[REQ] Can anyone recommend a good watch for running

rovers_runner

Looking at the polar range, any standout ones in terms of value ?
Looking to spend under €100 for starters.

Basic features such as lap times etc.
Also are heart monitors exclusively on the ones with the wrap around belt ?

Thanks

hunnymonster

I have 3 differnt polar watches. My favourite by far is the 200 for running. It's reasonably light with enough nerdy functionality to kep me happy and I've alsways found the foot pod surprisingly accurate. It's slightly over the 100 euro mark though. About 120 I thing

AFAIK, all polar HRM's have the chest strap. I try to train to HR but to be honest sometimes I just want to get out and run for fun so I don't always bother. The watch will work fine for all the other functions if you don't wear the strap.

rovers_runner

Thanks for that.
So I take it all you enter is your weight and it sets your zone levels for you ?

hunnymonster

your zones are calculated based on your heart rates not your weight.


Ideally you would measure your maximum heart rate in a lab or using the hunnymonster patented "run up hills until you puke" method but at a pinch you can approximate the value from

220 (226 for women) - your age = predicted MRH


you can measure your resting heart rate by taking your pulse first thing in the morning before you get up, with one eye half open to read the watch. Some people have to get up to pee and then go back to bed and take pulse 10 min later!

Diamondmaker

Hey HM out of curiosity what is your heart rate at rest?

Curiuos to see how low it must be.........

Hope it not too personal !

hunnymonster

It's currently between 37 and 39 most mornings. I don't take it everyday but if it's above 45 I don't train hard that day. I'm a woman.

stepperupper

hunnymonster wrote:

It's currently between 37 and 39 most mornings. I don't take it everyday but if it's above 45 I don't train hard that day. I'm a woman.

That's a rediculously low heart rate. Fair play! What are u a marathon runner?

hunnymonster

I started with the marathon but now doing ironman triathlon (3.9 km swim, 180 km bike & 42.2 km run) with the odd ultra run thrown in for good measure.

who007

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

hunnymonster

oops, typo, it's only a 3.8 km swim not 3.9 you can take away most of the :eek:'s

Seriously though, in mnay respects an ironman is easier than a 5 km. A 5 km is guts out, heave your way to the finish. One of my friends described his first ironman as "a pleasant early morning dip, a portable picnic and an afternoon stroll"

rovers_runner

hunnymonster wrote:

your zones are calculated based on your heart rates not your weight.


Ideally you would measure your maximum heart rate in a lab or using the hunnymonster patented "run up hills until you puke" method but at a pinch you can approximate the value from

220 (226 for women) - your age = predicted MRH


you can measure your resting heart rate by taking your pulse first thing in the morning before you get up, with one eye half open to read the watch. Some people have to get up to pee and then go back to bed and take pulse 10 min later!

Hunnymonster,
got the polar rs200 afterwards.
Ran with it yesterday for the first time, decided to run as I normally do to see where I am going wrong.
I did a sit test first to get my recommended zone and mhr which is around 194.

Ran 5k in about 25mins at what I would have considered reasonable pace but faster obviously than I'd go at a 10k for instance.

All the way around I was at 95 of mhr or higher, should I be alarmed at this?

Considering I am going for a long run tonight, I can see going at 70% of mhr keeping me at a walking pace or fairly slow, should this be persevered with?

hunnymonster

First of all the bovious question. Are you sure your max is correct?? I've a friend who is in her 40's with a max of 220! The 220-age is just a guide that suits most people most of the time. If you're in reasonable shape try a maximal test to find it. The cheap and dirty version is to find a hill, run up it as hard as you can 10 times and slowly jog back down. You should be ready to puke b the 10th effort and the max value measuered will be close to your MHR. It's unlikely you could sustain 96% for 25 minutes. 90-100% is only possible for short periods.

yes it can be very hard to go as slowly as the <70% requires. It is important to perseverse for one or two reasons.

Firstly, this low HR stuff is training your body to become very efficient
and secondly, if you have any spare fat to drop this lower HR stuff will encourage your body to use a higher proportion of the stored fat as a fuel source.


Some things that help me keep my HR down,
stay cool, even if thsi means throwing bottles of water over yourself or even setting off with a block of ice in your pocket it will reduce your HR severl BPM
I find taking a really deep (think yoga here) breath every few steps drops my HR again about 5 BPM.
Stay well hydrated and fed. If you're not comfortable your HR will rise.

quozl

hunnymonster wrote:

It's unlikely you could sustain 96% for 25 minutes. 90-100% is only possible for short periods.

I think you're mistaken here hunnymonster, 90% of my MHR is 174, which is about my 10 mile race heart-rate.

I think, but honestly can't remember exactly, that it's about 98%MHR for an elite runner in a 5k race. For us slowpokes it's probably more like 95%.

I totally agree with you about the importance of aerobic paced running.

depadz

going to get one of these.
question: are they just for training or does one use them during the actual event one is training towards (in my case the marathon in october)?

hunnymonster

use it for the marathon as well. On race day there is a tendency to forget all your training and go balls to the wind and explode by half way. Feel free to push it a little on race day, it's what all the hard work was for but don't go completely mad :-)

Abhainn

I use the RS200SD and always use the Wearlink for races and training.
I find it extremely useful and somtimes compare it like an indicator on your fuel guage of a car - it tells you how much you have left in the tank!

In training I like to push tempo runs hard, and in races I know how much I have left when I enter the red zone close to the finish e.g. half marathon, if I have just hit 169bpm at 11 miles (94% of MHR) I know I can finish strongly and run the two quickest miles of the race (assuming no big hills)

Also extremely useful on long runs. It will show you that you need to slow down if the HR is creaping upwards too fast.

oxygen_old

how much did ye pay for the rs200sd. I payed $240 in New York for one (with the foot pod). Did I get shafted?

hunnymonster

mine was a gift so I'm not sure but I think I remmeber seeing them for 200 euro? I could be wrong though.

Abhainn

My RS200SD was also a gift. It was purchased on ebay I think for around €180

oxygen_old

feck I did get stung a little, tought it woulda been much cheaper cause I bought it in the US.

I wouldnt mind but now I prefer the nike + thing, and I happen to have a pair of nike + runners which it turns out have a hole in the sole for the + thing

HardyEustace

You didn't really get stung as all the ebay ones that are around 180 don't include the cost of post and packaging which brings them up to about 200 euro.

I was just looking them up this week. In the end I decided to pay 30 euro more and buy from a known supplier that is irish based (irishfit).

oxygen_old

sweet, and they are fair handy for telling you the distance you ran. Still like the look of that nike + tho