Week Review / Back in the Saddle / Taper Time!

Boy, last week was a roller coaster for me. I started the week with a horrible 22-mile run (documented in a previous post), followed by two days off to recover, two easy runs (one with a fast mile thrown in), then a strong 8-mile run on Saturday morning at a 7:16 clip.
Here are last week's numbers:

Runs: 4
Miles: 40.3
Time: 6:08:00
Long: 22 mi

Today, I ran my final long-ish run of my marathon training plan - 16 miles. After last Monday's fiasco, I wanted this run to end on a high note. It was warm (70), humid and windy! This was a tale of two runs. Basically, it consisted of an 8-mile warmup leading into an 8-mile tempo run. For the first 8 miles, I decided to keep my heart rate below 130 bpm. That necessitated a painfully slow 9:21 pace. However, that set me up for a fast second half...assuming I had anything in the tank. My legs felt a little flat, but I thought I'd transition into a faster pace with an 8:14 mile 9. The remaining 7 miles were as follows: 7:55, 7:46, 7:35, 7:36, 7:37, 7:27. So, out in 1:14:52, back in 1:01:36 (7:42 avg). While it wasn't easy, it didn't wipe me out, and it restored some confidence. I followed the run with the traditional 15-minute ice bath.

Something I really should have been doing all along is weighing myself before and after long runs. I did that today, and was shocked to see I was 4.6 lbs lighter after my run! To be fair, I ate pizza last night and was probably retaining a good amount of water, but that really opened my eyes to how much fluid I'm losing out there.

Now...bring on the taper!

Speed Work...Finally...and a Garmin HR Monitor Issue

Got out to the Centennial Trail in Snohomish and ran a total of five miles, which included a 1 mile warmup, followed by 4x .5 mile fast, .5 mile slow. The fast half mile segments were:

3:24
3:23
3:14
3:25

I tried to keep them at about 5k race pace. Legs felt good, but chest & lungs are still a mess.

Okay, this has been irking me since I got my Garmin Forerunner 305 about a month ago. The HR monitor doesn't seem to settle into an "accurate" reading until about 2-3 miles into the run. Even when I'm running very slowly and KNOW that my HR is likely in the 130-135 range, it immediately jumps up to about 165 and holds there until that 2-3 mile mark, when it suddenly drops down to where it should be. I can remember ONE TIME when it seemed to read correctly the entire run. Does this happen to anyone else? If so, is there a way to get it to work properly? It's frustrating and, obviously, not very helpful.
Thanks!