Lost my Garmin in T1, and threw down my best race yet. Racing with your Garmin?

Congrats on the race.

I have thought about not bringing it.  It is fun to have the data, and it's necessary if you have a detailed plan you are following, but it always seems to take significantly longer in transition putting on the watch (I have the non-waterproof 305) and especially the hear rate monitor.

I've only done one sprint tri, and another this coming weekend, but could you just get a Garmin holder for your bike? That is what I did - I started it on Multi-Sport and got it ready for the bike portion. When I came out of the swim to the bike it was ready to go - I didn't have to take it off until I racked my bike for T2 and took off on the run. Something to think about anyway...

The other option is if you're chipped, you can enter all your stats into the Garmin website after the race. 

This is exactly my thought process. I love to have the data, or to know when to push it (OK, only a half mile left, GO!). Also, to let me know if I am going too fast -- coming off the bike when I'm not really feeling my legs, it's easy for me to get going with sub-8 min/miles, which I KNOW I can't sustain for a 5K (yet).

I liked the suggestion upthread of just having time and distance -- maybe I will set a screen to something like that for my next race and see if it makes a difference.

I'd be lying if a tiny part of me wasn't hoping my 305 wouldn't turn up at all, so I'd be "forced" to by the 910XT, hee hee.

I had a similar experience this weekend. Heading out of T1 I hit stop instead of Lap on my 910 so had no data after that. This was my first race with the 910, and I actually thought I might screw it up, so I had my trusty basic Timex on my other wrist.

I like to look at it in transitions to see where I am on my time goals, but mostly I really like to see my mile splits on the run. I tend to come out of T2 way too fast, so I can see my first mile pace and adjust accordingly so I can carry a proper target pace through the end.

I must be the opposite of the "norm" here.

I'm bad at training, I do it wrong. I go out and push myself as hard as I can every time. I know it's worse for me this way but I've destroyed everything in my head that says I can't. (I'm still paying for it today yet from my race on Saturday.)

That being said I am a 9 minute flat mile runner, Saturday in my tri I looked down at my watch and I was running an 8:23 pace. I saw that and surprised myself and thought, I can keep this up. I kept that going as long as I could and ended with an 8:44 pace and 27:22 and 46 seconds off my fastest 5k time! If I hadn't seen how fast I was going I probably would have slowed down and added a minute or more.

I race without any telemetry at all except at Ironman where I use a heart monitor on the bike.

Telemetry does nothing to make you faster at shorter distances (70.3 and below). It only distracts you, reduces concentration and focus.

You only need to know one thing when you are racing: "Am I going as fast as I can right now?"

If you continually answer that question you will have a good race. The other data isn't "actionable" when you're in the fight.

I think there is this sense that people are afraid to "go to fast" and a gadget will somehow prevent that with the net result being a faster overall race. That's faulty logic with the exception of an Ironman distance race.

Whatever your device is telling you, the news is going to be bad and in a race there isn't much you can do about it if you are already at a maximal effort.

I agree with Tom.  I use my Garmin 910 for every workout because of all the data it kicks out.  I have worn it during 3 or 4 tris this year and it is kind of cool to know how fast you are rolling but I mainly watch my heart rate on the bike.  I don't really pay that much attention to it during the run portion.

I will wear it in my first 70.3 coming up in 20 days (HOLY SH~T!) but mostly so I can know how much further I have to go. 

The OWS portion of a tri does get kind of bumpy and it does concern me wearing my watch incase someone bumps the split button or worse case some how knocks it off my wrist.  That would be really irritating.

Here's one for ya.  Raced this weekend and was slightly bummed that I wasn't keeping my goal pace according to Garmin 310.  Once I crossed, I realized that Garmin claimed I ran 3 miles and not 3.1 as advertised.  Other athletes with navigation said their watches read 3.1 and the RD is usually pretty tight with his distances.  So what I thought was a 7:40 pace turned out to actually be the 7:25 for which I was hoping.

Sure makes me think twice about what I'm chasing, literally, during my speedwork.

It looks like a common theme is that many people find it a distraction, or something as an excuse to slow down ("whoa, I'm way ahead of my planned pace).

For racing, does anyone look at it the opposite way and use it as a warning if you are going to slow? I see it almost like a HTFU meter. I know what I am capable of from training, and if I need to push the suffering, then my watch can tell me.

I just use it to collect data. The display has cadence and distance on the bike and only distance on the run. I do sprints and in my mind, I'm going as fast as I can all the time. When I have had pace displayed, I find myself slowing to the pace I think I should be running and as I said, I'm going as fast as I can, so the measure of pace doesn't matter.

Ok, I gotta ask - I have see the acronym "HTFU" so many times on these forums...and I've always struggled with what it stands for.  Judging by your post, my guess is "Hurry The F Up?".... is that right?

Sorry for the "stupid question that hijacks the thread" comment....

Close.....Harden the F Up.