Me and my damn Virtual Partner

   In my last post (which seems like ages ago) I made mention of negative splits, as I had just found out what they actually were and what the concept was behind them.
   I then decided that I would attempt to utilize them and set out last week on a 5k run. I have a Garmin and thought that I would use it to help me co-ordinate these splits.
   Well, having a Garmin and knowing how to properly use a Garmin are two radically different things. I ran the first k at a relatively slow (even for me) pace and then attempted to reset the Garmin. I thought I'd done this but at the end of my second k, I discovered I'd only just paused the Garmin and had no real idea where the hell I was for a time anymore. This pretty well totally discombobulated me and the rest of the run was more or less a washout.
   The next time I got out, I got the idea of using the Virtual Partner feature on the Garmin to assist me with this. My brilliant plan was to set a target pace for 5k, let my VP get slightly ahead of me, catch up to him by about halfway and then blow past him in the home stretch.

Sort of the opposite of what MY Garmin looked like!

   So we set off together, my VP and I, and he very slowly pulled away. This was the plan so this was not a problem. From looking at the screen, it looked like he was only about ten yards ahead of me at the most, almost like I could reach out and tap him on the shoulder if I wanted.
   By about the halfway point, he was pretty close to the edge of the screen so this where I picked up the pace a touch.
   And so, apparently, did he.
   That was pretty well the last I saw of my VP, the bastard obviously had his own nefarious little plan and went about putting it into play. Seeing as how he was now off the edge of the screen, never to be seen again, I have no idea whether he cheated, took a shortcut, hopped on a bike or maybe even had a friend pick him up in a car. All I really know is that, the next time, I'm not letting him out of my sight!