This is the farthest I’ve run

2

September 17, 2012 by Amy B

Since having a baby.

I was supposed to do 20 miles at this point in the training. The 13.1 I did was just as painful.

I felt pretty great at the start. It was a cool morning on Saturday – almost too cool. I don’t think my fingers warmed up until the 10 mile mark. A friend let me borrow his Garmin 405cx for the run. I had a 310 at one point but sold it because I stopped using it. I’m not sure why. Man, the 405 is awesome (and also less bulky). I loved running with it. I’ve added a refurb model to my wishlist. Also as a bonus: it works with my Timex heart rate strap (my watch kind of died halfway through the run).

What I did not love, however, was running with the fuel belt. Normally I would not carry this much fluid on a 13 mile run (there are four 8 oz bottles in all), but since I hadn’t been on a double-digit run this summer, I didn’t want to get stranded with too little hydration.

Holy dirty mirror and bathroom. Ignore, please.

I ended up going through two of the four bottles and wished I’d brought some water along. Gatorade is too sweet. I ended up with some wicked stomach cramps at the ten mile mark and only consumed one gel. But better safe than sorry, I suppose.

I’m not completely sold on me running the marathon, because honestly, the idea of doing that TWICE is an awful thought. I think back to last year’s attempt and how I felt at the halfway point. I felt better on Saturday than I did during last year’s race, but I didn’t feel like I wanted to slog through another 13 miles. Scott and I talked about running together again this year, which would help. I think if I can crank out another 12 miles this weekend, I’ll feel better about giving it a shot. I also like the idea of having the Garmin to help me keep on pace.

Speaking of pace, here were the splits.

Am I really this slow, Garmin? Sigh.

I took it out this morning for a quick 5k effort, too.

I had to stop for at least 3 seconds at the intersection in town, so I actually think I beat my previous PR of 31:22 on this route. I did amp it up for the last quarter mile in an attempt to beat the time. What I love about the Garmin is that it keeps track of laps on an auto function. It also gives you a shit load of extra geeky info, much more than I need, but it’s sure fun to have.

Actually, that last mile? Awesome. Who knew I was capable of breaking ten minutes?

I always am dubious of the accuracy of the heart rate function, but once it evens out, it seems more accurate.

This particular course is really flat, though it seems less flat in some spots. I am trying to embrace the hills. 🙂

Do you use a Garmin or other geeky running device? I only use music on long runs these days, but I think I could enjoy some technology on my runs to help motivate me.