Garmin Blog update....
Like many of my running buddies and friends at Garmin, I’m currently training for a fall marathon. With my workouts and mileage ramping up, I’ve not been doing many races, but last weekend it was time to kick out the cobwebs at a 5k. Apparently, I was due, since I sliced a fat 40 seconds off my PR. Shortly after arriving at the race venue, I chatted with the day’s emcee, BJ the DJ, and he told me “it’s a day for a PR.” Why not? The temp was in the 60s, my legs felt fresh and the course included the hilly trail I’d been training on lately. After a thorough warm-up, I made sure my Forerunner 405 was set up the way I like it for race day, showing time, average pace and distance. To learn how to customize your Forerunner training pages to show average pace or other data, check out the training video titled “customizing screens”. Displaying average vs. current pace was helpful since this course started with some significant climbs. After churning through those hills, I kept an eye on pace through mile two so I could gradually make up the time difference and meet or beat my goal of 22:30. I crossed the finish line in 22:24. All credit to my 405 minding my pace plus the speed work I’ve being doing the last six weeks with Coach Eladio Valdez and his Runner’s Edge group. Read on to find out about my next adventure with the 405.
With a 5k behind us and a long run before us, I agreed to meet my training partners — Fred, Wilma and their dog Dino — at 4 a.m. Sunday with headlamps at the ready. We’ve done several of these early morning “beat the heat” runs, but last weekend, it was more of a “beat the whelming flood” workout. After checking weather radar and eyeing the sky for distant lightning flashes, we decided to head out and if the weather turned too nasty, we’d make it a shorter out-and-back instead of a 22-mile loop. That's Fred on the far right in the photo, and Wilma's in the middle, next to her son. We took this pic with some of my other Garmin friends and training partners at a 5k last fall.
I just love Fred and Wilma. They are true marathon masters who earn their spot at Boston every year and routinely win age group and sometimes overall awards at local races. And they let me tag along on many of their training runs, often adjusting the start time so I can make it back home in time for family obligations. While I trusted Fred and Wilma’s judgment on the weather last Sunday, I was at best uneasy for our first 11 miles when the sprinkles turned to rain and puddles became small ponds covering low spots on the trail.
Once we hit our halfway point, the skies were still dark and we were thoroughly soaked, but at least we were now heading back toward our goal. By mile 18, I determined this was no longer just a long training run. More like an adventure race complete with water crossings and the desolate feeling that can only come from being out in the middle of nowhere or being “somewhere” when no one else is around. In our last couple of miles, we had two water crossings where Wilma and I each had to grab one of Fred’s arms and plant our feet, one after the other, to work our way across the rushing water. I’m convinced that Wilma, who’s not even 90 pounds dripping wet, would’ve ended up somewhere in the Gulf if she’d lost her grip. In the end, we were grateful we’d gotten our miles in when we did since the skies around KC continued to pour for the next several days. Follow our adventuresome run in Garmin Connect.
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