DFW running club part 4!! ALL ARE WELCOME!!

RichOneday_2

Thanks, Hannah!

As for Garmins - its your choice, but personally I'd keep your money in your purse!

There's no question that they are a clever bit of kit but, as with a lot of technology, you have to ask what it will actually achieve.

You dont see Garmins amongst the faster runners, so they cant claim to help you run faster. Consistent training is the key to improvement. A £6-£8 stopwatch and mapmyrun provide pretty much everything you need.

Unless I'm missing something that is........:p

KeepYourChinUp_2

1HANNAH wrote: »

Should I think about buying a Garmin? I am serious about keeping up with my running and wanting to improve, is this something I should be buying? Any thoughts/advice would be great, thanks xxx

Like rich says a stop watch and mapmyrun is enough.

However having said that I have a 405 and love it but then I didnt buy it. I love all the data it spews out and the fact i can run anywhere without worrying about which roads I took so I can map it later. I love the fact I can take the watch off turn my laptop on and jump in the shower and when I get out my run is there on the screen with all the data . We also go walking so I use it for those as well. I actually find mapmyrun frustratingly slow and unwieldy especially if you dont do the same route all the time.

KYCU's summary
I wouldnt have bought one but I would buy another. If you always run the same route its pretty pointless and a waste of money.If you have other things that are needed more get/pay those rather than buying one of these as this comes under the indulgence purchase column .

Hope this helps.

Simplycynical

Hi Hannah - like KYCU I've got a 405 that was bought for me as a gift and I love mine too!!! It has all the plus points mentioned and it was great for my interval training this week too. The mapping function is great as I can see exactly where I've been and I use it when we go off-road on the bikes too.

Simply's summary: - it's not an essential piece of kit but now I've got one I wouldn't want to be without it.

RichOneday_2

Simplycynical wrote: »

Hi Hannah - like KYCU I've got a 405 that was bought for me as a gift and I love mine too!!! It has all the plus points mentioned and it was great for my interval training this week too. The mapping function is great as I can see exactly where I've been and I use it when we go off-road on the bikes too.

Simply's summary: - it's not an essential piece of kit but now I've got one I wouldn't want to be without it.

But what about last night, Simply.....was it spooky?:p

Simplycynical

Week 1/27 (NDVM)
Mon 26/10 Rest Day
Tues 27/10 3x1 Mile (08:48, 08:50, 08:47) + 2 Miles WU/WD
Wed 28/10 4 Miles Tempo 00:36:14 (09:03/mile)
Thurs 29/10 4 Miles 00:44:31 (11:06/mile)
Fri 30/10 Rest Day
Sat 31/10 5k Nite Run 00:28:14 (09:19/mile) + WU

Firstly can I say how nice it was to meet krider at last night's event, we were able to do a warm up together and it was great to have a chat whilst we waited at the start even though it was hard to hear because of the music. 'What's that coming over the hill is it a monster, a monster?' :rotfl::rotfl:

Loads of people had dressed up, painted their faces, etc and there was a bit of a party atmosphere with fireworks let off as we started.

The race itself was a bit of a disappointment as the route was far too narrow for the 300 (ish) runners. After assembling at the start we then had to funnel through a very narrow gap over the chip mats which meant that slower and faster runners were mixed together.

We went through fields, along towpaths, over bridges and it was quite difficult to get past groups of runners. We tried running round them a few times and ended up in a large clump of stinging nettles (I don't know how your stings were krider but mine kept waking me up during the night - very sore).

The head torches were a nice touch and useful for picking out the puddles and muddy patches along the footpaths but it was still quite slippery and a few expletives were uttered. The organisers had put a lot of effort in with pumpkins and ghosties along the route; it was fun but not a race I'd rush to do again.

We received a Halloween mug as a memento (I managed to drop mine and smash it whilst removing my head torch but they kindly gave me another one ) so with the tshirt and the headtorch came away with quite a stash.

Lessons learnt from my first 5k:-

3 hours is not enough time for your dinner to digest before a race (it nearly made a reappearance during the last 1/2 mile).
I like the distance and will try to get to a parkrun in the near future.
It's good to meet other forumites and put faces to 'virtual' names.

I've posted my watch time and will update once the chip times become available.

Good luck to anyone running this morning - hope you don't get too wet!!! (I'm going to leave it until this afternoon and hope the rain eases off).

Added:- Just seen your post Rich - I was busy composing my essay!!!! :rotfl:

evab_2

Well done simply and krider, we had a steady stream of trick or treaters and a lovely evening - absolutely tipping it down now and high winds.

Staying in today, I've got a series of exercises for legs, arms and abs so hopefully I'll be toned by the time I next see my dh. We've got to go to a 70's fancy dress xmas party on the 5th Dec at the TA center and the dress I want to wear is veeery short so lots of exercise needed for that!

evab_2

R.e Garmin - we've got a very old Garmin forerunner 201 and love the range of functions inc the training assistant. I have to say though that you have to forget it's there sometimes as it's easy to keep glancing at it and not concentrating on your run.

RichOneday_2

Congrats on the new 5K PB, Simply!:D

Sounds pretty much like a parkrun except with a parkrun:

1. Its light - so you can see the puddles:p
2. Its free
3. You dont get a mug to embarrasingly drop......

So the chap who does the Leeds parkrun juggling the whole way round doesn't need to fear any competition from the Simply camp any time soon.:rotfl:

Glad you enjoyed it, I'm keen to see what you could do in a 5K without the bottlenecks etc now...


Going out for something like a 14 miler with Becky in a couple of hours...expecting a drenching!:rolleyes: Then it will be time to watch the NY Marathon to see if Paula can make it 4 out of 4!

Btw Where's UK, he's gone quiet as the marathon approaches...I thought he was going to do the Finsbury Park parkrun yesterday but I couldnt find him in the results!

Simplycynical

Ha, ha me and krider said at the start that whatever we did would be a PB :rotfl: :rotfl:

If it's raining like it is here then you really are in for a soaking - good luck!! The forecast is meant to be 'dryer, later' so I'm going to leave it for a bit my LSR for today is ........ 6 miles.

I was wondering about Uk too - I think he's taking his tapering too far and is hibernating :eek:

krider2010

Morning all - all chores done, relaxing with tea

Simply has done an accurate race report from my perspective too. My lesson learnt was that I was not completely fixed from the week and felt rubbish from about 1.5 miles into the race. Warm up was fine. We did approx 1.1 miles at 10:35 sort of pace.

First mile was 9:30, so a sensible start to accelerate from, and a 9:12 second mile (Simply and I were still together at this point). But the extra pace was having a major impact, yet in training I've done similar, and faster. Slowed down to record a garmin time of 28:40 (9:24/mile) for the complete 5K. Still it's something to beat

Realised, looking at the stats this morning, that it was a physical reason, not just it being 9pm/me just being useless. My heart rate was really high; higher than any race I've ever done and higher than any 5Ks I've run in training since I've been running regularly. This little buglette is obviosuly not completely out of my system. Felt rough and cold once I got home too, though feel lots better this morning. Stings seem to have gone down overnight thankfully.

Having to constantly adjust pace and stride because of coming up against slower runners on a narrow course, and trying to run around them through unmown grass/nettles is quite exhausting. And I wouldn't class myself as a fast runner! Though Simply and I are now masters at sneaky overtaking manoeuvres :rotfl: