A Few Days with My New Apple Watch

The news of me having an Apple Watch might surprise some of you because I’ve been a big fan of Fitbit for almost five years now. I’ve owned five different models of Fitbit in that time. Well on Monday, my new Apple Watch Nike + Series 4 arrived. I still love the Fitbit app and will likely continue to use it for tracking water and body weight at least for the immediate future.

Why the switch? I am so ingrained to Apple products is the main reason. I have a MacBook Pro, iPad Pro and iPad, iPhone XS Max, there are three Apple TV’s in my house and I subscribe to Apple Music. Trying to upload music to my Fitbit Ionic was a slow painful process so I gave up on it. I could use Spotify or Deezer music streaming services and I did use Spotify for a while, but why pay another streaming service when Apple Music has everything I’d want to hear? Fitbit doesn’t support Apple Music (or the other way around).

Another reason is I’m tired of carrying my iPhone around with me on my runs. My Apple Watch has GPS and Cellular so I can still have my running route tracked, send and receive messages and make phone calls without having my phone with me. Very important for me, easy access to Apple Music, Apple Radio, and most of my most important apps are all available on my wrist plus Audible audiobooks and Podcasts. The downside of not carrying my phone is no camera is available. There will be times when I’ll still run with my iPhone but only because I intend to take photos along the way.

It’s still a little early for me to decide how I feel about the switch from Fitbit to the Apple Watch but I thought I’d at least share some of my early impressions. The paragraph above already mentions a few of my likes about the Apple Watch. I’m finding I’m already picking up my iPad or iPhone much less often now that I have the Watch. For certain, the Watch can’t replace them and you can’t even use the Watch without an iPhone but the need to grab my iPhone or iPad happens much less frequently.

So far my focus has been on activity tracking and health. The Nike + Apple Watch has Nike Run Club built in, then you have the Workout, Health, Activity, and the Breathe health related apps. Overall, they are OK. I still like the Fitbit app better. To me, Fitbit is better integrated. The sleep tracking in the new Apple Watch is OK but not as good as the Fitbit. I even bought a third party Apple Watch app called, “AutoSleep” and it still doesn’t compare to the Fitbit’s reporting of your sleep. I prefer “Calm”, a third party mindfulness app over Breathe. To take full advantage of “Calm” you need to buy an annual subscription though.

The Nike Run Club is pretty nice. The Guided Runs feature is something I will use fairly often. The “My Coach” feature that is a part of the iPhone app isn’t in the Watch version but I’m Ok with that. For the past six weeks or so I’ve been using the “My Coach” feature but for the couple of weeks I’ve just about stopped using it. Not that it’s necessarily a bad feature but for me personally, it’s too focused on running pace.

My biggest beef about the Nike Run Club app (iPhone & Watch) is not having the ability for manual split times or the ability to change auto splits to something other than one mile. Another aggravation is if your last split doesn’t equal one mile, your split time for the segment isn’t shown. I still want to know my pace even for distances shorter than one mile. A minor complaint I have with the NRC app is when you have music playing during a guided run its sometimes hard to hear the coaches guidance–especially when you have vehicles going by. There should be a way to adjust the coaches volume over the music.

I have the 44mm version and I find reading the display on the Watch is fine. My version of the Nike + Watch comes with the Nike Sport Loop. At first, I thought the band was a little too small and I had a hard time getting it on and off of my hand. It didn’t take long for me to realize the Sports Loop is elastic and stretches some. The Sports Loop is very comfortable, easy to adjust the wrist size and has reflective material woven into the band which is a plus too. It will be interesting to learn the duribility of the Sport Loop. Removing the Sport Loop is easy. Just press a small button on the back side of the Watch and slide the end of the band out. To replace just slide the band back in until it locks in.

Conclusion:

Overall, I’ve very happy with the Apple Watch. I do feel like I’ve had to make a few compromises compared to the features of the Fitbit and Fitbit app but for me the advantages of the Apple Watch outweigh the disadvantages.

I’ll probably report back more thoughts about the Apple Watch and my switch from Fitbit in the months ahead. I’m sure my opinions will change some as I get more familiar with the Watch. Have any of you switched from Fitbit to Apple Watch? Have you upgraded from an older model of the Apple Watch to the Series 4? If you have done either, what do think? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

14,741,053 Steps Ago…

14,732,406 steps ago was June 21st, 2013. That’s the day I wore my Fitbit activity tracker for the first time. All those steps add up to a distance of over 8,295 miles or an average of 7.5 miles per day.

The three years prior to 2013 I was busy prepping a house to sell. Selling that house. Building a new house and then moving in and settling in to the new house. I gained weight, stopped exercising and by June of 2013 I was taking two blood pressure medications and weighed about 245 pounds. I knew something had to be done and putting on my Fitbit Flex was the start.

