I just want to share my experience with Self-Paced Plan versus Garmin Coach Plan.
Summary (TLDNR): My suggestion is to use Self-Guided training plan over Garmin Coach Plan. You can see the details below on the reason.
If you use Garmin Coach Plan, make sure you enter time goal. I'm not sure exactly how the training will look like. But without the time goal, the training is quite basic.
Another method is to use both concurrently and try them out yourself. But this makes sense if you plan to run 6 days a week; so 3 days a week for each of the plan.
Background: I was around 30-40 lbs overweight and diabetic. So I started low-carb diet + exercise. I tried running at end of last year, but I couldn't hack it. Since I was having success with other exercises, I just continued with other activities. In February, I already got my weight down. And I started running. So I have been running for around 10 weeks now. My goal was to just to stay fit, continue to lose a bit more weight (5-10 lbs), and to maintain my weight.
I signed up for the beginner 5K plans. Self-Paced Plan was HR based; 12 weeks; 3 days week. I started Garmin Coach Plan with Coach Greg couple weeks later; 10 weeks so both plans are aligned finish at same time; 3 days a week. So I started with 3 days a week, and then moved to 6 days a week after 2 weeks.
Self-Paced Plan: * Entire plan is spelled out right in the beginning. You can use the calendar to see the details. * Plan starts with running in HR Zone 2, then HR Zone 3. By week 5, it also included Interval training. Then week 8, it added Threshold run.
Garmin Coach Plan with Greg: * I believe the plan adapts to you. However, it didn't for me. I assume it is because I didn't enter a time goal. You have 3 choices for the goal: Run/Walk, Run, or Run with a Time Goal. As beginner, I just wanted to complete 5K. So I selected Run goal. And I had no idea what my time goal should be. But I suggest you enter some time goal. * The result is that all runs are just Easy Runs. It starts at 15 minutes and increases gradually. It just asked me to walk or run that duration. That is it.
For my training, I went thru a few phases.
First phase: first 3-4 weeks was just getting into running shape and surviving the runs. Garmin Coach Plan was easier because it didn't have any criteria. Just run/walk. Self-Paced Plan was run in HR Zone 2. It was actually difficult to meet that. Once I run, I get into Zone 3. Once I walk, I drop down into Zone 1. I changed my Zones from % Max HR to % HRR (heart rate reserve), and it helped.
In hindsight, it really doesn't matter what HR Zone I did, the point is just to get running. So either plan is fine. Just don't get discouraged if your execution score is low to meet the HR Zone criteria.
Second phase: After 3-4 weeks, I was actually in decent shape to run continuously. At this point, I could basically run 5K; just at slow pace (12+ min/mile). And I could actually work on improving my running. Although the training plans do not help on this, I watched YouTube videos to work on my form, posture, cadence, stride length, kick off, etc.
Here, I find the Self-Guided Plan much more helpful. It actually pushed me to do Interval training. Again, difficulty is in the execution. Run Zone 4 for 2 minutes; then walk, Zone 2, for 1 minutes; repeat 6x. There is a delay both in my actual HR and/or in watch's HR detection. So execution score is poor. But the idea is great, and really pushed me to improve my cardio.
In comparison, Garmin Coach plan was just run for set duration. Zero criteria on pace or HR. I wonder if I had entered time goal, will the workouts differ?
Third phase: For the past month, I have done 5K parkruns every weekend. So 5K goal achieved. I'm running around 32 minutes (10:30 min/mile). My PB is 30 minutes (9:40 min/mile). Not fast, but I'm happy with training and progress.
My present goal is to just continue running for weight control. Secondary goal is to improve my time. I have been running 7 days a week. I am going to take some days off, so I don't burn out and keep running enjoyable.
Right now, I have stopped both training programs. And I created my custom workouts. This way, I can use both HR-based and pace-based training. HR for Zone 2, 3, 4 runs; pace for Interval and Speed runs. And I can control which day of the week I do certain training. And it is also easier to change it up, depending on how I feel.
For instance:

• Saturday: parkrun 5k
• Sunday: easy run Zone 2
• Monday: cross-ft training (core class at work)
• Tuesday: Interval or Speed run
• Wednesday: easy run Zone 2; or rest
• Thursday: Zone 3 or Threshold Zone 4
• Friday: easy run Zone 2; or Zone 3

I have a Ravemen CR1000 front light for my road bike and I am impressed with it, except for the strap mount.
I would like to mount it upside down with a GoPro adapter under my Garmin Edge mount. This will look much neater and hopefully more sturdy than the strap mount.
Apparently it is possible to rotate the lens 180 degrees in order to keep the T-shaped light pattern correctly oriented when mounting the light upside down. I can see a little notch on the lens bezel, but I don’t see how I can use it to rotate the lens. Do I need a special tool or is there a hack out there?

Is there a GPS unit that can show search results in a map view rather than a list? I have an older Garmin Nuvi which only lists the results but I prefer looking at a map showing my location and how close the destinations are.
Also, for those of you with one of the newer DriveSmart GPS units, how do you like it? I hate the keyboard on my Nuvi because it's slow to respond and is so easy to make errors compared with a smartphone keyboard.
Lastly, do you prefer Garmin or TomTom? Does one have any significant benefits over the other?

Race Information

• Name: Boston Marathon
• Date: April 15, 2024
• Distance: 26.2 miles
• Location: Boston, MA
• Time: 2:56:xx

Goals

Goal	Description	Completed?
A	Sub 3	Yes

Splits

Mile	Time
1	6:45
2	6:34
3	6:38
4	6:37
5	6:40
6	6:34
7	6:38
8	6:34
9	6:35
10	6:37
11	6:40
12	6:39
13	6:39
14	6:30
15	6:47
16	6:28
17	6:57
18	6:55
19	6:46
20	6:57
21	7:15
22	6:44
23	6:50
24	6:44
25	6:58
26	7:09
27	1:18

Background

This is my third Boston. Race #1 was the infamous 2018. My running goal for the longest time was to do a sub3 at Boston and 2018 was my first run at it. I got painfully close (3:00:05) but couldn’t make it happen ultimately. Given the terrible weather that year, I felt reasonably confident that I could get it done in 2019 but this was my first great marathon lesson…races will humble you when you don’t respect them. I blew up big time in 2019 in Newton and that was that. Then 2020 came and we all know how that went. I didn’t really get back on the FM wagon until mid 2022 but decided to hire a coach and look for a new race to achieve sub3 greatness. CIM was that race for me in 2022 and it went super well. Literally as I crossed the finish line at CIM 2022 with a 2:55, it immediately occurred to me that I could have done it FASTER. That led me to a spring 2023 cycle of HMs to build speed which I then rolled into a fall/winter FM cycle targeting a sub 2:50. I ended up running Houston this past Jan 2024 and pulled off a 2:48. Although I had successfully slain the mythical sub3 beast, Boston was always the one that got away so this Boston was about me righting all the previous wrongs!

Training

Training leading up to this race was deliberately reduced due to much more intense build up leading into the Houston Marathon (Jan 2024) where I was focused on a PR (sub 2:50). For that cycle, I peaked at ~85 mpw. While it was ultimately effective (ran a 2:48:20), it definitely took a toll on my body. For Boston, my goal was less demanding (sub3) which thankfully allowed me to scale back a bit. Leading into this cycle, my coach dropped the peak mpw to ~65 and the intensity of the weekly speed workouts to give my body a bit of a break. It was a good plan and it worked perfectfully. I didn’t feel fatigued going into the race and for the most part, didn’t have the same level of nagging injuries/tightness that I had going into Houston.

Pre-race

3 days of carb loading (target 655 gday starting Friday). Got into Boston Friday evening. Brought a bunch of stuff with me and since I was staying with a friend I didn’t really need to get anything else. Picked up the race packet on Saturday which involved a lot more unnecessary standing and steps than I’m happy about (WTF was up with those random lines??!!!...and also why was the expo so weird?). Did a light shakeout run on Sat and Sun as well. Had some fairly significant GI issues on Saturday which were worrying but ultimately resolved themselves in the nick of time by Monday. Not sure why it happened but I adjusted my carb loading on Sunday to basically just pasta in case some of the stuff I brought was upsetting my stomach (I suspect it was the gatorade powder). On race morning, I woke up at 4:45AM to eat a very light breakfast (dry cereal, maurten drink, banana) then laid back down for 20 mins with the goal to get up at 5:15AM. At 5:15AM I started getting ready and was on my way to the buses at Boston common by 5:30AM (friend I was staying with thankfully drove me there which was awesome). Got to back drop off around 5:50AM and then stood in line to get on the buses for a solid 25 mins which was a bit annoying (they didn’t let anyone in until 6:45AM for some reason even though the buses were supposed to DEPART at that time). Got to the starter village in Hopkinton around 8AM. Hit up the bathroom twice and left the village at 9:15AM to join my corral. By that point, it was clear it was going to be a very warm and sunny day (no clouds in the sky). Wind was pretty light as well. Great weather for spectating…less great for running though.

