Ed Tech Fitness

Feel Better, Teach Better

Fitness Watch

Garmin Varia – The Light Every Bike Should Have On It

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If you look at any of the pictures of my bike rides over the last year, you’ll notice a oblong shaped light attached to the seat post. It’s a Garmin Varia and it’s not your ordinary rear bike light.

The Garmin Varia is not just a rear bike light. It’s a rear light with a radar unit built into it. I got it at this time last year and I’ll never ride my bike on a road without it ever again! You shouldn’t ride on the road without one either. Besides a helmet, it’s the best piece of safety gear I own.

What is a Garmin Varia?

In short a Garmin Varia is a rechargeable rear light and radar unit in one. There are a few different lighting modes on it that you can use depending upon the conditions. In my experience over the last year, the least battery-intensive mode will power the unit for about ten hours. Fortunately, the unit will warn you when the battery needs to be recharged.

How does a Garmin Varia work?

The light part of the Garmin Varia is fairly self-explanatory. It either flashes a red light, pulses a red light, or displays a steady red light depending on the mode you choose.

The radar works by detecting and alerting you to moving objects that are within 153 yards of you. In the year that I’ve been using it, the Garmin Varia has alerted me not only to cars and trucks that are approaching from behind but also people on motorcycles, people driving ATVs, and wayward dogs determined to taste test a skinny man in lycra.

The Garmin Varia issues an audible alert when it detects an object approaching from behind you. You can also pair the Garmin Varia to your smartwatch via bluetooth. When paired to my Garmin Fenix 5 watch the Varia creates an audible alert and it vibrates on my wrist. I appreciate the vibrating alert because there have been times that I didn’t hear the audible alert.

The Garmin Varia will also pair to most bike computers including newer Wahoo units like the Wahoo ELEMNT ROAM 2 and older units like my first generation ELEMNT ROAM. When paired to my Wahoo ELEMNT the Varia displays how many vehicles are approaching from behind and their relative distance from me. It also flashes a red light on my Wahoo ELEMNT when a vehicle is very close.

An Unexpected Benefit of Using a Garmin Varia

I live in an area in which most roads do not have any shoulders let alone bike lanes. Because of that I have always constantly looked over my shoulder as I rode. I got the Garmin Varia so that I didn’t have to do that quite so much. I still do look over my shoulder whenever deviating from my line, but I don’t do it when riding on a long straight line like I did before.

My friend who convinced me to buy a Varia told me that he started getting faster downhill times when he started using it. That was because he didn’t have to always hug the shoulder on a descent and could take a faster line knowing that the Varia would alert him to something approaching from behind. I have found the same to be true for me.

What I didn’t expect when I started using the Garmin Varia is that I would record faster uphill times. Again, I live in an area that has many narrow and poorly maintained roads. Often, the smoothest pavement in somewhere in the middle of the lane. With the Garmin Varia on my bike I can take the uphill line on the smoothest section of pavement and not worry about someone approaching from behind without me knowing it in time to move over.

I’ve even used the Garmin Varia in gravel races over the last year. Much like descending on an open road in training, when descending on a long gravel road in race it’s nice to know if there is someone close behind me as I pick the best line for my descent.

Garmin Varia Mount

The one thing that almost everyone mentions about the Garmin Varia is the mounting system. At first glance it doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence.

The standard mount that comes with the Garmin Varia is basically a big rubber wedge and a strong rubber band. It feels a little cheap for something that costs $149-$199 USD. That said, I haven’t had a problem with it over the course of 6,000+ miles of riding in the last year.

I’ve used the standard mount on my road bike, my gravel bike, and my mountain bike (there are trails I can access by riding a mile of public road from my house). Even on some rough downhill mountain bike descents the Varia hasn’t come off. It has gotten spun sideways around the seat post a couple of times, but it’s yet to fall off.

If the standard Garmin Varia mount still isn’t secure enough for your liking, there are aftermarket mounts available from KOM cycling and others. The one made by KOM uses a BOA-like ratchet system. A guy on my regular group ride has one and it appears to be very solid if not a bit heavy.

Buy a Helmet, Then Buy a Garmin Varia

After a helmet, a Garmin Varia is the one piece of safety equipment that I recommend to anyone who rides a bicycle on public roads. Like the old American Express ads say, “I won’t leave home without it.”

Lessons Learned from Skiing With My Six-Year-Old

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My oldest daughter is six years old. She has been skiing since she was two. One of her favorite shirts to wear these days is this one that has “life is better on the slopes” printed on it. In short, she loves to ski. So when her elementary school was unexpectedly closed on Monday we headed out to ski. But we went to a new-to-her mountain. That’s where the challenge and learning began.

