Speed Coach with Training Pack Upgrade

[lwtguy]

Hey All,

I'm going to be buying a Speed coach GPS unit soon so it'll be here in time for my OTW training. My question is if shelling out the extra $50 is worth it for the Training Pack? I don't want to pay for it and not use it, but I don't want to be missing out on any big advantages. My goals are to compete in 1x races in the summer and fall, I've been rowing for 9 years (OTW) so I know what I'm doing with regards to making a training plan. I don't train by heart rate zones, but I do like to monitor it as I'm working out. Hopefully that's enough information for some informative answers.

[sander]

Hey All,

I'm going to be buying a Speed coach GPS unit soon so it'll be here in time for my OTW training. My question is if shelling out the extra $50 is worth it for the Training Pack? I don't want to pay for it and not use it, but I don't want to be missing out on any big advantages. My goals are to compete in 1x races in the summer and fall, I've been rowing for 9 years (OTW) so I know what I'm doing with regards to making a training plan. I don't train by heart rate zones, but I do like to monitor it as I'm working out. Hopefully that's enough information for some informative answers.

Disclaimer: I am a data geek and get pleasure from looking at my training data. I own a SpeedCoach GPS unit with training pack

The big advantage of the training pack is getting data off your unit to put in your electronic training diary of choice. I wasn't aware that without the training pack you cannot connect a HR belt.
Programmable workouts are a nice plus.

[lwtguy]

I'm a big fan of the data too so that'll be nice. I have a Garmin watch so the heart rate isn't a deal breaker. I can link my chest strap to the watch as well.

[Edward4492]

I used a speed coach all last summer. I'm a data geek.....but too old school to figure out the apps and everything else. As you probably know you can go back and look at your sessions and it breaks out every 100m with pace, rate and time. I log everything the old fashion way, I write it down when I get home. Probably makes more sense to be able to directly down load all of that info. And, as I'm sure you also already know, no need for wires and physical speed sensors. The GPS takes care of all of that. I would take it out in the quad and just turn it on and strap it on under the rigger (unless I was stroking) and look at ther work out later. Mine worked flawlessly all season.
Training pack probably makes sense.

[lwtguy]

I have the old speed coach wired up in my single, but I'm going to take it all out. Racing on the Schuylkill last fall, all the muck and crap got stuck in the impeller which slowed me down and prevented my Speed Coach from actually working. I like the idea of being able to swap in and out of different boats too and it sounds like the Training Pack is the way to go.

[lwtguy]

So I ended up springing for the extra $50 for the training pack. I'm getting out for the first time on Monday so I'm pretty excited to try it all out! Less than 3 months until my first 2K race!

[gregsmith01748]

sign up for a free account over on https://rowsandall.com/ and you can look at all the great data from your speedcoach graphically.

[TheRocketeer]

Do you know if the Speedcoach with Training Pack is compatible with the Polar H7 BLE heart rate transmitter? I know NK's site says the unit doesn't work with Polar models, but I wonder if they're talking about the older analog Polar models.

[gregsmith01748]

Do you know if the Speedcoach with Training Pack is compatible with the Polar H7 BLE heart rate transmitter? I know NK's site says the unit doesn't work with Polar models, but I wonder if they're talking about the older analog Polar models.

It is compatible and I have the data to prove it!