Earlier this year I mentioned that I was going to use the data from my Garmin to help in understanding my running progress or lack thereof. One of the features that give feedback is the Running Performance Condition. About 6 minutes into the run, I get a notification of my current running performance. This rating can and does change throughout my run, but what does it even mean?
According to Garmin:
With a little more research I discovered that this rating system represents a 1% deviation from your baseline V02 max. Anything positive such as my +3 (as shown above) is an improvement from baseline, whereas a negative number is a decrease in performance. This baseline is determined from previously collected data. Being that I have only been running a few weeks, I don’t have a lot of comparable data on my new Garmin, but there is enough for some useful feedback.
Case in point, this past week I have been sick with a really nasty cold but I really wanted to stick to my running schedule. During Saturday’s run when my watch buzzed a -4 at 6 minutes into the run, I was a little surprised being that my rating is usually above zero. However, this cold left me a little short of breath which had an impact on my effort and heart rate which led to this “fair” rating.
I took Thursday off because of the cold so my performance was better the following day (1st) being that I was well-rested. Feeling a little fatigued from the illness and the previous day’s activity, obviously affected my performance on the 2nd. For comparison, I just added a couple of days from last week’s runs. As you can see, I tend to stay above or at 0 even as I am starting to fade in the longer run.
Granted, Garmin’s analysis is based on the heart rate, heart rate variability, and pace data that is being collected during the run, so the data needs to be accurate. As I have mentioned previously, I don’t believe the Garmin is 100% accurate and a chest strap accuracy is probably better, but I still think the analysis is good enough to use for trending. Clearly, my performance was not as good when I wasn’t feeling well and Garmin’s analysis demonstrates that plus it is truly indicative of how I actually felt that day. FYI, both the longer and shorter runs of these two different weeks were run on the same course. I will continue to monitor this in the coming weeks and I am sure I am going to see a trend upward as my fitness and health improves.
Running and Strength Training
- Monday Strength and stability exercises
- Tuesday Run 1.5 miles + Strength and stability exercises
- Wedneday Run 3.0 miles
- Thursday Rest – I took a rest day because of the illness
- Friday Run 1.5 miles + Mild strength and stability exercises
- Saturday Run 3.0 miles (on the couch the rest of the day!)
- Sunday Rest
Thankfully, the mileage this past week per the schedule actually decreased in prep for an increase this coming week. Hopefully, I will be over this cold and can get off to a good start.
Something New
I recently have discovered a love for Altra Paradigm 5 running shoes as I mentioned in this blog post but neither my local running shop nor REI had this shoe any longer because Paradigm 6 is out. So, reluctantly I decided to go with Paradigm 6 (love love love the 5). I am pretty excited about trying them out but my Paradigm 5 has a lot left too so I will probably just use them both and see how it goes.
That’s my week, running and sleeping. Not even eating that much which didn’t help matters. Looking forward to week 4 of Hal Higdon’s 30-week Novice Supreme Marathon Training (Instead of counting down like I was previously, I am just going to count up to week 30 so it’s not so confusing).
Until then…
Happy Running
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