I have to admit I’m a little surprised by how many runfessions I could mine from one long run. I probably could have done even more! I’m joining Marcia @ Marcia’s Healthy Slice and getting a few runfessions off my chest — and yes, all the photos are from that 10 mile run.
I runfess . . .
How the heck do you keep track of your heart rate when winter comes? During winter I usually wear my Garmin around my jacket sleeve. That lets me pull my gloves through the jacket sleeve, making a nice, tight seal between my glove and jacket.
The Garmin needs to be in contact with my skin, and I already know that it’s super sensitive to anything nudging it and breaking that contact, causing me to think I’m having a heart attack as my HR spirals out of control.
I runfess . . .
Mr. Judy asked why I was running 10 miles last week. Apparently he was wondering if I’d signed up for a half without informing him.
Nope, but the 15k is almost 9.5 miles. I hope to actually do a little warmup before it, as I know that the warmup really helps. So that’s almost 10.5 miles (or maybe 10). So many runners can just go out and run 10 miles (or 13, or more), but my body is happier when I’ve trained for the distance.
I runfess . . .
When I first started running I was a GU addict. It said to take one every 45 minutes, so I did — even on short easy runs. I liked chocolate GU! Yup, I gained weight training for that first half.
I’ve learned from those mistakes. Nowadays I rarely have anything to eat on the run until I get past 8 miles. Until I ran my 9 miles . . . with nothing but Saltstick chews. Then 10 miles.
Seriously, who am I? Very unlike me. Yet both runs were fine. I didn’t even think about taking fuel with me, except briefly as I got ready to leave. I do eat a decent breakfast a couple of hours before a long run, though. I also think that it’s better to fuel on the run when you get past 8 miles (which for me is just under 2 hours) — your body does need the carbs and it helps to prevent the rungries later.
I runfess . . .
Since I discovered how to see my heart rate without other information (see below), I’ve been playing games with myself trying not to peek at distance. I can live without knowing my pace for easy runs, but sometimes on a long run, you wanna know how much you have left to run, right?
It was a mighty battle with myself not to peek at the distance left in that last mile during my 10 mile run. I wanted to be done — running by heart rate means more time on your feet, and although this was a pretty good run, I was still definitely ready to be done!
I runfess . . .
I discovered something new about my Vivoactive 3 on my 10 mile run last week. One of the data screens just displays your heart rate, divided by zones:
- Warm up
- Easy
- Aerobic
- Threshold (can help improve speed, apparently)
- Not sure what the last one is, the death zone, LOL?
So now I have a way to run by heart rate without even knowing what my pace is at all. I’m not 100% sure how I set it up, the heart rate zone setting up has been confusing to me, but now I can turn off alerts for heart rate because it’s super easy to see where I am — unless it’s speed work, in which case it’s just one part of what the watch shows me (along with distance and average pace) because I need to know what my pace is for speed work.
Do you like those zones that Garmin has for heart rate?
Do you just live with exposed skin in the dead of winter?
Ever been surprised by a feature of your GPS watch after you’ve had it a while?
What do you have to runfess from October? Come join us
I am also linking up with:
Chocolaterunsjudy 
I run by feel. there’s heart rate on my Apple Watch but I’ve never looked at it. Lol.
Never could run 10 miles without food. I still usually eat a gu or such every 3 or 4 miles. Otherwise I am dragging my body to brunch.
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The point of running by HR is to take your easy runs actually easy. Well, that’s one point, anyway. I don’t pay attention to it on every run.
Of course you could run 10 miles without eating. But you would have to slow down a lot. 🙂 Again, when you’re running easy, you tend to feel a lot better at the end. Not every run should be easy, of course, but they have their place.
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Other than races I only run easy. But I need fuel to run. Everyone is different.
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I just bought a new Garmin 35 and it has heart rate on it! Score! My Garmin 230 crapped out over the weekend and I can’t get it to work. I realized I didn’t need all the features of the more expensive watch, so the 35 it was. But I love that it has a heart rate monitor.
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I do like having the HR info available! I was sad that they came out with a Vivoactive with HR a year after I had bought the original.
Then again, if you run by HR you also have to run slower. 🙂
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Have you seen the long-sleeve shirts with a “window” for your watch to peek out? I think Deborah posted about one — brilliant! With my hyperactive thyroid I am relying on that screen for spinning. When I get into the “threshhold” zone I slow down. I also see “no zone” in yoga, although it also gets up to “warm up” in yoga sometimes. I haven;t seen what comes after “threshhold” either.
How did your yoga interview (?) go?
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I have some of those tops, but in winter, I’ll be bundled up big time — it’s really cold here for a really long time.
I don’t use the watch for yoga (although there’s a setting for it).
The demo went ok. It would have been pretty good if I hadn’t completely forgotten a section at the beginning. But she has added me to her substitute list, and that’s all I was going for (schedule is just still too iffy to be able to commit to teaching classes).
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I love the idea of running by heartrate, Judy. So glad you figured out a way to do it without peeking at your distance. I don’t like to peek at how far I’ve gone during a long run. When I do, it just seems like I am checking my watch all the time, waiting for the run to be over. I may have to ask for a Garmin for Christmas just so I can check heart rate. Good luck on your 15K. I love that distance!
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Still haven’t decided on the 15k — I do like the distance too, and there aren’t many close to home. I’ll probably do it unless the weather is atrocious. It doesn’t sell out, or hasn’t in the past, so I’ll wait.
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there is a 15k as part of a winter series near here, but I hate to do just one race in the series. It costs almost as much to do 1 race as all 8!
