HR and PACE watch for Runners

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graphics1125
graphics1125 Posts: 10 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi All, I was wondering if there are any runners out there that can offer some advice. My daughter (14) loves cross country running, but I think she is having problems understanding her pace. She takes off in the beginning and struggles towards the 3 mile mark. I personally don't run and know nothing about the sport.

Other than bluetooth connected watches to smart phones (because she can't or shouldn't bring those on a race,) Is there a watch of some sort that can help her keep pace and or monitor her HR? I know the watch is not the most accurate, and chest is better, but it will give her a ball park.

I'm looking for something cheap because knowing kids, she probably lose it the first week. I just want something basic. I just got a vivofit 2 and love it even though it's two years old and refurbished from amazon, and have the basic functions I need.

I appreciate all the help.

Replies

  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
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    Just about any running watch will do what you're asking for. It will use GPS for pace (or a foot pod if you want to be really really precise but GPS is fine) and newer ones have wrist HRMs although as you said a chest strap tends to be better. (It sounds like you've written off a chest strap?) Garmin's running watches are very popular.

    It sounds like her problem is that she burns too many matches too soon and fatigues early; the watch will be a good tool to keep an eye on her speed and HR to avoid this, but she'll also need to do some training and some analysis of the data to find her break point so she can stay under it.
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
    edited April 2017
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    graphics1125 wrote: »
    I'm looking for something cheap because knowing kids, she probably lose it the first week. I just want something basic.

    Garmin Forerunner 30 or 35 are pretty good entry level devices.

    There is a lot of received wisdom about optical HR, and it can be more temperamental, but in general it's "good enough".

    Fwiw I use a Forerunner 735XT, which is designed as a triathlon watch. The optical is fine most of the time, although for proper training i use the HRM Tri as it has additional telemetry that helps my training. That's probably well beyond what your daughter might need.

    Ah alternative might be the 310XT, which is obsolescent, that you might find cheaper.
  • graphics1125
    graphics1125 Posts: 10 Member
    edited April 2017
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    NorthCascades wrote: »
    Just about any running watch will do what you're asking for. It will use GPS for pace (or a foot pod if you want to be really really precise but GPS is fine) and newer ones have wrist HRMs although as you said a chest strap tends to be better. (It sounds like you've written off a chest strap?) Garmin's running watches are very popular.

    It sounds like her problem is that she burns too many matches too soon and fatigues early; the watch will be a good tool to keep an eye on her speed and HR to avoid this, but she'll also need to do some training and some analysis of the data to find her break point so she can stay under it.

    I haven't written off the chest straps, I actually have one. It's awesome! But I figure for her races at school she should get equipment that she will be able to use in a race. The heart rate is wonderful, but she'll need a smart phone. I guess unless she get a watch that can synch to chest strap, but that's to much equipment for a 14 year old. All I had as a kid was a knee high socks and tennis shoes.

    She has an tendency to want to keep with the faster runners, but soon realizes she can't. ahhhhhh... kids...
    I'll probably have to do the data analysis for her.

    Thank you for the advice. I really appreciate it.

  • graphics1125
    graphics1125 Posts: 10 Member
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    MeanderingMammal wrote: »
    graphics1125 wrote: »
    I'm looking for something cheap because knowing kids, she probably lose it the first week. I just want something basic.

    Garmin Forerunner 30 or 35 are pretty good entry level devices.

    There is a lot of received wisdom about optical HR, and it can be more temperamental, but in general it's "good enough".

    Fwiw I use a Forerunner 735XT, which is designed as a triathlon watch. The optical is fine most of the time, although for proper training i use the HRM Tri as it has additional telemetry that helps my training. That's probably well beyond what your daughter might need.

    Ah alternative might be the 310XT, which is obsolescent, that you might find cheaper.

    Awesome, I'll take a look at these models!
  • scorpio516
    scorpio516 Posts: 955 Member
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    I did cross country with just my coach telling us mile splits along the course, but GPS watches didn't exist for the average person ;)

    Garmin forerunner 25 is their cheapest GPS watch, and can support a chest strap. We all know she won't wear one. The other thing, especially important to 14 year old girls, it's ugly.
    The Forerunner 35 is $60 more, wrist HR, looks a little better.

    TomTom has exact compeditors, but their hr watch is better (competes with the $300 FR235 instead). Not the best looking watch either.

    Suunto and Polar also make GPS watches, but I'm not as familiar with them
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    edited April 2017
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    graphics1125 wrote: »
    NorthCascades wrote: »
    Just about any running watch will do what you're asking for. It will use GPS for pace (or a foot pod if you want to be really really precise but GPS is fine) and newer ones have wrist HRMs although as you said a chest strap tends to be better. (It sounds like you've written off a chest strap?) Garmin's running watches are very popular.

