Yeah, the stock app is pretty basic. It seems you can only get preset distance intervals, but not one based on time. I train using programmed time intervals (like run for 3 minutes, walk for 30 seconds). Easy to do on the Garmin. Hopefully this is something devs will add in the future.
Thoughts after first run (pt 1 & 2)
- Thread starter Suggs68
- Start date
Yeah, the stock app is pretty basic. It seems you can only get preset distance intervals, but not one based on time. I train using programmed time intervals (like run for 3 minutes, walk for 30 seconds). Easy to do on the Garmin. Hopefully this is something devs will add in the future.
CrucialTK
Well-known member
I actually plan to use the Pebble for the stats info (I love all that stuff also). I thought the workout app had to be used to get the heartrate measurement which was more often than the 10 minute interval?
David Hroncheck
Member
Keep an eye out for an upcoming update to iSmoothRun with Watch support. There's no better app for runners; Custom intervals, customisable voice prompts, support for several sensors and displays, cadence, hydration and nutrition alarms, heart rate recovery and zone controls, data saves to Health app, Dropbox or 20 other destinations. I'm not affiliated, but I've tracked over 20K km running since 2007 using phone GPS apps, and with those I've used BT heart rate monitors continuously since 2009.
We don't have the Watch yet here in Sweden, but I'm getting one knowing that sport tracking apps on the Watch will be limited until devs get the full SDK. I'm quite interested in the Watch to replace my BT HRM chest straps.
tyler_barnhardt
Well-known member
I will start off by saying that I am not a hard core runner my any means. In fact, I'm not even a runner I'm more of a jogger. I have used the Nike+ app on my phone for about a year now. I tried out the workout app on the watch yesterday and did not take my phone with me. I was pleasantly surprised with how well it did. I jogged with my mom and she took along her galaxy gear (bless). Our results were almost identical. Also, speaking to some of your problems like having to always go back to the app to view your stats. That does not happen when you are in the workout app on the watch. Every time I raised my wrist I was able to quickly view my pace. If I was interested in my distance or time it was only a quick swipe away. Although I left it on pace for majority of the jog. It also would tap my wrist when I hit milestones. When I got back home it synced instantly for my phone into my health app and the new workout app. I received an award and I was done. It was great. Didn't even have to think about it and it was very accurate. Again, I am a casual runner but I enjoyed it more than I thought. Do I wish there was a gps on the watch? Of course but I can live without it. Just my two cents about the app.
impaler
Well-known member
Re: Thoughts after running with the Watch, part 2
Honest question to Suggs88...what stats does RunKepper provide that the stock Workout app on the Watch doesn't? I ran a 5K on Saturday, and used the Workout app for an outdoor run. With my iPhone in hand, it tracked pace, distance, heartbeat, elapsed time and progress ring. It was enough for me. It also turned out to be quite accurate. I use RunKepper as the ultimate repository for my exercise, since it captures walks, and other stuff. I find the stock Watch app to be on par with RunKeeper, and both require the phone anyway. It doesn't appear you've tried this app - but I can attest it's pretty good. I do wish I could share achievements, stats, and runs with Twitter, as I do with RunKeeper.
Also, as tyler_barnhardt says, when I was using the Workout app, the display remained on the workout screen the entire time.
Honest question to Suggs88...what stats does RunKepper provide that the stock Workout app on the Watch doesn't? I ran a 5K on Saturday, and used the Workout app for an outdoor run. With my iPhone in hand, it tracked pace, distance, heartbeat, elapsed time and progress ring. It was enough for me. It also turned out to be quite accurate. I use RunKepper as the ultimate repository for my exercise, since it captures walks, and other stuff. I find the stock Watch app to be on par with RunKeeper, and both require the phone anyway. It doesn't appear you've tried this app - but I can attest it's pretty good. I do wish I could share achievements, stats, and runs with Twitter, as I do with RunKeeper.
Also, as tyler_barnhardt says, when I was using the Workout app, the display remained on the workout screen the entire time.
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impaler
Well-known member
Not true. I can set up a run for a time based, distance based, calorie-based, or open goal.
