Newbie 101 Questions

use / upload a training program to my Garmin 305 or Connect?

You can enter the scheduled workouts using Training Center. It would be a lot of manual entry of workouts, but it would certainly make you know what you are in for. :D

How do I stop a workout on the Garmin 305 and start a new one without plugging it in and syncing it?

Press the stop button, then press and hold the lap/reset button until it counts down 3-2-1. That tells the device you are done with one activity and the next time you press start will be the beginning of a new activity. Otherwise, the device thinks you've just paused the activity.

Is there a way to share workout data in little flash insets like nikeplus?

You can use an RSS feed or you can just share the activity using the sharing button in Garmin Connect. You'll need to make the activity public.

thanks for reply. the facebook functionality is not nearly as good as it could be...

i think nikeplus is the gold standard which is a shame because the Garmin 305 is SUCH a better product and yet there's no online community to support it. The online community is actually a really strong selling point for Nike's device.

I attached how it looks in Facebook when Garmin publishes it. That's pretty poor in my opinion. No details about the run, no pictures of a map or anything, just a link.

Have you tried the MyMotionBased facebook connector?