Peg’s Posts: Step by step with FR60 and foot pod
-->I never used to be a data geek. In fact, I’m not all that good with numbers and have a hard time recalling my PRs for particular race distances. Thank goodness Garmin Connect collects all my stats for me so I can go back and look up activities from last week, last month or even last year. Okay, so maybe I am a data geek. My latest fascination: spm, or steps per minute … also known as cadence. I even had a chance to share by data geekishness with a couple of 4th graders on a recent field trip.
Steps per minute is like a tasty side dish complementing the distance data you can get when using a Garmin foot pod with a compatible fitness watch. The foot pod is what measures your distance when used with a non-gps kids watch watch like the FR60 or when used indoors with devices like the Forerunner 405 or the new Forerunner 405CX and Forerunner 310XT. I put my FR60 and foot pod into action on Wednesday, when I accompanied my daughter on a fourth-grade field trip to the Kansas City Zoo. To start our day, we walked to Africa. And it only took us 7 minutes, give or take a few seconds. While we could’ve taken a tram, we missed the first one and this group leader wasn’t about to wait another 15 minutes for the next ride. So we headed off, with the girls repeatedly asking “how far have we gone?” At the end of our safari, FR60 reported that we’d trekked 3.61 miles and taken 10,108 steps. The girls were thrilled. That data somehow justified all their sweat and their aching feet. I could totally relate. I think I may have some data geeks in the making.
How does the Garmin foot pod work? It uses advanced accelerometer technology to collect and send precise data about your movements. It’s 98 percent accurate, right out of the box and it’s so tiny, you hardly even notice it clipped to your shoelaces. It also fits in the foot bed of certain running shoes. Best of all, it uses ANT+ wireless technology, which means it can pair with multiple fitness devices. So, if you and a spouse both have a compatible Forerunner, you could use the foot pod accessory interchangeably.
How do you train with cadence data? An article in Runner’s World described the optimal running cadence to be around 90-95 foot falls per minute (measured on one leg). With this new-found knowledge, I’ve been honing in on my cadence data from runs and was surprised to find out my average cadence is in the low 90s. I don’t attribute that to being particularly well-trained, but rather having a short stride that requires lots of them to keep up with the runners around me in a race.
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