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I’ve gotten better about fueling during marathon training, but I’ve done more than one half marathon with no fuel, just water. I got through those races fine but I know it’s not the best thing for my body since I was always starving when I finished, lol.
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I have never, ever run a half without fueling at least some (and usually a fair amount).
You’re right, though, getting through it — but then suffering the rungries — can be the price you pay for not fueling during longer distances.
I kinda admire people who can run a half without eating, I must say. 🙂
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I am not one of those runners that can go out and do 10 miles if I have not worked up to it. I also have a 15 miler coming up in December and I’d like to feel like I am actually trained for it somewhat. Learning how to fuel in different conditions seems to be an ongoing challenge!
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It’s been so long since I actually had to fuel for anything . . .
You’ve really been back in the swing of training, and with the continuing fall weather, I’ve no doubt you’ll be up to those longer distances.
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I run by feel and look at my HR stats later. I’ve gotten much better about staying in the correct “zone” than I used to be. I know I don’t use a fraction of what my Fenix5S can do, but it was amazing when I did triathlon.
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I may have to do that in winter. So far I’ve actually done a decent job keeping it about where it needs to be most of the time — also realized I was actually running a bit too easy (or at least I think), so I’ve bumped up the pace/HR just a bit & my VO2 increased a smidge, too.
I also realize that its not all that terribly accurate, but it’s good enough for me.
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I usually keep my Garmin under my sleeve and only look at it when I need to. Its harder when Im doing a workout and I need to be able to see the time or distance. i guess in that case I would wear it over my sleeve and not worry about the heart rate.
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Normally in winter I do put my garmin over my jacket.
I was just curious if someone had some brilliant idea. At first I thought well maybe I need to invest in a chest strap, but realized that doesn’t actually help with seeing it at all & I don’t like them anyway.
Thanks for the input!
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Yeah, in the Winter I do just live with that bit of skin showing between my glove and jacket sleeve on the arm with my Garmin. It’s not too bad since the watch covers most of the skin. But you also have harsher Winters than we do!
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Yup, there are definitely times when I run where you can almost risk frostbite if your skin isn’t covered, and I don’t run hot.
Guess I’ll just have to get back in touch with my feelings to run in winter, LOL!
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I don’t follow my heart rate strictly mostly because I can’t read it on the go, but I’m curious to try the Watch Me Go shirt I bought. I’ve worn it, but not yet for running.
I go back and forth with gu and friends. Depends on how warm it is for me. Every body is different and I think every body varies based on conditions. I’ve done a 15K without fuel because my hands were too cold to open it, and I’ve taken it more frequent. Robots we’re not
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I don’t do Gu (not for many years), so usually it’s not that bad. I guess I should probably come up with something for the 15k if I do it, though.
I like Watch me Go — but I find the slit never seems to be at the right place for me. Which puzzles me, since I have short arms. I still do wear it a lot — but in the middle of winter, there will be a jacket over it.
The Vivoactive 3 (now that I’ve found it after a few months, LOL) makes it very easy to read HR. Although I could read it before on the smaller data screen, too — I’m very near sighted — and I wear contacts. I absolutely loathe running in my glasses!
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Mine is rarely actually Gu, and sometimes I don’t even know what the brand is so it’s usually gu and friends to reflect all those things. I need to chew, so rarely can do gels, although I managed one in Albany and one on last week’s 14 because it staved off a headache.
The pink Watch me Go slits are in a weird spot but they work around the Garmin on my right hand. Not on my left, but that’s OK as my Fitbit lives on my left. I miss the old TekGear equivalent as they were super comfy and slightly better cut for us short folks.
I run in my glasses, but they’re an old prescription. A root canal this year made new glasses not happen
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I wear mine on my left hand. Just the Garmin — at least I’m not quite THAT much into gadgetry to have a couple of devices (but you never know what the future holds).
My glasses are a really old prescription. Which is why on days like today, when I am actually wearing them (just to give my eyes a little break from contacts & to stretch contacts further), it’s kind of hard to read the screen!
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Fitbit is full time wear, Garmin is just for running data.
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My Garmin is a fitness tracker so it does it all & I wear it 24/7.
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I runfess that I’m already sick and tired of not running. I didn’t have this feeling after my surgery, because it was under different circumstances. I used to do gels a lot too – I still take them with me for long runs in case I need them but I’m more a fan of a good carb meal the night before (and not too late so that it has time to digest well) and a good runner’s breakfast before the run (1 – 2 hours depending on distance). My HR zones were calculated by my running coach, based on my last Cooper Test. Zone 4 is indeed Death Zone. At least that’s what I thought too! I don’t mind having my skin slightly exposed in winter but I have to say I do just try to get a feel of how I’m running and then try to stick with that pace. I kind of know when my heart rate is too high. At least I FEEL like I’m dying when it’s too high so then I slow down.
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I’m really not great at running by feel (otherwise I probably wouldn’t pay attention to HR at all).
In the depths of winter, there’s no way I can have skin exposed. Except for my face!
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I pop my garmin under my sleeve then I can’t sneak looks at it!!
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I know, but I kind of need to know where I’m at. I really don’t have “regular” routes. I swear there’s nothing worse than misjudging the turnaround & walking forever in nasty weather (which has definitely happened to me).
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I’m not sure who make them, but I know there are long sleeve running shirts out there now that have a hole cute out around the wrist so you can see your watch through it. I think Deborah from Confessions of a mother runner has one ( I think that is where I saw it, not sure).
That salmon and sweet potato burger looks yummy!
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Yes, Skirt Sports makes a top like that & I own several. But it’s so cold here in the winter, I guess I’m gonna have to go back to running by feel then. We’ll see!
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