A little research drew me to a GPS watch: the Garmin Fenix 5X. It's a new breed of wearable GPS that comes with pre-loaded maps. Not only that, but I can get specific Pacific Crest Trail Maps (that's a tonge-twister!) for it. I read lots of reviews while my husband watched some reviews on YouTube and priced it out. While I really only need a watch that gives me distance, time, and mile pace, being able to wear a watch and have a GPS at the same time really appeals to me. The watch does far more than I need a running watch to do, but what the heck! I went head and ordered it on Sunday from Amazon, where it was $50 cheaper, and also got the running pod with it that will tell me vertical oscillation, ground contact time and other hyper-specific running form details. I also bought some little silicone plugs for the charging port so it doesn't get dust inside.
The watch arrived the next day! I have small wrists, and my left wrist is especially thin due to Kienbock's Disease. The watch is big, handsome, and heavy. Perhaps I'll build up my wrist just by wearing it! I was planning to wait a while before using it because I wanted to preserve the battery for a while. The batteries in watches (and cell phones, for that matter), seem to hold less of a charge after repeated use. Since I am going to need the battery to last for over 20 hours of use, I wanted to get the most out of it. Apparently, the watch will run over 12 hours with continual, full-on use, but it has an Ultratrac mode where you can program it to shut itself off and "fill in" the gaps for a set amount of time, thereby increasing the battery usage to 35 hours!
Another feature I like is live tracking. While I will have a Spot Messenger, and I will have the live track feature on for it as well, it's nice to have another mode of communicating. It will kill the battery to have the notification feature on, but it apparently will get text and email as well. It would be fun to check, but it's not much use if I can't message back. I'll have to play with that.
I think curiosity is going to get the better of me, so I'll likely be charging it up and using it this weekend. I'll provide more information on ease of use in my next post.
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| I am sure I will appreciate the large size of the face when I am trying to follow a GPS track on the PCT! |
Fast forward: It's been two weeks since I purchased the watch, and I finally gave in and charged it earlier this week. I've run twice with it, once behind the high school and today in Grand Ridge. It was pretty inaccurate today, likely due to being its first time in Grand Ridge, the tremendous tree cover there, and some pretty terrible weather (cloud cover). That being said, I like the watch. I spent some time post-run configuring the watch the way I like it, showing lap average pace on top, time large and in the middle, and distance on the bottom. I turned off all the features I don't need (like being reminded to move, my number of steps, my VO2 max, and all sorts of other things). Then I customized my settings for specific activities. For trail running, I turned on both GPS and Glonass, but for running, I just have it on GPS. I like that I can set up each activity differently. Next, I'll have to learn to do some GPS tracks.
I've been trying to remember to wear my watch when I am not running to get used to the feel and weight of it. I'd love to get the fancy titanium band for wear with clothes for work and use the band it came with for workouts. But it's really expensive. It can wait.
~LTR
Ellen, congrats on the new GPS watch...it’s a bit like having a spare tire, you hope not to use it, but your glad its there if you have a flat.
ReplyDeleteSome thought on GPS: I own three of them. The newest is about 4 years old and has built in color maps, compass etc. I have used it several times. I find it difficult to read the maps on a bright day unless I turn the screen intensity to full brightness, and shade it with my hand. This tends to eat the batteries faster than I would like. Yours is the newest technology, and might not have this problem.....however, if you have your device on continuously, all day while you run, It might not last. You might want to consider just powering up at intersections. Be sure and take good maps, they will help make the GPS more useful....and they will still be there if your device craps out. Test your device....make sure you know how to use it without referring to the manual.
Water/stream crossings: if you can carry enough water to go 12 miles, then you will not run out of water......but you will probably have to use lake water in places such as Park Lakes and then at Gravel Lake on the second day......generally I prefer running water to lake or pond water, but your filter should take care of you in those areas.
There are really good bridges two places....across the inflow to Lake Waptus, and across Lemah Creek. You could drive a truck across either one. One crossing that lacks a bridge is below Deception Pass.....this stream, especially on hot days, can have a pretty vigorous flow. Guidebooks that we had read suggested that we should expect to do some wading here, which I didn’t want to do. In the end found we were able to go up the stream bed 30 yards and rock hop to get across....no wet boots required. So be innovative, don’t run in wet shoes if you don’t have to..
I took a look at your assumptions for the trip. I shared your distance plan with my physical therapist, a “Boston-class” marathoner who has also done 50 mile trail runs. He thinks you expected distance on day one sounds about right....and your early start should give you some time pad unless your feet, or other parts, blow up. By my guidebooks’ mileage, this should put you near Leah Creek....about 52.8 miles down range.
I’m not sure if your cook-one-place, sleep-somewhere-else is as viable as you might think. The problem is that if you sleep in any flat, established area along the PCT, especially in late Summer when the thru-hikers are coming through, you might be sleeping in an area where someone camped the night before....there’s no way for you to know.....maybe they kept a clean camp, maybe not. This leaves you just the option of “stealth” camping, in the bushes off the trail, but often a flattish, non brush spot can be hard to find. Give this some thought....I can describe the terrain around Lemah Creek later if you would like. But I can tell you that Gioia and I never saw a bear South of Stevens Pass.....and I never really worried about it.
A good practice run for you, when the snow is gone would be from Snoqualmie Pass to Stampede Pass on the PCT.....I think it’s about 18 or 19 miles.....not far enough?...run to Stampede and back. Also, the PCT in the area behind the ski area crosses some roads and trails which will give you some route finding experience with map and GPS.
Note: This is an email from my friend, which I posted here because it has good information!