Timex IronmanTM Race Trainer Heart Rate Monitor Watch (Blue/Gray)
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Looking for an affordable, yet powerful heart rate monitor watch? The Timex Race Trainer and Timex Road Trainer watches offer a “watered down” version of the fundamental features found in the top-line sports watches, without the hefty price tag.
The latest generation Timex Sports Watch combines heart rate monitoring, with the latest trend of computer connectivity with their new XChange technology that allows you to upload your data to PC and enter it into the Training Peaks online community to compare and discuss with like-minded athletes.
The Timex training site is a centralized portal where you can track your training as well as your dietary intake.
The intuitive website takes a leaf out of what other leading watches such as Garmin Watches, Suunto and Polar sports watches are doing, they offer the transfer of data to PC with the option of importing into their custom-built online portals.
Never before have athletes had such an opportunity to compare and communicate with like-minded athletes from around the world.
The Timex Race Trainer Heart Rate Watch
The Timex Race Trainer is suitable for semi-serious and serious runners. The standout features include:
| · Digital FM Heart Rate Monitor for elimination of crosstalk and interference, features a user-replaceable battery |
| · 10 session workout memory with 50-lap memory per session with average lap HR |
| · Target HR zones with time in zone and alerts, recovery heart rate, average and peak HR per session, calorie measurement |
| · Optional Data Xchange ANT+ USB device, allows transfer of data to PC and the online Timex training site |
| · 5x interval timers with individual training zones · Compatible with Windows Vista, XP, Mac Intel and PowerPC Personal Computers |
If you’ve used a Timex sports watch in the past and have been frustrated at the need to use the external data recorder to save your session data, you’ll be pleased by the Race Trainer’s ability to store session and heart rate data in the watch piece itself. The crucial piece of technology you will require to download your training data from Race Trainer to computer is the Timex Data Xchanger, which is an optional component.
The Xchanger uses ANT+ technology, that connects to your PC via a USB port, allowing you to wirelessly transfer your watch data to your computer. ANT+ compatibility is the technology used in the Garmin Forerunner 405CX GPS Watch. This means your Timex heart rate monitor chest strap can be used with this popular Forerunner watch.
The ANT+ Data Xchanger also allows you to edit your watch settings from your computer, meaning you can configure heart rate zones, alarms, interval timers, etc from your desktop computer. You can also analyze and edit stored workouts.User reports have also suggested that the slimline chest strap that comes with this watch is incredibly comfortable compared with other Timex heart rate monitors.
The Race Trainer watch from Timex comes in four modern style color schemes for both men and women.
Buy Timex Race Trainer and Timex Road Racer Watches
- The online interface lets you create and customize an account and transfer your data into the online portal. It is essentially an online journal that can accommodate your personal fitness and nutritional information. The interface is powered by the Training Peaks platform, an established web portal for fitness tracking with wide support for a large number of devices.
- With the Timex training site, not only can you import and analyze your personal fitness data, but you can choose to follow any number of structured workout plans which have been designed for athletes of all levels by six time Ironman winner Dave Scott. The site also features the blogs of more than 40 Timex multi-sport team athletes for an endless source of training tips, advice and inspiration.
Three free plans are automatically available when you create an account:
- Novice Sprint Distance Swim Plan (Dave Scott)
- Intermediate Olympic Distance Swim Plan (Dave Scott)
- 6 Week Strength and Injury Prevention Program (Dave Scott)
If you need something more specific, you have the option of selecting from many more commercially available training programs, which can be purchased online through the interface.
This is an example of the online portal interface. The default screen, “calendar view” allows you to navigate past sessions and enter in new ones on the days you’ve trained
When your workout data has been uploaded, the Timex Training site provides a customizable “dashboard” that is populated with different types of information, analysis pages, journals, calendars and even tips on daily nutrition.
The Timex Road Trainer Heart Rate Monitor Sports Watch
- If you are after a basic watch without online functionality, the Timex Road Trainer is a heart rate monitor watch without online support, but with most of the same functionality as the Race Trainer watch. The road trainer is suitable for semi-serious athletes seeking a cheap heart rate monitoring watch and can live without the extra memory and data transfer ability found in the Road Trainer.
- The Road Trainer does not support session workout storage and does not support Interval Timers. It can track the same information that the Race Trainer can over a single workout, but if you need multiple session storage, the Race Trainer or another sports watch is a better option.
- We would recommend the Road Trainer watch as a great starter heart rate monitor watch for semi-serious runners that want to track their vital statistics on their long runs.
In Summary
Overall the Timex Race Trainer watch is an affordable, mid-level heart rate monitor watch with the ability to transfer workout data to a computer and then import that same data into a powerful online community portal.
The Road Trainer watch is a cheaper alternative to the Race Trainer, sharing many of the heart rate features, but lacks the multi-session storage, interval timers and PC data transfer ability of the IronmanTM Race Trainer.
If you are seeking a more powerful Timex sports watch that also has the ability to transfer data to PC and into the online portal (with the Timex Data Recorder), consider a Timex Bodylink watch.
View the Race Trainer website here.