My electronic coach

Wednesday of this week was track day, and by "track" I mean "church parking lot." Lucky for me, it's a huge church parking lot, about 1.3 miles from my house if I go the long way. On the schedule was 16x400s at 10k pace with a 200m jog between. Jeremy set up the Garmin with the workout for me so I wouldn't so much as push a button during the whole thing. Who knew it could be so simple? I might've been thinking out loud when I mumbled in front of my husband something about 10k pace being 6:30 per mile, and without asking any more questions, that's what he told the Garmin I wanted to do for my 400s.

My planned route was to take the outside parking lot line over and over, since it is almost exactly a mile with only a tiny bit of doubling back. What I hadn't planned on, despite Jenny's warning of the windiness of the day, was that the biggest uphill of the loop was also straight into the wind. And that's where I started my first 400. I appreciated the countdown distance to go and the 5 beeps it gave me before another interval was to begin or end. I appreciated not having to count .25mi, then .12mi for recovery and all the mathematics it would involve for an oxygen deprived brain. But I didn't know it would be so vocal about my slowness. Obviously, on my first 400, just being my first, plus going uphill, plus going into the wind, I wasn't hitting my goal pace. And Garmin beeped at me to let me know that. Every 10 seconds. OK, Coach Shankman Garmin, I get that I'm slow (flashbacks to college). I learned a few more intervals into it that it also beeps when you're finally on pace. I think I heard that congratulatory beep 3 times during the workout. It was a tough one for me, even though I quickly learned to avoid the windiest, hilliest side of that parking lot, and instead did multiple small, flat loops before I headed to a downhill for my hard intervals. I know, I'm only cheating myself. :) It is a good thing Garmin doesn't beep more when you go super slow, since my last interval I did already headed home on a gravelly road by the field, uphill of course, and I think it was 8 minute pace.

Doesn't this route look enticing?