We’re all entering an era where we get to decide what level of automation we want for just about anything. Do we want the free flowing unmediated experience of just running and feeling it all. Do we want feedback, agency, or even at the extreme, the work done for us? It’s all possible now, unlike at any point in history.
Second only to note-taking apps, my phone is full of fitness trackers. Magness makes the important point that we have a choice to make about our own agency in fitness.
I’m deciding to not take this any further than using these analytical outputs for seeing the broad rhythms of my training. My main motivation for even doing these things is to be active and healthy. In part, this surely has to be staying aware of my perceived fitness and capacity for training. My watch can provide some perspective, but I won’t cede control to it.
🏃♂️ Approaching the time of day when, having run into work this morning, I debate if I should just take the train back. The return run seemed like a much better idea this morning
RunnerCast is a great, single purpose app that tells me one thing: how is the weather for my run?
Prior to RunnerCast, I’d open up the Weather app on my phone and squint at various metrics. Now, I’m presented with a straightforward set of colours on a timeline and declarative sentence about if I should go now. I also appreciate that I can tweak my tolerance for temperature, precipitation, and other weather features to match my preferences.
Another helpful feature is that you can add in upcoming events (like the half marathon shown in the screenshot) to start preparing mentally for whatever is coming up on race day.
I’m fond of apps like these: well designed, specific, and useful.
🏃♂️ Proud to run alongside my son this morning for his first half marathon. We shaved about ten minutes off his two-hour goal!
🏃♂️ Added another event to this year’s race calendar. My son is going to join me for this one, which will be fun. His runs have maxed out at about 7km to date, so he has some training to do. I need to convince him that he can’t just sprint the whole thing.
In arguably one of the biggest bits of news for outdoor-focused Apple Watch owners in years, Komoot just announced true offline mapping and routing for their Apple Watch app. Up until now, their app required some sort of connectivity, notably to the phone, in order to have offline maps/routing.
This looks quite promising. I’ve been using the WorkOutDoors app for offline maps, but Komoot looks much easier.
Using a portfolio of fitness apps can lead to inconsistencies in heart rate zones, so one solution is to standardize them based on a preferred app’s method for more precise workout intensity tracking.
