To help you balance your training Suunto Ambit3 has two recovery indicators: recovery time and recovery status. Read on and learn how to take advantage of these features. RECOVERY TIME Recovery time is an estimate of how long your body needs to recuperate after training. The time is based on the duration and intensity of the session, as well as the overall fatigue, accumulating even at lower intensities. Recovery time accumulates from one session to the next, if you train again before the time has expired. A graph of your recovery time is displayed as one of the screens in the time mode. When entering the logbook, the recovery time in hours is displayed on the screen. There is one important point to remember: the time is an estimate that is based on activities you have done with your Ambit3. It doesn’t have information about other aspects of life. Did you sleep enough? Do you have flu? Was your meal nutritious and helpful for your recovery? To get an accurate indication of your actual recovery state, we recommend using one of the two recovery tests. REVOVERY STATUS Recovery status indicates the amount of stress on your autonomic nervous system. The less stress you have, the more recovered you are. Knowing your state of recovery helps you optimize your training and avoid over training or injury. You can check your recovery status with a quick recovery test or sleep recovery test, powered by Firstbeat. The tests require a Bluetooth-compatible heart rate sensor that measures heart rate variability (R-R interval), such as Suunto Smart Sensor. Your recovery status is indicated with 0-100% result scale. Result & Explanation 81-100 Fully recovered. OK to train up to very hard intensity.51-80 Recovered. OK to train up to hard intensity.21–50 Recovering. Train easy.0-20 Not recovered. Rest to recover. The more serious you are with training and the more tests you do, the more important details are, also in the test results. For a top-level athlete a difference of five points in recovery status may be meaningful where as an active runner will be happy with the four point scale presented above. When entering the logbook, recovery is displayed as your estimated recovery time; if a recovery test is done within the past 24 h and after your previous move, the display will show the result of the last test. This assuming the recovery has been calibrated (see next chapter). CALIBRATING THE TESTS When you first start using Ambit3’s recovery tests the watch needs to be calibrated in order to provide accurate, personal results. The calibration tests define what 'fully recovered' means for your body. With each calibration test, your watch adjusts the results scale of the test to match your unique heart rate variability. You need to perform three calibration tests for both sleep recovery and quick recovery tests. The calibration tests do not need to be done in sequence, but they need to be at least 12 hours apart. These need to be done when you have no accumulated recovery time. Ideally, you also feel fully recovered and are not ill or stressed during these calibration tests. During the calibration period, you may get results that are higher or lower than expected. These results are indicated in the watch as your estimated recovery status until the calibration is completed. Once you have completed the calibration, the latest result is displayed when you enter the logbook instead of recovery time. SLEEP RECOVERY TEST The sleep recovery test, powered by Firstbeat, provides a reliable indicator of your recovery status after a night's sleep. To perform a sleep recovery test: Put on your heart rate belt and ensure the electrodes are moist. Press [Start Stop], scroll to RECOVERY with [Start Stop], and select with [Next]. Scroll to SLEEP TEST and select with [Next]. If you want to cancel the test, press [Back Lap]. When you are ready to get up in the morning, end the test by pressing [Start Stop] or [Next]. The sleep recovery test requires at least two hours of good heart rate data to produce results. The test does not take into account the length of the night meaning you can get similar results after a six-hour sleep and an eight-hour sleep. If you use your Ambit3’s alarm function, set the alarm first and then start the test. And in the morning stop both your alarm and your sleep recovery test. During the test you will see the time and SLEEP TEST on the bottom row of the screen. And last but not least: don’t worry if you have to get up in the middle of the night. This doesn’t make your test unreliable. The test selects the best two-hour period of your sleep and analyzes that. QUICK RECOVERY TEST The quick recovery test, powered by Firstbeat, is alternative way to measure your recovery status. The sleep recovery test is a more accurate method to measure your recovery status. But for some individuals, wearing a heart rate sensor throughout the night may not be feasible. The quick recovery test only takes a few minutes. For best results, you should lie down, stay relaxed, and not move around during the test. We recommend performing the test in the morning after waking up. This helps ensure you get comparable results day to day. To perform a quick recovery test: Put on your heart rate belt and ensure the electrodes are moist. Lie down and relax in a quiet environment free from disturbances. Press [Start Stop], scroll to RECOVERY with [Start Stop], and select with [Next]. Scroll to Quick test and select with [Next]. Wait for the test to complete. When the test is complete, scroll through the results with [Next] and [Back Lap]. TROUBLE SHOOTING THE RECOVERY TESTS There are basically two reason for the tests to fail: Bad skin contact or low HR belt battery will generate bad data and the test will fail. If you are too stressed for the test, like right after a training session, the test is likely to fail. The results of the tests do not impact your estimated recovery time.   Read more about the feature in Firstbeat’s scientific white papers: Recovery Analysis for Athletic Training Based on Heart Rate Variability Stress and Recovery Analysis Method Based on 24-hour Heart Rate Variability   Read more Tutorial Tuesday articles at tutorialtuesday  Get support for your Suunto product and find user manuals at support

