i got a new toy

After much debate and fanfare, I finally decided on a heart rate monitor. I'd been looking at combo GPS/heart rate monitor units but still wasn't prepared to drop at least $250 for one just yet. The Garmin units were still a touch too big to wear comfortably on my wrist. The Timex Ironman BodyLink system was attractive since it had a standard size watch and connected wirelessly to a small GPS transmitter worn in a pocket or clipped to your waistband. I had also looked at a couple of the higher end units from Polar that communicated with accelerometer units that you attach to your shoe.

In the end, I decided to stick with just a heart rate monitor since I have a pretty good idea of the distances of the courses I train on. GPS would be cool for hiking trips, but I just couldn't see spending the extra coin. When I got a 20% off once item coupon from Performance Bike Shop, I headed over to see what they had. I did some additional research on the web to find one that fit the budget and still had a fair amount of features.

I brought home the Polar RS100 heart rate monitor and running computer last week. It has a nice amount of features for a novice runner and will help to maximize training and race performance by helping you to stay in the optimal heart rate zones. This model takes input about height, weight, age, and sex on setup and plugs those numbers into a formula to give you some ideal heart rate zones. It also has a feature that figure out your zones based on a 5 minute routine of varying levels of intensity. Of course, you can also set your zones manually if you so desire. It will store your workouts including time in and out of zones, HR average, HR max, and split times for laps. The Polar RS100 also calculates an estimate of colories burned and how much of them came from fat stores during your session. When used in conjunction with the Polar Running Coach website, it's easy to log your workouts and see cumulative totals.

Probably a little late to really be of use for Ascent training, but since I spent the money on it, I guess I'll have to keep using it.