Running with a Virtual Partner

Yesterday I used my Garmin Forerunner 305 watch to run my eight mile 'Test your Manhood' route.  It's named as such because the route is laden with hills.  It's a tough eight miles. I used a slower time I had run this route as the virtual pace my virtual partner would be running.  I did not want to lose my first race against my virtual partner.

Overall the virtual partner pacing worked very well.  The only problem I had with the virtual partner functionality on my watch was there are six screens associated with the virtual partner functionality. The screen I wanted to view predominately throughout my run only contains a graphic of a two runners on the top half of the screen and a number pertaining to how far ahead or behind you are of your goal pace on the bottom half of the screen.

The black background on the bottom portion of the picture above indicates the runner is slower than the virtual partner's pace. A white background indicates you are ahead of the virtual partner.

I found myself trying to scroll through all these screens to find my average pace, how far I had run, etc.  It's hard trying to press buttons on a watch while you are running.  There is an auto scroll function available which will continuously loop through all the screens during the entire run.  I am going to activate this for the next run.

I am going to run this route again next Monday.  I am going to use my best time of 1:10:36  (one hour ten minutes thirty-six seconds) as the virtual partner pace. It's going to be hard to beat this time - but it will be kinda neat to get instant feedback relating to how well I am doing against this pace all throughout the run. It truly is a virtual partner.