Now I'm no profesional runner, but having run without a purpose-built running watch and now running with this, I feel like I should be taken seriously. ...even if everyone is still passing me.

When I was a teenager I did pretty well in middle to long distance running and as I've got older I've realised that for me running was the form of exercise that my body really clicked with. I would much rather put on a pair of shoes and run a few times around the block than go to a gym and push weights up and down for an hour. But as I got better at running, I just kinda had to guess my progress.

So one sunny day back in May of 2010 my lovely wife jumped online and ordered me a Polar RS300. I knew it was a heart rate monitor and was a bit flashier than a standard  gym model and had a few bells & whistles but not much else.

Configuration was pretty simple, only requiring me to enter my weight, rest while it monitored my resting heart rate, and a quick run so that it could figure out my average stride length.

The chest strap is made from fabric which made it really comfortable to wear and the actual trasmitter is detachable so that when disconnected, the battery (which is easily replacable) doesn't drain inbetween runs. Additionally, when the strap eventually wears out, you can just buy a replacement strap or for the ladies, polar do sports bras with a strap built into it. The signal transmitted is coded so it doesn't matter if you're running along side another runner with a polar watch & heartrate monitor, your watch will recognise your watch apart from any others. The transmition is a real-time feed of your heartrate. From this the watch can display this live to you as either current heartrate or as a percentage of your maximun heartrate. Once the run is over, the watch can calculate average heartrate, maximum heartrate reached, what the percentages of your personal maximum heartrate was for these two figures, and reports on calories burnt.

She also ordered the optional S1 footpod. the footpod can be calibrated to measure your average stride and then counts your step and measures both distance run and your pace. it feeds this info back to the watch wirelessly to give you a live view of your pace and then at the completion of your run the watch can calculate the average pace, maximum pace, and total distance run from the info given from the footpod.

This model watch can also work with the G1 GPS sensor, but from what I understood online I would need to be running pretty long distances in open space (not in valleys or through wooded areas) to get really good accuracy. It requires direct line of site between the runner and satelite and tracks movement feeding information wirelessly to the watch, much like the footpod.

So, getting back to the watch... I have been able to track my progress as my pace increased, resting heartrate lowered, which all led to me feeling worthy of buying some proper running atire without feeling like a poser. And this all is only scratching the surface of what the watch can do. For example, I can set target heartrate zones that the watch will alert me when I've reached them and help me to stay there with an audible alarm, or even offers training targets divided into five zones based on percentages of your maximum heart rate. Even better, the watch, chest strap and footpod are all waterproof so you can run in the wet or if you want to mix it up, weat the watch and cheststrap when swimming lengths to track how hard you're working in the pool!

There is also an optional product called flowlink whick is essentially a usb device that you can just sit the watch on top of and it will download all your recorded info to a PC or Mac. The info is uploaded to polarpersonaltrainer.com where you can follow your training up to event time and recovery in the training diary. They say that "continuous monitoring of training load and recovery will help you recognize personal limits, avoid over- or undertraining, and adjust training intensity and duration according to your daily and weekly targets". I haven't got a flolink yet as they've only just made these Mac compatible, but I think this might be the next step in improbing my running without getting an actual coach.

All in all, these products are the second most valuable investment for my fitness, second only to my shoes. I would recomend this watch to anyone wanting to improve thier running, whether it just to improve fitness or to try and get event ready. My black one even looks the part with formal dress when I'm at the office. Very covert.

We bought the watch off Amazon and cost us US$134. This was roughly half the price of what NZ retailers were selling it for and I'd recommend looking at reputable sellers on either Amazon or ebay to find a good price. Most sellers will also offer bundle packages if you are looking to get the footpod, GPS sensor or flowlink as well.

Happy running!

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