Gadgets

So I thought I'd write a post about the gadgets I use when I'm running or cycling, as these have really changed over the last year.

Nowadays I have a Garmin 10 GPS watch, which is a nice little piece of kit that I wouldn't run without now.  It does the basic GPS tracking, and I mainly use it for distance, time, and average pace (although I find the pace less accurate whilst actually running, and more for analysis the overall run or intervals when I get home).  I bought this just before the Prague Marathon as I wanted to keep track of my pace and, because it was my "casual" marathon, to time my walk/run strategy.  I use it for cycling too.

I plot my runs on www.mapmyrun.com which is a lovely website.  I used to record all of my runs on it as well but now just use the Garmin Connect website.  MMR is good for planning routes and has been invaluable when plotting the long 15+ training runs that span at least 2 towns.  I've also got the app on my iPhone, but tend not to use it as the GPS is really unreliable and the app is a bit slow.

Beofre my Garmin I took a simple stopwatch.  The finish time combined with MMR gave me my route and average pace.  Whilst I was out running I had to make do with check points to work out how far I'd gone - easy in a race where there's mile markers, but harder in a training run where the half way point is somewhere vague such as part way along a trail alongside a main road!  I didn't take a watch until after the Loch Ness Marathon though, and the first race where I timed myself properly, keeping track as i went, was the Herts 10k - good to know I was on track for a PB there!

I didn't really like having a watch on my wrist as it annoyed me, but I soon got used to it, just as now I am used to the larger Garmin.  Before the stopwatch I just used to start the timer on my iPhone and stop it once I'd finished - so it was not totally accurate as involved getting it in/out of my pockets and unlocking it to stop the timer.  So it was always at least 20 seconds over.

Finally for the last 18 months I have kept a running log on my iPhone using the app Running Log.  Simple but works very well (I also record swimming/tri/cycling on it, although I don't put any stats in as it would skew the figures it gives you for your overall running miles/timings etc).

My training plan for future sessions is a big excel document that I've kept going for over a year.  Every week I edit and grey out the weeks with the actual workout I did, and it highlights all the dates there is a race.  Marathons are highlighted as the most colourful, so I can see at a glance how many weeks there are to go, for making sure I hit the 15 mile minimum and 20 mile long run targets in time for the taper.