Run Leadville
A resource for runners who like to suffer.
GPS Watches For The Leadville 100
I am a GPS junky. I admit that. So when I ran my first Leadville 100 I knew it was going to be a challenge to capture my data for the entire race. My Garmin 305 and 405 weren't going to cut it alone being out there so long. Figured I could maybe use both but even that wouldn't add up with my aging battery. So I would have to run with the 405, swap to the 305, have my crew recharge the 405, and swap back. Then figure out how to stich all the data together afterwards. There had to be a better way!
Enter the Garmin 310XT!
Garmin Forerunner 310XT Waterproof Running GPS With USB ANT Stick a...
This bad boy carries a 20 hour battery life out of the box. If you are a fast fast runner, that's probably all the time you need. For me, I knew I needed another 4-8 hours. So I tried to figure out a way to charge the watch while running.
Turns out that Duracell (and others) have made some nice little portable chargers. You often see people use these for cell phones when they run low and want to battery boost them. So I picked up the Duracell model seen below and experimented. I was able to plug the Garmin USB cord into it, clip the charger on the watch, and keep on running. Took the charger and just stuffed it into my handheld water bottle enclosure. Wrapped a bit of cord around my wrist. I was all set.
Duracell Instant Power Charger for USB Compatible Devices
So during the 2010 Leadville 100, I was made it to Twin Lakes inbound. I wasn't going to see my crew agan until Fish Hatchery so I picked up the charger there. Clipped it on. Plugged in the charger. The little beep went and the screen went to charging. I kept on running. When I needed to check time or pace, I would just unclip the charger and it goes right back into the normal data display. Worked great. Once I got up to 90 some percent charge, I passed the charger off to my pacer who stuffed it into his CamelBak. I had plenty of charge to get me to the finish line even if it was going to take 30 hours.
The end result was a full GPS of the course and my race. It is available here on this site via the Resources-GPS link in the banner.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Woody Anderson on -
Good stuff Brandon. I used a similar setup with my 305 when I ran a 100k in January. Around the 9 hour mark, I took my 305 off, popped it in the cradle, attached the portable power charger, and then strapped it to my hydration vest. It worked well, but I found it hard to read. Wearing the 305 on my wrist with the cradle attached just wasn't going to happen. The clip setup with the 310xt is much more conducive to wearing while charging.
I'm running SJS in a few weeks and just realized I need to figure something out since my 305 only lasts about 9-9.5 hours.
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Permalink Reply by Jason Zakaras on -
I go back and forth on the use of a gps for an event like Leadville. I love my gps and use it for every road race and most training runs but even if I had an extended battery life I don't know what the purpose it would serve to help me get through the race. Obviously tangents would be way off so miles traveled and and distance needed to go would be way off toward the later part of the race and mile by mile splits seem a bit ridiculous looking at the whole picture. Irony get me wrong I'm on the fence still and maybe I am just trying to talk myself out of wearing it or looking or a reason TO wear it but I think a standard tiimex would be more realistic and have crew detail time of arrival and departure to get info on pace and such, elevation gain/loss is noted on the site but hr data is the kicker so if that is of importance I'd definitely go with gps. Just my .02 not really sure how I feel but would like others ideas or suggestions
Woody Anderson said:Good stuff Brandon. I used a similar setup with my 305 when I ran a 100k in January. Around the 9 hour mark, I took my 305 off, popped it in the cradle, attached the portable power charger, and then strapped it to my hydration vest. It worked well, but I found it hard to read. Wearing the 305 on my wrist with the cradle attached just wasn't going to happen. The clip setup with the 310xt is much more conducive to wearing while charging.
I'm running SJS in a few weeks and just realized I need to figure something out since my 305 only lasts about 9-9.5 hours.
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Permalink Reply by Brandon Fuller on -
The 310 has this fancy side clip. Same one that the 405 uses if you have seen that.
The Duracell unit IS a battery. Once big enclosed battery. Nothing replaceable. You charge it via USB on your computer or other USB charger then its ready to power something else.
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Permalink Reply by Paul Parenica on
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I bought a spare cradle for my 305 which I plan to cut down so I can wear it while I run and use the Duracell charger (bought one of those today too). I will experiment with it and let you know how it works.
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Maybe it is time to trade up and get the 405. Knowing me, I will spend huge amounts of time trying to make the 305 work and then decide to buy a 405. That is how I usually do things.
Brandon Fuller said:The 310 has this fancy side clip. Same one that the 405 uses if you have seen that.
The Duracell unit IS a battery. Once big enclosed battery. Nothing replaceable. You charge it via USB on your computer or other USB charger then its ready to power something else.
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Permalink Reply by Rachael StClaire on -
I used the same strategy of a small charger to charge my Garmin 610 during the Leadville Silver Rush 50. I was able to re-charge mu Garmin 610 on the run without any blips or problems. I plan to do that same thing for the 100.
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Do you have any pictures of your set-up? I would love to see how you did it.
© 2012 Created by Brandon Fuller.
