The following post is sponsored by FitFluential LLC on behalf of Polar.

For a large part of this summer, I've been sidelined from my normal workouts with my foot injury. I haven't run since June and it's only been in the last few weeks that I've been able to get back into some nonimpact workouts.

But now that my doctor and I put together a plan to help me still train for my half marathon in September while dealing with my stress fractures, I'm ready to get back to a normal workout routine, which of course means tracking all my workout data.

In the past, I've kept track of things like time, distance, average speed, etc., but with my new Polar RC3 GPS watch, I've been able to add tracking my heart rate to the mix.



I've always shied away from the whole heart rate thing because the idea of wearing a heart rate monitor strap around my chest didn't seem appealing. I was worried it would rub and chafe and just in general be uncomfortable during my workouts.

So I was a bit nervous to strap on the chest strap for the first time. But once it was on, I didn't even notice it was there. It sat just below my sports bra and didn't move once during the workout.



The strap sends heart rate data to the watch on your wrist that you can view in real time during your workout. So during interval sprints on the bike, I would see my heart rate jump into zone 4 and during recovery periods slowly fall back to zone 1 or 2.

The watch itself is pretty sleek by design, it's definitely not big and bulky, which is nice.



There are about a million different ways you can view your data. You can opt to see heart rate, total mileage, distance, time elapsed, etc.

I still haven't found a favorite screen that's become my go-to during workouts. I've scrolled through and tested a bunch and for a few the screen is just too crowded and I'm not sure what I'm looking at. I need to keep experimenting until I find the screen that quickly shows me the data I want to see.

My only real criticism of the watch is that it wasn't completely intuitive to figure out right out of the box. I hate having to read instruction manuals that come with any electronics. I want to be able to pull out my new toy and just start using it right away.

The RC3 definitely took me more time to learn and understand from the start, but Polar also helped by creating a nice instructional video that explained the basics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADXjB75HFCk

Now that I'm up and running, the watch is easy to use, and I'm loving getting some heart rate data back during workouts.

If you're curious to try the RC3 GPS for yourself, Polar is graciously offering a 25 percent discount off the watch until Saturday, August 10th. To take advantage of the discount, simply enter the code "fitfluential" when you check out.