Just purchased my Garmin Forerunner 305 yesterday. I have been wanting to get more into running, I have always been more impressed by people who can run long distances than I have by people who can lift heavy things for some reason. I had intended on just buying a cheaper heart rate monitor so that I could track and plan my training across the various heart rate efficiency zones. However after seeing the shiny box and reading the features the Garmin Forerunner 305 convinced me to take it home and try it out.
I was a little shocked by all the little stuff that was in the box. The charging cradle + AC adapter gizmo seemed a little needlessly complex. I got all that put together and started the charging cycle while reviewing the documentation.
The Garmin Forerunner series are GPS enabled. This means that they can track how fast, far, and where you are running in real time. Some users have said that this works “okay” but not “great” while others have said that it is one of the best budget GPS devices on the market. The GPS stuff was just an added feature in my book because what I was looking for was an accurate heart rate monitor and the Forerunner seems to have that.
There is also a CD included in the box where you can upload your training history and plan future workouts. I haven’t tested that piece out yet but I will write about it soon.
Today was my first workout with the Forerunner. I set it up for interval training. I am a fairly new runner (but not completely) new and have been trying to increase my distance. Unfortunately the “run until you get tired” method was not helping much which is why I wanted to try and do it more scientifically using the Forerunner. The default interval programs were not what I was looking for, but programming my own of 5 reps of 3 minutes running with 1 minute walking was not difficult at all.
The heart rate monitor attachment is like many other units. You have a strap that you wear around your chest just below the breast bone. The sensors on the chest strap relay heart rate data back to the wrist device in real time. The 2 units pair with each other so that your monitor is not interfering with your neighbor’s. The chest strap is adjustable and fit snugly around my chest and was not uncomfortable during my run at all. I pretty much forgot I had it on.
During the workout the Forerunner displayed how much time I had left in this cycle (or “lap”) and when it got within 5 seconds of a new cycle it started beeping. I wish it would beep louder, if you were in a crowd of runners or around a lot of traffic noise you might not be able to hear it. That’s pretty much my only complaint about the unit so far.
Once the workout was over you can review the history. It displayed that I had run a total of 1.71 mi, which matches up with how I had clocked the same route in my car. It displayed that I had burned 286 calories and it also displayed my average heart rate and maximum heart rate during the run, time elapsed, etc. I could also view this same data for each individual lap. This unit provides all the numbers that any workout nerd could ever want.
So as of right now I am loving it. I will write more later this week about the other features and how the software is working out.
