putting the knit in shizknitz

I can never seem to have a cheap hobby/pasttime. Whether it be knitting, jewelry making, scrapbooking, skiing, bowling, salt water tanks, reading magazines, everything seems to add up more than initially intended. So when I picked up running, I was ecstatic. All you need is you, some old clothes, shoes and outside. Of course over time it added up - new shoes, water belt, some clothes, entry fees. Now after my second week with the Leggers, this has added up to membership fee, LA Marathon reg fee, new shoes, new non-cotton clothing to match the new shoes (ClimaCool Adidas!), Gookinaid hydration fluid, and of course, a watch.

But not any old watch - I need one that will help me train even on Saturday mornings I can’t make the Leggers. This means - heart rate, pace, distance, and splits. I did some reading back when I first heard about the Suunto T6 which is a personal trainer on your wrist, but for $450 I would have to sell my left foot. I decided that I didn’t necessarily need the whole EPOC calculation and would be happy with the HRM (heart rate monitor) and distance/pace. There were two models which satisfied that - the Polar S625X and the Garmin Forerunner 301 - but at $450 and $325 respectively, I can’t justify spending that kind of money. Then I recently read about the Polar RS200SD - RS is their new line for Running Sports, and SD is for Speed and Distance.

This cool little watch (yes, little, unlike the Suunto hulks which would take up half my arm) has everything I want it to do, for much less (retail $210). Its relatively new and quite popular, so it was a bitch to find (the only place currently in stock in he LA area was in Encino at Phidippides). The reviews have been great (Review 1, Review 2) and the interesting difference between this one and the Polar S625X and Garmin 301 is that this distance is monitored by footpod technology rather than by GPS - so if and when I end up running through tall buildings or in the Canyons (like up in Temescal) - I never have to worry about losing accuracy.

My heart rate currently measures 72
Update: Its been almost 2 months and I can’t leave the house for a short jog without this thing. It really does work well - and I haven’t even done a calibration yet. There are so many different views, by heart rate, by distance, by speed… I upload my running stats to the website which keeps nice track of everything, and its interesting to compare good/bad runs on heart rate/speed and it helps me to strategically plan better for my runs. Also at races, I no longer have to rely on the chip reports to know how I did