Start, stop, beep beep, back on my feet!

I haven’t been running since my lunch time run in London last Friday due to the pain I have been having in my neck and shoulders.

I tried Ibuprofen, heat pads and Voltarol (not all together!) and all had little or no affect.  I decided that as I feel better when I move rather than stay still that I would attempt a run and that’s what I did tonight.

I altered my Half Marathon schedule and decided to run an easy 30 minutes.

I used this as an opportunity to try the Heart Rate Monitor (HRM) for the first time and am not sure I got on with it or have set it up correctly.  I was supposed to run at 65  – 75% of my heart rate today but after I got going the HRM kept beeping that my heart rate was too high.  I slowed down (actually stopped twice) but it kept beeping.

Apparently my physical maximum heart rate is 181 so I made 90.5 as my 50%, 117 as my 65% (my high rate today), 135 as my 75%  and 153 as my 85% high end target.  Apparently I was running at 90% of my heart rate today – it didn’t feel particularly hard or strenuous – I have felt much worse on a run doing speed work etc.

I wonder if is this because I am pushing myself too far or is it because I have set it up incorrectly?  I honestly don’t know.

It felt like a normal run to me but the HRM was telling me otherwise. I have a 5 mile run planned for Sunday so will take it out and see if it continues to do the same thing.  That said it may annoy me too much as the constant beeping was putting me off my stride.  Maybe I will switch the beep off and simply monitor when I get home for now, listening to my body as I go.

I also wonder if I was wearing it too far up my chest – where is the optimum place to have a HRM?  Does anyone know?

Considering I have not been out and have been in pain the past week I didn’t really notice any major neck or shoulder pain as I ran.  My calves were a little tight but I am feeling okay I type this post run.  I guess I will see how I go when I sleep and get up tomorrow – that will be the real test.  Fingers crossed.

I didn’t have the best test of a complete run as I stopped a couple times as I received a few texts during the training.  I normally would ignore them (or read them at least and carry on) but Richard was out shopping so I stopped to respond en route.  Not to matter as it helped me get used to the watch and how I use it with pauses etc.

It’s been a wet and muggy run tonight as the weather is overcast today but I enjoyed the run in the rain as it was somewhat refreshing.

I am enjoying the Garmin Forerunner 210 although it seemed to take a while to find the satellite signal tonight.  I wonder if it’s best to stand still and let it get the signal before moving off.  I thought I would let it trace them as I did my warm up walk but that was nearly over by the time it had locked on (and we live in a rural open area).  Maybe it’s something else I need to get used to – I don’t know.

The screen is very clear and you see everything really well when running.  It’s simple to switch between functions and the beeps can be heard over traffic etc.

I’m not missing the music either – I am enjoying hearing all the new sounds, the sounds of people’s music and TVs in their homes, the traffic, my feet tramping over tarmac and grass in the rain…  I have gotten used to having no music much quicker than I expected.

Anyway it was a good running considering and there was no music, no straining, no stress and no worry.  Given how I have not been out for a while I am pleased with tonight.

Sunday is my next run and I am looking forward to it.

Now I just have to try to work out all these stats!