Going Polar --- with the RS800SD

We love our Garmins, yes we do: there's a Garmin Forerunner fan club among the members on this site, but... lately I've been wondering whether this trusty speed/distance and heart rate monitor is well overdue for an update.

My Inner Geek was caught by the techno-wizadry of the new Polar RS800 SD. This little beauty may be the most advanced running computer you can get. It not only offers superior info on heart rate (Heart Rate Variability, for one thing, which is dead useful), but also promises to give accurate stride length and cadence information. Now how cool is that?

Well, I guess it makes more sense if, like me, you're a runner whose "natural" style was The Lope. It can look elegant and effortless, but it is SO inefficient and potentially damaging in terms of impact. So, although I am a relatively long-legged six-footer, one of my first rules of engagement delivered by Sir Bobby was to work on quickening my cadence and, inevitably, REDUCING my stride length.

I got myself a hand-held metronome and set to. But it is such a pain to have to carry yet another gadget AND remember to keep checking in that my cadence is above 90 and heading more between 95 and 100. Having chopped my stride length, now I have got the cadence up I can allow it to lengthen slightly again... the classic formula for running faster is quicker strides + longer strides; how hard can it be?!? Hm. But how the pitter-patter do you measure your stride length?

Enter the Polar. Major roadblock: the Polar with high-tech accelerometer that fits on a shoe costs getting on for 500 bucks. Yikes! The good news is that when I pointed out the problem to the nice people at Polar USA and showed them the amount of (free) publicity Garmin get on YourRunning, they agreed to let me have one at near enough half-price - their "industry pricing".

The watch and pod arrived today. For the next few weeks I'll be easy to spot as the runner festooned in monitors, as I test the Polar with the Garmin. The first disadvantage to the Polar is it is not satellite-based, so I can't pull up maps and upload routes. A major disadvantage with the Garmin is that, being satellite-based, it can't cope with distance measuring on a track. I'm really looking forward to seeing how the Polar performs in comparison, how easy it is to use -- and whether it delivers what it promises.