The quick release kit–solving one of life’s great problems

When you first get your Garmin Forerunner 305 or Forerunner 310XT – you’re abound with happy.  Snugly tied to your wrist, life is grand. You can run with it on your wrist, bike with it on your wrist, and even slide down the twisty slide at McDonalds with it on your wrist.

But then one day you wonder – what would it look like if it were mounted on my bike?  Which is shortly followed by: How would that work in transition?

Well, a while back I wrote a rather lengthy post about how to use a Garmin in races/triathlons.  Some might say it was over the top (actually, I think some did say that), so I’m going to go simple on this one – and just simply talk about the quick release kit itself.  The reason being I see a TON of questions about how to use a Garmin during a race, and to me – the center of that experience is the quick release kit.

And at less than $20…you really can’t go wrong.

So what is it?

Well, in short, it’s a replacement band for your Garmin 310XT or 305.  But it’s not just a band. Instead, it’s actually a new mounting system that replaces your entire band.  It’s not something you’d swap out during a race – but rather something you do well before hand.  Once in the race though, you’ll just be able to quickly click between the different mounts.

(Forerunner 305 on left, Forerunner 310XT on right)

This quick mounting system enables the watch to essentially go band-less (kinda like bandit, only different) and thus be attached to a bike mount system.  And, because it’s designed to just snap in place – you can quickly swap between the two (bike and run)…just like you might in transition.

Running:

When you’re running, you’re likely going to be wearing it on your wrist (the exception here being if you still have it in your swim cap from the swim and forgot to take it off a few sports prior).  Assuming it’s on your wrist, with the FR305, it’s a fabric band (best thing evah!), and in the case of the 310XT – it’s a plastic band.  They look like this:

(Forerunner 305 on left, Forerunner 310XT on right)

In the case of the FR305, the band pops out vertically.  While with the 310XT, it uses a twist lock mechanism.  This is one area that’s greatly improved on the 310XT over the 305 – which is the new twist lock system, removing any of the 305-ejection problems that some folks have reported on the bike.  While there were some initial issues with the 310XT pins, those have been resolved and you can ring up Garmin support to get your band swapped out for the sturdier ones.

Cycling:

If you’re on your bike, the quick release kit enables you to simply snap the watch in place.  And once in T2, you can snap it back out to go onto the run.  The mount system on the FR305 uses two zip ties, as does the 310XT mount.  However…here’s a bit of a secret: The Edge 500 mount kit uses the same system – and because it uses nifty industrial strength rubber bands, it’s super quick to install (I haven’t had my pop off yet in almost two thousand miles of riding).

(Forerunner 305 on left, Forerunner 310XT middle, Edge 500 on right).

Oh – and here’s the kicker.  That Edge 500 kit above, it’s less than $10…for TWO mounts, and a gazillion bands.  That’s like the end of evening hot dog special at the county fair.

Swimming:

Now – what’s the one greatest feature of the quick release kit?  It removes the need to have the dorky band in your swim cap when you’re swimming with it.

(Ok, side note: Yes, you can use the watch on your wrist – and yes, it does work sorta-ok using the new 310XT Swimming Mode, but, in my opinion, it’s much more safe on your head than on your wrist in a race.  Training is different.  Plus, the data is way more accurate.  Just my two cents…)

Ok, right, back to swimming.

See, without the strap – the unit just sits there all nice and pretty.  Nice, ehh?

Now – a few weeks back a reader sent in this super-cool idea for how to utilize the quick release kit in conjunction with your goggles and the swim-cap method..  This removes the issue where the 310XT is floating around aimlessly in your cap, but now ties it to your goggles – much more secure.  This is all Dustin Schneider’s idea – so I can’t take any credit for it…but it’s brilliant.

(Photo Credit: Dustin Schneider)

See, he’s just zip-tied the quick release kit to the goggles straps, which incidentally is the perfect location on your head for the 310XT to receive coverage while your swimming (horizontal).  This secures it to your goggles, while also making it easy to twist off in T1 to take onto your bike.

