Choosing The Right Bike Trainer
Whether you’re training for an event or keeping active indoors there’s a trainer for you. Learn how to go about choosing the right one.
After signing up for the Ironman 70.3 in Indian Wella – my first triathlon since my surgery – I knew it was time to get serious about my training. I had a basic sports watch, but I needed to step up my game for the serious training ahead. Eventually, I found the perfect watch for me, but it was a very personal decision, based on my unique needs, budget, and required features. No single watch will likely tick off all your boxes, there will need to be some compromise. I created the below guide to hopefully help you zero in on the best sports watch for you.
I broke down my guide into three areas:
The sports you intend to track are critical in choosing the right watch for you. Whether you’re interested in tracking your daily activity levels, or looking for advanced feedback to dial in your training – your sporting needs will ultimately determine which sport watch will be right for you.
All runners will want to track time, distance and speed. Some features intermediate runners may be interested in, include heart rate monitoring (to track how hard you’re pushing), interval training, and elevation tracking (to monitor elevation gain and loss). Advanced features include the ability to program custom workouts, customizable display options, and virtual trainers. Built-in music, smartphone notifications, and extended battery life are not necessary, but appreciated features. If your focus is running, you can avoid water resistance, and swimming and biking metrics.
Similar to running, all cyclists will want to track time, distance and speed. Additional intermediate features include heart rate monitoring and interval training. Additional advanced features include custom workouts, customizable display options, virtual trainers, and the ability to connect external sensors for monitoring heart rate, bike speed, power (wattage), and cadence. Appreciated features depending on your budget include built in music, smartphone notifications, and extended battery life. If your focus is cycling, you can avoid water resistance, and swimming metrics.
Swimmers need water resistant sports watches – look for water-resistance to 50 meters. All swimmers will want to track time, distance, speed, and heart rate. More advanced watches will include metrics for stroke speed, and the ability to work both in pools of all sizes, and open water environments – through the addition of accelerometers, and GPS. If your focus is swimming you can avoid extended battery life, built-in music, and advanced running and cycling metrics.
All multi-sport athletes have the same set of requirements – metrics for all environments. Ensure the watch includes all of the recommended features for each sport you wish to track. Multi-sport watches also include the ability to quickly transition from one sport to another, think built-in triathlon mode. Some advanced features can include external bike accessories, and built-in music to keep you company during those long training sessions. Extended battery life, while not crucial, is nice to have – often included in more costly models.
I have grouped these activities as they all share a few things in common – exposure to the elements, and the premium they put on battery life. Beyond the basic metrics (speed, distance, heart monitoring), of unique interest to these watches is the accuracy of the GPS, elevation and temperature readings, and ruggedness of the watch itself. If your focus is one of these sports, you can avoid water-resistance, and advanced metrics related to running, cycling and swimming.
While it’s tempting to purchase based on looks and ease of use, it’s crucial to carefully consider exactly what features you’ll need, as well as what functions may become useful to you in the future. No one watch is perfect, but hopefully this guide has provided a starting point for finding the perfect sports watch for you.
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Whether you’re training for an event or keeping active indoors there’s a trainer for you. Learn how to go about choosing the right one.
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