Internal Mono(b)log

If, like me, you live in a climate where running in short-sleeves and shorts year-round is but a comforting dream and, rather, you live in a a place where under a windbreaker you wear 1, 2 or sometimes 3 technical clothing layers, this tip may be interesting to you.

A few months back, I bought a Timex Global Trainer HRM and GPS watch. I love it! It gives me great data on my training progress both while running and on the bike.

BUT!

The strap, while plenty long enough on a naked arm, or over 1 layer of clothes, is stretched to its limit to go around my lower-forearm when I have 3-4 layers on. (I say lower-forearm because when I have gloves on, the watch ends up being about 1/3 of the way between my wrist and elbow.) For a while I solved this problem by using an elastic band threaded into the strap and hooked into the clasp. The elastic band worked, but felt risky. I asked around an timex doesn’t make a band extender, but I discovered I could get, for $10, a replacement strap (both sides and a set of pins).

Now I think Timex is leaving money on the table here, because I’d have happily paid $20 for a band extender, but for $10 and 30 seconds of trimming, I had a solution:

Take the replacement strap buckle end, cut a taper into it like what you’d find on the end you insert into the buckle, et voila! You have a strap extender!

I took this for a test run today and it worked like a charm. Now, of course, spring is nearly here, and I won’t be needing this for 8 months (I hope), but at least now, I have a solution in hand.