Wrist-based HR monitors. Love them? Hate them?

I had previously mentioned I had purchased a Garmin Forerunner 235 (just before they announced the launch of the new 245… but that's another story) and how I was trying to adapt to life with an optical HRM.

Fast forward 3 months and the truth is, I haven't. Some people swear by the Forerunner 235, calling it a workhorse, super reliable, etc. I found it to be the complete opposite. Leaving aside the poor battery life compared to the 8 to 10 days of the old 230, I still can't get to grips with how unreliable readings from the watch are. And that's a big problem for me.

I bought the watch with the idea of monitoring my performance based on HR and using this information to adjust my training routine. Mind you, I'm not a pro-athlete or even a competitive club runner but I do try to improve all the time, but data like the one below, where, at a pace of 8:35 min/km my HR was 164, I just can't believe. I may as well just buy a $5 watch.

So, I've gone back full circle to the chest strap I had dumped 2 years ago. I dumped it cause it cut my skin to ribbons so I wasn't too keen on going back to that (I have since, found the perfect solution and I'll talk about it next time). However, the difference in monitoring is like day and night. You can't deny it so, endure it.

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The hidden benefits of sport for teenagers

Following up from my last post , I have been giving some thought to the topic of teenagers and sport. Having a teenager in the house has taught me a thing or two about the way in which us parents, create a work ethic that will help them later in life, and the struggles we go through in order to turn actions into habits. Be the example We're all familiar with the old saying "Do as I say, not as I do" and it makes sense in a convoluted way, but not to a teenager. Imagine we tell them to get off the phone/tablet/Playstation and go to bed early, but they see us staying up till midnight browsing Facebook in bed. It sounds hypocritical, right? To a teenager, this feeling is amplified tenfold. If, on the other hand, we get proper rest, if we are commited to training, to fueling properly and we can show the results consistently, there's a better chance of the message sticking in their minds. Responsibility is personal When my son was younger, we would always mak...

The journey towards the Dublin City Marathon

When I started this blog I has the idea to use it as a way to keep me honest in my training by forcing me to log every (or almost every) session including mileage and how the session went, and a lot of things have happened since my last post back in April: - I did my first night run on the trails, head lamp and all. - Went on holidays and tried to run an "easy 10k" in 30 degree heat and nearly died - Started exercising for 10 minutes every morning before work - Ran the Born to Run 10k series around Dublin (none of the races were actually 10k) - Ran the South Dublin 10k race in July - Started training for the Dublin City Marathon in October Sadly, writing hasn't been one of them. I fell into the trap of wanting to be read people other than myself and my imaginary friends and I realised that the most popular blogs have content and knowledge. I just have stories... and excuses.

Short term goals vs long term vision

Why did you start running? We all start running for a reason. For some people, the motivation is to lose weight, for some others the is to gain fitness to do other sports. There is of course the love of running as a sport in itself but I don't think I've ever met anyone who one day just laced up, went out and was converted. There's always something ahead in the distance that pulls you. That's the inital goal. The pits of short term goals Say you take up running in January to lose some weight after the excesses of December. You religiously get out 3 or 4 days a week to do 4 miles and after a couple of months you hit your weight target. Then what? The initial goal is achieved and there's no incentive to keep on running so, instead of 4 times a week, you now run twice a week. Instead of 4 miles you run 3, then 2... See the pattern? There has to be more than immediate objectives to keep you going. Otherwise, there are too many forks on the road, too many deci...

26.2 Ways to Run

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