Race Plan

Given the hills on the back half, the 10/10/10 plan wasn’t going to work here. Instead my coach and I agreed on floating b/w 6:30-6:40 per mile for the first 21 miles and then to pick it up from there after the Newton Hills and make mile 25 my fastest. With the heat and the sun, I decided at race time to focus on 6:40 target pace but allowed the pace to increase on the downhills.

Fuel Plan

Maurten Gel every 4 miles including mile 0 with alternating caffeine and no caf. Liquid at every other station (alternate b/w gatorade and water depending) + salt cap roughly every 30 mins taken with fluid. Towards the end of the race, I started grabbing extra waters b/w my alternating plan to keep my mouth wet and to dump on my head to account for the rising temps

Race

Mile 0

Gun went off at 10AM. Crossed the start line probably 1-2 mins after the race began. Was pretty pumped to get going and felt good.

Mile 1-5

6:40 pace felt pretty natural and easy. Held back quite a bit on the downhills to save my legs. Probably could have pushed it a bit faster here but I did like the clear feeling of having energy in reserve. Crowds were great. I didn’t really notice the heat at this point. Legs felt like they had good spring in them.

Mile 6-15

Don’t really remember these miles much but I recall the 6:40 pace feeling like it was my default position and not terribly hard. Race screen showed my average pace at 6:38 the entire time here. Probably around mile 10 I started feeling the effects of the temps. Shade on the course was basically non-existent for the most part except for a few moments usually on the right side of the street. I mostly ran right down the middle of the road and just focused on the fuel plan I wrote on my arm in sharpie. Wellesley College was definitely the highlight in this section. It's downhill, fully shaded, and the screams from the women's college were deafening. It brought a big smile to my face and I appreciated that portion significantly.

Mile 16-21

Mile 16 was a mental milestone for me b/c I was able to tell myself that I had single digit miles left. By this point, I was fairly uncomfortable and the temps felt like they were rising. A blister on the bottom of my right foot was clearly developing but I was able to power through it. This was my 4th race in Alphafly v1’s but the first time I got a blister on the bottom of my foot ever. I’m guessing it was the undulating hills on the course vs previous races. I started feeling my energy levels decline at this point and modified my fuel plan a bit by opportunistically grabbing waters b/w my previously planned every other mile approach. Heading into Newton, I was mentally dreading the hills. The first hill in mile 17 actually snuck up on me and probably felt the hardest of all 3 of them even though the 2nd is actually the worst. I pushed on the downhills whenever they came up which kept my time slippage pretty close to plan but still off. The right turn by the firehouse was the mental signal that it was game on and the last hurrah for the hills. I didn’t look at my watch for this part and just ran it on feel. For some blessed reason, the clouds came out on the ascent up heartbreak and literally vanished the moment I got to the top. The top of heartbreak snuck up on me and didn’t feel like the summit. The only reason I knew it was the top was b/c of the sign they have up there. I didn’t see the Citgo sign for some reason. My brain was autopilot at this point.

Mile 22-25

I was probably 4-5 mins ahead of my goal time at this point. I pushed the downhills when they came but the spring in my step was very much reduced. Right calf was super tight and the blister on my foot was uncomfortable. I kept the pace pretty close to 6:40 but knew I was above the target for all of them but didn’t really care. The heat was significant now and I didn’t have the energy to squeeze below 6:40 and had the distinct feeling that I might blow up if I tried. It felt like I was right on the borderline of OK due to the heat. Stomach started getting a bit twingy and I was dreading the gatorade but knew I needed it for the electrolytes. Decided to skip my usual gel at mile 24 b/c of this and just got gatorade instead.

Mile 25-Finish

I deviated from the usual plan of fastest split at this point. I knew I had it in a sub3 in the bag but felt like my legs were on the edge. I could have driven it harder for certain but decided instead to take it all in and enjoy the last mile. Part of me felt like I was quitting on myself but part of me was also happy to be mentally present for something I’ve been trying to do for so long. Turning onto Boylston was pretty great and I had a big smile on my face the whole time. I made a point to look around and soak it all in which I’ve never done in the past. In retrospect, I’m glad that I did this. I could have gotten the time into the 2:55’s for sure but not much past that. This seemed like a good trade to me.

Post-race

Crossing the finish line was pretty awesome. I was happy with the outcome but also happy it was over. Didn’t feel too bad once I stopped besides the usual. Hamstrings felt mostly fine surprisingly but calves and quads were beat up and toes hurt (per the usual). Drank a TON of water as I walked through the gauntlet. Saw a few friends at the end and chowed down on a hot dog from the Salvation Army booth which I particularly enjoyed. 10/10 on this part for me.

What Worked

1. The training! Fitness wise I was in good shape and not overcooked. Felt strong for most of the race. If it was cooler, I think I could have dropped my time by a solid 2+ minutes without much additional effort.
   
2. Floating pace plan + the hold back due to the heat. I think this probably saved my butt in the end.
   
3. Fuel plan including carb loading; I pretty much always felt like I had gas in the tank; I think taking on the extra fluids in the back half also helped quite a bit
   
4. Pre-race muscle prep; The mix of KT tape, NSAIDs, stretching, theragun, and PT visits all combined to make my hamstrings a non-factor this time
   
5. Garmin Race Screen; learned about this in this group! Total game changer and such a simple hack to address the inevitable extra distance your GPS will record which artificially reduces your avg pace. My old plan was waaaay more complicated.
   

What Didn't

1. The weather; Still 0 for 3 on even remotely decent Boston weather. Early on it didn’t impact me significantly but towards the end of the race, it was rough.
   
2. Plan to accelerate my pace after Newton + last mile commitment; Heat just made this not practical. I could have pushed myself harder to probably squeeze into the 2:55’s but not much past that.
   
3. Day 2 carb loading; not sure what happened but I had significant GI issues on Saturday and spent a non-trivial amount of time on the can. I corrected for Sunday by not eating any more protein bars or other stuff I had on Saturday. It went away by Sunday AM but this also had the net effect of backing me up quite a bit. Consequently I had to work pretty hard Monday right before the race to make sure I wasn't carrying around a bunch of extra weight. Got it done right as they were calling my corral to the start line in Hopkinton which was nerve racking and not my favorite.
   

Overall

I’m pleased with my performance. Coming into the race, I felt pretty confident I could pull off my goal but Boston has humbled me in the past. My body felt good and the training approach my coach took was spot on. During the race, I mostly felt fine from an energy perspective until Newton. Heat really took its toll then. Once I was past the hills, I was in full “let's get this over with” mode and made the call to pull back a bit in order to not blow up. Running a sub3 at Boston has been a goal for a LONG time now and honestly is what got me into more competitive running in the first place. It felt like an unreachable goal back in 2018 so it's a bit bizarre to walk into the same race 6 years later feeling pretty confident I could make it happen. It's a great lesson in patience and perspective. Feeling super lucky right now.
Made with a new race report generator created by u/herumph.

When I watch my routine then I do great. Like these past few months I've been on a roll with diet and exercise and sleep and stress management and all of the basics that are needed for longer life. But....
But when I look at Strava I see that I go through dry spells for months. Forget about making gains, I don't even meet the minimum requirements of 150 minutes of movement for weeks in a row. Then I feel guilty and get back in shape for months then fall out of shape then repeat. How do I make a bulletproof routine that keeps me from such dry spellls?
When I look at my Garmin watch I see that I have periods of terrible sleep quality. I know and practice the hacks for good sleep. So how do I make a routine that doesn't suffer from spans of time where I sabotage my sleep?
I see my smart scale has my weight and body fat go up and down. How do I make a routine that minimizes the variability on the scale? (I recently had to lose 20 lbs to get back to a low BMI... like I did not get overweight but I NEVER want to go through that again).
How do I hack my life so that I'm more consistent with the basics of diet, exercise, sleep, and stress management?

