I have a new best friend, compliments of Timex. My new best friend looks like this:

I said I would review their new training site but that I needed a HRM to do it justice and so they sent me one – what a lucky girl!

The training site has a few things to offer. First of all, if you like house/techno music they have some for free download for your training pleasure. I prefer rock so I’m not using theirs but it has the right BPM so please, help yourselves.

They also have some training plans designed by Gale Bernhardt and Dave Scott. Specifically they have 2 beginner sprint distance plans and 1 beginner Olympic distance plan by Gale Bernhardt, 1 novice and 2 intermediate Olympic distance swim plans by Dave Scott, and a strength building plan by Dave Scott. Since I swim with masters and since I’m not a beginner any more I will be using the Dave Scott strength building plan. Developing greater strength to help me better my triathlon times is next season’s goal.

I will be also be mounting an “Abs Watch” series of posts in which I reveal my bare midriff as it evolves for what I hope will be your viewing pleasure. I took the first picture and let me just say it will not be revealed until I can compare it to the first picture showing some progress. I know I’ve done it before but apparently that was just a lucky shot. I’m not ready for you to see what I’ve going on just yet.

Getting back to my new BFF – I have tried it out a few times now. I did a very hilly ride yesterday on Mines Rd, coming up out of Lake Del Valle that looked like this:

The top of the scale is 1900 and the bottom is 650 for an elevation gain of 1250 ft. Respectable. In fact, I had sweat pouring off my face so yea – respectable. What I really wanted to know was how close to redline I was. Without a heart rate monitor there is no telling but with one I can tell you that my max HR was 162 – well below my max of 178. I love knowing that I have more to give if I need to so thanks, Timex!

I’ve also worn this device running twice. Today I even tried to use the lap button so I could correlate the HR to the mile speed. With this particular device I have to wear my Garmin 201 as well so with those 2 things and an iPod strapped to my arm I looked like Robo-Runner. I did a pretty poor job with the lap button (because with the iPod I don’t hear the Garmin beep at each mile) but I have figured out that on a normal run my HR averages about 145. That’s good information, too.

I expect this device will be most useful for track work and interval training on the bike. I’m going to use it to peg my VO2 Max so stay tuned for the next episode of “How a HRM Changed My Life”