Part One, where a purely rational decision is made to purchase a new electronic toy necessary piece of equipment for my safety.
As you can see from the recent posts I have been doing some running to get in shape, relax and enjoy the great out of doors. I have been using a combination of the pedometer I bought in August 2007 when it looked like I might exercise for more than two weeks without giving up, and an antique stop watch I got as part of some training years ago. (I had thought I lost the key to wind it up!) This was working pretty well for walking, but as I ran more and became more interested in “pace” and “miles” logged it wasn’t working out as well.
Pedometers are great if you maintain a single stride length all the time, but with running it varies depending on the speed at which you are going. I was being “gyped” on miles because of this, since the 2’11” walking stride was substantially shorter than at 10 minute/mile pace. Recognizing this I began calculating the different “courses” I run using the on line program on “www.mapmyrun.com“. This worked pretty well… for awhile. I now knew the distance pretty close, and using the stopwatch I could measure the total time to run the course. I did this for awhile, but then some days I wanted to run a different course like the Pinckney Trail and would not have an accurate mileage for it. The problem, especially with trail runs is trying to map the course using satellite imagery. Many of the trails are small and well hidden by trees so picking out the path is difficult and often had to resort to guessing. So…. I had been lurking in several of the running web sites (Active.com, RunningAhead.com) and reading the reviews and reports on GPS watches. There seems to be really only one real manufacturer, Garmin. They have several models, 205, 305 and the new 405 whose relative merits are constantly being debated. (205 same as 305 but without heart monitor, 305 close to 405, more screen options, but physically larger, 405 can be worn as “normal” watch, etc.) I was holding out for the 405 model, but as soon as it was introduced REI slashed prices on the 305 to unheard of levels. Really. I could not even find a close comparison anywhere on the web! So…. I naturally had to take advantage of the sale price “only good until May 12th!” and grab one. The other factor was my aging heart… I had checked my resting heart rate and done all the calculations for MHR, 80%, 60%, etc., but trying to take my own pulse while running and gasping for breath and at the same time trying not to inhale to many gnats just wasn’t working out very well. Even with the stopwatch and a good distance calculated, the HR just wasn’t happening. I was beginning to have visions of my heart on triple time then deciding it wanted some time off or go on strike….. not so good. The Garmin 305 comes with the heart rate monitor, so the final intellectualization warranted medical justification was made. A trip to the local REI store with the charge card in hand and I became a new owner of the 305.
Until the last GPS satellite transmits it’s final signal,