My Life

I never had planned to build a website let alone do it. Every year (for the last maybe 10 years) I’ve set my goals or as most people know them new years resolutions within the start of January. This year was like any other where i had them split into long and short.

Placeholder link – writing goals

On there for 2021 was the usual get fit, Run this, start that, etc. Only after I started chasing on of them – running events did my goal expand into this beast of starting a website and blog.

See the quote above from one of my favourite Anime: Hunter x Hunter 2011. “You should enjoy the little detours to the fullest. Because that’s where you’ll find the things more important than what you want”. I understand this as, even though you may have goals, sometimes the side tracks are where you really find meaning to the goals. 

It all came about as I was training for my link: 50k ultra first lumberjack, where mid-way into a 40K run I thought this is amazing, I want to:
1. Notes for my own records
2. Share my learnings with a wider audience and hope to inspire

For me personally, when you’re out there running for up to 6 hours alone with a flat set of earphones, you have a lot of time to thing (Link to: Japan Bike Tour). So many things are going through your mind but there’s no way to write them all down. 

For me personally, I want to be able to look back at my life and easily see what I’ve done. Not dissimilar to a diary or scrapbook but in a digital and interactive format. I want to see my triumphs, failures and stagnations. Learn from this and go forward.

Leading into the 2nd part, when listing all of these learning, why not share the learnings I have with a wider audience. I always thought things like the school curriculum and life lessons you learn to be almost irrelevant in shaping someone into a future success. Hopefully my way of living “live the life you want to live / live your own life / You are accountable for your own happiness” will inspire others to seek better in their own lives. My wife has taken this own board and just (as of 20/04/2021) posted her newest PB for a park run 29 minutes which she largely attributes to my enthusiasm for running and other hobbies motivating her to get out there.

Finding this website as a detour on my life path has inspired me to further mature and pass on whatever wisdom I can.

After almost 2 years and 6 months my Garmin Forerunner 935 seems to have finally clocked its last activity:

What I Need a Sports Watch For
I do a fair bit of outdoor activities (From Jan to March 158 hours) mostly Running (trails 80%, Road 20%), Cycling, Golf and Swimming. I NEED a watch with the ability to track all of these and I WANT one that will also include Music, GooglePay and Triathlon Functionality. It’s also important to consider future goals, I’m considering doing an Ironman (Full or 70.3, tbd), so for this I will need strong battery performance and triathlon sport function is preferred.

Here’s the breakdown in a (simple) table: Garmin Compare March 2021

The Selection Process
seemed difficult at first, but once put in an orderly spreadsheet, it becomes a simple process of elimination.

This simple process put me down to 4 watches (non-greyed lines) which then I had to determine if the additional features of the more expensive watches was worth it. A simple way of doing this is allocating each (useful) feature with a $ value and then using a more comparative price. The additional features (additional to the more basic and cheaper Vivoactives) were – Full Map Functionality, GP accurate, Extra battery life, Triathlon ability and ‘future proofing’. These are very subjective and up to each individual to allocate the $ values. 

An honourable mention to the other major brand – Suunto. A really great watch (Suunto 7), however let down severely in Battery life.

Conclusion
In the end, I went with the Garmin Fenix 6 Pro. It houses everything I need and then some. I’m also wary of the value I gain from having such an important tool to my health, fitness & Goals, so even though I would consider it a significant price tag, it will be a worthwhile investment.