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Garmin Forerunner
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Ed - if you want to be in our gang you'll just have to get one.
(£149? I must resist. I must resist.)
A nice surgical strike to the ask shop with no collateral damage (I got away from gadget heaven Tottenham Court Road with no other expenditure!)
I'm now looking forward to some quality time with my virtual training partner as soon as I'm healthy enough to run again (grr - flu recovery not quite complete)
So I'm in the geeky gang then eh? eh? eh?
Ponder ...
But I'll have to wait until my birthday in February. Can't afford it now :-(
Might have to do some serious saving in January...
But by then the Timex Bodylink may have come down in price, there may be other models... What's a man to do!!!!
However, there is no way I'm going to be tempted to buy into this gang..
It is a nice piece of kit tho'....
...no...I will resist...
Myabe when it gets an HRM facility...
No, I'm OK with the Polar...
....preshus!!!!!!
Good news- on getting in from my tea time run- my fantastic husband had, with no prompting checked it out and they had emailed him, too many numbers on the issue number of the card (I have Lisa Simpson fingers and can't help it), but they will deliver to my mums on Christmas eve before twelve.
Never before done- I shall have to run on Christmas Day to try it out.
Monique - there's a lot to be said for a nice gentle plod Xmas morn anyway but now you've got one, well.....enjoy!
Higs
Interval session tomorrow (Yasso 800s) - I'd normally do it on the tready but there must be a way I can use the virtual training partner for intervals.
First GPS assisted race on Boxing Day. It's a low key event that doesn't have mile markers, hence tactical advantage over the other runners (not that they care, most of them do this one in fancy dress and the handicap system works on how many pints you've bought the organiser over the year but that's not the point!)
Used mine tonite on a staple 5k with the virtual partner. Found I had run further than my usual end point. On finishing it rekon'd I had travelled 24ft whilst resting. I had stopped twice, once for about 2 sec to scratch my ankle and once briefly to cross a road. I had not however moved during these times.
I wonder whether 360 degree turns confuse it ? I turn twice on this route,
1. 360 round a lamp post,
2. arc of about 10ft radius accross a road.
Have not tested further, might examine things tomorrow.
My first mile came in at an expected 7:10 min/mile, next 2 at 8:02 and 8:20, both miles 2 and 3 contain the turns (Mile 3 has a nasty hill so that will account for a bit of a slowdown).
I am sure I am not usually this slow. Could it get confused if I double back on myself ?
Hmmm ?
Alex
Alex, I'm not sure what it means "24ft while resting", but just as a general point, I think people need to be a little wary about GPS accuracy. I've been very happy with my Timex SDM, but no one claims that it's 100% accurate. There are small variations between runs over the same circuit, and you do get occasional blips as you run under trees, or if the weather is very overcast, or possibly anything else (like tall buildings) that might prevent clear sight of a satellite.
For instance, I don't think it would be a good idea to mark out a race with a GPS, or try to measure short distances for intervals.
I haven't seen any figures for the Garmin Forerunner, but for the Timex, I've seen figures ranging from about 95% to 99% for accuracy. My experience was definitely closer to 99% I'd say, but still, not 100%. I guess the Garmin is the same?
Andy
Mail me at andy@runningcommentary.co.uk
Cheers
Andy
Mail address: steve.felton@hse.gsi.gov.uk
Regards
Steve
I got a weak GPS signal when I ran in the trees or even along the edge of the trees at the bottom of a hill. It did not seem to affect the overall distance measurement, but I got some funny pace measurements.
Buy buy buy - you will anjoy this gadget.
It's going to take a few goes to learn the button preasses and the most useful settings, but overall, very pleased.
I like: the big display, the customisability of what you see, the battery-life indicator, the automatic lap-time recording, the 'history' screens which show a lot of data and stores it for 2 years, not having to wear an arm transceiver (not that that's such a big deal IMHO, you barely notice it, but just an extra bit to worry about), the built-in battery charger, the calories-used reading, and the Virtual Partner feature.
Minor grumbles: not very loud alarms and the distance seems to go to 100ths of a mile rather than 1000ths like the Timex. I'm a bit confused about why the unit shows me as doing 5 'laps' instead of 4: something to do with stopping briefly I guess. This isn't (yet) a complaint, I think I just have to understand more about how it works. The only more significant dislike is that I like being able to use the Timex as a normal watch, while you'd get a few funny looks if you went to work with the GF on your wrist.
But all in all, very happy with it, and i think it will be a very good training aid.
Andy