Garmin Forerunner 910XT GPS Watch

As most of you that have been in or around the running world likely know, Garmin makes GPS watches that can be used in training and racing. I use the Garmin Forerunner 910XT and it fits all needs nicely.

This watch is designed for triathlon. It has three modes: swimming, biking and running. The swimming mode can be set to open water or pool swim. When choosing pool swim, you're prompted to input the yardage of the pool you're swimming in. 

The display is nice and easy to read in all light conditions (after dark, you need to press a button to activate the back-light). The buttons and functions are fairly intuitive, and it's easy to switch between modes (just press and hold the "Mode" button). And best of all, it's comfortable. It's slightly larger than the watch I wear to the office every day, but no more uncomfortable.

I've used my regularly and have never had a problem with it in any of the three disciplines of triathlon. It does occasionally take quite a while to find satellites, but I gather from talking with others that this is a fairly common issue with most GPS watches. 

The only downside to the watch is that I cannot connect it to my smartphone and upload my statistics for the activity that way. My wife's Garmin (a running-specific model) has this feature, but the Forerunner lacks it, meaning I have to sit down in front of the computer to sync the watch. Overall it's not a very big deal and it certainly wouldn't keep me from recommending the device to anyone, but it is a slight hassle.

Overall though, the watch has been an absolute blessing and delight. I don't look at it much when swimming or biking and mainly use it there to keep track of my yardage/mileage, but I rely on it when I run to get my splits right. It's very nice to be able to simply glance at my wrist instead of having to fumble for my phone to find out the info.

If you're a triathlete looking for a GPS watch, this is the one you want. I can't recommend it highly enough. Below are two images of the watch itself, as well as what comes in the box.

Cycling Workout 9/29/14

Went for an 8.88 mile ride tonight that took me from my house past the elementary school, Hodge Park and Shoal Creek Golf Course. Finished in 42:19 with an average speed of 12.6 MPH.

Overall I'm happy with this ride, but my goal is to always have an average speed of 13 MPH. This course, however, seemed to be more uphill than down. If that is really the case or not I don't actually know, but it sure seemed that way when I was riding.

I can't be disappointed with my time or speed on this ride. As I said in my first post, it's been a really long time since I've done much. I have been active over the past week, but those rides were between 3 and 4 miles. My left knee started hurting about halfway through, so I was kind of babying it the last half, so overall I feel I did well.

I did have an experience with a moron of a driver on 96th Street near Hodge Park. For those of you not familiar with that area. 96th is a nice 4-lane divided road through there. Despite the fact that he had another lane to my left, this idiot in a black Ford F150 decided to pass me without fully changing lanes and proceeded to honk at me as he passed, as if I was some kind of idiot for biking. What actually happened is that there was a minivan in the left-hand lane and this intelligence-starved gent decided he didn't want to slow down and get over behind them. Clearly the only thing left for him to do in that situation - instead of being an actual decent human being and slowing down - was to try to run me off the road and then act as if the situation is my fault because I'm obviously some kind of stupid for getting in his way.

Moron.

Beyond that, though, really good ride. Not quite as fast as I would have liked, but I'm just getting back into this whole "getting-in-shape" thing after a month and a half break, so I'm not upset it wasn't as fast as I would prefer.

About Me

For all of you reading this that don't know me personally, let this serve as a brief introduction. I realize that this should have been my first post, but what can I say? My mind isn't always logical.

I'm a 31 year old male and live in Kansas City. I've been happily married for almost 8 years and am looking forward to many more. We don't have any kids yet but are hoping that changes in the future. My wife's a runner that has done multiple marathons so she's been my coach and inspiration on this journey.

I swam competitively for close to a decade, before and during high school. I was never exceptionally good, but neither was I horrible. Despite all the hard work I put in, I was always in the middle of the pack. My swimming background has served me well thus far in triathlon; while biking is my favorite leg, swimming is the leg I'm best at.   

I got into triathlon after thinking about it for a few years. It's something I've wanted to do for years now but was always unwilling to take the plunge, telling myself I didn't have time and that I didn't have a bicycle. This year I finally decided to turn my "What ifs" into "I've done thats", bought a bike and started making time for training.

