But a recent work bonus and the upcoming marathon made me decide it was time to invest in a bit of technology and I bought a Garmin Forerunner 305. As it's GPS enabled it will be handy for those days when I'm running somewhere unfamiliar and take the guesswork out of how far I've run.
It also displays instantaneous pace, and a bunch of other stats which will be helpful towards the end of long runs when doing the calculations in your head becomes a bit too demanding. And there's a wireless heart rate monitor with the package which will allow me to be a bit more scientific with my training and ensure that my long slow runs are slow enough, and my interval training is fast enough.
The device looks a bit bulky - due to the large screen and also, I guess to the size of the GPS transceiver - but it's actually quite comfortable on the wrist. And the heart rate monitor, although it takes a bit of getting used to, is ok to wear - although once the novelty wears off I probably won't wear it for every run or race.
Anyway, the gadget added a bit of interest to my runs this weekend - I did 4 laps of Dulwich on Friday, 4 at Greenwich on Saturday and four back at Dulwich again today for a total of 16 miles. During today's run I made an attempt to find out my maximum heart rate by doing a "stress test" which involves running 400 metres close to maximum speed and then running the next 400 metres flat out. Well maybe my "flat out" wasn't really flat out because my heart rate only rose 2 bpm to 179 bpm compared to my peak rate after running up the hill in Greenwich on Saturday.
Here's my graph from today's run. I guess over the next few weeks I'll start to figure out what it all means...
My total for the year now stands at 717.5 miles - so only 32.5 miles to go. If I calculate things right I might cross the 750 mile finish line when I'm running the UNICEF 10km in Hong Kong - a nice way to complete the challenge...
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