@Danny-poleg I can’t speak to all of them, but these are the S+ apps I’ve used:
Aerobic decoupling: Great for easy runs. It checks how your power or pace decouples from your heart rate. I used it earlier in my running to help gauge how easy an easy run should actually be. I’ve got that locked in now and don’t use it any longer, but I still check my aerobic decoupling in post-run analysis.
Half marathon estimator: Is what it is. Estimates your half marathon in real time as you’re running the race. I only used this once and found that it wasn’t all that helpful. I’d rather use a structured workout with 5K intervals to help gauge my effort.
LiveTracking: I use this for every long run when running alone. I share a URL to my wife and mother so they can follow me in real time as a safety precaution. I prefer this over Strava Beacon as it’s considerably more battery efficient, and the URL shared with my family shows my real time HR, pace, power, and exact GPS coordinates. I do have to carry my phone with me, but that’s not a problem. This is permanently installed on my watch. Love it.
Marathon estimator: Like the half, I’ve only used this once. Does what you think and does it well, but I prefer a structured workout with repeated 5K intervals to ensure I’m on target.
Stryd: It looks like this is no longer available, which is probably a good thing. If you use this app instead of pairing your sport mode directly to the foot pod, the data from this app doesn’t get synced to Stryd, but stays in a separate data file in the app itself. The power data in the FIT file on your watch came from Suunto, not the pods. As such, you cannot do an offline sync in Stryd’s PowerCenter and merge the data with your run. This was used in hopes that I wouldn’t have to do an offline sync for every run, and it turned out to make things worse. Used once, then uninstalled and never missed it.
TrainingPeaks - Run: I also have only used this once to keep an eye on Normalized Grade Pace (NGP). I train by power, so this is actually unnecessary, but I’m still curious. After Suunto released a firmware update providing NGP as a data field, I haven’t used this since.
ZoneSense: Like LiveTracking, this is also permanently installed on my watch. My training is almost exclusively sub-threshold training, and while I use a percentage of critical power (CP) as my governor, I use ZoneSense to verify the sub-threshold effort is dialed in correctly. 9 times out of 10, it is. I use this also during easy runs as a guardrail to make sure I’m not pushing too hard. IMO, ZoneSense is a game changer.
I haven’t used any of the other S+ apps, but I have been curious about a few:
Ghost runner: I haven’t found the need for this, but I like the idea of catching a phantom ghost of yourself while out on a training run. Maybe this would be useful on a long rung where I need to hold a steady or marathon pace, but again, structured workouts just work.
Loop - Power: I use the dedicated track mode when running at the local high school track, but there is a walking path at a park near my house that is exactly 1 km. If this supports arbitrary loop distances, I could see myself doing something like 10×1K reps and using this instead of the (un-scrollable) lap table. That is, if I can review previous loop data while in recovery waiting for the next rep.
Parkrun: There isn’t a parkrun near where I live, so I don’t compete in them, but if one ever gets established, this seems handy to keep your QR code with you without needing your phone or a printout.
Race pacer: I kind of like the idea of showing how far behind your target you are for an arbitrary race distance, but I’ve found structured workouts with 5K splits perfectly effective. However, if I ever run for a race pacing organization and am assigned to pace a group of runners at a race, I might consider using this.
The rest haven’t piqued my interest.