Canadian backcountry skiers Andy and Mike Traslin love skiing – whatever the conditions. As a result they have skied every single month for 104 months! We caught up with Andy to talk about their never-ending ski season. How did your endless ski season get started?Our original goal was to try to ski for 12 months in a row, one consecutive year. After that it just became part of my life. When we got to 85 I started thinking that it would be a good goal, a cool milestone, to hit 100. How has it been possible to accomplish this? Have you travelled a lot?What makes this possible is where we live in the Southwestern part of British Columbia. Here a deep snowpack typically tends to stick all year round in the high alpine. From our base it is two hours to Whistler and two hours to Mt. Baker. I really enjoy traveling and seeing new areas. BC has endless terrain for backcountry skiing. My favorite spot is Mt. Baker in Washington, USA. Mt Baker is a volcano that rises to 3,286 meters (10,770 feet), offers over 2,000 meters (7000 feet) of descent and glaciated terrain that has snow all year round. There’s everything from short early winter powder laps to epic steep ski descents on the North Face in spring and summer. Andy Traslin enjoying the endless winter. Has there been any nearly missed months along the way?As in any sport injuries happen. Mike had a knee injury. I pulled my back. But we still managed to get out there. Lately we have made sure to go out at the beginning of the month to leave more time in case injuries or unforeseen circumstances. Have you noticed any significant changes in the snow cover during these years?The past two years has been significantly less snowfall. Especially this year has been one of the worst seasons I can remember. Hopefully this is not a sign of things to come. I have grown up in this area and there were seasons like this in the 80s. Have you skied together every month?We ski together most of the summer months. But in the main part of the season it's good to get out and ski with other people. I also like to ski solo once in a while as well. How would you describe yourself as a skier and mountaineer?First and foremost I'm a skier but I also enjoy mountaineering. But when I discovered that I can climb up a mountain and ski back down I knew that was for me. Andy Traslin hiking up last summer. What motivates you to get out there and ski so much?I just really like to be outside, especially in the mountains skiing. That is my passion. Turns all year have enabled me to be out there pushing myself to the limits and skiing all the time in all types of conditions. I have a real passion for steep ski mountaineering. So sometimes you have take risks to reach your ultimate goal. The mountain has the last say. So you have to follow your intuition and rely on years of experience in the mountains and know when to turn around. The moments that really stick with me are when the sun, stability and people conditions line up perfectly. All the planning and hard work line up for that moment. That feeling of being alive and one with nature and flowing with gravity in a natural way. Watch “95 ‘Till Infinity – Traslin’s Never Ending Shred”

In the third episode of #SuuntoAdventure Video Series you will meet a lightning fast mountain man, Kilian Jornet.   Kilian is more than a record-breaking trail runner and a world champion ski mountaineer. He has also set speed ascents on the Matterhorn, Mt Blanc and Denali among others, and redefined what it means to be a mountain athlete, moving into territory once the preserve of elite alpinists. Read also Kilian's profile here.  Watch also the other episodes in the series: Face to Face with Emelie Forsberg – #SuuntoAdventure Video Series, Episode 1 Face to Face with Greg Hill – #SuuntoAdventure Video Series, Episode 2 Face to Face with William Trubridge – #SuuntoAdventure Video Series, Episode 4 Face to Face with Conrad Stoltz – #SuuntoAdventure Video Series, Episode 5