Re: Thoughts after running with the Watch, part 2
You're right Impaler, I haven't used it, so I guess I'll have to. It just seemed pretty bare-bones when I played with it a bit. the Runkeeper app does much more in terms of tracking weekly/monthly/yearly stats. Does the stock workout app export data to Runkeeper? I didn't think it did.
But anyway, based on what I've seen so far, Endomondo is better than both since it allows you to choose which fields you see on the watch. Like in my case, I have current pace, average pace and distance on the first screen, with calories & elapsed time on the second screen.
You're right Impaler, I haven't used it, so I guess I'll have to. It just seemed pretty bare-bones when I played with it a bit. the Runkeeper app does much more in terms of tracking weekly/monthly/yearly stats. Does the stock workout app export data to Runkeeper? I didn't think it did.
But anyway, based on what I've seen so far, Endomondo is better than both since it allows you to choose which fields you see on the watch. Like in my case, I have current pace, average pace and distance on the first screen, with calories & elapsed time on the second screen.
impaler
Well-known member
Re: Thoughts after running with the Watch, part 2
I think it defaults to somewhat bare bones, but when you swipe around, it offers a tremendous amount of data and seems very customizable for what data you want. The data is all contained in the Health app on the iPhone. It shows every 10 minutes, that my heart rate is being taken. It lets you track by day, week, month and year. You can then drill down to the raw data points - something I know in the 1200 miles of running I've logged in RunKeeper, it doesn't do to that level, even with an Elite upgrade.
My health app now tracks steps, active and inactive calories, walk+run distances, heart rate, workouts (from Apple Watch and Workout app), BMI, body fat, weight (from my Withings WiFi scale at home), calories consumed (from MyFitnessPal), and blood pressure (from the Withings blood pressure sleeve). It's pretty great. The best part is it will prioritze which sources it pulls data from. So for instance, it won't use the steps counted on the M7 chip on my iPhone 5s, if I'm wearing the watch, so it doesn't double-count steps. I'm not saying the combo of Apple Watch activity, workout apps, with iOS' Health app are a panacea, but the more I experiment, the more compelling they seem.
I think it defaults to somewhat bare bones, but when you swipe around, it offers a tremendous amount of data and seems very customizable for what data you want. The data is all contained in the Health app on the iPhone. It shows every 10 minutes, that my heart rate is being taken. It lets you track by day, week, month and year. You can then drill down to the raw data points - something I know in the 1200 miles of running I've logged in RunKeeper, it doesn't do to that level, even with an Elite upgrade.
My health app now tracks steps, active and inactive calories, walk+run distances, heart rate, workouts (from Apple Watch and Workout app), BMI, body fat, weight (from my Withings WiFi scale at home), calories consumed (from MyFitnessPal), and blood pressure (from the Withings blood pressure sleeve). It's pretty great. The best part is it will prioritze which sources it pulls data from. So for instance, it won't use the steps counted on the M7 chip on my iPhone 5s, if I'm wearing the watch, so it doesn't double-count steps. I'm not saying the combo of Apple Watch activity, workout apps, with iOS' Health app are a panacea, but the more I experiment, the more compelling they seem.
Re: Thoughts after running with the Watch, part 2
ok Impaler, you're right. Just did a short walk with the workout app to see how it works, and it does offer more info & customization that I thought. I'll try a run with it tomorrow. Couple of questions. So I assume when you do an outdoor activity, it will automatically connect to the GPS if you have your phone with you to track the activity? When I started walking it didn't say anything about connecting to GPS or how the GPS signal was, like other running/exercise apps do. I would like to know its using the GPS for a run if I'm training so I know its accurate. I like that it said what the weather was, but I would also like it to map my route. Hopefully that will come in an update.
