Is SpeedCoach Mobile legal to use in competition?
Generally, yes. In events governed by the FISA rules of racing, the answer appears to be yes. In the FISA 2009 rules of racing, rule 74 states: “It is prohibited to give any instructions, advice or directions to rowers or crews that are racing with any electric, electronic or other technical device, either directly or indirectly.” So possession of an iPhone or iPod touch appears to be legal as long as the device isn’t used for prohibited communication.
In Canada, the answers also appears to be yes, as the Rowing Canada rules of racing use the same language in this area as FISA.
In the United States, the US Rowing rules of racing historically had a broad restriction on the possession of communication devices of any kind while racing. For 2011, the Rules of Racing were modified to remove this restriction, making SpeedCoach Mobile legal for use in US competition for the first time.
Why does the speed reading respond slowly when I speed up or slow down?
GPS-based systems, by their nature, are more accurate when measuring long distances than short distances. When trying to measure speed with GPS, the relative inaccuracy of short distance measurements causes the calculated speed to fluctuate considerably. To get around this problem, GPS-based systems generally provide a “smoothing” function that measures speed over a somewhat longer distance or time – the longer the interval, the lower the fluctuation. However, this also means that a true change in speed cannot be detected as quickly.
This tradeoff between responsiveness to speed changes and stability of the calculated speed is inherent in all GPS systems, but for relatively slow-moving systems (like boats and runners, for example) the problem is particularly acute.
SpeedCoach Mobile uses an approach that tries to strike a good balance for rowing and paddling. Based on our testing over the last several months, this seems to produce a speed reading that is reasonably stable but that will start responding to speed changes within a few strokes.
The current version of SpeedCoach Mobile allows you to adjust the size of the smoothing window (in the “Advanced Settings” area).
What options are available for monitoring my heart rate?
Several heart rate options are available. The iPhone 4S includes support for Bluetooth 4.0, which includes a “low energy” mode (known as BTLE or BLE) which supports a new generation of chest straps directly, without the need for any receiver plugged into the iPhone.
For older iPhones and the iPod touch, Wahoo Fitness sells an ANT+ receiver and chest strap combination. They also sell waterproof cases that include a built-in ANT+ receiver.
Finally, for older Polar-compatible chest straps, the 60beat receiver allows you to receive heart rate information using an adapter that plugs into the headphone jack of your iPhone or iPod touch.
SpeedCoach Mobile fully supports all three of these options.
How can I improve my battery life?
For most users, the iPhone battery will easily last through a practice that lasts 2-3 hours when starting with a full charge. To get the best possible battery life, there are a few steps you can take:
- Use the lowest screen brightness that you can without sacrificing readability.
- Enable “auto-brightness” to let the iPhone adapt automatically to changing light conditions.
- Turn off WiFi.
- Don’t use “push” mode to get your email, and either fetch email manually or on an hourly basis.
How can I avoid incoming phone calls and other interruptions during my workouts?
With the iPhone, some interruptions can be disabled while others cannot. To avoid incoming phone calls, set call forwarding to another number or to your voice mail. To find the number of your voice mail system you’ll need to contact an AT&T customer service representative. Once you have your voice mail number, you can forward calls to that number which will route all incoming calls directly to voice mail.
Avoid calendar entries with alerts that occur during practice times. Use the iPhone settings application to disable sounds for new mail, voice mail, and calendar alerts.
Unfortunately, it isn’t possible to disable incoming text messages. If a text message arrives while SpeedCoach Mobile is running, the application will continue to run but the display will be obscured by the text message alert. To continue with your workout, you’ll need to dismiss the alert message.
I’m not getting speed or distance readings – what could be wrong?
There could be several reasons for this. First, make sure that location services are enabled for SpeedCoach Mobile. In the iPhone/iPod settings application, select “General”, and then “Location Services”. Make sure that location services are turned on, and then scroll down in the application list and make sure that the setting for SpeedCoach Mobile is “on”.
The GPS signal strength indicator that appears in the speed/pace data area can be of some help here. If the signal strength indicator is yellow, then your iPhone is successfully receiving a GPS signal, but it can’t locate enough satellites to get a reading that’s accurate enough to perform speed & distance calculations. This is mostly likely due to heavy cloud cover or precipitation. When the signal strength shows four or more bars, the color will change to green to indicate that the GPS signal is acceptably accurate and SpeedCoach Mobile will report speed and distance.
If the signal strength indicator is red, this could mean that SpeedCoach Mobile was unable to communicate with the GPS receiver at all. This could also be caused by extreme weather conditions or cloud cover, but may also be caused (in rare cases) by internal problems in the iPhone. If this happens and the signal strength doesn’t improve, try turning off your iPhone completely by holding down the power button for several seconds until the “slide to power off” message appears. Power off the iPhone, restart it, and then try launching SpeedCoach Mobile again.
I’m not getting stroke rate readings – what could be wrong?
First, make sure that you didn’t accidentally turn on “Coach mode”. In the iPhone/iPod settings application, scroll down to “SpeedCoach Mobile” and select it. Make sure that “coach mode” is “off”.
Erratic stroke rate readings can be caused by a problem in the way the iPhone is mounted in the boat. Be sure that the iPhone is reasonably well attached to the boat. If the iPhone’s case were to hang freely from a lanyard, for example, it would be impossible to detect the acceleration of the boat and detect its stroke rate.
It’s also important that the iPhone be facing fairly directly toward the bow or stern. For example, the iPhone cannot be mounted against the gunwale facing the interior of the boat. The iPhone can be tilted backward at any angle that you wish, to make the screen most visible to you, and SpeedCoach Mobile will automatically adapt to the angle that you choose. But if the iPhone is swiveled too far to the left or right, the acceleration signal is weakened and the stroke rate readings can become less reliable.
Why Is SpeedCoach Mobile more expensive than most iPhone applications?
Development of the SpeedCoach Mobile application began in April, 2007 as the first cell phones with built-in accelerometers began to appear. A version was developed for the Nokia 5500 Sport phone, and a second version for Java-based phones with accelerometers was in beta testing when the iPhone 3G was announced. The iPhone version is the first one to be publicly released, but it builds on work that began over four years ago.
The amount of work that has gone into this application and the relatively small size of the rowing & paddling market mean that a sustainable business model can only be achieved by setting the price of the applications somewhat higher than most other iPhone apps. It is our goal to continue to add features to these applications, and to develop other new rowing & paddling applications as well. This will only be possible if the income generated by the applications is sufficient to justify this ongoing investment.