I've been naughty and gone out with my new toy.

[Realfoodieclub]

I am supposed to be getting over a cold that I was hit with after a great run on Monday. But my delivery arrived inbetween and I have been itching to get out there. I ordered a bluetooth 4 heartrate monitor to work with my iPod touch Pear Sport app. I didn't get the expensive one from the app I got another one.

The main reason for wanting this monitor is the app has a fat burning zone training session (app and training session are all free). What this would do, a trainer gives you instructions through your headphones whether you have to slow down or speed up in accordance with your heart rate.

So I set off today for a trial. 5 min warm up, 20 min zone 2 fat burn run. 5 min warm down.

I knew when I set off I would only do 10 min run as I wasn't really supposed to be out there.

It was great. I was running a such a pace that I could,actually breathe from my diaphragm. This kept me feeling a lot more chilled and made the run a lot easier and relaxed.

The upshot was the pace was only 0.50 of my usual time but I didn't feel like I had just run a marathon. So not that much slower.

I will defiantly be using it as a training tool in the future.

I have already downloaded the next two free training plans for fat burn.

[RubySlippers Graduate]

Tsk, tsk RFC, you know you were supposed to wait.

I'm intrigued by your new toy as I'm looking to treat myself soon. I'm going to look it up. It sounds like the focus is on fat burning? What does that mean in terms of speed and duration? I only have experience of C25K so would be interested in thinking about where to go next. Thanks for posting.

[Realfoodieclub Graduate in reply to RubySlippers]

I know I'm bad but I promise I didn't overdo it. I didn't get it for the fat burning side of it, I got it for the side effect of trying to learn to run at a easier pace for myself. I seem to be pushing myself too fast and therefore tiring very easy so I thought if I could train at a more gentler level I could progress onwards towards my 5km. I am a slow plodder at the best of times but the one think I got from today is that what I do is a fast sprint and then Slow down all the time what I would like to learn is a steady pace. It's still early days with the app. I will keep you posted.

[lizziebeth57 Graduate]

Sounds interesting, I got a heart monitor with my garmin 110 but I have never used it... feels like too much of a faff. However, after reading your post I might have a go and see what my heart rate is doing! Glad you are feeling well enough to get out and also glad to hear you are not overdoing it