National Post (National Edition)
GPS watches just the thing to motivate runners.
GPS gives you a running coach on your wrist
Bill Clinton, the 42nd American president, did as much to transform running as any shoe company or individual athlete. In 2000, Clinton removed the technical restrictions on Global Positioning Satellites that were launched far outside the Earth’s orbit to help the American military determine their time and location in any weather condition, all over the world. These satellites, which number 27 and can broadcast a signal from 37,000 kilometres away, emit between 20 and 30 watts of power and now, since their signals are unrestricted, fuel one of the key growth markets in the running industry: high-tech GPS watches.
“Nike had some success with their foot pod and sport band, but they wanted a watch that could take them to the next stage — we’re experts in GPS technology,” says Mark Gretton, vice-president of fitness engineering for TomTom, the Dutch company that designs the hardware for Nike’s SportWatch, which doubled in sales between 2011 and 2012. “We had no brand presence in the sport’s arena, but had the technology; they had the brand, but no tech skills. It was a good match because this is clearly something that runners of all levels are craving.”
John Stanton, founder of the Running Room, said last week that the best way to keep motivated with running is to continually look for areas to improve. There are several ways to do this. You can run more often; run further or else look to reduce your finishing time, score a new “personal best.” GPS watches, generally priced between $100 and $300, can become an essential training device because, in addition to acting like a stop watch, they track speed, pace, distance and time-per-kilometre.
Timex, a company dating back to the Waterbury Clock Company of 1854, solely manufactured its first GPS watch in 2010. Paul Bernstein, the company’s senior product manager for health and fitness, told me that all of the major watch companies basically use the same technologies (which shouldn’t be that shocking; the same holds true for most shoes). What matters, he says, when selecting a watch with GPS capabilities, is what you intend to use the watch for.
“We have watches that track tons of data fields, but if you just want to know how far five kilometres is, that other information can be a distraction,” Bernstein says. “We have watches that give alerts for when you should eat or drink, when your heart rate’s too high or low, but after talking with runners in Boston, know what? Most people just want to know how fast they’re going.”
By keeping track of your speed and distance, the GPS watch can act like your running coach. Suddenly, you’re not just going out a few times a week for a jog, you’re competing in a sport. This can’t help but increase motivation.
Marc Roy is North America’s speed guru, the Ottawa-based founder of Sports Stats, the company that now times more races than anyone else in the world. Roy, whose technology helped nab the two cheaters at last week’s Vancouver Sun Run, doesn’t use GPS in his time chips, it would make costs prohibitively expensive. He does, however, where a Garmin 910 on his own runs. The trick to reducing your finishing time, he says, is to remain hyperaware of your pace.
“GPS watches have changed our industry,” he says. “They made it better, because, thanks to keeping track of every detail surrounding pacing, it allows amateurs to race just like the pros.”