#Sub60: 14 of 61

Most of my recent runs have been at conversation pace. My plan sets this as 11:15-11:30 minutes per mile. That’s a comfortable pace, especially once I’ve warmed up.

Blue gifted me a Garmin for my birthday, and I program it as a training partner. It alerts me elapsed distance and/or time, and it signals when I’m not running within a specified target.

Brianna Rollins

Today’s run felt good early. I locked into what seemed to be an 11:00-11:15 pace (a little faster than target). But my Garmin didn’t agree.  In fact, it alerted me several times that I was much too slow. I refused to speed up because I’ve gotten to know just what this range feels like.

I waited for my Garmin to smarten up.

As I approached the first mile marker, it still clocked me at 13 minutes a mile. At the marker, I stopped running and stopped my watch. No surprise – the satellite was wrong. Again. Thanks to my love of routine and familiarity, I know all the mile markers between the trailhead and 2.5 miles. I’d run one mile. Garmin thought it .89. Amount of time? 11 minutes, 3 seconds. I knew I’d locked into 11!

Once I resumed my run, it seemed to track me just fine. I have a theory as to why it was off this morning and last Thursday as well. I’m going to make some adjustments based on the theory, and we’ll see what happens.

Brianna Rollins

A couple of other things to note…I ran with a water bottle today. I don’t really water mid-run for short bouts, but I do for anything 5 miles or longer.

Every Sunday from here on out I have a 5 mile or longer run. I’m preparing now.

Hydration belts constrict my breathing when they’re strapped on tight enough to stay in place. In general, holding a water bottle isn’t ideal, but the right one will be fine.

Today’s was the wrong one. It wasn’t soft enough in my hand and didn’t fit ergonomically. Perhaps more importantly, it was too hard to get water! Mid-stride, there’s no time or energy to undergo strenuous efforts or multiple steps to pull water. So I’ll have to find another one.

My new running shoes feel good overall, but I’m dealing with some foot fatigue. The ball of my right foot gets tired after 35 minutes or so of exercise. This is not a new challenge, and it’s not limited to running, but it has been more noticeable the past couple of weeks (before and after new shoes) and it will make longer runs intolerable. I ran with new insoles today to see if they’d help. I can’t say they did. So for that, back to the drawing board as well.

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