(laid back funky music)
- Right then, hands up,
who owns a sports watch like this one
and doesn't really know how
to use all of its fancy features?
Yeah, you're definitely not alone.
Nowadays they pack a heck of a lot into these watches
so it can seem a little bit overwhelming and even for those
that feel like they have a fairly good grasp of using them,
there are potentially ways that you could be getting more
from your sports watch like, for instance,
changing some of the screen
so it displays different data for interval sessions,
changing them between disciplines
and even changing some of the settings
so you can allow better data analysis post-workout.
Well, I'm gonna be running through all of this today
and more using our partner's watch,
the Polar Vantage V,
but obviously this applies to any sports watch
so don't worry if you currently own
a different brand or model.
Okay, so we have received loads of questions over
the last year or so regards to sports watches,
how we use them,
how we set them up,
how we personally use them and so on,
and most of these have been regards to running
so I'm gonna kick off with that today but obviously
if you use your sports watch for swimming
or cycling don't worry because I will be touching on
that too and obviously a lot of these features
and tips do cross over anyway.
(laid back funky music)
So let's begin by taking a look at some of the features
and functions that you may have in your sports watch.
So, firstly, it's likely to have GPS,
a barometer and some form of measuring heart rate.
Now, the GPS,
which stands for global positioning system,
tracks your position
and therefore recording how far you go and how fast you go.
The barometer measures the air pressure
and therefore the altitude
so we can take a look at our elevation change
throughout an activity.
And then the heart rate;
now, you may have a watch like mine which is rather fancy
and has a built-in heart rate monitor
and therefore utilizing optical heart rate measurement
but whether your watch has this or not,
it will likely be able to pair with
and communicate with an external device
such as a chest strap heart rate monitor.
Well, that is the basics and fundamentals
of a GPS sports watch,
but obviously some come with more features
and functions than others.
Take this Polar Vantage V, for instance,
it has running power built into it,
it can give me feedback on my training load,
my recovery, my sleep,
just to name a few,
which is all amazing but I imagine when you actually go
to set that sports watch up you're left scratching your head
a little bit because the number of options available to you,
the number of slight variations in data fields
can be really quite confusing.
What do you actually want displayed on your watch screen?
Well, I think it's time we go take a seat,
we grab a brew and we explain.
(laid back funky music)
Okay, so I'm gonna run you through some suggestions here
using my own watch but having used these devices for years
and having coached athletes for years too,
I feel like I've got a really good set-up with my screen.
So I'm actually using Polar Flow here
which is Polar's online training platform
and this actually allows me to customize and change
the screens from within there,
but if you're using another device you may actually be able
to do that on the device itself or their own platform.
Now, I also like to suggest that you have a number
of different screens that you can choose from
for different types of training sessions,
so my first one here is my play screen
so this is for those everyday, easy runs,
those fun runs.
Now, this needs to have those basic metrics
so you want your elapsed time,
you want your distance,
you want your speed or the pace that you're going,
and also your heart rate.
Okay, but now, if I flick to my next screen,
I have what I call my business screen.
So this is everything that you'd need to see during
a hard run session or during some intervals.
I've tried to keep this fairly easy,
fairly simple here, just four fields
so that you can quickly see it during a hard run session,
so now we have lap duration, lap distance,
again, we've still got that speed or pace,
and we've also got your heart rate too.
Now, for this to all work,
there are a few ground rules
because you need to hit that lap button
when you start a session,
when you start a rep, end a rep,
start recovery, end a recovery,
basically at any interval point.
This will then be able to tell you how long
or how far you've gone on that specific interval,
or how much recovery you've got left and so on.
Now, just to clarify,
this does not stop the overall elapsed time;
if you flick back to that first screen
you'll still see that ticking away.
I also, additionally, I do recommend switching off any
auto-lap feature that you may have already enabled
on your watch because that can get really confusing.
Now, by doing all of this,
you are going to not only massively help yourself out
but also a coach if you do have one
because when you come to analyzing that workout post-session
you'll be able to see those individual laps
and really analyze those blocks and, trust me,
having been a coach, this helps massively.
