Kinda Quiet In Here

It appears that folks either aren't running, or aren't blogging but there's not much action up here this week.

Tomorrow I go again, but I figured I'd post something up for discussion sake. In my posts I put a little list of time, HR, distance, temp and Training Effect. The last item is probably unfamiliar to you. For Christmas I received a Suunto T3 Heart Rate Monitor. Like most HR monitors it comes in two pieces -- a wrist watch and a chest belt. The belt broadcasts the heart rate to the watch where it is recorded.

The watch is quite robust and it stores the data -- up to 15 workouts -- and let's you scroll through the data. It counts monthly and weekly totals and it can even be paired with a GPS to record mileage -- that's my next acquisition I think. Anyway, in addition to HR, time, calories (I burn an average of about 450 Kcals/run) it also records the aforementioned Training Effect. Basically, the watch scores each run based on avg/max HR, distance and Kcals on a scale of 1-5. The longer and harder you go, the higher your score -- though if you scroll down the list you'll notice that higher isn't necessarily better based on goals.

You can set your fitness level and the watch will move you up as you perform more. I moved very quickly from level 4-5 but have been on 5 for a while. I need to boost my training and get my workouts up to 5 in order to move to the next level. The levels are based on frequency and length of workout/week. It's a cool tool and I love to run with it. Allegedly, Carmichael Training Systems (the dudes who trained Armstrong) use this watch. I'd totally recommend running with a HR monitor if you don't -- it's nice to see the data from a run and it helps with pacing and helps you to see where you're netting out.

So, get out there and start running (and blogging) the weather's getting nice and you're running out of excuses.