On track!

It seemed very fitting that we should visit the track amid all the hype of the Olympics.  I have never been so interested in such an array of sports as I have for the past week or so.  I've been drawn in by such sports as judo, hand ball, beach volleyball and the list goes on.  Never more so than the athletics though.  I am usually against day time television and will not tolerate it when I am at home unless it's something special like World Cup football or the closing stages of Wimbledon but we have had the television on from morning til night.  Just a shame I've had to go to work in between. Special events I have had a sneaky peak on the lap top at work.  Thank heaven for iplayer technology! I'm not sure whether everyone who turned up had been inspired by said Olympics but we certainly had a great turn out for the track session and the 100 & 200 metre sprints and relay race were tackled with lots of effort and enjoyed by all so plans are in place to offer these type of sessions once a month whilst members want to do it.

I received a Garmin watch for my birthday and am just starting to get to grips with it.  I've logged my training and racing information for a lot of years on Fetcheveryone and really love being able to look back and compare stats - be it how many miles I've logged in a month or a year to what time I did a certain race in.  It's not always an improvement but feels good when it is! I've no doubt stats play a part in motivation on occasions.  The Garmin is proving to be an interesting gadget.  I've always used the Nike+ Sportband and for me, it's been invaluable, easy to use and quite reliable, that is until a few weeks ago and it stopped syncing with my sensor (worn in the shoe).  I ran a few weeks without a watch at all until my quick thinking husband bought me the Garmin for my 50th Birthday.  The first few uses proved beyond me, I didn't manage to get a GPS signal on my first couple of outings, then when I did I didn't manage to record all my run, I was slightly frustrated but then all of a sudden everything seemed to click into place and for the first time I wore it for a race, the Jane Tomlinson 10k at York and managed to upload my run and see mile splits, elevation etc. All very exciting!  Here's some of the info from the race:

Garmin Forerunner 110

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	52:21.7	6.25	8:23
1	8:20.6	1.00	8:21
2	8:16.2	1.00	8:16
3	8:13.9	1.00	8:14
4	8:11.9	1.00	8:12
5	8:39.7	1.00	8:40
6	8:39.7	1.00	8:40
7	1:59.6	0.2

I was surprised when I looked at my watch at the 5k mark and had done it in 25:11 but I also knew that my aspiration of a sub 50 10k was out of the window as I probably wouldn't complete the second half quicker but it spurred me on and I was pleased to see that I was quite consistent until the last couple of miles when I slowed slightly but overall was quicker than last year despite there seeming to be even bigger crowds of runners to negotiate, twisting and turning, jumping up and down curbs.

So the weeks are flying by as we near the end of Summer training at Apperley Bridge with only a few weeks left until we move back up to our Winter training base at Undercliffe. If the Summer doesn't pick up we'll no doubt end up moving earlier than previous as the darker nights draw in.  Until then though here's hoping we can enjoy our last few weeks of being able to at least fit in some scenic routes - tonight's session isn't very scenic though unless your idea of scenic is perhaps pubs as we stage another monthly 3 mile time trial and there are quite a few en route, no calling in though! Alas, Wednesday's and Friday's runs are much more appealing!