Running equipment

Work2hunt

Veteran member
Mar 2, 2013
1,366
11
St. Louis, MO
I'm a little behind the times when it comes to technology and running. I'm looking at getting a gps and/or heart rate monitor to take with me on some of my hikes and runs.

Does anyone here use a heart rate monitor and/or gps for running? Pros cons of the devices?
 

HuskyMusky

Veteran member
Nov 29, 2011
1,321
172
IL
I do own one... one of the earlier models...

IMO technology has it's pros and cons.

you DON'T need a gps watch to train/run etc... but in some ways they can help you train smarter.

the thing I like about a heart monitor is you can keep or try to keep your heart rate in a "fat burning" zone... etc... google the heart rate zones...

if you're like most beginning runners, overweight, out of shape, etc... it won't take much to put your heart rate real high... and for the most part you don't want to be running/training at 100% max heart rate...

so in my eyes it'll help tell you to "slow down" take it easy and run longer slower...

good luck, I'm sure the experts in stores can tell you alot more about each device/option.

btw some gps watches have heart rate monitors some are just gps watches...no heart rate.

when I bought my heart monitor years ago... it was basically just that... a heart rate monitor, not sure they still sell them alone...

if it were me I would say the heart rate monitor is more important than a gps watch but I bet others would disagree.
 

Arrowslinger

Member
Feb 27, 2011
110
1
NorCal
I'm a little behind the times when it comes to technology and running. I'm looking at getting a gps and/or heart rate monitor to take with me on some of my hikes and runs.

Does anyone here use a heart rate monitor and/or gps for running? Pros cons of the devices?
I work in the running industry and the Garmin 220 is our best seller. Great watch and available with or without HR. If you don't want the HR, the Garmin 10 and a few Soleus models will work well, all at a lower price point.
 

Kevin Root

Very Active Member
Jun 22, 2011
868
0
San Jose, California
web.me.com
My goal since October was to get in better shape, more importably make my going up hills more of a strength rather than a weakness. At 53 years old now, I’m trying to get a better endurance and strength a bit more. I like how I can gauge my heart rate in the gym on the treadmill at 15% grade but I wanted some better tools to help me outdoors on real hills in real conditions for my training and conditioning.

Well, I’ve been looking at getting a GPS watch to help me coach myself better on actual hills now on my training. I’m going to be getting a Forerunner 620 by Garmin along with the HRM-Run heart monitor. I signed up for my first Ultra, 50K coming in June and I want better monitoring tools to help me gauge my progress and help me gauge my recovery time, pace, get a VO2 max estimate, heart rate, gives me feedback on my running form, cadence, ground contact time, vertical oscillation and charting capabilities. It just seemed like some good tools built into the GPS to help me and help me track my progress.
 
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Work2hunt

Veteran member
Mar 2, 2013
1,366
11
St. Louis, MO
My goal since October was to get in better shape, more importably make my going up hills more of a strength rather than a weakness. At 53 years old now, I’m trying to get a better endurance and strength a bit more. I like how I can gauge my heart rate in the gym on the treadmill at 15% grade but I wanted some better tools to help me outdoors on real hills in real conditions for my training and conditioning.

Well, I’ve been looking at getting a GPS watch to help me coach myself better on actual hills now on my training. I’m going to be getting a Forerunner 620 by Garmin along with the HRM-Run heart monitor. I signed up for my first Ultra, 50K coming in June and I want better monitoring tools to help me gauge my progress and help me gauge my recovery time, pace, get a VO2 max estimate, heart rate, gives me feedback on my running form, cadence, ground contact time, vertical oscillation and charting capabilities. It just seemed like some good tools built into the GPS to help me and help me track my progress.
Good luck with the ultra.

I haven't decided on a gps watch yet, but i have been using the Endomondo app on my phone with a heart rate monitor. Works pretty good for me right now. Gps tracking and mapping, heart rate, speed, pace, etc. plus I can have my music right from my phone. Now I don't need to carry 2 items but my phone is a little big so I might switch to something smaller in the future.
 

