Discussion: New toy

How long you have had your new toy? How do you like it?

I have had it for about 3 weeks. It is pretty cool - the only downfall is that I think it would be most useful to track my routes for post-event analysis, but I think it might only be appropriate to wear it during ROC meets. I certainly would not use it as an aid during an event, but I wouldn't want to ruffle anyones feathers either just by wearing it. I decided not to wear it at Letchworth becuase for a longer event with a lot of elevation change it could be used inappropriatelly. You could set it to give you distance or elevation alarms. I did use it last weekend at Highland. I was nice becuase once I downloaded the info I was able to see some bad route choices fairly easily.
For training it is good as well, since it automatically tracks your pace and you can set up an autolap as well. So for running in the woods you can easily track your distance.
My wife has started using it for her triathalon traning and she loves it - so we will probably be fighting over it soon!

Oh yeah, you can also do what Shep is doing with his logs. I am trying to get a figure posted for the Highland Course.

Awesome! Did you get the latest, greatest model?

I did see few guys wearing it at Sprint Finals. I don't think they used it to look up/control their positions during the course but mostly as recording device to analyze after the course. I would not even worry if someone was/is using GPS help at regular or sprint courses since I would find that more as distraction then help, especially at Sprint course. During the sprint course I found that my E-punching technique is not the best. I probably lost 1 or 2 seconds on each flag because of that and when you run course with 17-18 flags and first and last place is separated by 3 minutes – it is a lot. Granted – GPS units could prevent from making “big” mistakes. Different story would be Rogaine courses where navigation is not as precise. I used my Timex GPS at Letchworth to track how much I ran.

I have the Forerunner 205, which is supposed to be an improvement over the 201 (from a tracking standpoint), but it does not have the HR monitor. I agree about it possibly being a hinderance during a sprint since everything is moving so fast. Does the Timex GPS allow you to download/manipulate the data?

I can buy separate recording unit that records GPS coordinates during the run and allows to download route after the run. Also I have an option to buy HR strip to get HR readings. I could potentially have full gambit – watch, GPS unit, recording unit, HR strip. Recording unit can record GPS readings and HR monitor readings. I am planning to get missing pieces next month or so. There are people who strongly believe in THR – Target Heart Rate – training methodology where you measure your intensity not from how you feel but from HR. I do think there is some merit to the thought.