My Tech failed me

I'm a geek. I'm a computer gaming geek. I'm a gadget geek. I'm a running geek. I've combined all of those and now have running apps on my phone that use GPS to track my pace, route, and time. I've got a thing that goes in my shoe that does distance, pace, and time (Nike+ iPod Sport Kit and I recommend it and am not using it with Nike shoes) in conjunction with my ipod. Between the two of them I typically have a good idea for how far and fast I've run.

Yesterday, on my longest run to date, 28 minutes and certainly over 3.1 miles, or 5k, my GPS app didn't find me... ever. It said it took me 28 minutes to run 0.12 miles. I could crawl that far in that amount of time! I was crushed... well, upset. No worries! I'll just push the little button on the ipod and it'll tell me all I need to know! Except it said I wasn't moving. I'm not sure when it quit but it picked up again right away. Maybe it just does that sometimes because I'm not using Nike running shoes and my feet or the shoe insert pushes the turn off button on the pod in my shoe. I'm not sure what causes it, but it's something I've observed before that sometimes the Nike+ doesn't think I'm moving. (I run in New Balance shoes and love them.)

That being said... I don't know how far I ran yesterday other than it was further, perhaps only slightly further, but nonetheless, than the ipod said it was so I'm ready for a 5k. My goal for running my first one was to run it in under half an hour and I just did that. Granted, it wasn't a real race and it was the day after the race I didn't run over in Webster City on Thanksgiving Day, but that's OK. It means I'm ready for the next one that comes along. If only my tech were.

I think the answer is, of course, more tech! So, if you're reading this and haven't seen it on my Christmas Wish List yet, I'm hoping Santa brings me another GPS. PS: If it's off the list it means someone got it for me but there's plenty of stuff there so shop away! This will almost certainly cure my Tech woes. At least I'd have known it wasn't working for me.

In the interest of full disclosure. I don't believe the fault of the tech on my phone was the fault of the HTC Droid Eris Phone (Verizon Wireless) (the google phone I love) or even the software, CardioTrainer but my fault. I typically turn the GPS on while on the way to my run and let it find me before I run. I forgot to this run so I started the app before the GPS had a lock. My theory was that it would think I was waaaaay over there and then notice I wasn't and snap over to the right place and there'd be a couple weird blips at the beginning of the run but they'd smooth out. That wasn't how it worked. What it did instead was nothing. That's good to know.

Week 7 of C25K

Today's run was a morning run done in four laps around a hiking trail at a local park. I was running within feet of myself the whole trip but the GPS tells a very different story. I swear, I was running loops. The only loop that's different is on the very right top part of the nose of the loop where I ran around the other side of my car the first time.

After my last run I was very discouraged because my time and distance weren't at all what I wanted them to be. Part of the problem was a brutal hill at the front of the run that killed me. I refused to stop and walk either up the hill or after and I never felt like I got my lungs or legs back and that was in the first kilometer! Lesson learned, no more monster hills in first kilometer. Not yet anyway. Maybe after some hill training, but not yet. It's too discouraging. I guess I was due for a discouraging run though. I've been riding pretty high lately.

I think part of the problem was that so far I haven't had to really push and those longer runs, 25 minutes are really harder than the other runs, they're steady, no walk breaks like the previous runs. This is different for me... harder. And I was a little sore the next two days of recovery. The important part though was that, the next time I was due to run, another 25 minute run with no breaks, I didn't skip it. I didn't pretend I was too injured and put it off. I ran slightly slower out of the gate to make sure if I was hurt I wouldn't make it worse, and I ran loops instead of an out and back in case I was too hurt to continue I'd be nearer the car. So I did it smart, but I did it. That's important to me.

It's important from a "get back on the horse" point of view, and it's important because today's run was better. I did 4.25km in 25 minutes. That's my best one yet. It doesn't look as good as the previous day's run, but the previous day included the cool down at the end of the run so it looks further than it is/was.

Glad I ran today. I had some power oatmeal for breakfast and made too much. That stuff really grows when you add water! I'll dig up the recipe if I can find it. It wasn't bad but there was just so MUCH of it that my run started late because it took forever to eat it all.