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Tuesday, February 23, 2010

My New Garmin 305!!!

My husband picked the best Valentine's gift for me, ever!!! I know I had mentioned in my blog after my first 5K that I needed a sports watch. I hadn't even mentioned it to my husband and the next thing I know, he had already bought me the Garmin for Valentine's Day! He's a techie nerd and was actually excited to do the research and find a good sports watch for me.
I'm still getting used to how to use it, but the basics, I've got down. I am most excited about the fact that I no longer need to drive in my car on Saturday nights to map out my long runs for the next day. I was also using Map My Run online, but learned from another fellow blogger that the distances are quite off on those maps.
Now, I can just hit start on the Garmin and go. I'm also excited to hopefully work on my pace and improve faster than I would without the Garmin. I have already begun to push my self a little harder when I can see how I'm doing with a quick glance during my runs. Another huge plus, is the fact that when I travel for vacation or whatever, it will be much easier to get a run in, knowing I can track my distance without guessing.
The only drawbacks are that you have to wait a while for it to find it's location sometimes and it is rather large and clunky. I think I'm already used to these two drawbacks and the pros really do outweigh the cons.
Training is going well, although, I've been a little sore in my glutes and hamstrings over the past few days. I think this is due to my recent interest in doing On Demand Jillian Michaels total body shred workouts. Those things totally kick my ass!! Especially the lunges!
I ran 6 miles on Sunday and it was pouring rain the entire time, oh well, at least it wasn't snow!! I was supposed to be at 7 miles according to Hal's half-marathon schedule, but like I said, my glutes and hamstrings were killing me on Sunday morning. Plus, I have plenty of extra time in my training before the half, so that I can double up on mileage weeks if needed.
Have a great week, everyone!!!

9 comments:

  1. Welcome to the Garmin Club!! I absolutely love mine - so much better than the Nike+ system that I was using. One of the most fundamental rules of owning a Forerunner though is that you have to give it a name (mine is Guido).

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  2. Yay for husbands and Valentines gifts.

    One of the things I love about my Garmin is what you said - the ability to just run and know how far you've gone without mapping it our first.

    It can be addictive though. I am constantly checking my pace.

    Have fun with it.

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  3. Woohoo! How cool are we with our new Garmins :)

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  4. I love my 305 and the only thing I would trade it for is another 305. You should really consider also using the Training Center Software it comes with or getting something more advanced like the WKO+ software from Training Peaks. Both will help you analyze your runs and see how you are progressing.

    Good luck!

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  5. I love knowing how far I have gone! I don't like it in a race when it differs with the posted mileage but that is the only drawback. I was like you driving to find out my routes and staying on the beaten path!

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  6. Awesome Gift! You're officially a running nerd!!

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  7. Wait, the distances are off on MapMyRun????? I RELY on that website!!! Can you explain?

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  8. Mollie, I read it on someone else's blog that they are off by a couple of tenths, depending on the location. I haven't checked it against the garmin. But, upon hearing about the difference, I drove a route and then used map my run and got a difference of about two tenths of a mile, not much, but still a difference.

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  9. What a great gift! I should try Jillian's workouts. I haven't really looked into them (I don't have much room in my apt) but I bet they are hardcore!

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