First of - thanks to Suunto for opening up the possibility to enrich their marvelous watch lines with features that many users have been missing! It is always amazing to see where the combination of ingenuity and a (somewhat) open development platform takes us.
Being a road-runner with some sort of ambition to optimize races I have been missing a race pacer that allows for freely defining pace segments. The races I have participated in (Gothenburg area, Sweden) are quite often pretty hilly and I have found that I waste energy in the wrong places and therefore needed an app that could provide some guidance. The requirements were pretty close to “RaceWarden Pacer” - but I was missing the possibility to define the distance for the various segments of the race. And. With age comes poor eyesight, so I needed BIG (and clear) numbers to control the pace.
The logic/thinking:
You define your pacing strategy based on the elevation profile of the race and potentially other factors - this is all done outside of the app. Example from “Göteborgsvarvet” where I decided to try Jack Daniels’ Running Formula which roughly translates to -8s/km/%-gradient (uphill) and +5s/km/%-gradient (downhill). But that is outside the app, just the background to the pacing strategy.
[image: 1780157300180-2026-05-18_19-54-08.png]
The pacing strategy is pushed to the app through user defined app settings:
Segment Distances (km or mile): 2.45 1.79 1.36 1.36 6.59 7.8
Segment paces (min/km or min/mile): 5:18 5:03 5:37 4:55 5:12 5:14
(Is it possible to have two input fields in app settings?)
With the user input the total race length is calculated by summation of the Segment Distances (21,35km) - overall race target time (1:51:26) as well as target pace (general) is also calculated.
Then comes the tricky part. What is really needed / what can be displayed to help pacing (remember: poor eyesight)? I removed heart rate as I have found it does not work (for me) during races, and landed in the following configuration:
[image: 1780125397727-2026-05-30_00-06-13.png]
Segment Target Pace: Derived from user input and displayed once a segment is recognized/completed. In essence this is a pretty static value, that only changes when a segment is completed.
Segment Pace: Calculated. Similar to Lap Pace but utilizes the user defined Segment Distances/Segment paces, so it’s dynamic and updates as you run.
Total Seconds ahead/behind Race Plan: Defined as the deviation between race plan and completed distance/time; naturally dynamic.
Needed Pace: Based on initial user input finishing time and total race length are calculated. This is the pace needed for the remaining part of the race to reach the target
What would you see as missing?
The remaining challenges:
I would like to have (I believe) at least some indication on heart rate - but I am not able to get the standard zone gauge to work and lack the skills to create one by myself with the canvas mysteries
I tested to include an additional ahead/behind indicator focusing on ahead/behind per segment - but felt that it became more confusing and the display became to crowded - could this potentially be incorporated as a gauge?
Compatibility - I believe maximizing fonts will be problematic for smaller watches but have not really had the energy to investigate what/how to make sure it works also for smaller displays
Contrast - to me it seems yellow offers the best contrast, but is it just my eyes or a more common phenomenon?
All input welcome! (unfortunately it seems my application for the partner development has got lost in the mail, as I applied many weeks ago)
Also - I used the app (very successfully) during a recent race!
