Jamie

I was a swimmer in high school, and went to state twice in breaststroke. 20 years later, though, I'd moved away from my home swim team, had two kids, and lost access to a pool that was condusive to swimming laps. In the past year I hired a trainer to get back into shape, and the only equipment she required was a Polar heart rate monitor-- I got the F4 so that I could also count calories burned. The most important unexpected benefit to owning a Polar watch was in being able to pace myself effectively. Before, whenever I had the chance to get into a pool to swim laps, I would go "all out" (trying to match the pace I remembered 20+ years ago), and would wear myself out after only about five minutes in the water. But now, with the large percentage HR display which is easy to read underwater, I can pace myself, warming for 10 minutes up at 50%, swimming at 75-80% for 30 minutes, all out at 90% for 5 minutes, and warm down for 5 minutes. This gi! ves me an amazing feeling of accomplishment. Even though I can only get out to my local pool 1x per week (I have two kids under 5 and work full time), I feel my strength and stamina returning and know that it is due to being able to pace myself effectively with the Polar F4.