HRM: God's gift to athletes?

[Pat McLean]

Got my heart rate monitor tonight, and like any good triathlete, learned the
basics and out I went.

The verdict: I am back!! I'm sure the outdoors had something to do with it
as some had mentioned, and the HRM kept me in line...Now it was only a12
minute run, probably covered about 2k(have to drive it after), but the point
is the only time I stopped was to walk for about 10 seconds to get down from
175 to the 138-151 range I wanted to be in...

Thanks to all who made suggestions, they were all helpful.

One question: I have a polar with the chest transmitter(I guess they all
have them?)...is it good/bad/indifferent to wear it in the pool? only with
a wetsuit? Thanks.

 

[Triman]

i wore mine in the pool without a wet suit
tri-man
http://www.tri-mansworldmailboxofficesupply.com/index.html

 

[DaveB]

Pat McLean wrote:
>
> One question: I have a polar with the chest transmitter(I guess they all
> have them?)...is it good/bad/indifferent to wear it in the pool? only with
> a wetsuit? Thanks.
>
>

I've used mine in the pool but needed to tighten the strap as the drag
of the water tended to move it down my body. Under the wetsuit in open
water swims it has usually worked fine.

DaveB

 

[John Hardt]

"Pat McLean" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Got my heart rate monitor tonight, and like any good triathlete, learned
> the basics and out I went.
>
> The verdict: I am back!! I'm sure the outdoors had something to do with
> it as some had mentioned, and the HRM kept me in line...Now it was only
> a12 minute run, probably covered about 2k(have to drive it after), but the
> point is the only time I stopped was to walk for about 10 seconds to get
> down from 175 to the 138-151 range I wanted to be in...
>
> Thanks to all who made suggestions, they were all helpful.
>
> One question: I have a polar with the chest transmitter(I guess they all
> have them?)...is it good/bad/indifferent to wear it in the pool? only
> with a wetsuit? Thanks.

Read the manufacturer's specs. MOST HRMs can be worn in the water without
trouble, but I have heard a few horror stories about some going belly up. I
do wear mine in the water, but I try to minimize it and usually only do it
during races. I should say that when I do wear it, I do so simply because I
want to have the read out for the balance of the race and don't want to mess
with the strap during T1. If you're actually expecting to get a reading
DURING your swim I suggest you forget it, you won't be able to read it
easily in the water anyway.

One other problem that some people have is that if you wear the HRM strap in
the pool without a wetsuit over it, you may find the strap sliding down your
torso constantly from the water flow. This probably depends on your
physical shape, swim speed, and how hard you push off the wall during turns.
But I have seen and heard from more than a few people who can't wear HRMs
during swims for this reason.

John