Technology

I love my Garmin 405 watch. It is just amazing how much technology can be stored into such a small device. It's able to calculate your position by GPS, by locating satellites that circle above us hundreds of miles up in the atmosphere. From a reading off these satellites every second, it can calculate the movement in your position, hence your speed and the distance that you have run. A small programme in the watch means that by inputting your weight, gender and age that it can then calculate the calories you have burned in running a distance at a certain speed. You can programme the Garmin 405 to set your interval session for you and determine whether you want to run a defined distance or a defined time and how many repeats you want to do off how much recovery time or distance. It is a condensed piece of technology that is able to do all of this in a piece of kit the size of a watch.

Basically, it is the stuff of dreams; the sort of equipment that would be used by James Bond when Sean Connery or Roger Moore were still playing the role.
"Well Moneypenny. Fancy a long, hard session with me tonight ?"
"Really James !!"
Q would have presented it to James in his underground cellar, and we would have been astounded that such a small device could be capable of so much.
For today's runner, it is almost indispensable. It's better than a personal coach, with a capacity to store data that far outreaches human capabilities.

I used mine on Tuesday to record my early morning run. 10.3 km in 45:38. I felt tired after Sunday's efforts and I deliberately held back so as to avoid over-stretching myself. I saw Andy in the park at 6:30 am but we were both too tired to have a long conversation. I was concentrating on getting back by then. I was actually surprised by how many runners were out at that time in the morning, as I saw about 6 or 7 already jogging around the park in Maisons Laffitte.

I got back home and showered ready for work. I left my Garmin, that jewel of technology, with Laurence as she's on holiday at the moment for half-term.

She lost all the data while transferring the run from the Garmin to the PC. Modern technology thwarted by the female touch. What would Q have said ?