timing a tri

[billycoolcat]

Anyone have advice on best way to use your fitbit (ionic) to time a tri race (of course without having to set up for each stage)?  ...meaning just hit go at the water and then stop it when crossing the finish line at the run.  Has anyone done it?

[etvete]

I would think that using the manual exercise tracking app on the ionic would work great for this. Using the workout setting would enable you to time it and track steps etc all at the same time.

[billycoolcat]

I posted this on several boards, and someone else replied in similar fashion, but these are the issues with that... my reply:  Yea, that's one way, but it's difficult to know what part of the tri activity you're in if you want to time the segments (the swim vs. the bike vs. the run), and you don't get a visual map of the course.  A better option would be to mark it as run, or a bike, this way you see the map, and then you can time the segments from the visual mapping, say because you'd know where the transition areas are for example.  However, this also doesn't work well because timing as a bike or run activity in the water doesn't work well... the watch goes crazy.  You may not know this if you haven't used it for swimming, but a swim activity doesn't use the screen touch controls, but uses the push buttons instead.  So it's a bit more complicated than just going with the workout activity.  It sounds like I'll have to track the swim first, and then restart with a bike or run activity. 

[etvete]

Another thing that might be worth checking is if the tri that you are participating in is going to be using timing chips. I have participated in 2 so far and both have used them, I can't imagine a tri that didn't. That chip will tell you the time that you take for each segment of the race as well as the time that you take for each transition. That may make using your fitbit to time each separate segment a distraction, especially if you are switching from one activity to another.

[billycoolcat]

Yep, all TRIs pretty much do, you're right.  I was just wondering if it's possible to capture on the fitbit, but at the end of the day, not too worried about it.  Perhaps an issue to raise to the developers if anyone is listening.  Thanks for you interest.