It began by just walking. On most days I walked at least five miles. Once I worked my way up to walking 60-90 minutes each session I started thinking if I can walk six or seven miles surely I can run one mile.

So that’s what I did, I went out on my usual walk but somewhere along the way I would start running and run for approximately one mile. I was very slow and yet I still felt like I was going to die. But I stuck with it. One mile became two miles then two miles became 5K. By December I could run 10K. Barely! But I could do it and I ran in my first 10K race in about twenty years. My finish time was around and hour and fifteen minutes but I finished and I felt like that was quite an accomplishment.

Since then I’ve ran in quite a few 10K races, a few 5K races and in April of this year I ran in a half marathon. Since June of 2013 I’ve lost about 30 pounds and no longer take any blood pressure meds. My resting heart rate is well below 60 beats per minute. I still would like to lose about twenty more pounds. Not sure if I’ll ever get there but I’m working on it. My running progress is slow and steady. I’m getting faster and running further. This too is a work in progress.

I’m about six weeks away from the 60th birthday and feel better then ever. Let me tell you something. If I can make this kind of progress so can you. It just takes a little discipline, dedication and a whole lot of determination. And patience! You have to be patient.

Take it one day at a time. Take it slow and continue to make steady progress. I see it all the time and on occasion I’ve been guilty of it myself. Trying to push your progress too quickly will only result in burnout or worse yet injury. The key for me is to go out with a duration of activity in mind. Let speed and distance take care of themselves. Somedays are better than others. My mile splits can vary more than two minute per mile from one day to the next. I just accept it. Three years and I’m injury free. Yes, I’ve had a few aches and pains but nothing serious. Nothing that stopped me from continuing on. For me, by just going out for a specific duration has taken a lot of pressure off. If my goal is a 45 minutes and I run at least 45 minutes then it’s a successful workout.

Who knows where I’ll be by this time next year but that’s part of the adventure. I know if I stay determined I will make progress. I’m not special. If I can do it–so can you.

Hump Day Goal Day Results

 

28 out of 37 reached their daily goal and got their star. Not a bad week at all. Almost the best week ever. Still hoping for a week when everyone gets their star. I know several people had other things going on that kept them from getting to their goal. “Michael f” had a new baby born and “Neelie” was celebrating her birthday. I’m pretty confident they will both get their stars next week.

The lineup for the Hump Day Goal Day changes week-to-week. I do have a method to my madness in making the initial selections. After that, it just depends on how many and how fast everyone accepts their invitation. As one group fills I move anyone who didn’t accept to a different group. I do try to keep certain groups of people together though. The group in the upper right is almost all regulars that I keep together and this group gets all stars pretty frequently.

I’ve got a great group of friends on Fitbit. I try to keep them motivated and that works both ways. In fact, they are a much bigger motivator for me than I can be for any of them. I hope this post motivates you to start your own “Hump Day Goal Day” challenge next week. Not if, but when I can get all four groups full of stars I’ll post it here. Keep steppin’!

 

 

Hump Day Goal Day

Every Wednesday for about the past sixteen months I start a Hump Day Goal Day challenge with my Fitbit app. This challenge has become pretty popular with my friends on Fitbit. In today’s challenge I have 37 people participating! For those that may not be familiar with the best fitness tracker app out there (my opinion of course), you can participate in five challenges at a time with a maximum of ten participants in each. The challenges consist of “Weekend Warrior”, “Daily Showdown”, “Workweek Hustle” and “Goal Day”.

My favorite is Goal Day because everyone who participates has a chance to win. Your objective in the Goal Day challenge is to reach the daily step goal you’ve set for yourself. Typically, this is 10,000 steps in a day but you can change this higher or lower. My daily step goal is 11,000 steps. The way I look at it is if I get my 11,000 steps then I’ve given 110 percent! On Goal Day, once you’ve reached your step goal a star appears beside your name. I try to get as many of the four groups of challengers to all get their star. Some weeks are better than others but I do have quite a few people who regularly get their star.

My group of Fitbit friends is always changing and didn’t get up to his size overnight. Honestly, I have more than the 37 you see here. For quite a few months I could count my Fitbit friends on one hand. Once Fitbit added the challenges my group of friends started growing. I have Fitbit friends in Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, Lousiana, Indiana, Virginia, Canada, England and probably a few other places that I haven’t learned about yet. Some have come and gone and a few have come back again. Occasionally, life gets busy and I’m a little late getting out my Hump Day challenge invites out and it never fails I will get several messages during the day asking me if I’m going to have a Hump Day challenge. I’m grateful so many people look forward to this challenge. The social aspect of the Fitbit app is one of its many strong points.

