So 2018 ends, not quite a chilly as when it began. It has been a pretty decent year and one that I needed. I learned a lot about myself and running, which ended up with one of the most consistent running years I have had in a long time. I may not have gotten as many miles as some years, but I did run with less down time due to injury than I have in a while.

All very good things.

Total Miles Run: 1,665

Total number of runs: 330

Starting weight: 166

Ending weight: 157

Favorite running shoe: adidas Tempo 9

What did I do for my last run in 2018?

It actually was a nice day outside, mid 20’s, bright sunshine, very light breeze, so I had to get outside for this run to end the year.

However, down-back just was not runnable once you got down past the lower gate – too much ice, so that meant either doing laps or heading down to Pepin. Mary walked down there yesterday and said it was still pretty badly iced over. So I figured that doing laps was goin to be the way it would work out.

I started out pretty slow and even though I was picking up the pace to my old (before H/R training started) pace, although I kept getting the low heart-rate warning – meaning my heart-rate was below 120 bpm even though I was going a little faster than I have been lately. Which are a very good sign that the heart-rate training is starting to work, that I have something going on that I need to look at or the watch is screwed up.

I have a feeling it is the last one, after the last few runs on the treadmill and getting similar readings previously.

I didn’t really look at the watch all that much during the run. I focused more on running comfortably and wasn’t too worried about the heart-rate today.

Unfortunately, I don’t really think that my Garmin Forerunner 35 is all that accurate when it comes to running and getting a good heart-rate. I am going to do a search tonight to see if there are ways to improve the accuracy and if not I will do a complete reset of the watch.

Start over kind of thing.

The thing is I do believe that the heart-rate training is starting to work for me, but not quite as good as the results that are being shown on the last few runs. I am getting in decent shape, losing a bit of weight and eating a lot better, but dropping the heart-rate and increasing the paces this much in about 2-3 weeks over the holidays – well that just ain’t reality.

Now to do some Sherlock Holmes and figure out how to get fairly accurate heart-rate readings from my watch while running (not fast or intervals) at my 120-135 bpm range that I am looking to stay within.

Happy New Year’s!!!