Suunto Blog

Automatic sprints, race nutrition, loop counters, marathon estimator and more! SuuntoPlus sport apps are easy to use watch functionalities that enhance your experience with your Suunto watch with use case specific benefits. To get started, browse the selection below and in Suunto app’s SuuntoPlus Store, select which ones you want to use on your watch and activate them before starting an exercise. You can use all SuuntoPlus sport apps with Suunto Vertical, Suunto Race and Suunto 9 Peak Pro watches. Most of the SuuntoPlus sport apps are also compatible with Suunto 9 Peak, Suunto 9 Baro, Suunto 9, Suunto 5 Peak and Suunto 3 watches. Read on and find your new favorite sport app! Learn how to get started with SuuntoPlus sport apps   Training & Physiology HR zones This sport app shows you the cumulative time on each zone during the workout. Fused zones Fused Zones shows which intensity zone you are currently in, looking at different intensity metrics and based on that evaluating the best matching as a result. Peak Pace Peak pace gives you real time statistics of your peak efforts on your run. Peak Power Peak power gives you real time statistics of your peak efforts. Movement This sport app measures your movement with wrist acceleration. This gives new type of insights in sports which involve rapid movements. Trainingpeaks (HR) Helps to understand the workout effort and training stress in real time with Heartrate Training Stress Score (TSS(HR)) Trainingpeaks (cycling power) Helps to understand your riding effort in real time with Normalized Power (NP), Training Stress Score(TSS) and Intensity Factor (IF). Trainingpeaks (running pace) Helps to understand your pacing in real time with Intensity Factor (IF),Running Training Stress Score(TSS(r) ) and Normalized Graded Pace (NGP). Strava Get specific about how much work goes into your activities with real-time Relative Effort Burner The relation between fat and carbs burned by exercising depends on your intensity.   Training Tools Manual interval (pace) The manual interval sport app gives you a simple tool to follow your interval session on the fly. Manual interval (power) The manual interval sport app gives you a simple tool to follow your interval session on the fly. Manual interval (hills) The manual interval sport app gives you a simple tool to follow your interval session on the fly. Sprint (running pace) Track sprints automatically while running or cycling to see the number, distance, and time of each interval during your training session Sprint (cycling power) Track sprints automatically while running or cycling to see the number, distance, and time of each interval during your training session. Loop (speed) Automatic location-based lap insights help you analyze the stats for each loop. Loop (pace) Automatic location-based lap insights help you analyze the stats for each loop. Loop (power) Automatic location-based lap insights help you analyze the stats for each loop. Ghost Runner Catch the virtual ghost runner to practice your pacing or just for fun.   Fitness Testing FTP test Functional Threshold Power (FTP) test is designed to give riders an understanding of the highest average power they can maintain for one hour. Cooper test The goal of the cooper test is to run as far as possible in 12 minutes to estimate your VO2Max value. Anaerobic threshold The test will approximate the anaerobic threshold for running and estimate the anaerobic threshold pace and heart rate. Aerobic decoupling The aerobic decoupling will assess your aerobic fitness by evaluating the decoupling effect during longer workouts. Bleep test Bleep test – or Beep test – is the most common fitness test used in the world especially popular in team sports to test your current fitness.   Racing Race companion Race companion gives athletes a simple tool to get key information with them to the race. Race nutrition With this sport app, athlete can setup the timing for each intake and then follow the plan while flying down the mountains. UltraRace time When preparing for a long ultra race, it is motivating to see how this pace equals to the potential race time. Marathon estimator Marathon estimator gives you an estimated finish time based on your current pace, duration done and remaining distance. Half Marathon estimator Half marathon estimator gives you an estimated finish time based on your current pace, duration done and remaining distance. RaceTime This sports app helps you to see how your current pace equals to the potential race time over different race distances. Backyard ultra The Backyard Ultra is a running event where runners will run 6.7km each hour. As long as they last.   