Feature proposal - "Race plan"
-
I’d like to suggest a feature that I always wanted when doing ultramarathon races. I don’t know if this can be implemented as an S+ app.
Imagine having a route with waypoints for the race where each waypoint corresponds to a checkpoint or an aid station, or other notable POI. That is already possible. But I want a time (in terms of race elapsed time) attached to each waypoint. Then as I move through the race I get some additional stats about the current “segment” of the race between these waypoint, including the upcoming waypoint name, remaining distance, remaining amount of climb and descent, whether I am on schedule (how much I am ahead or behind the planned time). If the calculation of time ahead or behind can be a bit more intelligent and take the terrain into the account, that would be a plus.
So basically the idea is that I have a plan - a route with timing information and checkpoints, and this should help me to plan ahead a race and execute it.
These “segments” between checkpoints should also be represented on the vertical profile by showing waypoints on the profile and allowing me to zoom to one segment at a time. I think a feature like this, if well implemented, would be be appealing to all endurance athletes who do long races, not just ultrarunners. Garmin has something similar with its Pace Pro feature, but in my experience Pace Pro isn’t suitable for races with significant changes in elevation, and doesn’t have a concept of checkpoints.
-
I believe there is already support (in the normal list of metrics available to customise your activity screens) for distance to next waypoint and time to next waypoint (based on current pace) which work if you have a route loaded and active. It would also be possible to see stats about the current segment if you were to use current lap metrics and manually trigger a new ‘lap’ at each checkpoint. However, I think there’s lots more scope, as you suggest, for some great extra support for longer races such as enhancing the vertical display, triggering an auto-lap as you pass a waypoint and providing some extra metrics such as remaining vertical change before the next waypoint or letting you attach notes to a waypoint.
-
@far-blue Yes, I am aware of all those data fields. I used them in the past with Suunto 9 Baro.
What I propose goes beyond that. For example, knowing time to next waypoint is pretty useless by itself. At best, you can use it to estimate how well you are doing if you remember when you are supposed to arrive in each of aid stations. But what if your race has 20 of them? World you even have a mental capacity later in the race to do calculations like that - take the current time, add estimated ETE, do all the math with minutes and hours?
What I propose is that you set your target times in advance when planning, for example by looking at your prior performance in the same race in a previous year or by estimating it in some other way. For example, arrive at the first aid station 50m into the race, second - 1h45m, third - 2h40m, etc. This information could be associated with each waypoint and the FIT format allows to store that as a part of the route. Then as you go during the race, you can see both estimated performance against your target times based on ETE as well as the actual one based on when you arrive at each waypoint.
I’ve done something similar many times by writing planned times on a piece of paper and laminating it with some clear tape and looking at it during the race. But having all of that on the watch during the race along with remaining distance and remaining ascent/descent would be super useful. It would be even more useful if I could scroll through those aid stations or see a summary in a way similar to how that is done in Garmin’s Up Ahead feature.
-
@sky-runner
Not suunto, not in watch, not recent, you may know already, but just to share, in case
http://dpsite.free.fr/index.php5?n=CourseGenerator.Telechargement -
@sky-runner Hello colleagues.
I could suggest a running partner, a Suunto+ application that I have used in these days in which I have entered data, estimated time of arrival at specific points, refreshments, control…
They are cards arranged according to distance segments in the order of the journey. They discount the remaining distance to the next point or card. What I see missing is that if you increase the arrival time at that point or decrease it, that INITIAL programming goes down the drain.
-
@sky-runner Näak has partnered with Suunto so you can plan race nutrition using the Suunto+ app. This is done through the Näak website https://www.naak.com/pages/nutrition-calculator
I have found this useful on long races.
I think a lot of what you ask for is present in Suunto+ apps but we are limited to two of them. Some of this should be baked into the watches. I would love to see Suunto dedicate some watch development to specifics, for example a Vertical for those that want Mountaineering, etc and one for Racing. The hardware could be identical with firmware tweaks where the Suunto+ Race Companion and Nutrition are built in. -
@Brad_Olwin why is it limited to two? Maybe it is easier to lift that limit than to implement it in the watch itself.
-
@sky-runner I agree completely, I was just suggesting quite a lot of what you would like is “almost” there so the step forward wouldn’t be massive.
There is the suunto+ app that you can setup with notes at times or distances (I think) that might also be of help if you’ve not tried it. I do think it would be good to have more of this baked in though. As you say, the FIT file format would allow for custom fields so being able to add metadata to a waypoint in a route plan such as arrival time or nutrition notes or anything else you want would be easy and flagging the waypoint in some way could allow the watch to show stats between points or assent to next point etc. very easily.
@2b2bff I think Suunto’s biggest concern with increasing the number of S+ apps, based on previous comments in this forum, is the battery drain. I get the impression Suunto are keen that their watches meet the advertised battery duration even with all the features in use - including maps, vertical climb info and 2 S+ apps. Maybe a solution here would be to allow more apps but with a warning that pops up to highlight estimated battery life will be less accurate with more apps. Personally I never push the limits of the battery on my Race S and would love to make more use of S+ apps - or even just 2 apps and a workout.
