Use shortcuts to mimic the hotkey support of pricier Forerunners

Your Forerunner 70's button shortcuts can be reassigned, even without full hotkey support. The device may not have the customizable quick-press hotkeys of pricier Forerunners, but you can still remap what happens when you hold certain buttons. To do this, hold down on the Up button, select Watch Settings > System > Shortcuts, and then assign new functions to different buttons (or combination of buttons) from their existing list. My go-to recommendation here is to assign Do Not Disturb (or Silent Mode) to the Down button. For me, the default path (hold LIGHT, open Controls, tap the icon) is a few too many steps when I'm already annoyed by a notification received mid-run.

While you're customizing your watch, it's worth stripping down your data screens too. I demonstrate how to do this in the Garmin Connect app here.