To Garmin or not to Garmin?
Workout: Run 3.5 miles/ 35:07 minutes
Lately I have been thinking about GPS heart rate monitors. They are kind of all the rage. A few months ago, my friend Amy, who is new to running but is signed up for the Disney Princess Half Marathon, asked me if I ran with a heart rate monitor and I said no. Then I got Mo just a regular heart rate monitor for his birthday, since it’s been on his radar for a few months now. He feels it is the best way to push himself to quality workouts. It was even a topic of conversation at Camp Sweat a while ago, with fitness guru Jess weighing in on the best brands (Polar, she says).
I knew that if I wanted a new gadget, I’d want a GPS heart rate monitor (hey, go big or go home). I’ve been a bit jealous of Kate and Janae and Monica, who are always posting fancy pictures of their runs on their Garmins. Beauty Against the Beast had a great post on the different GPS watches she is considering.
Seriously. Everyone is talking about it.
I can’t totally decide if I want one though.
One of my favorite things about running is the simplicity. Shoes, shorts, braid, go.
Just me and my watch
I’ve been running with my watch for over a year now but I went about 5 years running and not timing.
Of course, those were slow, overweight years.
So maybe a Garmin, or other gadget, is a natural step as my training progresses? Not sure yet.
Do you run with a Garmin or other GPS watch? Just a heart rate monitor? Watch? Nothing? Why does that work for you?
Got a recommendation for me?
Posted on August 7, 2012, in Uncategorized and tagged gear, GPS, running, training. Bookmark the permalink. 17 Comments.
Go for it, could even use it to train on your bike too.
Do you have one a suggestion on the model?
I don’t actually have one nor know much about the different models but I’ve heard from a lot of cyclists they enjoy having their Garmin.
I have a Garmin forerunner 305 and I love it to death! I am always so sad when I forget to charge it before a run. I love the size and all of the functions of the watch, and it comes with a HR monitor as well (which I don’t use very often to be honest!) Its not too expensive, and I would definitely recommend it.
Do you have to charge it before every run?
Let me know which one you decide on. After this MotoActv fiasco, I need to start looking again.
Are you looking into one that you can use to train for your tri’s as well?
That’s one of the things I’m debating.
I run with a polar ft7 HR monitor, which is actually pretty simple but it works. I really wanted one with a GPS, though, but they are expensive.
What I like about monitors and all those things are control. It’s easy to see where you are not that good, where you get distracted and slow the pace, where you go too fast…
For this, the best is buying one you can download the route profile and the speed in every part of it in the computer.
The extra weight is a pain, sure, but it’s worth. Anyway, that’s just my opinion.
hmmm. The route profile does seem really useful. I bought my husband a Polar Ft7 too! He loves it so far. I just got him the flowlink also. Do you use that or manually enter the information?
Well, I certainly would like to try the flowlink, but I’m just using Excel to manually enter information and plot graphs due to budget. Not many details but… it’s more accurate than to rely on my own judgement to see if I’m pushing myself too much.
Have you decided something or tried others?
I have the 410 and love having the heart rate monitor. I can usually tell about what my heart rate is and my watch confirms my “feeling”. I also use the watch as my RPM indicator. I can tell if I’m pushing to hard or need to kick it in.
When I don’t feel well during a run quite often the monitor shows that my heart rate is higher than normal. This means I have not hydrated properly or fully recovered from a previous workout.
I find the digital data is a good back up for my analog brain, and helps confirm my internal indicators.
Is the 410 a touchscreen?
Hi, it uses the side of the watch to scroll and select functions. You have to press the start/stop button to activate the bezel and then you can tap it, hold for the function to change or slide your finger around the bezel to scroll.
Some people love them but mine does freaky stuff now and then that ticks me off.
based on the beauty against the beast post and my love of my current timex running watch (same as yours i think), i think my money will go toward the Timex Ironman Run Trainer GPS when the day comes.
That was my original thinking too. I do love my ironman watch so that seemed like a natural step. I wasn’t too thrilled by reviews for that one. Since most of the bloggers I follow use a Garmin, I was kind of leaning that way because they all seem to like them.
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