Arrowslinger

Member
Feb 27, 2011
110
1
NorCal
My goal since October was to get in better shape, more importably make my going up hills more of a strength rather than a weakness. At 53 years old now, I’m trying to get a better endurance and strength a bit more. I like how I can gauge my heart rate in the gym on the treadmill at 15% grade but I wanted some better tools to help me outdoors on real hills in real conditions for my training and conditioning.

Well, I’ve been looking at getting a GPS watch to help me coach myself better on actual hills now on my training. I’m going to be getting a Forerunner 620 by Garmin along with the HRM-Run heart monitor. I signed up for my first Ultra, 50K coming in June and I want better monitoring tools to help me gauge my progress and help me gauge my recovery time, pace, get a VO2 max estimate, heart rate, gives me feedback on my running form, cadence, ground contact time, vertical oscillation and charting capabilities. It just seemed like some good tools built into the GPS to help me and help me track my progress.
Kevin, the 620 is a great GPS and HR monitor! Which 50K did you sign up for? Rodeo Valley on June 14th?
 

2rocky

Active Member
Sep 10, 2012
290
0
Kevin, I ran that in 2012. It is a great course. It was my first 50 k as well. The 10k loop at Gazos Creek is a mind f**k. I honestly was envisioning a big bull at the top of the hill.

I found the first 6 miles I went out too fast because of the downhill. I paid for it later. I was glad to go soak in the ocean at the finish. I highly recommend it!


El Palomar Mexican restaurant in Santa Cruz is good for post-race re-fueling.
 

Kevin Root

Very Active Member
Jun 22, 2011
868
0
San Jose, California
web.me.com
Kevin, I ran that in 2012. It is a great course. It was my first 50 k as well. The 10k loop at Gazos Creek is a mind f**k. I honestly was envisioning a big bull at the top of the hill.

I found the first 6 miles I went out too fast because of the downhill. I paid for it later. I was glad to go soak in the ocean at the finish. I highly recommend it!


El Palomar Mexican restaurant in Santa Cruz is good for post-race re-fueling.
I'm hoping the GPS watch will help me on my pace for the hills. The one I go on now by me afterwork has a similar profile. It is 10 miles overall is the biggest difference.

The loop does look interesting. They have tape color to try and keep you on the right part of the loop from what I gather on that loop part. I'll try and steer clear of Blue. :) Before I get to old it would be cool to get into a 100 mile Ultra. I'd like to get into the Western States, but it might take some time to build up enough points to get a picked in the lottery. Waddell Beach is a nice beach for the finish in this June's run. I took a picture of it there back in January 2013 at sunrise a year before going out to Año Nuevo State Park Reserve to take pictures of the elephant seals there.

 
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Kevin Root

Very Active Member
Jun 22, 2011
868
0
San Jose, California
web.me.com
I'm into a couple weeks now on the Garmin 620 with the heart monitor and really liking it. It is helping me learn how and when to push myself or back off other than how just how I feel. The mapping features, stats are good guide tools for running the hills on my 10.5 hill runs. It's probaly not somthing you need to have but the analyitical part of me likes seeing my progress and breakdown on my progress. It keeps a running log for me without my writing a thing and uploads wireless automaticly to my computer or mobile device. I'm going to test it out running intervals. Seems like a good tool so far for what I wanted.
 

Kevin Root

Very Active Member
Jun 22, 2011
868
0
San Jose, California
web.me.com
wishing garmin had an backcountry gps and a athletic gps in one.
They do make one, tactix. It does similar in function heart rate, cadence, pace and adds mapping, waypoints, ect for viewing on the watch. My eyes like a bit better screen though like on a handheld unit for navigation but they do make one for a possible option for those folks not needing a bigger screen with more detail. It wound be nice to be able to combine the best handheld and add the fitness functions to it and add it to wrist viewing option when wanted to hold it when running. The way technology is advancing, lighter weight units, thinning, screen detail, clarity and battery efficiency, I would like to think that would be in the development and it would be nice to see too.
 
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clacklin009

Active Member
Apr 1, 2012
189
0
SLC, UTAH
Well you can use many of the new Garmin units with their heart rate monitor and although the wrist functionality isn't present you could buy a less expensive wrist unit and have that to look at while you go and take the back country GPS, if you have a place to store it while running, in order to access information at the end. I think you could make something work out using some combination of the two units depending on the workout.