Okay, so they're my two most important screens,
my play screen and my business screen,
but I do actually have a few extras which I maybe don't
refer to quite as often but they're quite fun,
they're entirely optional,
I just quite like to refer to them from time to time,
one of which is power.
Yep, power for running.
Now, this is a new one for me too,
it's quite a novelty;
obviously I'm really used to it for cycling
but I'm actually really enjoying using it
for running now at the moment.
Now, I just quite like to refer to this screen
from time to time but I may actually start
incorporating it into my play screen
and even my business screen for run sessions.
Now, currently,
it displays my current power in the middle of the screen,
my max power at the top and my average power at the bottom.
Now, I am actually quite fortunate in the fact that
the Vantage V has a built-in power meter
which is really quite unusual
but that doesn't mean
that your device can't pick up or read power,
it just may mean that you need an external power meter
such as a foot pod to record this.
Now, if I scroll through it again,
I've got a screen for altitude
so this displays my current altitude in the middle,
ascent at the top and descent at the bottom,
which are all interesting things
to look at from time to time,
and then similarly if I scroll to the next screen,
similar format I've got for cadence or steps per minute.
(laid back funky music)
Now, to really get the most out of your device,
I really recommend you find your zones
and there are a number of different ways of doing this,
some easier, some harder than others.
The easiest of them all is the age formula:
220 minus your age
and that will give you a very rough maximum heart rate.
Another method is to literally go as hard as you can
in some sort of session or race and find your maximum
heart rate although that is gonna hurt quite a lot.
Finally, another method is to do a threshold run test.
You can do this in a lab and you'll get some very precise
results or you can do this yourself out on the road
and if you're going to do that I would suggest doing
a 30-minute all-out effort on your own,
and then with that new threshold or maximum heart rate
you'll be able to calculate your zones.
For myself, I use my maximum heart rate,
put into Polar Flow and that churned out
and automatically created my zones for me.
Now, when I look at my device,
I know that my zones are bang on and with that,
you can really take it up a notch if you want to.
Now, this isn't actually something that I've played around
with too much but in all honesty I really do like the idea
of it because on a number of watches now you can actually
set limiters to these zones so it will notify you
and alert you if you step out of the zone
that you're required to be in,
so on my watch, for instance,
I would need to create a little phased training workout
and then create targets within that workout
as to what zone I need to be in at certain times throughout.
So when I do head off and do that workout,
it'll tell me not only when I need to start a rep
or interval or even end that rep or interval,
it'll also tell me if I'm in the correct zone or not.
(laid back funky music)
And this really comes into its own in the water
because obviously you're not able to check your watch
quite so often as you're swimming along,
so instead, it beeps and buzzes as you go,
so both of which you can hear and feel,
and then notified as to whether you're in your zone
or you're stepping outside of that zone.
In terms of what it actually displays,
that's obviously slightly less important
'cos you're not able to monitor your watch quite
so regularly as you swim along,
but I would recommend having overall elapsed time,
distance and heart rate and then when you go to do a session
you want to have lap time and lap distance,
and then for biking you're probably gonna want
to change a few more of those data fields
but still sticking with those two screens
that we were talking about for the run,
that play screen and business screen,
for the everyday rides and those sessions.
Now, on that play screen as a minimum
you're going to want overall elapsed time,
distance, speed and heart rate,
and then if you do have room for it and you do have
a power meter then power is quite nice and also cadence,
whereas on my biking business screen I would recommend
having current lap time, power, heart rate, cadence
and if you have room for it,
average power and even normalized power if you can.
Now, that is a lot of information there
so if you do have any questions on any of that
then please do drop them in the comments section below,
I will happily answer them,
and, as I said earlier,
this is exactly how I have my devices set up
and have had for a number of years
and it's been everything that I've needed to perform,
however I do appreciate that other people out there may
prioritize different metrics due to
the location that they're in,
the environment, what they're training for,
so if that is you I'd love to hear from you
and why it differs so, again,
please do get involved in the comments section below.
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If you'd like to see our running with power video
then just click down here,
and if you'd like to see our Polar Vantage V unboxing video
then just click down here.