Laps, Intervals and the Polar S-Series

At PC Coach, we're committed to supporting all the subtle nuances of the Polar S-Series monitors, even when they create confusion. That is why version 4.1 of PC Coach has been improved to contain more complete support for the Interval Mode.

Interval Mode is a feature of the S-Series monitors that is useful for all types of workouts, not just pure interval workouts. You can use it to grab the work portion of your workout, and so exclude warmup and cooldown time. We use Interval Mode frequently in the built-in workouts in our training plans for triathlon, cycling and running. When done right, it works very well.

The price for having this feature is that it can be complex to use, and it's easy to make a mistake during the workout. This article will explain how to use Interval Mode, how it flows into PC Coach upon download, and what to do if you press the wrong button.

Topics here include:
Using Interval Mode in normal situations.
Laps within Intervals
Multiple Interval sessions within one workout
What you'll see in PC Coach

Using Interval Mode In Normal Situations
The Polar monitor must be setup for interval mode. This is done for you automatically if you follow a training plan, and upload the workouts before you exercise. Otherwise, you can use the Data Transfer Center - Upload - Exercise Definitions wizard ( start at the button on the top toolbar that looks like a computer).

If you have an exercise defined for using intervals ( Polar documentation calls these Exercise Sets, and there can be five in the monitor at a time) then normal use goes as follows:
Start the workout in the normal way.
PRESS and HOLD the red button to get into interval mode.
PRESS and HOLD the red button at the end of each interval ( if not using an automatic end such as timed, or cycling distance)
If you are using an interval method that involves a recovery between intervals, and the recovery period is manual, PRESS AND HOLD the red button to end the recovery and start the next interval. (Some uses, such as the MAF test in the triathlon plan, call for a series of work intervals with no recovery. This excludes the warmup and cooldown for example).

As you can see, there is a lot of pressing and holding going on. This is easy to forget. For this reason, we designed the triathlon race workouts ( built into Mike Pigg's triathlon training plan) to use the simpler lap method, so you just press the lap button at each juncture ( end of swim, end of t1, end of bike, end of t2 ) and the software figures out how to interpret it all later. Avoiding interval mode here makes for one less thing to worry about.

Laps within Intervals
So what happens if you forget to press and hold, and following natural human instincts, just press the red button at the end of your interval? Here, the scientists at Polar have outdone themselves and undone most of us. The need for all the pressing and holding is a result of a feature they wanted, in which you can store lap markers during your interval. The point of that feature is pretty vague, but the result is that most users, rather than end the current interval when they intend to, accidentally put a lap marker into the record, and stay in the same interval.

The best we have been able to do with this release 4.1.0 is to show on the graph that this has happened (you'll spot it in a heartbeat). Now that you can see these laps within intervals showing up on your graph, it is easier to understand what has happened and avoid it in the future. And, we don't allow these markers to throw us off when counting up your time spent in intervals and your other interval-specific data like average heart rate during intervals, average interval time, etc. These improvements, and this little tutorial, will help a lot of people. And, you are still free to figure out some purpose to the Laps Within Intervals feature. If you do, let me know.

Multiple Interval Sessions Within One Workout
I'm reluctant to even admit that this exists. It is not in Polar's documentation ( that I have found) but it happens to people frequently by accident, so you may as well be armed with the information.

It turns out that if you end your interval mode with a Press and Hold of the red button, and then end your cooldown with another Press and Hold, you go into something called Basic Set. This too can be ended with a Press and Hold and you find yourself back in Warmup mode. Yep, you guessed it, another Press and Hold delivers you back into Interval Mode with the same parameters as the first time. I did not ever find the limit to how many interval sessions can be had during the same workout, and I hope you won't try. Anyway, now with PC Coach 4.1 you can see the results of this in a graph that understands what has happened.

What You'll See in PC Coach
New to version 4.1, a graph of a workout that uses interval mode will have clear markings along the bottom to show which of the markers are laps (even if inside an interval), and which are interval startings and endings. You'll see the interval mode time set off visually, and if there are multiple sets, that will be clear as well. (In graph above, see the green, red and blue lines at the base of the graph. The green line is warmup, red is interval, blue is recovery. You can see there are 3 interval sessions - each with a recovery, followed by a green line indicating the cooldown.)

Macros have been reworked to get the right answer for their intended meaning whether there are laps within them, or multiple sets. Most people don't use macros themselves ( you would have to use the Workout Editor and create your own workout forms) but they are used to glean summary data from the downloaded graph into the Workout View, so you can see things like total interval time, average interval time, average interval heart rate, average interval speed etc. Hopefully, with these changes, you'll get the right answer in the Workout View even if you accidentally forgot to PRESS and HOLD.