Interval Training - Alert when I'm not in the pace range
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WHY?
It’s quite hard as a runner doing intervals to check the pace regularly, having an alert when I’m not in the pace range would be really helpful.As a Suunto Race user
When I use a structured workout or an interval training
AND
I’ve defined a pace range
Then if I’m not in the pace range I get an alert. -
Intensity zones. You don’t need a structured workout. When you go into, any as far as I know, activity, there is an option called “Intensity Zones”. You can define your desired pace range there. If the zones don’t match you, you can edit them and define your pace zones. Just activate this on every run where you want it and you will get alerts. The only downsides I’ve found are that the watch does not alert you through headphones or vibrate on alerts, so if it’s noisy where you’re running or you’re wearing headphones you will miss alerts. Also, the alert is indistinguishable from the interval alerts, so there’s that too.
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@Rija-Rajohnson said in Interval Training - Alert when I'm not in the pace range:
WHY?
It’s quite hard as a runner doing intervals to check the pace regularly, having an alert when I’m not in the pace range would be really helpful.As a Suunto Race user
When I use a structured workout or an interval training
AND
I’ve defined a pace range
Then if I’m not in the pace range I get an alert.Same for pace, power, or heart rate for structured workouts and guides. Intensity zone alert should be triggered automatically.
This is something we’ve been asking for on this forum for a while
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I’ve use the Intensity Zone but in my opinion it’s not good enough for an interval session. It’s ok tough for long run or tempo run.
I’ve ruined my second interval training today.
I’m selling my watch. It’s not suitable to help me prepare my races ironic to call that watch Suunto Race… I’ll go back to my good old Forerunner 745 that makes the job correctly.That’s too bad because I like the Suunto eco-system but not having this basic feature is turn-off for me.
I won’t buy a 350€ smart glasses to check my pace. I’m not able to watch my watch during a 200m or 400m effort. A sound alert is the only thing runners need to be paced.
I hope you’ll take that feedback because I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who complains about it.
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@Rija-Rajohnson I’ve been asking for the functionality, along with many others, for ages. But, on the flip side, it has forced me to learn a better feel for my paces. HIIT/Tabata intervals are always going to be ‘go hard’ and any watch is going to struggle to keep up with a 20s interval and 10s recovery so I don’t think alerts are so useful there. Anything longer - such as 2min or 800m+ I do find I can glance at the watch.
I’m certainly not disagreeing with you regarding the functionality but I don’t feel it’s ever “ruined” an interval session for me.
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@Rija-Rajohnson Well, I find the green section with a pointer in the middle good for my 67 yr old eyes. I can easily see when I am in the zone using a Suunto+ app for interval training. I am familiar enough with my efforts that I know what my relative effort is. One potential reason for not having vibration is so that you don’t confuse out of zone alerts with next interval alerts. I did not appreciate this until recently when doing 30s endurance/20s Tempo/10s Interval repeats. The 10s interval is so short that an out of zone alert would occur and potentially obscure the end of the interval. I too wanted out of zone alerts but now I have changed my mind on this. If you use an S+ for your intervals it is dead easy to see if you are in the zone.
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If you guyz wanna see how painful this is for me, there you go:
https://www.vinted.fr/items/4996371738-suunto-raceBye Suunto !
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@Brad_Olwin I agree with this. Possibly the solution is audio feedback for one or the other. I generally know my workout steps so a vibrate is fine but ‘over’ and ‘under’ audio feedback would work. Alternatively, a short pip vibrate with no message for under/over (because you can see on the display anyhow) and the normal longer vibrate for step change.
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@Brad_Olwin I completely agree with you on this. Alerts for various things are useful when you’re still learning about your body. For me, my primary alert is my own emotions, supported by a screen displaying highly accurate data. If Suunto ever implements these alerts, I really hope there will be an option to turn them off.
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@far-blue Agreed, I think there are ways around this issue. However, for interval training I seriously doubt you pace has to be exact to acquire the workout benefit intended. So, I don’t get it.
