This summer my fiance and I decided to go on vacation to Turkey and Beirut! We had an amazing time, met great people and ate the most delicious food!
Of course, I took the advantage of being in Beirut to meet with the Instabeat team and test their product! I was so excited after months of discussion, press releases, blog readings to test this new device. I already have my Garmin to monitor my running and biking, but nothing for my swimming except for looking at my watch which is not the most convenient way… Here it was, the device I had been waiting for, my new friend!
The way to put it on the googles is quite easy. You just have to be careful that the silicone does not hide the heart rate sensor. Once your googles are in place you can start your usual swim. The device is very light and you do not feel it in the water. The lights are perfectly visible in your glass and push you to get the best posture when swimming with your head in the prolongation of your backbone!
I have a really narrow head, so I had trouble in the beginning getting the sensor really close to my skin for a good heart rate measurement, and had to try different goggles before finding the perfect one. Finding goggles is already hard enough for me, so I took the time to make sure I found the right pair! I believe in the next versions of Instabeat, this is something that should be improved, to make sure to get the heart rate on real time for all shapes of head, no matter how narrow :).
Instabeat is also a good trainer! The lights are not aggressive and it is so motivating to get your real level of effort (not the one you feel to be) in real-time! You can adjust your swim and fully benefit from your training.
In triathlon, most of our training is based on our heart rate (high, medium, low) to learn to manage our effort as it is only the 1st step of the race. Instabeat will soon become your best friend when you swim alone to always stay concentrated on your workout, but also when you swim with others to measure your real effort.
I like it and I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking to improve their swim!