Almost 2 years ago, I wrote about ordering my Garmin watch. Here I am finally writing my thoughts about it. In due fairness to myself, I didn’t use the watch a ton before we found out baby #3 was on the way. So it’s only been in the past 6 months that I’ve really gotten into using it.
Bottom line: I love it. Here is why …
- flexibility in knowing my distance (I don’t have to remember a certain route I did to later plot on mapmyrun or gmap-pedometer to know my exact distance)
- knowing my pace and how far I’ve gone as I run
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my main reason – ability to do speed workouts without a track or treadmill (more on this in a minute)
My main dislike would be the size …
Garmin makes plenty of smaller watches geared for women, but this watch had the best reviews for the price, so I went with it – knowing it was on the big side. And I say it’s a dislike, but I use it every run and I hardly notice it’s even there. It more just looks funny! :)
Another note: I do not race in it. When I race, I want to run based on feel, not be consumed by my watch. I also know that it would stress me out in a race if my watch did not match up with the course mile markers.
Back to speed workouts. This is where the watch has become essential for me. I can set it for most any type of workout – distance/rest time, distance/rest distance, time/rest time, time/rest distance. I use the 1st 2 options the most – for mile repeats, 400’s, 1000’s, you name it. There is also an advance option where I can set it for a variety of intervals in 1 workout (a ladder workout – 400-800-1600-800-400 or for say 3 x mile and 4 x 200 in the same workout). The watch beeps when it’s time to start and stop intervals, making it super easy to just head out the door and RUN. As I said, this is so key since I do not have a track or treadmill available. And honestly, even if I had either of those, I’d choose this – to just run on the roads! (or trails – it works anywhere!!)
So yes, I love my Garmin :)
