Jake’s Journal du jour: Forerunner finds the way in France

From the moment the first cyclist embarked on the opening time trial in Monaco to the time when the final man crossed the finish line along the Champs-Elyees in Paris, free time was few and far between for three weeks as Team Garmin, its entourage and the rest of the peloton traveled around and across France. But on the mornings of three of six stages during my first week there, I was able to dodge the temptation of the snooze button and get up for a run. I'm always telling people at races and trade shows that one of my favorite features of Garmin's GPS-enabled Forerunner family of fitness watches is the "Back to Start" feature, which helps you back-track your route so that you can explore a new city – in a new country! – and return to where you began. Back to Start came in extremely handy in Monaco (click here for the Garmin Connect link) as I ran across the shoreline but wasn't quite sure where to wind my way back to the hotel. (The extra bit at the end is when I wanted to run a little more to hit the 10km mark.) But once we left Monaco and started staying in a different hotel each night, I tapped into other navigational aids on my Forerunner 310XT: Save Location and Go To Location.

While in Girona, Spain, I thought I was just going to go out for a quick stroll through the city. But when I stepped out of the hotel, I bumped into Versus commentator and former peloton pro Robbie Ventura. Knowing how much Save Location and Go To had helped a couple days earlier when Team Garmin's Toby Watson and I rambled through the winding streets of Saint-Maximin-La-Sainte-Baume, I quickly pressed Mode, GPS and Save Location. Within moments, Robbie and I were running through the streets of Girona with my 310XT tracking our real-time pace, distance, time and location. A few miles in, we bumped into former pro cyclist Marty Jemison, who guided us to a historic wall surrounding the old town. At this point, Robbie had to head back to the hotel and wondered aloud where it might be. A quick scroll through Mode, GPS and Go To Location, and I was able to tell him that it was .31 miles away in a specific direction. Robbie, who recently completed an Ironman and trains with the Edge 705 and Forerunner 405, just smiled and commented that he picked the right running partner for a morning when his schedule was tight. With Robbie and Marty (who says the 705 is ideal for his cycling tours) headed back on their respective paths, I took off along the wall's trail and later guided myself back to the hotel using 310XT's compass screen. But my navigation wasn't limited to the 310XT – or just to my workouts. My final days of July were spent strolling around Paris. Again, I marked the hotel location, but this time on a Forerunner 405CX, which has a touch bezel and sleek look that help it fit in as an everyday watch suitable for Parisian style and cultural hotspots such as the Louvre, Orangerie and Orsay museums. It's easy to fit in and feel confident exploring when you have a high-sensitivity GPS that's as low-profile as your watch. Especially when you don't have time to get lost.

The post Jake’s Journal du jour: Forerunner finds the way in France appeared first on Garmin Blog.