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Garmin love and some questions (Read 1127 times)

jEfFgObLuE


I've got a fever...

    Well after owning it for 4 days, I can say that I love the Garmin Forerunner 305. And I'm not talking sweet, cute puppy love, I'm talking hot GPS action! Yes It's my #2 all-time gadget after my iPod w/ video. I've tested out a lot of the features, and I'm floored by what this thing can do. Also very pleased that despite running on steep rolling hills through a torrential downpour on a wooded trail, I got great GPS coverage. The Virtual Partner made me his dog's bitch today during my run at lunch -- I won't bore you with my list of excuses. Some questions: 1) How do you folks do strides with it? One idea that I think I may have seen here was to basically do your 5-mile run or whatever as the warm-up lap, then have like 10x100 intervals. I like this, except I don't think the Auto-Lap feature works during intervals, and I'd hate to lose that. Any other ideas or techniques? 2) I've set up an old favorite workout of mine in the advanced workouts, the one described here. In a nutshell, it's all time-based with intervals of (5-5-3-3-1-1)x2. I usually embed these intervals in a longer run, with an arbitrary 1~2 mile warm-up and arbitrary 1~2 mile cool-down. How do I add these "arbitrary" steps to an advanced workout? Do I just hit start, and then activate the advanced workout when I feel like doing it after a mile or 2? Can you even have the regular stopwatch and advanced workout running simultaneously? Or is there a way to add an open-ended step to the advanced flow? 3) If there's one gripe I have, it's this -- I don't like the fact that the HR Zones are based on Max HR instead of Heart Rate Reserve, which takes your resting HR into account. I set up my zones like this, just wondering what y'all think (all % are %HRR, not %MaxHR): Zone 1: 60~70% 132~146 Zone 2: 70~80% 146~160 Zone 3: 80~86% 160~169 Zone 4: 86~92% 169~177 Zone 5: 92~100% 177~188 (based on resting of 49, and ballpark guess max of 188 ) 4) Anyone know how to extract the data from MotionBased in CSV format? I know you can do this in GTC, I find that I need the elevation correction that the MB Gravity algorithm provides, as I mentioned here. Cheers, Jeff

    On your deathbed, you won't wish that you'd spent more time at the office.  But you will wish that you'd spent more time running.  Because if you had, you wouldn't be on your deathbed.

      And I'm not talking sweet, cute puppy love, I'm talking hot GPS action!
      Oh my!
      It's my #2 all-time gadget after my iPod w/ video.
      Heresy!
      1) How do you folks do strides with it? One idea that I think I may have seen here was to basically do your 5-mile run or whatever as the warm-up lap, then have like 10x100 intervals. I like this, except I don't think the Auto-Lap feature works during intervals, and I'd hate to lose that. Any other ideas or techniques?
      I do it two ways. One is I have several of my common mileages set up with strides built in at the end. So for example, a 7 mile w/Strides run, I have step 1 programmed as 5.5 miles at Easy pace, followed by 10x100m strides. The downside is the auto-lap feature doesn't do anything during the 5.5 miles (Berner says you can get Sport Tracks to do this to the data post-run. I believe him, but haven't tried it). However, the Garmin will happily beep at you at the appropriate times and record stride and rest splits. This is the method I use the most as it fits in just fine with what the Pfitz plan asks of me on a weekly basis. The second way is I simply have one advanced workout programmed that is just the 10x100m Strides. That way if I decide to do strides near the end of what was planned to just be easy miles, I can push a couple buttons at the end and add on the strides.
      2) I've set up an old favorite workout of mine in the advanced workouts, the one described here. In a nutshell, it's all time-based with intervals of (5-5-3-3-1-1)x2. I usually embed these intervals in a longer run, with an arbitrary 1~2 mile warm-up and arbitrary 1~2 mile cool-down. How do I add these "arbitrary" steps to an advanced workout? Do I just hit start, and then activate the advanced workout when I feel like doing it after a mile or 2? Can you even have the regular stopwatch and advanced workout running simultaneously? Or is there a way to add an open-ended step to the advanced flow?
      I would add warm up and cool down steps of what ever distance your "planned max" was for that type of workout. Say 2 miles for the sake of discussion. If after one mile, you felt warmed up enough, you could just hit the lap button to skip to the next step of the workout. Then use the same technique during cooldown. Less button pushing this way, I would think. Regarding whether you can do "stopwatch" plus advanced simultaneous, haven't tried it out specifically, but I don't think you can based on some of my random button mashing.
      3) If there's one gripe I have, it's this -- I don't like the fact that the HR Zones are based on Max HR instead of Heart Rate Reserve, which takes your resting HR into account. I set up my zones like this, just wondering what y'all think (all % are %HRR, not %MaxHR): Zone 1: 60~70% 132~146 Zone 2: 70~80% 146~160 Zone 3: 80~86% 160~169 Zone 4: 86~92% 169~177 Zone 5: 92~100% 177~188 (based on resting of 49, and ballpark guess max of 188 )
      I use the HRR (your numbers look fine BTW) as well, but our similarities scare me sometimes. Shocked (I was 48/188 until last weekend's 10k when Mr. Garmin let me know that me new max was 190).
      4) Anyone know how to extract the data from MotionBased in CSV format? I know you can do this in GTC, I find that I need the elevation correction that the MB Gravity algorithm provides, as I mentioned here.
      Can't help you with this one, unfortunately.

