Tech keeps athletes on track
By Jennifer Files
Knight Ridder News Service
Technology can't make a runner faster — nothing does that except the discipline to put in miles on the track or trails.
But by strapping on the right piece of high-tech gear, a runner can track her progress and keep workouts varied and challenging.
At races, runners can slip a computer chip onto their shoelaces for a more accurate measure of how long it takes to finish. In major distance events including the Honolulu and New York marathons, friends and family members can go online to see how runners are doing while the race is in progress.
In coming weeks, a new product from Timex promises to go an extra mile — linking information from heart-rate monitors, GPS devices and watches to a personal computer, for instant graphs that display a runner's speed and performance over an entire workout.
Basically, experts say, if you're intimidated by technology, don't bother. Saying every runner needs a heart-rate monitor, or whatever new gadget, "is like saying every freshman in high school should be taking algebra," said Aaron King, an exercise physiologist and member of the Powerbar Team Elite Triathlon Team. "For most people, just getting a good pair of shoes and going out and running is fine."
But if you're the type who never balanced a checkbook until you found Quicken financial software, it might be worth looking into.
Breaking down the options
Thing 1: The watch — Yes, it's possible to track lap times with a sweep second hand; yes, generations of athletes once did just that. But today almost any runner serious enough to sign up for a 10K will want a sports watch. Starting at around $40, it's a powerful tool.
This isn't exactly cutting edge technology, but if you've never used one, you'll be surprised at what they can do. Switch to the stopwatch function and then press start at the beginning of a workout — then press a "split" button at milestones along the way — giving you the info to know whether you sped up or slowed down during a run.
Many watches include a countdown timer that can be set to switch between two intervals, allowing a runner to do drills such as 4 minutes fast, 1 minute slow, without thinking about the times. The alarm clock comes in handy on race day mornings.
Coaches say it's important to put away the watch sometimes, to make sure your body develops a feel for pacing. Play a guessing game on the track: Run a lap or two, or a mile or two, without checking the time along the way, and then see if you were on the pace you thought.
Timex's Rush line of watches has these features with an easy-to-read number display for $45. Nike's sleeker version starts at about $69.
Former President Bill Clinton elevated the Timex Ironman series — which also starts at $45 — to the executive wrist, though some find them harder to program, which can be a problem in the tense moments before a race begins. Timex is introducing a higher-fashion version with prices ranging from $50 to $75.
More advanced gadgets, described below, often come with their own timepieces. So if you're going to spring for a heart-rate monitor, no need to buy the basic watch first.
Thing 2: The heart-rate monitor — Way back when, it was enough to put your finger to your wrist or neck and count the pulse. For many, many people, it still is. My dad, who has done some form of aerobic exercise most days over the past 20 years, barely took his entry-level Polar Heart Rate Monitor out of the box. Other friends don't feel it's a workout without one.
Features vary, but basically they work the same: Athletes strap a band around their chests, with sensors to pick up their heartbeats (some running bras come with loops for heart-rate monitors). The watch that comes with the monitor picks up radio signals from the sensors, telling how hard the body is working. The idea is to stay in a "target zone" — a certain percentage of your body's maximum heart rate — for most of training runs.
King, who coaches a triathlon team for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training endurance sports programs, doesn't generally tell his athletes to spend money on devices like these, but he does work with them to help guide their training.
He warns against relying on standard formulas to guide workouts: One that estimates maximum heart rate is equal to 220 minus a person's age can be wildly inaccurate. A stress test from a doctor is a far better indicator — and even with that input athletes should judge their target range from how their own bodies perform when they're working hard, such as in a race.
"People let the technology tell them what to do. They should do just the opposite," he says.
More advanced devices let users program a range of workouts — a feature that can be useful if a runner also swims and bikes.
Polar, the Finnish company that invented heart-rate monitors, recommends its S120 model ($99) for recreational runners. It lets users set three target zones, for different types of workouts, and has sports watch features including 60 lap splits, and three countdown timers. Timex versions range from $85 to $125; Nike's run from $90 to $135.
Thing 3: How fast and how far, really? — Unless you're running on a track, it takes some guesswork to know how many miles you covered on that last 50-minute run. Both Nike and Timex introduced devices several months ago based on entirely different technology — to answer that question.
Nike's SDM Triax 100 ($235) is basically an extremely good version of the pedometer mall-walkers might use. A sensor clips to a shoe and then sends a signal to the watch that comes with it. Calibrated correctly, it can gauge the distance with surprising accuracy, though it becomes less reliable if a runner does any walking along the way.
Timex's Speed and Distance Ironman Triathlon watch (starting at $200), on the other hand, uses the same global positioning system technology that guides military missiles to determine precisely the distance a runner covers.
"It is a price point that is a little unfamiliar territory for us," said spokesman Jim Katz. "The people that buy this product have a very clear understanding of what it can do for them."
But don't count on the "speed" and "distance" functions in a Redwood forest: its sensors must see the sky to detect location, and very thick, tall trees can block the view. The device will pick up the signal once it gets a clear view of the sky, but it will assume the runner took a straight line for the part where it lost signal.
Katz says the line of sight makes little difference in the overall measure, but runners won't get credit for any zig-zagging while out of range.
Thing 4: Putting it all together — This spring, Timex will begin selling the Bodylink system, which lets a runner load data collected by other Timex gadgets into a personal computer. Here's where the Quicken analogy really comes into its own: you can track time against distance, or heart rate against pace — or whatever combination.
The Bodylink Data Recorder will cost about $75, and a Bodylink Performance Monitor with simultaneous heart rate and speed and distance display will be available in June for around $85. People who already use Timex gear may only need to buy the recorder — its heart-rate monitor, watch and Speed & Distance device already are programmed to work with the new system.
In February, Polar started selling a geared-up heart-rate monitor that does the downloading via infra red connections. It will also sell a downloading device, for computers that can't take in the information that way. The Polar 610i retails for about $260.
Or, combine high and low tech: input the data yourself, with one of the many online training calendars and guides. Two solid choices include runnersworld.com and coolrunning.com.
