07

Mile 6: 7:26

Final 0.3:  6:38 pace

Since this course was 2 laps around the same loop, I find it interesting that I ran the 5th mile 10 seconds faster than the 2nd mile. 

I think I paced this race very well without the Garmin and I'm glad I didn't use it. I was super excited that I ran pretty much the same pace as my PR, only for a little longer and on a hillier course. As suspected, my training over the past two months has put me in excellent shape, and I'm excited to continue the streak of strong, relatively high mileage. I was very process-focused for this race, I didn't have a specific outcome goal in mind although I wanted to break 46. I slept very well in the days leading up to the race and I thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon.

Greg and I stuck around to see if perhaps I won an age group award. It was a decently competitive field with 10-year age groups, so I thought my chances weren't particularly great. However, you never know! I took them a long time to get the results together and it was very cold. I had changed back into my long sleeves and jacket, but I was still freezing in the 36-degree weather. The announcer was rushing through the awards as fast as she could and I caught a glimpse of her paper to see that my name was listed! I won third place for the 30-39 age group with a time of 45:57. I was so excited about this. It was kind of anti-climatic claiming the award since they were rushing through them and so few people were left, but I was happy I stayed to get my $15 gift certificate.

Edit: I just looked at the results and it seems they gave me the award in error. I was actually 4th place. I hope they give whoever they left out their proper award!

End of Year Totals

No December 31 blog would be complete with my end-of-year running stats. Considering I had mono this year, which took me out for about three months, I think I fared pretty well mileage-wise. November and December were definitely my strongest months and I hope to carry the trend into 2013.

Total Miles Run: 1,584

Average Training Pace: 9:00/mi

Total Miles for December: 217.3

PRs: Just 1 PR this year. 10-mile PR in April at 1:15:52

Could have had a 10K PR today without those darn cones, but we won't go there. . . 

Happy New Year to all my blog readers. Wishing you healthy and happy running in 2013!

Racing hurts.
Photo courtesy of Cheryl Young

A Zebra Doesn't Change Its Stripes

I was so excited to know my time that I ruined my finish line photos! I specifically tried NOT to do that this year, but I guess I wasn't as far away from the finish as I thought!

Veteran's Day 10K 2009
48:54 PR

Veteran's Day 10K 2011
45:19 PR

I've been taking it pretty easy this week in terms of running. I know I will need fresh legs for my Turkey Trot 5K next week!

I took a complete rest day on the Monday after the race, and on Tuesday I went for an easy pool run and 900 yd swim. On Wednesday I was back out on the road with an easy 7-miler. Thursday was another easy 7-miler, although the pace was a bit zippier. Today I subjected myself to 5 x 3:00 pool running intervals (harder than track intervals!) and tomorrow I plan to do a long run of 14-15 miles.

In other news, I jumped on the Richmond Marathon bandwagon and registered for the 2012 race at the low introductory price of $55. (Which means no Veteran's Day 10K). It will be the five-year anniversary of my first sub-4:00 marathon, and I'd like to beat my 2007 time by 30 minutes. It's a pipe dream at the moment, but I'm going to work hard all year to try and make it happen. It's not horribly unrealistic for someone to decrease his/her marathon time by 30 minutes over a 5-year period of consistent training.

I do regret that I am missing out on the opportunity to experience a new marathon, but Richmond is one of my all-time favorites. Let's just hope I can hold off a few seconds before hitting that "stop" button on the Garmin!

Fun with Garmin

I think few people realize the full potential of their Garmin Forerunners. As a proud owner of the Garmin Forerunner 405, I've been doing some pretty fancy stuff with mine, and I thought I would share.

The Garmin gives you the freedom to run anywhere without having to know the distance of the route beforehand. My fiancé and I have been enjoying exploring our new area, and coming back home to see the maps of our routes.

What I want to focus on in this post is creating custom workouts using the Garmin Training Center. The Garmin Training Center is free software that you can download from the Garmin Website. You must also have the Garmin ANT agent installed on your computer, which most users already have in order to see the workouts in Garmin Connect.

Once Garmin Training Center is installed on your computer, you can create custom workouts. You create "steps" that are defined by either a particular distance, a particular amount of time, a particular heart rate, or simply by pressing the lap button on the Garmin device. You can create steps that repeat and save yourself the hassle of entering the same interval six times. Additionally, you can create a "target" for each step. This could be a heart rate zone or a particular pace range. If you fail to be in this target range, the Garmin will beep at you until you are within your target.

One of the more complicated interval sets I do is intervals of 1:00, 2:00, 3:00, 2:00, 1:00, 2:00, 3:00 with equal duration recovery jogs. These intervals are sandwiched between a warm-up and a cooldown. Programing this workout into my Garmin device is easy. I write the steps into the workout builder and then transfer the workout to my device wirelessly via the ANT Agent.

Now it's time to go running! The Garmin tracks my pace, distance and heart rate. Best of all, the Garmin beeps at me when it's time to change intervals so I don't have to worry about looking at my watch-- I can focus on pushing hard! During the intervals, the Garmin displays my pace, my heart rate, and how much more time is left in that particular interval. If it was a distance-based interval, it would tell me the distance remaining. I try my best to focus on running and to ignore all the juicy data on my watch- but sometimes I can't resist taking a peak! The intervals end and I do my cooldown jog.

I come home and set the Garmin near my computer. The ANT Agent detects a new workout and automatically uploads it to Garmin Connect and the Garmin Training Center (this is optional). From either one of those interfaces, I can see my pace for each interval and how much distance I covered during each segment. I can look back on previous workouts of the same interval set and compare heart rates and paces. Best of all, I can import this workout into my RunningAhead training log with just one click. Now I have all the data stored in my log.

And then it automatically publishes to Facebook! (This is a RunningAhead feature-- not a Garmin feature). My running friends can view the workout and I can view their workouts.

Programming your own workouts into your Garmin is just one of the many great things about this training tool. Happy running!