A frustrating training run

Looking on the positive side, at least it wasn't frustrating because my body didn't want to do what I wanted it to - I found it frustrating because the run leaders that took us out last night picked a poor route. It was raining, but I didn't mind that so much. They decided to take us down Docklands way for something different, but we probably stopped 12 times - I'm not exaggerating! They didn't seem to know exactly where we were going, so we took some wrong turns and literally had to stop and turn around, and there were numerous traffic lights. The girl that took us out at the front also seemed too worried about the beginners keeping up - some people weren't even sure they could make the 6km - and kept the group at a 7:30 pace for the first half of the course. Excruciatingly slow! Maybe I should be grateful that an excruciating slow pace exists for me now. I was partly kicking myself because I was debating doing the 8km slow group and then chickened out and told myself I would next week.

But strangely... my legs are sore today. Go figure.  Perhaps because pushed out harder on the way back and we got closer to 7km than 6... one of the ladies in the group that was wearing a GPS watch said it was 6.8km. I'm not entirely sure of our track given we did a little bit of backtracking... it may have looked something like this:



I'm finding the Melbourne Marathon training a tad frustrating at the moment, partly because the pace is all over the place. I liked that the Run Melbourne guys stuck to a certain pace; the guy at the front kept an agreed pace and let the group position themselves around him. The guy at the back might be doing a pace 30 seconds slower so the group would spread out between the two. It seemed very straightforward and worked really well. Maybe the Melb Marathon guys will get it sorted soon. I hope.

I've been debating a GPS watch purchase since I started talking about it with a colleague at work. There's a watch that Garmin do that combines GPS and a HRM that I like the look of, and the output of the maps looks really good too - it's the Forerunner 405CX:

I certainly wouldn't pay $500 for it - it seems you can get them on Amazon.com for a lot cheaper and in online stores for a bargain price from time to time. I was thinking that I couldn't justify the cost when I should be saving it for my time overseas, but then I remembered I got a $500 VISA gift card from work... coincidence?

I'll keep thinking about it a little longer, but I my mind was mostly made up once I remembered the gift card. I'm not sure I'll be even able to use my iPhone overseas depending on where we end up, and I think I'm getting some weird lopsided running action from running with my iPod/Phone in my left hand. Running Cat pointed out to me that my left shoulder looked a bit stiff and I've thought about it since and realised it probably comes down from running with something in my hand since I started running last year. Hehe. My left arm doesn't seem to swing as much as the right (you have to keep an iPod or iPhone steady you know or you might accidentally throw it out of your hand!). So I've been consciously trying to relax my left side and correct it... and once you know your route, distance and pace via GPS it's hard to go back!