Opening the Garmin 305

This GINORMOUS device is amazing. It is a GPS hooked up to a heart rate monitor. You then download the data to the compy and can map our your workouts, or use it for directions (if desperate or in the bush). I have to say that it has been fun seeing what it can do. 

Today I figured out how to export the data to Google Earth/Maps which is a very nice convenience. I also found some software called SportsTracks that will be very nice to see progress overtime and better mapping. From all reports people say that this can be taken swimming. I'm not sure bout the main device, but the heart rate monitor seem secure (and cheap enough to replace), so maybe I'll try it keeping the main unit safe. 

I thought it'd be fun to post some exercises that I've done over the past few weeks to show what this toy can do, and how different exercises effect your heart rate.

This is from when I went weight lifting on Monday. I'm sore today, but notice that my peak was only 150bpm, and that it was very up and down. You only get a highish heart rate in bursts when lifting the weights, and I wasn't really taking breaks, I was doing sit-ups between sets. 

This is my entire commute. Notice the blue is my speed. I included the train part of the commute out of curiosity. You can clearly see the stops and that it actually goes over 80mph in some sections. I average about 17-18mph while on the bike, and my heart averages in the 160s during the biking sections. The peak at the end is the hill climb up Folsom to Bernal Heights. That big dip in my HR is me waiting at a couple of stop lights. 

This is from a hike that Mom, Liz, Liz's Dad-Tom, and I did a couple of days after Christmas. You can see that I plotted it versus distance rather than time, and I have speed and elevation, but not heart rate. It was a good hike with interesting folks with lots to tell. 

Here is an export to Google Maps of a hike that Liz, Mom, and I did that a posted photos of a few posts ago. It's kinda weird and creepy to see it laid out like this, but as is the way of the future!