Anyone else use a Garmin at Steelhead? How was your signal strenth?
I had no problems on the bike, but I lost my signal 1 mile into the run and it never came back. This sucked b/c the main reason I got it was to help my pacing at Steelhead. Also, the odd thing is that the first mile is under trees and the rest is out in the open. So why would I lose my signal once I got out into the open roads?
To make matters worse, the wrist strap broke in T2 so I had to hold it the entire run. I’m really starting to hate this little device. I already ditched the HR strap before the race b/c the HR function is just too unreliable.
I think you may have answered your question with the wrist strap breaking. It would make it more difficult to get sat info because of covering up the receiver or not being able to hold it consitent to get a good signal. I used mine on the bike and it worked great, but on the run
I’m going with the minimalist attitude and just check my time at the mile markers.
It would make it more difficult to get sat info because of covering up the receiver or not being able to hold it consitent to get a good signal
I thought about that during the run and held it out in the open for quite a while to see if it made a difference. Nope. Still no signal. I really like the Garmin when I bike, But I’m finding it useless for running. Sadly, it was for run pacing that I bought it.
I ahve the 201 so can’t speak to the 301. I find that it is almost a day to day and time of day thing. I know that you have sats that rise and set which can cause some problems. The other thing I have noticed (both on the bike and on the run) is orientation. I must shadow it. The other thing is once it has lost all of its sats, it takes it a while to figure out where it is again and just holding on to it while running could take a while; movement makes it harder for it to figure out where it is.
As for the pacing, I find it gives a rough (sometimes very) estimate and can vary quite a bit. I have found that for the run my HRT is the only way to go. With the heat in Sat’s race, I know I was fading in the last couple of miles, but if I had just stayed with a pace I would have blown up and then had a poor time. I tend to pay more attention to the pace part during training and use HRT during the race. Seems to be working for me.