I spent yesterday evening looking at running routes on Strava. I needed a little adventure, without getting lost. Then I read somewhere that you could actually download a Strava route to your watch! Until I realised that my watch, a Vivoactive 3, was not compatible. Maybe I could just follow the route on my mobile. This wouldn’t be ideal, as I’d have to hold my mobile while running.
So that’s what I did. I really enjoyed running somewhere different. Strava had labelled the route I selected as ‘Easy’. Oh, I’m so gullible 🤣. There are hills round here. The trick is to find a route that’s LESS hilly 😊. I found one where most of the uphill parts are near the beginning of the run. And so I set off!
Last week’s long run was for an hour, so I wanted this one to be 70 minutes. Stretches and warm up walk done and I was off on my mini adventure!
I realised soon after I started that I had a bit of a problem. For some reason, the settings on my watch face had changed. I think it might have happened during a run in the rain. I had tried to correct it to show what I wanted, but it wasn’t showing the run duration. I only knew how long I had been running for at the end of each kilometre and that was because Strava was telling me.
Also, Strava was telling me different things to my watch. There was quite a discrepancy. I ended up saving the Strava run. I did run for 70 minutes but that was just by luck and guesswork!
The first part of the run was uphill, which wasn’t a surprise as I had seen it on the elevation details of the route. I just took it slowly but I did find it tough! I kept going, although I did have to slow down. A lot! I’m going to have to embrace these hills, though, and not be such a girly wuss! I started enjoying the run much more when it levelled out. There was a lovely part going through a wooded area which was gorgeous. The rest of it was roads. I got to a part where there wasn’t a path and I was in my element here, I don’t know why I love running in the road, but I do!
The downhill stretch as I got nearer to home was relaxing. I did have to negotiate a pedestrian underpass where I had to walk down and then up some steps. My legs were tired and I didn’t trust myself not to fall.
I was very happy with this run and it was good to try something different although annoying to have to follow the map on my mobile. I ran for 1 hour and 10 minutes and (less importantly) covered just under 8K. 🏃♀️🏃♀️😊☕️🥣
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Jools2020
Graduate10
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Wow, well done Jools. What an adventure and what a run. A magical mystery tour and those demon hills to boot. I'm mightily impressed. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday. 🏃♀️😀👍
Thanks! I’m so determined to get back to where I was before, but it’s hard work. Running with the group is really helping to keep me on track for my other runs as well. 😊
That is a brilliant run! I'm planning to run somewhere new this week too (no idea where yet!) Pity the app and the phone aren't talking to each other; I tried running holding my phone but it was uncomfortable and I was worried about dropping it.
Hills are still something I'm trying to learn how to deal with ...
A guy on the Parkrun had issues too - we were almost halfway though and he asked how long we had been going as his watch only started to count when it found a satellite; it was convinced he'd run for 23 seconds and not 17 minutes at that stage! 🤣
Thanks, Gary 😊. I think there are always discrepancies with Strava and Garmin! I do think I might need to upgrade my watch. I want one with route/map capability. I’m thinking of doing a bit of trail running at some stage and don’t want to rely on my mobile to avoid getting lost. Need to research it as I’m not sure what people do!
This run was meant to be a low heart rate run. Epic fail there! Running up the hill elevated my heart rate such that even slowing down didn’t reduce it much. I didn’t want to stop running completely so just ditched the idea and kept going, Think I might have to join the running group some Saturday morning and do hill repeats. Not my idea of fun 😊
Usually I don’t have issues with run duration - it just wasn’t enabled to show on my watch. I had selected the actual time instead, which wasn’t that useful. My fault!
I’ve tried running using my watch without it acquiring a satellite signal and it seemed to work just fine.
Running somewhere new is always good. 😊 A circular route works best for me.
Wow, what a run! Definitely a bit of a challenge holding phone for map but you smashed that one, and fast!! Especially with hills, the hills are making you stronger 😁 Out early too, now you have the whole day to smile and be proud of your run.
Thanks, Sue! I wanted to miss the rain, but the forecast was wrong anyway and now it’s sunny 🤣
I keep telling myself the hills are making me stronger! As I was running up the one today, I was saying my mantra ‘Hills are my friends ….’ But oh my legs are tired now 😊
A little snooze sounds perfect. You would leave me in the dust if we ran together up hills ,🤣🤣 the challenge I am facing at the moment is there are too many places I want to run, later this morning neighbour and I are going to the river, I definitely want to run by the sea and I half promised myself I'd go on the Downs once a week, then there's the park and straight out the door! And next Saturday Parkrun!!! 😳 How will I fit them all in? I do like the idea of different routes though and yours sounds great.
I get it! I want to do parkruns. And trail runs! I want to continue to run with the running group. And I want to do 10K and build up to a Half Marathon! By the sea is not possible until I come and see you. I’m 90 minutes from the sea. I want to run by the water, though. The river is a possibility and there are lakes here. Too many places to run, not enough days in the week 🤣
Blimey Jools, that's a lot to fit in. I'm out of breath just reading that!I've only run by the sea once, when we went down to Southbourne last year, and it was glorious.
I'd love to run by the sea again. Southend parkrun is about 25 minutes away but I'm not sure of that really counts as the seaside 🏖😁
Just like the old days Jools2020 with your Sunday long runs. Fantastic run and sounds like a proper adventure 😀 I've wondered about route mapping on a watch but I wonder how visible and useful it would actually be in practice in bright sunlight and with my eyesight. I still have my vivoactive 3 and tbh it still works fine so struggle a bit to justify upgrading, especially with my sustainability head on
Thanks, Diane. Yes, I’m getting there! It is like the old days and when I post my runs, I often see my old posts on the right of the page about similar runs from a couple of years ago - with similar times! I’m following the same plan (my own plan) so I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. I expect my first 10K will be about 90 minutes - just like the first time round 😀
I agree with you about the Vivoactive 3. I don’t want to upgrade it unless I feel I have to. There might be another answer - but I can’t keep running longer distances holding my phone and I don’t want to be worried about getting lost.
That sounds like a great run Jools - well done! 👏👏👏🏃♀️🏃♀️🏃♀️ Instead I really am a girly wuss as I try to avoid going uphill whenever possible (difficult as where I live, although near the sea, is actually quite hilly). Plus I don't like running in the rain - got up at 6 this morning, heard a thunderstorm, saw the rain and decided to wait... and wait... By the time it had stopped the temperature had gone up 🤦went to do the food shopping instead and will try again tomorrow morning 🤞
I’m with you! But in researching routes for my longer runs, I’ve realised that all of them have hills. Unless I drive somewhere. So to start with, I’m looking for routes that at least have hills just at the beginning, then chances are there will be a downhill near the end 😊. I slow down for the hills, shorten my stride and repeat my mantra! “Hills are my friends” 🤣
I like to at least start my runs when it’s not raining and I won’t ever start in torrential rain or during a thunderstorm!
When I run with the running club in the evening, it’s a lot warmer than first thing and I find it tough. I just take it steady and it’s only for about half an hour. Maximum so far has been about 23. I like to run when it’s 5-10 degrees 😊.
Something is whispering in my head that as runners we should be running on different terrains and in all weathers 😄. Not sure if I’m listening yet!
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