Also, if I want to see how many miles I ran in a month, where can I do that? I can see its not pulling the data from Health into Runkeeper, even though that's an app I have connected to Health. am I missing something?
ok Impaler, you're right. Just did a short walk with the workout app to see how it works, and it does offer more info & customization that I thought. I'll try a run with it tomorrow. Couple of questions. So I assume when you do an outdoor activity, it will automatically connect to the GPS if you have your phone with you to track the activity? When I started walking it didn't say anything about connecting to GPS or how the GPS signal was, like other running/exercise apps do. I would like to know its using the GPS for a run if I'm training so I know its accurate. I like that it said what the weather was, but I would also like it to map my route. Hopefully that will come in an update.
Also, if I want to see how many miles I ran in a month, where can I do that? I can see its not pulling the data from Health into Runkeeper, even though that's an app I have connected to Health. am I missing something?
impaler
Well-known member
Re: Thoughts after running with the Watch, part 2
Good questions...so for the first part, if you have your Watch connected to your iPhone, and you bring it with you, it automatically uses the GPS in the phone to track distance, pace, etc. It provides for a more accurate run. According to Apple's documentation, they recommend a total of 20 minutes of running/walking outdoors with a clear sky (ergo a good GPS connection) to "calibrate" the watch to your pace.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204516
This article also explains more about the details of the Workout app: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204523
I also do P90X, and for those exercises, I use "other". I found it still constantly tracked my heartrate, giving me minute by minute stats, and average heart rate after. Since those workouts are an intense hour or so, I more than exceeded the 30-minute requirement. Sunday, it will suggest a new goal for me - based on my daily activity level. It seems to get better with more data to work with.
As for heart rate, the workout app will measure any time you have your rate between 70-100% of your max HR, based on the Mayo Clinic's rules: take 220, subtract your age, and that's your max. I'm 40, so my max is 180. Then divide by .7, to get your 70% rate, which for me is 126. That's how some people are reporting their entire workouts aren't measured in the workout app - you have to actually start a workout to do the constant measurements. Otherwise it measures your heart beat every 10 min.
I wish it mapped runs too - even in the iPhone Activity app. No such luck, as you said.
So - Health doesn't feed into RunKeeper. But the opposite is true. In the Health app, go to Sources, and you should see RunKeeper - if not I think you add Health rights from the RK app. Then see what it's allowed to write and read data from and to. For me, I've always manually plugged in my runs, as I used Nike+ Running to measure my runs. Now that I'm thinking of migrating to Apple's solution, I'm just manually plugging in my runs from Health to RunKeeper. I have nearly 1500 miles logged in RK, and I don't want to lose all that data!
I wouldn't really advocate for one or the other - we all have to just pick an ecosystem.
Good questions...so for the first part, if you have your Watch connected to your iPhone, and you bring it with you, it automatically uses the GPS in the phone to track distance, pace, etc. It provides for a more accurate run. According to Apple's documentation, they recommend a total of 20 minutes of running/walking outdoors with a clear sky (ergo a good GPS connection) to "calibrate" the watch to your pace.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204516
This article also explains more about the details of the Workout app: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204523
I also do P90X, and for those exercises, I use "other". I found it still constantly tracked my heartrate, giving me minute by minute stats, and average heart rate after. Since those workouts are an intense hour or so, I more than exceeded the 30-minute requirement. Sunday, it will suggest a new goal for me - based on my daily activity level. It seems to get better with more data to work with.
As for heart rate, the workout app will measure any time you have your rate between 70-100% of your max HR, based on the Mayo Clinic's rules: take 220, subtract your age, and that's your max. I'm 40, so my max is 180. Then divide by .7, to get your 70% rate, which for me is 126. That's how some people are reporting their entire workouts aren't measured in the workout app - you have to actually start a workout to do the constant measurements. Otherwise it measures your heart beat every 10 min.
I wish it mapped runs too - even in the iPhone Activity app. No such luck, as you said.
So - Health doesn't feed into RunKeeper. But the opposite is true. In the Health app, go to Sources, and you should see RunKeeper - if not I think you add Health rights from the RK app. Then see what it's allowed to write and read data from and to. For me, I've always manually plugged in my runs, as I used Nike+ Running to measure my runs. Now that I'm thinking of migrating to Apple's solution, I'm just manually plugging in my runs from Health to RunKeeper. I have nearly 1500 miles logged in RK, and I don't want to lose all that data!
