The 3 best sports watches for women that I know of and have used were very helpful to me as I have grown in my fitness adventure.
They are:
- Polar M430 GPS Running Watch
- Garmin Forerunner 35
- Garmin Forerunner 735XT
I have learned over time what I value and what I am looking for in a watch.
I started out simply and am still learning about what my sports watch can teach me.
what I like to have in a sports watch
When you have your sports watch there are so many things you can measure.
Here are 4 things that I found useful to measure in the beginning.
As you develop in your sport and with your watch you will enjoy other features too.
1. PACE – What is the pace?
It is the speed that you take to do something. The average good pace is 6 minutes for 1 km. These are not the times for professional runners. This is for the hobby runner/jogger. The range can be anywhere from 28 to 37 minutes when you do 5 km.
Walking is a bit different though. If you walk at a brisk pace then you’d complete a 5km distance in 1 hour.
2. GEAR – running shoes.
I find it so interesting to monitor the distance I do on any given pair of running shoes. This is not essential but I find it useful to measure. I know that the average runner gets a new pair of running shoes every two years.
This can mean that you put on over 600km on your shoes in that time. Can’t imagine running that much, but I do and I love seeing the stats.
3. INSIGHTS – my sleeping patterns.
I do not know why this interests me so much but I like to see how my mood, productivity, and running are affected by sleep. A good night of sleep helps in every area of your life.
Get some sleep.
4. HEALTH STATS – weight!
This is not my main goal but I monitor my weight regularly. I use this info to see what foods affect me negatively and positively.
There are definitely some days when something I have eaten or had something to drink makes it virtually impossible to head out for a decent run.
There are many other useful things to learn from the stats on my watch but these are enough for me at the moment. Depending on where you are on your fitness adventure, this may be enough for you to start with too.
I still want to learn about VO2Max, Training Effect, Power Curve, and more under Performance Stats.
my first best sports watch is – Polar Running Watch
This is a very simple watch (so old that it is no longer available;) but this is the closest to that one – Polar M430 GPS Running Watch.
It gives me some basic information. Finding the best sports watches for women, in the beginning, was difficult but this one was a very good place to start. Two features that stood out for me, in the beginning, were – GPS tracking and following a training program.
GPS tracking
Seeing these runs on a map is very motivating. It gave the pace, distance traveled, and route. I loved that. Knowing what pace I have run helps me try to go a bit faster the next time I head out for a run. If I cannot run faster, then I try to run further. Trying out new routes is one of the reasons I love to run the most. The adventure of fitness is what keeps me going. How about you?
Running Program
You could also find a Running program to suit you for an event you were training for. If you are a beginner, training to run your first 5km, then there was a plan for that. And if you wanted to run a marathon, there were beginner to advanced plans for that too. I love the Garmin Training plans and I use them all the time.
This was a very basic watch and it did not overwhelm me. It gave me the basics and I loved it. This Polar Running Watch is the closest one that I found to the one I had.
my second best sports watch is – Garmin Forerunner 35
The second watch that I got, I was given as a birthday present.
I had definitely progressed in my running and was needing an upgrade. The Garmin Forerunner 35 was super for me as my second sports watch.
It is quite suitable for a beginner runner as it is lightweight and very comfortable to wear. You can easily wear it all day and not only for sports activities.
It has an alarm that you can use to help you in your interval training. That helped as you don’t have to have your eyes glued to the face of the watch but you can listen for the beep/vibration – depending on your setting.
I have not used it for every session but mostly for interval training. Interval training is when you run at different speeds to both increase your fitness and your speed.
more features on my second best sports watch – Garmin Forerunner 35
I was also able to monitor different activities now.
I added monitoring my cycling. In the beginning, it was just measuring our casual rides but as I became interested in triathlons this became very useful to me.
The battery life was amazing, it mostly lasted for up to 12 to 14 hours when it was used for training. That was great but it lasted up to 8 to 10 days when I was just using it as a watch.
I was also able to get notifications of emails, calls, and from my social networking connections. This was useful when I was working in the garden. I would be aware of what I needed to respond to or what I could respond to later.
It also had this feature of telling you to move when you were inactive for a long period of time. I loved and hated that feature;) It was a good reminder though to get moving.
new sport – new watch
As I developed a love for triathlons I needed something to measure my swims.
My first sprint triathlon was done without being able to measure my swims. I knew the lengths of the pools and could measure my progress that way. When I swam in a lake, I was able to measure the distance from my friend. She had the ability to measure the swims on her watch.
So in the beginning it is not essential to have a watch that can measure your swim. But, now that I have a watch that can measure the swims, I love it.
my third best sports watch is – Garmin Forerunner 735XT
This is my new watch. The watch measures the swim, the cycle, and the running.
It is the Garmin Forerunner 735XT.
It also measures your heart rate at your wrist. This is one of the best sports watches for women and I highly recommend it for any lady triathlete, beginner or advanced.
Doing 3 sports, running, swimming, and cycling – it manages to track them all seamlessly. When you do a triathlon it is very easy to transition between each stage. You can do this with just one push of a button. I highly recommend this watch for any woman to use when doing a triathlon.
moving forward
I have learned in leaps and bounds with my sports watches. I consider the three I have and still own, the best sports watches for women.
So if you are wanting to buy yourself a sports watch, give one of these a try.
There are so many good watches out there but I have loved these three.
What sports watch do you use?
Why do you love it?
Let me know in the comments.
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