New Timex Watches Will Get Your Heart Racing

Timex Ironman Road Trainer

The Skinny:  Timex is releasing two brand-new Ironman watches with heart rate monitoring systems. As far as watches go, they have everything you need (they tell time), but if you are serious about training, these babies bring plenty more to the table.

The Good: We got our wrists inside the Road Trainer and the more tweaked out Race Trainer Kit. Both watches come with heart rate monitors and have plenty of little tricks for taking your workout regiment to the next level. If you're a casual runner or gym rat, it's amazing how something as simple as a watch can take you to the next level. Instead of focusing on just time or distance, watches like these get you paying attention to your target heart rate, recovery times, and a whole host of new data.

The Bad: Timex products like these are for serious training (or at least people who want to get more serious). If you go for a jog every other weekend, futzing with all the settings and straps and piles of data will consume more time than the workout itself. Really, the only knock on these watches is the abundance of features, but that's hardly a bad thing for big-time runners.

Timex Ironman Race Trainer

Is Your Computer Running? The Race Trainer Kit is what really impressed us the most between these two products. It offers all the same features as the Road Trainer, but this watch gets synched up with your computer so all your data can be wirelessly beamed and stored in a log powered by Training Peaks. From there, you can really get intimate with your info and even expand upon your training regiment by logging your food intake and all the dirty thoughts you have about German chocolate cake.  

The Verdict: If you are training for a marathon or something comparably daunting and impressive, the Race Trainer Kit can make a world of difference. If you run a couple times a week and want to improve your results, the Road Trainer can bump you to that next level. If your idea of upping your heart rate is clicking through our latest girl gallery, why have you even been reading this far?

For more info visit TimexTrainer.com