tech tryout...cough cough.

I mentioned before that bought myself a new toy the other day, a garmin forerunner 305.  I did this so that I could start tracking my workouts more effectively.  Today may not have been the ideal day to go out considering I still have trouble breathing through my nose and am coughing up fun stuff.  I decided that I would run as far as comfortably possible, then walk, then run when I could breath again.  The ultimate goal was to give the garmin a test drive and also get in 30 minutes of cardio even if it meant my pace would suffer.  The garmin performed admirably, Susan was right, I am going to love this toy!!

Today was a beautiful sunny but cold day.  At the start of my run it was 28 degrees, so I put on the compression heat gear, running jacket, running gloves, iPod, heart monitor, garmin watch and mint gum.  I started off on a brisk walk, ran until I was able to get my pace into the 8 minute mile range according to the watch, and held the speed for as long as possible.  Ultimately I was not able to hold speed for very long as I became short of breath very rapidly and that devolved into hacking coughs.  But I pressed on, running as I could and walking when I couldn't.  As you can see from the graph, at times I was able to carry a pace of up to 8mph, but then would start hacking and would slow to about 4mph.  I covered a distance of about 2.8miles in  34 minutes.  I am not happy with the end result but I understand my limitations at this point.  Plan on seeing this improve soon! 

Overall I am really pleased with the purchase of the forerunner 305.  It works as advertised and can you ask for much more?  Cough Cough Cough...