Tuesday, August 16, 2011

When GPS maps go awry!

Since I got my Garmin 305 back in July, I have been using it for about as much as I possibly could.  I have taken it for walks IN my house, treadmill runs for HR, is now my new bike computer (due to an unfortunate incident), and acts as a wrist weight for my left arm (It's a gigantic watch...).  I am still learning new functions of the watch, and more importantly, the software that comes with it.  I have started using Garmin Connect, the online software that links to the watches and computers to save your workouts.  You can also analyze workouts in a basic sense with the free software.  I mainly look at my HR based on laps/elevation/pace, and make sure I'm not too out of whack (today was my first interval workout following my vacation, so EVERYTHING WAS OUT OF WHACK).

One of my favorite things, though, are the maps.  I think it's pretty cool to see where you went on a map, for some reason.  The Google Earth functions are pretty cool, too, although some are not always right.  These are the examples of those "not so right" maps:

I present to you two maps from Hilton Head, along the beach.  One is a run, one is a bike:  Guess which one is which:



Still can't tell?  Let's zoom a bit....


Got a little lost...
Although both apparently took place in the ocean (tides), the first was the run, and the second was the bike (yeah, not hard to figure out). Oddly enough, I had a similar pace for both, around 9:30 min/mile. The ride was with the family, and the run was tougher than I thought, due to sand. Actually, a 9:30min/mile pace through the ocean would be somewhat respectable, so I may stick with that!

Last, but not least, I wanted some sweet splits from one of my flights.  I got the idea from DCRainmaker's blog, one I frequent frequently (uh...). Although VERY tempting, this isn't part of my training totals, but still pretty interesting.  Plus it kept me occupied for the 1.5hr flight with a guy throwing up in front of me!

Not sure if the top speed is accurate....


Yeah.  Pretty nerdy.  I don't care. Deal with it.  

Thanks for reading!!!!!!  I hope you frequent frequently!!!



4 comments:

ScottyB said...

I hope you turned off the lap beep so as to not sounds like a time bomb. I did this last year for my trip from KC to Orlando. Pretty fun to see miles click off every 6 seconds.

Were you really wearing the HRM during the flight?

Mark said...

I actually forgot, but quickly realized after it was beeping every 5 seconds. And no, I wish I wore my HR monitor... but I didn't plan ahead enough.

RichieDubya said...

"Thanks for reading!!!!!! I hope you frequent frequently!!!" ... So you are more thankful than hopeful?????? Or did you just get exclamation point happy???

Mark said...

My exclamation point happiness does not even compare to my trailing off periods use (.......)