Friday 13th - Aussie210K Run 2 and some supers... - Couch to 5K

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Friday 13th - Aussie210K Run 2 and some superstitions ignored...

11 Replies

Morning all you lovely C25Kers - Aussie here reporting in as promised on Run 2 of the Aussie210K plan... Another warm morning in London so it's up at 6am to beat the heat. An energy bar, a big glass of water and it's on with the gear... Being Friday the 13th, I decided to mess with my routine a bit:

1) Ran for the first time ever without my knee strap...

2) Ran for the first time ever with the Garmin...

3) Ran for the first time ever with a SPIBelt with my phone inside it....

4) Ran for the first time ever in a fancy Ronhill pursuit running vest (although I need to build my biceps I think!)...

I'd programmed the workouts in my Aussie210K plan into the Garmin and after heading out the door hit the start button. After 5 minutes my arm starts vibrating and beeping wildly telling me it's time to run... Apparently I'd also set it to alert me if I go too fast or too slow and I found this help me set my pace to a nice and comfortable 6:30 per km...

So - 6.15km covered this morning in the 40 minutes. I felt really good at the end of the run and now have more than enough stats from the Garmin to keep me busy all morning... some of the interesting bits due to the new improved HR monitor and chest mounted accelerometer :

1) My cadence is around 160bpm so that's not too bad...

2) Vertical oscillation is for the most part in the "green zone" - remember when Laura spoke about bouncing up and down if someone was watching you on the other side of a hedge? That's the vertical oscillation thingy... :)

3) Ground contact time is "amber"... (ie. feet are on the ground a bit longer than optimal - haha)

4) Average pace was spot on 6:30/km (a 32:30 5K).

5) VO2 Max is 40ml/kg/min - yep - you bet... apparently this is "good" for my age... happy with that and it'll adjust the more workouts I do...

Basically - to run faster I need to speed up and get my feet off the ground quicker... thanks Garmin! Haha! It does show though that my running "style" isn't too far from where it needs to be so that's a handy thing to note... All the other stats are amusement value but boy do I love stats... :)

Other interesting things the Garmin decided to tell me:

1) That I should recover from this over 72 hours (not 48) - I will ignore that for now (see below)

2) That my training effort was a 5.0 (over-reaching) - again I will ignore that for now (see below)

3) That my race predictor for a 10k is 53:55 and 5K is 25:55 - HAHAHA! Yeah - right!

The reason I'm ignoring 1 and 2 (and laughing at 3) is that I think these gadgets can only do so much in telling you from a mathematical model what your body is doing. I can tell all you lovely lot that although I pushed myself a little this morning I certainly didn't feel like I couldn't keep going at the end and I certainly didn't feel like I'd pushed myself too far... I am pushing, but gently... I feel great!

My knee held up fine and I had been thinking for a while I was just wearing the strap as I was too afraid to take it off in case my knee muscles somehow collapsed without it. Guess what? They didn't and it appears I've built up strength now so I'm going to continue (with caution) sans strap...

Next time I may even run naked... stay tuned for that report on Sunday....

BTW - in case you can't tell - I LOVE the Garmin and the GPS tracking was spot on (except when I went through a tunnel of course!)... it beeping to tell me to speed up when I flagged was great fun (not!)... :)

Happy running campers... watch out for black cats and witches hats today... no running under ladders!

EDIT: It appears the training effect/recovery estimates are based on Heart Rates... basically, unless you absolutely know your Max HR, it's using a formula that is "average at best" to work it out... so as I have a BUPA medical coming soon I'm going to do a proper stress test on a treadmill and work out my max HR properly... :)

11 Replies
misswobble profile image
misswobbleGraduate

Morning Aussie. Lovely graphics there mate. It's all Greek to me! I get my stats and then don't know what they mean. I'm not even sure which is fastest when I get my times. The lower number or the greater number, eg min/km. I just keep doing the running and don't sweat the detail. I do get the need to keep my feet in the air longer. I understand that much

What's cadence then?

in reply tomisswobble

Beats per minute - that is the number of times per minute a foot hits the ground... it's the "1, 2, 3, 4" of the Speed podcasts... :)

And when it comes to min/km, smaller is faster (note: I did not say better... :) ).. 5min/km is a 25m 5K, 6min/km is a 30m 5K...

Treemouse profile image
TreemouseGraduate

I love stats too, and it's quite reassuring to know that everything looks in order, you just need some fine tuning! I ran today in a vest top, as the only top I had clean was long-sleeved and I really didn't fancy that in this heat! It feels liberating to run with the Garmin and not the phone, doesn't it!

Looking forward to the naked running update... just watch out for wasps ;)

Have a great weekend Aussie :)

anadelsur profile image
anadelsur

hi! Nice report!! I enjoyed reading it. Your Garmin does a great job, like you :) Have a nice weekend, and good runs!

I_will profile image
I_willGraduate

Wow, sounds like you're doing amazingly. I had no idea a Garmin did so much! Which Garmin is it, or do they all do those things?

It's so encouraging to think that C25K can set us up for working to 10k. Exciting stuff!

in reply toI_will

It's the 620 and it's actually the new Heart Rate Monitor that does the fancy stats above... it works out how much you're bouncing about while running... all very clever... (if you like that kind of thing)...

I_will profile image
I_willGraduate in reply to

Thanks. Little gadgets and stats....mmmm! :-)

AncientMum profile image
AncientMumGraduate

Interesting stuff Aussie, I often wondered what cadence is. Will you be posting photos of the naked run? Just a thought ;)

in reply toAncientMum

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caden...

Let's see how much there is to post from the naked run... stay tuned... :)

paul2014 profile image
paul2014Graduate

Great read and loved the stats. The 620 along with the newest HR strap are great and it's the reason I'll be treating myself to one as a graduation present. It's also very useful as an aid to improving your technique once all the data is brought together.

ju-ju- profile image
ju-ju-Graduate

Thats all very technical, but looks pretty impressive so well done you and good luck on your training programme :)

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