R42 New Tech - Suunto T6 Training Watch
It seems I have a raft of "new tech" in my life to blog about, none more timely than my new Suunto T6 Training Watch. As you know I've been "changing my ways" and introducing exercise into my life (again) (-ish). Well it wasn't going to be long before I could find some techy, geeky, way to monitor, measure and enable my exercise regime.
The T6 is that way.
Originally I was going to buy a Polar HRM, and was tipped to get the RS800, which hooks into a GPS (of course). But a trip into Workout World changed all that, when the helpful young man (PFY) recommended I look at the Suunto. In his words "all the features at half the price." Perhaps not entirely accurate, but certainly on the right track. I hadn't even looked at the Suunto's, as I wasn't aware that they made HRM's. But having been an avid diver for about 16 years, of course, I knew the brand well. Suunto are a Finnish company (like Nokia) and make amongst the best dive computers available. So I was intrigued.
It didn't take too much research to find out that Suunto make a whole range of "training" watches, the "T" series. They are all HRM's, and 3 of the series attach to Suunto Peripheral Observation Devices (PODs). These POD's include a Foot POD for runners, a couple of different bike POD's, and a GPS POD for pretty much any other sport where you travel over distance (kayaking, orienteering, climbing, etc). Quite apart from that, the watches measure 7 various physiological parameters, to give an overall "Training Effect" index. This lets you know whether or not your recent session is improving your fitness, over training you, or just costing you money (not having an effect at all).
So after all the research, I decided on the top of the range, T6. I mean, you didn't expect anything less did you? I know I'm not an elite athlete (yet), but all those parameters, and an altimeter, and barometer, and thermometer (mini-weather station on my wrist).
The watch was delivered Friday before last, some 2 days after buying it on eBay (from the USA). So to date I have some 6 training sessions logged. It's an awesome bit of kit, especially if you want to know every scientific bit of fitness information about every second (actually every heartbeat) of a session. Or, if you like gadgets...
Like any complex instrument, with a million options and five input buttons, the T6 does take a little getting used to. In fact, you'd almost be forgiven reading the manual. And I haven't even got a POD yet. The charts it produces are detailed, although relatively self-explanatory. You can track the training effect of a session (even a lap within a session) or over a specified time period. For me, in just the first week, I could gauge that my training was flagging towards the middle of the week, and I needed to up the intensity to stay on track.
Also, by putting lap markers at the beginning and end of each interval, I could make notes and determine what were the best exercises to increase, maintain, or decrease cardiovascular intensity. (Turns out jogging round the oval with a tyre above your head is a great one to boost your heart rate, and maintain a burn long after the interval)
You can see here the EPOC (Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption) doesn't ramp up until well into my 3rd lap, and ramps down before the final (cool down). the TE is shown by the peak red dot.
The watch also some great self-training features, like a warm-up counter, a countdown to start, and interval counters. These last allow you to set as many rounds of 2 intervals as you want. So you could set separate sprint and a recovery interval times, and repeat them, well, repeatedly. With all the counters setup, you simply hit start, and follow the program. With high and low heart-rate alarms, you can choose to decrease and increase intensity mid-exercise to achieve the effect you want - or - as in my case, continue to be flogged by your instructor with the alarm beeping fit to bust.
Right now, I don't use the interval counters much, as our sessions are interrupted by explanations, and we have different length intervals all the time. Also, the biggest impact of the heart rate alarms seems to be comic side relief. Everyone's joking about waiting for the defibrillator alarm.
I'm sure the weather station, and altimeter functions will come in handy, I'm just not sure yet how. But the dual time is set for Seattle and for now, that's enough.Am I happy with the purchase? Indubitably! Pro's include features for price compared to other watches in this class, comprehensive software and online community, and ease of use. Also not being limited to one sport for any of the watches in this series (all POD's interact with the T3, T4 and T6) - for me that's a boon.
Next purchase, either a Foot or GPS POD. Watch this space.
R42
