Garmin have recently unveiled a brand new Forerunner GPS watch, the Garmin Forerunner 910XT, building on the tradition of the 305 and 310XT Forerunners with their multisport focus that triathletes will find useful and beneficial. The former watches are very popular and were well received by triathlete and athletic communities, the new Forerunner watch adds new features to Garmins proven model. The new watch offers several new enhancements, that is sure please aerobic athletes of various persuasions, especially swimmers. So let’s take a closer look at the latest offer from Garmin.

What’s New

The Garmin Forerunner 310XT was known for being the first GPS watch to be safe to use while swimming in the water. The Garmin Forerunner 910XT GPS, follows in that tradition and adds a whole host of new swim metrics on top, allowing you track your swimming sessions in greater detail, adding the following swim metrics to its list of abilities: distance, speed, stroke count, stroke type

Forerunner 910XT without HRM (MSRP. $399.99) – Buy Now
Forerunner 910XT with HRM (MSRP. $449.99) – Buy Now

Unfortunately, the new watch fails to address a couple of flaws of the 310XT.

Its inability to track speed and distance in the water; the inability to receive a GPS signal underwater is an unfortunate phenomena all GPS watches suffer from, there really is no way to address this due to limitations in the technology.

Its lack of heart rate reception under water; Garmin use the ANT+™ protocol for their heart rate monitors, which unfortunately will not transmit underwater. This ability is only found in the Polar RCX5, which uses a non-ANT+™ protocol.

On the plus side, both the 310XT and 910XT feature an open water mode for swimming, which works on the basis of the watch re-establishing the GPS uplink mid-stroke while your hand is out of the water. Open water mode is not 100% accurate, but gives you a rough idea of a swim course.

A more accurate technique that a lot of triathletes use is the watch-under-the-swimming-cap trick, that keeps the GPS antenna out of the water throughout the swim.

Other changes in the Garmin 910XT watch include a thinner form factor. The display screen of the new watch is identical to the 310XT, but with less thickness. The watch also features a brand new high-tech design and has a shiny black color scheme over the silver/orange of its predecessor. The Forerunner 910XT is Garmin’s first ever GPS watch to feature a barometric altimeter. This delivers greater elevation accuracy than GPS based elevation, which has a degree of inaccuracy in vertical measurement. This puts Garmin in league with top-line Suunto and Polar watches in terms of real-time altitude measuring.

Like the recently released Forerunner 610, the new Forerunner 910XT Garmin adds the Training Effect sports metric, an indication of how effectively you have trained and previously only found in Suunto watches. So the latest Generation of Garmin GPS watches are now have a greater competitive advantage compared to the best offerings from Suunto and Polar. If you want the ultimate all-in-one GPS watch, a Garmin is really the only game in town.

The new watch also adds new sports watch modes including support for a run/walk reminder feature. The run/walk training method is popular among those new to the sport who are not yet fit enough to continually run for any length of time. The new reminder feature allows you to pre-set times for walking and running and will alert you when it is time to start jogging or take a break. The Virtual Racer feature introduced in the Forerunner 610 is also present, it allows you to train or race against previous performances on pre-saved courses. Unlike Garmins popular Virtual Parter feature, the pace of your virtual competitor will vary, which is more realistic when you take hills and off-trail segments of your course where your pace is slower into account.

Summary of FR910XT enhancements:

• slimmer external case
• new swim metrics
• barometric altimeter
• training effect
• run/walk reminder feature
• improved ANT+™ based cycling power meter support
• virtual racer

Traditional Forerunner Sports Features

While the Garmin 910XT Forerunner offers plenty of new improvements over its predecessor, the advanced sports watch features found in older Garmin Forerunners that have worked well have been included unchanged. The 910XT remains a high-end watch with endless ability to configure data pages and tweak settings to maximize your training experience. In the 910XT, Garmin have designed a watch that ‘does it all’, and in many ways Garmin have really hit the nail on the head. The Garmin 910XT HRM contains the following “traditional” features that have been successful in the Forerunner 305 through to the latest offerings.

