Training with Heart

Garmin Forerunner® 935 – Product Review

“Disclaimer: I received a Garmin Forerunner 935 Multisport GPS Watch from Garmin to review as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!”

That’s right… a new watch!!!

Ok, so you might know I have a nice watch. However, to use the heart rate monitor, I have to strap this black piece around my chest. While this might be the most accurate way to get a heart rate reading…. have you ever done this? As a woman, this is just not the most comfortable with a sports bra, and leads to some chaffing.

The Garmin Forerunner 935 Multisport GPS Watch has a heart rate monitor that reads on your wrist. It’s reading your heart rate all the time you are wearing the watch. Now…why is this important to me? Many stats provided by the watch and the Garmin Connect app are based on heart rate. I will now have access to more accurate statistics to improve my running or general health.

Before I get into all the stats, this watch can either be simple or very detailed. It provides the basics – time, pace, distance. It’s also simple to use, the buttons on the watch make navigating through watch screens user friendly.

However, I would assume based on the price point, a user would be purchasing this for all the bells and whistles. They can be overwhelming, so I will give you my version of how I use the watch to get the most out of it – including watching my heart rate.

When I received the watch, I powered it on and put it on the charger. I read through the information book that was provided and proceeded to sync it to my phone with the Garmin Connect App.  The watch also syncs via bluetooth to your phone to get notifications or accept phone calls.

When it was charged enough, I put this on my wrist. I couldn’t get over how light weight it is. This has a huge screen, but is less bulky feeling than my other watch. The silicone band is also a lot more forgiving and almost stretchy.

The watch itself provides a lot of information, but syncing it to the app allows for even more detailed information, and will sync to Strava. Are you overwhelmed yet?

On the main screen of my watch, I push the down button and it displays my heart rate the past four hours.  If I tap on the button on the other side it will give me an average over the past 7 days.

The next scroll down screen is my training status, which I believe is not possible without my heart rate. Tapping on the button on the other side I can see my VO2 max, how long it will take me to recover based on my last workout, my training load the last 7 days, and a race predictor.

The next screen has my daily steps. If I push to get more information I can see my steps and distance over the last 7 days.

This is just the information at your wrist. When running, I have time, distance and pace displayed. I can easily switch to my heart rate too. I used this tool when running a big hill at the Madison Half Marathon, to know if I could give more heading to the finish. I have worn this watch for at least 3 races.

If you look at the Garmin Connect app you can get more detailed information. Anaerobic and aerobic training effect, your stress level, how much sleep you get and how many calories you have burned. These have screens and go in depth too.

No matter what activity you choose (run, walk, treadmill, triathlon, bike, swim – heck you can even add more using the app) more accurate stats are all based on the heart rate and the effort you are giving.

Now for the fun part – you can customize the watch to use it how you like. You can add widgets, you can change the watch face, and you can change the watch band. Basically you can make this personalized to how you want to use it.

Having this watch has made me more aware of my overall health, because I can “train with heart.” I know if I don’t get enough sleep and if I am too stressed in addition to knowing when I should maybe take some rest days. I can learn to #beatyesterday.

Also, I can’t forget to mention the battery life…this thing lasts forever!!! I have my phone notifications come through and on average run about 30 miles a week and it will go a week before it needs charged. It charges up really quick with the cable provided. In fact fellow pro Lisa ran 50 miles with this watch.

 

I would also like to note, my heart rate was picked up, while wearing it on top of my pullover.

If you need more than what I was able to provide, check out what the BibRave Pros had to say as we all used the watch differently. Frank – Meridith – Vanessa – Lindsey – Emily – Brenda – Ryan – Casey – Heather – Mark –

Keep up to date with all things Garmin by checking out their website, following along on twitter, Facebook and Instagram.