For Whom the Dogs Bark

64F, 100% and calm.  Ran slow then fast, didn't time either segment, but the fast ones were between 7:30 and 7:40.

Got up early to meet the group at the track for a workout, but they were nowhere to be found.  By the time I gave up it was too late to run, so a goose egg today.  Got on Google Earth and saw a track at a nearby school, an elementary school, not the junior high.  You would think these guys could read the sign in front of the school, but next week I'll know.

70F, 100% and calm.  Woke up very early, stomach upset from bad food at a restaurant last night.  We went with the whole family to a local place that was donating its profits for the day to my daughter's choir.  We waited 45 minutes for a table and another 45 minutes for our poisoned food.  Everybody had things to do other than blow 2.5 hours on dinner. Total donation $6.

So finally got out the door at 4:42 and ran 20.1 miles in about 3:03:30, net of GI stops, average pace 9:08 per mile.  I felt like I was running slower than that, wasn't even sure I was hitting 9:30, so I was happy with the result, especially since my legs were more sore than I would have thought if it was truly a 9:30 pace.  Anyway, 20 is 20. 

I really need to get a new Garmin, I have no idea what my heart rate is doing right now.  (However, in the dentist chair yesterday morning blood pressure was 105/62 and heart rate was 54.)  There is a reasonably priced one called 210X or something like that, and an expensive one that is about double, both seem to do about the same thing.  Other than longer battery life I can't figure out what you get for the extra money.  I'm going to step up and pay the REI price whatever I buy though.  I figure if enough people take their broken Garmins back to REI, they might be big enough to put pressure on Garmin to do something about it.  This Garmin problem is simply another manifestation of the replacement refs conspiracy.

70F, 100% and calm.  Weather has held steady all week, but it will change soon.  Met Wade for another session running the garage, like last Thursday.  That was 6 miles, including 1.5 in uphill charges.  Then did a couple of errands at the house and went back out for 6 more, 3 easy and 3 at perceived GMP, but didn't time anything.  The last 3 were tough though, legs did a lot of work the last 2 days.  I stopped at REI on the way to work and bought a Garmin 210.  I'll try it out this week and take it back if I don't like it.  I already don't like the tiny display, not good for these old eyes.  I may just send my old one in for repairs.

70F, 100%, N 1 mph.  Same as all week, will be similar tomorrow then start cooling off some more.  But 70F is not bad, I still sweat like a hog but it doesn't seem to have any other effect this late in the summer training cycle.  The plan today was to do 10 easy.  I ran the course that I had previously mapped out at 10.02 miles, but I took my new Garmin 210.  I liked several things about it.  It is the size of a regular watch, small and light, but there are some drawbacks.  The illumination has an automatic fade after about 10 seconds, so every time you want to see the watch you have to turn it back on.  I run 80% of my miles in the dark, so this won't work unless there is a setting that changes the fade function.  Also, the numbers on the display are small, hard to read for my bleary early-morning eyes. 

A much worse problem is accuracy.  It measured today's course at 9.7 miles.  My course has a total of 29 cul de sacs and 45 turns of 90 degrees or more.  So if a GPS device isn't taking measurements at short intervals it will measure this course significantly short.  I double-checked my previous computer measurement (10.02 miles) by putting the Google Earth setting at the smallest scale and measuring every step of the run. It took an hour, but there is a point to it.  It's not about distance -- there is no difference in training effect between running 9.7 miles or 10.0 miles.  The computer measurement, and I can think of no reason why it is not accurate at that setting, was 9.97 miles.  So the 210 measured short by 2.5%, which for this run was the difference between 8:43 per mile and 8:57 per mile, 14 seconds per mile, more than 6 minutes over the length of a marathon.  I can't train intelligently with that much discrepancy.  My old Garmin 305 measured the first 4 miles of this course exactly the same as Google Earth, so I will send it in for repair -- the 210 despite its attractive appearance is not going to cut it, although I will take it out again tomorrow on a straighter course to see what happens.

Today's exercise also supports my beef with course measurements by race directors.  If a GPS device is inaccurate, it is because it measures short, not long.  It measures in straight line segments; the more often it takes a reading the shorter the segment and the more accurate the measurement.  The +/- differential for satellite inaccuracy is a statistical error that doesn't favor short or long, and over a long course it will average out to almost zero.  So if you run the tangents and a course still measures long, it is long.

On the bright side, my average heart rate for the run was 142, max 151, which is really good news.  I have not gotten a heart rate reading in at least a month.  I had planned to do this as a recovery run at 9 flat because I have a hard run tomorrow, but I ran it at 8:43 with no significant heart rate drift, quite a bit better than earlier in the summer when I was recovering from my back injury.  Back then I was happy to get 10 at a 9:20 pace with 150 max.  So 8:43 today after running garages yesterday and 20 on Wednesday represents bona fide progress.

73F, 100% NNE 3 mph, trying to rain. Got up at 4:00 and was at the Y at 4:30, plan was to run 8 at 7:45 pace, then 12 with the group. A mile or two in I knew I was in trouble. I went to bed with a raw throat last night, and with the higher temperatures and stifling humidity (for some reason it felt worse than it has felt all weak, though it has held steady at 100% throughout), I didn't have enough heart rate reserve to make this run. At mile 5 I took EFS to practice taking on calories, but I was already nauseous and that didn't help. I held the pace through 8 then told the group I was bowing out and came home. Hopefully I can try this again next week. It is amazing how little it takes to put me over the edge -- the margin between a PR marathon and a blowup is thin. According to my Garmin 210, the distance was 7.87 miles, giving me a pace of 7:48. According to the computer, the distance was 8.0 miles, which puts my pace at 7:41, so not as far off as yesterday, but today's run had comparatively few turns in it. Average heart rate was 164, last three miles at 171, not sustainable for 20 miles.