Benefits Of A Combined GPS / Pulse Watch
If you’re a serious runner (or even a somewhat-serious runner), you have no doubt heard of pulse watches, and maybe even owned one. Likewise, you probably have an interest in GPS running watches as well.
Each of these running watch styles has its own major advantages, and they can be used to even greater advantage when combined into a single, GPS pulse watch. But first, let’s look at each of the two functions to get a sense of their intended purpose, before exploring their combined benefit.
Pulse watches
The purpose of a pulse watch is, of course, to keep track of your pulse while you exercise. A sensor on the back of the watch reads your pulse as the blood pulses through your wrist, and gives a reading on the watch face of how fast that pulse corresponds to a heart rate (measured in beats per minute). It’s a good way to tell how hard you are working at any given point in your workout.
GPS Watches
GPS watches, rather than tracking what’s going on inside your body, track where your body is in relation to the rest of the world. Using satellite signals, a GPS watch can track not only where you are in latitude and longitude, but some also measure height above sea level as well. Traditionally, a GPS running watch is used so that you can chart whatever running course you like (even through trails in a park or forest preserve), and then when you get home, you’ll have a readout of not only where and how far you went, but also how fast you ran, as well.
Combined GPS & Pulse Watches
The advantage, then, of combining the two, is seeing how this data corresponds. GPS running watches with pulse watch technology will chart not only where you went and how fast you went, but how your heart rate changed over the course of your run. Anyone can return from a long run and tell you they are tired. But with the data returned from one of these watches, you can see exactly which parts of the course gave you the most trouble, and you can also track your improvement over time.
Adding GPS technology to a pulse watch is one of the most effective ways to get truly useful feedback on your fitness.
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