We usually ski at Mt. Abram because it’s a small, local mountain that really caters to families. We also go there because I work there on the weekends and get free passes for the family. Unfortunately, it’s only open Thursday through Sunday. So on Monday we headed to Pleasant Mountain.

It was my daughter’s first ever visit to Pleasant Mountain and my first visit in seventeen years. I had an industry pass for the day so instead of just walking up to the regular ticket window we had to go find the guest services desk to get our lift tickets. That wasn’t a big deal and is a small price to pay for getting a free pass for the day. Unfortunately, it meant some extra walking in ski boots. Again, not a big deal for me, but a little tiring for a six-year-old.

First Run

Passes in hand, we headed out to the lifts. My daughter wanted to go straight to the bigger of the two lifts servicing the terrain that I felt was appropriate for her. Instead, I convinced her to start on the smaller lift to warm up. She handled that first run very well and was excited to head to the bigger lift.

Second Run

Off we went to the bigger chair lift and higher terrain. As we headed up she was excited to look around and see the surrounding lakes and mountains. However, I was starting to think, “hmmm…this might be a bit steeper terrain than she’s skied before.” I scoped out what I thought would be the easiest path down for her which was to the left of the lift line.

We got off the lift and turned to the right. At that point we were committed to that direction. Unfortunately, what I couldn’t see from the lift was that while the line I picked was overall the easiest path down, it started with a hard and steep run for about 50 feet. My daughter was excited about it though.

We headed down that first steep section and her skis caught a little ice patch and she fell. It wasn’t a hard fall (she’s fallen much harder on far flatter terrain), but it was enough to scare her. The tears started flowing and were accompanied by “I DO NOT LIKE THIS MOUNTAIN AT ALL! I want to go home!” Through the tears and frustration she got up and we skied back down. The lesson from this run was, what looks easiest from the lift may not actually be the easiest route.

Third Run

By the time we got back down my daughter wanted to go back up the same lift. Now having a better understanding of the terrain off that lift, I agreed that we could do it again. My plan was to take the other side of the lift line down this time.

We got off the lift and headed left to ski the right side of the lift line. I let her lead down the mountain. However, I forgot to do what I always do when teaching ski lessons. That is to give directions on when and where to stop.

As we came to a trail junction I could see she was about to head in a direction that I didn’t want her to go in. So I yelled for her to stop and then skied up next to her. That’s when the tears appeared again followed closely by, “you’re confusing me! You didn’t tell me you wanted me to stop there! This mountain is confusing, I don’t know where we’re going!” The lesson learned on this run was to always give my child directions on where to stop and where we’re going.

We got back down the run without further incident. However, when we got back down, she said she wanted to go home because the mountain was too big and confusing. I suggested we go back to the smaller lift that we started on and then have a snack. She reluctantly agreed to do that.

Fourth Run

This run was incident free and we went to get snacks. Getting snacks was not without incident. My daughter, like many kids her age, gets very nervous in new places. So while I wanted to go inside for snacks and limit walking back to the car (my feet were in pain from blisters I got a week earlier) she didn’t want any part of going inside. Off to the car we went. The lesson here, just carry your kid’s snacks in a backpack instead of leaving them in the car.

Behold the power of snacks and maps!

While snacking it up I got out the trail and lift map. We looked it over and talked about the trails that we thought would be fun. She still wasn’t convinced that she liked “this mountain” so I said, “let’s give it one more try and if you still don’t like it, we can go home.”

After loading up on snacks we headed back to the smaller lift for one more run. I let her lead down the run we had picked while looking at the map. She loved it! Lesson learned: give your kid lots of snacks and a bit of agency over which direction they’re going down the mountain.

Four More Times, Two More Times, Four More Times!

She liked that first run after our snack break so much that she wanted to do it again! At first she wanted to do it four more times. After that she said, “two more times.” After those runs she said, “four more times!” Clearly she was comfortable and happy on that lift and run. If she’s happy on a run, I’m happy on that run.

Timers and Racing Gates

Whenever I ski I turn on the ski tracking function on my Garmin Fenix 5 watch. It tells me the top speed on every run. A couple of weeks ago I used it to track my daughter going 19 MPH on a run. When I told her that she was super excited! Knowing how excited she gets about the speed of her runs, I started reading them out to her at the bottom of each run.

Reading the top speed of each run has become a little game for us. On Monday we played that game and she loved it. She couldn’t wait to tell her sister, mother, the lift attendant, and anyone else who would listen that she went 27 MPH!

Pleasant Mountain, like most corporately-owned ski mountains these days, has RFID tags in their lift tickets. The tickets are actually cards about the same size as a credit card, gone are the days of stickers hanging off a jacket’s zipper. My daughter had never used an RFID equipped card or lift gate before. She loved the beep that the gate made when she put her card next to the card reader. It quickly became a game to see if she could beat me to buzz through the gate.

The lesson learned: if your kid likes games, play games while skiing.