Everyone tries hard to make it to their step goals and when someone appears to be faltering others in the Group will send out an encouraging message to cheer them on. One thing that does disappoint me a bit is sometimes someone isn’t going to make their step goal and they quit the challenge. It’s nothing to be ashamed of when it happens. There is more to life than walking or running to reach your step goal. Everyone wants to see a star by their name but if you tried your best that’s all that matters. Don’t quit. Just be happy you tried and then come back next week even more determined to reach your goal. I’m hoping all 37 challengers make it to their goal and we see all stars when it’s finished. But it we don’t there is always next week.

If you’re a Fitbit user my challenge to you is to start your own Hump Day Goal Day Challenge. It doesn’t have to have ten people participating. You and one other person is just fine. Once your challenge is finished, take a screenshot of your results and post the results on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Use the hashtags: #humpday #goalday #fitbit #goals #teamwork Let’s try to make this viral. If you don’t have a Fitbit maybe you should consider getting one so you can share in the fun?

At the time of this writing I see four stars. Only 33 more to go! I’ll post the results on Thursday. Happy Hump Day!

FitBit #GoalDay2016

Hey all you FitBit users, tomorrow is the Worldwide FitBit Goal Day.

Join the FitBit community this Saturday, May 21st, 2016 by taking on the Goal Day Challenge and committing to reaching your personal step goal. Invite your friends to take the challenge or just challenge yourself. #GoalDay2016

Fitbit Blaze Review

I’ve had the new Fitbit Blaze for a week now so I thought I would tell you about my experience with the new tracker. For a little over a year I’ve used the Fitbit Surge so any comparisons I make will be made between the Blaze and Surge. Functionally, both are very similar except the Surge has built-in GPS and the Blaze uses connected GPS from your mobile phone. The Blaze comes with a classic band and retails for approximately $200. For comparison the Surge retails for approximately $250.

Appearance

The Blaze uses a new color display instead of monochrome. The display is attractive and I find it easier to read than the monochrome display on the Surge. The tracking device snaps into a metal frame which gives the Blaze a nicer appearance than the Surge.  Unlike the Surge, you can swap out the bands that hold the tracking device. The classic band has an appearance similar to the Surge and Charge HR and is available in three colors: black, blue and plum. While a bit pricey, Fitbit now offers a leather band or metal links band for the Blaze. The leather bands come in black, camel, and mist grey. The metal band has a satin silver finish that matches the frame that holds the tracker. The metal links band retails for $130; the leather bands retail for $100 and the classic bands retail for $30. I hear Fitbit plans to offer additional bands that will appeal more to women. I hope they offer alternatives that are priced well below $100. I have the metal links band which to me, gives an appearance more appropriate for the office or evening out. I plan to use the classic band when I work out with the Blaze tracking device and wear the metal links band at work and on evenings out. My Surge will not go by the wayside either.  I will continue to use my Surge with its built-in GPS while running outdoors. The Fitbit app supports the use of multiple trackers very well so switching between the two trackers is easy.

Navigation

You press any side button or tap on the touch screen to wake up the device. Navigation between menu screens is handled by swiping to the right then tapping on the screen to open the menu. Menu choices are Clock, Today, Exercise, FitStar, Timer, Alarms, and Settings. At any time, you can press the Back Button (single button on left side) to return to the previous screen and eventually back to the clock screen. The screen tap function is a little quirky. Sometimes I have to tap multiple time to get the watch to detect my taps. Hopefully this will improve in a future firmware update.

To view text messages, calendar reminders or missed calls you swipe up from the clock menu. To view the music controls, you swipe down or hold the top right button. If you use the original watch display (three other display options are available: Pop, Zone, & Flare) you can tap on the clock to see the date, heart rate, distance, calories burned, stairs climbed, total steps. Swiping to the Today menu and tapping once allows you to scroll through the screen to view to daily activity.

Tracking Exercise & FitStar Integration

SmartTrack automatically detects most exercises but you can use the Exercise menu to start a workout such as running, treadmill, golf, bicycling, weights and others. The Blaze can track your running or cycling route by using the GPS capabilities of your mobile phone.
Fitstar is a new integrated feature of the Blaze. The integration is limited and I would really like to see more routines included. Users like myself that use Fitstar’s premium service will not be impressed. You have the choice of three routines: “Warm It Up”, “7 Minute Workout”, and “10 Minute Abs”. I didn’t have any trouble understanding the exercises in the routines but if you’re not a Fitstar user the routines may be a little confusing at first. All three routines will give you a useful short workout, especially when you’re away from home or only have time for a short workout.

