The Garmin Fenix 5 (a repost)

I just finished my first duathlon. The hot sun beating down, the exhaustion, the cramping muscles, the dehydration... I wouldn’t exchange any of those if it meant not being able to participate in the duathlon. And yeah, only serious people would participate in such an event - the duathlon is not for the faint of heart. In the third part of a run-bike-run event, my legs were already cramping that I was forced to walk majority of the 3km event. But despite the pain I was determined to finish the course. It would have been more painful to not finish the 6km run - 27km bike - 3km run course. Not finishing was not an option. And, as I neared the finish line, I decided to give it one last push: I wanted to be seen jogging on video, not hobbling in pain. And the Garmin Fenix 5 was with me the whole way.

During the course, the Garmin Fenix 5 was prompting me were my heart rate was: it was telling me that I was already at the 75% of my maximum heart rate, at 95%, even when I got to 110% of my maximum heart rate. I also wore a chest strap heart rate monitor that’s connected to my bike computer and the heart rate reading of the two devices were fairly consistent.

I was so happy also that, for my first duathlon, I was able to use the Fenix 5. With its multi-sport mode transitioning from the run to the bike and back to the run were very easy. I didn’t need to stop and start the app on my watch - something that I would have been required to do if I still used my previous watch - I just needed to press the lap button and I’m off to the next part of the event. The transition part is also included in the duathlon app and the time I spent in the transition wasn’t included in the overall time of my accomplishment.

It was a really sunny morning with no cloud in sight but I wasn’t worried even if I was suddenly caught in a downpour. The Fenix 5’s water resistance would fend of any rain easily. Actually, even if I decided to take it swimming up to 100 meters deep, the Fenix 5 would be fine.

The Garmin Fenix 5 is a sizable watch. No one will be able to mistake this for a small watch. (More so the Fenix 5X!)m However, it was still a very comfortable watch to wear. I didn’t think it was too heavy nor too large. For me, the size of the Fenix 5 is just right and the weight and heft of the watch didn’t bother me at all especially during my run.

GPS tracking was spot on and the path the I ran and biked really hugged the roads. Well, considering the duathlon happened on an essentially open space helped the GPS tracking very much. However, If I ran on my neck of the woods, so to speak, the buildings mar the area and GPS mapping could be slightly off.

However, for me, the thing that makes the Garmin Fenix 5 a truly super sports watch are the data you get after an event. When you stop sports tracking, say a run, the watch will give you a lot of data about the run. For example, it will tell you whether your run was a productive one or not. This is because you may be overtraining (you are not having enough recuperation time) and you are doing more harm than good to your body. You will also be told what is your performance condition, a metric that tells you about your “ability to perform compared to your average fitness level”. This performance condition may also be a symptom of fatigue...

And speaking of fatigue, the Fenix 5 will also tell how much time to recover! In the case of my last duathlon, it told me that the next intense exercise that I should do should be 4 days after the said event. Otherwise, I only should do really light exercises, one that really doesn’t elevate my heart rate.

Well, I didn’t exercise at all and just did some “normal” pace walking!

Under the beating sun, the display of the Fenix 5 was very much visible. Ironically, when indoors and when you use the watch’s backlight, the display gets washed out... This watch is really meant to be used outdoors!

On the night before the event, I hardly was able to sleep because of all the excitement. And since the Fenix 5 also tracks sleep automatically, the device showed how much I slept. Unfortunately, I think the Fenix 5 is not as good as other devices in sleep tracking. For example, say I get up to, ahem, pee at 5am, go back to sleep and then finally rise at 6:30am, when I sync the watch with the iOS app, the app shows that I didn’t go back to sleep after 5am. So, I had to edit the app entry so as to get a more precise sleep measurement.

Also, sleeping with a biggish watch is something that takes some getting used to…

But, the good thing is, the Fenix 5 is more precise in measuring my resting heart rate, something that is comparable to the Apple Watch and to my Omron BP monitor. Another brand of fitness tracker that I am using overestimates my resting heart rate, something that I told the company about but something that they chose to ignore...

The battery life of the Fenix 5 is really good! In my 2.5 hours of duathlon, the battery was deducted only less than 10% of battery life. That’s a GPS activity mind you! So, by ratio and proportion, the GPS life of the Fenix 5 will round to 25 hours, something that is advertised in the Garmin website! The battery life in watch mode is rated at two weeks, though, because of my activities, I usually charge the Fenix 5 after every 8-9 days. Still not bad at all!

The Garmin Fenix 5 came at a very opportune time. Good thing I had it right before my Duathlon.

