I've had a Garmin watch for many years and, yes, there are lot of data available. I ignore quite a bit. I keep track of my heart rate (particularly the Average Resting HR (usually around 49-50)); max HR; pace; distance. At almost 86 years old, I have learned to listen to my body so I use the data to aid me in my training for a race. Years ago I found you can locked into depending too much on data and not enough on what your body is telling you! Only use the watch as a tool .
It's interesting that you bring this up now. Just today I said to my husband - if I was relying on my Garmin data for motivation, I'd stop running. When I increase my distance, my Garmin decreases my VO2max, when I run faster my Garmin decreases my endurance. A training status of unproductive after a couple of tough runs is not a great motivator. If I help out at event as a pacer, my Garmin data is all over the place.
Having started dancing and then running long before smartwatches was a blessing in disguise. I learned to read my body and understand its unique characteristics. My resting heart rate is very low but my average when I'm exercising is high, so if I was going to make decisions based on that, I'd never get past a fast walk at best. At the end of the day, smartwatches rely on algorithms, not reality.
T-I started to drive myself NUTS with all the data captured I was doing. (As in, not being able to sleep because I was so worried about measuring the quality of my sleep. Insert massive eye-roll.) So now I just show up. And when I just show up to exercise, it's way more fun. So YES, and a big AMEN. Listen to your body!
I had an iWatch for a bit, but I found it as just another external stress input so I stopped. Honestly I'm not really built for health tracking because it really bothers me if I'm "failing" which sabotages any benefits from exercise.
LOL the love hate of Garmin. Does more than I'll ever use and I love it, but the data sometimes is hard to interpret and even after several years I have questions! Enjoy the journey ;)
What we want is signal, not noise. Speaking from the perspective of a 30-year career in business, I would not use any metric unless I've validated the underlying concept and the measurement accuracy. Take "sleep quality" for example. How do you know whether that metric is accurate or even for real? If it's not, you're letting your mind get filled by statistical noise, which means distraction, confusion, and loss of agency. Sorry to rant, but I see people getting confused by bad watch metrics all the time. Don't even get me started on "body battery" and HRV. on my Suunto, I shut all that nonsense off!
I've had 2 Garmin and 2 Coros watches. It's funny, after my first failed attempt to qualify for Boston (way back in 2015), my wife surprised me with a Garmin Forerunner 165. She was like, "If you want to BQ, you're going to need to get serious about your training." Since then, I've run >23,000 miles, all logged on Strava.
GPS watches have absolutely changed my running. While they have so many metrics, the things I really care about are distance, pace, vert, and average HR. Speaking of heart rate, for Christmas 2024, Santa brought me a Coros Armband HRM. (Wrist-based HRMs are not that reliable during activity.) This accessory has been a game changer. It's helped me make sure my easy runs are actually easy. And now I know, without a doubt, what true easy feels like. I don't look at my HR during activity, but it's a great metric to track.
Final thoughts: I do believe that people get too wrapped up in the bells and whistles, and they end up buying WAY more watch than they need. I also think that the quantification of everything can compromise the joy of movement. Which is why we run in the first place.
That is an excellent point, John -- I like that phrase, "buying way more watch than we need." It's like a car, in a way. You can spend as much as $1,000 on one of these things, depending on how far you want to go. Really excellent point in that last graph -- so true.
Very true, Terrell. While there are some nice features on those $1000 watches, the truth is very few people will use them -- and only sparingly, if that. My $499 Coros Apex Pro (now Apex 4, $479), does 98% of the things I need it to do, including helping me get through 3 100-mile mountain ultras at full GPS with no charging.
I've had an Apple Watch for at least 8 years now and I love it. Not just for the fitness data but as a business tool so I don't have to be chained to my phone screen and can look down and see if a call/text is urgent enough to stop my workflow and address it. I also love the fitness data like steps, distance, max heart rate, etc. I recently got an Oura Ring and it's life changing. Totally different data than watch data and focuses more on sleep, body temperature, physiological stress, elevated resting heart rate overnight, cycle tracking, it's so good and I love it too. It predicts when I am getting sick and tells me to cool it. They both have their place and I'd rather know more about my body than less even if objectors say, well what are you going to do with the data? I dunno, ponder it, make changes, think about it, adapt...but having the data is amazing compared to not having it.
Okay this is a great perspective -- glad to hear the pushback! I do see why, especially if you have an iPhone, the Apple Watch is so useful. I've had a couple of Apple Watches too over the years and liked that about them too -- I decided to go with the Garmin because, especially after I had mine for a few years, the battery life just was the pits. I got a Garmin Instinct E and, believe it or not, the battery lasts like 2 weeks! It's kinda crazy. Still getting used to not having the color display, but overall I like it.
