The summer heat has been messing with me recently. While I know rationally that the higher temperatures and the humidity mean of course my pace will slow somewhat, it’s still tough to see ‘9’s at the beginning of most of my mile splits. I’ve been trying to run more without looking at my Garmin (but still wearing it, of course! Actually, more on that below) and the result has been great – consistent pacing, just slower than I’m used to.
So, that’s been my mindset. Then, last week, I was inspired by something that happened on one of my long runs and it made me realize I had lost sight a little bit of the reason I run.
I was about halfway through my long run for the week, feeling okay physically, but a little mentally blah. I rarely run with music and this was no exception. As I got to the start of my final loop, there were two people running towards me. One was a man, probably about my age, and the other was a young girl, about 10 years old, I’d guess. They were obviously running together, because they were in stride and chatting. They looked like an odd couple because she was young and he was obviously in shape and keeping a pretty fast pace – I couldn’t figure out how she would keep up with him. Then just as they drew level with me, she stopped, turned on a dime and started running next to me. It was so sudden and odd that I almost jumped a little.
I looked over at her and she was grinning widely at me. “Are we racing?” I asked her. (I’ve been ‘raced’ by kids in the park on more than one occasion. I don’t know if that means I look approachable, or slow, ha!). “No,” she replied, “I just love running, so I figured I’d run back and forth with people.” After a few minutes, she saw someone approaching us the opposite way, wished me a good run and did her turnaround to chat with a new runner.
She had no idea how far she would run, or what pace, nor did she care. Her family was probably picnicking nearby and she was just running within sight and chit chatting with people. Suddenly, the last half of my run was a little brighter and more enjoyable. I’m not suggesting every rough run will be sunshine and lollipops because of my encounter with that girl, but it was enough on the day for me to break out of my mental funk.
Let’s follow that “I just love running” inspiration with some good old fashioned bitching and complaining about my Garmin, shall we? Actually, to be fair, I am less bitching and more mourning what looks like is the inevitable demise of my Garmin.
First came the interminable wait to locate satellites.
Then came a broken strap…although I ingeniously fixed that myself with scotch tape. I know, it’s a really good look. Here’s a foolproof guide to fixing yours if your buckle snaps off the strap:
And finally, it’s been doing this funky thing (for quite a while now) where it just stops working in the rain, or if I’m super, super sweaty. I guess it’s short circuiting? It won’t even give a warning beep, it just switches off the training mode. The time still works, I just have to stop, dry it off and wait for the satellites again.
It’s a Forerunner 405 and it’s 4 years old, so I guess you could say I’ve definitely given it a beating. But new Garmins are so expensive. Ugh. I’m just hoping I have mainly rain-free runs and I’ve been wiping it down when I’m sweating hard. It’s all about preventative measures, people!
Another new piece of technology arrived for me from Runmino, who graciously sent me one of their mino tracking devices to test out. I’m excited to be trying this, because I think it’s an ingenious idea. You put their mino insert under your sock liner in your shoe and then it tracks your steps. It even takes into account the difference between walking and running steps. You can check how worn out your shoes are by lifting the liner and pressing a button on the mino, which lights up – when all the lights are on, you’ve hit your maximum mileage and it’s time to get a new pair of sneakers. I tested them out (you also get an identical, non-functional insert for the other shoe so it’s balanced out) and I don’t even notice them.
One last weird story before I finish up with some of my workouts from the last three weeks (yes, it’s been that long since I last wrote the Run Report – this is why I didn’t give myself a set schedule for these posts!).
Remember a little while back I told you about the butterfly at the playground that let me pat it? Well, a couple of days later, I was in Prospect Park and as I was running towards the hill, I saw a huge butterfly flying straight down towards me. It really didn’t look like it was going to miss me, so I actually stopped. It landed on my hand, stayed there a couple of seconds and flew away. It was SO strange. A woman coming the other way watched the whole thing happen and we exchanged a, ‘That was weird, right?” confirmation. Maybe I am a butterfly whisperer and I’m going to do for butterfly keepers what Cesar does for dog parents on The Dog Whisperer.
Workouts:
A couple of lactate threshold workouts. One was a warm up, then 3 x 10 mins at 10K effort with 2 min jog recovery, then a cool down. The other was SUPPOSED to be 5 x 5 mins at 10K effort with 1 min jog recovery. After the “third” 5 minute repeat I thought to myself, “I am not going to make it. Why is this so hard today? I feel like I need to quit.” I didn’t, I gutted out the last two repeats. When I got home and uploaded my data, I was stunned to realize I did SEVEN repeats. Who does that??
A few long runs, including a fast finish long run. It was a 90 minutes run, the first 80 minutes at an easy pace, then the last 10 minutes at a fast pace. I ran the last 10 minutes about a minute/mile faster than my overall pace and I was super happy with this workout. It’s such a mental boost to know you can kick it into gear and speed up for a consistent period of time when you’re tired.
Some cross training – mostly elliptical, but one stationary bike workout as well. I never used to do much cardio aside from my running, but my current plan has an hour session of cross training cardio every week. It’s actually been really enjoyable. I’m still weight training, too.
A few easy runs, one with strides, which I always love doing. I actually focus more on form to pick up my pace for each 30 seconds of strides and it feels so good at the end of an easy run (which is essentially a really long warmup for the strides, right?).
