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Running kit - electronic gadgetry

Published by Bupa's health information team, May 2008.

Many runners train happily without any specialist gadgets to help them. But if you are interested in monitoring and improving your performance, and you are intending to take up running on a regular basis, you might want to invest in some tools to help with your training and provide extra motivation.

Heart rate monitors
Pedometers
Related information

Heart rate monitors

You can train for a race without a heart rate monitor and without even taking your pulse, by gradually increasing the distance you run until you can cover the race distance. Have a look at our training programmes for more information about this type of training. If you don't really mind how long it takes you to complete a race, this is probably the easiest and most enjoyable way of training for you.

If you want more precise guidelines on how hard you should be training, perhaps because you are aiming to perform at a certain level, you might want to use a training plan based on your heart rate. It's possible to work out what your target heart rate should be, and to check your pulse as you run to make sure that you are in the right zone. All you need for this is a watch with a second hand on it - count the number of heart beats in 15 seconds and multiply by four to get your heart rate.

If you want to be more accurate about your heart rate, you can buy a heart rate monitor.

Heart rate monitors can be good for motivation because they allow you to see your fitness improving. For example, you may feel you are not getting any faster with your runs, but the monitor could let you know that your heart rate is lower than it was during the same run two weeks earlier.

How do they work?

Most heart rate monitors include a chest strap that you attach before your run. They work by sensing the heart rate and transmitting it to the watch as a number of beats per minute. So, you can instantly see what your heart rate is. Some heart rate monitors work without a chest strap. They may require you to place your fingers on special sensors on the watch. These monitors can only tell you your heart rate when you actually have your fingers on the watch.

Which features are available?

At its simplest, a heart rate monitor will tell you what your current heart rate is. But there are various other functions available, such as upper and lower heart rate limits where an alarm sounds when your are outside your "training zone". You may manually input your target training zone, or the watch may calculate it for you. It will tell you when you aren't running hard enough to produce an improvement, or when you are pushing yourself too hard and need to slow down a bit.

Some heart rate monitors have calorie counters or will tell you how much time you have spent with your pulse rate in the "fat burning zone". You can also buy monitors that have software allowing you to download your heart rate information to a computer and plot your heart rate for individual runs, so you can monitor your progress throughout your training.

Extra features come at extra cost. You need to decide which features will be most useful for your training and what you are willing to spend (heart rate monitors range from about Ł40 to over Ł200).

Pedometers

You can train for a race without knowing precisely how far you are running. Or, you can simply measure your routes on a map and time how long your runs take to find out how fast you are running. Road runners can measure their distance by driving along a route and noting the distance on the milometer of the car - of course, this doesn't work if you are planning to run through parks or woodland.

Another way of obtaining feedback on your distance or pace may be to use a pedometer or a speed and distance monitor. A pedometer measures how far you have run. At its simplest it counts how many steps you have taken. You work out the distance by multiplying this by your average stride length, which you need to measure yourself.

Some pedometers allow you to enter your stride length and will calculate your distance. If you are going to use one of these, remember that your stride length will vary depending on your speed, with longer strides at faster speeds. So you will just get an estimation of distance rather than an accurate measurement.

If you want really precise measurements, you can buy monitors that use a GPS unit (global positioning system), to give you accurate feedback on your speed, distance and pace. These can pinpoint your location, plot routes for you and give you altitude readings.