Sport specific Shoe tester The shoe tester app is a protocol on how runners can test the impact of different running shoes with a dedicated testing protocol. Cadence coach The cadence coach will show you live cadence and stride length, helps you use the right running technique to avoid injuries. Running Economy Running economy is the assessment of a runner’s efficiency by analysing their input (heart rate) and output (running pace with NGP). SwimRun The swim run sport app gives you key stats for your swimrun race with automatic transitions from run to swim and back as many times as needed. Duathlon Duathlon sport app is designed to automatically switch between run and ride views in hectic race scenarios to give you the right data. SwimTimer Swim timer is designed to provide swimmers with a better understanding of their interval sessions showing interval counts, rest time etc. Gym timer The gym timer can be used to follow the rest times of a workout. Tabata Tabata protocol is used as a high intensity workout such as circuit training, consisting of 20 seconds of hard effort and 10 seconds of rest. Surfer This sport app gives you all the key stats for your surf session. How many waves did you surf, time surfed and paddle. Golf score Golf score sports app is a handy tool for keeping count of number of strikes during the golf. Tennis score Tennis score sports app is a handy tool for keeping the tennis score on your wrist while playing. Badminton score Badminton score sports app is a handy tool for keeping the badminton game score on your wrist while playing. Soccer score Soccer score sports app is a handy tool for keeping the match statistics on your wrist while playing. Score counter Score sports app is a handy tool for keeping the score count while playing games. Disc golf A handy tool for keeping score and measuring distances during your disc golf game. Sail racer Enables you to synchronize your start time to the official start time of the race to get a countdown on your watch.   Outdoor experience Emergency Info (I.C.E.) Store essential contact information, allergies, blood type and other medical details under the “ICE” as a sports app. Safe Quick access to your GPS coordinates and other key information of your current location as well as your starting point. Climb Keep track of your effort while hiking up a mountain, rock climbing, doing hill repeats in your backyard or running upstairs. DirectPath The DirectPath gives you an understanding of the direct path between two points you have just covered and the efficiency on how well you were able to follow this line. Drink Alert Use the Drink alert to remind you regularly to rehydrate based on the weather conditions. LastKm/Last mile Pace In trail running, the pace can change drastically between uphills and downhills in, the last KM/mile app give you the live rolling kilometer/mile pace to follow. CO2e CO2e sport app shows how much CO2 you have saved compared to if you would have driven a car. Moon The app provides you with information about the moon phases. Sun The app provides you with information about the sunrise, sunset as well as time for dusk and dawn. Big numbers Sport app that gives you the data in bigger letters to make it clearly visible. Variometer The Variometer SuuntoPlus™ feature is a handy tool to keep track of your vertical speed. Weather Keep alert with storm alarms, measure water temperature or notice if your hike is going past the sunset. Weather forecast The sports app gives you the forecasted weather you can rely on during your long rides and hikes.   Devices CORE body temperature With this sport app you can pair your Suunto with a CORE body temperature sensor - to train smarter & perform better. ActiveLook With this sport app you can connect your Suunto to ActiveLook Smart Glasses and see key excercise data right in your field of view. TrainRed When using this sport app your TrainRed muscle oxygen (SmO2%) sensor will provide real-time feedback on the oxygenation status of muscles, helping you optimize your training and performance.   Learn how to get started with SuuntoPlus sport apps 10 SuuntoPlus sport apps for runners    Lead image by The Adventure Bakery 

