Suunto Blog

Suunto became compatible with TrainingPeaks this spring. We got in touch with Canadian ultra runner Rodney Buike to learn more about the service. Rodney Buike started his athletic career as an alpine ski racer and a mountain biker but has since evolved into an endurance athlete covering longer and longer distances. First he competed in duathlons and triathlons, but has recently started to run ultras, too. Buike has been using TrainingPeaks as his main tracking application since 2011. “I initially started with the free version of TrainingPeaks but soon switched to TrainingPeaks Premium for some of the added capabilities,” says Buike. “For me the best feature is the Performance Management Chart. It gives me a real ability to manage my fitness and fatigue levels over the course of my racing season.” TrainingPeaks’ Performance Management Chart (PMC) tracks chronic training load (CTL based on activities older than 15 days) and acute training load (ATL based on the last 14 days of activity). These numbers are based on the athlete’s thresholds which allows TrainingPeaks to calculate the intensity (IF) and Training Stress Score (TSS). This is then used to calculate Training Stress Balance (TSB). All this data can be used to monitor progress and ensure a smooth steady build up and then taper to main race or races. Here’s Buike’s own PMC starting with the beginning of training for his first 50K race. Rodney Buike’s 180-day Performance Management Chart “The first vertical red line is the peak of training with the longest run before tapering began for the race (the next vertical red line). Then you can see the recovery period and the final vertical red line indicating when training began again,” Buike explains. “There are a few important things you can see in this graph: First off you can see a long slow steady build with the gradual increase in the CTL (the blue line). There are smaller spikes along the line, which individually identify the key long runs followed by short recovery periods – but an overall steady climb. The TSB (orange line) moves into the positive as I recover and taper for the race while the ATL drops as training load is decreased.” Over the course of time the Performance Management Chart can help you plan your taper and recovery to ensure you are doing just enough to maintain fitness while recovering properly to ensure your best performance on race day. SET YOUR ZONES FIRST While this all sounds very complex there are a few very basic things that all athletes can take advantage of immediately. “The first thing I recommend is to set your zones. If you are using HR based training you can set different zones for all activities. For specific activities you can also define additional zones. I highly suggest runners to set their pace zones, which can be done using the results of a recent 10KM running race. Cyclists, who have a power meter, can input their functional threshold power (FTP) and use that to build power zones.” In addition to the Performance Management Chart, Buike highlights the premium version’s advanced charts that you can use to drill deeper into the data (power analysis, scatter graphs, etc.). He also finds the planning tools very useful. “With the premium version you have the ability to plan out your upcoming week, month or longer and have that sync with your calendar in Outlook, Gmail, Apple iCalendar or any calendar tool that supports ICS files. When you upload activities they will automatically populate the related activity in your TrainingPeaks calendar,” says Buike. So how does your own calendar look for the coming weeks? “I have decided to move into the ultra running world and completed my first 50 km and 80 km races recently. In May I have a 130km race coming up.”

