Frostbite Half Marathon (Read 1084 times)

The gadget comes with some software called "Traning Center" which, near as I can tell, is only useful for creating workouts like the ones I described and then uploading them. You could create the workouts on the device itself but that woudl get old fast using those tiny buttons. It is really easy to do using Training Center. Uploading all the data to Motionbased is really simple. You just sign up for a free account, download a little agent and then plug in your Garmin. It's that easy. There is no Garmin to RunningAhead integration yet but since Eric himself owns a Garmin, I'm guessing that's on his list. For me its not a big deal to transcribe the data from MotionBased. I don't use the Garmin for every run anyway. I don't regret not gettingthe HRM. But I've gone through the "Would a HRM help me or hurt me?" debate with myself many times over the years and have decided at best it would not help me. So that was never a question. THere are a couple other add-on features like integration with a cadence monitor for biking and some pedometer gizmo for using it indoors or on a treadmill in which I see no value, so I am VERY happy with my 205 decision. It's really whether you want the HRM or not. If you do, or think you might at some point, consider the 305.

Price difference is about $100. That is essentially for the HRM and strap. Well worth it in my use. Uploading to motionbased is cake. Even a gorilla could do it. You do need to sign up for a free account on motionbased. You can pay a little bnit to get some extra features on motionbased, but I have not done this. I just went out tonight and made up a new course around Vandy to get my total miles in, and did not have to worry about guessing the distance. And Eric is working on a way to upload the Garmin data to RA logs... For tonight's run, I used my GPS, got my 7 miles in 59:56 or something. If I want to look at the pretty graphs, I can upload the data to motionbased. Since I still am sick and am not running very well, I don't want to look at the graphs; they won't be pretty. But I can still easily enter the 7 miles and the 59:56 into my RA log.

Um... can you monitor your 400 splits as you're running mile repeats?

Sort of. You can set the thing to display your pace for the current lap--it will display your average pace for the current lap as of wherever your are IN the lap. So if you're doing a lap that is 1 mile, you can look at your "lap pace" at .25 miles etc. I actually looked at this a few times when I was doing mile repeats on Sunday--my goal was to have it be its lowest number right when I finished the mile--if that makes sense. So, for example, while running one of the miles, if it said 6:25 at .50, 6:18 at .75, and 6:14 at the end, then I knew I was accelerating throughout the rep, which is what I wanted. One think it does not appear you can do is mix units of measure such as miles and meters--it has to be set for one or the other. Modified to add: Tomorrow I'm going to answer the nagging question of how fast I actually run when I do some of my time-only workouts such as 8 x 2 min on / 1 min off. I have it all programmed and set to go.

Trent, are you talking about doing repeats on the track with the Garmin? Have you done that? I'm thinking I wouldn't want to just since it is not 100% accurate and not having it record my laps at the exact right place would annoy me. And anyway if you're on the track you know your exact distance and pace with just a watch. To me the real benefit of the GPS is being able to do workouts like this anywhere--without a track. I was thinking one way to record your 400m splits while basically doing mile repeats, Jeff, would be to create a workout like this: 1. Warmup until I hit the lap button, 2. Run 400m 3. Run 400m 4. Run 400m 5. Run 400m 6. Recover for x amount of time Then repeat steps 2-5 as many times as you want. This would be easy to create in Training Center and then upload to the Garmin. Modified to remove inadvertent tight-lipped face.

But couldn't you get the same (actually better) data with a watch? Or are you also interested in the corresponding HR data? In which case, yeah, that makes sense. If I'm doing 400s (or 800s or 1000s or miles or 2000s) on the track, I don't need to create anything in TC either...I just go run with my Timex instead of the Garmin. I think we are seeing this from different perspectives that reflect our different though equally valid reasons for wanting the Garmin in the first place. Okay time to go running...I'm on vacation this week and the whole concept of running when it's light out is really starting to grow on me.

Today's workout, pre-programmed into the Garmin and done over a 10 mile loop course with some rolling hills: ~3 miles easy, 8 x 2 min on / 1 min off, 5:30 easy, 4 x 30 second strides / 1 min recoveries, ~2 miles (to home) easy.

I could do it with a watch. But I have to hit the lap button at the start and stop of each lap.

I have an old school work-around for that, but it's not perfect. Use a regular watch and use the interval timer to set your pace. Example: It's 1995 and I'm running 3x1600 in 5:20 with 4min recoveries. Using my trusty Timex, I set intervals 1~8 to 40 seconds each. I set the 9th interval to 4:00. Then, I set the whole thing to repeat indefinitely. Once I start, I get an alarm at every 200m letting me know if I'm on pace or not. During the recovery jogs, I try to make sure that I end up at either the start line or the 200m start when the next interval starts. Now, this won't work if you can't keep the pace, or if you want to track or upload your splits. But the nice part is you don't have to look at your watch. Just run and wait for the beep!