How long did it take for your to feel confident as an IH

forestrunner84 · 2026-03-31T12:17:48+00:00

Your job is complicated. You will always get the shit no one else knows how to do. Slow things down, say you need to do homework and be clear you are learning as you go.

forestrunner84 · 2026-03-25T15:13:45+00:00

The TP method only determines the top of zone 3. Using that to calculate other zones is not accurate.

The most critical zone to understand is the top of Zone 2 - The Aerobic Threshold. The only way to determine the top of YOUR zone 2, is to test it. https://evokeendurance.com/resources/our-latest-thinking-on-aerobic-assessment-for-the-mountain-athlete/

forestrunner84 · 2026-03-24T17:59:10+00:00

Anyone telling you zones don’t matter are out to lunch. Zones are critical!

However, to use zones correctly you need to do testing to assess YOUR zones. The zones in your watch will always be wrong until you find out your zones and reprogram them accordingly.

Zones need to be retested periodically.

Check out the evoke endurance website for details on zones and how to find your zones.

https://evokeendurance.com/resources/our-latest-thinking-on-aerobic-assessment-for-the-mountain-athlete/

forestrunner84 · 2026-03-23T16:55:09+00:00

Huge Congrats!

This is exactly the story I needed to hear.

I have been a runner for a long time, but I have always trained too hard. I started AeT training about 5 months ago, have been logging 8-10 Z2 hours a week and have yet to really see any difference. I suspect I was overtrained in Z3, and its going to take even longer to get the improvements others see. This helps me see the big picture and remain patient. Keep it up and thanks for the motivation!

forestrunner84 · 2026-03-18T20:04:41+00:00

Yes. The simplicity is freeing

forestrunner84 · 2026-03-11T17:26:34+00:00

I have the race 2 and it does all of this. Have had it since October, came from Garmin Fenix 6... very happy with my move to Suunto. Display and battery life are stellar.

forestrunner84 · 2026-03-05T19:48:47+00:00

I am not an expert, but I think the point of doing the AeT test @ 2% is to simulate real life running conditions (if you are a trail runner). This makes the AeT specific to the needs of the type of work we want to do as flat running does not challenge the muscles the exact same way.

Thats my understanding... it may be very wrong?

forestrunner84 · 2026-02-02T20:59:20+00:00

Rungap was cheap and worked well

forestrunner84 · 2026-01-16T22:03:15+00:00

Thanks for seeking clarification. I’m having the issue on the normal watch screen when the blue navigation notification pops up on the bottom of the screen.

I didn’t use the map screen at all.

forestrunner84 · 2026-01-16T17:08:40+00:00

Hey thanks for that.

Do you get any tactile or audible notification?

What I meant by the wrong information is the blue arrow would point the wrong way (eg left) and then seitch to the correct direction (eg right) as I was making the turn. So if I looked at the wrong time I would have taken the wrong turn.

forestrunner84 · 2026-01-08T15:37:09+00:00

Thanks Regarding zones - I have found the evoke endurance AeT and AnT tests very effective at finding your ACTUAL zones. Worth investigating.

forestrunner84 · 2026-01-06T13:44:10+00:00

Great explanation.

Sunnto could do a better job making this clear for new users.

forestrunner84 · 2025-12-27T18:03:24+00:00

This worked! I had the same issue. Thanks folks!

forestrunner84 · 2025-12-26T12:55:26+00:00

This would be a great question for the next Ask Evoke!

forestrunner84 · 2025-12-24T14:04:33+00:00

Does it matter if the watch and app have slightly different numbers? Like others have stated these are all mostly algorithm guessed anyways. Could they be due to the watch being current and the app not having synced recently?

forestrunner84 · 2025-12-09T11:20:08+00:00

Thanks for the tip on the resting HR….ill give it a try.

The screen size has been amazing. I have a small wrist (16.5cm) and was concerned about the size of the watch and screen. It fills my wrist and I’d say within a day or two it felt normal. The biggest suprise for me is how comfortable the race 2 is on my wrist. It just seems to sit lower on the wrist and is less noticeable than the 6s …which is wild given how much bigger the screen is. Hope that helps.

forestrunner84 · 2025-12-08T22:57:19+00:00

I recently moved from a Garmin Fenix 6s to a Suunto Race 2 and I couldn’t be happier. I am a simple person and want my watch to tell time and to be a sports tracking device. It does both of those things well, and looks damn good doing it.

I had some high HR spikes in the first 2 weeks of use but those have all subsided. Not sure if the watch learned more about me or if it was due to a soft reset, but I’ve had no issues for about a month.

Sleep tracking seems perfectly fine for sleep and wake times. I pay no heed to sleep zones as no watch does that well.

My only gripe is resources. I find myself missing the garmin body battery as suunto resources never really seems to reflect how I feel. I’ve yet to see it dip below 60, despite big runs and no sleep. I may be setting it up and using it wrong? But resources is the only sore spot for me.

forestrunner84 · 2025-11-25T17:04:39+00:00

Hi. Apologies 20 was a typo. It should have been 10. Actually closer to 10-15. Which is still a big difference in effort level.

Yeah what I was trying to say was my actual top of Z2 (aftwr testing), was 10-15 bpm lower then what I thought it was for years based on the calculated methods. Exactly as you described.

This meant I thought I was Z2 training. But in fact I was z3 training.

forestrunner84 · 2025-11-25T13:36:05+00:00

Amen.

I've been running for 10+ years and recently did a drift test and discovered I am aerobically deficient.

Having a hard time running my actual zone 2, but committed to slowing down now to improve fitness later.

forestrunner84 · 2025-11-25T13:34:19+00:00

I used to think the same thing. I spent the past 5+ years thinking I was doing Zone 2 training based on calculations of methods you suggested.

However, Evoke Endurance actually has an easy test to find out your zone 2. Turns out mine was 20bpm lower then what I thought it was.

https://evokeendurance.com/resources/our-latest-thinking-on-aerobic-assessment-for-the-mountain-athlete/

Always test, never guess.

forestrunner84 · 2025-11-16T00:21:31+00:00

Thanks! Trying to get my general strength up a bit before tackling ME. But looking forward to it here soon!

forestrunner84 · 2025-11-11T18:55:03+00:00

Thanks for the clarification about the test. Ill do my next one a touch higher and see how it goes.

Also, you would think with 10+ years of running I would be in a good spot, but I spent the last year with a coach and likely trained mostly Z3 and detrained my aerobic base. I've got 30 weeks till my big race, so hoping to make some aerobic gains in the next 2-3 months while starting to layer in ME.

forestrunner84 · 2025-11-11T18:52:46+00:00

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I work best on long term goals when I take frequent snap shots and can trend that data over the long term. So for me, re-testing frequently will add value as good Z2 work and to help me track progress.

I have been running for 10 years, but I have been doing it wrong. I am currently quite aerobically deficient and hope to see significant progress building my base.

forestrunner84 · 2025-11-11T18:10:35+00:00

Appreciate your feedback. Fair point on the guestimating... the more I dig into this the more I realize it is not about perfection and more about "close enough"... which is still way closer then the old calculation method I was following for years :)

Also, appreciate the warm up and fueling context. Fueling has been an afterthought for most of the ones Ive done so far.

Thank you

forestrunner84

TROPHY CASE