23 March 2009

incorrect calibration

I forgot to mention this on my last entry on the Condura Run. When I crossed the finish line with a time of 1:11:49, I also pressed the stop button on my Timex Ironman watch (the particular model I have can log distance, activity time, pace, steps, and calories burned while I run).

On my watch, the distance logged was 8.51K. Wtf?! I stared at my watch in disbelief as a somewhat horrible thought was dawning in my mind. Was my watch incorrectly calibrated to begin with in terms of distance and steps? Have I been running more than what was recorded all this time??

I remembered that 11.33K training run that I did more than a week ago--and when I did some quick math as I stood in the Condura Run finish area, I realized I must have run 12.82K instead. Oh my Lord.

This skews everything I've recorded so far ever since I started on that SmartCoach program. I was clocking in more mileage than I thought, and having a slightly better pace. Which also means I was actually running faster during those blasted 3x800m intervals. Waaaaaghh!!! I don't know whether I should be ecstatic or not. I hated those intervals, and I felt like such a loser at that time, clocking in 8 seconds later than the target goal of 5:54 in the first 800-meter speed run. When in reality, I perhaps (just perhaps) did meet or stay within the 5:54 target--assuming that my watch was incorrectly logging more mileage pala.

No wonder I've been feeling slightly injured and very sore these past few weeks. I've unconsciously pushed myself to run farther at distances I'm technically not used to doing on a regular basis (like the 8K and the 11K). Talk about blind running.

Anyway, I shouldn't lose more sleep on this. I actually ought to be grateful that I was able to run more--and faster, in some cases. Best of all, no serious injuries (although a visit to a sports clinic or ortho is in order soon, just so I can have my knee assessed).

4 comments:

  1. congratulations, gina girl on your 10K pr! :)

    buti ka pa, happy run... it was sheer torture for me. hahaha!

    maybe it was a good thing your watch was cheating you into running more! :)

    hope your knees and shins get better soon! and oo nga, what's our next run going to be? airspeed?

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  2. Thanks, mcn! Hopefully I can improve in the coming weeks. I still don't know if I want to do another 10K or if I should go back to 5K muna. Parang I want to be kinder to my muscles, now that Condura Run is over. Haha.

    Oo nga, dinadaya ako ng sarili kong watch. Now I have to look back at my previous training runs and make some recalculations. Kainis. Haha.

    Airspeed is okay sana, kaya lang World Vision is one of the beneficiaries. Conflict of interest! Haha. I'm still thinking about it. =)

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  3. re airspeed... hahaha! :) i didn't know that ah.... hmmm... i was actually planning to go to the bataan death march to cheer on the coaches who are joining. baka the 'conflict of interest' will be a good reason to give C to skip airspeed and go to bataan instead. unicef pa rin! :)

    re 10K or 5K, i know how you feel. i also want to stop "beating up my body". that's why nowadays i try not to succumb to pressure from the coaches or run mates. i read somewhere in runnersworld.com that the key to running injury-free is to run 80% below your ability. makes sense, no?

    anyway... here's to more happy runs ahead! and here's to finally finding cereal in breakfast menus other than hotel buffets!

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  4. Haha, sayang nga eh. The MOA route is very friendly; 10K on that route would have been an okay kind of torture. =P But, yeah...conflict of interest!

    I haven't run since Condura. My body feels battered. So rest talaga muna. Are you still on a clinic program?

    Ah, the elusive restaurant cereal breakfast...I think I'll check Flapjacks kung meron sila. =)

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