Springtime is in full swing as the fragrance of blossoming flowers fills the air, newborn bunnies gather in the backyard to nibble on clover, and pilots flock to the Garmin website for… software updates?

Spring is a great time to dedicate some of your spring-cleaning time toward your GPS!  Spend a few minutes visiting our website and download a free software update using our WebUpdater program. Simply connect your Garmin aviation portable to the computer and download the WebUpdater program to update your unit to the latest version.  It is good practice to perform software updates on a regular basis, so if it has been a while, dedicate a few minutes to getting things up to date this spring.  These updates generally help out with GPS satellite acquisition and assist with XM weather downloads, as well.

Speaking of XM weather, as pilots we know springtime really means an increase in the number of Convective Sigmets, an abundance of cumulonimbus clouds, and dusting off the aviation weather books so we can remind ourselves of the difference between what  “PL” and “GR” represent in a METAR weather report (ice pellets and hail, in case you were wondering).  Many of these pilot-related, springtime concerns pertain to weather and for good reason; it is typically a large part of what contributes to our “Go/No-Go” decision.  If you haven’t used your XM antenna all winter long, it’s a good idea to have a refresh signal sent.  Simply connect the antenna, power the unit on, take it outside with a clear view of the southern sky, and type your Radio ID into this website.  You can find your XM Radio ID number on the bottom of your XM antenna. These two simple enhancements will make getting back into flying much easier this spring.  Besides, you didn’t really want to clean the gutters anyway, right?

Source: Garmin
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Lucy’s Logbook: How to get the most out of your aviation portable this Spring

Hey there, Garmin runners, cyclists, triathletes and fitness fanatics. This is a quick note to tell you about some new changes to the navigation within Garmin Connect. Once logged into your account, you'll notice that we have simplified the navigation tabs with four categories:

• Dashboard

Here you will see your five most recent activities including a brief summary of each and a view on the map.

• Analyze

In this area you will have access to your activities page (a list of all your past activities including metrics of each), reports (where you can really dig in and look at your progress by searching for weekly, monthly or custom date range totals or averages), and health (this is your personal well-being portal where you can input your daily weight and with the Tanita BC-1000 Body Composition Monitor you'll see Body Fat, Body Water, Bone Mass, Muscle Mass and many other useful metrics)

• Plan

With this tab we have given you quick access to your calendar (to view past and scheduled workouts), courses (where you can create a custom course/route and send directly to your compatible device or just to get an idea of where you might want to run/ride/explore), workouts (a tool to allow you to create your own workouts no matter how simple or complex and send to your compatible device or to print off and bring with you), and goals (with this option you can keep yourself honest, and motivated by setting goals based on time, speed, pace or distance to name a few and let us track these over a set period of time for you)

• Explore

Here you'll be able to search the millions of public activities from around the world and even access courses that other users have created. You'll also have one-click access to the cycling data of Team Garmin.

As with any change in our lives, whether it's a new pair of shoes (those annoying blisters after the first couple runs), a new seat on your bike (not always a fun break-in period) or a new look to your favorite social media site, we understand it can take some getting used to.

It is our goal to continue to interact with all of you and to create a Garmin Connect Community where active users can feel like home!

Source: Garmin
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Garmin Connect: An Easier Way to Analyze, Plan and Explore

We're on site this week in beautiful Cabo San Lucas, Mexico – coined the "Marlin Capital of the World" – supporting the 2012 IGFA Offshore World Championship, the largest offshore fishing tournament in the world. With 48 teams from over 20 different countries competing for the title, this proves to be one of the most prestigious tournaments in the world, and Garmin is proud to be a sponsor of this great event.

Stay tuned for more updates throughout the week – the blues have been hot so we expect the reels to be singing all week!

Source: Garmin
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On scene at the IGFA Offshore World Championship

After nine thrilling stages at the Giro d'Italia, our boys in argyle have held the Maglia Rosa (pink jersey), worn by the overall leader, for five of those stages and have no plans on letting it go any time soon. After the TTT victory, youngster Ramunas Navardauskas held the lead for two stages and after losing it on the sixth stage they grabbed it back with the ever dangerous Canadian Ryder Hesjedal. Hesjedal maintains a nine second lead over the second place rider, and though it's still anyone's game, he is focused on crossing the line after the 21st stage still wearing the Maglia Rosa. Hesjedal is the first Canadian to earn the leader's jersey in the Giro and only the third Garmin rider to accomplish such a feat (Christian Vande Velde, Ramunas Navardauskas).

This past weekend also marked the start of the Tour of California (TOC), where Team Garmin has sent a top squad in search of an overall individual victory. Last year, the team took home the best overall team award and want to keep that momentum moving forward. Tom Danielson appears to be the team's leader for this year's TOC and based on his early season form we should be in for a fun ride! After stage one of the race, Garmin had earned its way onto the podium with Heinrich Haussler in second position.

