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Racing with your Garmin (Read 245 times)

snapa55


    I have my first 5K since acquiring my Garmin coming up, what's your usual setup?

     

    Do you use auto-lap or do you manually push lap?  Do you trust the pacing on the watch?

     

    I was thinking about using auto-lap every quarter mile to try to make sure I'm on pace, what do you think?

    5K: 18:43 (12/13) 10K: 42:50 (12/12) HM: 1:30:10 (3/14) M: 3:34:46 (5/14)


    an amazing likeness

      I was thinking about using auto-lap every quarter mile to try to make sure I'm on pace, what do you think?

       

      Honestly, I'm thinking that you -- like most folks early in their use of a Garmin -- are looking for too much feedback from the device...understandable.

       

      Set it to auto-lap at 1mi or 1km (based on your mindset), and let it tell you what happened after the race. Then correlate what it recorded with what you felt.  Set the primary display on average pace for the workout and you'll have feedback on your pace as the event progresses, and another field showing last lap pace -- with these two you can see your evolving event pace, and if your last split fading or gaining against that.

      Acceptable at a dance, invaluable in a shipwreck.


      some call me Tim

        Only posting because I enjoy saying this... Listen to Milk Truck!

         

        And do that - but also, although I enjoy being able to take a look at the breakdown after, I don't use my Garmin for much during a race. Getting to a place where your body gives the cues about how much you can push at any given point is a good thing. One the way to that point, I think it's good to use instant/current pace function to give you feedback... for instance if you go out too hard it may give you a chance to adjust more precisely. This approach can keep your mind busy with calculations for the info you haven't provided yourself about potential finishing times, too, which is often my mental bread and butter during a good race. If I'm doing math, I'm not thinking about the ache settling in so much.

          I like to set autolap to every half mile for 5ks for after the fact analysis.  1K laps would also make good sense.  I find that average pace works best because there is too much variation early in the lap pace to be meaningful during short intervals.  For longer races, I use mile laps and average lap pace.

          duckman


          The Irreverent Reverend

            My Garmin 305 (I think - a few years old) can display up to four data points on the main screen. I display time of day; current speed (not terribly reliable at any moment, but good for a quick glance or a few glances over a minute or two); elapsed time; and elapsed distance. I also have the sucker track 1 mile laps and alert me at those laps (I hear it about half of the time, can look down, and see my lap time). If I'm very worried about running too fast or too slow, I also set pace alerts, so that the watch yells at me if I'm off pace.

             

            I'd see no point in pressing the lap button manually, unless you were on an unconventional training route that you use routinely and you want to track your lap splits over time ...

            Husband. Father of three. Lutheran pastor. National Guardsman. Runner. Political junkie. Baseball fan.

            kcam


              Manually lap it at the mile markers.  That way you can compare splits with other runners / racers.  ie things like .... "mile 2 marker was off wasn't it, what'd you get for mile 2?"  Later, when you upload to RA you can display the data in any split you want (1K, 1/2 mile, mile etc, etc, etc)

                I just make sure that average pace is showing and try and keep that at the pace I'm hoping to run. Once I get into the last km or so I forget about the watch and run by feel.

                  I used to be all data-crazy with mine, but these days I set it to display only elapsed time (or maybe elapsed time and distance).  Whatever your target pace might be, it's not that tough to calculate where you should be time-wise at 1mi and 2mi.  (You should be working too hard to look at 3mi.)

                   

                  For something as short as a 5k, I don't bother pressing the Lap button.  SOP is for the gizmo to take mile auto-splits, and you can carve it up any way you like when viewing your workout on this site.

                  "I want you to pray as if everything depends on it, but I want you to prepare yourself as if everything depends on you."

                  -- Dick LeBeau

                    I set it for elapsed time and HR. I manually press lap at key landmarks - like tops of hills, aid stations, stream crossings, cabins, whatever. That's what I use for my pacing / effort. In a 5k, I generally don't have significant landmarks, so just go.

