Garmin gremlins

Image by clumsy_juggler via Flickr

The mischievous little creature kind of Gremlin,
not the car kind of Gremlin.

It seems that the gremlins have been busy around our house this past month. We've had plumbing issues, a broken cabinet door, a broken garage door, and now my Garmin 305 is acting up as well. My Garmin is one of my most, if not the most, favorite pieces of running gear. So I've been very anxious to get it working again.

My Garmin problems started a few days ago, when I couldn't get it to turn on as I was heading out for a run. This has actually happened once before, so I knew to do a soft reset (hold lap + mode, then press power and all three for a few seconds), and like last time, it came back to life. Then after my run, my Garmin decided that it was no longer on speaking terms with my computer, and refused to upload any data. Plus, I haven't been able to start up my Garmin without doing a soft reset.

So over the past few days, I've done some google research and tried a variety of things to resolve my Garmin issues. I've cleaned the contacts, updated drivers, cleared some of the history, cleared all of the history, etc. Clearing the history helped some. After clearing the history, I was able to upload some data. The time and distance info would show up, but not any of the map data, and also the pace/elevation charts don't appear either.

As a last resort, I did a hard reset, which wipes everything and sets it back to factory settings. I found conflicting information about how exactly to do a factory reset, but this is what actually worked:

1. If the unit is on, do a soft reset (hold lap + mode) to force the unit to power off.
2. Hold down Enter + Mode for a couple of seconds, then quickly press and release the power button while continuing to hold the Enter and Mode buttons for a few more seconds.
3. After releasing the Enter and Mode buttons, your Garmin should power up and go through the start-up screens as if it's a new device.

This procedure really does wipe everything, so be prepared to lose data and settings if you do this. I had already either uploaded or manually entered all of my runs, so I wasn't concerned about losing history. I also wrote down the fields I had set up on each of my screens, so tonight I'll need to set those up again.

I'll find out after tonight's workout if this fixed the problem. However, I was able to start my Garmin without a soft reset, so that's a good sign.

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Update:

Since doing the factory reset on my Garmin, I've taken it out for two runs and I'm happy to report that all of the problems have gone away! The factory reset seems to have fixed everything.




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New shoes

Ordered these yesterday:

New Balance MR905, in the new orange color.

These are light-weight and the pair I tried on felt great. Can't wait to get these and take them out for a spin. If they live up to my expectations, these will be my shoes for my HM coming up in December.

Friday Fast Facts

It's been over a week since my last post. Things have been pretty busy, and I still don't feel like I have time to write much, but I would like to make a quick list of some things that have been going on in my running world over the past couple of weeks.

- First I have to say how proud I am of my wife, who ran her first 5k last Saturday! She has really been working hard and she did a great job.

- Last Saturday I completed my first 10 mile run. Each time I reach a new milestone like this, it gives me confidence that I can be ready for my first half marathon coming up in December.

- I've set new PR's for my 5k and 10k over the past two weeks :) I'm calling them unofficial since they were training runs. I've got a 10k coming up on Sept 25, and a 5k on Oct 16. Can't wait.

- I got a new Nathan hydration belt (Speed 2R Auto-Cant), found it on Amazon for $25! I used it during my 10mi run last Saturday. Two thumbs up! I'll admit that it bothered me for the first half mile or so, but then I got used to the feel of it and by mid run forgot it was even there.

- Over the past couple of weeks, I've started trying to eat something during my long runs. Two weeks ago it was strawberry-banana GU, last saturday it was rasberry Hammer Gel. The Gu tasted better, but the Hammer gel gave me more of an energy boost. I've got a stash of other miscellaneous things to try (gels, Clif shots, jelly beans). The goal is to sort out some likes/dislikes in time for my half marathon in December.

That's it for now. Have a great weekend!

New Poll Q - Do you wear a HR monitor while racing?

Was surprised to read a blog entry recently where the author mentioned that the hr monitor provided some confidence to push beyond their comfort level and set a new PR. It never occurred to me to wear a hr monitor during a race - just seems too restrictive for racing. I like it for training, but I don't know about racing. And I can't recall ever seeing one during a race, but I also don't recall ever looking for one either. So now I'm curious - just how common is it to wear a hr monitor during a race? Comment/vote in the poll, and let me know what you think.

New Sony Walkman

So finally, after weeks of problems with my ipod shuffle, I decided to give up on the ipod and try something new. I've been reading alot of good reviews about the Sony wireless walkman (NWZ-W252), so I decided to give it a try.

The main two things that attracted me to this device were that (1) it is water (sweat) resistant, and (2) there are no dangling wires.

I picked it up friday night, and had it ready to go for my Saturday morning 8 mile run. Setup was easy. I was a bit concerned because I use a Mac, and the packaging said that Windows was required. Well, it turns out that you can simply plug this into a Mac and transfer music via USB back and forth with no problems. I think that the only downside is that I can't use the software that came with it, but I don't think I'm missing very much.

It also charges its batteries using the USB. The charging is fast - only a few minutes of charging will provide 90 minutes of playback time. It will fully charge in 1.5 hours, which will provide 11 hours of playback time.

There are three sizes of earbuds. I decided to go with the medium size, which fit firmly in my ears. I was surprised at how well the earpieces stayed in place and didn't move at all while I was running. From the looks of it, I expected them to bounce around, but they were very stable with no noticable bouncing at all.

The music sounded great - better than my ipod, especially the bass. The controls were also very easy to understand and use. And, despite all of the sweating I did over the course of 8 miles, I had no problems, which was so great after weeks of frustrations with the ipod shutting down due to moisture.

I do have a couple of minor cons to mention. First is that the insides of my ears (where the earbuds go) were slightly sore at the end of my run. Not bad, but noticeable. I think I'll try the small earbuds next time. Second, they aren't the coolest looking things - I got some weird looks. I imagine people thinking I was running with one of those bluetooth things in each of my ears. Well, I'm not exactly a pretty sight when I run, so I'm not too concerned about it, but I do think than an over-the-ear design would be an improvement.

So, overall I'm very pleased with this mp3 player. Running with no wires hanging down was great, as was actually completing my entire run without having my music player quit on me. I'm guessing that Sony has more engineers that are actual runners than does Apple, because this mp3 player is definitely better suited for running than my ipod shuffle.

When to Replace Running Shoes

Here's some quick notes I read today about when to replace running shoes.

For typical training-style running shoes, they are good for about 500 miles (in contrast to racing-style running shoes, which may only be good for 200-300 miles).

Also, watch for compression lines in the soles of the shoes.  If there are getting to be alot of compression lines, then it's time to replace the shoes.

Another sign that the shoes are wearing out can be the onset of various aches and pains due to the shoes losing their ability to absorb the shock of each stride.

Looking at my training log, it looks like I have about 300 miles on my shoes.  I'm running about 20-25 miles per week, so I should expect them to last at least another couple of months.  My next race is mid-October, so I also want to make sure I have plenty of time to break in some new shoes before my next race.