[Cashmason]

From one of the women in my tri club<br><br>
Yesterday, when my husband called me from the Garmin booth at the<br>
Consumer Electronic Show in Vegas, he got the scoop that the 305 model<br>
is still the better device for multisport activities. Also, do not<br>
take the 405 model into the water. I've been reading how triathletes<br>
put their Garmins into their swim caps, in plastic baggies, in<br>
waterproof diving containers, etc., and that's okay, but don't do that<br>
with the new model. ~ Cindy

 

[LeftRightRepeat]

This might be more useful with some details...<br><br>
Why?<br><br>
Again, why? The 405 is rated to the same IPX7 "water resistant" standard as the 305?

 

[pcsronbo]

such a bummer.

 

[jroden]

There are canned programs for the 305 where you can tell it you are doing a triathlon, for instance and it will switch from one sport to the other as you press the "lap" button, i.e. while biking it will display speed as mph and running as min per mile. It seems to record data all the same, just the output is different.<br><br>
I'm way too busy thinking about what I'm doing to worry about pushing buttons on a watch.<br><br>
The other issue with the 305 is the sheer physical size, I doubt I'd use it too often in races, perhaps from time to time to record some data, who knows. I do plan to use it in the spring for some of my workouts to establish a baseline on a known course and see if I'm making progress, sort of a powermeter by proxy.

 

[valleysuper]

This is exactly why I love the 305, the courses and testing features are wonderful. I like the Polar software better, but I don't really live for the stats, I just like to know every once in awhile how I am doing relative to prior months.<br><br>
The more I use it the more I like it, I know guys who map out stuff in google maps and then download to garmin somehow and go run or bike it.

 

[jroden]

My plan is to take a course I enjoy which is 7 miles out and run two or three 10 mile (more or less) TT's on the course, then use the remaining 4 miles in the lap as a recovery, then use the "lap" feature so I can look at average speed and heartrate for the rides. Since I'm the same mass year after year and the course and equipment remain the same, I'm assuming fewer seconds for the coruse will mean more power output, assuming I pace the efforts OK. The other effort I want to try is some shorter TT's of maybe a mile or two where I try to really go fast with a full recovery, sort of like Jack Daniels "rep pace" for running.<br><br>
I don't know if I can ride 30 mph, but I think with some thought and effort I can certainly get faster than I am now. We'll see if I'm up for the challenge and structure, I tend to get distracted.

 

[valleysuper]

This is my second year with it and looking at how I rode some of my courses last year in July and Aug I have some work to do. It is a great motivator when you train alone as I always do.<br>
I also set it up for my LTHR test this past Tues. Then saved it as a workout so I can just hit the button and go. You don't need to do anything but run and it does all the work, with little reminders and beeps.

 

[jroden]

is the lt workout a canned function? i'd be interested in trying it. I use it as a data recorder n the trainer a lot. I have been keeping a log on paper, though--go figure.

 

[jroden]

This is a neat picture--the first workout was dec 16 at the excat same wattage as the second, the difference being the first was 4 x 10 minutes 5 mins recovery, while the second was 40 minutes straight. You can clearly see how the body adapted to the progressive workload and was able to do a steady output where on the first one the HR spikes up at about minute 8 of each of the sets (on the one I had to stop and change videos...)<br><br><img alt="" src="http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y173/jroden99/a_before.jpg" style="border:0px solid;"><br><br><img alt="" src="http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y173/jroden99/a_after.jpg" style="border:0px solid;">

 

[valleysuper]

I don't exactly know what a canned function is? But I think the answer is no. I had to create the workout myself but it was easy. I actually did mine on the watch which is more of a pain, but I had no computer that day. <i>Mine was for the run</i>, I will be doing bike next week. But I went into workouts>running>create new>and it brings up the template. I set it for<br>
15 min warm up/ target=HR<z2<br>
10 min lap/ target=HR z4<br>
10 min lap/target=HRz4<br>
10 min lap/target=HRz5<br>
cool down=HR<150<br><br>
Then when I got back to the comp I uploaded and saved the workout as Run LTHR test, and it will be there for me next time.<br><br>
Then I just took off and it would beep when it lapped or when my HR was not in the right zone. At the end I averaged the last two "work" laps. 174BPM.<br>
If I was more savvy I would put up the graph from Garmin.<br><br>
How far apart were the two tests? Look at your average HR for the second, that is great considering you held the same wattage, what a drop off from the first, more than 10BPM. that is some solid improvement.

 

[jroden]

Thanks for the plan, I like that. I have some suspicions about the ability of the Tacx motor unit to maintain a constant wattage level as it warms up, especially in the Ergo mode, so perhaps what I interpret as improvement is partly masurment error, who knows. I have considered the Computrainer, but it's too expensive and they really have not done a lot of significant upgrades over time--sort of the old "monopoly supplier" like they taught in economics, $1600 is really a lot of money.