Shout Out to Emma the Liftie!

Lift attendants (lifties) range from old grumps to ski bums stoned out of their minds to young people just trying to earn a living. Then there are people like Emma who seemed to really enjoy working the lift that’s utilized by new and very young skiers. She was smiling every time we went through the lift line, seemed excited to help new people learn to use the lift, and generally appeared happy to be there.

Great Deals on a Great Fitness Watch

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The new year is almost here. This is when many of us will make a resolution to better ourselves in the new year by working out more often and eating better. Buying a new fitness watch probably won’t make you stick to your new exercise habit, but it might. If you’ve been thinking about buying a new fitness watch to start 2023, Garmin is currently offering a great deal on a great watch, the Garmin Instinct.

Depending on the color scheme that you choose, you can get the Garmin Instinct for as little as $117.99 (49% off list price). The one that I personally own and use is the Garmin Instinct in the “tundra” version and it’s available for 169.99 (32% off list price). Black, light blue, and an orange-ish color scheme are also available at similar price points (as of 10am ET on December 30th).

Garmin Instinct Review

A few years ago I wrote an extensive review of the Garmin Instinct and why I chose it. What I wrote then is still largely true today. Since then I’ve tried a similar priced watch from Suunto and more expensive watches including the Polar Grit X Pro and the Garmin Fenix 5 Series. And while subjectively the Polar Grit X Pro and Garmin Fenix series look cooler, they’re probably not worth the money for how I use them. I use all of them simply for monitoring my heart rate my workouts and for keeping track of my workout data. I have also successfully paired my Garmin Instinct to Training Peaks to display my structured workout data while I’m on my bike.

If you want features like mobile payments and music streaming on your fitness watch, the Garmin Instinct isn’t for you. Those are features you’ll get in the Fenix series watches and in some of the Forerunner series watches.

It should be noted that all of the watches I’ve mentioned above will sync to Strava.

Should You Get a Fitness Watch?

As I mentioned above, buying a new fitness watch probably isn’t going to make you stick to your New Year’s resolution to exercise more often. But they are fun to play with and it just might give you a little psychological boost to get started.

Great Deals on Two Great Fitness Watches – And How to Use Them

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To cut to the chase: the Garmin Instinct, the fitness watch I wear, is on sale on Amazon at $100 off list price right now. And the Garmin Vivoactive 3, the fitness watch my partner wears, is on sale on Amazon $130 off list price right now.

Garmin Instinct vs. Garmin Vivoactive 3

Both of these watches perform the same basic functions of monitoring your heart rate, steps, activity levels, workout times, and tracking of your walking, running, or bike riding routes. Both watches can be used for navigation. And both watches will let you see phone notifications, if you want that (I find it annoying to get phone notifications on my watch so I’ve disabled them). The real differences in these watches is found in the form factor.

Garmin advertises the Instinct as a “rugged outdoor watch.” To that end the watch doesn’t have the slick appearance of a smart watch and doesn’t have a touch screen. All changes to the watch are made by using the five buttons on the sides of the watch. They’re not the most intuitive controls so you’ll find yourself clicking a lot at first.

The lack of a color screen or touch screen on the Garmin Instinct probably contributes to the long battery life. I only have to charge mine every two or three weeks. The other advantage to using buttons instead of a touchscreen is that you can actually control the watch when your hands are sweaty. One other feature I find handy in the fall is that it displays sunrise and sunset times

The Garmin Vivoactive 3 has a more modern smartwatch look compared to the Instinct. The Vivoactive 3 uses a touchscreen for nearly all input except power on/off. The watch’s touchscreen can be customized with different colors and display styles.

What really distinguishes the Vivoactive 3 from the Instinct is it’s app compatibility. The Vivoactive 3 supports of the use Garmin Pay (Garmin’s contactless payment system) and Connect IQ which lets the watch integrate many of the favorite apps you use on your phone.

How to Use a Fitness Watch

According to my Garmin Instinct and Strava I have recorded 280 workouts this year (5.95 a week). Until late June I was going along just fine using the watch to record time and distance of my rides, runs, and some skiing activities. I’d occasionally glance at the heart rate data, but I didn’t pay too much attention to it. That changed after I rode 202 miles in a day with Fast Freddie Rodriguez.

Me and Freddie at the end of a 202 mile bike ride.

What I learned from Freddie was that heart rate-based training is much more effective in the long-run than training based on perceived effort. Training in zones 2 and 3 of heart rate is more effective for fat-burning and building endurance than spending lots of time in heart rate zones 4 and 5.

Heart rate zones 2 and 3 roughly equate to 60-80% of maximum heart rate for your age and current fitness level. A very basic guideline for max heart rate is 220 minus your age, in my case that’s 179 (yes, I’m 41). Of course, there are lots of variables to determining your heart rate zones. If you’re a cyclist, GCN has a good video about to do that. If you’re a runner, GTN has a video for you.

