Saturday 26 December 2009

Husband vs. Garmin

so it happened. the GARMIN and me are officially an item. husband introduced us on xmas day and i'm sure he'll soon wish he didn't. we sneaked out together for our first date today, and it was spectacular. although i’m not usually one to kiss and tell, here is the report:


what the hell are you talking out?

it’s a garmin forerunner 310XT (yes, i’m into inanimate objects.) it’s basically a big fat ugly GPS watch which is (for the first time) also waterproof. ideal for multi sports. before i used to run and guess what speed i was doing, how fast i was going. now i get beeped at, and, i get accuracy. sweet.


was it hard to get it set up?

let’s be honest, i’ve only scratched the surface, so no; it wasn’t hard to use. i followed all the little instructions and then found a route online which someone else had recorded, clicked the icon to send this to my watch- then it downloaded pretty much instantly. i used this route when running and it was great at telling me when i was off course (though not how to get back on?). the heart rate monitor, speed and distance were super easy to upload to my laptop upon return, and the results were there for all the family to see (“what’s this big spike?” “ummm, that’s me having a little rest.” “oh, there’s a couple of those.” “yeah... hmmmm.. thanks.”)


what about when you were running? that watch is GIGANTIC.

hell yeah, this watch is not small. it’s not pretty and it’s not small. but hey, we’re not always there to look our best right? so who cares.

HOWEVER i don’t usually run with a watch, or use one generally, so i found it pretty irritating. the cord of my ipod earphones kept getting caught in the watch strap. erg. and the watch was so big it rubbed against my skin pretty bad.


so what else?

not much. at the moment i’ve got more questions than answers, so maybe i’ll blog report once we’ve hung out a little more and got better acquainted. it was only a first date people, let’s not rush into things.

but here’s a couple of quasi interesting observations from our first day together;

1. for the first time husband has actually encouraged me to go running. three times. in one day. as it’s his present to me, he now has invested interest in my training. never thought of it like this, but take a page kids.

2. when passing every other runner i felt they were staring at my gigantic watch and wishing they had one. in reality, they were probably wondering why i was running so slow and whether the watch was weighing me down.

3. i can no longer hide from my shiteous running ability. it’s all being recorded now. every damn rest.

4a. i got beeped at for the entire duration of my 19km run. i don't know why but it was GREAT.

4b. i once ran into a hedge pressing a button. okay. twice.

5. i like it. a lot. but unlike a fellow tweep who met her own Garmin for xmas, i did not sleep with it last night. it was only a first date peoples. seriously.

11 comments:

Kelownagurl said...

LMAO - very funny read - and good first review! And yeah, I slept with mine before we even had a first date. ;)

tri_al said...

hahaha you were exactly who i was thinking of!

Trifatlete said...

Great Review. Humor and facts. Fantastic. I didn't even know the 310XT could download routes.

Colleen said...

Congratulations! Isn't it fun to run with! I love that it tells you how fast you're going, and you know exactly when you need to turn around and everything! I didn't know it could download routes either, that's fun! I have been using my husband's more than him. :)

Trishie said...

so jealous!! I love my 205.. Garmins are the best. Mine is named GARMIE.

triblog carol said...

Congrats on the garmin. I love mine and love looking at my workouts on the Garmin Connect site!

Anonymous said...

hahaha....that's great....a hedge...REALLY? lol...enjoy your wacth and your run and your data...

Benjamin said...

How's the precision for running? I once read that GPS devices can have trouble connecting when you're running in forests and the like, and that's why other multisports super watches like the fat polar one offer the possibility to add an acceleration sensor to your shoes.

KodaFit said...

Just consider me completely GREEN with envy. I have the 305 and love it. No connection problems yet, which has improved over the previous models and I love the stats it gives me, and the multi-sport functionality - I think you'll really like that one when you do your next race!

I haven't tried the downloaded route thing yet, and I still want to try the training partner function, but I've had it almost 2 years and I love it.

I'm sure you'll both be very happy and trust this will be a great long term thing for both of you!

Big Daddy Diesel said...

Nice, congrats, I hope it works out and you find love.

at least it is smaller then the 305, which is what i have.

and wait till people stop you and ask you for the time, that watch does everything but give u the time.

Beth said...

I am coveting your watch. It's a beauty. It makes my old Garmin 305 look outdated. That is a watch for Ironman training, for sure. Enjoy!