Garmin

HuntingDrog

got a 305 today. Feel like a THICK asking this question but whats the difference between Garmin Training Centre and Garmin Connect?

Magnet

C`mon Krusty....
Don`t leave him hangin` :p:p

gerard65

Magnet wrote: »

C`mon Krusty....
Don`t leave him hangin` :p:p

Send in the clowns:D

chez-moi

The training centre is pretty basic and software resides on PC. Garmin Connect offers far more stats and better mapping.

HuntingDrog

tks chez-moi. so no need to dowload the training centre then? just use Connect?

Krusty_Clown

Lol.... This is turning into a spectator sport!

Garmin Training Centre: Is a Windows application that you install on your PC. You can send your activities from your watch to Training Centre (as well as Garmin connect). I usually do this (send info to both), as it means I have a local copy of everything, should I ever decide to move these to another application. You can export from Garmin Connect, but only one file at a time. Remember motionbased? That was a previous incarnation of Garmin connect that Garmin closed down about 8 months ago. That's another reason to keep a local copy.

You can also set up advanced workouts on GTC. One of the major weaknesses, is that the mapping is so hopelessly out of date. However, if you use other Garmin GPS products you can share the mapping from these products (or alternatively download Open Street Maps, which can be far more detailed than Garmin's maps for specific areas (like the Dublin mountains).

Two other features available from GTC:
Courses: I've never used it, but you can convert a previous run (or someone else's previous run to a course and upload it back to your watch to follow on some other training run).
Scheduling: You can shcedule advanced workouts by dragging and dropping them onto the calendar. I don't really use this either, preferring to keep my running schedule in google Calendar.

Garmin Connect: Is an online version of GTC that doesn't have all of the features, but has other benefits, such as its use of mapping via google maps. It's been prettied up recently, and now includes features like elevation correction (from geo data). Being an online application you can view your data from any pc, and also share this info with others. It also has crap like the [Health] tab for tracking your weight.

Alternatives: Sportstracks is a vrey worthy alternative, and is almost a hybrid of the two Garmin products, offering the benefits of storing your data locally, while pulling down Google mapping to show you your activities. It has some really funky adidns and features, like calculating your fastest mile over the course of a year's training. It's shareware, but if you use it frequently, you should make a donation to the authors, to keep it running.

Phew. Or else just read chez-moi's reply.

HuntingDrog

tks Krusty. I'm a novice with using Garmin but i suppose the best thing is to send activites to both for a while and see whats working for me. cheers

hot to trot

My garmin 405 is definitley wasted on me. Almost feel guilty for having it as I only use it for pace , distance and heart monitor. It loads itself up to the computer when I am at work but as I write all my runs in to a diary beside my bed, I never bother looking at the stuff on the pc as I wouldnt know what to do with it.!

Should I be trying to get more out of it? and what are the features that I should be trying to get used to ?

Krusty_Clown

Well, a couple of things spring to mind:
1) Intervals - If you're not running intervals then you're really missing out on one of the watches best features. You don't have to upload them from the PC, you can create an interval session directly on the watch. Intervals aren't just for speed merchants, anybody can gain from them, even if speed isn't specifically the goal.
2) Comparison: If you're interested in progress, than Garmin Connect and GTC (and Sportstracks) are the way to go. if you wanted to calculate something like: Average speed in 2009 Vs 2010, it would take you a long time to work this out from a notebook.
3) Advanced workouts: Very useful for things like Predator runs, PMP runs etc. (i.e. you can divide your run into blocks, with seperate warm-up, warm-down, and monitor average pace for different blocks).
4) Set up runs with specific targets, e.g.: keep your heart rate between two specific points (handy for tempo runs).
5) As mentioned above: courses. But all you get on a 405 is a directional compass (305 has a breadcrumb trail).
6) Analyzing why you felt bad at a particular point in your run or race i.e. sometimes you just hit a lull and you can't figure out why. you can isolate where it happened (looking at the map), and contrast your pace, heart rate, slope (uphill etc) and try and identify what happened.


Loads of other stuff I can't think of at the moment!

hot to trot

Krusty , I do the intervals on it, setting it up on the watch.:)
If I want to compare progress , I normally just look back on a run in my diary and see how I got on as regards pace and heart rate effort with a run I have done before and that suits me. I am not so brill on the computer that I would be able to check stuff.

For heart rate/Pace - if I want to keep it at a particular level I just run faster or slower? same with pace.

What are predator runs?

Maybe I should go on a course:o

Do you check your average speed with other years?

Krusty_Clown

hot to trot wrote: »

Do you check your average speed with other years?

No, not really. But I might some day.