Hi Alex, The Precision Pulse App is basically a heart rate monitor for your phone which you can use in everyday training. The Ithlete Heart Rate Variability App is the one you use to measure how well recovered you are from your previous days training and it is this one that you use as a guide when planning your next sessions. It has been some time since I posted my original reply but I am still using the Ithlete and I still find it is prety reliable. Simon (the guy who invented it) has been very helpful and he helped me understand a series of unusual readings. Sometimes it is only confirming how I feel but it's hard to say no to your training buddies and there are times when you should say no and rest. The Ithlete helps you make the right decision.
Hi, The statement is probably not worded very well and probably has no real substance but I know people who use gels for the first time in a marathon without trying them in training or other races. Different gels tend to need different ammounts of water to go with them and if you get it wrong you can get stomach cramps and an unscheduled stop in the loo. With stomach cramps you won't be absorbing much at the time. All brands are a bit different including some with fructose and some without and some people simply don't get on with 1 brand but are OK with another.
It just seems common sense to experiment a long time before race day.
If you haven't heard allready WE ARE BACK FOR 2012. We are taking online entries now via our own website. www.johnaustinhalf.co.uk We hope the race will be as good as last year and maybe even a little better. Hope to see you there.
Paula is absolutely right about the world record situation. To extend the logic you would have to insist that any junior records are only recorded with juniors racing otherwise a 17 year old could be assisted by a senior male. That immediately makes a mockery of all road races world wide and all age group and gender records. In any case Paula did not recieve an unfair advantage. Any woman that day could have joined Paula behind the pacer or in any other marathon the women could have recruited a male to pace them at that speed. The truth was that none of them were ever capable of running at that pace. Henry
I have been using the iTHLETE for about 14 months now. When I first started using it I was trying to prove it wrong but I couldn't catch it out. At that time I was recovering from a new PB at the London marathon and I found it guided me well through the summer and I ran a very good time at the Great South in the autumn. It was very interesting watching my iTHLETE reading increasing as I tapered for the Great South. After getting my 2.45 qualification for the Championship start at London I ended up getting swine flu and missed London in 2011. In the space of around 3 weeks I went from a runner who was very comfortable running 20+mile training runs almost every week to somebody who couldn't run more than 2 miles. I have been taking a long time to recover and am only now starting to race again. The iTHLETE has guided me extremely well on my path to recovery.
I found that the iTHLETE doesn't lie and when you get a poor reading it is best to listen to what it is telling you. I don't allways listen too well but I find I then give myself permission to cut my training short or change what was planned. This morning I experienced the reverse. I had a very good score and I increased the intensity over what was planned but more importantly I coped very well and felt very good doing it. I'm probably quite good at understanding my body but I still use the iTHLETE. The iTHLETE is definitely more sensative than recording your pulse in the morning and the APP is very easy to use with simple displays of data using graphs and colour codes. From my experience I see it's greatest use in people new to running or people serious about improving. Both these groups of people don't know where the edge is until they fall off. The iTHLETE helps you see where the edge is. For £36 (ie the cost of 1 or 2 races) you can hardly go wrong.
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Henry Szwinto
