Platypus' Beginners Guide to Running
- Thread starter platypus
- Start date
I picked up a Fenix 6 Pro from CEX recently for 300 quid, B grade, all boxed etc, some very minor rubbing. I figure at that price it'll not lose much even if I do decide to shift it on....I suspect in the current climate the Fenix 7 is going to be megabucks, so happy to wait for discounts.
Really great watch, super solidly built, great strap. I got it mostly for the on-wrist maps for mountaineering, but have been using it for running. Sleep tracking seems just as good as my old fitbit. Nice controls, usable with gloves. Battery lasts forever.
Just getting back to running, I've managed to do a 5k on Monday and Wednesday, with no knee pain, which is a first. Slow pace on monday, picked up to ~6min/k for yesterdays. I did a few long mountaineering days over the Christmas break which definitely seems to have helped strengthen it.
Great stuff.
@hux is there no web portal you can use?
For example, Garmin have Garmin Connect and it shows an absolute mass of information that i very rarely look at! A lot of the running dynamics comes from the HRM strap and it's interesting actually as it fully failed on Saturday, yet when i was looking for this it's actually quite a time since my watch captured stuff like vertical ratio etc so it's clearly been faulty for a while!
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/7403891796
@hux is there no web portal you can use?
For example, Garmin have Garmin Connect and it shows an absolute mass of information that i very rarely look at! A lot of the running dynamics comes from the HRM strap and it's interesting actually as it fully failed on Saturday, yet when i was looking for this it's actually quite a time since my watch captured stuff like vertical ratio etc so it's clearly been faulty for a while!
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/7403891796
It gets better. Garmin didn't want me to return the broken strap and i'd also emailed Amazon who said to return it for a refund, so i've got my money back and a free new strap
Did my first bit of marshalling on Saturday night. Had an email asking for help on a night time 10k up in Rivington and since the rewards for doing so include entry to a future event including Grizedale/Howgills marathons at ~£35 i figured it wasn't a bad use of time, plus i could get a bit of running in on the hills before/after.
Was a fairly decent experience, although had to arrive at 4pm, for a 7pm race start which felt very early and resulted in ~90mins of standing around. Then we were led to our marshalling posts. I got moved to a different post and got there around 6:10 and the other person hadn't turned up so i was on my own for almost an hour. Would've been a bit boring, but i figured i'd use this time to run rather than going for a run after the event finished. I was at the bottom of a long ~5% hill and so did a few hill reps and then a bit of a cool down. Glanced at my watch and realised it was 7pm and the first runners were likely due in 10 minutes so had to sprint (for me!) the half mile back to my post to get there in time It was pretty cool though as you could just see the procession of head torches approaching from the distance.
Everyone went past by around half past and the sweepers came and sent me back to the start. I got there around 8 and then proceeded to stand around for another hour. Most people finished around 8:45 and we were just stood waiting for 2 women to finish who finally came in around 9:15. Then followed by packing up some more stuff, but again there were loads of people stood around with not enough to pack but not really knowing what else to do. I saw some people head for their cars and after 10 mins decided to follow them for an escape. Some kind of better leadership may have been better for newcomers to marshalling, however i got the impression it was a lot of regulars who help out often and so they all seemed to know what they were doing.
The down side is that i took my spare 4ah battery for my head torch and it must've fell out of my bag as i can't find it. I only went into my bag around 3 times to get a drink and would've hoped i'd have noticed it fall out. I went back Sunday to look around but no luck and no sign of it having been handed in either
Was a fairly decent experience, although had to arrive at 4pm, for a 7pm race start which felt very early and resulted in ~90mins of standing around. Then we were led to our marshalling posts. I got moved to a different post and got there around 6:10 and the other person hadn't turned up so i was on my own for almost an hour. Would've been a bit boring, but i figured i'd use this time to run rather than going for a run after the event finished. I was at the bottom of a long ~5% hill and so did a few hill reps and then a bit of a cool down. Glanced at my watch and realised it was 7pm and the first runners were likely due in 10 minutes so had to sprint (for me!) the half mile back to my post to get there in time
It was pretty cool though as you could just see the procession of head torches approaching from the distance.Everyone went past by around half past and the sweepers came and sent me back to the start. I got there around 8 and then proceeded to stand around for another hour. Most people finished around 8:45 and we were just stood waiting for 2 women to finish who finally came in around 9:15. Then followed by packing up some more stuff, but again there were loads of people stood around with not enough to pack but not really knowing what else to do. I saw some people head for their cars and after 10 mins decided to follow them for an escape. Some kind of better leadership may have been better for newcomers to marshalling, however i got the impression it was a lot of regulars who help out often and so they all seemed to know what they were doing.
The down side is that i took my spare 4ah battery for my head torch and it must've fell out of my bag as i can't find it. I only went into my bag around 3 times to get a drink and would've hoped i'd have noticed it fall out. I went back Sunday to look around but no luck and no sign of it having been handed in either
@neoboy
New Garmin Fenix watches are out. Buy Buy Buy
Oooh the Epix model has an Amoled screen. It looks pretty! Wonder how the battery life actually is.
