I've been doing a lot of research on the issues with Garmin Vivoactive's ability to accurately track swimming so today I closely monitored that and compared the accuracy by mentally tracking my laps. There were times when it forgot to count a few laps but it never doubled counted (which is more of a concern for me). So I actually swam 1675 meters this morning but it only registered 1600m...
I figured out a few tricks that have helped eliminate the double counting problem that a lot of swimmers seem to be having:
1. I don't look at my watch in the middle of swimming a length
2. I try to have a strong "push off" from the wall
3. I make sure the watch is snug on my wrist
4. I don't pause mid stroke to do anything with the arm my watch is on
So far those tricks have helped eliminate the double counting and have minimized the number of times the Garmin forgot to count a length. I'm going to continue to monitor it as I train for Swim Miami. For the actual race I won't wear the watch though because it isn't able to track open water swimming anyway.
Yesterday I did my Sunday morning long run...
I'm aiming to maintain a sub-12min/mile pace (sub-11:30 would be even better) for the next few months and then gradually focus on getting down to a sub-11min/mile pace. The metronome app is really helping with that, so I just need to work on staying consistent and improving my hydration/fuel intake...
After the 7 mile run I went to the gym and did some strength training. I'm getting better at doing squats and the leg press. Not a whole lot better, but better. I know the only way to really improve is to keep up with the strength training so I'm really going to try and commit to doing that...
On Saturday I swam. I was focusing on trying different fixes for the tracking problems that were coming up so I broke up the swim session into multiple mini-sessions...
This was my first swim in over a month so it was good to be back in the pool, but dealing with Garmin issues is annoying. Anyway, hopefully the things I discovered during my swim this morning will correct most of those issues :)
I hope your Monday is great and is the start of a fantastic week!
Do you have a multi-sport watch or just one for running?
What's your favorite lower body strength training exercise?
{If you haven't sent me your @100runners info yet you can email it to: thisismyfaster@yahoo.com}
I have the same Garmin watch. The problem with mine is that I counts more mileage then I actually do. I was hoping it would be more accurate in open swims. Humm, I'm guessing not. I'll have to do some more reading on the watch and swimming then.
ReplyDeleteMy sister has the same problem you're having. I considered securing the watch to my swimsuit instead of my wrist to see if that works. You can try that also and see. It's a really annoying issue to have considering the cost of the watch :(
DeleteIt doesn't come with an open water feature at all and apparently the "custom" option doesn't allow open water (Unless maybe it you set it for the total distance you are planning on swimming? maybe it would work for open water then?)