Diet/Exercise/Health/Wellness Support Thread

Parent Cafe
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<p>Heh, heh, heh… that’s a very complicated question. Pages and pages and pages have been written. But, the short answer, for well-mapped areas like the United States, is that they can be, and usually are, very accurate. Plenty accurate enough for walking, running, or biking on public roads and/or typical trails. And, even accurate enough for hiking on mountain terrain. Not accurate enough for landing an airplane in a fog bank.</p>

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<p>Detailed info (and wow, did it take some research to figure these settings out!):</p>

<p>There are actually two methods of calculating altitude (and therefore ascent/grade, etc.). One is a pure GPS based system. GPS is not super accurate for elevation --less accurate than for side to side positioning where you might see accuracy within 10 feet at times. However, the software programs that display the results – Garmin Connect, SportTracks, MapMyRun (I assume) – have “elevation correction” which are algorithms that apply a known elevation model of the topography to the GPS readings. This is pretty darn accurate especially for roads. Obviously they can’t model every little up and down on a hike in the mountains, but it’s still good enough in my experience.</p>

<p>Some Garmin models also have a barometric altimeter. You calibrate it by entering your known elevation or your known exact barometric pressure (I use the current reading Manchester airport). It then shows elevation based on changes in pressure as you climb or descend – as long as the weather doesn’t change. This is the method used by aircraft, but they are recalibrating the barometric pressure every 30 minutes or so.</p>

<p>To further complicated things, the Garmins that have the barometric altimeter have another mode. Calibrate the barometric altimeter, and the watch uses the atmospheric pressure data as you climb or descend, BUT it constantly adds a correction factor based on the GPS derived altitude from your current location. This gives the best of both worlds as the corrections take care of changing weather conditions. This is the method I use. The Garmin Montana, which I also use in the car, is self-correcting over 100 miles as I drive to the trailhead and is almost always is spot on when I take it out of the car. The watch, that has typically not gotten a GPS reading for a couple of days and a hundred miles, needs the initial calibration. I just calibrate it to the trailhead elevation on the topo map.</p>

<p>Just for kicks, I have a screen on the watch that shows the elevation from this whole complex algorithm AND the simple elevation from GPS alone. They never differ by more than ten or twenty feet. I think the simple GPS elevation in any Garmin GPS watch is more than sufficient for walking, running, or biking on streets or typical trails.</p>

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<p>A little over 13 for me this morning. Forgot to restart the Garmin when we stopped at an intersection. Hilly, but consistent pace and I’m faster than I was this spring. Reward was a burger and a Jefferson bourbon barrel stout. I’m sure that’s not clean eating</p>

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<p>Interesting. I doubt my $80 car gps has topo information built in, so that’s probably why it is squirrelly sometimes. Or maybe it’s just a lousy gps. It is a Garmin though. :-/ </p>

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<p>I did that so many times that I finally swore off using the pause button. </p>

<p>There is an AUTO-PAUSE feature perfect for intersections like that. You can set the watch to pause when you speed drops below a specified limit – like 2 mph or so. This means the watch will pause when you wait for a light and start automatically when you resume. You might give it a shot and see if it works for you. It didn’t work for me hiking because some of the little scrambles are interpreted as stopped (and because I am literally stopping many times). But for running, I suspect it might work really well.</p>

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<p>I think it might be time for a new Garmin. Mine is older and doesn’t have that feature - I was the beneficiary of a CC poster’s largesse (thank you, Bromfield)- and since it appears this might be something I am going to stick with, it might be time for an upgrade. That would definitely be a useful feature. </p>

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<p>This morning was beautiful, sunny, and COOL (50’s overnight). I went out for my ride and decided to try for 18-20 miles. At mile 15, I was still feeling strong, so I mentally committed to making it 20 miles for the first time ever (PB is 17.5)!</p>

<p>At 15.6 I got a flat tire. No, I didn’t have a kit with me. Yes, I had to walk it back to my car, uphill for 2 miles. </p>

<p>Darn it. </p>

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<p>I HATE flat tires! Sorry you had to do the walk-a-bike routine!</p>

<p>Most runners don’t use the auto-pause feature, but I don’t remember why not. I know I don’t. I really like my Garmin 220.</p>

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<p>Thanks. I knew it would happen eventually, so there’s no excuse for being unprepared. Oh well. Live and learn!</p>

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<p>Nrdsb4, you’ll get that 20 miles next time! I’m jealous of biking at all today. It’s 40 and raining. We’ve been watching college football. Changing a flat tire on the bike is a pita anyways, I make my H do it ;)</p>

<p>I don’t use the auto pause on my Garmin either, I have it set up on map my run on my iPhone and I don’t think it changes things that much in the long run. </p>

<p>Yesterday I had a cinnamon roll, with maple frosting. An amish family moved in at the end of our road (about 7 miles away) and opened a market. The cinnamon rolls they make are amazing! I’m afraid to try the pies ;). </p>

