Somewhat negative experience using pace based interval workout from TrainingPeaks

[sky-runner]

Perhaps this isn’t specific to TrainingPeaks, but I have originally created a workout in TrainingPeaks and it got automatically propagated to Suunto, so let’s go with that.

Usability issues that I’ve observed:

1. The notification stays on for too long. I had short 30 second sprint intervals programmed, and the notification stayed on for most of that time obscuring the actual interval screen.

2. Where is FusedSpeed when we need it? During sprints the pace gauge consistently showed me as “way too slow” and during rest intervals it consistently showed me as “way too fast” even though I managed somehow to be roughly on target. The displayed numbers were the average pace rather the instant pace, so that didn’t help me either. It seemed to me I had no real time indication of my pace even though I know that the watch should be fairly capable of quickly reacting to the pace changes.

3. In TrainingPeaks I had pace Z1 programmed which is defined as anything slower than 09:45/mile. TrainingPeaks shows that as 09:45-00:00. Apparently, Suunto has translated that to the target pace being 19:40/mile, which means I had to walk to be at the target. Furthermore, even when my pace was within the target range at 10:00/mile, it still showed it as “way too fast”.