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@Brad_Olwin probably because we’re not training the same way. To be honest for everything else I love this Watch, but for the interval it’s a real PAIN.
I’ve got a lot a high interval training, what I expect from a running Watch is pacing features.
When you Run a very intensive interval, if you look at your Watch it will affect your stride.
For example i ran 200m today, I was supposed to Run in 34s, I watched quickly my Watch the instant Pace was ok but at the finish Line it wasn’t.
I didn’t get any information telling me I was not Even if I put the Pace range in my structured workout. Very frustrating.
Maybe I’m not good enough to feel that I Run in 2’55/km only by feeling, that’s why I need a Watch. I’ll let you know when I’ll be able to Run a marathon in 2h30 maybe i will
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@Rija-Rajohnson
I’ve run and raced a lot with Suunto and Garmin watches and as part of that I’ve also done a lot of interval training. And I agree with all of your points. In my view Suunto should just copy what Garmin do, for alerts and the layout of the interval screen, they don’t need to reinvent the wheel here. This is more or less exactly what they did when they eventually introduced the ability to run structured workouts about 2 years ago.As things stand, if someone who’s main sport was road running and racing asked my advice about which watch to get, I’d point them straight to a Forerunner (and, without wanting to sidetrack this into a MIP vs Amoled debate, to a 255, which is great value currently at about £200/€250, before MIP forerunners are gone for good).
The topic of interval alerts comes up over and over across many different forums because it’s important for many current and potential users, as it is for you (and me). Especially with the positioning of the Race/Race S compared to previous “outdoor” watches, I’m surprised this pretty basic functionality continues to be absent from Suunto watches.
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@Brad_Olwin said in Interval Training - Alert when I'm not in the pace range:
@Rija-Rajohnson Well, I find the green section with a pointer in the middle good for my 67 yr old eyes. I can easily see when I am in the zone using a Suunto+ app for interval training. I am familiar enough with my efforts that I know what my relative effort is. One potential reason for not having vibration is so that you don’t confuse out of zone alerts with next interval alerts. I did not appreciate this until recently when doing 30s endurance/20s Tempo/10s Interval repeats. The 10s interval is so short that an out of zone alert would occur and potentially obscure the end of the interval. I too wanted out of zone alerts but now I have changed my mind on this. If you use an S+ for your intervals it is dead easy to see if you are in the zone.
Have you tried using anything other than Training Peaks and manually created workouts for guides?
Your assertion of dead easy is not accurate for all 3rd party workouts…
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@Rija-Rajohnson Even if we had the pace alerts they would be in a range and the minimum span of that range is going to be limited by how fast gps and your foot pod (I assume you are using a foot pod for these short intervals for faster reaction) can track your pace variations. Based on my use of the Stryd pod you’d be very lucky to accurately track a ±5s pace window over such short distances so your 2:55/km is going to look at the very least more like 2:50 - 3:05/km. For 200m this is going to give a 33-37s range even if you react instantly and perfectly to adjust your pace. Realistically that’s going to be more like 30-40s. So maybe this isn’t the right tech for this problem. Something like track pacing lights or a large display simple timer you can see from 200m away might work better for you.
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I don’t know if there is a watch in the market that is able to handle the paces in the way you want for such short intervals.
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@stromdiddily said in Interval Training - Alert when I'm not in the pace range:
@Brad_Olwin said in Interval Training - Alert when I'm not in the pace range:
Have you tried using anything other than Training Peaks and manually created workouts for guides?
Your assertion of dead easy is not accurate for all 3rd party workouts…
That may be true. For Suunto-created workouts and TP it is true. I thought intervals.cu? did provide alarms but I cannot remember. Anyway, the OP could simply set a timed interval and run a marked 200m on a track or field. I agree with @far-blue and @jussim for this case. However, enough individuals want these, I think it would be nice to have them. In the case for the OP no watch will work.
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I’ve performed my interval training with my 4yo Forerunner 745 2 days ago…
Perfectly in the pace range.
I’m done anyway, I’ve sold my watch, I can’t run another quality session …