I wouldn't really advocate for one or the other - we all have to just pick an ecosystem.
Ok, I went for a 4 mile run using the stock exercise app. Much better than I thought, but needs work.
I liked having the taptic feedback for each mile, and the interface ok the watch was surprisingly good. The combo of the font/colors and background they used makes it very readable. And I like the ability to scroll through different fields. The watch app showed a good summary of my run with stats like average pace and heart rate, both of which were accurate.
There were a few issues though. The distance was off by almost 1/10th of a mile. Not a huge deal, but a lot if you're a serious runner or training for something, and even the best GPS watches can be of at times, so I'll see how it is with a couple more runs. Also, the pace the watch showed throughout the run, which I checked pretty frequently, was way off, by about 30 seconds a mile. When I finished, the average pace it showed was perfect, so I'm not sure why it was showing so slow during the run.
Also, when I ran with my Microsoft Band, it would always sync the run up with my Runkeeper app. Apple Health has read/write access to Runkeeper too, but it doesn't seem to push the run to it. Not sure if that's an Apple issue or a Runkeeper issue, but if Microsoft Health can do it I don't see why Apple Health can't.
So overall a good experience but it definitely needs a bit of work to be my go-to run app.
I liked having the taptic feedback for each mile, and the interface ok the watch was surprisingly good. The combo of the font/colors and background they used makes it very readable. And I like the ability to scroll through different fields. The watch app showed a good summary of my run with stats like average pace and heart rate, both of which were accurate.
There were a few issues though. The distance was off by almost 1/10th of a mile. Not a huge deal, but a lot if you're a serious runner or training for something, and even the best GPS watches can be of at times, so I'll see how it is with a couple more runs. Also, the pace the watch showed throughout the run, which I checked pretty frequently, was way off, by about 30 seconds a mile. When I finished, the average pace it showed was perfect, so I'm not sure why it was showing so slow during the run.
Also, when I ran with my Microsoft Band, it would always sync the run up with my Runkeeper app. Apple Health has read/write access to Runkeeper too, but it doesn't seem to push the run to it. Not sure if that's an Apple issue or a Runkeeper issue, but if Microsoft Health can do it I don't see why Apple Health can't.
So overall a good experience but it definitely needs a bit of work to be my go-to run app.
CrucialTK
Well-known member
Something tells me I'm going to end up like you guys, testing every single variation of how to get the most information out of my phone/watch for fitness. My watch is prepped for shipping now, so I'll have it for my half marathon on Sunday, but I don't think I'll have all the bugs worked out by then 
. Looks like I'm probably going to run workout and MapMyRun concurrently.
After this weekend though, I'll test endomondo and runkeeper to see how well they do. I just defaulted to MapMyRun because of its integration into MyFitnessPal and Withings, and how easily I can switch between a walk/run/cycling in the same app. If it can also run the heart rate monitor function of the app during a workout, I'll be golden.
. Looks like I'm probably going to run workout and MapMyRun concurrently. After this weekend though, I'll test endomondo and runkeeper to see how well they do. I just defaulted to MapMyRun because of its integration into MyFitnessPal and Withings, and how easily I can switch between a walk/run/cycling in the same app. If it can also run the heart rate monitor function of the app during a workout, I'll be golden.
David Hroncheck
Member
Unfortunately, this isn't possible. From Nike+ to Runkeeper, Strava, Endomondo, MapMyRun to any others, none have access to the Watch's HRM right now. Hopefully in the near future the HRM can be paired like any other BT accessory, but I won't hold my breath. The way Apple are pushing HealthKit, Watch HRM data will likely have to flow through the Health app to 3rd party apps. You should be able to run the Activity app and your favourite iOS tracker in tandem. Let us know how you get on with your race. Good luck!
I am hoping that this is one of many limitations in the current Watch SDK, which does not currently support the creation of native apps. I will be watching closely what is announced in WWDC in June.
PatrickNSF
Well-known member
So glad I found this thread!
