Speed Coach?

[kayadogg]

Danny Ching told me that is what he does.  He also said he has good eyes. 

Danny uses a Speed Coach so either his eyes are getting worse or he prefers it over his Garmin. I've seen pics of him with it on his OCs too.

Does the stroke rate thing really help help you to learn and get faster? Appreciate any thoughts.                       

Rideordie, no particular success stories here but I will chime in about the stroke rate. I'll admit that I was skeptical when I switched from my Garmin to a Speed Coach. I didn't use the stroke rate function that much at first. Over time, I started to use it more, in conjunction with some stroke technique workouts that my training club was doing. One of our training drills was to paddle at one stroke rate for 2 minutes, take a break, reduce the stroke rate by about 15, paddle another 2 minutes, etc. It was eye opening to measure the total distance paddled in each of the 2 minutes, which turned out to be almost the exact same. This made me more aware of how a slower stroke rate but deeper, longer strokes can put me in the same spot as if I was really going at it. When you slow down, you can take a breather and get some energy back. It's hard to tell this without the stroke rate, and now I know what my speed should be given certain variables and stroke rate. So, in a very long-winded answer, the stroke rate function has helped me learn quite a bit and helped me get faster.

[juandoe]

Guess it has been a while, April 2014.  I think he must've learned a thing or two from me

[SG50SUP]

wannaride, here is a stand alone cadence sensor specifically for paddling. Could be paired with Garmin, Polar or a Smart Phone.
Could be used with your perfectly good GPS/HRM watch. It goes for $225.

http://www.vaakacadence.com

Does anyone have any experience with that one?

Been using Vaaká Cadence for a year now for my 11 City 220km paddle training.
Paired with my Ambit2 it gives very accurate real time readings of:
Speed, Cadence, Distance per Stroke

What I like is I can customize my own interval  training schedule. Power training based on cadence vs distance and speed. And in top of that I can also plan paddle routes using POIs on Movescount / GoogleMap before setting off which helped me with point-to-point navigation during the 220km race.

My Suunto Ambit is mounted on my deck. The 50mm watch face gives bright readout big enough for this 44 yr old. I had the ANT+ version. The AAA battery is impressive after a years' continuous abuse. It's gauged to last 2 years. Measurement accuracy is dependent on user GPS interval setting. Which I've set for every 1 second on mine and it works great (but will drain your watch battery fast). I've put mine to real world testing with the Ambit2 S and at 1sec intervals the SUUNTO died after 4.5 hrs during the 6hr long race. Haha!

I have now upgraded my watch to AMBIT3 Sapphire and with the new Bluetooth Vaaká, the battery have lasted more than 6 hrs at 1sec intervals. It should last 8+ hours.

Instead of Speedcoach2 + extra package, or Makai which only gives speed and no direction. I now have a handsome watch of choice with Vaaká with realtime readouts, results I can carry with me on smartphone over the days training performance. And set up next training straight fm my phone. Bar none.


Twitter @SUPmission

[kayadogg]

Been using Vaaká Cadence for a year now for my 11 City 220km paddle training.
Paired with my Ambit2 it gives very accurate real time readings of:
Speed, Cadence, Distance per Stroke

What I like is I can customize my own interval  training schedule. Power training based on cadence vs distance and speed. And in top of that I can also plan paddle routes using POIs on Movescount / GoogleMap before setting off which helped me with point-to-point navigation during the 220km race.

My Suunto Ambit is mounted on my deck. The 50mm watch face gives bright readout big enough for this 44 yr old. I had the ANT+ version. The AAA battery is impressive after a years' continuous abuse. It's gauged to last 2 years. Measurement accuracy is dependent on user GPS interval setting. Which I've set for every 1 second on mine and it works great (but will drain your watch battery fast). I've put mine to real world testing with the Ambit2 S and at 1sec intervals the SUUNTO died after 4.5 hrs during the 6hr long race. Haha!

I have now upgraded my watch to AMBIT3 Sapphire and with the new Bluetooth Vaaká, the battery have lasted more than 6 hrs at 1sec intervals. It should last 8+ hours.

Instead of Speedcoach2 + extra package, or Makai which only gives speed and no direction. I now have a handsome watch of choice with Vaaká with realtime readouts, results I can carry with me on smartphone over the days training performance. And set up next training straight fm my phone. Bar none.


Twitter @SUPmission

I'd say that's a winning combo, nice work.

[burchas]

wannaride, here is a stand alone cadence sensor specifically for paddling. Could be paired with Garmin, Polar or a Smart Phone.
Could be used with your perfectly good GPS/HRM watch. It goes for $225.

http://www.vaakacadence.com

Does anyone have any experience with that one?

Been using Vaaká Cadence for a year now for my 11 City 220km paddle training.
Paired with my Ambit2 it gives very accurate real time readings of:
Speed, Cadence, Distance per Stroke

What I like is I can customize my own interval  training schedule. Power training based on cadence vs distance and speed. And in top of that I can also plan paddle routes using POIs on Movescount / GoogleMap before setting off which helped me with point-to-point navigation during the 220km race.

My Suunto Ambit is mounted on my deck. The 50mm watch face gives bright readout big enough for this 44 yr old. I had the ANT+ version. The AAA battery is impressive after a years' continuous abuse. It's gauged to last 2 years. Measurement accuracy is dependent on user GPS interval setting. Which I've set for every 1 second on mine and it works great (but will drain your watch battery fast). I've put mine to real world testing with the Ambit2 S and at 1sec intervals the SUUNTO died after 4.5 hrs during the 6hr long race. Haha!

I have now upgraded my watch to AMBIT3 Sapphire and with the new Bluetooth Vaaká, the battery have lasted more than 6 hrs at 1sec intervals. It should last 8+ hours.