The big news from Suunto Vertical Blue 2015 isn’t who became overall winner. With multiple record holder Will Trubridge’s main rival Russian Alex Molchanov out of this year’s competition, Will won the top spot unchallenged. But that doesn’t mean he didn’t learn a thing or two. On day three he had a run in with the dazed and confused, absent-minded state that sometimes bewilders freedivers when they’re in the depths. Will Trubridge took home gold. ©Daan Verhoeven Once they’ve hit maximum depth and to prove they’ve reached it, freedivers must collect a tag from the bottom plate at the end of a line that hangs from the surface. Sounds simple enough, right? Wrong. After diving down vertically for minutes on a single breath the body is desperate for oxygen, sometimes resulting in what’s called nitrogen narcosis which can cause confusion, even hallucinations. It's not uncommon for freedivers to experience hallucinations. ©Daan Verhoeven Freedivers have to rely on their training and on visualization techniques to stay calm and to swim to the surface, one patient stroke at a time. “I had some difficulty at the bottom plate attaching the tag to the velcro on my leg and ended up stuffing it in the neck of my wetsuit instead,” Will says. “I must have been pretty narced (experiencing nitrogen narcosis), which increased on the way up — meaning I didn’t find the complete relaxation I was looking for. “It was still a clean dive, and fairly quick for that FIM depth.” Will Trubridge is competing in two more competitons in the next two months. ©zooom.at/ Samo Vidic The next day, however, Will returned to perfect form and achieved a constant weight dive to 116 m in 3 m 17 s. “I'm happy with how I performed, finishing with maximum depths of 94m CNF, 115m FIM and 116/120 m CWT.” Sayuri Kinoshita from Japan was the overall winner of the women. She broke Japan’s national FIM record four times and the CNF national record once. The bigger splash to come out of this year’s event is that 29 national records were broken by 12 of the 23 freedivers taking part. Colombian Sofia Gómez Uribe earned national records in the event’s three sports; FIM, CNF, CWT. Five other athletes broke national records in two sports. Tomoka Fukada broke Japan's national FIM record. ©Daan Verhoeven For the men, Ryuzo Shinomiya of Japan came in second, followed by Alejandro Lemus of Mexico. For the women, Tomoka Fukada from Japan came second and Katerina Linczenyovia of Slovakia came third. “Above all, this year’s contest has been a lot of fun,” Will Trubridge says. “We've had some spectacular conditions in the Blue Hole as well as rain, wind and cold and I've been able to perform in both, so that’s good to take away from this event and into the next two competitions in Honduras (Caribbean Cup) and Colombia (Nirvana).” Another great year for Suunto Vertical Blue at Deans Blue Hole in the Bahamas. ©zooom.at/ Samo Vidic Main photo: ©Daan Verhoeven

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.”

He's a manatee named Chester and he's not in great shape. Meet the star of Jill Heinerth's new children's book. Just published, Chester the Manatee and the Very, Very, Terribly Bad Itch is part of Jill's quest to educate children about the state of our water. Below she tells us about the new book, and why she feels manatees have much to teach us. So what's the idea behind the book? Chester the Manatee and the Very, Very, Terribly Bad Itch is a book that follows the life of a gentle manatee facing struggles from a very annoying itch. He reaches out to a young girl who helps him discover the cause of his problem. The little girl helps Chester by teaching people about keeping water clean. Chester the Manatee supports children who feel different, embrace their special characteristics. The book celebrates unique kids as remarkable people who help teach others about important issues. You're quite a fan of manatees right? The book is a part of my efforts to educate people about their water issues. Recently some misguided but well-meaning people started to lobby to end activities that allow people to swim with manatees. Anyone who has had the privilege to swim with manatees is transformed by the experience and there is no evidence to support that any of the wild manatees are harmed. They have special refuge areas to escape and yet they leave the refuges to interact with humanity. I truly believe the manatees are trying to teach us something. None have been harmed by human interaction in the water and yet many die of cold stress each year. Their habitat has been destroyed by our use of herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers on the golf course style lawns we keep in Florida. The bottom vegetation is now gone and replaced by filamentous algae that does not have the nutritional value they require. They have to leave the warmth of the springs to swim out to the Gulf of Mexico to feed. Some don’t make the return trip in time to beat cold weather and henceforth die of cold stress. I realize that it is critical to help everyone understand that humans’ swimming with manatees are the best chance we have to protect the water they are swimming in. People have to learn from the operators in the area about how to change their behaviors to protect water resources. I hope this book will help.What’s the story about? Beyond the environmental message of protecting water, I want to empower kids. Sometimes we all feel like we are different or that nobody understands us. I am trying to encourage kids to be confident and understand that they can help change the world.What else are you up to right now? I have a busy summer ahead with work in Greece, the Azores, Newfoundland and England. I’ll be doing some filming of caves, wildlife, wrecks, icebergs and a newly opened flooded mine. I’m also looking forward to going back to Cuba soon. I am working with National Geographic on a project that involves an international team of scientists and explorers. We’re looking at early human remains and unique paleontology as well as getting a better understanding of global climate change. You can order the book on iTunes here.