Happy Monday! Today I’m talking about my fun new gadget, the Garmin Forerunner. I got it in February for my birthday, but wanted to use it and really see how I liked it before posting about it, but let me tell you, it’s awesome. It’s one-thousand times better than using my giant iPhone that ran the entire length of my bicep. It usually slipped around because I could never get it comfortably tight enough to stay. Now, I use my watch and my little iPod shuffle and run in populated areas. Side note: Safety is definitely important when running alone, so if I do choose to run at a weird time and/or without my dogs I do usually bring my phone.
It did take a bit of time to figure out how to use, and I actually had to read (some of) the manual. I wore it in the half marathon last weekend to track my race, and it was really great, and pretty accurate. I found that my miles weren’t quite matching up with the course, but honestly that has happened in most of my races and with several different run-tracking devices and apps. During the race, the watch tracks your overall time, average pace, calories, current pace, and if you get the extra piece, your heart rate.
After your run, be sure to save your run and you can load it all on the computer. Since I’m a geek for charts and stats, I review all of mine when I’m done and will eventually put what I learn into practice during runs. Speaking of learning, I’m not going to post my splits for you because they’re embarrassingly inconsistent (I mean, you aren’t supposed to have a “fastest mile” during a half marathon, right?), but when you plug into your computer it shows your pace, elevation, run cadence, and a map, plus breaks down your splits, distance, and calories. You can even set goals and meet personal records, and even track weight loss through Garmin Connect!
In addition to tracking your runs, it can also be a regular activity tracker, kind of like a Fitbit (Garmin also has separate activity trackers). I have to admit I haven’t used this function as much, mostly because it’s a big purple watch and honestly it just doesn’t go with my weekday wardrobe, ha! I did wear it when we were hiking at Hamilton Pool, though which was interesting to see.
I have the Forerunner 220 without the heart rate monitor, but there are tons of options!
