Interval mode thoughts - draft, v2

Smart Stop Watch Sally Alert: I'm working on these ideas and it is part for me – and part for Dean. The stopwatch has its benefits and its limitations. Can this be tweaked? So, am I to write a manual for users and ignore all the shortcomings? Or, do you want to know those too? Interval Mode The interval mode is simple for adjusting times and deploys quickly. Send-off times are able to be fine-tuned in steps by 2.5-seconds amounts, such as 25-seconds, 27.5-seconds, 30-seconds and so on. Using the interval mode with the team gives clear direction to the lead swimmers as to when to go. The voice from the speaker says, “Take your mark” and then a beep. Or, the voice can be in a count mode. The count mode comes with the sounds, “Eight, Nine, Go!” To get the count commands on the send offs, the original button push needs to be onto the left button. Or, to get the swim style send-off commands of “Take your mark,” the original button push happens on the right button. The watch displays the clues with the word “Count” on the left, below the left button and the word “Swim” below the right button. Benefits: Coach does not need to send the swimmers as the system does that. Coach can be engaged in other coaching duties or be at other parts of the pool deck. Swimmers can count upon the voice. Experience: The first “go” comes five-seconds after pushing the button. Pushing the button on right activates the watch to makes a ready whistle. The swimmers need to learn that they are not to depart on that whistle. The coach needs to know to push the button 5-seconds before the interval timer is engaged. When the count button on the left is pushed, there is no ready whistle. The five second delay leading into the first “Go” is present, but the whistle is absent. The reasoning for not doing the whistle in the one mode allows the watch be a better patron in some swim pool facilities that prohibit whistle sounds that are not of an emergency nature. Lifeguards and pool management does not need to be startled every time a new interval and set is five seconds from commencing. To avoid the whistle sounds, just push the left button and opt to use the voice commands, “Eight, Nine, Go!” The interval mode accepts two button pushes, Left and Right, and those times flash on the AutoCoach pace clock / scoreboard. Generally, I keep one button for the fastest swimmer in the water. The other button push is used for the finish time of some other random swimmer. After pushing the buttons, the time is displayed for a moment and then the numbers on the pace clock turn to a red color and count down to zero for the next interval. A swimmer can look to the clock and see how much time remains until the next interval begins. Changes of color is a valuable tool. Limitation: If the coach does not push the button at the completion of one stage in the interval, then the clock continues to climb without resetting for the following interval. The voice says, “Go.” However, the scoreboard does not flip to the next send-off time. It would be good to have an option within the clock or the watch to allow the visual clock to always reset in the interval mode with every send-off even if a button push isn't made by the coach. Limitation: The maximum time for the interval is 4-minutes in duration. So, doing 500-yard repeats on 7:30 is out of the question. Or, playing a game with a 7-minute quarter with a running clock is out of the question too. It would be GREAT to have the interval mode be able to accept repeat times up to 10-minutes in length rather than being limited as is the case now, to 4-minutes. Experience: My favorite swim set is 25 repetitions x 25-yard distance @ :25 intervals. Short hand, 25x25@25. This is a challenge set we do at least once per month. With younger groups, we often do five repetitions and then have an extra recovery by skipping one or two intervals before doing the next 25 repetitions. The interval mode is good for a series of steps that all have the identical length of time. Variable time intervals are not able to be done with the watch. So, it is impossible to do, for example: 5 x (25 yards @ (#1 = :25, #2 = :25, #3 = :30, #4 = :25)) The #3 repetition would be on :30, rather than :25, to give extra time for a breastroke in the third segment of an I.M. The demand for time adjustments within workouts rather than being always consistent within a set is something that can be programmed with a workout manager software system and the bigger scoreboards or else the iPad paceclocks. With the computer interface, counting any which way, up or down, repeated and nested, is possible. A clever interface between the software for workout managements such as with STRIVE and the audio and visual scoreboard of AutoCoach would be a wonderful feature. I imagine that some coaches will not use the interval mode as it is confining with the same time of each interval and no good workaround other than a re-start after an adjustment of the interval mode dial on the watch. Limitation: There is no “counter.” While doing 25 x 25 @ 25 and in the middle of the set, there is not a good way to know if the group is at #15, #17. Some type of visual counter would be nice. However, the running time can generally be used to know when the first send-off happened, minutes and seconds ago.