Garmin 405 - using at FLM

Quick Garmin 405 question
I am addicted to my Garmin 405 - and especially the virtual partner, as I love to just put in my target pace and just keep following mile after mile after mile.  I have heard rumours that on the FLM course especially around Docklands you lose the GPS signal which means I will lose the ability to use the virtual partner for the whole race.  I can therefore turn off the virtual partner - and just use watch as a stopwatch and use pace bands.....or I can use the pace field as well to keep an eye on, but I find my pace on my garmin can jump from 8.50 a mile to 6.50 a mile in 10/20 metres and thus I have no faith in this method....so questions are:
(a) Anyone used a 405 at FLM before and know whether you do indeed lose GPS
(b) Anyone use pace function and find it works ok, and does not jump around
(c) Anyone got any useful suggestions on what else I could do....

"Anyone got any useful suggestions on what else I could do...."

leave the fecking thing at home and just go run???

There was a post this week from a girl who used her Nike+ to pace her to sub 4 in Paris at the weekend.

Unfortunately - when she hit 26.2 miles on her Nike+, the race still said she had two miles to go....

Use an interval beep on your timer/stopwatch and compare it to the mile markers on the route. They are massive, and also accurate - thats what counts - not the GPS reading.

You do have a long tunnel at Blackfriars so will definitely lose GPS there and theres another shorter one about mile 20 or so ?

With thousands of runners, do you need a virtual pal?

FB - Thanks for the help - problem is if I do that temptation means I will run first half way too fast and then hit the wall and die massively in last 5/6 miles.....

Cougie - Totally agree with your comments, in that of course you have to run to course, and it is hard to feel sorry for anyone that realistically is relying on a GPS device and not checking with the course itself - and thanks for suggestion....may work to have it set up that way and then can check as I go along...

Get a footpod for your 405, problem solved.

You're getting too anxious about this.

GPS watches do lose signal sometimes in built up areas, so expect a couple of glitches.

Not sure why a temporary outage means the virtual partner feature cannot be used at all? Personally I wouldn't use it anyway as I find it's not as well implemented as it used to be.

All I do is this (on my 305): set one of the screens to show me three things: current average lap pace, last lap pace, overall average lap pace for the race so far. As you say, the real-time pace reading is a bit unreliable, so I wouldn't bother with that, but the average current lap is usually pretty useful.

In a race, I can glance at the watch to see how I'm doing on the current lap. But more important are the last lap time and overall average as these will tell me whether I need to speed up or slow down. It's not quite real time, but over 26 miles, as near as damn it. After a few miles you'll get a feel for how much effort you need to put in to maintain the pace.

I love gadgets, but don't let them rule your life. Accept that there may well be some GPS issues on the day. The time will still keep running as normal whatever happens, so you can always calculate how you're doing. If you have a pace band with your target times for each mile, you can easily check how you're doing even without GPS.

And don't forget to complain to the race director afterwards that the course was actually 26.4 miles

also don't forget to look where you are going! I've nearly fallen over tree roots spending too much time lookin at my damn 305!

I'm only interested in total time and overall average pace. Forget what the Garmin says about distance, as the only meaningful distance is the one from the start line to the finish line.

Rat - there are 14 mile or half-way markers in the fist half of the race. You have 14 opportunities to avoid going off massively too fast. If you really can't work out the maths as you go along, get or make a pace band to wear round your wrist.  The Expo tends to provide these free.

Rat,

Don't worry about your Garmin losing a signal, if it does it will presume you have kept running at the same you you were running at when it lost it's signal and when if finds one again it will fill in the blanks automatically.

 I use my Garmin at all my races, handy for the VP and also when you set a maximum and minimum pace to prevent you going to quick/slow.