There's one particular ultra that I run where I often struggle to meter out exertion for due to to first 80% being a slow flat decent and the last 20% being an absolutely diabolical climb out to the finish. I find myself either burning out early or having too much in the tank at the finish line and feeling like I could turn around and do half the course again.
This time around I've opted to use Pace Pro (came out on the Fenix 6) which allows you to set a finish goal and plan how hard or easy you want to run the hills on order to meet that goal. So I've set that up for a time I felt I could hit, and it broke down my pacing goals for each kilometre in a way that was completely dependant on elevation. Some k's were 7:00 min/km, some were as high as 18 min/km.
The watch said I had a 30 min lead on where it thought I should be and I proceeded to keep that all the way to the end of race, beating my precious best by almost 20% which is quite extraordinary. What's even more interesting is that my measured power output and heartrate was very consistent throughout the entire race - probably why it was so easy to hit that PB.
No smartwatch maker is delivering thoughtful game-changing features like this for athletes, so I thank them for continuing that focus.
It's amazing having full on watch navigation, being able to see where you in the elevation plot for the entire course, drinking and eating alerts and now being coached through every kilometre to hit your goals. You feel fully supported through an entire race. It's just awesome.
