Obsessive Ramblings » Entries tagged with "GPS"
New Toy
A bit distracted this morning as my new Garmin arrived A nice new Garmin 910XT which is the latest in the cross-training variety of Garmin fitness watches. It is slightly bigger than the 405 that I have had for the last few years, and heavier, but only slightly. The big thing with this watch is that I can use it while swimming as well – I assume it has some sort of accelerometer sensors … Read entire article »
Filed under: Equipment, Running, Technology
Do you GPS?
So when you do you outdoor activity, do you take a GPS with you? One of the joys of running is that you can just slip on a pair of trainers (or not if you are Barefoot Ted) and just go out the door and run. That is one of the pleasures, the simplicity of the whole activity and the ability to do things without a lot of the paraphernalia that is essential with other activities; you … Read entire article »
Filed under: Equipment, Technology
Garmin Custom Maps
So what do you do when you don’t have a map in your GPS for an event you are doing? Two choices. Spend £120 on map software to download to your device or a similar amount on a memory chip with pre-installed software, which covers a wide area, but is still limited, so for example North America (for which I currently have no topographical map) would require about 6 sets of software / chips for the entire country at the 1:24000 scale required for sufficient detail (South West, South Central, South East – you get the idea). Alternatively, using Google Maps, OpenStreetMap or similar, patch together tiles of images with contour information, roads, lakes, rivers and the all important mountains in Google Earth (in order to geo-reference), and save as a kmz file. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Discussion, Equipment
Final Preparation
One day to go and how am I feeling? Nervous, to say the least. Not a good night sleep last night; helicopters buzzing overhead all night, children waking with sore throats, blood noses! Not sure what was going on last night. Still, final day to prepare tomorrow, so from that point of view I’m quite relaxed. Still wondering what I’ve let myself in for though. Sometimes I think it should be easy, and other times impossible. 100 miles, in much less than 24 hours is the aim. Final run complete today. A sunny easy run in my Vibrams around the city, which for some reason I cut short at each turn and so ended up not actually passing any discernible landmarks. Still, final run and hence training survived! I even smiled … Read entire article »
On the Positive Side
At least this time the trains were running on time. After six years, I had finally got a place in the London Marathon AND managed not to have to defer or cancel through illness or injury. Just. I am convinced 90% of the battle with racing is actually getting to the start line, and this I achieved, albeit with a reduced level of confidence in my ability due to a foot problem I had picked up 3 weeks previously (see ‘The final days’). So although not in perfect form and having had three weeks without any form of training to speak of, I was at least on my way to line up at the start. I met up with John at Guildford station and we had little trouble with the trains, unlike Reading, … Read entire article »
Solo IOW Half
Liz had completed her first half marathon, the IOW half, the previous Sunday in a stunning time of 1:44:56 – she was the 6th female out of the 300 competitors that took part in the race – seriously impressive! Nevertheless, I wanted to try out the route, so had downloaded it to our Garmin and intended to have a quick run round the course before we left. The only real problem was finding the start of the course in the first place and although I left early (7:00am) it took me 15 minutes or so to find the Sandown and Shanklin Rugby club where the race had commenced less than 48 hours previously. After this the Garmin worked well, showing a heading pointer all the time directing me along the now deserted route … Read entire article »
The long and winding road (or It never rains but it pours)
The thing about ultra marathon distances is that one is forever looking for ways to cover more distance, or more hills, or simply be out on the road for more time, while fitting into the ‘normal’ routine of work and home life. With commuting, the work aspect is not easy, and with four children, the home aspect takes a lot of understanding from one’s partner. So when I suggested running home from work, I was not met with the perhaps expected guffaws of laughter from my understanding and long suffering wife, but rather the simple question, “So, when are you thinking of doing this?” I had it all worked out in my mind; With the Classic Cliffs coming up, which itself would be four ‘tapering’ weeks from Mont-Blanc, I had only two … Read entire article »
The Welsh 3000s, take 2
Like a madman in an obsessive panic with the impending hills of Mont Blanc looming large in my mind’s eye, I had decided to attempt the Welsh 3000s again this weekend I had been watching the weather all week and although the long range forecast had been promising, it steadily deteriorated to the point where it was marginal, but I decided to press on anyway. So yet again, on Friday evening with a distinct sense of deja vu, I set off with my pack, thermos and 200 packs of chocolate coated coffee beans ready to attempt the 30 miles or so – but this time on my own. The adventure did not get off to a good start, courtesy of the M25. I had left at 7pm, some 2 hours earlier than we had … Read entire article »
New Gadgets
Technology is fantastic! Just finished my first long run with my new (Father’s Day present) Garmin Forerunner 405 and it is so cool! Have already done a couple of runs with it during the week as well as used it to record my heart rate during a spin session on Wednesday, but every time I use it I am seriously impressed with its ease of use. For example, my long run today is here on the Garmin site and all this involved, other than wearing an HRM (Heart Rate Monitor) while running, was to set my watch to aquire the network of GPS satellites prior to leaving, which took about 30secs, and then after the run simply turn on my laptop with the wireless stick connected. Download of data from the watch … Read entire article »
Marathon des Sables 2013 – Donate to Facing Africa or Stroke Association
Goto my Just Giving site
Elite Runner Updates
Gallery
- @centurionrunning Had a great recce along part of SDW100 Sunday - http://t.co/NMnYTLz3Ru - looking forward to 15 June
- New comment on SDW100 Recce 1 http://t.co/NMnYTLz3Ru by Zelda
- New comment on SDW100 Recce 1 http://t.co/NMnYTLz3Ru by Pommers
- New comment on SDW100 Recce 1 http://t.co/NMnYTLz3Ru by Dad
- New comment on Recovery? Don't talk to me about cross training! http://t.co/8AdMMsGvlQ by Pommers
Recent Garmin Updates
- Intervals 5 miles - Islington / Hoxton May 22, 2013
- Easy 2 miles - Mini Duathlon; Back May 20, 2013
- Easy 2miles - Mini Duathlon; Out May 20, 2013
- Long 31 miles - South Downs Recce 1 May 19, 2013
- Pace 11km - Victoria Park May 17, 2013
- Long 10 miles - Puttenham May 16, 2013
- Intervals 5 miles - Islington / Hoxton May 15, 2013
- Long 10 miles - Puttenham May 13, 2013
- Pace 6.7 miles - Victoria Park Loop May 10, 2013
- Easy 5 miles - Shalford May 9, 2013