Roll on mid December!

What started with me running in tracksuit bottoms and a bog standard pair of trainers and naked (as my fellow runners call it) nearly two years ago has now evolved into me purchasing the most expensive piece of running equipment I own so far my new garmin forerunner 220 unfortunatley it's on pre-order with stock expected mid december.

Isn't it beautiful!  I started with nothing then moved to the Garmin 110 then moved to the Garmin 405 which I hated and sold again within a week and went back to the 110. But this one I chose for the amount of things it will do to help my training particulary for London... I think it does just about everything other than make you a cup of tea when you have finished your run! And yes before you ask like my dad did - it can also simply tell the time!

I have started a new training programme incorporating heart rate training and running by effort with intervals and hill work built in, the aim is to do a 5 hour or sub 5 marathon at London which will be a pb by twenty minutes....big ask? During my first interval session with my current watch I was having to keep looking at my wrist and trying to keep track of how many repititions I had done and how long I had ran and also the maximum heart rate zone I was working in. Too much going on for my little brain to compute (run for 4 mins in hr zone 135-155 bpm then run in hr zone 163 - 177 bpm for 1.5 minutes repeat 5 times) Who does Garmin think I am Carol Vorderman?

So the new watch can not only have the garmin training plan from my computer transferred to it so every day it will automatically know what I'm meant to be doing it will also beep or vibrate to tell me if I run too fast/too slow/ and when to change from running at different speeds etc. Totes amazeballs. It will also stop and start the timer itself when I stop to cross roads or tree gaze (see previous wyre forest blog) It also has a fab option of linking it to the Garmin connect app on my phone so when I get home with internet connection it will automatically upload the data from the run without me turning on the laptop or linking up manually. It's waterproof down to 50mtrs so I can either set my treadmill up next to the bath and run with my arm submerged or it will just be good running in the rain :-)  I think I'll let it off that it doesn't make me a cup of tea.

Proof will be in the pudding maybe xmas pudding when I get it delivered December and take it out or the first time.