First Garmin Forerunner 305 Run

Today I fully merged my tech/nerd side and athletic side, and I'm quite pleased. I took advantage of the beautiful, albeit still chilly day to embark on a long run. I was hoping for 7 miles, but I definitely didn't eat enough breakfast. I petered out around 5.5 miles. Still good if you figure that my last outdoor run was a month ago. I readied my Garmin by connecting it with my computer and making sure it had the latest firmware on it. I also downloaded the Garmin Training Center for Mac program.

It was about 40 degrees when I started my run, and really bright out. At the end of my warm up walk, who should I see riding their bikes, but my dearest Kelly and her beau. She, of course, busted on my wrist laptop. As I started my run they caught back up with me a few blocks down. I shouted to them the distance from the street corner we met up at and their approximate speed. It's really cool to be able to look down and see my speed, it kind of makes me feel like I'm on some elaborate virtual reality treadmill. I tried to keep it in the 7mph range.

I should have drank a third glass of water before my run, I didn't factor in the green tea I drank this morning. I got a few cramps but I breathed through them. At one point I realized I'd be able to see the watch better if the face was on the inside of my wrist, so I moved it around. After a mile or so I noticed the speed displayed was lower than I felt like it should be. I had a flashback to the manual, and how they recommend keeping the face on the outside of your wrist for better reception. D'oh! Lesson learned.

When I got back to the apartment, icing down felt amazing! I let out audible sighs of relief as I moved my roommate's bags of frozen edamame around my legs. I don't remember a time icing down felt so good before! I then grabbed my laptop to play with the Garmin Training Center program. It was great to see my exact route on the screen, no more tracing with MapMyRun! I logged onto my MapMyRun account and downloaded the Garmin connection plug-in. I loaded the data into the training log. I definitely prefer the MapMyRun's Google map to the basic Garmin one. I used the Calories Burned Calculator to figure out the more accurate amount burned. The Forerunner data says I burned 523, whereas the calories burned calculator (that has been within 10 calories of the more accurate Timex watch) estimated 769 calories burned.

Now I just need to settle on what program I want to stick with for logging data! The only log I seem to be able to stick to is my notebook, but it doesn't make fancy charts and graphs for me. I try to stick with MyMyRun, for maps it's cool but I'm still not crazy about the format. Recently heard about www.buckeyeoutdoors.com and will try it out.

Read more...

New Toys!

After almost a year of debating, I finally gave in and bought a Garmin Forerunner. My coworker says it looks like a wrist laptop. It practically is, and it's totally nerdy but at the end of the day I love gadgets and what else would you expect from an athletic web designer?! I haven't had the opportunity to run with it yet, but I can't wait. I did try to wear it to a spin class, but I hadn't read the manual and didn't know how to shut off the GPS function. The next day after figuring out how to shut off the GPS for "indoor mode" I ran on the treadmill with it. The heart rate monitor seems accurate, I compared it to the treadmill's sensor a few times, each time it matched very closely. Unfortunately the display doesn't change much if you turn the GPS off, so the heart rate gets lost on the display and is so small I could barely read it. Another annoyance I had was that I couldn't find the calories burned function. After reading up online, it seems the calories burned is way off anyway. It uses speed as part of its formula, so if you're on a bike and coasting down a hill at 17mph it shoots the calories burned up as if you're exerting enough effort to move a bike that fast. I mentioned this to a coworker (I had the Garmin box on my desk so people were asking all about it) and she told me she had a heart rate monitor she wanted to get rid of.


Enter gadget #2, a Timex Ironman Triathlon Heart Rate Monitor 50 lap watch. Another reason this is an awesome addition, besides the more accurate calories burned function, is that I can wear this underwater. For indoor workouts it's perfect, and the display shows my heart rate very clearly. I tried it out during two workouts this week, and I'm kinda in love with it. I had no idea before how many calories I was burning during my kettlebell workouts. Answer, A LOT. Like 200 in 15 minutes! Having the watch also helps me time my workouts, so I can accurately do 15 minutes of kettlebell work, 10 minutes of ab work and so on. This is great for pushing me to do more, or stopping me from going overboard. It keeps me focused as well as telling me which heart rate zone I'm in.

Since my heart rate with the Timex Ironman was just as accurate as the Forerunner when compared to the treadmill sensor and it factors in weight, I'd like to think the calories burned feature is pretty accurate. It says I burn more calories than the treadmill estimates, but then again, the treadmill doesn't factor in my heart rate a majority of the time. I did a bit of research and found this calculator. It factors in sex, weight, average heart rate and duration. This calculator was very close, within 15 calories of my watch. Obviously calorie counting isn't an exact science, but it's definitely interesting and helpful to know how much you are burning. I still can't get over how many calories doing kettlebells after running burned! I found yet another reason why I love kettlebells!

Read more...