First run with a running buddy and hydration

This past weekend, we traveled out of state to attend a cousin's wedding.  My husband's cousin, Katie, was in town for the wedding also.  Katie is an awesome runner.  I had asked her if she would like to join me for a long run the morning of the wedding.  She is much faster than I am; so I was hesitant about asking her to join me.  She graciously said yes.

We left from our house on Friday afternoon and twelve hours later; we arrived at the hotel.  I slept for a few hours and then dressed to go run.  I was a bit nervous.  I decided that I better eat something now, then wait until later in my run.  I ate a package of assorted Sport Beans.  I was surprised that they tasted pretty good.

Katie met me at the hotel and we ventured out.  It was sure nice to have my garmin be able to tell us how many miles we ran!  Our goal was to find a running trail, as they are many in the big city.  We weaved through many different neighborhoods.  We chatted about running, family, kids, jobs, and more.  Every mile, my garmin would beep and I was amazed at how the time flew by.  We didn't find a running trail, but I had a wonderful time.  We ran 8.5 miles.  My heart wanted to go on, but my legs died at mile eight near the fish market.

This was also my first time running with hydration.  The two trail races that I'm planning on require runners to carry hydration with them.  This was a great trial run.  I was wearing a CamelBak Delaney Plus.  Overall, it worked out great.  I was able to carry my cell phone with me too.  The pack didn't bounce around and I didn't noticed the liquid sloshing either.  At mile 7, the pack was starting to irritate my stomach; so I held the water bottle the rest of the way in my hand.  I still have a 'pouch' on my stomach from having five babies.

Here's a picture of our route:

We average a 11:58 pace; my best long run pace.  I know that I really slowed Katie down, but she was a great sport to go running with a newbie like me.  Thanks, Katie!

From my heart rate information, I burned 1157 calories.  When I returned to the hotel, I drank a protein shake and about 5 oz of mangosteen juice.  After stretching, I joined the family for breakfast.  I felt great the rest of the day and had a wonderful time at the wedding.

An early Merry Christmas Gift

Yesterday, a package came in the mail.

Inside the package was:

Oh my!!!!!  I've been looking at the older version Garmin for five months now.  This is the latest one, the Forerunner 405CX!  There are so many bells and whistles on this.  It's amazing.  Now, I can analyze every part of my run.  I am not an elite runner by no means.  I may be not even a 'runner'; perhaps more of a jogger who is trying to run.

This morning, I had a four mile run scheduled.  I have been consistently running my easy four mile at a 11:15 pace.  One of the features is a virtual partner.  So, I set my VP for 11:15 and my goal this morning was to stay ahead of it.  So much fun!!  During the run, my VP kept me updated on whether I was ahead of him or behind.  This will be a great tool to use during races.

During my run, I had the garmin set up to scroll through various data.  I had it set on medium speed, but I found that I need to have it scroll faster.  I was able to see my pace, distance, time, % heart rate, heart rate in bpm, lap distance, and lap time.  Talk about information; plus that wasn't even all of what it could show me while running!

During my four mile run, I need to cross the main highway twice.  If there's traffic, I had to remember to stop my timer when I waited ... not any more!  The garmin as an auto pause feature.  It stops when I do.  How cool is that!

This was my first day using this wonderful device.  I'm looking forward to learning more and more about how to use it.  The workout feature looks very interesting.

After I finished my run, I set the Garmin down near the computer and then booted the computer up.  A few minutes later, I heard some beeps.  I look at the Garmin and it says, "Transferring Data".  No more manually entering my stats into my Runner's Log.  Ok, maybe I still will since that way you can check up on me through the blog.  =)

I'm testing out which log interface I like best, the Garmin Connect (online), the Garmin Training Center (pc), or SportTracks.  Would appreciate any feedback on which log you prefer and why.

Some pictures of my data (these were from SportTracks):

My route (as seen from space; I can see my house!)

A picture of the hills I climb and descend:

My heart rate during the run:

My pace:

You can definitely tell from my pace and heart rate when I was going up a hill or going down.  And the answer to the question that you've been waiting for ... Did I beat my Virtual Partner this morning???  Yes, I did!  My pace for this run was 11:05

A huge thank you to my "running sponsor" for this early Christmas gift.