    It sounds like her problem is that she burns too many matches too soon and fatigues early; the watch will be a good tool to keep an eye on her speed and HR to avoid this, but she'll also need to do some training and some analysis of the data to find her break point so she can stay under it.

    I haven't written off the chest straps, I actually have one. It's awesome! But I figure for her races at school she should get equipment that she will be able to use in a race. The heart rate is wonderful, but she'll need a smart phone. I guess unless she get a watch that can synch to chest strap, but that's to much equipment for a 14 year old. All I had as a kid was a knee high socks and tennis shoes.

    She has an tendency to want to keep with the faster runners, but soon realizes she can't. ahhhhhh... kids...
    I'll probably have to do the data analysis for her.

    Thank you for the advice. I really appreciate it.

    If you're talking about getting her a watch that measures her HR at the wrist and has GPS to measure her pace, then why is a watch that accepts HR from a chest strap and has GPS to measure pace too much?

    It sounds like the particular chest strap you have is Bluetooth, there are watches that will use it.
  • WhitneyDurham777
    WhitneyDurham777 Posts: 71 Member
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    I'm trying to get rid of an old 910XT and I have a chest HR monitor I could throw in for super cheap. PM me if you are interested.
  • GaryRuns
    GaryRuns Posts: 508 Member
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    I have a Garmin Forerunner 230 and you can actually set alerts up that will cause the watch to beep and vibrate for things like pace. For example, you could set it to alert you if your pace got faster than some set value and/or slower than some set value. You can regularly pick one up for around $160-$170 on sale. The 235 has a built-in HR sensor, but I don't trust wrist-based HRs so I got the 230 and use a Scosche Rhythm+ for HR data. My Forerunner and Scosche linked up with zero issues. I can easily see my current pace, average pace, distance, HR, among other things, all on my watch.
  • graphics1125
    graphics1125 Posts: 10 Member
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    NorthCascades wrote: »
    graphics1125 wrote: »
    NorthCascades wrote: »
    Just about any running watch will do what you're asking for. It will use GPS for pace (or a foot pod if you want to be really really precise but GPS is fine) and newer ones have wrist HRMs although as you said a chest strap tends to be better. (It sounds like you've written off a chest strap?) Garmin's running watches are very popular.

    It sounds like her problem is that she burns too many matches too soon and fatigues early; the watch will be a good tool to keep an eye on her speed and HR to avoid this, but she'll also need to do some training and some analysis of the data to find her break point so she can stay under it.

    I haven't written off the chest straps, I actually have one. It's awesome! But I figure for her races at school she should get equipment that she will be able to use in a race. The heart rate is wonderful, but she'll need a smart phone. I guess unless she get a watch that can synch to chest strap, but that's to much equipment for a 14 year old. All I had as a kid was a knee high socks and tennis shoes.

    She has an tendency to want to keep with the faster runners, but soon realizes she can't. ahhhhhh... kids...
    I'll probably have to do the data analysis for her.

    Thank you for the advice. I really appreciate it.

    If you're talking about getting her a watch that measures her HR at the wrist and has GPS to measure her pace, then why is a watch that accepts HR from a chest strap and has GPS to measure pace too much?

    It sounds like the particular chest strap you have is Bluetooth, there are watches that will use it.

    I just meant I didn't want to have to buy her to much equipment unless she is really serious about the sport. I would rather both functions be integrated into one device. I didn't do my research on the wrist watches, wow. I didn't expect them to be that much. even I don't have $100.00+ watch.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
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    @graphics1125

    You're in kind of a catch 22 situation. You think your daughter might have some untapped potential for running, but she needs this technology to help her harness it. Obviously you don't want to buy the expensive tech if she won't use it enough to justify the price, but it's hard to find that out without giving her a fair shot at reaching her full potential.

    I'm a guy who enjoys outdoor recreation (xc skiing, rock climbing, snorkeling, etc), I've been in that kind of dilemma before. Here are a couple of the strategies I've used:

    (1) Can you rent something for a weekend? Usually the price is small, and often the knowledge you gain is worth it. (I wanted to buy an expensive and well-regarded camera lens, until I rented it and realized that as great as it was, it wasn't suited to my needs.)

    (2) Can you reliably buy used? That can be a risk with technology. On the other hand, this stuff moves pretty quick, there are a lot of early adopters, and you can often find good deals.

    (3) If you're going to buy new, and can't get a screaming deal, buy it from REI or Backcountry.com or LLBean or any other store with a generous return policy.

    Now if all that doesn't work, I've got two more tricks up my sleeve.

    (1) If she can get by with HR but not pace, that's a lot cheaper and you have many options. (I care more about HR than pace when I run, but I'm not a terribly experienced runner and my opinion isn't worth much on how useful HR is without pace.)

    (2) If you have access to a track, or any flat spot with a known distance that's good to run, any stopwatch will do. But at this point it's probably better to just train with a phone.

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