The GPS Advisor

Amazing Features to Jump-Start Your Training

GPS watches are the newest “must-have” training devices in the world of outdoor athletics and multi-sport adventures. Both professional and amateur athletes embracing the GPS technology of the pros to make their athletic pursuits more enjoyable and survivable.

As an amateur triathlete, I am very excited about the possiblities of using a GPS watch to help me get through the long training sessions as well as the sometimes grueling races.

The explosion of the GPS watch market has happened because elite athletes, as well as amateur multi-sport athletes are buying them to improve training and race day performance.

Sophisticated Training Features on GPS Watches

Today’s GPS watch manufacturers have packed an amazing amount of functionality in to these tiny GPS computers, allowing you to get many of the benefits of having a personal coach right on your wrist.

For example, the Garmin Forerunner GPS watches have a “Virtual Partner” function that lets you program in the pace of a competitive athelete and shows your pace relative to the “competition”. That would be like your coach driving beside you and letting you know that you need to pick up the pace to beat so-and-so.

The feature list goes on: speed and distance tracking, altitude gain/loss, stop watch with waypoint times, 3-D visual of the course you just covered, …the list goes on.

No More Boring Training Logs - Run Free!

Having been a runner all of my life, I have kept detailed running logs, which I found to be tedious. The new watches with GPS functionality automatically track distance, speed and time - and much more information than I could possibly capture.

I like being able to review my run after I have done it and not have to keep anything in my brain. Isn’t that one of the benefits of running…clearing your mind?

Speaking of running free…of course it doesn’t hurt to have a watch with GPS that helps you get home if you get lost on the city streets or in the backcountry trails.

We will be delving into more ideas for using your GPS Watch as a training coach and partner in future posts, so stay tuned to get some good ideas.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 18th, 2008 at 12:49 pm and is filed under GPS Watches, GPS for Runners, GPS for Triathletes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.