Basically I am born a nerd. My childhood is inextricably linked to the Commodore64 and its floppy disks (the flexible 5 ¼-inch ones): the ones that once inserted, nothing happened. You then had to type in a line of code to start them. My first Intel 386 PC ran Windows 3.1.1, which I always found useless-I had inhibited its startup and preferred to run everything from the MS-DOS command shell. In short, I wanted to understand how things worked.
Then I grew up and–whether due to less time availability or laziness–began to settle for things working well. My approach to running, on the other hand, is anything but pragmatic: I rarely follow a chart and avoid the tedious recounting of my (🍕) balanced diet. I chose a Garmin Forerunner 945 as my traveling companion, though: I’m not a big fan of analyzing metrics but I love knowing every detail about the devices I use. Sure, maybe I don’t use all the features at my disposal (who really does?), but I certainly want to know the full potential of the tool I carry with me.
I did not choose the Forerunner 945 at random. My main passion is trail running, so I have been looking for a device that looks in this direction both from the point of view of equipment (maps, barometric altimeter) and from the point of view of useful features: today we are talking about
PacePro
e
ClimbPro
.
Garmin PacePro
Whether you are – like me – a maverick, rather than faithful to a chart like wise Peter, most likely when you run you set a goal: I rarely do it in training, I almost always do it in competition. PacePro is exactly that feature that allows you to plan your run according to a very specific goal of time or pace.
If you’re running flat, it’s all very simple, in a nutshell: once you set your pace, the watch helps you maintain it by telling you (by beep or vibration) if you’re going too slow or too fast. If, on the other hand, you plan to run on a track with elevation gain, then–as I see it–the PacePro feature definitely becomes more interesting and fun, in fact this is the mode I tested it with.
Through the Garmin Connect platform/app you have the ability to associate a route with your goal. This is the key part. In this way you can tweak your pacing strategy to your total liking, kilometer by kilometer: what I did was mainly to adjust the pace according to the gradients, keeping the final time goal unchanged and reasoning about less speed uphill and more sprinting downhill.
Once you have finished planning you can send it to your device with a click: the adage “it’s harder said than done” applies.
My biggest difficulty was probably getting used to following the clock’s instructions, when I am used to listening almost exclusively to my body. But the two cannot (and should not) be at odds with each other; on the contrary: the better you know yourself, the more you will plan a sensible pacing strategy, so that notifications are nothing more than a kind of reminder of how you would have behaved regardless.
Currently PacePro, in addition to the Forerunner 945, is available on the Forerunner 245, the entire fēnix 6 series, and the all-new Enduro.
Garmin ClimbPro
Again, the full potential of this function is appreciated exclusively on a track with appreciable gradient. Above all, it is essential here to associate a route with your outing: whether it is taken from a previous run of yours or created ad hoc with Garmin Connect makes no difference. More, you can also automatically link a Strava or Komoot track.
Now you just need to make sure ClimbPro is active on your device for the type of activity you are going to do: Settings > Activities & Apps > Trail Running (in my case) > Activity Settings > ClimbPro > On. In the unfortunate event that you set off without checking, know that you can activate this function even while running (maybe don’t do it at all while running).
ClimbPro appears at this point as one of the many screens that can be displayed on your Garmin during the activity: at a glance you can see the distance traveled, the positive elevation gain already made, the average slope you have to face and the vertical speed (a value expressed in meters/h that allows you to estimate how long it will take you to finish your track). In addition, an intuitive graph shows you the elevation difference of the entire track and your location.
ClimbPro is currently available on the Forerunner 945, the fēnix 5 Plus, the entire fēnix 6 series, and the all-new Enduro.
My advice is to use this feature in combo with AutoClimb (which allows you to have some very useful elevation-related information at your fingertips) and SpeckFinder™, the indispensable new widget-under development-for finding the shelter where you eat best.