Wrap-up

Note, there are actually a few different quick release kits available – here’s the rundown:

Forerunner 305: $19
Forerunner 310XT Variant 1: $20 (First generation edition)
Forerunner 310XT Variant 2: $21 (Second generation edition: This one includes the Edge 500 style bike mount as well as a better design to reduce pin popping issues – I prefer this)
Garmin Edge 500 Mounts: $9 (two mounts per box, a million rubber bands)

So there ya go – the in’s and out’s of the quick release kit.  Now go forth and conquer your race (and transition) without stumbling all over trying to undo the strap while running. :)

A log cabin, and following strangers in pickup trucks

Way back at the Rumpass in Bumpass Triathlon, our friends Lindsey and Carl had planned to join us for the weekend (and race) down at Lake Anna in the RV adventure.  The lake is about 90 minutes south of DC (without traffic, 3-4 hours with) – and a nice retreat from the busy city of Washington DC.  It also happens to be one of the few legal places to open water swim in the greater Washington DC area….thus making it a perfect location for a training weekend.

After being home for about 12 hours from my last trip, we went ahead and loaded the car (bike still in the bag) and headed on south.  Our journey would take about 3 hours in total, but the end location was certainly worth it:

We had rented a log cabin for the weekend, at a surprisingly cheap rate.  It wasn’t directly on the lake, but was just a few miles from it – so close enough for our purposes.  The place appeared to be brand new, and inside it was just as nice as outside.

From there we cooked dinner and pretty much just relaxed the rest of the night just sitting out on the porch enjoying doing absolutely nothing.  Finally.

The next morning The Girl made her famous Chocolate Chip pancakes for the group.  While we had many great meals – this was the only one I got pictures of.  Doh!

After the pancakes, it was time to head out into the rather warm weather for a bit of a run.  By ‘rather warm’, I mean triple digits.  And the route certainly didn’t offer much shade.  About the only shade I found was when I got back.  But, being an out and back course, the 10 mile run went pretty quick.  And soon…I was happily done (and completely drenched).

The rest of the afternoon returned to lazing around and taking naps.  From a training standpoint, this was pretty much perfect.  Though, we probably all got a bit too lazy, as it wasn’t until around 7PM that we realized we still needed to both swim…and make/eat dinner.

In theory getting in the water should have been relatively easy.  In reality, we took some wrong turns.  Lots of wrong turns.  Not at all unlike the very first adventure I had with The Girl back two years ago…in this very same area. Luckily, this time we were in a car.  After asking at a gas station how to find the swim spot (marina), a stranger overheard our conversation.  Though, he didn’t say anything then to us.

Instead, about 3 miles down the road he flagged us down (by driving on the side of the road virtually in the cornfields).  After a brief conversation about our intentions (four people in a car looking to ‘swim’), he casually said to follow him to his place, and we could just go from there.  So we did.

I believe along the way however he might have changed his mind – as he was driving his pickup truck about 80MPH on 30MPH dirt roads…fear not though, I wasn’t gonna lose him.

After a short drive, we ended up at his lakeside place…which was pretty sweet.

Immediately upon arrival, his two little dogs rushed out and decided to make their new pad…in my car.  Pretty funny actually:

We had planned to use wetsuits, but the guy warned us it was rather warm.  By ‘warm’, he should have said ‘freakin hot’.  It was crazy hot – even hotter than the water I swam in just days prior.  The water was somehow warmer than the air.  Scary.  But that didn’t stop us:

From there we made a huge ole triangly looking thing.  Now, you have to realize that Lindsey is an ITU pro…and we…well…are not.  So I think she swam the 1.5 mile triangle like 12 times while we managed once.

(Above track using Garmin 310XT in swim cap…works every time)

Eventually though, we all made it back to the dock:

From there it was time to make dinner and go to sleep.  It’s funny in a house of triathletes after dark though – with all the bikes lying around:

The next morning brought more adventures.  While we had a swim planned, when we arrived at our original location (not the dudes place) it was closed up.  Turns out the marina had gone out of business.  This made the swim portion of the swim-bike brick a bit of a nonstarter.