                    "So many people get stuck in the routine of life that their dreams waste away. This is about living the dream." - Cave Dog
                    Julia1971


                      I autolap.  But mostly because I sometimes inadvertently hit the lap button twice.

                       

                      Whatever you do, if you have a time goal, just remember the course will probably measure a little long.


                      Prince of Fatness

                        Manually lap it at the mile markers.  That way you can compare splits with other runners....

                         

                        This would also be helpful if you plan on running this race / course more than once.  Garmin will not auto lap at the same spots from race to race whereas if you manually lap at the mile markers your splits will be comparable from race to race.

                        Not at it at all. 

                        FSBD


                          I have 4 fields showing on mine.

                          Timer

                          Distance

                          Lap Pace

                          Average Pace

                           

                          I have it set to auto lap at 1 mile

                          This set up has worked well for me and I don't plan to change it at this point

                          I use other fields for some workouts like intervals but for racing I keep it as listed above.

                          We are the music makers,

                              And we are the dreamers of dreams,

                          Wandering by lone sea-breakers,

                              And sitting by desolate streams; 

                          World-losers and world-forsakers,

                              On whom the pale moon gleams:

                          Yet we are the movers and shakers

                              Of the world for ever, it seems.

                            Set it to auto-lap at 1mi or 1km (based on your mindset), and let it tell you what happened after the race.

                             

                            I've never raced with a Garmin (yet) but I plan to and this is is pretty much why.

                             

                            After my last three long races I have found myself going to the running logs of friends who were running near me in the race, looking for my mile splits from their garmins. I now have a FR 210 that I've been using as my everyday running watch and it doesn't have many options for the display screen (which is a good thing imo) so I will probably leave it on Total Time in the middle with Total Distance at the top and Lap Pace at the bottom.

                             

                            I'm not going to bother manually hitting lap at the mile markers because I don't care if they are exactly perfect (there's nothing exactly perfect in running anyways) and I know based on experience that I will forget or just stop hitting the lap button late in the race.

                             

                            When I'm racing, I generally hardly look at my watch and never want to be bothered pushing buttons. For me it's all about data collection.

                             

                            Too the OP, I think quarter mile laps is going to be information overload for a 5k. Plus I've found that early in laps the lap pace is a bit wonky anyway, I generally don't even trust it until I'm about a quarter mile into a mile. ymmv.

                            Runners run

                            JML


                              I have mine set to autolap each mile and use it as a guideline for the first part of longer races to keep my pace in check.  For the second half of a longer race or something shorter like a 5k, I wear it but really do not look at it and just run by feel.  In my experience, being a slave to the clock and not listening to signs that your body gives you while racing leads to less than stellar results.

                              Rebuilding my aerobic base....racing next year.....nothing to see here....move along now.

                              jEfFgObLuE


                              I've got a fever...

                                 Too the OP, I think quarter mile laps is going to be information overload for a 5k. Plus I've found that early in laps the lap pace is a bit wonky anyway, I generally don't even trust it until I'm about a quarter mile into a mile. ymmv.

                                +1  

                                 

                                That's my experience with lap pace as well -- 1/4 mile is the bare minimum where there's enough data for lap pace to stabilize, so most of the time, the reading won't be doing you any good.  If you choose auto-lap, go with a minimum of 0.5mi.

                                 

                                My personal choice would be to manually hit lap at the mile markers, but that may be because I'm just so used to doing that with my old-school Timex.  Plus, I've run so many races where the markers were in the wrong place that I'm curious to see where they're placed.  You can always figure out your "actual" mile splits later.

                                 

                                That being said, I did try a 5k with auto-lap at every km, and I have to admit I kind of like the way it broke up the race into smaller pieces than mile splits.

                                 

                                But the most important thing is to not let the Garmin be a distraction.  Have your display set to the bare minimum items that you'll need to see in a race.  Time, Distance, and maybe pace.

                                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.

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