<p>I just know that Idad is going to post about this amazing dinner he made that IS clean eating and low carb. He makes clean eating sound so good. But that cinnamon roll was pretty great lol!</p>

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<p>Yesterday in the car, I had HLN on and they were doing this thing on foreigners trying out American desserts. They had an Australian all ready to eat a cinnamon roll. He said “I’ve seen this in American movies and have always wanted to try one. Americans put cinnamon on everything.” I laughed to myself, wondering if he had cinnamon confused with sugar. He tried it and said he loved it. </p>

<p>I guess they are going to do kind of a series of this, which sounds interesting to me.</p>

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<p>I’m not too worried about the timing, but today we were all running varying distances - I needed to know when to turn around and head for home! </p>

<p>Nrdsb4, I wouldn’t have the first idea how to fix a tire. I guess that’s something that would be important to know when biking. What a bummer! </p>

<p>deb, my mom makes the best cinnamon rolls that I can never say no to. Thankfully she doesn’t make them as often as she used to. I was thinking about buying a new cookbook - “Skinnytaste” - but after paging through it realized it relied on all of the foods I was trying to avoid. So much for that bright idea - came home and engaged in some retail therapy online instead. </p>

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<p>I don’t know how to do it either. But the store where I bought my bike gives flat tire changing lessons once a week, so I am going to go next week to take the class. :)</p>

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<p>I think the trick with the Garmin auto-pause is to set it for the highest possible speed that still registers stopped. The reason is that when you really are stopped, the GPS variation is going to show you jumping around a little bit like a waterbug. So, if you set it for zero it will never actually show stopped. It’s easy to find a speed on a bike. It gets to be a little harder to find something above zero but clearly below running speed. Almost impossible for my hikes because there are so many times I’m moving, but barely. Plus, I’m mostly interested in knowing how fast I hiike to know how long I’ll spend on a hike and, especially, whether or not I will have enough daylight. So, for my purposes, it’s better to include the rest stops, snack breaks, scenery gazing and all that because those things are going to be pretty consistent from one hike to the next.</p>

<p>I don’t know how many runners use Auto-pause. I think it’s a pretty popular feature, from the reviews, but I really don’t know.</p>

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<p>I’ve never seen a cinnamon bun I could resist. I try not to see them! Healthy dinner tonight – my old standby, chicken caesar salad. Salmon and brocolli with lemon butter sauce last night. Tomorrow, I’m doing a Marcela Hazen pot roast in red wine. I’ll go ghetto and have that with some kind of frozen veggie (probably lima beans slathered in butter).</p>

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<p>Stuffed cabbage with lots of cooked cabbage and tomatoes. More veggies than meat that’s for sure. Some Frank’s Hot sauce peppered over it. Hot and delicious! </p>

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<p>Gears and tires, oh my… Running is so much less complicated. :)</p>

<p>Abasket, I should have looked in here before getting out of the grocery store! Now I want to go back and get some cabbage. Will have to settle for steaks and stuffed mushrooms. :)</p>

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<p>33 mile week. Tomorrow will be a day off (I still have trouble writing that) since we have a 6am flight to start the all-day journey to Kona for Ironman for son’s girlfriend. This is her last race (for now) as an amateur, since she is taking her pro card after Kona (which she earned by winning AG at Eagleman half Ironman) and taking a semester off from medical school (4th year) to give it a shot. She has prepared an incredible athletic resume and cover letter and is working on her website. She hopes to pick up some sponsorships in Kona and will hand out the resume/letter. </p>

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<p>Wow, best wishes for wildchild’s gf’s race in Kona, and have a wonderful trip, MoWC. A 33 mile weeks sounds like a solid workout week. I only wish! </p>

<p>Yesterday I ran 5 (a new distance record for me) and did upper body weights. Today H and I walked about 7 in a state forest. Beautiful cool(er) day on which we trudged through sand and waded through the swamp. </p>

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<p>Safe travels, MOfWC, and good luck to the young lady! Say hi to the lava fields for me, I miss them :)</p>

<p>PlantMom - wow!! Great job.</p>

<p>I’m looking for a marathon to run in early to mid June. All suggestions are welcome!</p>

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<p>Can’t do it in April? <a href=“http://blueridgemarathon.com/”>http://blueridgemarathon.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Thought it might fit in with all your hill activity!</p>

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<p>Bunsen- Grandma’s in Duluth, MN is one of my favorites- and a fast course! It’s a beautiful part of the country for a short vacation, too. </p>

<p>Thanks, all. Fingers crossed that she has a good race. They are traveling with 4 bikes (don’t even get me started…) which in and of itself should be interesting. Her tri bike, his either tri or road bike and 2 mountain bikes for their Maui vacation after Ironman. </p>

<p>I did my 33 miles in 6 days of running, so that’s good. I am dreading the 8 hour flight from Houston to Honolulu- no internet and I was planning to work.</p>

<p>And, yay Plantmom for the new distance PR!</p>