Sleep, Silent Alarms & Heart Rate

The Blaze does a great job of automatically tracking your sleep. Just wear it to bed and the Blaze will do the rest and will calculate your resting heart rate for you. Unlike other smart watches on the market the Fitbit HR models Charge HR, Surge and Blaze track your heart rate all the time. Most other smart watch makers only record it every ten minutes.
As with other Fitbit trackers you use the Fitbit mobile app to set your silent alarms. I use the alarms for morning wake up and to remind me to get up from my desk at work and get moving for a few. You can tap the screen to turn an alarm off or put into snooze mode for nine minutes. I tend to use the right side buttons instead of the touch screen. This is an area that I have my greatest complaint but I will admit had I not come from using the Surge I probably would not have noticed or even minded the change here. You use the lower right button to turn the alarm off and press the upper right button to put the alarm on snooze. This is the exact opposite of the Surge. The first night I used the Blaze I intended to put the morning wakeup alarm on a nine-minute snooze and without realizing it I turned the alarm off. I fell back asleep and then overslept by twenty minutes. I suppose I will get used to the change but I will always have to think about which tracker I’m wearing when an alarm goes off. I cannot think of any compelling reason why Fitbit didn’t keep this function consistent between both trackers.

Overall Impression

If you are a Fitbit Surge user, there is little reason to switch. Personally, I got the Blaze for its appearance and not for its functionality. A Fitbit Flex, Charge or Charge HR user who doesn’t need built-in GPS the Blaze would be a good upgrade option that has a cheaper starting price point than the Surge. Of course, if you start adding custom wristbands the saving will disappear quickly. The Blaze has very good battery life. Even with my frequent tapping, swiping and button presses while going over all the features and functions I got four days on a single charge. Overall, I like the Fitbit Blaze and will wear it daily however, I will continue to use my Surge on my outdoor runs so I can take advantage of the built-in GPS.

If you are wanting to upgrade from a first generation tracker, the Blaze is a great option. All measurements from the tracker are accurate and battery life is very good. If you want or need built-in GPS you may want to consider the Fitbit Surge, otherwise you can’t go wrong with the Blaze.

The Running Gear I Use

I’m expanding my blog a bit and I’ve just finished a page on my favorite running gear. The “running gear” page has a menu link on the blog menu. Just so you know, I’m not getting any incentives or cash for posting the stuff listed. It’s shown here because I really do use the it. Some stuff more than others but if I keep in on hand and use it more than once, it’s shown on my list of running gear. Hope you find My Running Gear page useful.

First Steps

My return to running began in June of 2013. Actually, it didn’t start with running at all. It started with walking. At first it was just a mile or so and I gradually increased my distance over the course of about three to four months. By September I was easily walking for an hour or more. It was an easy progression really. About eighteen months before I started my new journey in running I moved to a new neighborhood that has fitness trails that run through different sections of the neighborhood. This turned my walking into a bit of an adventure to explore and learn the various paths.

To help monitor my progress I use an activity tracker. My activity tracker of choice was the Fitbit Flex. You certainly don’t need an activity tracker but they can help you stay motivated. There are trackers made by Nike, Apple, Garmin, Jawbone and a few others. They all have advantages and disadvantages and I’m not recommending one over the other. I will say what I like about the Fitbit products is their mobile app for the iPhone or Android devices. To me, the others just don’t compare. If you don’t use an activity tracker I do recommend you start an activity diary. It can be a small notebook that can easily fit in a pocket or purse where you just record the date, time and duration of your walks. The advantage of a diary is you can look back and see your progress. Seeing progress, even if it’s in small increments can help you stay motivated.

For the first few months I tried to walk at least six miles a day. Everyday. At first I didn’t do this in one session. Many times it was in the course of three or four walking sessions during the day. If you’ve got a spare 15-20 minutes–go walk! That’s what I did. Some days I didn’t get my six miles in and other days I went well beyond it. The main thing is to stay committed. When you put your mind to it you can find all kinds of opportunities to walk more. One easy way is when you pull into a parking lot to park don’t look for the closest parking spot near the building you want to enter. Instead, find a spot that is the furthest out. I think you’ll find many times this will be a time saver because you’re not driving up and down the parking lot looking for that spot closest to the building.

As you see, the first steps to running for a lifetime isn’t running at all. It’s walking. Over the years I’ve watched too many people take up running by starting out too quickly and too aggressively only to stop due to injury or frustration over the constant aches and pains cause by running. If you want to run for a lifetime, you’ve got to have patience and a bit of discipline. Regardless of where you are physically you will always need to stay with it and start slow. As you progress, slow will be faster than the first day you started running but it should always feel like you are taking it slow.