Nonetheless, we set out on the bikes.  Coach Alan had put together a 53 mile route that we easily downloaded to our Garmin’s.  From there, you just follow the little dotted line. Here’s the post I did on how to do this, if you’re unfamiliar.

This isn’t to say I don’t carry a backup cue sheet.  I’ve learned my lesson once before the the hard way…

This area is pretty much just a ton of farmland.  Which is green and pretty to look, minus all the beer cans on the side of the road. :(

Along the way I had to pickup some more water, as well as some Gatorade (it looked good!).  It was at that juncture that I noticed my spare tube had inexplicably fallen off the back and wrapped itself around the hub and my brakes.  How on earth it did that – without me noticing or ejecting me – is beyond me.  Very odd.  Anyway, you can see it below all tangled up.

From there, it was just around the lake and eventually back to the car.  And with the temperatures again in the triple digits…the car was a wonderful place. :)

So, that’s all I’ve got for the weekend.  I’m once again back on a plane – this time headed out West for a few days of work (feel free to watch my Twitter feed for the exact location deets).  Though, at the moment, me, my bags, my bike, and my plane(s) are having a general disagreement about whether we want to all travel together on the same flight tonight – or even the same destination.  So we’ll see how this shakes out.  Have a good week all!

Weekly Mailbag–June 26th, 2010

Here’s this week’s edition of the weekly mailbag.  This is a weekly series where I feature a handful of the e-mailed questions I received from the previous week or so.  I try and pick a wide variety of questions. Some are technical in nature, some sport related, and sometimes all sorts of other randomness – as you’ll see below.

This week’s mailbag covers the following topics:

1) Garmin Forerunner 305 Multiple Users
2) Virtual Partner Feature Questions
3) Mounting Garmin 305 on aerobars

Question #1: Garmin 305 Multiple Users
From Luke-

“Thanks for the review. I am going to likely buy the Forerunner 305 based upon your recommendation. I have one question for you that I believe was not addressed in previous posts or is stated in the manual. Does the 305 have the capability of storing multiple user profiles? My wife and I both plan on using it and it would be great if there was an easy transition from one user to the next. It would also be nice for integration on the PC and managing our training. Thanks for the help.”

This is a super common question I get – and I wish the answer were different, but unfortunately it won’t store different people, but rather only different bikes. Even the Forerunner 310XT will only store one human, but still stores multiple bikes. :(

However, one of the things I note is that for me all of the real calculations are done after the fact in software on the computer anyways. So the only true difference that on-the-watch per human settings would change would be calories (based on weight and body type) and even those can be re-calculated after the fact in virtually all sports software suites.  If you did pace by zones though, those would need to be adjusted each time.

As for the different screens, you can have many different data screens configured on each watch (each with their own set of data fields), so you can easily customize one set of screens per person and then just utilize that screen for that person.  Hope this helps!

Question #2: Virtual Partner Feature
From Tim-

“In your Timex Ironman GPS Global Trainer First Look Review you mention ‘For example, I use the Garmin Virtual Partner feature quite often to pace against, and I can just change the pace at any point in the run with a single button press and it recalculates.’ Now how do you do that?”

When on the virtual partner screen (while running), simply hold the up/down button for a second, and it'll allow you to adjust pace on the fly.  My favorite feature!  For those not familiar with the Virtual Partner feature, it allows you to specify a given pace – say 8:20/mile – and then the screen will tell you how far ahead or behind you are in relation to that pace.  I’ve used this a few times in races when I’m trying to hit specific paces, and also use it in training here and there. 

What Tim’s asking about is how to change that pace on the fly (mid-run), which I’ll do if I’m doing something like descending intervals.  With the Garmin’s, you simply hold the up/down button and it automatically changes the pace and resets the ‘counter’ – which is exactly what I want it to do.

Question #3: Utilizing Garmin 305 on aerobars
From Michael-

“I am trying to mount my Forerunner to my Tri bike with the quick release bike mounting kit the only place that I can mount it is on my aerobars.  That said, the mounting kit is cast in such a way that if I mount it to my aerobars it will place the watch sideways (90 degrees left or right).   To compensate for that I have cut out a piece of PVC and attached to my aerobars so that I can mount the watch facing in the right direction.  However it doesn’t look very good and I was hoping you knew of a better solutions.”

