Racing and GPS

Just a quick question: Do you wear your Garmin or GPS watch during a race? I was planning on wearing it to help my pacing, but I've heard that they can be inaccurate during a race from interference and other people's gps.

Thoughts?

Mine has been accurate in race situations.

Veronica

I've never had interference on mine. Once it pairs with your HRM, footpod, cadence sensor, whatever, it won't pair with anyone else's.

I REALLY value it for pacing, especially my first race at a given distance.

If yours has a vibrating alarm, it would be polite to turn the sound off. If not, I don't think it's a big problem. I hear other people's and it doesn't bother me.

If you have a footpod, calibrate it and set the watch to display pace from the footpod, since instantaneous pace is more accurate from the footpod than from GPS.

I have had no problem using mine in a race. Just remember to hit start when you cross the start line, not when the race starts. In a big race, there could be several minute's difference.

I didn't wear my GPS last week when I ran the 12k, and I have mixed feelings about it. I'm not sure how accurate it would have been, but I would have liked to compare and find that out in a safe venue. I would have liked the detail to review the speeds I was running at different course profiles (how fast was that hill, how fast was the downhill, how did I do on the flats). I would have liked to be able to push the pace from the start, then gradually increase pacing as the race went on - I often find that at the end I think I could have pushed miles after the first 1 or 2 to make up a little extra time. At the same time, I am somewhat afraid it would have either encouraged me to work harder or held a less sustainable pace.

Bottom line, I think I'll wear it next time and see how I like it. As with my HRM, if I find it frustrating in a race, I can just pull it off or turn it off and still measure time and press the lap button for distance at each mile marker.