Running with the Garmin

I am down in Melbourne this week for work and after I spent a lot of our long weekend doing some research on a GPS watch. After chatting with a few friends and reading a bunch of blog reviews, I finally decided on the Garmin Forerunner 210 as the best watch for me. So then started my pricematching and bargaining skills. I would routinely order these types of things online from either the US or UK. However, the online prices were no better than the RRP here in Australia. So instead I started to see the best price I could get here. It ended up being at a major retailer because they guarantee to beat any geniuine competitor by 10%. So there I was, with all my print out and ready to get my price match when I walked in and was met with a new possibility. The Garmin FR 410 was the same price as my hard bargaining would see the 210 at.

So, what did I walk out with?

Yep, after all that research, I ended up upgrading to the next model. It does everything that the 210 does, just has a few extra capabilities including wireless syncing and the ability to link it to a bike cadence thing (clearly not motivated by that one).

A new toy in hand meant that I was prepared to run in the rain! Believe me, my motivation did not last long. I walked about 10 minutes through town to Federation Square in Melbourne and then stood in the rain for 7 minutes while Mr Garmin hooked up with the satellites. Apparently the first time is the longest, or when you move a great distance so hopefully it wont take that long next time.

 

I then headed off on a quick and very wet run, I ended up calling it quits after only 2km. It was enough for me to see how the watch worked and get out and about. That was where my enthusiasm waned and I was heading back to the hotel. The track I ran on though was absolutely beautiful and I cant wait to go the whole way around when I come back down to Melbourne.

 

 

I also thought I would do a little comparison of the Garmin vs the running app that I was using (Strava) and whilst it being a good app, as I mentioned on the weekend I thought the app wasnt really very accurate. I will be interested to compare over a longer distance obviously but I thought it was about 10% off but it was only 6% on this run. So not too bad, but it was a very short distance, so over 10km, that is a good 600m!  

I helped myself to a little treat I picked up from the supermarket for an afternoon of working from the hotel - a choc cherry yoghurt due. So deliciously tasty! In case you cant see the rolling away choc cherry balls, this was an attempt at an action shot.

 

Do you like to track your workouts?

 

Do you run in the rain?