Training Toys and Disaster Prevention

The Timex Global Trainer is even larger than my mutant swim-paddle-sized hands.

Yesterday, I got a very cool gift from my husband (who got it at a generous discount from local running shop Second Sole). It was a Timex Ironman Global Trainer GPS Watch. Although, calling it a watch is just WRONG.

I haven't even begun to tap into the training resources now available to me, and I don't suppose I'll know how to use them all by next week. But, so far, it appears to do everything except make tea. Yes, it even has a conversation with me while I run.

I now know ONE thing. I know why people absolutely love having a portable training GPS unit.

But I also have two fears about my new toy: (1) with its pace readout, I fear I will become obsessed with my run times and never take another easy running day, ever, and (2) with its hugeness, I fear my left arm will grow to an enormous size and length. The offshoot might be a positive because I have always had a dominant right side in swimming. At some point, though, I feel I may have to counterweight my right arm with a small house.

The Global Trainer wouldn't be complete without a heart rate monitor, and this one came with a Timex unit. The Timex heart rate monitor is infinitely more comfortable than the Polar units I've used in the past. It's so comfortable, I might even consider wearing it during a race. Pacing by heart rate at the beginning of the run might be exactly what I need to avoid future disasters.

Because, unfortunately, the unit that prevents disasters was out of our price range.