GPS Heart Rate Monitor

I took up competitive running later in life and started with a marathon as my goal. I took advice from various distance coaches and they recommended using a Heart Rate Monitor as part of my training. I have now been using heart rate monitors since 1998. My first HRM was just a chest strap and a digital readout of the heart rate. I still had to wear a running watch on the other wrist to measure my time!

Technology moved on and I got a GPS time and distance monitor and I was still wearing the HRM on the other wrist! This was better as I could download my time and distance to the computer. It was still a bit irritating as I still had two "watches" when I was running.

Finally a company developed exactly what I was looking for, a GPS Heart Rate Monitor all in one timepiece. This was great and all the data could be downloaded to my computer for analysis and route planning.

Since starting running with a heart rate monitor in 1998 I ran my first marathon in 1999. I went on to join Carnegie Harriers running club in 2003 and have run many races from 1 mile to 45 miles. For the last couple of years I have stopped running road races and run trail, cross country and my favorite hill races.

In hill racing the navigational element of the GPS Heart Monitor comes into its own as the routes are not marked and navigation is important.