A Running Coach & Dietitian’s Thoughts On Running & Smartwatches: ⌚️

Who has been bullied by their smartwatch?! 🙋🏼‍♀️

• ”You’re de-training”.
• ”You need 3 days to recover from today’s run”.
• ”Your HRV is low today”.
• ”You didn’t get enough REM sleep last night”.
• ”Your VO₂ max dropped two points”. 
• ”Your heart rate was 190 bpm on an easy run”.
• ”You’re over-striding and your cadence is too low”.
• ”Your predicted marathon time is now 2 hours slower than it was yesterday”.

… the list goes on and on and on and on. 🙃

But have you ever thought about how the data is or is not serving you? Is it even accurate? 🤔

 I had too many conversations to count the last few weeks with athletes I coach, athletes I work with as a dietitian, and even friends about smartwatches. I’ve been told phrases like: “I’m out of shape”, “Garmin is bullying me”, “I need to try harder”, “I won’t be ready for my fall goal race”, “I’m losing fitness”, “I need to run faster on my easy runs”, etc. What do you think I told my clients, athletes, and friends when they’ve lamented about their smartwatches?! The answer may surprise you! 

As someone who LOVES data, I understand the allure of smartwatches.🤩 I run with a Garmin myself. I also have an Oura Ring, which I really like (but that’s perhaps a conversation for another day). Anyway,  the most important way to gauge your training and recovery is FEELING! Smart watches are notorious for being off on a variety of data they track. Or said better, most of the data that comes from your smartwatch is an estimation. VO₂ max, for example, can only be measured in a lab where oxygen uptake can be measured and your Garmin is calculating VO₂ max based on your pace and heart rate, so it’s no wonder it is off! And wrist heart rate is not as accurate as chest strap heart rate or data collected ina lab, so that further complicates the accuracy of smartwatch data. And not everyone wears their smartwatches 24/7, which is another factor that can affect the data tracking accuracy. The race predictor function on smart watches is based on the VO₂ max calculation, so it makes sense that it also is not very accurate. 

For myself personally, Garmin has my race predictions and VO₂ max nearly constant most of the year, but my fitness levels certainly ebb and flow and it has never predicted a race time remotely correctly for me (and I’ve never expected it to)! It overestimates me for some distances and underestimates me on others. And for some people I’ve chatted with, if they have a particularly slow easy run one day their VO₂ max will drop multiple points and so will their race predictor times and I just have to ask, does that even make sense?! That one run suddenly means you are completely out of shape? Or is it more realistic that Garmin and other smartwatches use specific data inputs to make their calculations, which are estimations, and when you do something not predicted/typical , such as running your easy 2 minutes/mile slower than your last easy run, it changes its calculations. ⌚️

Smart watches should be a tool, a way to map running routes, and to notice trends, but you should not change your training drastically based on what they tell you. You know your body much better than a smartwatch ever will!👏🏻 If I listened to my watch or oura ring, I would rarely race because I usually have a pretty crappy sleep the night before a race and that crappy sleep can result in a lower HRV and higher resting heart rate, but instead I chose to trust all my training and sleep the previous days/weeks/months leading into a race and send it best I can on race day! 

A running coach can help you muddle through the data and advise you on how/if it’s serving you. There have been pro runners who have ditched watches all together or traded it for an old school Timex because all the data just led to stress, over-thinking, comparison and loss of the fun of running, which did not serve them. In college, as a D1 runner, I typically raced watch-less as per my coaches suggestion and I didn’t even have a GPS watch until my senior year (it was one of those Nike+ ones if anyone remembers them. haha). You honestly do not even NEED a smartwatch, you just need some method of tracking about how far/long you ran to help you track improvement over time and you could always do that by measuring a route by car or bike beforehand and checking the clock in your kitchen before/after your run or carrying your phone. You are just as much of a runner, whether you have a smartwatch and use Strava, or you just lace up your shoes and go running without a watch or a social media post to detail it. 😉

I have even more thoughts about smartwatches for runners, but this is already way too long. 🤣What are your thoughts about smartwatches and do you currently use one?! If so, why? 👇🏻