Customizable Display: Customize multiple data pages with up to 4 data fields per page
Auto Scroll: Set up the watch to scroll through data pages in sequence.
Auto Lap: Automatically registers a lap in memory
Auto Pause: Pauses the stopwatch when you stop running (like when you stop at traffic lights), and resumes when you continue
Alerts: Alerts you via a visual, audible or vibration signal based on time or distance
Virtual Partner®: Train against a virtual competitor moving at a pre-set pace (but without variations)
Courses: Run against a previous activity on a previous course
Multisport Mode: Pre-programmed transition sequences for swimming, running, cycling. One button-press transitioning
Advanced Workouts: Use Garmin Connect™ to create advanced structured workouts with goals
Interval Training: Setup repetitive hard/easy session with warm-up and cool-down

What is lacking in the new watch is the “simple workout” feature, where you can input a time, distance or calorie goal. I guess, this is due to the impractical nature of running until you reach a certain distance or for a certain length of time, I mean unless your run mindless laps of your athletics track, you are left in the middle of nowhere and must somehow get back.

Advantages For Runners

The Garmin Forerunner 910XT HR watch, offers similar benefits to those of the Forerunner 610 and former Forerunners. When you go for a run you can record details of how far you went, how fast and a course of your run is saved in memory. The advanced sports modes (see the list above) allow you to to perform advanced training based on a structured sequence of activities with options for goal-oriented training, target zones and various different alerts that can be set up.

Advantages For Cycling

This particular watch from Garmin is more friendly towards cycling than other Forerunners, with support for up to five customized bike profiles with parameters for wheel size, weight, speed, cadence and power as well as support for major ANT+™ sensors geared at cycling.

These are generally:

• power meters
• cadence only
• speed-only
• speed/cadence combos

The 910XT has nearly the same general functionality as the Garmin Edge 500, but can only display up to 4 data fields instead of 8. The 910XT offers a lot more than the Edge 500 for runners and swimmers, but if you are pure cyclists that does no swimming or running, you will probably be better served with the Garmin Edge 500 (no mapping) or Garmin Edge 800 (with mapping).

Of great interest to the cycling community and triathletes is support for pedal based power meters for cyclists like the Garmin Vector, CycleOps, Power2Max, SRAM/Quarq, SRM as well as cleat power meters like Brim Brothers Zone and O-Sycne. However the Garmin watches are not compatible with Polar’s Look/Keo power meters as these are based on the Polar W.I.N.D. protocol and not ANT+™.

The cycling power meter metrics that are supported in the Forerunner 910XT are:

• power
• 30s average power
• power in kilojoules
• power current lap
• power of last lap
• power max
• power max current lap
• power in watts/kg
• left and right power (for upcoming Garmin Vector pedal power meter)

and included are the following Training Peaks metrics:

• intensity factor (IF)
• training stress score (TSS)
• normalized power (NP)

The Training Peaks metrics will also soon be available in Garmin Connect™.

Advantages For Swimmers

The Garmin 910XT GPS watch is the first Garmin to have integrated swimming metrics that can help you keep track of your swimming sessions in a pool. The watch lets you set the distance of the pool and the stroke type. It will display your SWOLF score (efficiency) and will register the following main swimming metrics:

Lengths: num lengths, lengths current interval, lengths last interval
Stroke distance: stroke distance average, stroke distance current interval, stroke distance of last interval
Stroke rate: stroke rate overall, stroke rate current interval, stroke rate of last interval, stroke rate, last length
Distance: distance overall, distance of current interval, distance of last interval
Pace: pace average, pace of current interval, pace of last interval,
Efficiency: efficiency average, efficiency of current interval,efficiency of last interval
SWOLF: swolf average, swolf of current interval, swolf of last interval, swolf of last length

The 910XT Forerunner GPS watch, like the 310XT is waterproof to 50 meters and as mentioned will not transmit heart rate or GPS distance information while underwater, although it can link up to the GPS satellites in the open water mode, allowing you to register speed, distance and save position plots for mapping purposes.