This summer, we want to inspire you to take a new, unknown route and have built Weekend Adventure route collections around major European hubs. We kicked off in June with gravel adventures around Munich and Paris and hiking adventures around Milan and our hometown of Helsinki. For July we have added four more exciting route collections: hikes in Madrid and Berlin and gravel rides in London and Rome! Most routes are within an hour from the city centre and long enough to be split into two day adventures. Adventuring close to home is not only practical and time-efficient; it’s also good for the environment. You don’t always need to travel far to experience something new. So, pack your tent, get your gear and start exploring – the adventure starts here! Scroll down for hikes in Berlin, Helsinki, Madrid and Milan or gravel bike rides in London, Munich, Paris and Rome! Connect with Komoot to get the Weekend Adventure routes on your Suunto The Weekend Adventure collections are hosted by our partner Komoot. Komoot is a platform that lets you find, plan, and share adventures. Personalized route recommendations and inspiration are in the core of Komoot. Suunto is fully compatible with Komoot: Once you have connected the two accounts (go to Suunto app’s “Partner services” section and select “Connect with Komoot”) routes planned with Komoot flow automatically to your Suunto app’s route library and your activities tracked with Suunto go to Komoot. Turn-by-turn guidance and all is included in the sync. Learn more about the various Komoot packages Find tranquility on these hikes in Berlin Just a few kilometres beyond Berlin's city limits, you'll find tranquillity, magnificent landscapes, sparkling lakes and rivers, but also some thrills. In this Collection, we present three hiking Tours that take you to three regions around Berlin. You'll hike along clear waters, discover mystical wetlands and unique, mangrove-like forests. The Tours all have one thing in common: water plays a major role. Two of the hikes can be completed in a day, an overnight stay is recommended for the third one. Enjoy the English countryside on a gravel bike You don’t need to live in the countryside to find fantastic gravel trails. London has a vast network of off-road cycling, with some excellent tracks radiating from the city and transporting you to the serene landscapes of the home counties. The three tours in the London collection can be covered in a day or two: All of them include a convenient midpoint accommodation option, allowing you the flexibility to extend the adventure over two days if desired. Hike in vast forests less than an hour north of Madrid The hiking routes in Madrid take you to the Sierra de Guadarrama National Park and the Sierra Norte region less than an hour north of the city. The area boasts vast expanses of lush forests, fantastic granite formations, mountains that tower over 2,000 metres, important rivers, and impressive limestone ravines. You can complete all the routes in a day if you wish. Otherwise, you can also spread the distance over two days and stay halfway at a refuge or hostel. We’ve included more information in each route description. Ride ancient roads in Rome The gravel cycling routes around Rome venture through the Italian countryside and take you on compacted dirt tracks, ancient paved roads, fast singletrack, and rolling lanes with little traffic. Discover the woods around Lake Bracciano, trace historic routes like the Via Appia Antica, explore the wonders of the Castelli Romani, and pedal along the Regina Ciclarum – the most beautiful cycle path in Lazio – until you reach the seafront and the pine forests of the Roman coast. These Tours are real adventures that require decent fitness and plenty of determination to complete in a day – the distances are between 97 and 179 km. You can also take it easy and split the route so you have more time to fully enjoy these rich natural and historic places. Gravel rides just outside of Munich Get out of the city, leave your stressful week in the city behind with only a few pedal strokes and start your weekend adventure in nature. The green surroundings of Munich are diverse – you circle crystal-clear lakes, dive into bubbling river valleys, enjoy Bavarian country life or taste the specialties of Salzburg. Best of all: A large part of these three journeys take you away from the paved roads on fine gravel paths or exciting single tracks. Mountain hikes close to Milan In this Collection we offer you three truly epic hiking adventures a stone's throw from Milan. Just head north by train or car to quickly reach the foot of the mountains – and what mountains! These three treks are as spectacular as they are demanding. They will take you to some of the most beautiful places outside of Lecco, close to Lake Como. In each tour we point out refuges or other accommodations where you can stop to eat or spend the night, as well as options to shorten the route, if you wish. Explore Paris on a gravel bike In this Collection, you discover the surroundings of Paris in adventure mode. The surroundings of the French capital offer a superb playground for gravel cyclists – this Weekend Adventures Collection is a proof of that! These three cycling routes are rather long, but you can split them in two stages. Two of them make a loop and one is a point to point. However, that is not an issue as you can get back by train. Hike in the national parks just outside of Helsinki Our Helsinki Weekend Adventure Collection features three beautiful hikes accessible from the city. It doesn’t take long to escape the buzz of the city and find yourself immersed in archetypal Finnish landscapes, where the right to roam enables you to explore freely. Two of the hikes explore parts of the spellbinding Nuuksio National Park, with its glistening lakes, serene woodland and rugged terrain. The third hike discovers the quieter Sipoonkorpi National Park and its nature-rich boardwalks. Images by Philipp Reiter

