I actually was thinking of picking one up, you can get just a HRM now for $30, no bells and whistles. For $50, you can get one that tracks time in and out of zone with alarms etc. to mark these points. Thanks for letting me know it will be $$ well spent if I decide to get one.
My run today, "Freeze Fest" went much better than expected. Tuesday afternoon I ran with Carrie, the other RA, but quite slow since she hasn't been running nearly as regularly as I have. She did great, much better that I would have if our positions were reversed. Anyway, we were planning on running Thurs again, but my daughter came down with a fever, so I had to pick her up from daycare. Didn't get to do my run on the treadmill that night, due to a very clingy 2yr old. Friday, was going to do a long walk on the treadmill during her nap, but decided to take a nap myself since I was up most of the night with her. I was a little worried, since thus far the farthest I have run is about 2.25m, but figured what the hell, just see how fast you can finish. It was a beautiful sunny CRISP morning today, the thermometer in my car said 28 F about 30m before the start. I had no idea what my splits were because there were no mile markers! Running 5Ks for over 5 years, and never had a run without mile markers...Overall it was as flat as a pancake, but it ended with the last 1/4 -1/3 mile being
up a steady hill. Yikes. My lungs weren't really used to running in the cold yet, it's been in the upper 40s the few times I've gotten out so far. I was pretty exausted at the finish, and had to do a double take when I saw 28:20 28:21 28:22 clicking as I passed thru the finish chute. I'm gonna be sore tomorrow, but definately worth pushing myself. The 2 races I did last summer my finish times were 28:40's. To place in my age group I would have had to finish in 24 something. This goal shouldn't be out of my grasp if I can keep training, and do smalltown races
My PB for a 5K is in the 23m range, in 2001.