My friend, Garmin

Garmin buddies:  Dad's Forerunner 405 on the left, my 305 on the right

I HEART my Garmin Forerunner 305!  Today I had some time to kill before I set out on my first interval training day.   I was trying to remember that the plan called for 4x800m @ 4:17 min (8:37 pace) and 4x200m @ 1:01 min (8:10 pace).  And since I am meter-impaired (and not doing this on a track), I was trying to remember what this converted to in miles.  Sigh.  Previously I've only done 400m intervals which were easier to keep track of mentally.  I then remembered that the Garmin does things called "workouts" and that there's a way to program all of this into the unit.

I found the owner's manual and figured it out.  Voila!  It beeped to tell me to get ready to kick it up.  It beeped to tell me I was going too slow.  Beeps for too fast.  Beeps for just right!  It beeped to let me know the hell would soon be over and I'd get to recover.  It was great.  No-brainer.  I have fallen in love all over again.

My dad recently got a Forerunner 405 and offered to trade me so that I could upgrade.  No way!  A FREE upgrade?!  He brought it along on my parent's recent trip and I got to take a look at it.  Sleek it is.  It could almost pass for a regular watch.  But, it isn't mac compatible yet.  Bummer.  And it doesn't have multisport function (switches seamlessly between biking and running for races).  Double bummer.  Oh, and it looks absolutely ree-dunkulous on my wrist.  Triple bummer.  

I told my dad thanks, but I'd stick to the honking large 305.  Basically, even though the 305 looks ridiculous on my tiny wrists, the 405 somehow manages to look even stupider.  The wrist strap is not very flexible and sticks straight out from the watch on my wrists before it starts curving down and around.  So there are huge spaces in between my wrist and the straps.  Admittedly, someone I passed by while running would think that the 305 looked stupider than the 405, but from my vantage point the 405 is goofier.

My pace splits for the 800m pick-ups were:  8:27, 8:35, 8:52, 8:26  And for the 200m pick-ups:  8:15, 7:59, 7:49, 7:36.  Total 6.2 miles.  Not too shabby.  I'm not very consistent but at least I'm in the ballpark.  Some of the variation is because I was doing these on an undulating course.  I was honestly afraid I wouldn't be able to get close to the paces the plan required.  I'm glad I kept up with a good base this past month and incorporated some intervals to keep me on my toes.  The workout was hard, but nothing makes a run fly by like doing speed work.  You're only thinking of the next half-mile or so at a time so the run passes so quickly.  

Off to a good start.