Ignorance is no longer bliss…my recently purchased Garmin watch is my new best friend (I got the Forerunner 405 CX). This week I went from zen runner to the slightly obsessed wrist watcher. It took the urging of a new running friend (“this is a ‘need’ for you Monica, not a ‘want’ “) and a sale at REI to push me over the edge. And although this new tightly wound persona may take some adjustment for me (and my LDFs), it’s making me a more efficient runner. I thought a Garmin would force me to work harder, but it never occurred to me that it would give me a break. As an aging runner, efficient training is becoming key.
In the quaint town where I live, there is a Starbucks less than a mile walk from my house. We pass it everyday on the run as it sits in the center of all running routes. I wore my new Garmin for the first time on Sunday for a gruelingly hot, humid 20 mile long run. I had to do the whole thing in town (we usually hit the beautiful trails for these long ones, but motherhood was calling) and for various reasons, I was out on my own. I pieced together the miles of several routes, monitoring my Garmin as I ran. Then the most amazing thing happened…I hit mile 20 right at the door of Starbucks. It was then that I realized I loved that Garmin. It allowed me to stop guilt free and head in for a double iced soy latte (with the disgustingly sweaty five dollar bill in my pocket) and enjoy the walk home. My usual guesstimating of distances and pace was eliminated by my Garmin. I know I would have continued past Starbucks and run home had I not known the exact mileage.
I am trying now to learn how to control my pace. I aim to run the long runs slower and the fast runs faster, instead of getting caught in the same pace on all runs. I see this displayed on the Garmin downloads and look forward to figuring out how to remedy that (thoughts?).
I did manage to leave the Garmin home for my hill repeats the other day. I saw no point in focusing on anything other than the grade before me. I am not sure how I will do racing with it, but look forward to trying that out. I know I am late to the party on this, but didn’t realize all the fun I was missing:)
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Haha. The Garmin can indeed be a good friend, especially on an estimated long run. (Stinks when it tells you you’re “done” on a long loop but you’ve got miles left to get back to your start point, though…) Don’t worry; the obsessive watch wearing will wear off eventually and you can still go Zen while still knowing what you did when you’re done.
.-= Keath´s last blog ..Realizations =-.
Wow–you are just where I am. I am resistant to a Garmin, I love running for its simplicity. I also don’t want to get too dependent on some piece of equipment. And yet, I really want to run some good marathon pace runs this summer/fall, and the Garmin is probably the answer. You have given me hope!
.-= Amanda´s last blog ..Whiplash =-.
After years of guessing mileage and post run mapping, I’m giving in. I’ve finally decided to go to the Garmin side. I have a birthday Garmin request and expect to join you in obsessive watch wearing! Go gadgets!