The Garmin Fenix 5 is highly, highly recommended!

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Take the TPLEX for Your Next Visita Iglesia

Holy Week is fast approaching. And this usually involves, for a lot of Filipinos, a form of Visita Iglesia (also called the Seven Churches Visitation). (If you are not familiar with it, this pilgrimage involves visiting seven churches on Maundy Thursday. To check out the history behind this practice, check out the Wikipedia link here.) And to easily travel from one church to another, a group of friends and I took the TPLEX to see if we can accomplish such a feat.

The first on our list was the Church of Padre Pio. This church is just starting out and its quite apropos that we began our journey here. The church is not yet finished yet you can see the pride in the faces of the people taking care of it. They beam with pride when they talk about the accomplishments that they were able to do in the past year alone.

Next up was Our Lady of Manaoag. Aside from its beautiful architecture, Our Lady of Manaoag has a museum where you will be able to see centuries old images of saints and old gowns and dresses used to dress up the image of the Lady of the Church. It also has a lot more artifacts that were used when the country was still a Spanish colony. This church is considered one of “the greatest Marian pilgrimages in the Philippines.” It was also bestowed the title of Minor Basilica so any Catholic devotees should have this on their list.

If you want to see official replicas of the Shroud of Turin and the Veil of Manoppello, then a visit to a small, very unassuming church should be on your list. The Immaculate Conception Parish Church of Nampicuan houses such two Holy Relics. We were told that the church parishioners prayed two thousand Hail Marys so that their church will be the recipient of said Relics and the town of 20, 000 people celebrated when their prayers were answered.

The Church of Nampicuan not only houses two Holy Relics, but it also has a small chapel where it has, on its altar, the bones of nine Saints. Really, this church is my favorite in this particular road trip.

The next on our list was the Shrine of St. Therese of the Child Jesus. This is a beautiful church and is considered the “Wedding Capital of Tarlac”. It houses the bones of St. Therese making this a Holy Destination for devout Catholics. And being a wedding capital, if you ever decide to have your wedding rights performed there, then you can take advantage of one of the church’s halls. You see, they rent out said hall to wedding receptions so that, after the wedding rites, you just need to walk about a hundred steps and you’re already where the dining and the dancing will be done. You won’t have to drive anymore and you won’t have to worry about where to park your car for a second time!

The last church we visited was the Parish of St. Josemari Escriva. The church has a gold motif and the architecture is really wonderful. This church also has a painting on the wall of its small chapel that depicts country life in Tarlac. I was greatly fascinated by that.

Unfortunate, we were not able to finish all seven churches but it was because of two things. Okay, several things…

One, we were so fascinated by the churches that we really took our time photographing the architecture, the artifacts, the churches’ surroundings…

Then, we visited a swordsmith, Blade Culture International. Yep, one that makes blades! The company sells commissioned swords like the kinds used in Hollywood movies and TV shows. They actually do not sell locally in bulk, but if they have extra pieces, you might get lucky and get a piece of sword that’s actually designed for, say, Braveheart... The company also plans to put up a museum where they plan to showcase the swords they have already made. Oh, for future blade smiths out there, the company also gives certifications when you train under them. Time to bring out the inner “Panday” in you!

You can contact Mr. Renando De Guzman of Blade Culture International, through their website, for details.

Also, when we got hungry, we went to Ruperto’s for lunch. We enjoyed the food so much that we lingered longer than we planned! I especially liked the garlic longanisa! And I think I’m not alone in that... Ruperto’s is not only a restaurant, though. If you get tired from your Visita Iglesia and decide to not go back home immediately, then Ruperto’s has rooms for you to stay overnight. Or two!

Finally, one other place we visited was a place where oils from ylang-ylang flowers (scientific name: Cananga odorata) are extracted. We learned that there are three extractions done and the first, second and third extracts have their own specific uses. And then, after the tour of the extraction facility, we went to the gift shop where we got ylang ylang products like perfumes, lotions, hand soaps, car fresheners, etc. I love visiting places like this and I love it even more that this venture has the full support of the local government, particularly from the town mayor of Anao, Mayor Betty Lacbayan.

So, all-in-all, despite not being able to go to seven churches, this road trip had been a success thanks in part to the efforts of our tour guides. They made sure that this road trip would be a worthy one and they showed a lot of patience when the group sometimes (ok, a lot of times) exhibited our “kakulitan”... Also, getting on and off TPLEX easily afforded us the opportunity to travel to places that would have been difficult if the expressway hadn’t been there. So, on your next venture north, especially this coming Holy Week, consider using the TPLEX and the trek would be a lot easier and safer.

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