Thursday, May 27, 2010

Confession #3 AND #4

Confession #3: I obsess over numbers.

There I said it. Go ahead and scold me. But...I want to know exactly how far I ran in exactly what amount of time and I'm cranky if I don't.

I use a Garmin Forerunner 50 with foot pod as my only tech gadget. Definitely not top of the line as far as running companions go but it does the job. Or so I thought. When I got my Garmin I read the manual front to back and specifically read that it should not need to be calibrated to measure accurate distance. So I went with it and was running around 10-9:45 minute miles. A few more months and I could do a 9:30-9:15 minute mile. All was going well until I started to doubt my times. So I took it to the local high school track and calibrated it to the inside lane. After one loop around it showed that I had ran .35 miles. A whole 10th of a mile over what it should have been. So I dialed it down, adjusted the number and kept on running. After the calibration, my miles were coming in around 10 minutes or even sometimes 11 minutes. I just knew I couldn't have been running that slow. It felt so much faster. And then I would read here on the Internetz about these speed demons doing 6:30 miles and lord I felt slow.

Yesterday, I did a long run for me. By the time I was done, 40 minutes and 30 seconds later, my Garmin said I had only gone 3.85 miles. I was totally let down. Not even a 10 minute mile. How could that be, I really was booking it in my opinion. I hopped in the truck and decided to drive it. Exactly. As close to the sidewalk as I could. 4.3 miles later I was confused. Could there be that much of a difference? What do you think? Trust my truck or my Garmin? I think a recalibration is in my Garmin's future.

Confession #4: I ate 6 mini chocolate doughnuts for breakfast.

I entered it in my food journal on SparkPeople and am just going to deal with a not so healthy decision. I have stellar eating planned for the rest of the day and I'm not going to let the guilt get too me.

7 comments:

  1. I am a numbers person too! I have to say go with the car. Yummy breakfast too!!! Way to not let the guilt to you then it just makes the doughnuts totally unenjoyable

    ReplyDelete
  2. I would trust the truck. Doughnuts? Yummo!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I vote truck too. Totally a numbers person too so I know where you're coming from. Hey, everyone needs a little chocolate donut every now and then. As long as you keep with the rest of your eating plan, you'll be fine.

    ReplyDelete
  4. A standard track is a 1/4 long, right? Go to the track and time yourself running the mile. Compare it against what your Garmin says (I'm not even familiar with those-it has been a long time since I've run seriously but you are making me nostalgic!). If that doesn't work, are there any road races in your area? Those are usually measured pretty well. Other than that, I say take the highest distance and feel good about it:-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Recalibrate, all the way.

    Mmmm! Doughnuts! I'd kill for an apple fritter :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. hope youre enjoying your weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I totally run a 10-minute mile pace. So now, I just calculate my mileage based on the amount of time I ran. Like today - I ran 40 minutes = 4 miles.

    ReplyDelete