New Strategy and Learning About Virtual Partner

I wasn’t happy with my 5K time trials and decided to do more workouts closer to my 5K goal pace last week. The first workout was set for 25 seconds slower than my 5K pace, and the second was set for 20 seconds slower. The end results were two of my fastest 5K runs in 2024. I haven’t hit an all-time personal record, but I have been chipping away at breaking 25:25 and getting closer to my sub-25-minute goal.

During my second workout, I decided to use the Virtual Partner feature on my Garmin Forerunner 620. My 5K was set up as a workout in my watch with three one-mile repeats and a 0.13-mile run. (I set an extra 0.02 miles to pay the Strava tax.) I set the virtual partner to 8:25/mile. The Virtual Partner display has two metrics: Time Ahead and Average Pace. I assumed that the time ahead was for the entire run.

I completed my first mile and was 8 seconds ahead of pace. I looked at the watch in the middle of the second mile, and my pace was 8 seconds ahead. I assumed that I needed to maintain 8 seconds ahead of pace for an even pace, so I tried to maintain my 8 seconds ahead and finished the lap 10 seconds ahead. As the third mile started, I took a glance and saw that my time ahead reset to 0 seconds. At this point, I realized that time ahead was based on the lap and not cumulative.

I haven’t used Virtual Partner much, but from my past experience, I thought that it would give the overall time ahead/behind. However, I wasn’t using the watch in workout mode. I know things like heart rate alerts that are set on the watch do not sound unless you program them into a workout. I posit that the Virtual Partner may work differently during workouts. I’ll need to take a better look at my watch during a non-workout, long run and report back.

Do you know how Virtual Partner works on a Garmin Forerunner 620 watch? Please let me know in the comments below.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I Received a Job Offer!

Image
This is my 100th blog post. I have gone from a student who did not like to write in elementary school, middle school, high school, and undergraduate school, to a graduate student who tolerated writing a thesis, to a principal who needed to write at least once a week, to someone who writes when he has something to say for fun. I started this blog to share what I have learned and to demonstrate to a future employer that I know how to communicate. I guess it’s appropriate that my 100th article is job-related. I was offered a job! It was a remote job with flexible hours and a six-figure salary in instructional design. Unfortunately, it was a scam. Something felt off from the initial email, but given how AI is used these days, I chalked it up to someone using AI poorly to communicate with potential applicants. Below, I will share the red flags I saw and explain how the scam works so you can protect yourself and your friends and family. Something Was off
Read more

“Let’s go!” vs. “No way!”

Image
I didn’t plan well for my planned pace run. I have learned I am a better runner when training for a race or time trial because I have a plan. Since recovering from injury, I have been running every other day, so 3 to 4 times per week, which roughly constitutes a plan. Last week, I wanted to transition back to running 5 to 6 days a week. I had the following plan in mind. Sun: Recovery Mon: Base Tue: Recovery Wed: Speed Thu: Rest Fri: Pace Sat: Long However, I wasn’t able to get my run in on Wednesday. At the time, I thought it was okay and could flip-flop it with my Thursday rest day. However, on Thursday, I was extremely busy with housework and could not pull myself away for a run. When Friday came, I thought I was ready for a pace run. I figured I hadn’t run for two days; my body must be prepared. I did not account for the fact that I was under-fueled on Thursday and Friday. I failed to comprehend that the housework I did on Thursday was a full-body workout. Friday was also one of the
Read more

Don’t Let Strava Steal Your Low Heart Rate Training Mojo

Image
This is a friendly reminder that what you value might differ from Strava. I have been on the low heart rate bandwagon for a while. By keeping my heart rate low for 80% of my runs, I can develop my aerobic system and allow my body to do more at a lower heart rate. For example, last week, I had my best base run of 2024. I ran 5.2 miles and averaged 10:24/mi. My heart rate average was 138 BPM, and I spent 99% of my time in Z2 or lower. I was stoked to see these statistics at levels I had not seen since training for my last marathon. After I loaded the run into Strava, I scrolled down to the section that indicates when your fitness has increased. I looked, but this run did not trigger the criteria for Strava to show that I improved my fitness. Then, I looked at the relative effort section, and Strava reported that my effort was lighter than my three-week average. I ran further and faster with a lower heart rate, and my effort was lighter; what? I felt great, as if I had improved! I thought
Read more