Too much information

I updated yesterday the Endomondo iPhone app to version 8.7.0 and was surprised to see the huge improvements in the training plan. I can finally update the plan directly in the app instead of having to do it on the website which is pretty uncomfortable using the iPad.

I had my usual Thursday run in the morning today and was shocked to hear the audio coach every 30 seconds telling me the remaining duration of the interval and the lap pace. It completely messed up my overall pace and I was lucky that I finished the workout at an good time.

I am still trying to figure out how to switch it off. The app has a new setting Audio Lap Frequency but there is no way to turn it completely off. I can only pick between Distance Lap or Destination Lap. Perhaps setting it as high as possible would do the trick but this is a good example of how too much informationcan do more damage than good.

I think I found a bug in the Endomondo training plan yesterday. I set preferred workout days last week to Tue-Wed-Sat-Sun because of the trip and tried to switch it back to my usual Tue-Thu-Sat-Sun this week but Endomondo shows instead Tue-Wed-Fri-Sat in the calendar. In order to have a workout on Thursday, I had to set Thu-Fri-Sat-Sun and Endomondo now shows Tue-Thu-Sat-Sun for this week but Thu-Fri-Sat-Sun for the next weeks.

I waited to finish the workout today and set again my usual workout days again but now it shows Tue-Thu-Fri-Sat. No matter how I set it, it won’t display the preffered workout days correctly for the current week. It’s so frustrating! Don’t you sometimes hate technology?

I like having my training plan and my music directly on my phone but I sometimes hate to drag my phone along, especially because the battery of the iPhone gets empty so fast, so I am considering to get a GPS watch with a heart rate monitor.

I’ve been looking at the Garmin Forerunner 910XT and Polar RCX5. I definitely like how the Polar looks, tres chic!, and the Garmin seems too big for my arms so based on the look I am leaning towards Polar. But Garmin has more features and an integrated GPS, while the Polar has an external one.

I would use it for running, biking and, if the trial session at the gym in two weeks works out, also for strenth training and different workout classes at the gym. I would like to go regularly swimming too and the Garmin would suit perfectly since it displays so much information but it has no heart rate monitor under water, while the Polar has that but doesn’t show so much data so I would need a Garmin Swim additionally as well.

Endomondo supports uploading Garmin workouts directly while Polar workouts can be exported and have to be converted in the right format before importing them into Endomondo. I do not want to spend too much time on this and I already see that this is going to be time-consuming.

I definitely did my research and there are pros and cons for both watches so I am undecided. One thing I learned is that when I am not absolutely 100% sure of it, I should not buy it so I won’t for now. Who knows? Christmas is coming and perhaps Santa will surprise me! But then again, I have collectedquite a lot of things on my wish list and I don’t think I’ve been such a good girl to deserve them all.