new cool toy

I’ve been using the new(ish) Polar 625X, and I have to say I’m impressed. It measures pretty much anything you’d want it to while running – heart rate, speed, distance, altitude (for incline/decline info), pace, and temperature – and also works with a couple cycling attachments to do all of the above plus cadence and power measurements. It has a ridiculous amount of memory, which allows me to sample data at various intervals (I chose 5s) and track how I’m doing. The foot pod is very accurate, and I like the watch/pod combo much better than wearing a Garmin cooler on my wrist.

Good stuff, and I’m liking the Polar software, which allows me to export data in a useful format (unlike the PC Coach shit they used to include). I’ll write a review of the unit and my first couple weeks experiences this weekend. A sample graph, taken from this Sunday’s Run Club (where I group lead for a Learn to Run class) can be seen here. We’re doing eight-and-ones (eight minutes running, one minute walking) plus a two minute run. The flatline on the speed (blue) is after the run while stretching. The flat incline/decline is from the canal path, which is a very flat run. All good stuff, and it’s kinda neat to compare the graphs with where we were/what we were doing on the run. It was only a 20 minutes session, but it felt great.

My LTR class is awesome, and I can’t believe we’re at week 9 already. I think I’m going to try to teach the next one if I can.

Have I mentioned how happy I am now that I can exercise again?