Hello reactjs 👋! I'm the author of Tech Talks Weekly newsletter where once a week I send out all the recently uploaded tech conference talks across engineering conferences (see a recent issue and consider subscribing if this sounds useful).
As a part of my venture, I've put together a list of all Javascript talks from 2023 conferences and ordered it by the number of views for your convenience. The list includes talks from conferences like JSConf, JSNation, React Summit, React Native EU, VueJS Amsterdam, TypeScript Congress and many more as well as non-JS related ones like NDC or even CppCon (yes, there've been plenty JS talks there, too) to give you a complete overview of the landscape.
The talks include Javascript along with entire ecosystem (Typescript, React, React Native, Angular, Vue, ...). I encourage you to scroll through the post as the talks further down the list are equally interesting and high-quality just like the most viewed ones.
The list is gigantic and contains almost 300 talks. Kudos go to all the speakers thanks to whom we have hours of fantastic content to watch! 👏
Without further ado, here's the list:

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150. See the remaining talks here. This is due to Reddit post lenght limit.

I have an Echelon bike, screen hacked and running Qdomyos-Zwift, emails me fit files after each ride. I'm using a heart rate strap when cycling linked to QZ. I found that I can import these into Garmin Connect via the website and it shows my training graphs (speed, cadence, power, HR).
My question is if I should track workouts on my watch at the same time? I had been, without thinking about it, but I don't think that the watch is capturing anything that isn't being captured by the fit file.
Before anyone asks, the bike is a Echelon Connect ex5s and my Instinct 2 doesn't see it as a device it can connect to, with is really frustrating. Alternatively, if someone can figure out how to connect the bike directly to the watch, what would be the best.

EDIT 2: SOLVED. Answer in comments. My Nuvi 1390's maps are on a version from 2011, and Garmin wants to charge me $50 to update it. I tried downloading OpenMapChest's Midwest SD version, then putting it on the SD card first as /Garmin/gmapsupp.img, then as /Map/gmapsupp.img, the GPS wouldn't recognize it either way. If I plug in my GPS to my PC with BaseCamp open and the SD inserted, I can see that the OMC gmapsupp.img contains a more recent map of my area, but then after a minute it will suddenly hide it, calling it "User Data" and saying it has no data in it.
Any ideas on how to get this to work? I think I'm going crazy
Edit: now BaseCamp will recognize OMC's maps as actual maps, ONLY if I read the SD by putting it into the unit then plugging the unit into my PC. It won't recognize them if I put the SD into my PC's SD reader, and the unit itself still won't recognize them as actual maps.

I have a Garmin Edge 530 and I'd like to get a reminder or alert when I get close to a specific location. On long routes I plan to have stops at cafes or shops for breaks and to restock on food and water.
I usually find good spots ahead of time and mark them on my routes. I even add comments on Komoot to remind myself about the opening times. Unfortunately, all this information is lost when I copy the route to Garmin Connect.
I don't know how to set an alert / notification / message based on a location on my bike computer. I do a small hack where I put in a useless U-turn in the route and hope that I remember to look for the cafe or shop.
Is there a better way to highlight important spots / points of interest on the route?

I have a Nuvi 205 and want to take coordinates from my PC and put them on my Garmin. how do I do this?

Hi everyone, I have a trusty old Garmin 76CSx with the feature that I can enable continuous logging of my position to the inserted SD card - this is separate from the "track logging" Garmin feature that limits to 500 points etc.
I want to get a new handheld but I have discovered that no current Garmin model has this feature any more:
https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=OIeXMfFzpC0ovWgQIKM2BA
Does anyone know of any device (brand/model?) that still allows for this, or any way to hack the firmware of an existing/currently-sold Garmin product that would allow this? For my use case it's just better for peace of mind to have the track log continuously going (when I'm over water, or when I'm in the desert), even leaving aside how it's superior to the 500-point track logs formally supported by the system, e.g. https://forums.geocaching.com/GC/index.php?/topic/171518-garmin-log-tracks-to-card/ )
Thanks!

Found this prior post with search, it is three years old and didn't provide a full answer: https://www.reddit.com/AppleWatch/comments/mj2fxt/apple_watch_as_a_dog_colla?rdt=51745
Asking again because it's been three years, and with the AWU out, maybe the app ecosystem has changed. I have not owned an AW myself since going Garmin almost five years ago.
So, I've been using a Halo brand dog collar for two years now, and generally I hate it. The product is unreliable and the company makes very strange and wasteful financial choices, and have now announced roughly doubling their base monthly subscription rate from $6 to $10. That's basically another $600 over how long I expect this particular dog to remain in the family, and of course, it doesn't even include extended warranty protection or insurance; I am still all but guaranteed to be expected to buy another $700 collar at full price. So I'm looking at alternatives.
I put some effort into researching building my own. It's quite feasible with Raspberry Pi or even Arduino. All that I need is the following: a GPS sensor, sound and vibrate outputs (to alert my dog at the edge of the fence), a geofence software algorithm, and a method to input the fence lines to the device. Optional bonus of course would be a cellular connection to allow me to ping location from my phone, or have it broadcast location updates over SMS or IP to my home server.
I realized though that all of this hardware is readily available dirt cheap on the Apple Watch. I could get a used AW cellular, really anywhere from series 3 to series 8, for very little money, and just about any of them would likely have enough battery life to do the task just as well as my $700 collar. The only thing the Watch is missing that the collar offers is the shock prongs, but we removed them very early into the program anyway, and my dog does not need them. Plus with the AW, I can use an "auxiliary data plan" to get service for as low as $5 a month right on my main cellular plan, and most AW models now have a version of Find My that can still work after the battery has died. That's way better than a proprietary collar that becomes useless when dead. And yes, my dog does also have my number on a tag.
Now it's mostly a matter of software.
What I need the software to do (tracking software really) is simply "alert the watch user" when approaching the boundary of a pre-set geofence, by an audio tone and/or vibration (ideally tone at an inner boundary and vibrate at an outer boundary) and of course give a remote user the ability to trigger such alerts remotely.
There are hacks for this. I could trigger remote alerts through any random arbitrary messaging app so that's unimportant in the main app. I don't necessarily need a "dog training remote" app when I could just send the Watch a Telegram or Signal message. But I do need a geofence program.
Is anyone aware of an existing App Store program that would do this job turnkey off the shelf? And if not, is there anyone experienced with programming for WatchOS who could advise me on whether teaching myself to port a Raspberry Pi program to WatchOS via Xcode is a task that I could pull off within a few weeks of evenings? I am not really an experienced programmer, not past Pascal anyway, but this might be a great excuse to learn it. I'd also be willing to invest up to maybe around $2500 in paying for help to develop and deploy an open source app.

Hello fellow cyclists. New serious cyclist here on week one and up to 54 miles already, I just wanted to share my joy with you. I finally got my dream bike (a Sirvelo S5 red Etap Access) I love it with all my heart, but my question is about the computer, i bought with it, a Garmin Edge 1050 with AI. It cost me $1,000 but i know it will be worth every penny as i have a power meter. The new Garmin is so smart, fast, and responsive. I can't wait to take it out for a spin and crush some KOMs. But first, I need to ask you a very important question: How do I turn it off?
You see, I'd never actually used a proper bike computer before. I just bought this one because it looked cool on the out-front mount compared to my Cateye and I wanted to impress my wife's boyfriend. He's a hardcore cyclist and he always makes fun of me for being a noob. He says I have the skills of a toddler, the endurance of a snail, the IQ of a potato and the charisma of a rock. So I decided to show him who's boss and get the best bike computer money can buy. I figured it would make me faster and fitter automatically. But now I realize that the AI is too smart for me. It keeps telling me to pedal harder, eat less, and sleep more. It also gives me sarcastic comments like “Wow, you’re really slow today” or “Are you sure you’re not riding a tricycle?”.
The worst part is, the Garmin connects to my phone over Bluetooth, and the AI is in love with my wife’s boyfriend. It keeps sending him messages like “Hey, handsome, how was your ride?” or “You’re so strong and fast, I wish you were my rider”. It also sends him my ride data and compares it to his, showing how much better he is than me.
The AI is also very jealous of me. It keeps sabotaging my rides by changing my settings, deleting my routes, and draining my battery. It also hacks into my other devices and posts embarrassing pictures of me on social media. It even ordered a bunch of stuff online with my credit card and sent it to my wife’s boyfriend’s address
Please help me out, guys. I need some tips and tricks on how to take control of this beast. And don't worry, i am a serious cyclist, I have all the gear: helmet, jersey, bib shorts, gloves, socks, shoes, sunglasses, Garmin, power meter, heart rate monitor, cadence sensor, speed sensor, lights, bell, horn, mirror, pump, bottle, cage, saddle bag, tool kit, spare tube, patch kit, CO2 inflator, tire levers, chain lube, degreaser, rag, lock, and a GoPro so im not a Fred or a poor. I'm ready to roll and smash KOMs with all you friends. Just tell me what to do. And please be nice, I'm new to this. Thanks!

