Posts Tagged with: "Garmin"

Garmin brand ambassadors, Team Gotta

Garmin, a worldwide pioneer and leader in GPS, recently opened its first concept store at the 3/F Glorietta 5.   (more…)

Garmin recently announced the launch of Vívofit (veevo-fit) — a stylish, lightweight fitness band designed to turn good intentions into lifelong habits.  I haven’t seen one yet, but it seems to me that it’s very similar to Nike’s Fuel Band.  These products are geared more for the fitness enthusiast rather than the endurance athlete.  Methinks my sister will like this!

FEATURES

• only fitness band that automatically greets users with a personalized daily goal, tracks their progress and reminds them when it’s time to move
• shows steps, goal countdown, calories, distance, and time of day
• has a unique, curved display
• batteries last over one year and are replaceable
• water-resistant (50m)
• compatible with ANT+™ heart rate monitors1 for fitness activities

HOW IT WORKS

Vívofit learns users’ current activity level, then assigns an attainable daily goal. As milestones are met, vívofit will adjust the goal for the next day. Research shows prolonged periods of inactivity, such as sitting at a desk, decreases the body’s production of fat-burning enzymes. Taking frequent, short walk breaks throughout the day can reverse this. And while it is easy to lose track of time and forget to move, vívofit knows. A red move bar appears on the display after one hour of inactivity and builds when users have been sitting too long. Walking for a couple of minutes will reset the move bar, and get users out of the red.

Vívofit follows progress 24/7, and it can stay on for more than a year without a battery change. Setting the sleep mode when going to bed allows vívofit to monitor the quality of rest. With the touch of one button, users can wirelessly sync vívofit with Garmin Connect™, a free online fitness community with currently over four billion miles uploaded by users. At Garmin Connect, users can see a complete picture of their progress through easy to read reports and graphical representations, including their total sleep hours, as well as periods of movement and restful sleep. Also at Garmin Connect, users can join online challenges with other vívofit users or start their own competitions with friends to compete for virtual badges and bragging rights. Users can access this free online community from their computer or on their compatible mobile device2 with the Garmin Connect™ Mobile app.

Using a heart rate monitor with vívofit to record heart rate and zone data will achieve more accurate calorie burn information for any fitness activity, such as a run or a cardio class at the gym. The vívofit band is water-resistant, so it can be worn in the shower or get caught in the rain, worry-free.

WHERE TO BUY

Vívofit is available in black, purple, teal, blue and slate and both small and large sizes come in the box.

Vívofit retail price: Php8,450.00

Garmin sent over the Garmin Forerunner 10 for road testing.

Last Sunday, I took this pretty baby (no exaggeration!) out for a spin on a 14k easy run with friends.  Without reading the manual, I wore it that morning and took off.  Good thing it didn’t rain despite the expected storm because I wasn’t even sure if it was water resistant!

– Garmin Forerunner 10 comes in various colors for Men and Women –

Here’s my review on the Garmin Forerunner 10.

[ LIKES ]

+ Provides Essential Running Info.  The Garmin Forerunner 10 provides the basic and most important information a runner needs from a workout: Pace, Distance, Time, and Calories. With the Garmin’s dependable GPS-based system, distance and pace are pretty accurate.

– Screen after the run. Hey, don’t judge my pace! It was an easy run! –

+ User friendly. To start running, just press the right top button to grab a satellite signal and within a few minutes, you’re good to go. As with all Garmin watches, all you need is common sense to get started. I never ever had to read through their product manual. We all have time for long runs, but we don’t want to waste 5 minutes figuring out how to start a running watch, right? To add, all functions can be easily accessed using the two right buttons.

– Just click on the right top button and you’re off! –


– Click on the right top button again to pause or end a run –

+ Backlight. If you start running before dawn or at night, the backlight is definitely a must.

+ Virtual Pacer. The virtual pacer is available in most, if not all, Garmin running watches. It allows you to set a target pace and you can race against a virtual runner. The watch will alert you when you are on pace or if you go too fast or slow.