I hear you on wonky connections for aerobars, I too fail to understand why Garmin doesn’t offer some simple accessory that works with the quick release mount kit…especially given it’s designed for triathletes (peeps with aerobars).  One thing I have for my CompuTrainer is a small sideways mount that quickly and easily unscrews.  They sell it as an accessory for $8 on their page, check it out:

I’ve seen countless homemade solutions as well at races, along with a few more ‘refined’ solutions – so if anyone out there has any ready-to-buy suggestions, feel free to add them below!

Recent Mailbags:

Weekly Mailbag – June 19th, 2010

- Simple ANT+ Cycling Computer
- Race Wheels and Spare Tires/Tubes
- Garmin 305 Quick Release Challenges

Weekly Mailbag – June 12th, 2010
- What to wear during first tri
- Quarq Cinqo Power Meter Review
- Using Garmin 310XT for power meter intervals

All past mailbags here.

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P.S. – I’ve been pretty slammed this past week, and I have a pretty big pile of ya’lls e-mails to work though, I’m hoping to get them done in the next couple of days.  Sorry!

Training in the middle of nowhere

My travel for work goes in spurts – sometimes there are dry spells, and sometimes it gets…umm…undry.  I’m currently in the midst of a rather busy work travel set.  While sometimes my travels take me to interesting places at home and abroad – there are many, many times where I’m going to less exciting places.

This week would be one of those places.  A place without any cell phone coverage for 30 miles.

The town (a ‘town’ implies some sort of township, this doesn’t really have one) I’m working in has no hotel – so I have to stay some 30 miles away.  And while my daily schedule ranges from 12+ hours a day of work, I am finding bit and pieces of time in between during the evening to get in my workouts.

The good news is that the middle of nowhere turns out to be a really good place to get in your training.  This place happens to have perfect slowly rolling country roads with huge wide shoulders.  And, on top of that – there’s swimmable water.  Lots of it.  It’s like a million elephants came along and peed all over the countryside – tons of water (you have seen elephants pee at the circus, right?!?). And, plenty of good places to run around.

So yesterday (Tuesday) I had a bit of a brick to knock out.  I found a nearby state park that’s a few miles in size…but on a weekday in the middle of nowhere, I was the only one there.  All by my lonesome.  So I went ahead and unpacked the car and my bike right there in the parking lot:

From there I headed out on the road for a bit for a 10 or so mile pushing hard bike prior to my harder interval run.

(I took out both the Garmin FR110 and the Garmin Edge 500 on the bike)

I ended up wandering around a bit and then eventually over a nice bridge.  It was during this bridge venture that I determined where I’d be able to later swim.

After the ride I stashed my bike in the rental car and headed out for a run.  It was a set of roughly 1-mile repeats in the lovely 98*F hot and humid heat.  I ended up making a nice little circle out of the state park, enabling me to throw a water bottle by the side of the deserted road to drink from each loop.  I didn’t realize until the end, these little posts along the road side:

Afterwards though it was time to add more water:

From there I’d go ‘outta town’ to find something edible.  At times I actually have to cross state lines to get any form of food not consisting of triple-deep-fried-who-knows-what.

Earlier this evening (Wednesday) I had a swim scheduled.  It turns out however there’s not a single lap pool in this entire county, or the state next door’s county.  But there are plenty of lakes!

So, I went back to ‘my park’ (where it was again empty) and got my swim stuff all on.  I added both the Garmin FR310XT and Timex Global Trainer for fun, to see where I went…and then hopped into the water.

At which point…I swam.

I ended up doing a big old wonky triangle of sorts.  The water was crazy-hot.  Like bathtub-hot-tub hot.  I think peeing in the water made it colder, not warmer.  Weird.

Anyway…about 2 or so miles later, I wrapped up my swim and went back down my cove to the dock, where I got out…and called it a day!

