[hoopsguy]

So earlier this week I picked up a new running watch, the Garmin Forerunner 235. This replaced the Garmin 210 I've used over the last three years. I figure this represents a decent time for me to get a little more serious about my running, fitness, health, etc. I'll also likely mix in some information about other stuff going on outside of running to provide context for the results, or lack thereof, over the period of time that I update this thread.

So, this morning I set out to run a moderate effort 7k run. I've got a 3.5 mile race coming up in a little less than two weeks, and I had already gotten in a speed workout earlier in the week. Saturday normally is a moderate/short run, with Sunday being my long run for the week. The remainder of the week is a bit hit-or-miss, but I'm working on getting a little more rigor into this routine.

One difference with this watch is that it has a built-in heart rate monitor. Previously, I had to wear a separate strap across my chest to capture this data. I was THRILLED with not having that on for my run this morning. Over the past couple of months, the strap had begun to irritate my skin and I've had what looks like a minor rash in that area. Hopefully that disappears in another couple of weeks without having that strap to irritate the skin 3-4 times per week. The start of this run is mostly uphill, which leads to some slower times as I get warmed up, but the 2nd km is always significantly faster. And that is where I found myself today, with my 1st km being about 9 min/mile pace and the 2nd km being sub-8. At this point, I decided to change gears and run a 5k with the middle 3 k as a tempo run.

For those who aren't into running, the idea on a tempo run is to have a slower start/finish, but a middle section that is challenging. By challenging, I mean at a pace that isn't race pace, but isn't too far removed from race pace either. I've never quite hit a 7 minute mile pace 5k, so tempo run for me usually starts a little under 5 min/km. I tracked in the 4:40 - 4:50 for each of the 3km middle of my tempo run, before slowing up for something north of 5 min/km to finish.

The new watch tracks records/achievements and since this was my first run with it, I got several today.
- Longest Run: 5.22 km
- Fastest 5k: 25:04
- Fastest 1k: 4:41
- Fastest 1m: 7:38

And other stats, some of which I know to be flat crazy. The one that I will be interested to see over time is the VO2 Max.
Recovery Time: 43 hours
VO2 Max: 47
Race Predictor: 22:11 5k, 46:01 10k, 1:41:57 1/2 marathon, 3:31:54 marathon

So, lots of data to sift through. I use a few different websites to track data. Strava, Smashrun, Veloviewer, and Athlinks. I'll talk more about these in other posts, as well as some of the data above.