Not much in the way of new features over the 6 that i can see though, however the "Up Ahead" screen where it can have checkpoints loaded in to give the distance to future aid stations would be awesome if it trickled down.
New Garmin Fenix watches are out. Buy Buy Buy
Oooh the Epix model has an Amoled screen. It looks pretty! Wonder how the battery life actually is.
Not much in the way of new features over the 6 that i can see though, however the "Up Ahead" screen where it can have checkpoints loaded in to give the distance to future aid stations would be awesome if it trickled down.
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Not sure I can justify the price of a new model but will wait for some second hand bargains
I'm yet to run since the injury anyway, still few issues so will probably be months before I can justify buying something like that. With no lax running schedule before it happened, I might not even be able to complete 5k in current shape
I'm yet to run since the injury anyway, still few issues so will probably be months before I can justify buying something like that. With no lax running schedule before it happened, I might not even be able to complete 5k in current shape
While we are on the topic of Garmins, can someone shed some light on why mine doesn't auto upload new activities to strava/connect? Unless this is how it is supposed to be, I am now having to open up the connect app to allow the sync to occur. I do have a habit of closing all my apps but I'm sure when I first got the watch it automatically uploaded my activities as soon as I walked through the door. It's not a huge issue but it's bugging me lol.
Also, I did my first ever parkrun so that's one achievement I can tick off, thoroughly enjoyed it and can't wait to do another! Put me off slightly with volunteering haha but I'd also like to give it a go one day for an experience
Also, I did my first ever parkrun so that's one achievement I can tick off, thoroughly enjoyed it and can't wait to do another! Put me off slightly with volunteering haha but I'd also like to give it a go one day for an experience
Hmmm no I can’t say I have any idea why that wouldn’t auto upload. Mine will even do it over wifi as it connects to the house if my phones Bluetooth is turned off (not sure which models have wifi build in but I presume most as it uses that for Spotify)
Congrats on your first parkrun. I’m tempted to head to a local one sometime just to try and officially get under 25 mins as it’s just something I’ve done by myself previously.
Dammit. I’m watching a DCRainmaker video on the Fenix 7 and am in the process of convincing myself I need it and that I need the 7X Solar Sapphire edition. I absolutely do not need to spend £1200 on a bloody watch just to get a flashlight!
Congrats on your first parkrun. I’m tempted to head to a local one sometime just to try and officially get under 25 mins as it’s just something I’ve done by myself previously.
Dammit. I’m watching a DCRainmaker video on the Fenix 7 and am in the process of convincing myself I need it and that I need the 7X Solar Sapphire edition. I absolutely do not need to spend £1200 on a bloody watch just to get a flashlight!
Oh well, I've 'forgotten' the device and repaired to see if that helps next time, perhaps having a 5 year old phone isn't helping matters, who knows. I daren't look at any youtube videos, I've only got a 245 and am more than blissfully content with that 
I don't even use this to it's full potential to be fair. Are you really tempted at that sort of price though?
Thank you, why not, I'm sure you would smash 25 minutes. I mean, are most events like 10k upwards similar to that of a parkrun gathering? It was just so pleasant from everyone I've never known anything like it!
I don't even use this to it's full potential to be fair. Are you really tempted at that sort of price though?Thank you, why not, I'm sure you would smash 25 minutes. I mean, are most events like 10k upwards similar to that of a parkrun gathering? It was just so pleasant from everyone I've never known anything like it!
Nah I don’t think I could be tempted. It’s just a crazy price for so little upgrade of my current watch. Although I don’t even think I could justify it even if I didn’t have a Fenix 6X Pro. I think the big benefit with Garmin is they never really go obsolete and you still see people with a garmin watch from 6years ago at events and stuff, so I see me keeping mine for a while yet as I don’t really know what they could add that’d properly tempt me to change. Although touchscreen maps would be good. If I go off course on mine it’s always really tricky to navigate my way back as I’ve never worked out how to move the map around!
What’s a shame for me is they seem to have rolled the “pro” into the sapphire version so to get things like the flashlight which id find useful you have to pay quite a lot extra for the Sapphire model which I wouldn’t usually be bothered about.
I think my general hope is that most of the new features that interest me are software based so I’m hoping they roll down to lower models in time.
As for events. Yes I’ve never been to one yet where people aren’t friendly. I always go on my own and always end up chatting to various people pre race when hanging around for the start.
What’s a shame for me is they seem to have rolled the “pro” into the sapphire version so to get things like the flashlight which id find useful you have to pay quite a lot extra for the Sapphire model which I wouldn’t usually be bothered about.
I think my general hope is that most of the new features that interest me are software based so I’m hoping they roll down to lower models in time.
As for events. Yes I’ve never been to one yet where people aren’t friendly. I always go on my own and always end up chatting to various people pre race when hanging around for the start.
That AMOLED touchscreen on the Epix makes map navigation a lot lot better. The battery life isn't that much worse on the Epix compered to the Fenix too. That's really the only thing that could tempt me though, otherwise not worth upgrading from the Fenix 6. And not at £900+