TrainAsOne
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Could anyone advise on using TrainAsOne with Suunto (Race, Race S, Vertical)? I am considering moving to the Suunto Race S from a Garmin 745. I have been using the app for the last year and want to stick with it since it has given good results and some personal best results with no injuries. Does it work the same way as on the 745?
- When starting a run activity, does the watch show the suggested workout automatically synced from TrainAsOne?
- Is it possible to preview the workout and the steps on the watch?
- When starting the workout, and then at each step, does the watch show instructions for this step (e.g., warmup for X minutes at pace Y)?
- Does the watch face change to a gauge showing pace, indicating if in range or too slow/fast, along with a countdown timer?
- At the end of the workout, does it sync back to TrainAsOne?
- When viewing the activity in the app, does it have a name like “Kuala Lumpur - W675S/8 Economy 24.3℃ 5.82U” or “City of Westminster - W533BG/1 Progression 16.3℃ 1.9U” (with the location part added by Garmin and the second part being the workout name from TrainAsOne)?
Thanks for any feedback and experiences!
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Hi @mando
I also train using TAO and use a Race S so I can answer your questions 1: Yes, when you start a compatible activity - a run - you will be asked if you wish to start the workout scheduled for today. If you say yes the workout is automatically loaded as a suunto guide. Regardless of whether you say yes or no (or if there is no planned workout for today) you can also manually select any workout sync’d to the watch (so you can choose to run tomorrow’s workout, for instance).
2: No, there is no ability to view the details of the workout in either the watch or the app.
3: Yes, you get a message overlay with the basic description and the watch will vibrate/beep (depending on your activity notification settings). Note that when a workout ends you are not notified so I turned on the “run home” extra step and use the notification of the start of this step to know when the workout has completed. Then I just stop the activity as normal.
4: Yes, you gain a workout page. Depending on the workout step this can look different but for steps with target pace you will get a target pace gauge around the outside, the current and target pace as data fields, the remaining duration of the step and your current HR. For steps with no target you will see remaining time and HR. For assessment steps you also see current pace (if I remember - I’m often not paying much attention to anything other than time remaining during assessment steps!)
5: Yes, all activities automatically sync back to TAO regardless of whether they were linked to a workout.
6: No, the name of the workout is not recorded in the activity in any way either in the watch or the App. The name is also not used during a sync to third-party services such as Strava.All of this automatic loading of workouts depends on your having a premium subscription but I assume you have that as you are syncing to Garmin already. Without premium you can still download and import individual workouts manually. All of the Garmin-labeled workout config also applies to suunto workouts (naming, “run home” step etc.) plus you can control how many workouts to sync (and pause, clear and re-push workouts) via the suunto “service” box in the services section on the web portal by clicking the 3-line “burger” menu.
I have a support request with TAO to allow some customisation of the workout page (because this is possible with suunto guides) but no improvements so far. I did request the ability to control how many workouts sync and that is now possible - I allow TAO max flexibility to change workouts so see little point syncing 10 or 15 when they are likely to change
Do note that there are multiple long-standing requests in this forum from many people for suunto guide workouts to have alerts when you go under or over your pace/hr/power range and to alert at the end of a workout but at the time of posting you do not get those alerts and you have to rely on the watch display. In the same way, you do not receive voice alerts for step change, workout end or under/over range. There is also currently no countdown to the next step. We keep asking so fingers crossed now Suunto are on a roll with new features that these will come sooner rather than later
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So I Made the Switch!
I can confirm that TrainAsOne works very well with Suunto, with a few surprises:
- GPS track and pace seem much more accurate. On my Garmin, my pace would fluctuate wildly, especially under trees, and often gave paces that felt completely off. With the Suunto Race S, it’s much steadier and matches how it feels. I assume this will impact the TrainAsOne assessment.
- On Garmin, for trail runs, I would usually get an error about “cadence data containing zero-value points, all data ignored.” With the Race, I get full cadence data and no errors from TrainAsOne.
Weird:
- Workouts are called “Guides.” They seem to work the same, but there are no audio/vibration warnings when you go out of range.
- In my time zone (Asia), it shows tomorrow’s workout today, and I need to manually select the correct workout (after checking the app for the number). I’ve filed a bug report.
- It’s a pity that it doesn’t auto-name workouts—they just have names like “Monday run.” Garmin did this better by including the workout name.
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@mando congratulations to the new watch!
Small hint:
You can include weather data by linking Klimat to your Suunto account. It can be totally customized and adds whatever weather information you want to your workout description -
@mando the time zone issue has been a long standing issue for me as well. I have reported it to the Tao developer about a year ago but they never managed to resolve it.
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The lack of alerts for going out of zone as well as no alert for the end of the workout have all been raised multiple times in this forum and are Suunto issues rather than TAO. I’m still hopeful
The naming would also be really nice and, again, it’s a Suunto thing. You’ll notice there’s no reference to the workout anywhere in the suunto recorded activity.
The better pace info is most likely due to Suunto’s “FusedSpeed”