Garmin Forerunner 910XT vs 310XT vs 305

	Forerunner 305	Forerunner 310XT	Forerunner 910XT
MSRP	$199.99	$349.99 wo/hrm $399.99 w/hrm	$399.99 wo/hrm $449.99 w/hrm
Specifications
Dimensions, WxHxD	5.33 x 6.86 x 1.78 cm 2.1" x 2.7" x 0.7"	5.4 x 5.6 x 1.9 cm 2.1" x 2.2" x 0.8"	4.8 x 7.1 x 1.6 cm 1.88" x 2.78" x 0.646"
Display Width	3.3 x 2.0 cm 1.3" x 0.8"	3.3 x 2.0 cm 1.3" x 0.8"	3.3 x 2.0 cm 1.3" x 0.8"
Unit Weight	77 g	72 g	72 g
Battery Type	Rechargeable	Rechargeable	Rechargeable
Battery Life	10 hours, typical	20 hours, typical	20 hours, typical
Heart Rate Support
Map Navigation
Swim metrics
Barometric altimeter:
Customizable Screens
Display Data Fields	4	4	4
Device Support
Bike speed/cadence support
Foot Pod support
Power meter compatible
Touch Sensitive Bevel
Memory
Lap History	1000 laps	1000 laps	1000 laps
Waypoints	100	100	100
Routes	50	0	0
Software
PC transfer	USB cable	ANT+™	ANT+™
Garmin Connect™
Garmin Training Center®
Features
Training Effect (measures impact of an activity on your aerobic fitness)
Virtual Partner® (train against a digital person)
Virtual Racer™ (compete against other activities)
Courses (compete against previous activities)
Auto Pause (pauses and resumes timer based on speed)
Auto Lap (automatically starts a new lap)
Auto Scroll (cycles through data pages during workout)
Multi-sport (changes sport mode with a press of a button)
Simple Workouts (input time, distance and calorie goals)
Advanced Workouts (create custom, goal-oriented workouts)
Pace Alerts (triggers alarm if you vary from preset pace)		(advanced workouts)	(advanced workouts)
Time/distance Alert (triggers alarm when you reach goal)
Vibration alert (choose between alert tones and/or vibration alert)
Interval Training (set up exercise and rest intervals)
Heart Rate Based Calories

The Verdict

The Garmin Forerunner 910XT GPS watch is an attempt by Garmin to produce a watch that has it all, and in that respect Garmin have once again delivered in spades, especially in respect to the pool metrics for swimer that have been added and its enhanced support for cycling power meters. The addition of a barometric altimeter also puts it in league with the high performing Suunto t6d and Suunto RS800CX watches. The added walk/run feature is another nice touch, though I suspect if you are buying a watch of this calibre you will already be very fit, and more likely the ultra-fit category. This feature can still be a useful for time-based reminder that activates independently of other alert systems.

As a capable sports watch for competitive triathletes, the FR910XT watch is in a league of its own, with its advanced multisport abilities, you can seamlessly transition between a swim or a run leg, a run and a cycle leg or any pre-configured sequence you need. For swimming and cycling it offer an unparalleled number of advantages over most watches in the market and it is the near equal of the Forerunner 610, indeed it has a much longer battery life, but on the other hand lacks the tap-screen advantage of the 610 which is more a performance runner’s watch.

If you are a pure runner or a pure cyclist, then this watch is over-kill for your needs. The same can be said for casual runners, who can get what they need out of the Forerunner 110 or Forerunner 210 watches at about half the price. In terms of price, it is always smart to look around the internet for the best Garmin Forerunner 910XT price, however the cheapest offers are usually found on the Amazon website. At the time of writing this review, the new Forerunner is yet to be released. But if you would like to buy Garmin Forerunner 910XT you can head over to Amazon and pre-order.

