The Return of Track Workouts & How to Set Mile Splits on a Garmin 305

Good morning!

Training for my 3rd half marathon (Vegas Rock and Roll!) has officially begun!

Early yesterday morning, I met my new friend Genna (remember her?) for a speed workout at the UNC track. I LOVE that I have found another person that is on board for meeting me so early for workouts. Speed workouts alone = not awesome. I think we’re going to try to meet every Tuesday!

We decided to do four 400’s (one lap around the track) at as fast a pace as we could, and also included a half lap jog in between each to recover.

Our workout:

• 2 warm up laps (~0.5 mile)
• 4 x 400 @ ~6:30 pace with a half lap recovery jog between each
• 4 warm down laps (~1 mile)

Total distance: 3 miles, 24:28 minutes

Half way through the workout, we switched directions so we wouldn’t always be leaning on the same leg while turning. If you’re running on a track, it’s good to switch directions to make sure your workout is even :) Just be sure to be respectful and stay farther out on the outside of the track if you’re going against the normal flow of traffic.

Splits:

• Mile 1: 8:24
• Mile 2: 7:25
• Mile 3: 8:34

As I mentioned, we ran our 400’s at about a 6:30 pace, sometimes a little less, sometimes a little more. It was TOUGH. It’s hard to run that fast! I was seriously huffing and puffing, but it felt good to stretch out my legs.

Thanks for the great workout, Genna! Here’s our obligatory sweaty self-portrait photo :)

And now — for the answer to a frequently asked question!

Q: How do you set your Garmin Forerunner 305 Watch to track mile splits?

As you guys know, I have a Garmin Forerunner 305 watch for running and often share my mile-by-mile splits, as I did in this post. I absolutely LOVE it for training — while I’m running, it tells me how far I’ve gone, my current pace, calories burned, and the overall time (you can set it to show other things too), and after I’m done, it’s so helpful to see not only see my average overall pace, but also how my pace fluctuated throughout the run. If you’re a runner and in the market for a watch, I’d highly recommend the Garmin Forerunner 305 (about $140 right now on Amazon). I’ve had mine for 5 years now and it’s still going strong.

The watch doesn’t automatically track your mile splits, but it’s a super easy option to set up. Here’s how!

How to set up mile splits on the Garmin 305 (select these options in the order listed):

• Mode
• Training
• Training Options
• Auto Lap
• Set the top box to say "by distance" and the second one to say "1.00" if you want stats per mile. The next time you run, your watch will now every time you reach a mile and your pace for that mile will pop up.

How to view your splits after the run (on the watch, not on the computer — it comes with software for you to upload all your run data but I don’t usually do that):

• Mode
• History
• Running
• By Day
• Select the day you ran — the most recent will come up at the top of the list. When you push enter, it will bring up a page with your overall pace/distance stats.
• To see your mile splits, make sure “view laps” is selected and press enter again. You can now scroll down through your mile-by-mile data. Cool, huh?

Do you have a sports watch, or do you prefer to run without one?

I’m off to school — busy day ahead! Stay tuned — a new veggie burger recipe is coming up tomorrow, and it’s a good one :)

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p.s. There are a couple fun Twitter chats going on today — first, an #attune chat about organic/clean foods at noon EST. And second, at 9 p.m. EST tonight there is a #FitWithOmron chat with Oprah’s personal trainer Bob Greene! He’s going to be answering our fitness questions. Seems like fun :) I’ll be there, will you guys?