I just finished the first Xperiathon race logging 13.1 miles with my iPhone. Participants in this race start at the same time all over the world. It was a pleasant run here in Missouri.
Even though I was alone, waking up at 5am on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, I had a good time. I took a few pictures and even a couple video clips.
For some of the pictures I set my phone down, set a timer, ran up a little bit, then ran back for the phone. Being a self-supported race I had to carry all my hydration and nutrition, I was the race photographer, race planner and race official. I even cheered myself on when I needed some motivation. A long run like this always includes long prayer time. Me and God, lots to talk about.
About 8 miles into it, I thought it would be cool to capture a thought or two.
Since I was race director, the route went by a few landmarks, Waffle House and my friends Michael and Rhonda’s house.
At about mile 11, I had a hankering to record another video clip. This time, I can tell the glucose levels are getting low…
Santa met me at mile 12…
I enjoyed the last few ounces of water at my virtual finish line. No one was there. Made it home before everyone woke up. A morning of solitude, prayer and running.
Awesome.
[Most of the readers can stop reading here. If you want to see depths of running nerd-dom, read on…nerd]
Nerd Level Data Crunching
One or two of you may be interested in the tech behind the scenes…here we go.
I had 2 GPS units going. A Garmin Forerunner 305 watch and an iPhone 4 running Mapmyrun.
The iPhone was for posting purposes for the race. The watch 
was for lap time management. I would periodically walk to tweak the pace. This prevented me from going into the red zone (90% MHR) too soon. I found this technique to work great when I’m not fully trained for a race.
I mapped the route the night before using mapmyrun.com.
You needed to start the race with 30 minutes, before or after, 12:00 CET (Central European Time). I started with 3 minutes to spare.
The route elevation profile was generated from GPS data from the Garmin. I was lucky that the route ended on a down slope. Worked out well.
My favorite part of doing a run like is is watching the heart rate data. I wear a Garmin monitor while running (and have since the early 90’s). Below you can see my pace and heart rate during each mile of the run. I did well pacing at the mid to upper 11’s but somewhere in mile 11 the physiology was not there. I notice at mile 5 my average heart rate goes up and stays there. I take this as my anabolic threshold, happening at about 44 minutes. The other ceiling I call my training ceiling happened this a drop in output (or an increase in pace). This occurs at mile 11.
The problem with data is you can go on and on. This feels like a good place to stop.
