Stability Through Motion

Rhayader 20 mile race: 2h40m

That was harder than it should have been. Spent the race trying to recalibrate the garmin footpod, which meant I could see neither the time nor my pace/speed. As a result took it faster than I should have, but not fast enough to count as a race – kind of caught in limbo. Still, it’s a wonderful course through the Elan valley, winding around the reservoirs in this deserted part of the world. Two more long runs now before the big day.

race report time! Last one until April’s marathon.

New toy – playing with the Garmin Forerunner 50 which tracks heart rate and cadence and distance using a footpod thingie, a surprisingly discrete plastic bit that clips onto your shoe laces. Out of the box it was pretty accurate, but I made the mistake of trying to calibrate it by running round a track. Cue my first ever visit to a running track, and there was a football match taking place in the middle! Sheepishly tried a single lap without getting hit by a football or footballer. Now the device is way out, so I think I need to do a bit more than one lap to get it right.

Using the device in conjunction with SportsTrack software though, you can get an incredible amount of info at a glance though.

So, the race: 6:52 average pace = 8.7 mph, 15 miles in 1:42:53. Bang on target for the sub 3:15 marathon attempt – in fact predicts 3:06 but I’m going to be cautious still.