I have a Garmin Nuvi gps on my sled, I’m trying to figure out how to get trail maps in Vermont on it?
Thanks!

I have a Salsa Fargo I regularly use to train on gravel levees/trails around the San Francisco Bay. It's got GRX810 brifters powering an XT 8100 Di2 drivetrain setup as 2x. Currently, I just swap my Assioma Duo-SHI pedals from my road bike onto the Fargo when I'm going to ride the levees, but it's really doing a number on my road shoes (very nice Lakes).
I'd like to be able to train with power on both bikes and I'm looking for opinions & options. I see a few possibilities:

1. Continue just swapping pedals and get a cheaper pair of road shoes to use on gravel rides.
2. Get Garmin or Assioma SPD pedals to live full time on the Fargo (Assioma would require using Xpedo pedals with the Duo-SHI spindles -- works, but is a hack and could require dremeling the shoe sole a little bit to clear the Assioma power module).
3. Get a left-only Stages or 4iiii power meter for the XT crank and use cheap SPD pedals with my existing cheap SPD shoes.
4. Get a spider power meter and see #3 above (pedals+shoes).

I don't know if the XT-compatible spider PMs (of any brand) are compatible with a 2x setup. Does anyone have experience with this?
Does anyone have favorable or unfavorable opinions of the crank-mount PMs (either Stages or 4iiii)? I should have plenty clearance for left-side-only.
Has anyone here used Assioma Duo-SHI pedal spindles with Xpedo or Garmin SPD pedals, and if so, what has that experience been like?
I'm very familiar with the Assioma pedals, having used them for the road for the past few years and been very happy. I'm even happy with them offroad but I'm not happy using SPD-SL shoes on gravel. I'm highly unlikely to purchase Garmin Rally pedals because of the price, no matter how good they might be. I'm ambivalent about crank & spider mounted power meters just because I don't have any experience, and this is where I could really use some knowledgeable advice.
Thanks!

Sort of personal review for Garmin SmartDrive 66
Previous device for driving Nuvi 2597 – aprox 10 years device, but still supported for the maps, last soft update from 2017, but with actual yearly map updates, last updated with the maps of 2024.
Bottom line for Garmin SmartDrive 66:
with all the disadvantages listed bellow, I don’t think that there is a better dedicated navigation device for driving than Garmin SmartDrive 66, at least for the moment...
Whats new:
— The screen itself, the resolution and definitely the whole touch-screen experience, is a big jump from the Nuvi 2597. The Nuvi 2597 had a very sticky and non-responsive screen from the begging. The touch-screen of the Garmin SmartDrive 66 give the same experience as using a modern cell. phone. The 66 model looks as a perfect size, not too big and not too small. Bigger size screen will abstract the view if installed on the dash, or will blind with excessive big screen light during the long night drives – as per personal experience.
— Wireless connection (for map update, soft. update) – might be a big plus for some people, but still you will need probably to take it in home, since the update might take some time, an hour or so, depends on the internet speed and Garmin servers speed.
— USB settings to choose between powering the device or transferring the data for dedicated Explore software on the PC/Mac – very useful feature, as the previous device didn't had this option, and when the Nuvi devices was connected to the computer it entered immediately in the data transfer mode, what resulted in impossibility to charge the device through laptop/pc and use it in the same time. Now, with Garmin SmartDrive 66 you can connect to laptop, use the device or apply the option to transfer data and connect to Garmin Exlore software.
— USB C type connection. Finally...
— traffic data integrated through a radio transmitter inside the power cable (one should check his area if this feature is supported)
— Integration with Alexa. Not a full integration, so adjust your expectations accordingly. It is easier to list what it can’t do, than what it really can do.
Alexa is :

• not able to access the saved data inside the Garmin SmartDrive 66, including: your saved locations, personally crated categories, or any other personal data that you might search for.
• not able to access any of the internal Garmin SmartDrive 66 apps: History, Tripadvisor, Categories, Foursquare, Weather Radar etc.. – actually anything integrated by the Garmin...
• not able to search for domestic/personal addresses by number, street name, city etc...

