Third post-grad 5K... er, nope.

[yatesco]

I delayed my run from yesterday to today so I could use my shiny new Garmin FR235. Around 4.00 this afternoon it looked like it was cooling down a bit so I thought "yeah, let's rock the third 5K" (actually I didn't really - who talks like that?!). 

Cue running shorts, running top, vibrams, FR235 and two dogs (nobody say 'all the gear no idea'!), get onto the field and the heavens opened. I mean _opened_. I was expecting a light drizzle, this was like armageddon.

I love running in the rain when I need cooling down, but at the start of the run when you can see your breath and you are goosebump city? No thanks. I did 1.5K and then decided to turn in - running in the cold and wet when you are fighting a cold isn't that great... 

Shiver my way back to the house, getting some excellent 'weirdo' looks from the 2 people huddled in their winter fur-lined hooded coats, dry the dogs, shower etc. And yes, rain stopped, clouds dissipated, lovely nice crisp-ish afternoon.

Sigh.

I might try the run later this evening or tomorrow.

Good news is that the Garmin FR235 optical heart beat seemed to work a treat! I also ran with the Garmin vivoactive (great watch!) on the other wrist and they can't quite agree - 12.43 mins/1.57km from the vivo and 12.39 mins/1.58km. Not too encouraging...

[heavyhorse Graduate]

typical! At least we can decide when to stop now we are graduates and don't feel like we have to finish because a podcast says so! Not sure about your technical issue though, I'd quite like a Garmin of some description but have too many other wish list items right now !

[heavyhorse Graduate in reply to heavyhorse]

out of interest is your Garmin suitable for swimming? I saw older model forerunners quite cheap and they have the 50 m symbol on them but reviews say they are ok for showering and rain but not swimming

[yatesco Graduate in reply to heavyhorse]

Sort of :-). Most gamins are waterproof enough for swimming but they don't necessarily record swimming metrics well. The vivoactive is waterproof enough for swimming, and has a swimming profile, but the FR235 is waterproof but doesn't have a profile for swimming.

From my googling I have concluded that:

 - specialised watches are great for their specialisation (e.g. running or swimming or hiking etc.) and not much else

 - the more general watches (like vivoactive) are good at most things but master of none

 - the triathlon type watches are fantastic at everything but not optimised for anything - they can do pretty much anything but you might need to configure them a bit more first

Have you seen dcrainmaker.com - he is a little Garmin focused but his reviews are incredibly in-depth, for example, the vivoactive: dcrainmaker.com/2015/04/gar...

But yes, some of the deals on the Fenix2 or the FR620 or even the venerable FR610 are amazing.

The old vivoactive (without the inbuilt HR which is just released today) is great if you want to click a button and start running or swimming or cycling or... and have GPS, cadence, distance, lap times etc. want a pretty good activity tracker (steps, calories etc.) and want good smartphone notifications. It also has a touchscreen which works really well. The screen is pretty dim indoors but has a good backlight but is brilliant outdoors in the sun (i.e. opposite to phone screens).

The only reason I changed mine is I am a data geek and wanted heart rate and the ability to create training plans on garmin connect and download them to the watch (which the vivoactive can't do). 

I initially planned to buy a heart rate monitor like the Scosche Rhythm+ to use with the vivoactive, then I saw how cheap the older top-of-the-range watches were, Amazon kindly accepted a return on the 3 month old vivoactive and then some unexpected birthday money came which meant I could be looking around the £200-250 budget.

Hope that helps - if in-depth articles are your thing, dcrainmaker.com. Do be aware that these watches are very sophisticated in terms of hardware and software, Garmin tend to be a bit quick to release hardware so expect some bugs in the short term. BUT they are also pretty quick to fix them, people only ever complain on the internet. In other words, if you google for 'problems with Garmin X' you will find a deluge but 99% of people (made up figure) have no issues.

Let me know which way you go!

[heavyhorse Graduate in reply to yatesco]

thank you, I'm really only looking for something that tracks how far and fast I've gone on land either running,walking or cycling, and can track my speed and distance in open water. I don't want too much data, I'm mostly happy with my phone doing the tracking but can't take it in the loch! I also don't care about using it in the pool because I'm happy enough to count lengths . I have an elderly van to MOT and a wetsuit to buy first so I'm not in a hurry! The cheaper Garmin I saw in amazon looked great for my basic needs until I read the review that said not to swim with it, which may not have been accurate.

[yatesco Graduate in reply to heavyhorse]

Yeah, open swimming seems to be the achilles heel for a lot of 'generalised' newer watches. The Fenix, Fenix2 or 910xt might be worth looking at? 

[yatesco Graduate in reply to yatesco]

But open water swimming? Braver than me :-).

[heavyhorse Graduate in reply to yatesco]

thanks, its for the triathlon, I just need to know how far I've gone when outdoor training as there are no handy markers in the loch!

[Oldfloss Administrator Graduate]

Oh dear...but at least you could tell whether your heart was pitter pattering in time to the rain drops... ( Sorry could not resist) !

Well done anyway... we have had the most wonderful mix of weather here today.. snow, hail, and sunshine...

You watch that cold.. do NOT want you on the IC.... and head out when in it sunny..

[yatesco Graduate in reply to Oldfloss]

Not sure about the heart, but I did think "raindrops keep falling on my head" (oh dear :-)).

[Oldfloss Administrator Graduate in reply to yatesco]

Brilliant... you just have to love this crazy weather ... x

[poppypug Graduate]

Ah never mind Yatesy, best laid plans n' all that , you gave it a go xxx