      When it’s all said and done, will you have said more than you’ve done?

        Like Bonkin, I have strides built in at the end of most of my "advanced workouts" too but I have them set to 20 seconds on / 40 seconds off. Same difference. If I'm just doing an easy run with strides I don't use the garmin, or if I do I just hit the lap button manually and do the 20 on 40 off the way I would with my normal watch.
        I would add warm up and cool down steps of what ever distance your "planned max" was for that type of workout. Say 2 miles for the sake of discussion. If after one mile, you felt warmed up enough, you could just hit the lap button to skip to the next step of the workout. Then use the same technique during cooldown. Less button pushing this way, I would think. Regarding whether you can do "stopwatch" plus advanced simultaneous, haven't tried it out specifically, but I don't think you can based on some of my random button mashing.
        For warmups and cooldows I just program the first and last laps of every workout to end "when I press the lap button on my device". That way I can make the warmup as long as I want, and sometimes I'll go 4 or 5 miles before I'm feeling it. Stopwatch is sort of always on, as in you can always flip to a screen that shows your total time for the workout at any time and the garmin is always recording it, unless you hit the stop button. Modified to add: the I create advanced workouts in Training Center and then download them. I've edited them on the watch itself but TC is much more user friendly for creating them and you can see the whole workout laid out for you.

        Runners run

          Re: Mikey's advice on "go til I press lap". Thanks, as many times as I've been in the custom workout editor, I've never noticed that before. Learn something new everyday. Ditto to what Mikey said about creating them in GTC and downloading them. Much easier than trying to program on the watch itself. In addition, at the beginning of each week, I will use the calendar and schedule various workouts for whatever "plan" I'm on and then download them. Then when I run, I just hit Advanced Workout->Today's Workout.

          When it’s all said and done, will you have said more than you’ve done?

            One idea that I think I may have seen here was to basically do your 5-mile run or whatever as the warm-up lap, then have like 10x100 intervals. I like this, except I don't think the Auto-Lap feature works during intervals, and I'd hate to lose that. Any other ideas or techniques?
            My top-secret tip for advanced workouts: If you are doing, say, a 3 mile warmup (or whatever) then you might normally program the run as follows: 1. Run 3 miles. 2. ... However, as you note, Auto-Lap doesn't work with advanced workouts so you lose out on your mile splits for your warmup. No However, if you program your 3 mile warmup as either: 1. Run 1 mile. 2. Run 1 mile. 3. Run 1 mile. 4. ... or 1. Run 1 mile. 2. Repeat step 1 x 3. then you get the equivalent of Auto-Lap in your advanced workout. Smile

            How To Run a Marathon: Step 1 - start running. There is no Step 2.

              That's definitely one way to do it, Berner. Personally I don't need to know my mile splits for my warmup and cooldown. I can sort of tell that they're going in the right direction if, for example, after half a mile my lap pace is 8:14 and afer 2.4 miles it's down to 7:48...that means it's going in the right direction. I like the flexibility of having my warmup and cooldown be open-ended even though I usually wind up starting the workout after some round number of miles, like 3. At least I have the option of not doing so if I chose. There are definitely days I don't feel quite warmed up by 2 or 3 miles (or whatever I was planning) and I go longer.

              Runners run

              jEfFgObLuE


              I've got a fever...

                These are all great suggestions! Bonkin: Thanks for the strides suggestions. I created a 10x100 workout and am thinking of calling it "Bonkin Strides." A point I discovered when setting this workout up -- there's a way around the metric/statute units dilemma. On the GTC, if you set the units to metric when you input the workout (i.e. enter 0.10 km), then switch back to statute, the system still knows you meant 100m when it flips over to 0.06mi. How do I know this? Well, I set up a workout this way and when I ran some strides, the Garmin said they were 328 ft in length, which is almost exactly 100m (as opposed to 0.06mi~317 ft). I know, I'm talking about a difference of 11 feet, but geeks obsess over this sort of thing. I think if I set it up to run intervals of 200 or 400m, I'll probably put the whole unit into metric because I can relate to "112m to go" a lot better than I can "367 ft to go" Berner: Great idea for setting up workouts to create an pseudo-Auto-Lap. It's so genius I wish I would have thought of it myself. Mikeymike: Thanks for pointing out the option to have a step last until the Lap button is pushed. I missed that one, but it's perfect -- exactly what I needed. Now that I've kicked this thing around a bit, I can only find two minor and one major thing I would change: Minor: ▲ A little more flexibilty with the statute/metric thing. I know there's workaround, but I still wish I could set up 200m intervals while keeping the thing in statute mode. ▲ Wish they had an option to show HR in terms of HRR% (in addition to HR and %MaxHR). Major: ▲ I wish they had Virtual Partner support during intervals and advanced workouts. I know you can set "Speed Zone" targets, but what I really want is to tell it I'm targeting those quarters in 75 seconds, and to know how bad the Virtual Bitch is kicking my ass. Dead

                On your deathbed, you won't wish that you'd spent more time at the office.  But you will wish that you'd spent more time running.  Because if you had, you wouldn't be on your deathbed.