What makes ski mountaineer and trail runner Kilian Jornet tick? It’s not winning races or setting speed records, although he does excel at both. For him, it’s all about the mountains. “I am just a person who loves the mountains. I spend every day in the mountains,” says Kilian, “I love them because the landscape is amazing and full of challenges but I think the mountains gives a lot back. When you are in the mountains, you feel that you are nothing. When you have nothing you have everything to discover.” That passion stems from his childhood – Kilian grew up in a mountain hut in the Spanish Pyrenees where his father worked as a hut keeper and mountain guide. From a young age, Kilian was living and breathing mountain life. “The first time I walked for five hours alone in the mountains I was two years old!” says Kilian. He went on to climb his first 3,000er aged three. “I have conditioned my body to long distances from an early age!” he says. It clearly paid off. These days Kilian is known for dominating not one, but two mountain sports; ski mountaineering in winter and trail running in summer. As a trail runner he’s proved himself to be one of the world’s best – dominating ultras and setting a slew of records from the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc to the Hardrock 100 and dozens of races In 2012 Athletics Weekly argued that he was the ‘world’s best runner’ and he has one of the highest Vo2 levels recorded of an athlete (85-90). When the snow comes Kilian switches over to ski mountaineering where he has been world champion four years out of five since 2010. “Ski mountaineering is hard because you want to go fast. You have to push, you have to power through every step,” says Kilian. But again, it’s the lure of the mountains that ultimately win Kilian over, not the battle of competition: “Sometimes it’s in the forest, sometimes in couloirs. You can go wherever you want. You don’t have to follow a trail. You make your own track. It’s this feeling of freedom you get from ski mountaineering.” Yet Kilian is more than a record-breaking trail runner, a world champion ski mountaineer. With his Summits of My Life Project, in which he has set speed ascents on the Matterhorn, Mt Blanc and Denali among others, he has redefined what it means to be a mountain athlete, moving into territory once the preserve of elite alpinists. What beckons next for the athlete is never certain, but one thing is for sure – it will take place somewhere in the mountains. “The day I stop winning I’ll continue to go the mountains,” says Kilian, “I don’t run for victory. I don’t practice sport for competition. The reason I ski or run every day is to be in the mountains.”

In the second episode of #SuuntoAdventure Video Series you will meet Canadian ski mountaineer Greg Hill. As one of the world’s leading ski mountaineers, Greg has pioneered first descents, summited over 190 mountains and climbed and skied millions of meters. Along the way he has broken records, like skied two million vertical feet in a calendar year and 100.000 meters in a month. Read Greg's profile here.    Next episode of #SuuntoAdventure Video Series will be out in two weeks. Stay tuned!Watch also: Face to Face with Emelie Forsberg – #SuuntoAdventure Video Series, Episode 1 Face to Face with Kilian Jornet – #SuuntoAdventure Video Series, Episode 3 Face to Face with William Trubridge – #SuuntoAdventure Video Series, Episode 4 Face to Face with Conrad Stoltz – #SuuntoAdventure Video Series, Episode 5

Make no mistake, Greg Hill is fit. Super-human fit. As one of the world’s leading ski mountaineers, he has pioneered first descents, summited over 190 mountains and climbed and skied millions of meters. For Greg, winter isn’t complete without pushing himself. Which is why he spent March 2014 tackling 100,000 m of vertical in deep in his native Canada’s backcountry Why? “I've always been curious about my human potential and to see what I can do,” says Greg. The March Madness campaign saw him skiing for up to 10 hours a day to cover between 3,000m to 4,000m of vertical. And if that wasn’t tricky enough, he never skied the same place twice and summited 11 mountains on the way. “It was as hard as anything I've done, waking up every morning and getting out there,” says Greg, but the long climbs were rewarded with stunning powder runs: “It was the best human-powered powder month ever! It was ridiculous. This was 97% great skiing!” Believe it or not, that’s not Revelstoke-based Greg’s biggest vertical achievement. Back in 2010 he dedicated a year of his life to climbing and skiing two million feet (609,600 m). The challenge took him to four different countries and saw him climb 114 km and ski 1,039 days. 77 of those days saw him tackle over 3,000 meters of vertical, and his toughest day involved a 7,000m climb and ski. After reaching his target, Greg celebrated the way he knows best; by putting his skins back on and doing one more lap. “My legs felt light, my pace free and the turns great of course,” blogged Greg afterwards. He’s clocked in a few records over the years as well. He was the first North American to climb and ski 40,000 ft (12,200m) in 24 hours, set the Spearhead traverse record in an impressive four hours one minute and was once climbed and skied Mont Blanc in a day. No wonder he was labeled one of the Top 25 fittest men in the world by Men’s Fitness in 2011. What led Greg to these super-human feats? Trees! One million of them. His former summer job was planting spruce and pine trees. As he was paid per tree, he pushed himself to plant around 1,500 a day and discovered a talent for logging hours in the backcountry. “It taught me a lot about how to persevere,” says Greg.