Starting the week on a PB...

Well - a "Garmin" PB anyway!

A lovely 5K run at 7am this morning to kick off the week and recover from the 7K on Friday... Managed it this morning in 31:36 which is a "Garmin PB" (ie. not as fast as my Parkrun 29:19 but the fastest "GPS time" to date)....

What I really like is the fact that my stats show a nice steady increase in cadence (ie. my feet were moving faster), a decrease in vertical oscillation (ie. remember Laura talked about looking over a hedge? I got less "bouncy" over time) and my ground contact time decreased (ie. I was getting my feet off the ground quicker)..... I know it's all just a bit of fun, but it is interesting to see when you deliberately try to speed things up as you go through the 5K how that translates into the stats later...

As an aside, I don't show timings on my Garmin nowadays, just distance and heart rate... Works better for me not to know and helps my internal "pacing meter"...

I also found (for you 610/620 owners) that if you stop your Garmin when you stop running and don't touch anything (ie. don't save/discard) for 2 minutes and you're wearing a heart rate monitor, the Garmin will tell you how much your heart rate has dropped in recovery in the 2 minutes since you stopped... In my case 40bpm drop in 2 minutes... which is apparently not too bad and shows increasing fitness from 28bpm about 2 months ago...

A bit stats heavy this morning I guess (sorry!) but it was also an awesome run, even when overtaken by a young bloke doing double my pace who made me feel a bit old and slow...

Happy running folks... 7K on Wednesday up next in Finland!

[misswobble Graduate]

Morning Aussie

Do you use the virtual pacer? I love it!!!! I expect you do, being a stats kinda guy

Young folks will always be faster on the shorter distances I guess but you might catch em on the longer runs. An elderly gent I see regularly running up the steep hill near me was in the race yesterday but he was out the traps and finished before I'd got going, so it just shows what can be done.

[Hidden in reply to misswobble]

The classic tortoise and hare! I don't yet use the virtual pacer - but I suspect I will in a little while. Right now I'm tuning into Heart Rate zones instead...

How you holding up today after your great effort yesterday??

[Bazza1234 Graduate]

Aussie

What Garmin is it that you have to give you this data ??

[Hidden in reply to Bazza1234]

It's the new 620 with the Heart Rate Monitor that includes the accelerometer in the strap... very clever stuff...

[Burgdude Graduate]

Wow that's good data! I especially like the heart recovery time!

[Hidden in reply to Burgdude]

I love that feature - only just discovered it!

[misswobble Graduate]

I am fine today Aussie. I thought I would ache like mad. I am having an easy day. Well, that's my plan!

[Hidden in reply to misswobble]

Excellent news!

[paul2014 Graduate]

I also love comparing the stats for cadence, vertical oscillation and ground contact time. Its great to see where you have improved and the areas where improvements can be made.

I didn't know about the hear rate recovery facility. That's really handy to know and I'll do that after my next run. Thanks for the tip ;o)

[Hidden in reply to paul2014]

I was reading up on FirstBeat algorithms (yes - nerd) and that's where I discovered it!

[paul2014 Graduate in reply to Hidden]

;o)

[Mummysaurus Graduate]

Love all the stats, I just brought the new Garmin FR15 (as I am also starting to do some heart rate based training) but it doesn't do quite as much as yours, your recovery heart rate is good shows you are getting fitter.

[Hidden in reply to Mummysaurus]

You'll enjoy it... I try not to be a slave to the device but I do like keeping track of my progress!

[paul2014 Graduate in reply to Hidden]

And that's the thing I like to use it for, keeping an eye on the progress (or lack of it!) ;o)

[no-excuse Graduate]

Ooh I love the stats, keep em coming! Well done with your PB x

[Hidden in reply to no-excuse]

Thanks! Stats keep me motivated and I do like to go back and look at historical numbers to see how far I've come...

[emkeenan Graduate]

Well done Aussie- you nerd! Those are some very smooth yet obvious trends. A good time too.

Good luck with the next one

[Hidden in reply to emkeenan]

Absolute nerd... and thanks! It's a good time for this old boy who's only been running 4 months!

[Hidden]

I love it... so much so it's my daily watch now too...

The stats and heart rate information (over time) are very much like having a trainer on your wrist!

[paul2014 Graduate]

That's how the 620 is sold ie 'Its like having your own personal trainer' ;o) The other thing I like on the 620 is the recovery data. It takes on board the effort put into any particular run and advises on how long you should take out to recover before attempting another run. Clever stuff ;o)