First ill give a little background then my question. I started running and triathlon just over a year ago in an effort to drop some weight and get in shape, and the bug has bite me so I'm gearing up and have started a training plan for this up coming season. Where I live dictates that I'm self coached
(haven't felt the need for an online coach yet, and staying motivated on a training plan hasn't been a problem
). I have two big races on my calendar for this year, a half marathon
(my first
) in early June and 70.3 Boulder in August. Running is certainly my weakest area and in the Tri's I did last year it was certainly my weak leg. Being a data geek I loved training outside and having my GPS watch
(Suunto
) to keep track of HR, distance and pace. But now being stuck on an indoor for the winter posses a problem because the indoor options on the watch are off far enough that it is unrealistic. The track I have access to is an odd distance
(7 laps + 153 feet = 1 mile
) so lap times are tough to compute into pace. So is started looking at a foot pod as a solution and came across the new Stryd foot pod. Reviews all say it is very accurate for distance and pace in a variety of conditions, so it would meet the need there. But my question then becomes will the added metrics be worth the added cost over another pod?
Does anyone have experience with it? Is is feasible as a self coached person fairly new to running that it will help improve form by providing live
(accurate
) feedback on efficiency while making adjustments to my stride out on a run?
Last year
(being new
) I suffered in a few races because I was following heart rate that was being affected by other factors I hadn't accounted for, so is this the solution to help pace races more effectively than heart rate?
I've read about every review I can find on them and they all seem to be done by high level athletes who self-report being at the level of seeking out "marginal gains" in improvement and they all seem to say it will do that for them. But I haven't been able to find how much advantage it can provide an average Joe like me. Does marginal gains to a high level athlete mean marginal gains for me too. Or, are the gains only marginal for them because they are already at near peak performance and because there is a lot of untapped potential
(for lack of better words
) in an average runner can effectively use this device to shorten the time to get to that level of performance/efficiency?
Hope all that made sense...