As evidence from their unparalleled, exclusive race and behind-the-scenes footage, our friends at Bicycling Magazine appear to have caught the argyle fever too. At their "Garmin Insider" page you can find photos, candid interviews and videos about your favorite Garmin riders. The stylish kits that our riders wear with pride even made the list of the top stylish teams of 2012!

Here is a great recap of the first stage as told by team manager Jonathan Vaughters: Stage One.

Get your cowbells out and your vuvuzelas pointed to the sky as we cheer our argyle riders on to victory!!

Source: Garmin
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Team Garmin Tickled Pink and in Great Form Across the Globe

Garmin is proud to help support Pass It On – Outdoor Mentors, a non-profit group that helps kids experience the thrill of the great outdoors. It's no secret that fewer kids are playing outside these days, and even less are being exposed to hiking, camping, geocaching, fishing, boating, and hunting.  That, in turn, helps contribute to childhood obesity, diabetes, and depression — not to mention a lost connection with a child's natural environment.

Pass It On aims to change that.  By matching caring adults who have a passion for the outdoors with children who don't typically have access to the outdoors, the Pass It On program allows kids to learn about a wide variety of outdoor activities in a safe environment.

Tonight and tomorrow, the group will host its largest fundraiser of the year, Bust-A-Clay for Kids' Sake at Flint Oak Lodge in central Kansas.  You can read more about the event here, and if you feel so compelled, you can donate through the Garmin team's fundraising page.

Source: Garmin
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Garmin Helps to Pass it On

This last February I had the opportunity to do a training camp in Kona, Hawaii in preparation for my upcoming season. The winter time can be a hard time to train in Bend, Or. (my home), so if I want to make improvements in my fitness before June, I simply have to skip town. I got a couple friends together, a cheap rental, and off we went for 5 weeks of hard work (and maybe a little fun too;))

As things go some times, my second day there I pulled my calf muscle on a run, and running was out for this month of training. Not ideal, but we must adapt. Focus became getting healthy and putting big miles in on the bike, and what was already going to be a focus….swimming! As luck had it, my Forerunner 910xt showed up in the mail the day before I left for camp, and I was able to use this amazing unit to track my progress and work for the next 5 weeks. I decided for these 35 days, I would swim–  every day. No matter what happened I would touch the water every day. Whether it was swimming with my big brother on the Ironman Hawaii course or a workout in the pool. Sure, some days were lighter, but some days were heavier with double swims sandwiched around a long ride. But I was in the water swimming. I had never been able to swim this much before due to weak shoulders and chronic pain. Before my trip I went in to Rebound Physical Therapy and learned some pretty useful exercises that I did daily to strengthen my weak muscles so I could handle the swim load.

One of my favorite swims was an open water swim from my sponsor in Hawaii, The Mauna Launi Hotel  & Bungalows. I would usually walk to a neighboring beach and swim laps around a boat that was moored about 500 yards out. Typically, I did a few warm up laps, then I would do laps for time, and then usually somewhere I would focus on breakout speed to simulate a race effort and then settle in. It was a great way to find rhythm and get a good feel for race type conditions. Of course the turtles and the handful of dolphins, I was lucky enough to have as swim buddies from time to time, were a welcome treat. They would come close enough for me to tack onto the end of their group, and I would literally swim my pace with dolphins surrounding me.  Spectacular, and yes I promise this is work!

It was great to be able to swim in the ocean, but at least half of my swimming was done in a pool. This is essential as I am always trying to improve upon my stroke and drills and shorter intervals are essential for this.  My coach Matt Dixon would prescribe the set, and I would put my head down and get to work.  Most days in the pool were between 4-5,500 yards and consisted of a mix of intensities and drills.  My focus for this period was to improve my cadence of my stroke and I would do this by swimming faster 25 yard intervals and doing drills with a snorkel and a band around my ankles (something that was easy to track with my 910XT). Try tying your feet up and swimming, your stroke rate will improve. ha

Did this ‘swim camp’ work?  Yes, I believe it did. In 35 days I swam every day with a total distance for the camp of over 150,000 yards. This is not a huge load compared to some “swimmers”, but for me, as a triathlete with chronic shoulder issues, this was huge. In 5 weeks I had noticeably more speed and strength in open water and my pool 100yd pace had improved by 3-4 seconds. I’ll take it. Once the season gets rolling this should put me in the front group of every race and allow me to race from the front early.  Definitely worth the 35 days of “swim camp”. 

Moral of the story is, focused ‘one’ sport camps, or focusing on a weakness for a period of time can be VERY beneficial. With triathlon we have to juggle so much that sometimes we become stagnant because we spread ourselves too thin. For me, this camp showed that a single sport focus can allow you to make breakthroughs in a short period of time, and in the end will lead you to be an overall better athlete if handled correctly.  And…. Training in Hawaii is pretty awesome

– Matt

Source: Garmin
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Pro Triathlete Matt Lieto Swimming With The Dolphins