Not Up to Speed

Garminia had an off day today. I guess we all do from time to time. I can’t say that I blame her; it was totally my fault. I was late out the door for my lunchtime run due to an impromptu meeting just as I was preparing to take off. I always like to insure that I am back before the cafeteria closes so that I can get my salad fixings to top off the JC meal. So, feeling rushed, I decided to take a chance and begin the run without giving Garminia time to prepare.

Apparently, my ritual of putting her on the post while I put on my shoes and do a couple of quick stretches is something she counts on. Apparently, she needs this time to get ready for whatever type of run I decide. Instead, I bounded out the door with my shoes already on, turned her on, chose the Yasso 800s from the advanced workout menu, and pressed start.

I didn’t hear her screaming, “Wait” but apparently she was screaming. By the time we crested the hill, I noticed that she still wasn’t keeping the pace. I had nothing by the time she is usually signaling me that I’ve gone a mile. So, I hit the lap button and began the first of four 1/2 mile repeats.

I was moving fast. I had no idea how fast because Garminia still wasn’t happy. She didn’t signal the recovery interval. She actually couldn’t tell me if I’d even run any distance at all, so I hit the lap button after 3:51 had passed. I hoped that she would catch up to me while I slowly jogged to recover from a most likely too fast pace.

After 4 minutes, I was moving quickly again. I ran along the water, where the dirt was really rugged from too many mountain bikes coming through there in the rainy season. I did my best to keep my footing and glanced over at Garminia from time to time. She was now beginning to piss me off. She kept saying that I was going 9-ish minutes/mile pace and *knew* that she was lying to me. Imagine that – my faithful running partner was now lying to me! Could it be that she was mad at me for leaving her behind yesterday? I swear it was an accident. Refusing to let her destroy me, I hit the lap button again, but only after 4:30 had passed.

I was beat tired and it was 94 degrees out. The 4 minutes of recovery didn’t seem long enough. I struggled through the next 2 intervals. I really wasn’t mad at Garminia; I was the one who didn’t let her prepare for today’s run. Even though I wasn’t mad at her, I did sort of ignore her. I pushed the lap button by time instead of letting her signal the distance. She didn’t seem to mind.

By the time we were back at the office, Garminia had registered less than a mile. Fortunately, I have run this route before and know that it is 4.8 miles. Garminia and I went inside and cooled down (after 1.5 hours). We are happy now that we have fully recovered from the torture session. Whose idea was it to do speed work on a day as hot as this anyhow? Oh yeah…it was mine.