November 19, 2008

I was having a hard time getting motivated for today's run to begin with. The temperature this morning was supposed to be in the high 20s. The prospect of heading out at 0500 to spend almost 3 hours in those conditions was not appealing. I soldiered on, took a hit of Hammer Gel out of a flask in the kitchen and walked out my front door.

Even if it's frigid outside (it was), I usually sit on my front steps to put on my shoes while waiting for my Garmin Forerunner 305
to lock in the satellites. This morning, the minute I turned it on, I got a low battery warning. I thought it would be no big deal, if it died on the run, at least I could get some pacing and heart rate data. Then the screen went blank. It wasn't low, it was dead.

Of course, the first thought was to go back in, crawl in bed and get another hour or two of warm sleep. But then I thought this would be a good mind over matter exercise. So I headed out on a 20-mile run with no way of knowing heart rate, pace, time elapsed, distance or anything.

The first 5 miles were fine. I did the Ortega River Run course so I could swing back by and down a gel and some water. From there I was going to run to St. Vincent's Hospital and back for another 5, grab a gel and water and then repeat the two loops again. As I was heading out for the second 5-mile loop, I decided that was going to be too boring, so I headed for downtown to do the bridge loops. I had a gel, so I stopped at the YMCA for water along the way. This loop added a little under 12. One more stop at the house for water and gel and then to Ortega Point for the last 3 miles.

Running without a watch was weird. I kept wanting to look at it, and when I stopped for water I would reach for my wrist as thought I was going to pause the watch. The GPS watch
is usually a helpful limiter to slow me down early on, and without it I know I was doing sub-race pace miles early on. The last few miles were a bit difficult.

I synched up the iPod and looked at the songs I listened to this morning. Based on that, I was able to calculate my run took about 2:43:00, including water breaks. Not bad, but faster than It should have been.

The run was a challenge from a pyschological standpoint. I am so accustomed to having access to data for even 3 mile runs. Going 20 without it was extremely tough, but a good test.

I am a little worried about the watch, because the battery hasn't been holding a charge as long as it formerly did. I need to call Garmin and see if it needs to be replaced.