I work as a draftsman for a company that produces storage tanks. It's a good gig and I enjoy the work and my coworkers. I've got good hours that give me time to train which is nice.

Outside of triathlon, some of my hobbies include reading. I rarely go anywhere without a book, and the fact that I brought books to family gatherings drove some of my in-laws a bit crazy until they realized I also brought books to my family's gatherings and wasn't simply singling them out. 

I also enjoy smoking food. I've got two Weber Smokey Mountain smokers, one 18.5" and one 14.5". I've smoked everything from brisket to cheese to bacon and most things in between. My love for smoked food is a minor part of why I decided to do triathlon. My waistline has been expanding ever since my marriage and I decided some form of physical activity was needed to help curb that.

I also like to game. I play all sorts of video games (too many, really) and also very much enjoy tabletop games like D&D and Axis & Allies. I'm always up for a game of A&A.  

The one thing I'm proudest of, however, is my affiliation with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Kansas City. For almost three years now I've been matched as a Big Brother with a nice young man. It amazes me how much he's changed (and changed me) in the past few years. If you're looking for a charity to get involved with, I urge you to seriously consider BBBS.

That's about it, the short(ish) version of who I am. I hope you enjoyed it!

Introduction, Triathlon Experiences & Goals

Hello everyone! I'm starting this to give myself somewhere to write about my triathlon goals and accomplishments. I'm a beginner triathlete and hope that someone at least gets some inspiration from this. I'm planning on attempting to post shortly after my workouts while my thoughts on it are still fresh, but no promises as that pesky thing called Life regularly interferes with my plans.

This past June I signed up for my first triathlon, the Matt Mason "Cowboy Up" triathlon, which took place at the beginning of August. I trained hard all of July, but unfortunately the triathlon ended up being cancelled the day of due to inclement weather. Something about not wanting us to swim in the lake while it was lightning. Psssh. Whatever. The fish manage just fine during lightning storms. (Sarcasm here if you can't tell - canceling was the right move given the conditions).

I was quite disappointed when it was cancelled and really fell off the wagon with my training. I stopped most training activity for all of August and about half of September. Eventually the despondency wore off  and I came to the conclusion that I'd pretty much wasted all the work I put in during July.

So, a few weeks ago I started training again. It hasn't been easy, but if it's done one thing it's proved to me I can do almost anything I can set my mind to. The biking has been horrible recently, but my Garmin tells me I'm getting better, and that's the goal.

I ended up taking this weekend off. I'd planned on 12.5 miles on the bike followed by a 3.1 mile run, but I was exhausted all day Friday for no reason which is a hallmark of overtraining, so I decided to back off a bit in hopes of staving off injuries or sickness. I ended up digging out a dead tree and planting a new one in its place instead of doing any actual "training" this weekend.

My next planned triathlon is at the beginning of March 2015 (not sure of the exact date yet as registration is not open yet). It's an indoor triathlon held at a gym in Overland Park, so no chance of this one being cancelled! It's a slightly abbreviated Sprint distance (500 yards swimming, 10 miles biking and 3 miles running; a standard Sprint distance is 750 meters swimming, 12 miles biking and 3.1 miles running). The swim portion is done in a standard lap pool, the biking portion on stationary bikes and the run on and indoor track, so I'm hoping this one will be a good first race.

I'm also planning on doing the Sprint Kansas City triathlon in May of 2015, as well as the Matt Mason triathlon again that August, which is also a Sprint distance. I'm also planning on doing one Olympic distance tri at the end of August/early September, I'm just not sure exactly which one yet. In June of 2016 I'm planning on doing the Oread Half-Ironman in Lawrence, KS. I'm hoping to do a full Ironman sometime in the latter half of 2017, but it's definitely something I have to work up to as a full Ironman is 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of biking and 26.2 miles of running.

As this blog progresses, I'll keep you updated on my training exercises as well as how my races go, once I get to that point. I hope you enjoy it!