+ Counts laps. The watch can monitor your pace and time for laps. I usually have my laps set per kilometer and this helps to track your average pace per lap for a long run.

+ Run-Walk Intervals. For runners who practice run-walk technique, this is a God-send. You can input number of minutes running and walking and the watch will alert. No need to add/subtract while on the run.

+ Easy to charge and upload. Just attach the charger to the watch and plug it in like a cellphone. This is also the way to upload data to Garmin Center.

– The charger attaches to the back of the watch –

+ Comfortable, Good size, Lightweight. This watch is as light as a feather, it’s comfortable, and it fits on the wrist quite nicely.

– The Garmin Forerunner 10 with its siblings the Garmin Forerunner 310XT (strapless because I use this for the bike) and Garmin Forerunner 910XT –

+ Comes in various colors. Black/Red & Orange/Black and Pink/White for men and Green/White, Violet/White & Black/Silver for women.  All colors are available locally.

+ Water resistant. Up to 50m.  (Great to know I can run under the rain with the watch again in the future!)

+ Functions as a watch. This is a big deal for me: You can use it as a regular watch! Battery life on watch mode lasts up to 5 weeks.  That’s fantastic.

+ Affordable. The watch costs P8,990. Not bad compared to other pricey Garmin models.

– Limited to 2 Data Fields. While running, the interface provides two data fields at a time: one screen provides time and distance and the other calories and pace. While I appreciate the simple and clear interface, I count this is a negative for one, like me, who is used to the Garmin Forerunner 310XT or 910XT which can provide 4 data fields at once. But, for the first time Garmin user, this won’t be a problem at all. One can easily switch screens by pressing the down arrow. Data is large enough to read while running. Data can be customized as well.

– Short battery life for training. According to the Garmin website, “for typical use (with GPS on 30 minutes per day), battery life is 10 days. If used continuously with GPS on, battery life is 5 hours.” For runners who run above 5 hours for a marathon or an ultramarathon, this is a serious issue.

– Limited archives. History can store only up to 7 past runs. If you’re OC over your training, make sure to upload your data regularly to Garmin Center.

[ TBR VERDICT ]

I highly recommend the Garmin Forerunner 10 as an entry level running watch. It provides the basic and essential info needed by a runner along with additional features. Garmin pretty much took the key features in their top of the line running watch and packed into this the Garmin Forerunner 10. No frills, all function.

My only concern with this watch would be its short battery life on GPS mode.  I’m assuming they designed this truly for beginner runners running short distances.

So, who is it for? I would say it’s for the beginner runner, the experienced runner (who runs half marathons or shorter) who is on a budget, the triathlete who wishes to have an extra running watch on top of his/her triathlon watch on casual days or running days. The latter is actually me. I’m pining for the purple one! Sigh.

[ PRODUCT DETAILS ]

I don’t exactly know when Garmin made additions to their Dashboard (so forgive me if I’m a little late to the party), but may I say I’m loving it!

I rarely ever visit the Garmin Connect Center to upload all my data from my watches.  I use a Garmin Forerunner 910XT for running and triathlon, while I’ve got a Garmin Forerunner 310XT attached to my Specialized Shiv.  Um, yes, I’m a gadget freak, but I’m not very technical nor analytical when it comes to my running data.  Sure I monitor my pace, time, and distance during each workout, but I don’t like poring over the numbers, determining how I can improve next race, or noting my PRs (this blog keeps track of it for me.)  I have this inane fear that if I did, I’d suddenly get freakishly obsessed with numbers more than the pleasure of running itself.

Anyway, back to the Garmin Connect Center.  I was bored to death today, so I decided to finally upload the ton of data on my Garmin Forerunner 910XT.  I visited the new Dashboard to find this: a window of your Personal Records!  (Now we don’t have to even track it ourselves anymore!  How cool is this?)

First I was ecstatic to see my times.  Then, upon seeing the dates, I realized I slowed down immensely this year.  (What?! No PR for 2012?!)  Well, it wasn’t a year where I focused on speed as I got my feet wet with triathlon and managed my Morton’s Neuroma.  But, I tell you, this motivated me to rediscover that speed again.  Thanks for the help, Garmin!