That’s it…back to DC Thursday evening hopefully…for about 18 hours anyway…

The right stuff–equipment I use

Back about a month ago I got an e-mail from a reader regarding what equipment I use day to day in training and racing.  I ended up putting together a quick hit-list at the time, but didn’t really do it justice.  I often talk about specific solutions – such as my rear rack/hydration system, but haven’t talked holistically about all the junk in the trunk.

As anyone who ventures into the sport knows – triathlon is neither cheap, nor minimalistic when it comes to equipment.  You feel like every time you go to train you’re packing for a month long trip with a minivan full of kids.  It’s crazy!  So all the more reason to post all the deets.  Note that I’m not sponsored by anyone, so all the things I use because I like them – not because someone wants me like them.  If it sucks, I say so – and if it’s great…I’m still using it. So here it goes…

Swim:
- Goggles: Whichever pair I haven’t lost yet…though usually the Speedo Vanquisher
- Swimsuit: TYR Nylon Team Trainer
- Wetsuit: Blue Seventy Reaction Ironman Full Length Wetsuit
- Technique Toys: TYR Paddles, Speedo Pull Buoy, Finis Swimmers Snorkel, TYR Split Swim Fins
 
Bike:
- Bike: Cervelo P3 (was a Cervelo P2C until recently)
- Training Wheels: Standard manufacturer wheels that came on/with bike, plus the tires that came on it
- Race Wheels: HED H3 Tubular’s
- Race Tires: Vittoria Tubular Corsa Evo CX
- Power Meter: Quarq Cinqo Compact Edition
- Cadence Sensor: Garmin GSC-10
- Hydration: Inviscid Design SpeedFil Hydration on the frame for water
- Nutrition: EFS Liquid Shot Gel for nutrition
- Rear Mount System: Beaker Concepts Hydrotail H.5
- Shoes: Shimano Triathlon Shoes
- Socks: I use (and LOVE) Balega socks.  My favorite thing ever.
- Bike Shorts: A pair of Chipotle bike shorts, along with a few Pearl Izumi pairs.
- Helmet: Simple $40 Bell Alchera Road Helmet
- Race Helmet: Giro Advantage II
- Bike Computer: Garmin Edge 500
- Sunglasses: Pair of Oakley's, they're old...no idea what kind :)
- Repair Bag: 2 CO2 cartridges and controllable valve, small bike hex wrench
 
Run:
- Running Shoes: New Balance 817’s (increased stability)
- Socks: Balega socks (did I mention I love them?)
- Running Computer: Garmin Forerunner 310XT
- Running Shorts: Nike Dri-Fit running shorts (love them, get them at the outlet stores though cheaper)
- Running Shirt: Any dryfit/tech race shirt I have handy to run in (generally washed…)
- Hydration: Camelbak (Fairfax Model)…or just a simple water bottle if loops/track…filled with water.
- Nutrition: EFS Liquid Shot for nutrition
- Footpod for treadmill/cadence: Garmin ANT+ Footpod

Triathlon Travel:
- Primary Hardshell Bike Case: Performance Bike Team Case (it sucks, don’t recommend it, doesn’t last)
- Secondary Softshell Bike Case: Aerus Biospeed Bike Case (love it, but know it’ll get crushed on a plane, so bus/car only)
- Transition Bag: Extreme Terra Bag (no longer made/findable)

Other Training Gear:
- Primary Trainer: RacerMate CompuTrainer
- Secondary Trainer/Brick Trainer: Performance Bike Travel Trac Fluid Trainer

There ya go – a complete list of all the gear I use!  Note, that I’m generally not too picky when it comes to the gear I use – most of the time I use something simply because I’ve stumbled on it and it works.  Which – is all that should honestly matter when you choose gear.  Especially if you’re training for a longer event such as an Ironman.  Gear comfort is the number one thing that can make or break your day.  Good luck!

The NYC Red Bull Air Races…and other items in NYC

When I heard about the Red Bull Air Races a few years back, I mentally jotted it down as a pretty sweet thing to eventually go check out (btw, check out videos like this to see what I mean).  At the time, the races were primarily in Europe, so it was sorta a long term mental note.  But over the past few years they’ve expanded to a few cities in the US – including now NYC.  Thus back a few months ago, we decided to schedule a trip to come up and see the action.