Suunto Vertical comes with detailed outdoor offline maps that are globally free of charge. The new maps build on Suunto’s already advanced route navigation in the Suunto app. Discovering and creating routes is easy with the Suunto app's heatmaps, 3D maps and road surface-type layers and syncing them into a watch is effortless. Now, users have offline maps to consult no matter where they are, offering them greater safety and confidence! In this article, you will learn how to get started with the maps. Getting the maps on your watch You can download the maps on your Suunto Vertical watch using the Suunto app. You don’t need to pay any extra for the maps: simply select the right area for your adventure and download it. The watch has plenty of storage capacity, too: You can download 32GB of maps. As a reference the entire France is 7,47 GB and the entire Canada 15,17GB. Naturally large maps take longer to download so being a bit more specific helps you get the maps on the watch faster. Add wireless network to watch To install offline maps on the watch, connect your watch to a wireless network using the Suunto app: Pair your Suunto Vertical with Suunto app In the Suunto app go to the watch settings (select the watch icon on the top left and then the settings symbol on the top right) Select ‘Wireless networks’ and add a network You can add multiple wireless networks (like home and work) Select the offline map area Go to the map view in the Suunto app and tap ‘+’, the same “plus” you use to create a new route. That will allow you to download new offline maps. Search for the correct map or select it in the country menu. You can still review the selected area on the map before downloading. Connect the watch to the charger Once you have established the connection with a wireless network and selected your preferred map area, you can download the maps on the watch. To start the download, connect the watch to a charger. Using the offline maps on Suunto Vertical Top buttonShort press: Zoom inLong press: Zoom out Middle buttonShort press: Next screenLong press: Zoom/pan options Lower buttonShort press: Navigation options You can use the terrain maps during an activity with a preplanned route or simply see the breadcrumb trail, the path you have already traveled, on the map. Happy adventures! READ MORE Six ways to plan a route for your next adventure How to use avalanche terrain maps Lead image by Maximillian Gierl

The role of a coach is to provide guidance, support, and expertise to help athletes achieve their goals. A coach can be crucial for monitoring progress and providing feedback and adjustments as needed to ensure the athlete is training safely and effectively. A great coach is also a friend and a companion in your journey. A coach motivates you and requires accountability. Overall, a coach helps athletes improve their performance, avoid injury, and reach their full potential. This is also our goal when providing you with Suunto Coach. Suunto app’s Training zone has an AI-based coach that is an integral part of the service. It looks at hundreds of different parameters after each workout, learns how you train, and builds a normal training pattern that evolves from every workout you do. Based on this, it can give you the key highlights of your training, recovery, and progress. It provides insights and suggestions for the current week, so you can adjust your effort level as you go forward. The Suunto coach recognizes areas you are missing in your training this week that you normally are focusing on: Are you lacking volume in your swim workout? Do you push yourself too much with high-intensity runs? The Suunto coach is not trying to push your training in a direction that you are not used to. For example, if you usually do just high-intensity training, the Suunto coach is not going to ask you to focus more on lower-intensity sessions. Suunto coach doesn’t really know what is your goal or if you want to follow some specific training methodology. But what it does, is alert, highlight, and comment when you are exceeding healthy limits or just lacking some training aspects you are used to. Suunto coach is there to keep you on your selected path. Its recommendations and highlights are easy to digest without you needing to dig deep into the data. Now, go to the Suunto app and meet your new coach – the coach already knows you based on your training history!    Lead image by @rsalanova READ MORE Manage your training with Suunto app's Training zone  

