Daily Log 22 March 2011 - Tempo Run

My current running form This post is one day late. I need to make sure I write these things down as they happen. After buying my new Polar RS 800 I decided to take it for a spin. I have been used to running with my Polar FT 60 and my new RS 800 takes it to a whole new level. One of the features that attracted me to the RS 800 is the ability to create custom exercises. I tried creating one for this run just to see what it can do. So the exercise I designed is basically split up into phases as follows: Phase 1 Warm up 15 minutes 60-69% MHR Phase 2 Moderate run 10 minutes 70-79% MHR Phase 3 Hard run 10 minutes 80-85% MHR Phase 4 Moderate run 10 minutes 70-79% MHR Phase 5 Warm down 15 minutes 60-69% MHR The customizing feature worked brilliantly. I can basically switch off and just follow what the watch says. When it's time to allow myself to go to a higher heart rate it just beeps me to indicate a new phase. If I run at a higher heart rate than I'm supposed to it'll shout out to me. I couldn't do that with my Polar FT 60. The data I can collect is astounding and it'll take me a few weeks before I can decipher it. But my initial understanding of my running data is as follows: Average cadence 70 Average stride length 0.63 m Average Heart Rate 72% MHR Running distance 4.65km Calories burnt 759 kcal That's a lot of data. ThoughI don't want to be lost in data I do have to pay attention to it so that I understand where I can improve. It's immediate to me that I need to focus on my running cadence. The optimum is 80 so I just need to find on average 10 more steps per foot per minute. That's a lot of steps if you consider running for an hour. I am a very happy camper at the moment.

Nothing like a piece of gadget to brighten up the day..