Forerunner 910XT without HRM (MSRP. $399.99) – Buy Now
Forerunner 910XT with HRM (MSRP. $449.99) – Buy Now

Competitors are now in tapering and making their final preparations for the 31st Hawaiian Ironman Triathlon event of 2008 to be held in Kona, Hawaiia on October 11 this coming Saturday.

Considered the biggest event in the Triathlon world, the course is famous for it’s grueling race conditions and length:

• a 2.4 mile swim (3.84 km) followed by
• a 112 mile (179.2 km) bike ride; and
• 26.2 miles (42.2 km) – a standard marathon – to finish off

The event is also sponsored by Timex who acquired the name for their line of Timex Triathlon Ironman Watch models. As you may know we like Timex Triathlon Watches for many good reasons.

The origins of this famous event date back to an awards ceremony for a relay running race in Honolulu in 1977 when a debate was sparked among competitors over who is fitter – swimmers, runners or other athletes. One of the participants, Navy Commander John Collins and his wife Judy proposed merging three major existing events on the island: The Waikiki Roughwater Swim, the Around-Oahu Bike Race and the Honolulu Marathon to settle the debate. “Whoever finishes first we’ll call the “Ironman” proclaimed Collins.

Prior to racing, each athlete received three sheets of paper listing a few rules and a course description. Handwritten on the last page was this exhortation: “Swim 2.4 miles! Bike 112 miles! Run 26.2 miles! Brag for the rest of your life”, now a registered trademark.

Of the fifteen men to start off in the early morning on February 18 1978, just twelve completed the race. Gordon Haller was the first “Ironman” completing the course in 11 hours, 46 minutes and 58 seconds. Lyn Lemaire, an elite cyclist from Boston placed sixth overall to become the first “Ironwoman”.

Ironman Wisconsin, by Scott Klettke

As fate would go, Sports Illustrated journalist Barry McDermott was in the area to cover golf and caught wind of the event. He wrote a ten page article, exposing the Ironman event to hundreds of curious participants that also caught the attention of ABC’s Wide World of Sports who Collins gave permission to film the event. Collins had planned on changing the event to a relay race to attract more participants.

In 1981, new race director Valerie Silk made the decision to relocate the event from the shores of Waikiki to the barren lava fields of Kono on the Big Island of Hawaii to avoid Honolulu’s traffic hazards. The result of the relocation added a man-verses-nature element to the race – now a signature component.

The notoriety of the Ironman Triathlon would be cemented in February 1982, when Julie Moss, a college student competing to gather research for her exercise physiology thesis, found herself leading the women’s field. Suffering severe fatigue and dehydration, Julie was reduced to a stagger, collapsing several times, only meters from the finish line. Kathleen McCartney passed her for the title, but in one the most defining moments in sport, Moss, determined to finish crawled over the finishing line. Her effort and courage inspired millions and created the Ironman mantra that just finishing the event is an incredible achievement in itself and enough to earn you the title “Ironman”.

Julie Moss’s dramatic 1982 finish. By btmonkey

Following Moss’s collapse, the event was moved from February to October providing athletes the opportunity train in more suitable summer climates to prepare for the event. This alteration resulted in two events for the 1982 year. The format has since remained unchanged.

The event is now so popular that to qualify you must either win a spot through a lottery system, or earn a spot as an elite competitor in one of the qualifying events around the world. Participants are limited to just 1,800 places.

These “lucky” and talented few will splash off on the shores of Kailua Bay from 6:45 a.m., this coming Saturday, October 11th.

Follow the link for more information on the 31st Hawaiian Ironman Triathlon Event of 2008.

Here is an incredible account of Julie Moss’s dramatic 1982 finish in her own words.

Prepare for your next Ironman with these Triathlon Wetsuits and be sure to choose one or more Timex Triathlon Watches of course.