Get a detailed overview of your training in Suunto app’s new Training Zone! A progressive training load with adequate recovery and ways to follow progress will lead to a successful adventure or race. Suunto is your daily companion to enhance your performance. The new training toolset in Suunto app’s Training zone is vast. Read on and learn what’s available. We are sure you will find your new favorite dataset to analyze your training and follow your progress. To ensure you have the latest Suunto app version update your iOS app in App Store and Android app in Google Play.   Four new ways to look at your training Am I training smartly? Is my training load progressive? Do I have the right intensity mix? What type of impact do my workouts have?   Training load The training load theme in Suunto app’s Training zone gives you a good overview of this week’s training load compared to a six-week average. You will also see the daily training load split and the split by activity type. All of this will help you understand your overall physiological load and how much more you can – and should – still do this week. The value of following your physical load weekly with comparisons to your long-term baseline is that you can look at this as a goal for the week. To gain some fitness, you might want to slightly increase the load for the week. To ensure recovery, keep the load level lower than your average. Training intensity Are you really doing both easy base training and higher intensity? Or is your training piling up in a single intensity zone, like tempo work in zone 3? The new Training intensity theme in Suunto app will help you understand your training better as you will see both the weekly intensity distribution and the six-week averages. The workout intensity totals can be viewed as heart rate, pace, running power, and cycling power zones. You can set your sport-specific training zones in your Suunto watch based on heart rate, pace and power. Suunto is following a five-zone model where your anaerobic threshold is at zone 4 /5 limit. You can find your correct training zones with a lab or a field test. SuuntoPlus Sports apps like the Anaerobic threshold test and the Functional threshold power test will guide you through a field test session.     Learn more about intensity zones. Training volume The sports you have done during the week are shown with duration, distance, load, and ascent. Sports are also grouped to give an overview of each type of sport i.e. running includes running, treadmill, and trail running. Volume is compared with your six-week average. As you follow your training volume, you can now easily ensure that you meet the numbers for your key sports any given week: It might be that as a trail runner, you want to get 3000 meters of ascent each week, or as a cyclist, ride 200 kilometers weekly. Your six-week average will help you match your personal benchmark. Training impact Suunto app’s Training impact is a new tool that helps you understand your training model and the physiological systems you are targeting. This will help you understand if you are doing what you were planning to do – and if you are missing something in your training. Training impacts are defined as cardio and muscular impacts. Each workout gets assigned an impact such as “Aerobic” or “Speed & Agility”. Cardio impacts are based on workouts intensity, load, and duration. Muscle impacts are based on activity type. The training model is identified based on your workout intensity distribution such as Polarized (most activities on low and high intensities, less in the middle), Sweet spot (training mainly between aerobic and anaerobic thresholds), and Base training (most workouts are in zones 1&2).   In addition to the current week, you will see the six-week average for your training impact. As with other training insights, the impacts are illustrated with long-term reference. If your normal training week has two aerobic sessions, one VO2 max session and two strength sessions, and on Friday you are still missing those aerobic sessions, you know what to focus on during the weekend. This will help you check all the boxes. Training impact is currently available on Suunto app for Android. Coming soon to iOS as well!        Lead image by Roger Salanova   READ MORE Get feedback from the Suunto coach Test your fitness with Suunto Plan your interval workouts with Suunto app Unlock your interval training and watch your running improve