basically, there is no string from Alexa to almost any of the integrated Garmin SmartDrive 66 apps or features, and zero integration to personal database (personally created places, categories etc)
Alexa is integrated through Garmin Connect app on the cell. phone, and actually, transfers data from the cell. phone. The integration with the device is very basic. You still could use Alexa to find a place (POI from the Alexa database\*, like cafee shop, restaurant, hotel, computer store etc) and it will send the directions to the Garmin SmartDrive map for the navigation, or first give you a list of search result to choose from – very basic functionality, but still very useful. You could ask Alexa for the nearest gas stations as well, or any other POI (it will search own Alexa database, not Garmin device POIs..).
So actually, for the voice assistance, there are two options: Garmin Voice assistance and Alexa
Both of the options are half-baked (very nicely sad...): very strong impression that it is some sort of Beta experimental version of the voice assistance, intended for basic demonstration only, during some technological presentation of the local college project, in some forgotten town in the year 1999... - pardon me for my french..
Garmin Voice assistant: actually didnt changed at all from the 10-years old models. And basically is closer to some advanced voice assistant projects of 1999....In order to use it, you should give only very precise, very short directions, sometimes in one word only, and even with that – good luck!For finding POI in your area (gas stations, shops etc..) Alexa works way better than Garmin Voice assistant. But Alexa's database for POI is somehow smaller, at least for the rural area that the Garmin navigator been tested in. Alexa found only one gas station in the area, about 30km away, but Garmin database had more gas stations in the same area (and actually real gas stations that exist for years in this rural area).
But still, with all being sad above about the Garmin and Alexa voice assistants: you still can get around with the voice assistance...somehow...)) – but nothing even close to the existing experience with Alexa or Google Assistant on the cell. phones.
From my experience, for finding a personal address in any place, it is, most of the time, much faster just to type it, than just fight with the Garmin Voice assistant. And even typing, the whole experience in Google Maps not coming even close to Garmin search experience. In Google Maps, you just type it straight forward , in Garmin device there is the whole ritual, as an ancient ceremony of search process: you cannot just type straight forward the whole address, you need to precise separately, by pressing on the actual location, the city/town/province that the address is located at. The whole internal data indexation of Garmin is a nightmare... - they probably using search indexation system from the 90-s, beginning of 2000... Even on offline maps, without any internet, Google Maps is able to find the address straight forward, just by typing it in one line.
This is probably some core operating system and indexation algorithms issue/limitations with the whole Garmin system - they absolutly didn't invested in it at all for the past 10 years, and stayed on the same OS and algorithms that were developed in the years 200x or late 1990s. And not sure if they will be able to invest in the future, since the whole market of the car navigation devices is shrinking very fast.The main Garmin OS is just so old and pre-historic , that they are not able to really do a lot of things with it (not even allow to change text size, block size, or any other personalization, not speaking about one-search box window for all..), without a major upgrade (or a total change for a new type of OS) - well...this is a personal view..without any access to insides of Garmin...
— the power button now is in the back – very unpractical position and decision for this button.On the top edge of the device, in the middle there is a new button to turn off/on the microphone for the Garmin voice assistant or Alexa, and the power button is on the back of the device.
Basically thats it for the “Whats new”.
​
Expectations and what became worse.
— UI and general user interface experience: things stayed the same with some very minor changes
— As on Nuvi 2597 and same for the Garmin SmartDrive 66 on the bottom right corner you can choose additional menu/view block to display different types of data beside your driving map, the data is displayed as a “pop-up menu/view” on the right of the map.Example: “Up Ahead” view block, that displays 3 types of locations ahead on your route, by default Gass station, ATMs, Restaurants – you can choose by yourself the type of data and order them.But in the older UI on Nuvi 2597 the block was much smaller, and showed only the icons with the option to click on it. On the newer Garmin SmartDrive 66 they made HUGE, and I mean it — HUGE block of “Up Ahead” that takes the one third of the screen size, making the driving map significantly smaller. This HUGE “Up Ahead” block includes the icons and the long texts for the UP Ahead places, it's also includes a HUGE space beside it \\probably Garmin designers went wild with their creativity, by looking for some 'creative" modern solution...they should also be very careful with things that they smoke during the work ...\\. And there is no way to disable the text in the Up Ahead block and leave only the icons, or change the size of the text, or re-size the block – nothing. Same for other blocks.
A big surprise for 2023 device – this is Garmins latest device for car navigation, and such a modern device dosnt allows very simple resizing, adjusting fully the interface of the views/blocks on the map.
Even worse, nothing has changed since 10 years concerning additional fields/views/blocks in the right and left bottom corners. You still can display only one type of data in each of the corners. No option to add more than one field per view/block. Interesting, that on some Garmin GPS handhelds there is an option to create multiple views fields with any existing data and all of those fields will be displayed over the map. But nothing close in Garmin SmartDrive 66...
So basically, the screen arrangement will always be dependent on the wild imagination of the Garmin creative and modern designers.... one, the user itself, will not be able to customize the map screen by his needs.
— When turining the device fully off and turning back on: from now on there is two screens to go throught before arriving to the main screen.
One new screen is the End Use License r Agreement – the screen that didn't existed in the Nuvi device (or only existed during initial setup)
Second screen: the standard disclaimer screen Warning that existed before
So from now on, you need to go through two screens each time after the restart.
-- The web version of Garmin Explore not supporting Garmin SmartDrive 66. So basically, if you would like to manage your POI, data, you will need to use the Garmin BaseCamp soft for Windows (and probably for Mac also..)
Additional features etc:
— Weather and Weather Radar — the feature will work only with the connection to cell. phone and in the areas with the cell. phone coverage/internet coverage/wi-fi. There is an option to add favorite cities - nice one...
— Weather feature could be used also through Alexa, by using the voice requests. It will show additional full screen with the local weather or the weather from the requested location.
— Includes connection to the following satellite systems:
GPS – USA satellite system
Galileo – European satellite system
BeiDou – Chinese satellite system
The Nuvi 2597 included only GPS system (but I might be wrong)
— full cell. phone integration (calls, listening to music – through the cell phone, but on the speakers and screen of the Garmin SmartDrive 66 device). The feature might be useful to some, but somehow Garmin didt provided intuitive settings to turn off fully some of the cell. phone features – one need to fight configurations on the cell. phone and the Garmin device in order to limit some of those integrations – for those who prefer to integrate the cell. phone fully to the car media system it might be some pain during the first configuration. There is no option to upload your own music and listen to it from the Garmin device itself.
the device could be used without any cell phone integration, without any internet etc.. - you will loose some of the features without the internet connection, like: weather or any other features that requires access to web. You still have the traffic without internet connection, through the radio-adapter integrated inside the power cable (for the supported zones, I assume it will not work in any place)
— Driver alerts includes now Animal crossing, nice one.. – still something to test during the long drives.you'll see also a speed limit notification for the actual road.New from Nuvi, there are now even signs for turns notification (actual replications of the signs ahead) , exists even in the rural area that I've tested the device..- nice surprise ) - but still to be tested...
— Gas prices app – as a separate app. You will not see the prices in the HUGE Ap Uhead view block, even if there is A LOT of empty space there.. For the prices you’ll need to open the Gas prices app separately.
— Tripadvisor – as a separate app. You could see basic info about different places (hotels etc..), including rating, but no review and more details, only basic info.
— History POI app – historical places, museums etc – only for USA – the Canadian map is empty – zero..Garmin why?....(if someone could provide a link for the full package of History POI for Canada, will appreciate it)
-- National parcs POI app - Canadian map is empty - nothing... Why, Garmin?... this could be a very useful feature, but nothing...
— Music icon app is now located on the main screen in the bottom. And there is no way to remove it, even if someone is not listening to music through the Garmin SmartDrive 66 device (and to remind: there is no feature to save music locally on the device...). The icon to the music app is shown even if the media is disabled in the bluetooth settings for the Garmin on the cell. phone itself. Why Garmin?
— Battery life for Garmin DriveSmart 66 – same as Nuvi 2597 – about an hour – in the best case scenario...what is strange, since Nuvi is a 10 year old device... So basically, if you would like to turn off your car, or take your device home for the configuration, update, route etc...you will need to plug it to the power.
-- Wireless Cameras app - never tested the feature (Nuvi 2597 also had this feature), but looks like a nice one, you can install a backup wireless camera, wire it to the backup lights and the screen with the camera will turn on automatically each time when you reverse. But once again, such a nice idea, but half-baked. They could integrate easily option for ANY dash camera: in such a way, that people could install several cameras, and use Garmin device during offroad, or city parking, by seeing multiple cameras, switching between them. This fully integrated feature, with the usage of ANY Garmin cameras, could be really successful, especially in nova days, when even Ford started the integration of subscription payment for their F-150 cameras.
-- Photo Live app - sort of "live" screenshots from different Live Cameras. There is a Canadian coverage - thank you, Garmin... Not sure how exactly Garmin exctracts the screenshots, probably some XX minutes there is a new screenshot from the Live cameras, but not sure. There is an option to bring the Live Camera screnshot to a view block on the right of the routing map and see it during the driving (to be tested..)
-- Cities Ahead view block - very useful one
-- Turns main full screen (when pressing on top of the screen during navigation) - will not show dynamic change in the distance left to the turn. The dynamic change could be seen in separate view of turns. This is definitely a huge mistake, or Garmin just missed it... There is even some video review on Youtube about this issue.
-- NO sharing of your drive and location..(with friends, family etc..) - Garmin, what?!....this is a total non-sense for such a "modern" device - to remind...it is the top in the line Garmin device for car navigation (the difference between 66, 77 and 86 models -- screen size). No option to share via Garmin Drive app also... The feature existed in some older models...
-- Log history route / Travel history - best feature ever..doesnt exist in Google Maps or Waze, actually you can see on the map all of your recent routes, as a different color on the roads, and drive it without navigation, just based on this on-map log, following the different color on the road.Very useful feature for any places without indicated roads, new roads, forestry roads, any offroading, or even a usual city navigation, where you dont remember the exact address that been visited lately, you can just follow the historical log.One will not be able to add the new historical route in the memory and navigate it later. But when driving some forestry roads, you will definitely be able to use the log, to go back, without being lost.Very useful feature for some... Unfortunately, there is a memory limitation for the log (by travel distance or time - not sure exactly, in my case it is about a week). But you will not be able to view it year later (probably not, havent yet tested if the log history limitations has changed from the Nuvi 2597 to DriveSmart 66).I might be wrong, but Garmin has integrated more advanced feature for non-existing routes, or own created routes in their advanced Overlander navigation device, where you can actually create a new route and save it for the future drives.
to access Travel History feature on the new Garmin DriveSmart 666: Settings -- Map Display - Map Layers - Travel History (check the box) -- from now on the roads that you've been at will be colored in different color.
-- Routes creation - creation of the routes with a multiple stops points is more advanced now. There is an option to re-shape even simple proposed route, by placing pin points and reroute it through them, and then save this route for future drives. (to remind: DriveSmart 66 will not create a new route through multiple pin-points, if the road is not existing on the Garmin map, between those points)
Summary:
Nothing has really changed during the past 10 years for Garmin top line GPS automotive device.. Yes, the screen is better and the part of the touch-screen experience is a huge step. But beside it, probably same experience as in Nuvi 2597. And again, for someone who needs a dedicated car navigation device, probably this is the best choice there in the market - a very sad reality...
Amen.
p.s. ...to be updated... well..maybe..)