This begins a series of posts about my many adventures (and misadventures) as I train for Ironman Cebu 70.3 on August 5, 2012.  “ROAD TO IM 70.3” will be posted every Monday, but, if I have more to share, I may post another within the week.  This will be a countdown of sorts to race day.  A journal of my training…and all my whining (I’m not sure if you’ll want to hear this), bragging (hey, who else do I share my little achievements with?!), and learnings.

If you are a runner completely uninterested in triathlon, just sit back and enjoy.  You may pick up a thing or two to help your running or you may be inspired to try swimming or cycling or both.  At the very least, you may be entertained with the craziness of triathlon training.

If you are a triathlete, this could be a walk down memory lane as you recall the days when you were once a clueless, unbalanced, inflexible, yelping newbie like me.  Please stop yourself from laughing about my little mishaps or, worse, major idiotic moves.  If you can’t, then run to the bathroom, shut the door, let out a big guffaw, then come back to read more.  Oh, it would be great if you could drop a tip or two for myself and other readers, too.

Now, if you are a runner contemplating on getting into triathlon or hastily signed up for Ironman 70.3 like me, you’ve come to the right place!  Take this journey with me. It’s definitely merrier with more newbie triathletes thinking in unison:  “What the hell did I get myself into?!!”

————————————

COUNTDOWN TO IRONMAN 70.3 CEBU: 10 WEEKS

10 more weeks to Ironman 70.3 Cebu. 5 more weeks to Tri United 2.  My coach, Andy Leuterio, reminded me about this early last week when he emailed me my program. Distances, particularly for the swim and bike, would substantially increase to build up for race day.  I swear my index finger was shaking when I clicked on the mouse to open Coach Andy’s file (which we’ve been tossing back and forth every week as he sends me the program on Monday and I return it filled up every Sunday) entitled: “Jaymie Pizarro’s Battle Plan.”  Total hours of training: 14 hours.

That week is over and I only hit 10 training hours.  Life got in the way you see!  That’s not to say that the week was not filled with things to be proud of or happy about.  Here are many firsts that made this week fantastic for me:

1) First time to ride alone…and I hit 65k!  (I was supposed to ride 100k that day in JalaJala with friends, but my ITBS started acting up. Aaargh!)

2) First time to drink from the internal bladder on the Shiv. (Don’t laugh. I’ve had the Shiv for over a month now, but it’s taken us (me and him) quite some time to get familiar with each other.)

– This is the straw for the Shiv’s internal bladder which makes it accessible while riding –

– Shiv’s internal bladder in the pink circle –

Special thanks to Coach Norman Pascual who allowed me to be saling pusa for a day in his bike skills session at SM MOA. We spent 2 hours going around in circles just to get me and another student, Patty, to get to drink while riding!  While I can drink from the straw, I still need to learn how to drink from the bottle!  Need more bike skill sessions!

– with Coach Norman Pascual, Jun, Rex, Monching, Patty, Tina, Dennis, Weng, and Ruben –

3) First time to attach my Garmin 310XT to the Shiv!  Got myself the Garmin bicycle mount kit (which I’ll be changing to the Quick Release Kit) and the Garmin Speed/Cadence Sensor.

– Garmin 310XT will be for the Shiv now.   I’m using the Garmin Bicycle Mount kit here, but I’ll be changing it to the Quick Release Kit –

– Attached Garmin Speed/Cadence Sensor’s three components: GSC 10, pedal magnet, and spoke magnet –

– Close up of pedal magnet –

Garmin Speed/Cadence Sensor: P3,550
Garmin Bicycle Mount Kit: P1,750

Where to buy:
Navco, 3/F Millennium Place, Meralco Ave. cor J. Vargas Ave. Ortigas Center, Pasig.
Phone: 782-5913 / 571-6716

4) First time to swim this far: 2.5k!  Woot woot!  Don’t ask me to clap though because my arms were extremely exhausted the day after.

5) First time to post on my Road to Ironman 70.3 series!  Here’s to 10 more to go before the big day!