West End Runners - Quick Start, S610i HRM Tips

Dave R's Quick Start S610i HRM Tips

Preliminary preparation - HRM Strap and Watch
Heart rate Resting and Maximum
Personal details
My Basic Run - 10 steps to use the HRM on a session

1) Preliminary Preparation HRM Strap and Watch

It does help if you can spend a bit of time reading the general booklets on HRM's before actually trying to use one.
Grab, or print off the Quick Reference Card (part of the User Manual electronic version) if you are in a hurry.

The Polar S610i HRM = chest transmitter + chest strap + watch sensor.
An elastic chest strap is hooked/clipped to the hard plastic chest transmitter and then fitted around your rib cage.
Before and/or after fitting wet the electrodes on the rear of the transmitter (that's right lots of spit).
Fit the strap to your chest around your rib cage with the Polar legend upwards.
A tight fit and lots of moisture are an advantage (that's right, even more spit).

The watch (sensor) has five buttons positioned at 2, 4, 6 (red), 8, 10 o'clock. The Polar quick reference card and user manual have full details. A picture does a better job than the description below (click on watch icon at top of page) , but here goes:

The 8 o'clock button

pauses the stopwatch (first press)
stops the stopwatch (second press)
takes you back to the default setting = time of day, no recording

The 10 o'clock button

Back-light/signal

The 6 o'clock button - Red/OK

a) From time of day / default display

First press, starts the sensor looking for a heart beat from the chest strap.
Second press, starts the stopwatch
Third and other presses, records a lap time

b) From other displays

Accepts the selection, move on to next

The 2 and 4 o'clock buttons

These act as Up and Down arrows, stepping you through different menu selections.
The Red OK/6 o'clock button accepts the selection.
See the quick reference card for an overview of menu's and the user guide for detail.

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2)Heart rate - Resting and Maximum

For other than curiosity reasons, you need to find out your resting heart rate and your maximum heart rate. This enables the HRM to display your % effort and you to decide how hard you want to work on any session.

Resting heart rate - The simple way:

Measure your heart rate for a few minutes after waking up on consecutive days and take an average. You can of course get the HRM to record this as if it is a training session.

Maximum heart rate - the simple way (arithmetic):

220-age (men), ?-age (women)

There are other more accurate ways to measure resting and maximum heart rate. See the Polar HRM User Guides and other sources like the more general booklet.

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3) Personal Details

If you want a % heart rate reading, put your name against records, or use the more advanced features of the HRM, then you need to set up your user profile. Information needed is: your weight (lb/kg), height(feet/cm), sex, age, heart rate at rest and maximum heart rate. See the Quick Reference Card for the menu navigation or the User Manual.

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4) My Basic Run - 10 steps to use the HRM on a session.

Fit chest strap - tight and lots of moisture. Put the watch on.
Press OK and hold the sensor watch near the chest band (within a foot or so).
When the heart symbol appears together with a number (say 50 to 80) Press OK again to start the stop watch and recording heart rate. The default is for heart rate to be recorded every 5s.
Basic Use - spot readings of heart rate. Look at the lower part of the watch display. There should be a number 50-200, this is your heart rate. If no number is displayed raise the sensor/watch near the chest band again.
Lap Time - press OK. The display numbers will freeze for a few seconds recording lap information.
If it is dark - press signal/light for the back-light. If this is done once after the stop watch has been started the backlight will automatically appear when OK is pressed for lap time or the watch is brought near the chest sensor for a few seconds.
Pause the stop watch - Press 8 o'clock button ONCE. Press OK to restart.
Stop the stop watch/session. Press 8 o'clock button. Stop watch will beep and stop, heart rate will be displayed. Don't panic. From after a few seconds whenever you want press the 8 o'clock button again. The watch will return to default time of day after recording the session information. See the FILE menu option to get back at session information or connect to the computer.
Carefully wash the transmitter with a mild soap and water solution. Rinse it with pure water. Dry the transmitter carefully with a soft towel. Store the transmitter in a clean and dry place.
Periodically up-load information to the computer, deleting uploaded files from the watch (otherwise you end up with duplicates next time you upload).

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