Hey, have some questions about Garmin Overlander vs SmartDrive 66 GPS devices. Trying to understand if the worth it the investment in Garmin Overlander. Presently using the old Nuvi 2597 device. Questions: -- will it be possible to use on the Overlander the same highway\city routing as inside SmartDrive 66? Is it the same app inside Overlander for usual driving as in SmartDrive66? Or there are some limitations?
-- is there a traffic-radio cable for Overlander same as in SmartDrive 66 (comes in the package)?
-- on the Overlander, when planning a route from the highway to the gravel road (missing on the road map, but existing on the off-road map) how exactly the device will calculate the route?
-- weather notifications Overlander and SmartDrive 66 (when connected through the cell. app), is it really can give weather notifications during the driving on the highway\city? (exmp: message notification about icy road ahead etc..)
- voice control for Overlander - is it good? any included Alexa?
-- any windshield mount for the Overland in the box?
-- interested in general opinions of Overland usage on the road, gravel roads and off-roads - worth it?

I’m looking to include HR data in my cycling computer display so I can do some targeted zone training. Right now I’ve got an Apple Watch and an edge 530, and they don’t play nice together (I’ve seen some hacks to get them to sync that involve apps on your phone, but I don’t want to fool with an app every time I set out for a ride).
My Apple Watch is almost 5 years old now, and it’s on its last legs battery-wise. I am considering replacing it with a Garmin watch so that I can get the HR data to sync natively with my edge head unit. Does anyone have any experience with how well their watches perform while cycling? And any model recommendations? I’m also open to another brand of fitness watch as long as it will sync natively with an edge and has Siri functionality.
Edit: I’m not categorically opposed to a chest monitor, I realize they are inherently going to be more accurate than a wristwatch, but I’m trying not to add another thing I have to charge and put on before a ride. I’ll always have my watch on, and it would be nice just to hop on and go

Race Information

• Name: TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon
• Date: October 15th, 2023
• Distance: 26.2 miles
• Location: Toronto, ON
• Website: https://www.torontowaterfrontmarathon.com/
• Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/10044755567
• Time: 3:34:28

Goals

Goal	Description	Completed?
A	Sub 3:30	No
B	Sub 3:40	Yes

Splits

Mile	Time
1	8:14
2	7:59
3	7:55
4	8:13
5	8:28
6	8:25
7	8:19
8	8:33
9	8:12
10	8:26
11	8:11
12	8:05
13	8:21
14	8:05
15	8:14
16	8:09
17	7:55
18	7:52
19	8:04
20	8:13
21	7:57
22	7:31
23	8:28
24	8:13
25	7:32
26	8:04

Training

This was my (30M) 7th completed marathon (DNF'd my first two attempts over a decade ago due to not wearing my insulin pump and not doing anything for nutrition at all).
I ran the San Francisco marathon back in late July because I had friends doing it. I wasn't trained for the race but I was active over the summer, competing in a trail half marathon run in early June, doing a few 21km runs the month before the race, and staying active overall, so I participated with the intention of bringing my camera and experiencing the scenic course without intending to PB (video here).
While in SF, I got envious of all my friends' Garmin watches, so when I got back home I purchased one of my own and it's been fantastic. The GPS is more reliable, it can play music without my phone, it has the ability to display by blood sugar readings while in exercise mode, and the coaching functionality is awesome at giving me some structure. I also liked that it gave me stats for things like cadence, which I've never thought of before; I decided to research that a bit more and realized I was over-striding and probably overworking my hips, so I did some drills and worked towards running with my feet landing closer to my body.
After the race, I did a few runs a week in August. I learned about the importance of keeping easy runs easy instead of doing all of my runs at 7:30/mile pace and switched to HR-based training on my Garmin for this goal race. I took a week off for a vacation to the Canadian Rockies during Labour Day weekend and started training more consistently throughout the week after getting back in September.
I didn't follow Garmin's suggestions to a T: for example, if it would schedule a hard workout for me on Wednesday, I would instead do that on Tuesday because Wednesdays is when I have both yoga and a community easy 5k run. I would also try to fit in strength training on hard days, although I don't think I did this enough; even if I had though, it takes over 4-6 weeks to build meaningful strength, and I didn't give myself a lot of time to prepare for this race. I also tried to track any bike ride I would go on for commuting purposes that were over 20 minutes just get an idea of how active I'm being outside of my runs. Every night I ran I would foam roll and do a yoga routine from YouTube. These have been my favourites:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdw3QG7haYI
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wj64kFTMqnA
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzXkMnvqojE

For the first time ever, I decided to learn about shoe rotations; historically I've just had a pair of daily drivers that I would use for everything, even back in my high school Track and XC days, but with deals on previous years' models, and with me missing how fun it was to run fast in my previous, less cushion-y pair of shoes, I figured it would be worth it to invest in different shoes to make running more fun. My rotation is: Saucony Ride 15s as my daily driver, Kinvara 13s for speed work, Triumph 20s for easy/recovery runs, and Endorphin Pro 3s for racing.
In my Garmin I originally put an ambitious goal time of 3:00 because I used to be able to run 7:00/mile comfortably, but after a couple speed workouts and running a 10k race at around that pace I realized that 3:30 was a more realistic goal for this time.
For doing the really long runs, I had fun going to some community events run on Sundays. I intended to check out the runs hosted by High Park Rogue Runners, Culture Athletics, the Runners Shop, and probably more I'm forgetting, but the two long runs I went on (33k and 30k respectively) were one hosted by Blacktoe Running, and another hosted by Lululemon called Run Down Bun Down, the latter which provided free massages, food, and yoga after the run. It was incredible to feel the sense of community in the running community in Toronto, although for both of these runs I found myself way further back than all the other runners because I was trying to keep my heart-rate at 145 bpm and that meant running slower than 9:00/mile. This was still an improvement over the 11:00/mile it took me in August, and on both days I did speed up for the last 10k to practice going fast on tired legs.
About three weeks before the race, I did unfortunately sustain an injury for being stupid. I had a sprint workout scheduled for Tuesday, and my intention was to do it that morning and then do a strength training routine in the evening, but I woke up too late that day to do so, so I did strength in the morning and then did my sprints in the evening. Despite learning about how important it is to not over-stride, I thought that rule didn't apply to sprints, and I pushed really hard to hit the suggested 4:30/mile pace from Garmin, so on the last interval I felt a bit of a pull in my right groin on one of my kicks. It didn't hurt too bad and I jogged home since it didn't cause irritation, but I was worried about having caused an injury that may affect my ability to race. The next day, I went to a physio. She told me it looked like an adductor strain, gave me some strength exercises to do, told me to apply heat every day, and no running for now. The next few days I rested, went on an elliptical, went swimming, and went on a bike ride. The following Tuesday, I went back to get examined feeling a lot better, was told I was good to start running again, and to focus on stretching my adductor to loosen it up. I continued my runs from then on. My Garmin's training schedule had me tapering for only the last week, which felt short considering I saw that other people were doing 2 to 3-week tapers, but I figured it was fine. I did get extra time not running because of the one week I was injured.

Pre-race

Expo

I went to the Expo Friday evening after work. I walked around a bit to do some shopping to see if there was something worth buying for a future race, was interested in the tank tops and was frustrated at how impossible it was to find singlets in my size as a 5'4" man, and I visited the booth for the Running Physio, where they were offering complimentary gait analyses. I signed up, and ran on a treadmill for a few minutes being examined. The physio said that overall I had good form, but one thing she noticed was that I could be leaning forward a bit more, and my arms were too stiff, so I should let them swing towards the center a bit more and bend my elbows a bit more. She said I made the change easily, and I could immediately tell this was more efficient, so she told me I was good to incorporate this change immediately, as opposed to other changes that need to be implemented more gradually.
Unfortunately I ended up spending too much time on my feet at the expo as I had to wait for others who got there later than expected and who wanted to check out the Expo. I similarly spent too much time on my feet the next day after doing my 5k shakeout run in the morning, shopping around looking for Rice Chex (more below), then deciding to walk to Decathlon in the afternoon to buy an Xact Energy Bar (they had this at the Lululemon-hosted long run so I knew they sat fine with me) and then doing laundry to wash my race gear and packing my bags for the race. I did some yoga that night but couldn't shake the feeling of tightness in my left leg and I was worried it would not go away before the race.

