Slipstream’s Trent Lowe is Best Young Rider at Tour de Georgia

“Tenacious Trent” Lowe of Garmin-sponsored Team Slipstream/Chipotle won the honors of Best Young Rider at the 2008 Tour de Georgia. High honors for an under-25 rider and even more potent since he held the title previously—at the ripe young age of 20. Trent also got podium time yesterday, finishing the Tour second in the overall classification. Teammate Christian Vande Velde finished seventh. Belarusian rider Kanstantin Sivtsov of Team High Road finished first with a slim margin of just 4 seconds. Next up on the Slipstream touring calendar: Giro d’Italia, a 21-stage race beginning May 10, followed by the Tour de France, starting July 5.

Check out the team’s latest Garmin featured ride, recorded using the Edge 705. This 40-miler packs 5,065 ft of total elevation gain. Download the course to your Edge and see how you measure up to the pros!

Celebrating fitness: It's worth a tri!

One of the perks to working at Garmin is getting to meet the athletes that train with our products. Enriching the lives of these athletes while they compete in the sports they love is rewarding on many different levels. We recently heard from Jenna Shoemaker, a triathlete who loves Garmin gear, and we wanted to share her perspective of her most recent race at Valle de Bravo:    

The trip to Valle was an interesting one for me. It was a lot of travel - about 10 hours to reach my final destination - and that was the day before the race. I felt really prepared leading up to the race start and was excited for another chance to celebrate my fitness. Valle is at 2000m which is about as high as Boulder, Colorado, so I knew that it would be a tough day for everyone. But I decided, despite altitude, heat and everything else, that I was going to go for it and really give myself a chance to shine.

LA Marathon: Barefoot strides

There are no ifs, ands or feet about it - running a marathon is no easy task. It takes skill, heart and a lot of determination to cross that finish line... especially if you're running barefoot. But for seven runners in last weekend's LA Marathon, running in "God's shoes saved their soles."

Among the seven brave "soles," was Garmin's very own Byron, who was completing his 20th marathon since 2004, and his 10th barefoot. Byron and the other barefooters were certainly among good company, as they paved the way with Barefoot Ken Bob Saxton, who was completing his 65th barefoot marathon. The guys said the course was very nice, and although the heat made the asphalt slightly uncomfortable, all of the open fire hydrants providing water to splash in definitely cooled off the feet.

With his Forerunner 305 on hand, Byron was able to keep track of his distance, pace and heart rate as he made his way through the more than 25,000 participants. He said many folks even asked him for a distance check when they recognized the 305 on his wrist! So when you're pounding the pavement - with or without shoes - make sure your Forerunner is along for the run.

Knowing Your Heart Rate

"I recently purchased a Forerunner 305.  To be honest, I stalked Marathon Sports here in Boston until they received a couple and showed up minutes later to snag one.

"Anyway, I wanted to let you know that it's fantastic.  So fantastic that it actually may have helped save my life.  Ok, I know that sounds like an exaggeration, and, it may be to some extent, but you need to hear this story:

"I am a recreational runner (4 times per week - generally 4 miles per run - 9-10 minute mile pace)  I love running with a scorekeeper (like the forerunner) and have been running with my 305 for about 3 weeks now.   I recently decided to go out for a quick run and decided to push it pretty hard for a 5k simulated race run.  I know my max heart rate is 188 and I allowed myself to get pretty close on this run.  Just after my first mile, I felt a strange feeling in my chest, it went away and I kept on.  About 30 seconds later i felt it again and this time it did not go away.  I immediately changed to a walking pace as I knew something was off.  I walked for a minute or so trying to calm myself and the HR monitor on the 305 was reading 239!  I felt my heart pounding as though trying to get out of my chest.  I felt like i was able to recover quickly at this walking pace but the HR kept up at 239.

"After a few minutes like this, I knew I needed help.  I left the trail i was on and entered a neighborhood street.  A woman was raking in her yard and I spoke out to her and asked her to call 911.  Fire trucks were followed by an ambulance and before i knew it i was strapped on a stretcher inside the ambulance.  A portable EKG showed a HR rate ranging from 250-260 and it was not resolving itself.  The medics prepared an IV port and injected me with meds to get my heart into check.  The second injection did the trick.  I was transported to the hospital for more tests and later released - diagnosed with SupraVentricle Tachycardia (SVT).  The doctors are reasonably sure this is a condition that will not cause me any real harm as long as I take some precautions.  I was released that day and was actually able to return to a normal life that same afternoon. I ran 9 miles yesterday with no problems whatsoever.

"During this traumatic event, I kept the 305 running as long as I could (until the medics arrived and yanked the HR strap off me).  But I have part of the ordeal on record. 

"Thanks for the great forerunner products.  I love them and can't imagine running without my 305 ever again."

Best,
R. Guay
Marblehead, MA

Have a testimonial you'd like to share with us? Send story and photos to garminblogs@garmin.com We'd love to hear from you!