What I’ve learned and experienced since my conversation with Freddie back in late June is that by spending more time training in zones 2 and 3 I’ve lost more weight and actually improved my times on the days that I do go hard. The weight loss is a result of longer rides in zones 2 and 3 burning more fat as opposed to just burning off the “top layer” of carbs which is what happens when putting out hard efforts in zones 4 and 5.

This summer had conversations with other competitive endurance athletes including my brother (sub 3 hour marathoner) and a friend who was one of the top 50 female finishers at the New York Marathon about my conversation with Freddie. Both confirmed that yes, more time in lower heart rate zones is a very effective training method. Why it took me 40 years to learn that, I don’t know.

The point of this is if you get a fitness watch like a Garmin Instinct, Vivoactive, or any other model, pay attention to your heart rate as much or more than your time, distance, and perceived effort.

Disclaimer: I’m not a scientist, dietitian, or professional trainer. I’m just a middle aged guy trying to stay fit enough not to get dropped on every climb on my local bike scene so take the above with a grain of salt. Consult a physician or certified fitness professional before embarking on any new fitness regimes.

A Good Deal on a Great Fitness Watch

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Six months ago I decided that I wanted to get a smartwatch / fitness watch. I had previously used a Fitbit Charge for counting steps and heart rate (not accurately) and a Casio Pathfinder for basic information about altitude, barometric pressure, and location while skiing and hiking. But I wanted to get something that combined all of those features into one package.

After extensive research, I purchased a Garmin Instinct and I love it! You can read about my entire selection process here and what I learned in the first month of wearing it here.

As is almost always the case when I purchase something electronic, the price of the Garmin Instinct is now significantly less than what I paid for it in January. The Garmin Instinct is now available as low as $246 on Amazon depending upon the color you select. The baby poop yellow version is $246 and all non-poop colors are $249 or roughly $70 less than I paid six months ago. Also, there are more colors available now than six months ago.

If you’re in the market for a new fitness watch that isn’t bulky and doesn’t look like every other smartwatch worn by every soccer mom on the block, the Garmin Instinct is a great choice. (Sorry soccer moms, I love you, but I don’t want to look like you).

Strava – Improve Your Fitness by Challenging Yourself and Encouraging Your Friends

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Strava is a free app and social network for runners and cyclists. I have used it for the last five years to challenge myself and to encourage my friends on the way to reaching their cycling and running goals. This post is intended to summarize how Strava works and what you can do with it.

What is Strava?

At its core Strava is a free app that you can use on your phone (Android or iOS) and some smartwatches to track the distance and time of your ride or run. To do this you must enable location services on your phone then tap the “record” button in the app at the start of your ride or run. When you’re done, tap the button again to end the recording. Strava will save the route, speed, and time of your run or ride.

The Strava app can connect to other devices and apps to provide you with more data about your runs and rides. For example, I have Strava connected to the Wahoo ELEMNT computer on my bike. The Wahoo ELEMNT is what I use to view and track my cadence, speed, ride time, directions, heart rate, and watts. I also have my Garmin Instinct watch synced to Strava for tracking data when I go for a run.

Strava as a Social Network

Strava is more than just an app for tracking data about your exercise. There is a huge social network component to Strava.

On Strava you can follow your friends and give them “kudos” for a completing a run or ride. You have the option to make your account public for anyone to follow or you can make it private and manually approve or deny new followers. And just like other social networks you can follow people who aren’t your real-life friends. You can follow famous cyclists and runners who use Strava and make their data public.

Another social aspect of Strava is found in the King of the Mountain and Queen of the Mountain competitions. If you are the person to complete a segment the fastest, you will get a King of the Mountain or Queen of the Mountain badge. And if you don’t get it, you can still see how you stack up against other people who have ridden or run that same segment. I find those KOM segments to be a good way to motivate myself to put in a hard effort and see how much I can improve during the course of the outdoor riding season here in Maine.

Challenges and Badges

Throughout the year Strava hosts challenge activities that anyone can join from anywhere in the world. The challenges that I’m doing in May are to run 20 miles (cumulatively) and ride 100km (in one day). When you complete one of these challenges you get a badge. Some challenges come with the opportunity to win randomly-drawn prizes and some come with the opportunity to buy limited edition gear.

How to Join Strava

Joining Strava is easy. Simply install the app on your Android phone or on your iPhone then sign-up for an account. You can sign-up with a Google account, a Facebook account, or by using your email address and picking a password.

There is a premium version of Strava, but I’ve never used it so I can’t speak to whether or not the cost is worth it.

One final note, Strava can be used to track other fitness activities, but it is primarily designed for running and cycling which is why I focused on those activities in this post.