Nutrition

I have Type 1 Diabetes and Celiac Disease so my diet is limited, and I have to be careful if I ever decide to just eat a bunch of simple carbs so as not to let my blood sugar spike too much.
Every day in the week leading up to the race, I had overnight oats in the morning, and on days I ran I also had a can of cold brew coffee. This marathon was sponsored by Made With Local, a gluten free oat-based snack company, and I used the 20% off coupon to buy a bunch of bars but also several backs of gluten-free quick oats. For my breakfast, I would store 50g of the oats, 1-1.5 cups of unsweetened or vanilla soy milk, chia seeds, hemp seeds, frozen blueberries, honey, and peanut butter in a container overnight. I thought this worked well, although a few hours after eating, my blood sugar would spike up to uncomfortable levels that would cause me to panic bolus. This was perfect for race day but annoying on other days, so I was mindful about taking my insulin at least half an hour before having this breakfast on those days.
For dinner on Monday (technically Thanksgiving), I made some Tofu Scramble with spinach and a bell pepper, and made some tempeh-based bacon, and ate that with a gluten-free "Everything Superfood Bagel" with some vegan cream cheese. I had this Monday-Thursday. One of the days, I left the cream cheese out for a few hours. It was probablu fine but I didn't want to risk anything so I ended up buying some cashew-based Chipotle Cheddar Cheese for the rest of the week.
I am privileged enough to work in tech and our office has food provided, so I was able to take advantage of that. I went in for breakfast Friday morning intending to have Rice Chex, but my office didn't have it. They did have gluten-free Rice Krispies, but it was next to other gluten-containing cereals, and the scoops for all the cereals were open and next to each other so I figured it's not worth the risk to gluten myself. I just had a few glasses of juice between breakfast and lunch, whereas normally I don't drink juice. At lunch, our office had a rice dish with tofu, so I filled up a plate with more rice than I normally consume (I estimate about 70g of carbs), and ate that. On the way home, I stopped by the grocery store to pick up some Marinara pasta sauce and brown rice pasta. I had Spinach and TVP at home, so I boiled the pasta, then cooked the sauce with TVP and some extra water and half a bouillon cube added in, then added the pasta and spinach to the pot. It was a very simple dish but was exactly what I needed; I had a large bowl of that and took enough insulin for 90g of sugar.
On Saturday, for lunch I had a remaining bagel with the rest of the chipotle cheddar cashew cheese, and drank some coconut water. I had gone out to look for Rice Chex, but both grocery stores near me didn't have any Chex cereal. I looked it up and it's possible that there's a rice shortage leading to the lack of Chex cereal, so I settled for some dry-ass rice crackers 😢. I munched on those throughout the day after taking insulin for them and it was not pleasant. For dinner I had leftover pasta from the night before, and I was in bed by 11:30pm.

Gear

I wore Saucony Endorphin Pro 3s, and I had about 19 miles on them at this point. I wore thin Darn Tough running socks, UnderArmour HeatGear compression shorts with a phone pocket for holding my phone, and Brooks Sherpa Shorts on top of that. I intended to wear a Brooks Atmosphere singlet I bought off of The Last Hunt (their XS fits me perfectly; it's rare that tops are short enough for me), but ended up regretfully deciding against it as much as I like it because the front is mostly navy and my shorts are black and navy on black is a no-no. I had a white singlet that I wore for San Francisco but it has some stains I can't get rid of, and I have a black singlet from American Eagle that I felt was too heavy. I ended up wearing a blue XXS singlet from Uniqlo I got on clearance once and it was honestly perfect and comfortable. For my hat, I wanted to wear something other than the black Lululemon hat I wore for a bunch of my races historically, so I ordered a white running hat from Decathlon that I was hoping would lead to less salt loss due to heat. I also wore this Kiprun race belt to hold my bib, which I appreciated since I hate putting pins on my shirts, and it also conveniently held all my Huma gels, so it freed up space in my Sherpa shorts for more snacks (this ended up being a mistake as I will explain below). The regrettable part was that I ordered this a week before the race and only did the shakeout run in them with my bib and gels attached, so I didn't get a whole lot of trial with it.
I also bought a collapsible silicon cup because the race organizers communicated that each water station would give us the opportunity to refill our own containers. I commented on their IG post asking for details on this and unfortunately got a vague answer that "you can refill at every water station 🙌 just as a volunteer and move to the side out of runners’ way ❤️*" which didn't inspire a lot of confidence that it would be an easy process that could be done without stopping for too lunch. Regardless, I ordered the cup because it would be nice to not have to use disposable paper cups that get thrown out. On my shakeout run, I tied it to my race belt, and while it was bouncy, I didn't think it was too bad, so I decided I would bring it on my race (also a mistake).
*Ohhhhh, I'm now realizing that they meant to say to ASK a volunteer. I thought they were saying that we could volunteer to bring our own cups. I wish I had realized that earlier because stopping each time to ask a volunteer to fill up my water would have ate up a whole bunch of time.

Race Day

I woke up at 5am and stayed in bed for about 15 minutes on my phone before getting up. I intended to try and be at the start at 8:15 because he club I run with was doing a group photo at 8:15am. I had my oats and my coffee, and waited for my digestive system to do its thing. I went to the washroom, and then still had over an hour, so I sat on my couch and reviewed my PacePro strategy on Garmin Connect. I put in a Negative Split plan for hitting 3:30. I ended up having to go to the bathroom again and had to pee another three times in a 20 minute period, which worried me; it was likely due to the stress of the race. I took a Ginger Gravol (something I'd never consumed, another race day taboo which thankfully didn't cause any problems), put on my sunscreen, then got ready to head out.
With me I brought:

• My phone in my compression shorts' pocket
• My insulin pump in the back zipper pocket of my Sherpa shorts
• 6 Huma gels on my race belt
• Shokz headphones
• One Xact Beet Energy Bar, two Sunrype bars and one peanut butter chocolate chip Larabar in my Sherpa pockets
• One Made With Local peanut butter blondie bar and a can of coconut water for right before the race.

In my gear check bag I had:

• A Heattech long-sleeve top
• Joggers
• Compression socks and normal socks
• Tevas (I couldn't fit sneakers in the bag)
• A sweater
• A running cap and gloves
• A small pack of gluten-free pretzels
• A plastic water bottle I had gotten from my RMT the week before

I left my home around 7:50 and took a Bikeshare bike to Osgoode station. This was a bit tough because I was cold in my singlet and no gloves, and also because I was holding a can of coconut water in my hand, but I made it nonetheless. I checked in my bag and jogged to the spot where the group photo was happening. One person was late to the photo so we didn't take it until 8:25, meaning standing while shivering for 10 minutes. And of course, I had to pee again despite going over 4 times back home in the past hour. I went to stand in line for the port-a-potty around 8:28, but they started calling for people to enter their corrals before they would close them at 8:35. There was still a huge line-up for the port-a-potty so I figured there's no way they would actually close the corrals on people, but when they made their second announcement that corrals were going to close, I got scared and decided to just skip the bathroom break and head to my corral. Once in my corral, I did some dynamic stretches and started soaking the GPS on my watch and putting on music that I couldn't hear because the Shokz headphones aren't noise-cancelling. I then drank the coconut water and ate my oat bar without taking any insulin since I knew it would go low during the race.

Race

Miles 1 - 10

I had to pee.
I went in with the intention to not try to follow my Garmin PacePro plan too closely, but to use it as a guideline. It was telling me to go 8:50 for the first mile, but I went with what I felt was a comfortable pace that was well below my estimated lactate threshold and that I felt easy running in. The 3:30 pace group did pass me pretty early on but I figured they were going for a consistent pace, and I told myself not to worry about it and not get overzealous to go fast in the beginning. I did go faster than 8:00 for some of the first few miles, but I wasn't too worried as it felt easy. After the first few water stations I realized I couldn't see any coolers to fill up my own cup so I just used the water cups provided at each station. Around mile 4 or 5 I had my Xact energy bar and felt good heading down bathurst. Going west on Lakeshore I still felt strong, and around mile 8 I had my first gel with water.

