Today I began playing with Garmin Coach. I decided to try one of the running programs. It’s the first of January, first day of the year, and I have already been for two walks and a run. The run was a calibration run so I ran too fast and too hard so I burned out on the first task. I ran at 16km/h and 230 steps per minute for a short burst before tiring and slowing a bit.
Either you can buy a collection of casios that each have different functions or you can download apps that have a niche purpose. I have been playing with Gentler Streak and Training day. One looks at heart rate and training. The second looks at resting heart rate and heart rate recovery.
According to the Gentler streak app my fitness “seems stable”. It looks at the routine over the last few months and years, and by this metric decides whether fitness is increasing, stable or declining.
Warmed by the sun
The Garmin Instinct warmed up in the Spanish sun while charging.
This walk takes you from the Port of Javea up to the lighthouse near San Antonio before continuing along the top towards Los Molinos. These are old grain mills. They used wind power to grind grain for several centuries before being taken out of action as modernisation arrived.
The walk takes you along the port before you start to climb. As you walk along the port you will see a number of cats, either being lazy, or playing.
When you walk by the sea you see Mediterranean cats. They like to stay on the rocks sometimes. These were by the sea in Denia, Spain.
Two cats by the mediterranean
A cat by the Mediterranean Sea
A cat by the sea
The same cat by the sea
Over the last week or two I decided to run and to swim. These are two sports that are easy to do if you have access either to a pool, or the right shoes. Swimming was in 14°c water for 17 and ten minutes. The first time my hands and feet were cold so I wore gloves. It’s a way of enjoying a different sport than usual. It’s a way of using different muscle groups too.
With global warming the idea that we would get white Christmas, with snow, freezing weather and more is outdated. In the 21st century the opposite is true. We will probably get grey and rainy weather instead. If we stay in Switzerland. I used to love the idea of snowy Christmas, snowboarding and skiing but I don’t like the modern global warming version, of a boring cold, with no snow.
That’s why it makes sense to migrate south, for a week or two and see the sun.
The watch got to 92 days of battery life. I went for a swim in 15c water. it was just a pool swim.
One nuissance of most modern smart watches is that you must charge then once a day, once a week, or once a month. When you’re in Spain though, with a solar watch things change. At first you go from “26 days of battery remaining” to “36 days of battery remaining”, to “39 days remaining”. Before long the watch displays “infinity time remaining”. When you’re in watch the sun charges the batteries faster than normal use depletes the batteries.
Walking and taking steps could be seen as boring. It’s something we do every day, without thinking about it. At conferences we can easily take 20,000 steps a day, when we’re standing for the entire day, with barely any opportunities, or need to sit, except when eating or getting from A to B. The Steps App is a way of seeing step counts in a variety of ways.
With the insights tab you have information about your best week, month and year.