Garmin Forerunner 610 Product Review

So I was fortunate enough to have a friend who was upgrading to a Garmin 620 (the newest Forerunner).  He had his barely used Garmin 610 that he sold to me for a ridiculous price.  You can find the Garmin 610 Bundle that includes the charger, heart rate strap, and USB receiver for around $275 new and $165 used on Amazon.    This has been one of the single most important accessories that I have added to my running arsenal.  The Garmin Forerunner 620 Bundle runs for $450 new, $350 used on Amazon

This watch is great if you are interested in tracking your time, heart rate, pace, elevation, and cadence among other things.  I love that each screen is completely customizable to what you want to see.  The Garmin Forerunner 610 also can be set up for specialized workouts like intervals.  You can also make your own workouts on Garmin Connect and upload them to your watch.  Garmin Connect is easy to use and tracks all of your information.  When you want to go for a run, you turn on your watch and it connects to the satellite in about 1 minute (the longest I have had to wait was 2 minutes, but this is rare).  

There is a Virtual Partner where you can set a pace that you want to stay ahead of and the watch will show where you are at in comparison to that pace.  This is great for races.  You can also race against previous runs that you have done to try and beat your best time.  Virtual Racer accounts for varying speeds and real-time conditions, so it's truly you versus your opponent. 

The Forerunner 610 also shows your training effect, which is how much stress you are putting on your body.  It is useful if you follow a training plan from Garmin Connect where they use heart rate zones and training effect to tell you how to complete runs.

The battery life is good for about 8 hours of training.  I would not suggest keeping the watch on while not running though as it drains the battery.  It does take a while to charge too.

You can purchase a Garmin Foot Pod for around $50 on Amazon that will transfer information to your watch about your cadence, or how many steps you take per minute.  This is a great tool if you want to increase you cadence and don’t want to count your steps, which in my experience was very difficult to do while I was concentrating on keeping my form and speed constant.  You just clip the Garmin Foot Pod onto your laces and calibrate the foot pod (you only need to do it the first time you use them).  The foot pod also allows you to track your mileage and heart rate if you are running on a treadmill.

I chose to get the Garmin Wrist Strap, which is a fabric strap that attaches by Velcro and is about $15 on Amazon.  The original wrist strap that comes with the watch is not very flexible and I have read reviews that they can snap off.  I love my fabric strap and would highly recommend it.  It is easy to install and comes with all of the tools to change straps.  It only takes about 2 minutes to change the straps out.

In conclusion, I would highly recommend the Garmin Forerunner 610.  If you are not worried about spending money, the Garmin Forerunner 620 does add some features like wirelessly connecting to your smart phone and telling you how efficient you are running by checking your stride distance and vertical bounce while you run.  The Forerunner 620 has a color screen where the 610 is in black and white.  While the Garmin Forerunner 620 is a great watch, the Forerunner 610 does everything that I need and I got it for a great price.  If you are looking to take your running to the next level, invest in a good GPS watch.  Let me know what watch you are using and what you think of it.

Do you follow a training plan?

I have tried two different half marathon training plans.  Training plans are great because they give you structure on how much to run and what types of runs to do.  They will gradually build your base mileage so you don’t injury yourself by adding miles too quickly. For my first half marathon, I did a training plan from Garmin Connect.  The current training plan that I am using for the Urban Cow in October is the Hal Higdon Intermediate Half Marathon Training.  I will review the two plans below.

The Garmin Level 1 Half Marathon training was 16 weeks long.  It was a heart rate based training with most of the training at a low intensity.  The runs gradually got longer and were manageable, even with my shin splints and hip issues.  The problem that I had with this training was that it had most of the runs at an easy pace, way too easy.  I ended up running at a higher heart rate and longer distances for most of the runs.  The program itself is good and I would recommend it if you have a Garmin watch.  I suggest the Garmin Forerunner 610, which I have been running with for about 6 months and love it.  Look for a review on the Garmin Forerunner 610 later this week.  I definitely overtrained which probably was the reason why I was injured for so long.  These plans are only good if you follow them.

I can’t say enough good things about the Hal Hidgon training plans.  They have plans from 5k to marathons and everything in between.  I chose the 12-week Intermediate Half Marathon Training because of my fitness level and my desire to improve my performance.  The Intermediate plan calls for one day of rest, a tempo or interval speed session, three easy runs and a long run each week.  The runs are manageable as long as you can get used to easy runs.  Your easy and long runs are at 65-75% of you max heart rate.  For me, that is about a 10:30-12:00 minute pace.  It was difficult to get used to running slow while still keeping good form.  Three weeks into my training and I am getting used to the slow runs though.  The speed workouts are helping me get faster too.  I have had three 5k PR’s in the last two weeks.  If I had to recommend one training plan over the other, I would definitely place the Hal Higdon plans on top.  The best part is that they are free and come with very good direction on what each run consists of. 

