Pace is biomechanics: Heart rate is a great estimate of the amount of oxygen required by your muscles. For bikers, swimmers, and rowers this is a great measurement of effort and fatigue level. But running and walking are weight-bearing activities that damage those small but essential tissues like tendons, cartilage, and muscle fibers. A couple of days after that hard race or long day at the mall, your heart rate monitor may say you are taking it easy, but your legs are telling you to slow down. If it hurts to run a pace that normally feels fine, you will know to back off. Your speedometer pace is a great way to gauge your legs. Use it to protect your tendons and joints from too much pounding.
Free Your Feet and Your Spirit Will Follow
Have you grown accustomed to the speed and distance readout on your treadmill? Do you measure all of your routes by car so you know how far you run? It's time to turn off your treadmill and leave your car in the garage. The speedometer is like a treadmill display on your wrist, giving you distance and speed in real time. Now you can run or walk anywhere you want and know more about your workout than ever before. The speedometer provides information for freedom. Your body and mind yearn for variety. It's time to explore your own neighborhood and rejuvenate your workout routine.
Those "run it with your eyes closed" loops can be great. But they can also drag you down on those low-motivation days, when you dread running along a boring stretch of highway or up a really tough hill. And familiar loops are throttles on your high-energy days, keeping you from exploring for a few extra miles. With the speedometer, you can run as far as you want and know the distance traveled once you finish. (It's up to you to find your way home, though.)
The Ultimate Speed Workout
Runners understand compromise. We know that to race faster, we need to train faster. Until now, the track was the best way to monitor training speed. But track running sacrifices the variety of road and trail running and does not let your body learn to handle terrain variations. Historically, runners have addressed these problems with fartlek and tempo runs while sacrificing the speed and distance feedback of the track. Finally, runners can have their track and leave it too. Imagine running repeat miles with 1/4 mile rest while cruising Venice Beach. It's easy with a speedometer. Simply set the distance alerts to 1/4 mile and go. The watch will beep every 1/4 mile, simulating the track on the open road. After 4 "laps" you have completed your first mile repeat. You can rest now, until your watch beeps again, telling you to turn up the heat! And you can make sure you are on pace at any point, not just as you finish a lap and your coach yells out your split.
Pace Zones
Ever wished that you could set your legs on cruise control? Try the next best thing: Pace Zones. Your Pace Zone can be as wide or tight as you wish. Set up a 30 second/mile window for that important race. The watch will beep if you run too fast or too slow. Set a ceiling to make sure you don't overdo it on your easy days. Set a floor to make sure you are walking fast enough to get to the movie on time. Turn Pace Zones on and off with the touch of a button. Now you can customize your workout, avoiding the alert when warming up and cooling down.
Distance Alerts
Turn every run into a marked course with the Speedometer's Distance Alerts. The Speedometer watch will beep every time you cover your chosen distance (from 0.20 - 2.50 miles). It's simple, but powerful. Consider some of the possibilities and imagine your own:
- You are in an unfamiliar town and want to go out for a five mile run. Set your Distance Alert to 2.5 miles, run down that frontage road past the Holiday Inn and Wendy's. When your watch beeps, turn around and head back. You won't get lost and won't have to do laps of the parking lot.
- Set the Distance Alert to 0.25 miles and pretend you are running around a track. Now you can run intervals on the road. One beep for a 400, two for an 800, or four for your mile repeats with 1/4 mile rest.
- Use it as a motivational tool. Set it to 0.20 miles and see if you can walk until it beeps one more time than it did yesterday.
- Establish 1/2 mile landmarks on your favorite courses. ("Cindy's house is exactly 3.5 miles away from mine!")
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