Yeah there's no way I could un-integrate from Apple products because, well, my entire business is built around them and it's too challenging to have a non-Apple product, i.e. even just a watch since it then integrates with nothing and there are more apps to download, check, etc. I feel like the cameras on Samsung phones are still so much superior to Apple and I didn't know that Garmin does color and has such great battery life. When you're an Apple user, you just stay in that lane and don't even check unfortunately. From 2018-2021 I had a Samsung phone just for the camera quality but ultimately it became way too hard to sync and integrate so I gave it up. Your Garmin sounds great!
Interesting! I had no idea the Samsung cameras were so much better. I'm like you with Apple -- once you're in their universe of products, it's hard to get out 😀
I'm a food blogger and taking pictures is huge part of my job and as phone cameras go, a 2019 Galaxy would probably still beat a 2026 iPhone 17, not kidding in terms of off-the-cuff photos, or in low lighting in restaurants.
i use a garmin watch (an old model) and i love it for its simplicity. i just use it to track my miles and i connect it to strava. i have friends who track everything from heart rate to cadence. i really just like looking at my miles and overall time. i recently was gifted a strava paid subscription and while it is cool to have the extra features i really don't use most of it.
Great post. I currently have an Apple Watch. It’s pretty good but the battery life isn’t the best. I have been considering trading out for the pace 4 but I’m not sure yet. One thing I really appreciate about apple is that its user friendly and tech is not my strong suit. Looking forward to seeing what people think on this one
I also got a Garmin last fall because the GPS on my Apple Watch was so dismal - the data is super overwhelming! I find it does track my sleep pretty well, but I find the HRV metric is both sensitive and also affects everything else Garmin tells you about training, readiness, etc. I read about HRV being really sensitive to tons of things besides stress (hormones, medications, alcohol, caffeine, etc) so I am trying to not let it freak me out as much as when I first got it. I know how I feel ! But I do like all the data it provides for my actual runs.
I have a pretty cool Garmin. It helps that my son works for Garmin ( not in the fitness tracker aren’t) but they offer amazing product discounts. Hello Morhers Day gift.
Anyway- most of what mine can do- I don’t use Too much data but it’s nice to know if I want to track more than my steps I can and since many of my kids have them too - we have fun with badges and challenges
I've had a Garmin watch for many years and, yes, there are lot of data available. I ignore quite a bit. I keep track of my heart rate (particularly the Average Resting HR (usually around 49-50)); max HR; pace; distance. At almost 86 years old, I have learned to listen to my body so I use the data to aid me in my training for a race. Years ago I found you can locked into depending too much on data and not enough on what your body is telling you! Only use the watch as a tool .
86 … you’re my hero! Smart advice to listen to your body instead of your smartwatch
I love this, Ken! It helps, if nothing else, to know I'm not the only one 😀
It's interesting that you bring this up now. Just today I said to my husband - if I was relying on my Garmin data for motivation, I'd stop running. When I increase my distance, my Garmin decreases my VO2max, when I run faster my Garmin decreases my endurance. A training status of unproductive after a couple of tough runs is not a great motivator. If I help out at event as a pacer, my Garmin data is all over the place.
Having started dancing and then running long before smartwatches was a blessing in disguise. I learned to read my body and understand its unique characteristics. My resting heart rate is very low but my average when I'm exercising is high, so if I was going to make decisions based on that, I'd never get past a fast walk at best. At the end of the day, smartwatches rely on algorithms, not reality.
T-I started to drive myself NUTS with all the data captured I was doing. (As in, not being able to sleep because I was so worried about measuring the quality of my sleep. Insert massive eye-roll.) So now I just show up. And when I just show up to exercise, it's way more fun. So YES, and a big AMEN. Listen to your body!
I had an iWatch for a bit, but I found it as just another external stress input so I stopped. Honestly I'm not really built for health tracking because it really bothers me if I'm "failing" which sabotages any benefits from exercise.
Apple Watch, lol. Clearly it's been awhile
LOL the love hate of Garmin. Does more than I'll ever use and I love it, but the data sometimes is hard to interpret and even after several years I have questions! Enjoy the journey ;)
What we want is signal, not noise. Speaking from the perspective of a 30-year career in business, I would not use any metric unless I've validated the underlying concept and the measurement accuracy. Take "sleep quality" for example. How do you know whether that metric is accurate or even for real? If it's not, you're letting your mind get filled by statistical noise, which means distraction, confusion, and loss of agency. Sorry to rant, but I see people getting confused by bad watch metrics all the time. Don't even get me started on "body battery" and HRV. on my Suunto, I shut all that nonsense off!
I've had 2 Garmin and 2 Coros watches. It's funny, after my first failed attempt to qualify for Boston (way back in 2015), my wife surprised me with a Garmin Forerunner 165. She was like, "If you want to BQ, you're going to need to get serious about your training." Since then, I've run >23,000 miles, all logged on Strava.