Let me know if you have a training plan that you follow and how it is working.  I hope your training is going as good as mine.

There are different types of runs?

When I started to run I only knew one way to run, struggle through it.  As I progressed, I started to run faster and had to struggle less with each week that passed.  After a while I started to train for my first half marathon.  My training plan was using lingo like tempo, Fartlek, and interval runs.  I asked myself, what the heck is a Fartlek and should I say “excuse me” afterward?  I wanted to give a breakdown of some different types of runs. 

 

First let’s talk about what you want to get out of running.  If your goal is to just run for fun, then you might not need vary your routine.  If you want to get stronger or reduce your risk of injury it is important to do several types of runs each week, especially if you are training for a race.  You should always warm up and cool down. The whole purpose of any speed workout is to help you get faster.  Just be careful to not do them too frequently.  I would suggest only doing intervals or tempo runs once a week.  I alternate weeks with intervals one week and tempo runs the next.  Easy runs are for helping increase your base miles (the amount of miles you run in a week) without stressing your body too much.  Let’s get started.

1) Easy Run – Typically, easy runs should be at a pace where you can comfortably hold a conversation with someone without losing your breath (somewhere around 2 min/mile slower than your 5k pace).  Running slow might be difficult to do at first, but gets easier with practice.  It is still important to keep good running form.

2) Fartlek Run – These are easy or moderate runs where you have some short periods of increased speed.  Fartlek is a Swedish term for “speed play.” While you are out for a run, look for a light pole, intersection, or other landmark that is about 100-200 feet away.  Start to run, but not at an all out sprint.  Slow back down to an easy run once you reach the landmark.  Your speed segments should be unstructured so you can space out your speed segments as you wish.  I tend to shoot for 10 speed sessions in a 30-45 minute easy run. Fartleks can be done in the same week as your speed workouts.

3) Interval Run – Interval runs are where you are able to really build your speed.  There are many variations of interval runs.  You can do them at a track, on a trail, or anywhere else.  I find it easier to do my intervals on a track because I have a visual distance of how far I have left to run before I can rest.  For 400 meter intervals, you run one lap around the track at a 5k pace (the best min/mile pace you can run your 5k at).  If it takes 2:30 to run the lap, walk or slowly jog for 2:30 before your next interval set.  Start at 5 sets and add a set each time you do intervals. 

4) Hill Interval Run – Find a somewhat steep hill (around 6% grade) that you can run up for 30-45 seconds.  Run fast, but not at an all out sprint (with good form) up the hill for 30 seconds.  Walk or jog back down the hill to where you started and repeat for 10-12 sets.

5) Tempo Run – Think of a tempo run as run where you build speed gradually.  Typically tempo runs are 30-45 minutes.  Start with 10-15 minutes of easy running.  The next 15-20 minutes you should build your pace to your 10k pace (or 5k pace if you really want to push hard).  You can peak at the middle of the 15-20 minute segment or at the end, it’s up to you.    Then you will run at an easy pace for another 5-10 minutes to cool down.  

6) Long Run – If you are training for a 10k, half marathon or full marathon, then this will be the most important run of the week.  You want to gradually build your distance and endurance, although you should not increase more than 10% per week.  For my half marathon training, I start with a 5 mile long run and add a mile each week.  Long runs should be run just like an easy run.  The idea is to get used to running longer distances, not hurt yourself.  

7) Race Runs – Every third week in my half marathon training, I do a race pace run.  I will do an easy run for 5-10 minutes to warm up (untimed).  I will then run at my desired race pace for that run.  If I am running 5k, then I will run at my 5k race pace, 10k at my 10k race pace, etc.) You can do these runs in the same week as your speed workouts.  I try to break my PR’s (personal record) during these runs if I can.  If I want to run an 8:30 mile in my half marathon, my pace run should be at an 8:30 pace.

8) Pace Runs – These are runs where you will run at your desired target race pace.

I know that there is a lot of information here and I probably went on a little long.  I hope that I helped if you had any questions about what types of runs there are.  If you have any questions, please comment.  You can also let me know what your favorite types of runs are. My next blog post will be a review of a few training plans that have used.