Instead of Speedcoach2 + extra package, or Makai which only gives speed and no direction. I now have a handsome watch of choice with Vaaká with realtime readouts, results I can carry with me on smartphone over the days training performance. And set up next training straight fm my phone. Bar none.


Twitter @SUPmission

Your detailed description does this product a better service than their own website! It might be time to ditch the SpeedCoach and finally get some accurate realtime readouts.
Thanks for that SG50SUP.

[juandoe]

I am still waiting for the power meter.  Haven't had any issues with real time accuracy with my speedcoach.

[SG50SUP]

wannaride, here is a stand alone cadence sensor specifically for paddling. Could be paired with Garmin, Polar or a Smart Phone.
Could be used with your perfectly good GPS/HRM watch. It goes for $225.

http://www.vaakacadence.com

Does anyone have any experience with that one?

Been using Vaaká Cadence for a year now for my 11 City 220km paddle training.
Paired with Suunto Ambit it gives very accurate real time readings of:
Speed, Cadence, Distance per Stroke...

Your detailed description does this product a better service than their own website! It might be time to ditch the SpeedCoach and finally get some accurate realtime readouts.
Thanks for that SG50SUP.

Thanks Burchard, 'Train hard but train smarter' they say.

There is enough information on their site about training to paddle faster while focusing on reducing stroke rate. In fact few weeks ago Brendan released a free ebook, "How to paddle faster" which is a free download. www.vaakacadence.com/653-2/



Twitter @SUPmission

[wannaride]

The link to the vaakacadance website is not working!   The problem with this idea is that you still have to look at your watch.  That's going to interrupt your paddling.

[SG50SUP]

URL worked this morning. They must have updated the Web link. Read my post again. Watch is mounted on my SUP deck. There's enough ways to have GPS watch mounted.


Twitter @SUPmission

[WIPaddlr]

Unless I missed it  no one has mentioned what I consider the most important  feature of the SUP2, the meters per stroke or glide feature. I am planning on buying one for that reason alone over my 310XT. Then you can compare different shaft lengths, blade sizes, compare technique changes, etc. and see immediate effect in realtime per stroke which would be awesome! I don't think anything else out there does this that I know of.

[juandoe]

There is so much variability between strokes, I find it hard to find the signal in the noise.  My typical stroke would bounce between 9 and 11 ft.  Even a 10 % improvement in equipment would be hard to see real time.  I quit trying to use it.  My workouts are intervals so I try to maintain a minimum speed.  I do note my cadence so I get some indirect measure of distance per stroke.

[SG50SUP]

Unless I missed it  no one has mentioned what I consider the most important  feature of the SUP2, the meters per stroke or glide feature. I am planning on buying one for that reason alone over my 310XT...
...I don't think anything else out there does this that I know of.

Merry Christmas paddlers!
There are a few products that does this WIPaddlr. Easiest way to have it on your current setup is to add Vaaká Cadence Sensor on your paddle shaft. Paired with your 310XT and heart rate meter and you can get realtime stroke count (cadence), distance per stroke and power. Image below is one of the watch screen I have on my Suunto.



Twitter @SUPmission

[Rideordie]

My kids gave me a Speed coach Sup 2 for Christmas!!  Can't wait to try it out!!
 

[Board Stiff]

I've been planning to get a SpeedCoach or similar device in the spring, so this topic has been very informative. The modularity of the vaka stroke monitor in combination with a garmin or other device that can do everything a speedcoach does plus help navigate is very appealing (especially after getting disoriented in Casco Bay and ending up way off course a couple times last summer!  ). The biggest potential drawback I see with these speedcoach alternatives, though, is poor visibility. My vision isn't great to begin with, and on a sunny day, with sunglasses, often streaked with sweat or speckled with salt water after a dip, I don't think I'd be able to read a watch-sized display mounted on my board.

Are there any GPS/HR monitor devices compatible with the vaka stroke monitor that use a large mountable display rather than a watch? I imagine I could use a smartphone as the display, but those aren't great in bright sun (especially behind a waterproof case), and the battery life is typically short when the brightness is cranked up enough to see them in outdoor conditions.

Alternatively, are there any plans to add navigation features to the SpeedCoach, or compatible devices that can add this capability? How about any good standalone android apps that I could use in addition to a speedcoach to navigate along a pre-programmed route?

[wannaride]

I've now had my Speed Coach now for almost two months and am very pleased with it.  It's a model 2 with the training pack.  It mounts perfectly in the GoPro mount on my Starboard All Star and use the forward leash loop with a zip tie to secure the Speed Coach leash.

You can change the information shown by the Speed Coach.  I continue use my Garmin 310 XT  to track my total time,  time of day and distance.  On the Speed Coach the displays are set for strokes per minute,  distance per stroke,  speed and heart rate.  I use a Wahoo heart rate monitor which interfaces with the Garmin (by ant) and Speed Coach (by bluetooth) at the same time.  The .fit file produced will also show distance, time, heart rate and calories burned. 

Getting the information downloaded and into Garmin Connect is quite easy on my Mac.  Spend a few minutes with the device and the instructions and you will master it all in little time.  The amount of information that you can get on an Excel download is amazing but information overload for me.  A simple .fit file provides all of the information you need.   

The current speed is probably the most important piece of information you get.  However the distance per stroke and stroke rate have really helped my technique and its great to be able to see my heart rate immediately.

The Speed Coach has a pretty long battery life and I only recharge it after 5 or so hours.  I would suggest you delete workouts once they are downloaded.

There should be no question mark after "Speed Coach" in the title to this thread.  When I use other boards I feel kind of lost.  My only regret is that I didn't get one sooner.

Questions?