forerunner

So I took my Forerunner to the strand today to do a little tempo running. Since the Forerunner is still new to me, I'm still not all that familiar with the whole "lap" feature, but I eventually figured it out. I did a little over 5 miles which broke down like this:

1 11:15 warmup mile
2 8:24 tempo mile
3 10:24 recovery mile
4 8:19 tempo mile
5 10:14 recovery mile

I was really struggling in mile 4, unsure of whether I could maintain that pace. But I just kept repeating "Boston" to myself. My long term goal is Boston in 2010 and I need to average 8:35 a mile to qualify by then. I've never really worried about speed work, tempo work, etc. so I am pretty happy that my first tempo run went so well. I know the tempo run really needs to be strung together instead of broken up in intervals, but it's a start. Baby steps, right?

I have a new training partner. The Forerunner 101. We went out for our inaugural run this morning and it is brilliant. He (yes, Forerunner 101 is a "he") tells me just what I want to know, pace, distance, averages. Not too many bells and whistles. He is the best partner ever! Or is he?

He also happens to be brutally honest. It turns out that my "5 mile, end at Starbucks reward loop" is in actuality 4.69 miles. Ouch!