                  Bonkin: Thanks for the strides suggestions. I created a 10x100 workout and am thinking of calling it "Bonkin Strides."
                  LOL - You're welcome and I'm honored, Jeff. Might be better if you changed it to Bonking Strides and did 100x100m Clowning around
                  A point I discovered when setting this workout up -- there's a way around the metric/statute units dilemma. On the GTC, if you set the units to metric when you input the workout (i.e. enter 0.10 km), then switch back to statute, the system still knows you meant 100m when it flips over to 0.06mi. How do I know this? Well, I set up a workout this way and when I ran some strides, the Garmin said they were 328 ft in length, which is almost exactly 100m (as opposed to 0.06mi~317 ft). I know, I'm talking about a difference of 11 feet, but geeks obsess over this sort of thing. I think if I set it up to run intervals of 200 or 400m, I'll probably put the whole unit into metric because I can relate to "112m to go" a lot better than I can "367 ft to go"
                  Good point on the units. I just used 0.06 and haven't worried about it. I will say that soon enough, you will find yourself not really looking at the watch and listening for the six little "here come's the next step" beeps.
                  ▲ Wish they had an option to show HR in terms of HRR% (in addition to HR and %MaxHR).
                  The couple of times I've set up workouts designed to keep me at a particular HR, the Custom screen would show a HR Zone. For example, when I configured a low HR workout, the goal was to stay in HR Zone 2. During the workout it would display 2.4, 2.8, etc. This way you know where you are within a zone without being concerned with a specific HR value. Since you have configured your HR zones, this sounds like a good solution for you.

                  When it’s all said and done, will you have said more than you’ve done?

                  jEfFgObLuE


                  I've got a fever...

                    I will say that soon enough, you will find yourself not really looking at the watch and listening for the six little "here come's the next step" beeps.
                    Yeah, it freaked me out when I first tried it b/c I thought I was done, but now I realize they are warning tones. Shocked Good point about the HR zones. Since I have them set up my way, I can just look at that number and not worry about the %. Have you fiddled with speed zones at all? I was thinking of configuring them kind of like the results you get when you use the McMillan Calculator, at least when it comes to Easy pace, Long run pace, recovery, tempo, etc.

                    On your deathbed, you won't wish that you'd spent more time at the office.  But you will wish that you'd spent more time running.  Because if you had, you wouldn't be on your deathbed.

                      Have you fiddled with speed zones at all? I was thinking of configuring them kind of like the results you get when you use the McMillan Calculator, at least when it comes to Easy pace, Long run pace, recovery, tempo, etc.
                      I told you it was scary. That's exactly how I have my speed zones set up.

                      When it’s all said and done, will you have said more than you’ve done?

                      jEfFgObLuE


                      I've got a fever...

                        I told you it was scary. That's exactly how I have my speed zones set up.
                        So in addition to being some bizarro cross between zoom-zoom's hubbie (did) and brother, apparently I'm also Bonkin's doppelgänger. Very strange place, this RA. It's like the corner of 1st Street and 1st Avenue -- the Nexus of the Universe. Clowning around

                        On your deathbed, you won't wish that you'd spent more time at the office.  But you will wish that you'd spent more time running.  Because if you had, you wouldn't be on your deathbed.

                        jEfFgObLuE


                        I've got a fever...

                          However, as you note, Auto-Lap doesn't work with advanced workouts so you lose out on your mile splits for your warmup. No However, if you program your 3 mile warmup as either: 1. Run 1 mile. 2. Run 1 mile. 3. Run 1 mile. 4. ... or 1. Run 1 mile. 2. Repeat step 1 x 3. then you get the equivalent of Auto-Lap in your advanced workout. Smile
                          You know what else that trick is good for? If you're running mile repeats, you can use this trick to get your 1/4 mi splits. 1. Run 1/4 mile 2. Repeat Step 1 4x 3. Recovery time/distance 4. Repeat 1~3 3x

                          On your deathbed, you won't wish that you'd spent more time at the office.  But you will wish that you'd spent more time running.  Because if you had, you wouldn't be on your deathbed.

                            Nerd alert.

                            Runners run

                            jEfFgObLuE


                            I've got a fever...

                              On your deathbed, you won't wish that you'd spent more time at the office.  But you will wish that you'd spent more time running.  Because if you had, you wouldn't be on your deathbed.