Pool swimming - how to manage Intervals *during* the swim ?
-
Re: Structured Intervals - screen for swimming in the pool.
Hi everyone,
I just came from GarminLand to a Suunto Run, and did my first pool swim today. I’m disappointed… I’m used to see metrics like “duration” and “distance” for the current interval, and also (on another screen for example) of total duration + distance. These are very different things, interval time vs total time, both important DURING the activity (if I can see it later in the App, great!, but I’m not checking my phone while I swim). Once I’m done with the interval, say 200m, I push a button, rest at the wall, during that time the watch shows “rest time” (among other things, maybe total time, total distance, whatever), then I push again the same button to start a new interval and the watch resets the counters so I see 0m and 0min0sec … I don’t want to see something like 21min43sec when starting a new 200m interval (or whatever I choose to want to swim then) and then have to do the math in my head while I swim to know my speed - it’s useful to have an idea of my pace while turning at the wall to know if I’m going too fast, too slow. Either way, I’m having trouble finding how I can simply see metrics (time, length swam) for individual intervals while swimming, instead of just total values - for that I might as well just have bought a chronometer…
I spent quite some time looking for this and cannot find the answer. I looked into buying an Apple Watch but ditched the idea after realising it could not do what I ask above - kept getting the same answers “the AW is a smartwatch, a lifestyle thing, not a sports watch”. So, it was between another Garmin or a Suunto and I was eager to make the jump, I like the design, the clean interface, the brand. I’m starting to be a little scared that a “sports watch” like my Suunto Run (which I presume shares the same Apps to the other Suuntos in the ecosystem, the Race S, Race 2, etc) cannot do something so simple ?
-
Can someone help: I misplaced this post (my first in the forum) in the wrong topic. It should be under “watch Suunto Run” or something more related to general pre-installed apps (shared by all watches) or specifically for swimming. Thanks.
-
@tailwind_mrs
Same here, pool swimming metrics for this watch is always the key for me to decide giving up on Garmin or not. And finally i bought Sunnto AGAIN~(race 2).not sure if the followings will cover your concern:
- There’s no Pause button in Suunto to split the intervals like the LAP button on Garmin watch.
- Top right button will stop total timer/distance but won’t split your intervals the way you want to review from the app after the total session, similar as what Garmin top right button does. And timer/distance will not start from 0 when you do next interval by pressing the top right button. At lease, in Suunto the rest timer is visible which Garmin doesn’t.
- bottom right button is just to manually split your interval and won’t Pause your activities, which is useless for me.
- sunnto will Pause automatically just a few seconds when hit the wall, and I’ve been tested my interval timing by left hand garmin (pause by pressing lap button) and right hand suunto (pause automatically) and guess what, sunnto is acceptable.
- Try Suunto Plus named “Send off”, or “Swim timer” which might fulfill your demands on pool swimming.
- Meantime, try to customize your activity data watch face, your will see your interval distance, timing, swolf, etc.
-
@jakexuan Thanks for your answer! You got exactly my problem. Coming from a Garmin, I find this be straightforward : I want to split my intervals at will, at the wall, and then see a timer/distance back to zero for the upcoming interval while swimming. Pool swimming is much more interval based than running, so this is a must.
I must say this seems like a simple button push away…
Unfortunately, I cannot use apps from Suunto Plus, as the Run is the only watch in the Suunto family that uses a difference OS and does not have access to extra Apps. A big limitation, but OK if Suunto keeps updating and correcting things via firmware updates. But, looking into how the Pool Swim App works for all other Suunto watches, I see this as a general problem and unlikely to change. I’m amazed it has never been addressed … ? Are we such few people asking for this ? Is it so hard to include ?
-
I just did some testing while swimming and found something. My Suunto Run is:
-
not recording any intervals nor laps automatically, I always need to push the lap button (bottom button) to get any splits, instead of just total time and distance for the entire swim;
-
if I use the manual lap button I do get splits in between each button push, but no detection of a rest at the wall - everything is considered a swim section, even if I’m stopped and my arm does not move (it becomes the last 25m of the last segment I swam, right before I pushed the lap button - if I swim 200m continuously in a 25m pool, then finish and push the lap button I’ll get a 175m lap with the right duration, followed by a 25m lap of the duration of my rest, until I push the lap button again and restart swimming);
-
more concerning, I do not get any stroke information, as in, no number of strokes, no style of swimming, nothing … just a column with “0” for avg stroke rate, and no column with the “swim style” as I’ve seen in other Suunto pool swimming activities in the App…
The Suunton Run is advertised in the Suunto website under the “Swimming” tab as capable of “Swimming time by pool length, lap, total”, “Swimming stroke rate, count and type”, “Automatic intervals” and “Interval lap table”. I’m getting none of this … Is this expected behaviour ?