Have you ever had weird animal encounters? Are you a whisperer?
Has anyone had this same problem with their Garmin and the short circuiting? Did you get it fixed?
What’s inspired you recently?
WOW! What a lovely story, that girl is adorable, and yes, an inspiration for all! I hope she keeps that passion for life…..hoping someone doesn’t abuse her love to run it out of her…have seen that many times too. I had multiple problems with my forerunner 210, and Garmin were nice enough to send me “new” refurbished ones, but they kept breaking too. Eventually I just went for the 220, and I love that one!
Tina Muir recently posted…Meatless Monday: Super Super Sweet Potatoes
I’m just trying to hang on to this Garmin as long as it lasts!! Yes, the girl was amazing, you could see the joy in her eyes, it was just lovely.
I never had an encounter w an animal, but my sister csme face to face w a deer once. I hate bwhen my gps doesn’t pick up a signal. It takes forever sometimes it feels like. And how cool that young girl just keeps running. She’s going to be a great athlete one day.
Lacey@fairytalesandfitness recently posted…What Frustrates Me is Also What Motivates Me
Wow, I bet that was amazing to have a moment with a deer. They’re so beautiful. The looking for signal thing KILLS me. I am so impatient with it.
So I think that encounter is one of the coolest things I’ve ever heard, especially in NYC where we are constantly surrounded by others but always keep to ourselves. She probably didn’t even know how inspirational/motivational she was being!
I have problems with my heart rate monitor all the time. It constantly seems to be running out of batteries but I keep changing them and then I don’t put it in correctly…actually it sounds like the problem is me! 🙂
Britt@MyOwnBalance recently posted…Favorite Prenatal Pilates Moves
Ha ha ha ha – it does sound like there *may* be a little user error on the HRM, Brittany!! 😉
What a cute story! I’ve never had someone randomly jump in on a long run, much less a 10 year old who just loves running…that’s awesome. And I’m not a whisperer to any type of animal.
Karen recently posted…10 miles and Lake Michigan
Maybe you are, Karen, you just don’t know it yet! I had no idea I had such affinity with butterflies. 😉
Love the story about the girl running in the park – so awesome to see and what a breath of fresh air!
Funny about the butterflies – my grandmother used to be like that.
Kim recently posted…Super Sonic Teachers
It really was awesome to see how happy she was. That’s crazy about your grandmother!
OMG I had a crazy thing happen to me with butterflies and I almost wrote a post about it!! It’s way to long for a comment but I’m right there with you sister!!! And that thing with the girl would have freaked me out a little. Maybe just because I’m not used to running with anyone around? And really, for as much as those Garmin’s cost they should last for at least a decade!!! I’ve only had my latest one for 2 and half years and it’s giving me issues already. Not cool.
Allie recently posted…Flying 5K – My First Official Race for Oiselle!
No way!! That’s so weird, Allie! I want to hear the butterfly story! Maybe there’s a new breed of highly intelligent butterflies who are trying to communicate with runners? That seems to be the only logical explanation. My Garmin continues to frustrate me.
LOL at all that tape to fix your garmin! I want to get one that day! Thanks for sharing that story about the little girl who was running along everyone on their runs. It was really sweet of her. I feel like I am so young and in love with running that I do it still for the fun of it…maybe one day I will get all competitive and stuff 🙂 She was a welcome reminder to you for why you do it, even though I see your love for running in every post.
Nellie @ Brooklyn Active Mama recently posted…BlogHer 14 Day Two: Kerry Washington & The Party To End All Parties
She was really inspirational, Nellie, I wish I could adequately describe the pure joy in her face. I can totally tell you are loving running as well. It’s hard to explain to people that even when you have a really bad run, you still feel amazing about having done it, right?
Reminds me of that movie Elf, “I just like smiling, smiling’s my favorite”
Jen@HealthyFoodandFamily recently posted…Getting Back
She was JUST like that!! I feel like if she had run with me further I would have heard all about the seven levels of the candy cane forest! 🙂
No whispering from me. You can ask anyone! Haha! I don’t have a Garmin, I use my phone but am planning on purchasing an add on for my Polar so I can use it like a Garmin.
The story about the little girl is I sweet. There’s a future Olympian in the making.
I don’t know Carla, you may have a little cat whisperer in you…although I feel like cats are always far more in charge than we imagine! 😉 I didn’t use a GPS for YEARS – now I don’t know how I’d train/race without it, but I got along just fine before.
OMG the garmin issues????? My 610 totally died in the rain in May. The screen went gray but it was still logging miles but of course I couldn’t see the display to do anything else with it. They told me it’s not really totally waterproof. Seriously? Runners are out there in all weather conditions. And prior to that, I also had issues with it freezing up on me when I was super sweaty during summer runs. Again, really? I ended up having to pay for a replacement, that replacement was a total dud and they had to send yet another one. Oh and that one, it freaked out on me this week. Sorry for the ramble, having issues too and you’d think that when you pay that much for something it would work. At least we’re not alone right?
WHY are they not totally waterproof? That’s so ridiculous! I mean, I understand they aren’t going to hold up if you swim in them, but rain and sweat?? It’s so frustrating because I really feel like they’re the best option out there – I haven’t ever read a review of a competitor that says it’s better than Garmin. It’s being stuck between a rock & a hard place.
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