Articles

It’s All Garmin Wrong

Adam Beesting

What do you do whilst your Garmin is searching for a signal? Are these not the most frustrating devices in the world? But once you’ve had one, you cannot seem to manage without and all you ever want to do is upgrade to a better, generally more expensive, model.

 

But really, are these expensive little devices (or phone Apps) over-controlling our running? 

 

My Dad was a seasoned marathon runner back in his day. He still struggles to grasp the whole Garmin / tracking thing. He used to calculate his pace in his head using a stopwatch whilst running, or more likely just calculating it on how he felt & experience from many, many other training runs. I dare say he will have pushed himself a lot more on occasions than I do nowadays as I get comfortable from the data my watch is telling me. 

 

I’m torn right now. I have an entry level Garmin. A forerunner 10. It is a good piece of kit, although recently (6 months old) it is struggling finding signals and can take up to a mile to find a signal and start tracking my run. I find this frustrating to say the least but my research tells me this can be common in most models of GPS watches. 

 

I find I track my runs mainly as I like to compete with myself. But really, does it achieve anything or am I in fact actually holding myself back by doing so?  

 

This is the point I should summarise my findings. But I don’t have any. For a change, this is where I would invite feedback from you the readers.

 

What are your thoughts, am I alone in this thinking? Are GPS trackers pushing us on or holding us back?

 

 

Use the comments section below to let me know your thoughts!