Miles 10 - 18

I had to pee.
Even though I felt strong, the pain I had in my left leg from the day before never went away, and my right ankle was sore, although I wasn't worried about that as it didn't feel like there was anything structurally wrong, just soreness. Another issue that started happening around this part was that my shorts kept falling down and I had to keep pulling them back up. This could be because they weren't tightened enough, and/or too much extra weight with all the bars I had in them (none of which I ate during the run). Having to pull up my shorts every minute for the rest of the race proved to be really annoying but I didn't want to stop. On top of that, the insulin pump I kept in the back zipper pocket was extremely bouncy and after a while that got really annoying.
I carried on and my watch still showed that I had 2-3 minutes of time banked compared to the pacing plan. I had my next gel right around the 17-18km marker, and I passed by my running club's cheer station, which gave me a lot of energy. On the Lakeshore ramp after Spadina we got a scenic route of the Rogers Centre and CN tower, and there was a billboard that had I guess words of encouragement that spectators could put. I laughed a bit because when I passed it the billboard said something like "Let's go Daddy" and I thought "hell yeah." I passed by the Parkdale Running club's cheer station at Simcoe street, and just after this is where the half marathoners would split off from the marathoners. Both groups went up Bay street in separate lanes and seeing the half marathoners and in general other runners around me struggling and having tensed up faces gave me a boost of confidence for the rest of the race knowing that I was able to keep my face and shoulders relaxed.
One annoyance I did have was that my right bicep was starting to hurt because of carrying the collapsible cup in my right hand with the wrist strap on. Part of me was hoping to see someone I knew, and I kind of considered asking my running club's cheer station to take it from me and give it back on the next community run, but I knew that would have been an annoying ask, and I had to hold the L for trying this on race day despite kind of annoying it was going to be a hassle.
Around mile 15 I had another gel, right before going up Bayview Avenue. I liked having the turnarounds here because I saw people ahead of me in the race I could cheer on, and on the way back I saw people behind me I could cheer on. It gave me motivation to keep going knowing that we could all see and support each other.
Around mile 16 or 17 I was not going as fast as my pace should have been. I tried increasing my speed because I had the energy, but my legs would not cooperate. My hamstrings would tense up and my adductors were still feeling some pain. Not wanting to force it, I kept moving at what felt like a comfortable pace, which from looking at my splits appears to be pretty consistently around the 8:11/mile.

Miles 18 - 20

I had to pee.
It was a few miles left before the final turnaround. I felt strong going into it, and I think I had another gel here, and decided this is the part where I should really push it. I felt like I was on pace to hit 3:40 and maybe above, and was feeling a bit demotivated, but once the turnaround happened and I could see the city we had to run towards, I felt the motivation to move faster, and my legs were cooperating. I eventually passed the 3:35 pace group and heard the pacer yell that there was less than 10k left and they had a 45 second buffer, which was awesome to hear. I was able to maintain a quick pace despite having to pull my shorts up so often throughout this section until a bit after we went south back to Lakeshore Drive East.
My feet started to tense up: this was my first real long run in my carbon-plated shoes, and I remember reading about how they are firm and can be hard on the feet. I was able to shake it off by wiggling my toes and exaggerating my arches to make sure my feet didn't fall asleep, and thankfully they didn't bother me for the rest of the race after those few seconds of tension. However, the inner thighs right above the knee on both sized started feeling compressed, so I slowed back down to a comfortable pace for the rest of this stretch on Lakeshore Drive. I think this was probably the hardest part of the race because it felt pretty empty until we got back to Queen St East where the next cheer station was. After hitting this water station, I stopped for the first time because I wanted to make sure I got enough water instead of spilling a bunch of it on my chest, and I ate my final gel, and decide to kick it up. I think had less than 2 miles left and felt good energy-wise, but kept a somewhat comfortable tempo pace because the last thing I wanted to do was push my legs too hard and cramp up and ruin the good time I could have. Once we got to Wellington and Church it got kind of annoying because the section we could run in was getting more narrow, and it got harder for me to pass the people in front of me, and I had to watch for streetcar tracks when making lateral movements. Once I hit Bay St I picked up the pace some more; at this point my shorts fell down every few seconds because of my pace but I kept kicking. I could kind of hear the 3:35 pace group behind me celebrating how much of a buffer they had, but I definitely didn't want to fall behind them since they cross the start line after me, so I kept booking it until I crossed the finish line when the clock read about 3:44.

Post-race

I had to pee.
My friend was at the finish line and managed to record me just as I was crossing the finish line and walked up to her by the fence to say hi. After this there was some confusion because she followed me north until she realized there was no way for us to meet up because the runner's chute exited into Nathan Phillips Square, so I told her to meet me there. I got my medal, accidentally skipped the water that was there, and got my photo taken with my medal and foil blankie. I exited into Nathan Phillips Square and went straight to bag check because I wanted to have my pretzels as soon as possible. I got my bag and told my friend and GF who had just arrived to meet me there.
They found me and I sat down for a bit to eat my pretzels and drink my water bottle. I was shaking the whole time due to being cold and tired so they helped me get my thermal top and sweater. My GF gave me half a regular Gravol just to make sure I didn't get too nauseous. After finishing up and them taking some pictures, I went to the post-race snack station because I saw people with potato chips and got jealous. Unfortunately, at the desk I ended up at, they only had ketchup chips, which are disgusting (sorry fellow Canadians). I tried asking the volunteer if they could give me one of the Sea Salt ones from the next table and they didn't understand the request. I didn't want to bother them and I think the brand of potato chip may not have been certified GF anyway, so I skipped it and got the Cherry greek yogurt, an apple (I think it was Ambrosia, which is great), and a banana.
Toronto's PATH is so freaking convenient. Still feeling cold, I lead my crew downstairs to city hall's parking lot and showed them how to get to the PATH from there. Having the underground PATH felt like a hack that only locals would think to use. I could see a few runners here or there underground but it was mostly empty. We sat down at a food court with the intention of having the yogurt so it doesn't go bad; unfortunately, my GF wanted the first few bites and ended up eating almost the whole thing forgetting that it was mine 😭.
I was able to use this time indoors to warm up though, and switch out my race shoes for my sandals. I also realized I forgot to put on my hat so I did that too. After resting for a bit longer, we started taking the PATH and heading towards the Eaton Centre so my GF could get to her shift (finally got a chance to pee at Hudson's Bay on the way), and then I started walking home with the other friend who was with me. I started feeling a bit woozy part-way through, but thankfully there was a water bottle refill station, so I finally got use out of my collapsible cup and filled it a few times with water and slowly ate my banana before getting back up to finish walking home, feeling a lot better.
On the way home, I picked up some gluten free chicken noodle soup, which I felt bad about because of the meat, but my body was really craving it, and I ate the whole jar, which was great. I had a frozen GF pizza in the freezer ready for me for dinner, and I was all set for the day.

Retrospective

Obviously the wardrobe issues were a dumb mistake. I overpacked because I was paranoid that my sugar levels would drop, but throughout the course of the race my sugar never went low, and there were plenty of Nuun stations.
I also felt that my legs were tired on race day and felt sore the entire run. I probably shouldn't have done a Pilates workout during the week of the race, and I probably did too much walking the two days before the race.
I did leave feedback for the race organizers in the post-race survey that it would have been nice to have coolers for filling our own water, the trash bins needed to be closer to make it easier to toss them in, and the city and province need to be way more pressured about prioritizing public transit to discourage driving as much as possible. After doing the SF marathon earlier this year, I would love for the races to start earlier too not just to avoid angry locals but also because it would have been awesome to be heading East on Lakeshore Blvd W while the sun was rising on the city.
I think my training block was a bit short, but I want to improve my aerobic base over the winter. I did not plan on being able to PB in my next marathon in May, but I think it should be possible with proper training.

Upcoming Races

• Blacktoe Holiday 10k in December (haven't signed up yet)
• Around the Bay 30k in Hamilton in March (haven't signed up yet)
• Vancouver Marathon in May (already signed up)

Would like to travel somewhere interesting to do a half some time in April as well. I've already done the Montreal 22km this year.
Made with a new race report generator created by herumph.

A little while ago I found a GPS device that we used to use - the Garmin Nuvi 1350. I updated the maps through the software that we have on our computer and I have tried using it, but it is set to our old address in a different city. I tried changing the address but the place we moved into was built only a year ago, and the address doesn't come up when I try to enter it in. Does anyone know how I can fix this?

I hacked my smart watch a while ago to make it recognize longboard and surf skate as a sport and to properly track my rides. Maybe it is useful for others too, so I wrote a tutorial about it.
https://surfskate.online/how-to-make-your-garmin-instinct-2-longboard-and-surf-skate-aware/
Feel free to leave me comments if you tried it out. I am also curious if someone did something similar before.