As I alluded to at the end of last year, I’ve bought a Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS fitness watch which has now been in possession for a couple of dozen workouts. The thing is brilliant. Combined with a heart rate monitor (included), it will log every important facet of your running, cycling, or other distance-vs-time workouts.

Here’s some assorted statistics from my workouts so far:

Running:

• Workouts: 15
• Total distance: 89.36km
• Average distance: 5.96km
• Average speed: 11.27km/h
• Maximum speed: 24.9km/h
• Average heart rate: 156.33 beats per minute
• Total elevation gain: 3484 metres
• Average elevation gain: 232.27 metres

Cycling:

• Workouts: 7
• Total distance: 93.6km
• Average distance: 13.37km
• Average speed: 21.66km/h
• Maximum speed: 53.1km/h
• Average heart rate: 151.43 beats per minute
• Total elevation gain: 2051 metres
• Average elevation gain: 293 metres

From an individual workout point-of-view, here’s a few examples of the data yielded from one of my cycles a few weeks ago.

As you can see, the data is reasonably comprehensive, including things like heart rate, elevation changes, pace, distance and time. The watch records this information every four seconds I believe, which results in some really good data.

It’s all quite intriguing stuff, because as well as tracking progress with real statistical accuracy, you can use it to identify weaknesses. Comparing speed, distance and elevation may illustrate a specific difficulty with hills of a certain grade or length, for example, and you could use this information to make training decisions.

I’m not quite serious enough to worry about any in-depth analysis, however, but I am definitely enjoying the logging functionality. It’s going to be interesting to compare workouts this time next year.

If you’re after one of these watches in New Zealand, they are available online from Bay Marine Electronics amongst other places. The price at time of writing is a rather hefty $439; but if you’re a regular runner with a mind for statistics, I don’t think you’ll regret it.

Since the launch of Mighty Ape last September I’ve been far more motivated to read books than I was previously… mostly thanks to them being within arms’ reach of me. Here’s what I’ve read in the last four months…

A Song of Ice and Fire ~ George R.R. Martin

This is actually four books (with part three being split into two volumes).

• A Game of Thrones
• A Clash of Kings
• A Storm of Swords: Steel and Snow
• A Storm of Swords: Blood and Gold
• A Feast for Crows

Well. I was more or less addicted to each of these volumes whilst reading them, and am very much looking forward to the next edition, A Dance with Dragons. I’d go so far as to say that this series is probably my all-time favourite book.

The books are written in a way that each chapter is devoted to a certain character and yet Martin has an uncanny ability to make every chapter and every character interesting in its own right. The story is epic in nature and the important characters number in the dozens and yet it all feels effortless.

I recommended this very, very highly. The only downfall is that there is still three unpublished volumes to come.

50 Marathons 50 Days ~ Dean Karnazes

Running 50 marathons on consecutive days caught my eye as a rather extreme thing to do. Turns out Dean Karnazes is a rare breed of runner, one who partitipates in severe endurance events ranging from 50 to 200 and more miles. 50 Marathons chronicles Karnazes’ successful attempt at running 50 marathons in 50 days in each of the U.S.A.’s 50 states. It’s an easy and inspirational read.

Watchmen ~ Alan Moore

I’ve never read a graphic novel before, so Watchmen seemed like a good place to start considering its status as one of Time Magazine’s “100 English-language Novels from 1923 to the present”. It’s a definite read, but it came across to me as something that may have felt a lot more like genius when it was first released in 1987. Reading it for the first time over 20 years later, some of the novel came across as a little predictable; but that may not be Watchmen‘s fault.

Ultramarathon Man ~ Dean Karnazes

More from Karnazes; this is actually his first book, but I read it after I read 50 Marathons. Ultramarathon Man tells the story of some of the extreme distance events that Karnazes has survived, including running a 200 mile relay race by himself. Again, an easy and inspirational read.

It’s not about the bike ~ Lance Armstrong

True to its name, It’s not about the bike is about more than just cycling (although cycling is covered too, and it’s quite interesting). Lance Armstrong was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1997 and this book goes into great detail on his cancer treatment and manages to tell the story of a truly inspirational comeback to the world of professional cycling without ever sounding like a fairy tale. I plan to read the follow-up book, Every Second Counts, in the near future.

The Children of Hurin ~ J.R.R. Tolkien

I’ve read various other books from J.R.R. Tolkien including classics The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, but also the more biblical and complicated The Silmarillion. The Children of Hurin is probably a little more along the lines of The Silmarillion, in that it’s more of a tale than an adventure, although it is certainly an easier read than The Silmarillion is. There’s a lot of history and lore mentioned that could have potentially made it difficult to follow, but that isn’t really the case. Certainly worth reading for fans of Tolkien’s other work, if only to get a taste of the the early age of the world, thousands of years before Bilbo and Frodo’s adventures.

A few weeks ago I purchased a brand new road bike – the first bike of any sort I’ve ridden in around eight or more years – with the intention of using it as a cross-training fitness tool to compliment my running.

Before getting the bike home, I entertained in my head the possibility of biking to work. It would save petrol, it would get me biking-fit pretty quickly, and the roads between home and work didn’t look that bad for cyclists.

It’s funny how quickly your perspective can change.

After spending about 10 minutes on the bike, I realised that there was no way I was ever going to ride to work. A space a few feet across on the side of the road, whilst reasonably suitable for running, is rather terrifying on a bike if the road is busy. I’ve also started noticing how non-existent the cycling infrastructure is wherever I go. For example, it didn’t occur to me until I started cycling that there is no possible way to get from Northcote to Auckland City (around 5km) by foot or by bike; unless, of course, you prefer to go the alternative route via West Auckland which is around 60km. Less dramatically, I’ve realised it is also quite risky just to cycle to the shops a few kilometres from home.

It’s quite disheartening to realise that in the midst of obesity crises, global warming and fluctuating petrol prices, it’s not feasible to choose a simple method of transportation that would solve it all.

Does anyone in Auckland really cycle to work?

I’m almost over my cold, so I’ve resumed my running routine. I decided that I’d start using MapMyRun.com to log my workouts.

• View my MapMyRun.com profile

MapMyRun offers an iPhone application which utilises the phone’s GPS system, but I’m reluctant to run with a phone so I’m currently entering data manually. I’m tempted to get a GPS watch, like a Garmin Forerunner, so that I can track distance, time and such more accurately, but I’ll think about that in the new year. Being able to view your distance and speed whilst running sounds very cool.

Today I have decided to officially abandon work on my work-in-progress weight training log site, StrengthFu.com.

I lost interest in the project some time ago as I’m no longer training with the regularity I was when I started.  Additionally, I decided that I would not have been satisfied with the project in its planned form, as I would now prefer an iPhone application for entering data (coupled with an online interface for reporting) and that’s not something that I’m prepared to attempt.