GPS watches have absolutely changed my running. While they have so many metrics, the things I really care about are distance, pace, vert, and average HR. Speaking of heart rate, for Christmas 2024, Santa brought me a Coros Armband HRM. (Wrist-based HRMs are not that reliable during activity.) This accessory has been a game changer. It's helped me make sure my easy runs are actually easy. And now I know, without a doubt, what true easy feels like. I don't look at my HR during activity, but it's a great metric to track.
Final thoughts: I do believe that people get too wrapped up in the bells and whistles, and they end up buying WAY more watch than they need. I also think that the quantification of everything can compromise the joy of movement. Which is why we run in the first place.
That is an excellent point, John -- I like that phrase, "buying way more watch than we need." It's like a car, in a way. You can spend as much as $1,000 on one of these things, depending on how far you want to go. Really excellent point in that last graph -- so true.
Very true, Terrell. While there are some nice features on those $1000 watches, the truth is very few people will use them -- and only sparingly, if that. My $499 Coros Apex Pro (now Apex 4, $479), does 98% of the things I need it to do, including helping me get through 3 100-mile mountain ultras at full GPS with no charging.
I've had an Apple Watch for at least 8 years now and I love it. Not just for the fitness data but as a business tool so I don't have to be chained to my phone screen and can look down and see if a call/text is urgent enough to stop my workflow and address it. I also love the fitness data like steps, distance, max heart rate, etc. I recently got an Oura Ring and it's life changing. Totally different data than watch data and focuses more on sleep, body temperature, physiological stress, elevated resting heart rate overnight, cycle tracking, it's so good and I love it too. It predicts when I am getting sick and tells me to cool it. They both have their place and I'd rather know more about my body than less even if objectors say, well what are you going to do with the data? I dunno, ponder it, make changes, think about it, adapt...but having the data is amazing compared to not having it.
Okay this is a great perspective -- glad to hear the pushback! I do see why, especially if you have an iPhone, the Apple Watch is so useful. I've had a couple of Apple Watches too over the years and liked that about them too -- I decided to go with the Garmin because, especially after I had mine for a few years, the battery life just was the pits. I got a Garmin Instinct E and, believe it or not, the battery lasts like 2 weeks! It's kinda crazy. Still getting used to not having the color display, but overall I like it.
Yeah there's no way I could un-integrate from Apple products because, well, my entire business is built around them and it's too challenging to have a non-Apple product, i.e. even just a watch since it then integrates with nothing and there are more apps to download, check, etc. I feel like the cameras on Samsung phones are still so much superior to Apple and I didn't know that Garmin does color and has such great battery life. When you're an Apple user, you just stay in that lane and don't even check unfortunately. From 2018-2021 I had a Samsung phone just for the camera quality but ultimately it became way too hard to sync and integrate so I gave it up. Your Garmin sounds great!
Interesting! I had no idea the Samsung cameras were so much better. I'm like you with Apple -- once you're in their universe of products, it's hard to get out 😀
I'm a food blogger and taking pictures is huge part of my job and as phone cameras go, a 2019 Galaxy would probably still beat a 2026 iPhone 17, not kidding in terms of off-the-cuff photos, or in low lighting in restaurants.
i use a garmin watch (an old model) and i love it for its simplicity. i just use it to track my miles and i connect it to strava. i have friends who track everything from heart rate to cadence. i really just like looking at my miles and overall time. i recently was gifted a strava paid subscription and while it is cool to have the extra features i really don't use most of it.
Great post. I currently have an Apple Watch. It’s pretty good but the battery life isn’t the best. I have been considering trading out for the pace 4 but I’m not sure yet. One thing I really appreciate about apple is that its user friendly and tech is not my strong suit. Looking forward to seeing what people think on this one
Really enjoyed this, Terrell. I mostly find myself tracking distance and heart rate!
Just distance and time. I don't really pay attention to anything else
I think that's what I need to do, too. How's your running going these days, btw?
Admittedly I haven't been running as much lately. Been pretty slammed with work and want to focus on strength training, but hoping to get back soon!
I also got a Garmin last fall because the GPS on my Apple Watch was so dismal - the data is super overwhelming! I find it does track my sleep pretty well, but I find the HRV metric is both sensitive and also affects everything else Garmin tells you about training, readiness, etc. I read about HRV being really sensitive to tons of things besides stress (hormones, medications, alcohol, caffeine, etc) so I am trying to not let it freak me out as much as when I first got it. I know how I feel ! But I do like all the data it provides for my actual runs.
Okay that's really interesting -- I had no idea the Garmin could be that sensitive to all those things. Good to keep in perspective!
I have a pretty cool Garmin. It helps that my son works for Garmin ( not in the fitness tracker aren’t) but they offer amazing product discounts. Hello Morhers Day gift.
Anyway- most of what mine can do- I don’t use Too much data but it’s nice to know if I want to track more than my steps I can and since many of my kids have them too - we have fun with badges and challenges
That I do like -- which Garmin do you have?
Currently a Venu 2S.
Now you have to write an algorithm to analyze the data.
Tell me about it!!