Interval training with different durations?

amasidlover

@Brad_Olwin The problem is that, that is what I did - I bought the Ambit3 because I could set-up structured intervals in the Movescount App and sync them to the watch… As much as I’d like Suunto to offer a new generation product that has structured intervals and that I can put on my list of ‘possibles’ for an Ambit3 replacement, I’m not ‘angry’ about it.

On the other hand I will be annoyed if we get to the point where my careful saved Movescount App stops working due to some server side change of Suunto’s and I can no longer use one of the key features I bought the Ambit3 for.

Although I’m happy to concede this is off topic since this was in response to the owner of a Suunto9 - I only weighed in to try and balance the number of people telling him he is ‘training wrong’.

jsuarez

I would say that telling someone he is training wrong is not the way to go. What if he/she is choosing that structure so that it is also a bit more fun?

What if the next FW only allowed to customise simple intervals to the mile/km or the minute? Would we stop training 1/4mi or 400m? Telling someone to do things differently because a feature is removed or unimplemented is not right, specially when other brands allow to do that.

Not everybody has the privilege or the time to train with a group. I usually have to train alone and sometimes at night because my job does not allow me to do otherwise. That’s why to me custom intervals are good. No need to remember what stage you were in.

Just my two cents.

andrewglipman

While on my interval run this morning I found a few things that I did not know before (mainly because I had not tried it)

I set duration, recovery and number of reps before setting off.
On the warm up I could still change those values (wanted more recovery), presumably as I had not started the reps.
Did the workout.
Once complete, long middle press again, I could then set another set of reps with different duration etc.

Having come from Garmin 310 where I could set different elements, I thought that this is a good way round.
I expect that you could add more intervals again?

isazi

@andrewglipman yes you can long press the middle button and change your intervals mid activity. Along many other options.

andrewglipman

@isazi I knew that you could change some options, but didnt realise I could change the intervals, and add new ones, so for those wanted a bit more flexibility for interval workouts, this might be a way to help?

I will certainly give this another go.

freeheeler

@isazi
long time no hear about complex intervalls

@TELE-HO said in Interval training with different durations?:

@isazi
long time no hear about complex intervalls

When I saw the notification about this thread I thought it was black friday gift, Suunto Gives Complex Intervals!

Dimitrios Kanellopoulos

@André-Faria but they are 50% done, like for the next 10 years

freeheeler

@Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos
they are coming?
I never used intervalls at all, but I’ve heard it’s healthy and effective

Dimitrios Kanellopoulos

@TELE-HO nope that I know of

freeheeler

@Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos
ah, then I got you wrong sorry!

vinay

I come from a Polar S810 before I moved onto the Ambit 2S back in 2014 or so (because there was no way to synchronize this old Polar on a new Windows 8.1 computer… ). The Polar gave you different phases with each a number of repetitions. So when you wanted to program a pyramid interval, you had a lot of sets of one interval each. A hassle to set up, but it was possible. The Ambit series allow you to program it in some sort of code, the latest Suunto models don’t allow this currently it seems. How useful it is? I honestly don’t know. For ramping isometric strength training you work with constant intervals but ramp up the intensity so the fixed intervals of the the latest models are fine. But for running I actually like variable intervals and/or recoveries. When intervals are supposed to be all out, it is just easier to work with intervals decreasing in length (like the second half of the pyramid intervals). I think you’d otherwise end up preserving energy for the last few sets whereas otherwise you will actually always go all out the way you’re supposed to. But maybe the experts will tell me here that this makes zero sense from a training perspective ;). Indeed all training exercises I’ve been given by actual coaches have been with fixed length intervals.

Either way, what the Suunto 5 and Suunto 9 seem to have is SuuntoPlus with the “sprint” option. I haven’t tried this yet (have the Suunto 5) but it is supposed to recognize when you perform the interval. So if you have a separate interval timer (like the Gymboss unit, an old Polar watch, or a coach, or a training partner, or landmarks etc) you can just let that/those trigger you to perform the interval and the Suunto watch will register this as such. This function only works for running with GPS or footpod though, so for other sports you might need something else.