I don't know how I feel

[gumi]

We did 400s today at track and were responsible for tracking our own times and recoveries (alternating :45/:40/:35 seconds of recovery, btw, kinda sucked, lol)

Anyway - according to my Garmin most laps were .26 or .27. 

Now, I would love to think that I just did a crappy of job of lapping and took a few extra steps - but every time??  So, my Garmin must be wrong.  And .02 of 400 = .08 for every mile...so that means every mile is really only .92???  Is this the world I have been living!?!?!?!?

[ebeth]

I've noticed this on the track too. I always attributed to passing (i.e. veering out of lane 1) and also slow lapping.

[breezy8407]

I don't have personal experience with this, but I am recalling a graphic or an article somewhere on the interwebz about tangents, and how the Garmin has trouble tracking certain radii (is that a word?) if they are too small/tight.

For some reason I am recalling shelbyann having some knowledge about this. 

[breezy8407]

Also, the track you were on was a school track I assume? If they use it for races, it would have to be accurate, no?

[shelbyann]

Yes, I blogged about this exact issue a couple of years ago and someone referred me to this article: fl.milesplit.com/articles/52499

The visual makes sense to me.

[Brit]

May 21, 2013 10:32:03 GMT -5 shelbyann said:

Yes, I blogged about this exact issue a couple of years ago and someone referred me to this article: fl.milesplit.com/articles/52499

The visual makes sense to me.

Exactly. This is a universal problem. Not just your Garmin, not just your track.

[Wines Not Whines]

The track I run on near my office is totally out of whack. It's the only one close by (less than a mile away, so I run to it as my warm up), but the track isn't even a complete oval. It's kind of horseshoe shaped, and then the two sides connect via some ramps and stairs. It's so bizarre. One end of the horseshoe to the other is approx. 0.25 miles, but not exact. I don't know how they time/measure the kids on that thing.

[gumi]

May 21, 2013 10:58:02 GMT -5 Brit said:

May 21, 2013 10:32:03 GMT -5 shelbyann said:

Yes, I blogged about this exact issue a couple of years ago and someone referred me to this article: fl.milesplit.com/articles/52499

The visual makes sense to me.

Exactly. This is a universal problem. Not just your Garmin, not just your track.

interesting.  thanks guys!

still not sure how i feel about this  *-)

[Brit]

gumi - It is a totally annoying thing, especially for someone like me who can be totally type A. On a track, I have to just leave the Garmin behind, go old school, and use a regular watch.

[gumi]

May 21, 2013 13:29:32 GMT -5 Brit said:

gumi - It is a totally annoying thing, especially for someone like me who can be totally type A. On a track, I have to just leave the Garmin behind, go old school, and use a regular watch.

The nice thing about the Garmin is that you can put it on lap count...so if the workout is a bunch of 400s, you dont have to count (because for some reason, I always lose count after 4, lol).  This just makes me think about the speed work that I have done OFF the track.  My fastest splits are perhaps not for real!