In winter months, with daybreak happening later and long runs often started well before daybreak, its difficult to clearly see the GPS watch face unless you are near a street light. However, most GPS watches have a backlight feature which you can use to remedy this.
On Garmin watches, access this setting via Settings -> System -> Backlight. Set the Mode setting to Manual, and the Timeout setting to Always On/Stays On. Now, you can use the power button of the watch to turn the backlight on or off, and it stays on or off till you press the power button again.
Turn it on till daybreak, then turn it off afterwards. Easy and simple. A bit extra battery will be consumed, but thats a small price to pay.
Bonus Tip: Recent watches also have a Turn Of Wrist setting, whereby the backlight comes on automatically when you turn your wrist to look at the watch.
Have your own tips and tricks to share? Share them via email to clubmotiv8@motiv8coaching.com