I'm a pretty active runner – about 40 miles/week, and one or two marathons a year. I've been primarily using Garmins for the past three years, but want to transition over to my new (as of yesterday) Apple Watch to keep better track of my overall activity level, in addition to my runs.
I went for my first run this morning with the Watch and my Garmin 620 and they ended up within 0.08 of each other after a 7.5 mile run. I was using the Workout app. I set a distance goal, so I was able to see current time, distance and pace. I agree that the pace readout seemed off throughout the run, although that's partly my fault. I had both watches going during my 1/4 mile walking warmup and cool down, so that impacts overall pace. With the Garmin, I'm able to display the pace for the current lap (which is always a mile), so I never really worry about my overall pace. I didn't see an option to do that with the Workout app.
I'm happy to experiment with a bunch of the apps, too, if that's helpful in forming a consensus as to what the best options are.
Also, is there a better way to pause a workout other than doing the force touch? I needed to pause twice at lights, and one time it didn't register my "resume" selection and the other it didn't register my "pause" selection. Seems like a better begin would be to enable the side button to pause workouts instead of bring up contacts during the run. Even a double-click would work.
I'm a pretty active runner – about 40 miles/week, and one or two marathons a year. I've been primarily using Garmins for the past three years, but want to transition over to my new (as of yesterday) Apple Watch to keep better track of my overall activity level, in addition to my runs.
I went for my first run this morning with the Watch and my Garmin 620 and they ended up within 0.08 of each other after a 7.5 mile run. I was using the Workout app. I set a distance goal, so I was able to see current time, distance and pace. I agree that the pace readout seemed off throughout the run, although that's partly my fault. I had both watches going during my 1/4 mile walking warmup and cool down, so that impacts overall pace. With the Garmin, I'm able to display the pace for the current lap (which is always a mile), so I never really worry about my overall pace. I didn't see an option to do that with the Workout app.
I'm happy to experiment with a bunch of the apps, too, if that's helpful in forming a consensus as to what the best options are.
Also, is there a better way to pause a workout other than doing the force touch? I needed to pause twice at lights, and one time it didn't register my "resume" selection and the other it didn't register my "pause" selection. Seems like a better begin would be to enable the side button to pause workouts instead of bring up contacts during the run. Even a double-click would work.
CrucialTK
Well-known member
bdtrader
Well-known member
If you slide all the way to right you can bring up the stop/pause screen. Same screen as the force touch screen.
PatrickNSF
Well-known member
Did another run today (5 miles) with the stock exercise app. It was more accurate than yesterday's run. Pretty much exact for 5 miles. I still found that the pace displayed on the watch was pretty far off from what my actual pace was each time i checked, but the ending average pace was correct. also, it appeared like the distance was off by t least 1/10th of a mile on a few occasions, but in the end it was accurate. It is nice having the BPM data too. I don't like the pause interface. I know I can scroll up to bring it up faster than the hard press, but I found it didn't come up every time.
I think I'm going to switch back to Endomondo or Runkeeper, probably Endo until they improve the RK interface. I like being able to see the map with splits & interval times, which is important when I'm training. Trade off is losing the heart rate monitor, but the battery drain is also much better so it balances for me. Just can't wait for these 3rd party apps to be better integrated into Health or the watch activity ring.
I think I'm going to switch back to Endomondo or Runkeeper, probably Endo until they improve the RK interface. I like being able to see the map with splits & interval times, which is important when I'm training. Trade off is losing the heart rate monitor, but the battery drain is also much better so it balances for me. Just can't wait for these 3rd party apps to be better integrated into Health or the watch activity ring.
PatrickNSF
Well-known member
When you use a third party app, do you get credit for the activity in your exercise ring? And does the activity show up as a workout in the iPhone app?
Also, how were you finding the display in bright sunlight? I had a bit of trouble viewing mine yesterday, especially compared to the Garmin (which, I know, is not a fair comparison).
Also, how were you finding the display in bright sunlight? I had a bit of trouble viewing mine yesterday, especially compared to the Garmin (which, I know, is not a fair comparison).
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