Mark Williams

Occupation: Design and R&D Engineer
Primary Sport: Cycling

“The main thing with ithlete is that you learn about your body and keep healthy to ride hard all day.”

I first started cycling in 2001 after getting a divorce; it was either fitness or the bottle. Mountain biking was the thing that grabbed me as I was an avid motor cyclist and loved speed and danger. After cycling for a couple of months and getting fitter. I found that I had burnt out all my mates so it was time to find a local mountainbiking club. I joined up and started racing and then did 24-hour race events. I then took up road cycling, much to my brother’s joy since he loved the road stuff. Next I was talked into doing my first time-trial on a local course. It was not an easy one with rolling hills, but from that point on, the road is what I liked the best: time trialing and trips to the French alps. Pure joy there!

I train between 7 to 8 hours a week in the spring and summer; 5 to 6 hours in the fall and winter. I would experience fatigue from overtraining, especially if my work week had been busy and I hadn’t got to bed early enough. I have been using heart rate monitors now for over 10 years, I started with the Suunto X6hr, then moved on to the Polar S710i and AXN700, but now I use the Garmin Edge 705 and the Suunto t6c with a dual belt and memory belt. My goal this year is to beat my personal best in 10-mile, 25-mile and 50-mile time trials.

I started using ithlete because I needed to see how hard to train and how often. I really like ithlete’s ease of use first thing in the morning. It’s as close as you can get for very little money to gain experience with how training effects your body as well as knowing what to do with the readings that comes with usage.

When I got a bad cold early this year, I could track it with ithlete and rest until the symptoms had gone and my results came back to normal. For this alone, the ithlete is extremely valuable, But the main thing with ithlete is that you learn about your body and keep healthy to ride hard all day.