If Garmin had a metric for how attached a user is to data, I would be categorized as unhealthy.
I pay too much attention to every statistic for each run. And almost never in a positive way. My pace, heart rate, training effect, etc. all swirl around in my head.
I look at the overall trending metrics. When my fitness number doesn’t go up after what I felt was a solid workout, I end up thinking maybe it wasn’t very good after all. My VO2 max has been steadily dropping for years, and with each step down, I feel a part of my running soul evaporate.
This week Garmin told me I have achieved 100% heat acclimation. So why do I still feel like the heat is beating me down? (And yes, I’m a wimp when it comes to summer running and I know it could be far worse than what I deal with in the Willamette valley.)
My biggest issue is how Garmin (I run with the 955 Forerunner solar and the Garmin HRM strap) likes to tell me my training is unproductive. Even when I put together a solid training week. Even when I’ve been more consistent with my weekly training and executing workouts.
My watch likes to tease me no matter what. When if reluctantly lets me know it thinks I’m productive, that phase lasts for two days maximum. Then it’s back to unproductive or the blah plateau category of maintaining.
It’s nice to be able to see an overview of my training. I can go back and look at any run I’ve done in the past years. My watch has recorded, and Garmin/Strava have stored, all of my running life. I look at the training log and relive week after week of training. All of the long runs and ditched workouts and the rare completed workout.
But lately I’ve felt too tied to the data. Too obsessed with negative messages and interpretations that tell me I’m not progressing forward. That I’m either stuck or going backward.
So I’ll rage against those numbers and thoughts hiding out in the back of my brain.
My Garmin is a wonderful tool. But it is just that. An algorithm crunching all of the data from my wrist and heart-rate strap can’t be certain if I’m being productive or not. I can feel the progress, even if it’s gradual.
So for now, Garmin can take those depressing race time predictions and shove them.
Unless they improve by about 15+ minutes here in the next few weeks. In that case, I’m sure the data knows best.
Weekly log
Monday: 8 miles easy around Corvallis; 7 afternoon miles doubling for heat acclimation.
Tuesday: 7-mile track workout with the HOTV runners early morning doing 2 X (500m w/final 100m faster, 500m w/final 100m faster, 1,000m w/final 200m faster) + 500m, 300m, 200m; 3 miles easy doubling.
Wedneday: 5.5 miles easy recovery; 5.5 miles easy for a double day.
Thursday: 11-mile workout with 4 miles progression tempo with 1 mile easy between faster miles; 6 miles with the HOTV social crew.
Friday: 5.5 miles super easy to recover.
Saturday: 23-mile long run where I tried to drop my pace a bit (ended up averaging 7:45, which is my fastest pace for a long run yet during this summer buildup).
Sunday: 2.5 miles easy early in the morning before driving down to Ashland for the Oregon Shakespeare Fesival.
Weekly total: 85 miles.
Boston Beard 2024 week 5 highlights: making another Tuesday morning track workout, hiking with my mom and daughter at Silver Falls State Park, going to see Macbeth for a birthday surprise for my mom, fitting in my weekly mileage while still spending a lot of time with family.