-
-
@tailwind_mrs
I’ve heard suunto run somehow is not that “Friendly” to swimmers but from my acknowledge and experiences on suunto race/suunto race2/suunto S watches which i’ve been tested in the past, you just don’t need to do anything when you hit the wall, standstill, hold for few seconds (10" max), be patient, and your interval duration/pace/or whatever data will appear depending how you customize your watch face. Maybe try again~？ -
And here’s what the data look like from suunto app after my pool swim yesterday.
Sorry about the strange interval length coz the pool is 26m~
I did 5x200m in 4’20"/set, and another 5x100m in 2’10"/set.To start AND complete the session by pressing the top right button, on top of that, i don’t have press any button during the whole session, but focus on the timing to push out on time. Normally i’ll keep the watch face at “interval list” so i will see how many intervals i’ve done and how long it took, simple it is~!
-
@jakexuan Hey! Thanks for all that.
Yeah, your activity is exactly what I expected to see too. But, it is not… somehow the Run does not detect the pauses at the wall, nor breaks it down into intervals, or multiple segments like you have here. I see these sort of activities coming from the Race 2, Race S, etc, and since the Swimming specs of the Run match perfectly those of the Race S, I expected to see the same. I’m used to get metrics like these from the Garmins I have owned in the past - it’s always been easy to have pool swims broken down into intervals with those watches.I already contacted Suunto about this and got very mixed feedback, from an agent via chat saying the Run is not very good for swimming, and not really going into details (he was simply copy/pasting results to my questions from some AI agent like chatGPT into the chat), to another saying this is definitely not normal and that he would escalat the issue to the tech department, to even another one saying “At the moment, Suunto Run records total swim time and distance, but manual interval tracking and lap-based metrics within pool swimming are limited compared to other sport modes.” and “Suunto Run is still a relatively new addition to our lineup, and we’re actively improving it through firmware updates based on user feedback like yours.” which is both good and bad.
I’s good to know they haven’t forgotten this watch, but at the same time, 6 months after its release it is still not capable to do what is literally advertised in their own product page.
I know the right thing is to get a Race S and return the Run, if I want to stick with Suunto, but at the same time this thing of buying a watch for what Suunto says it can do, but then it doesn’t feels wrong…
-
@tailwind_mrs if you want real interaction with support mail to support@suunto.com. Chat never didn’t help me…
-
@2b2bff thanks, I did. The reply I pasted above (“At the moment, Suunto Run records total swim time … […]") come from the only answer I got so far from support@suunto.com.
The one agent who said this issue would be escalated has not provided me with a case number, so I have no idea where things stand. I also used the “feedback” option in the Settings menu of the phone App, to provide feedback directly to the dev team (as suggested by an agent in a chat), twice, with different issues, but have not received any reply.
As things stand, my Suunto Run unit does nothing in terms of pool swims, does not detect rests at the wall, does not detect stroke number, does not breakdown the swims into intervals, and I still don’t know if this is by design (the Run simply cannot do those things) or if my unit is faulty. The only thing I know is that the specs page for the Suunto Run are almost a carbon copy of the Race S (including the Swimming portion), but that both watches are advertised to do all the things above.
-
it reminds me that I’ve tried to tested the data field named “REST”, and “SWIM REST TIME” (if i remember correctly) and everything related to rest timer hoping it would work as Garmin does unfortunately it dosn’t. At least not on my suunto race2 (not sure if the same for suunto race/race s/v1/v2)
the REST time is for your total rest time not for each interval, for example:
Interval 1. 100m@1:40 and rest 20". When i stop, rest timer activated from 0", and i push off when rest timer goes to 20";
Interval 2. the same as inv 1. but i the rest time will started from 20" not 0", unlike garmin.
My point is, to do a interval training with a high accurate timing without doing any math, i don’t have choice but relies on the “Send off” or “Swim timer” from S+. So what is the use of “REST” data field anyway? i don’t get it. Tried to leave the message in “Feedback” and nothing yet…
-
@jakexuan I see what you mean: a REST field that shows TOTAL REST instead of CURRENT REST is less useful. I don’t care how much total rest I did… but it’s useful in between sets.
After my bad experience with the Run, I’m trying to figure out how the other watches differ relative to recording and displaying interval info for pool swimming. It seems they are mostly in line, being the Suunto Run the outliar, not capable to detect anything but pool lengths. Since the hardware seems very similar, it’s almost as if the App developed in the new platform (for the Run only) is the culprit.
If you push the bottom button to mark the end of the interval, instead of waiting for the auto-detection, would that help in triggering a new screen where you could see the Rest duration set to zero… ?
-
@tailwind_mrs
seems suunto run is not a good choice for swimmer, hope it could do the same job as other series throughout software update in further perhaps (finger-cross), or, go back to Garmin? or race/vertical series…And by pressing the bottom button after each interval WON’T STOP the interval time, but SPLIT the interval distance & time, no CURRENT REST TIME in anywhere. However, press the top button will see CURRENT REST TIME, but cant split the interval.
The “auto stop” seems can’t be deactivated, which is only option for me to track interval data.