Suunto’s annual World Vertical Week has been growing in popularity year after year. Last week, on February 27 – March 5, over 153.000 Suunto users accepted the challenge and set out to gain as many vertical meters as they could. That’s 22% up from last year! Thank you everyone for joining. During the Vertical Week, every human-powered outdoor activity counted towards the results. In the activity type rankings, there weren’t any major changes: ski touring activities had once again the biggest average ascent, followed by mountaineering and trail running. Also, the country rankings follow quite a usual pattern: the two top spots for highest average ascents are owned by Austria and Italy – just like last year. In the third position, we have a new nation, Slovakia. Congrats! Portugal and Colombia are new names in the top 10. Total ascent per country 2023 When looking at the total ascent per country, we can see a new leader: France dethroned Spain and took the top spot. Austria, Italy and Germany round out the top five. France Spain Austria Italy Germany Switzerland US Poland Finland Japan Big – and huge – days are more popular than ever When digging deeper into the data we start to see something interesting: big days out in the mountains and hills are getting more popular. The number of “1000-meter days” has grown by a whopping 75% from last year. During last week’s activation, Suunto community tracked over 12.000 activities that had over 1.000 meters of total ascent. The same trend continues with activities that had over 2.000 meters of ascent: that number increased by 76% to over 2.000 activities. The number of really, really big days – days that had more than 3.500 meters of ascent – doubled from last year! This same trend is visible also when looking at the data from another perspective: 176 participants collected more than 10.000 meters of total ascent during the week. That is twice as much as last year. Impressive! As the days get bigger, the activity types change slightly: The biggest portion, 40%, of 1000-meter days was ski touring while trail running covered 25% of the activities. In the 2000-meter days ski touring and trail running was almost equal at 32% and 30% respectively. A surprise comes with the 3500-meter – or “10000-foot” – days: there suddenly running has the biggest share with 28% of the activities followed by ski touring (22%) and trail running (21%). Some runners have really pushed it last week! Country rankings for different activities Ski touring (avg for all countries 929m) Switzerland 1.033m Austria 1.005m Italy 994m Spain 940m Germany 936m The 1000-meter mark is a clear goal for skiers. Switzerland is in the top spot – just like last year. Mountaineering (avg for all countries 676m) Czech Republic 788m Switzerland 760m Germany 755m Japan 717m Poland 699m Mountaineering has a new winner: The Czech Republic climbed to the top spot for the first time! Trail running (avg for all countries 421m) Japan 852m Portugal 707m Italy 620m South Korea 536m Spain 528m Switzerland 508m Austria 443m Slovakia 413m Slovenia 391m Thailand 382m Japanese trail runners crushed it again! Also, other Asian nations, like South Korea and Thailand proved that uphill is the way to run in that corner of the world. Mountain biking (avg for all countries 387m) Italy 516m Spain 515m Portugal 453m Switzerland 446m United Kingdom 386 m In mountain biking, Italy rose from the second spot last year to number one this time. Forza! Hiking (avg for all countries 221m) Italy 441m Slovakia 426m South Korea 373m Thailand 349m Japan 337m Another crown for Italy – and another activity ranking where Asian countries are strong. Cycling (avg for all countries 182m) Spain 417m Portugal 394m Italy 369m Slovenia 306m South Africa 248m Spain, the top destination for winter cycling in Europe, was not a surprise leader in the cycling ranking. A welcome addition to the list was South Africa, nicely adding yet another continent to the top lists. Along with several European countries we had nations from Asia, Africa, South and North America amongst the top performers. Awesome! Nordic skiing (avg for all countries 180m) Japan 418m Slovakia 411m Spain 377m Czech Republic 357m Poland 335m This list looks quite different from last year! Japan takes its second top spot in a slightly surprising category to complement its win in the trail running category. The usual suspects for Nordic skiing, Norway (277m), Sweden (209m) and Finland (125m), did not reach the top of the rankings this time. Running (avg for all countries 100m) Switzerland 157m Slovenia 137m Portugal 131m Czech Republic 127m Norway 125m Running, the most popular activity overall, is not the king of Vertical Week: its average ascent is the smallest, exactly 100 meters. However, in the leading nation, Switzerland, the average ascent for running was over 50% more than that.