On Friday evening we caught the cheap $20 Bolt Bus up to NYC for the weekend.  We’d be bringing along everything from running stuff to cycling stuff…after all the training still needs to happen!

Saturday morning brought plenty of warmth – but surprisingly I still threw down a fairly solid run in Central Park.  Actually kinda scary fast really for that easy zone.  I find I really enjoy running in Central Park…mostly because I’m so easily distracted at all the things to look at and dodge (or be dodged):

Btw – I’m not sure I’d be too happy if someone stuck of a feather duster on my head!

I was using the FR110 for Saturday’s run.  While I’m still on the fence about it for me personally due to the lack of features, I am seeing the appeal of a simplified and streamlined GPS running watch for steady-state runs where the details don’t matter.  Plus, when running in Central Park you have to look New York Fashionable…and the FR110 certainly ousts the FR305 or 310XT in that department.

Later on the in the day we went and hit the pool as well, but somehow I missed pictures of that – so nothing for ya there!  Instead, I’ll substitute a picture at Katz’s Deli…cause it was awesome (again):

The majority of the day however was taken up by spending time watching the Red Bull Air Races.  We left Battery Park, which is on the tip of Manhattan Island and then headed across the harbor to Jersey.

Along the way we had to navigate across a literal sea of boats…pretty crazy.

But the trip was short and only took about 10-15 minutes.  After which, we were right there alongside the course – situated on the water in between downtown NYC and the Statue of Liberty.  First though I should explain what this whole thing is about.  Basically, it’s like a Time Trial Indy Car race…except in the air.  Each plane goes for about 2-3 minutes through a course with a series of inflated pylon gates.  They can get assessed penalties for doing any of the below:

Simple, right?  Basically as a spectator you just watch as planes get scary-close to anything and everything…and do it all at crazy speeds.  Here’s some of my favorite shots:

Pretty whacky, huh?

While the event was a blast to watch, and pictures like the below make it appear that the stands were well filled…I have to imagine the event took a financial bloodbath.  Compared to how packed it is in Europe, there wasn’t a ton of people here.  And they flew in a TON of resources from Europe and elsewhere, not to mention a crazy-abundance of security from many agencies (DHS, State Policy, NYC Police, NJ Police, etc…).  Nonetheless, hopefully it’ll come back again next year and start to build a following.

After watching that for a few hours we headed back, caught a Broadway show, and then dinner.  Finally…sleep.  It was a long day out in the sun.

This morning (Sunday) brought a long bike ride.  Long rides in cities I don’t know are one of the few things that make me antsy.  Not because of the fear of cycling in NYC.  Nope, just the fear that somehow along the way my ride will become interrupted in such a way that it defeats the purpose of the ride (due to getting lost, etc…).  But, Coach Alan put together a pretty clear set of routes based on some information he found online – so we were in good hands.

Our route started just a few blocks from the hotel, in Central Park.

From there we exited the other side and headed out along Riverside Drive – which runs along…the river.

Eventually we made it up to the George Washington Bridge, which allowed us to cross the river and get cooking on 9W.  It turns out this route is pretty much a cycling Mecca – as there was a never ending stream of cyclists and triathletes out there.  Serious, very fit ones too – not just out for a stroll types.  Pretty amazing.

Somehow though, I missed taking any pictures on the route itself – but it’s your basic rolling semi-countryside road.  Nice stuff.  After a while – about an hour and a half, we turned around and headed back towards the city.

From there it was back along Riverside drive before heading back into Central Park – where I did two loops of the ~6 mile route as a time trial.  Lots of fun.  I’d be curious though if the folks out there at 6-7AM would be much more competitive than the folks at 1-2PM.

However, I’m highly doubting you’d see all the sunbathers out there at 6-7AM…

Anyway…

Finally, after the time trial it was a short easy-pedal back to the hotel.

And last but not least…reward:

Ok…that’s all I’ve got.  Hope you enjoyed your weekend!