Wrist-based HR monitors. Love them? Hate them?

I had previously mentioned I had purchased a Garmin Forerunner 235 (just before they announced the launch of the new 245… but that's another story) and how I was trying to adapt to life with an optical HRM.

Fast forward 3 months and the truth is, I haven't. Some people swear by the Forerunner 235, calling it a workhorse, super reliable, etc. I found it to be the complete opposite. Leaving aside the poor battery life compared to the 8 to 10 days of the old 230, I still can't get to grips with how unreliable readings from the watch are. And that's a big problem for me.

I bought the watch with the idea of monitoring my performance based on HR and using this information to adjust my training routine. Mind you, I'm not a pro-athlete or even a competitive club runner but I do try to improve all the time, but data like the one below, where, at a pace of 8:35 min/km my HR was 164, I just can't believe. I may as well just buy a $5 watch.

So, I've gone back full circle to the chest strap I had dumped 2 years ago. I dumped it cause it cut my skin to ribbons so I wasn't too keen on going back to that (I have since, found the perfect solution and I'll talk about it next time). However, the difference in monitoring is like day and night. You can't deny it so, endure it.

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How will races look like post COVID-19?

I think racing the way we're used to is gone forever. There! I've said it. No more long queues at the portaloos before the start. No more corrals with 1,000 runners touching, shaking hands, and wishing each other luck. No more post-race hugs and tears, not unless you're part of the same household. So let's reverse engineer a race and see if we can come up with a picture Social distancing So, there are 10,000 of us converging into one spot in the city. How can you make sure we all observe social distancing? That's a bit of an issue unless we're running in the desert or high in the mountains where there are acres to spare. The queueing system We start by creating an orderly queue. In fact, we create many orderly queues around the access area to prevent overcrowding. First of all, the zone must be cordoned off for the queue system to work. Otherwise, everybody does what everybody does when there's no system in place: we invade the zone. So, all ru...

The journey towards the Dublin City Marathon

When I started this blog I has the idea to use it as a way to keep me honest in my training by forcing me to log every (or almost every) session including mileage and how the session went, and a lot of things have happened since my last post back in April: - I did my first night run on the trails, head lamp and all. - Went on holidays and tried to run an "easy 10k" in 30 degree heat and nearly died - Started exercising for 10 minutes every morning before work - Ran the Born to Run 10k series around Dublin (none of the races were actually 10k) - Ran the South Dublin 10k race in July - Started training for the Dublin City Marathon in October Sadly, writing hasn't been one of them. I fell into the trap of wanting to be read people other than myself and my imaginary friends and I realised that the most popular blogs have content and knowledge. I just have stories... and excuses.

One week later

Last Sunday I ran the Great Ireland Run in Phoenix Park. It was the first time I've raced so close after a marathon so I wasn't too sure how the legs would be. The original plan was to run it as an easy race and enjoy the experience... yeah right! The closer it got to the day the more I started thinking maybe aim to run it under 55 minutes, maybe a bit faster but definitely not faster than 50. Anyway, race day arrived and once I was in Phoenix Park I decided sod it! Run it like a proper race and see what it feels like. Go hard or go home! I started relatively slow but by the time I was passing the 6km mark I was still feeling strong so sped up to full tilt. In the end I ran just 12 seconds outside my PB of 46:06 but I have to say, I'm quite pleased with it. I just need to find another 10km race to finish that business...

26.2 Ways to Run

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