Garmin-sponsored triathlete Ben Collins shares his training and racing experiences with the Garmin Edge 705 and Forerunner 405.

My triathlon season is over for the year, but I decided to keep running for a few more weeks. Now, after a long season of racing, injuries, and fatigue, postponing the off-season (a term which should be read as “hardcore recovery from all the cumulative damage done to our bodies for the past 11 months of hard work”) may seem like a pretty dumb idea, but I have good reasons. First, while recovering from my latest knee injury I was unable to put a lot of intensity into my running, so I ended up just building volume. At first I hated it: running more and more every day, but never getting to run hard enough to be exhausted. A few weeks into it, however, and my mindset changed.

Instead of going out to kill myself running, I could go out and enjoy my surroundings. There are thousands, no — millions — of runners out there, and if you slow down enough to enjoy what you’re doing, you might just notice that most of those runners are out to have fun and feel good, not to kill themselves. Long story short, I am running double the miles I used to run, and I LOVE running. Plus, by letting my body learn to run efficiently, I’m running as fast as I used to when I was trying to “kill” myself. Only now it feels like a stroll.

This brings me to why I decided to keep running after the season ended. I want to do a 10km turkey trot. It will be the only race I get to do at home in Seattle this year, and I’m excited to run along next to my friends. According to my Forerunner 405, I’ve already run 75 miles since the end of my triathlon season, with another week and a half to go before the turkey trot. So maybe I’ll run 150 miles post-season, who cares? I’m doing it for fun, which keeps me healthy. Plus, I’ll drag my sister and parents out to do the 5km walk / jog, so we’ll all get in a good workout before we start the feast. Who knows, with all the running I’ve been doing, I may set a PR for the 10k distance. Then again, maybe I’ll be outsprinted by a woman in a turkey costume, and walk away with nothing but a t-shirt. Either way it’s going to be fun. Please take a look at the runs I have shared on my Garmin Connect account. There are some great runs in there.