Fitness is a huge part of my life and while I wouldn’t say I am a slave to data, I do like to keep track of my activities. This year, it’s been even more important as I train towards a race. In fact, it’s not just any race but the most daunting race I have ever entered: The four-day Ultra Tour Monte Rosa in the mountains of Switzerland and Italy.
I have aimed for a long, slow but consistent build up of strength, cardiovascular fitness and endurance. I am no longer young and I can be prone to injuries, so I made a plan early this year for a steady build of good conditioning but also with lots of flexibility and fun.
I asked running coach and successful athlete Nicky Spinks to provide a weekly schedule – including distance, total ascent and some speed sessions – for accountability and focus. I have also been grateful for a spring and summer of great weather for allowing me to get out into the Scottish mountains.
Friends have played a huge part in the training, too, with several also doing the UTMR and others simply keen for longer-distance adventures or enjoying the companionship and motivation of meeting up for gym workouts and loch swims. Staying motivated is much easier with up-beat friends and an experienced and thoughtful coach.
Throughout all the training, I have kept track with a Garmin sports watch. Smart watches and wearable technology are brilliant these day and thanks to the Garmin Forerunner 165, one of many Garmin watches sold at very.co.uk, I have been able to keep a close eye on my progress.
Garmin fitness and health data
Obviously, my watch tells the time but it offers a host of other fitness and health-related data, too As soon as I wake up each morning, my Garmin watch “greets” me with a message tell me about my sleep. I had always thought I was a terrible sleeper and while I do wake most nights, the watch monitors the quality of my sleep, which appears to be pretty good.
This is reassuring, especially if, like me, you are aiming for quality training and quality recovery. Sleep is important for rest and recovery for all kinds of athletes. In fact, the watch tells me what my optimum period of recovery should be after exercise and congratulates me when I have allowed myself time to recover.
I need to remind myself that “more” is not always best and rest and recovery are crucial for maintaining and building fitness and strength.
The wrist “optical heart rate sensor” located on the back of the watch tracks my pulse throughout the day – and I like to keep a check of this. A raised heart rate without exercise can mean you a a bit under the weather or your body is fighting a potential illness. Sometimes, I’ve noticed my hormone levels can adversely affect my heart rate, too. I am in menopause and on HRT but hormones still fluctuate.
When my normally low heart rate is significantly elevated I will choose to back off from doing too much activity so I don’t end up pushing my body too much. It’s really handy to have a sports watch that you can easily refer to for heart rate.
I also like to know what my maximum heart rate has bee during a session and how I have been able to recover – this is referred to as HRV (heart rate variability).
The Garmin watch monitors are all kinds of other useful health data, including:
Stress tracking – Stress levels, from 0 to 100, are estimated by Garmin’s so-called Firstbeat Analytics, using a combination of HR (heart rate) and HRV data.
Body battery – Also powered by Firstbeat Analytics, Body Battery energy monitoring assesses and offers data on the combined influences of physical activity, stress, rest and the restorative power of sleep.
Pulse oximeter – A pulse oximeter measures how much oxygen (compared to maximum capacity) is in your bloodstream as it travels around your body. Oxygen is vital for effective training.
I confess I don’t keep a close track of all of the above every day, but every so often it’s useful to assess how I am feeling compared to what the data reveals.
Keeping track of sports data
Mostly I use the Garmin sports watch for tracking distance, time taken to cover a distance, pacing, total ascent and descent, actual elevation. It does this via GPS, or Global Positioning System satellites.
I record all my activities, such as trail running, track running, road running, walking, mountain hiking, open water swimming, cycling, yoga and strength workouts etc. I like to known my accumulated workouts for each day and week.
I can check the data on the watch or refer to the Garmin Connect platform (on my iPhone).
Nicky also sets me speed sets in the form of timed pyramids. I use the Garmin Connect platform to create these workouts and then they are sent to my watch via bluetooth. This means that when I need to complete the workout, it’s there right on my wrist, just like my own mini coach. It’s a bit like magic!
It tells me my warm-up, when I need to run harder and the timed recoveries, plus a cool down period. I can look at the watch or wait for it to bleep and vibrate at the start of each repetition.
Additionally, I have the watch set to tell me when I have run 1km, 2km, 3km etc.
I have long owned a GPS watch but these days they are so much more sophisticated than ever before. Watches have also become more lightweight, slim-line, easier to see and read and with ever better battery longevity. It used to be that I needed to recharge my sports watch after every training activity, but now they last for days and weeks.
I also like the touch screen capability of Garmin watches, such as the Garmin Forerunner 165. You can access features using the buttons on the side and also by scrolling through the touch screen.
If you like to listen to music, the Garmin Forerunner 165 allows for up to 500 songs to be downloaded on to it. These can then be listened to from your watch to bluetooth headphones and without the need for your phone.
The watch can notify me of messages, such as Whatsapp, emails, Facebook etc if I choose to have this set up. To be honest, when I am running, hiking or swimming, I prefer not to receive notifications about other areas of my life and work, but I know many other people like to have this level of contact through their watch.
Sports watches a similar to mini computers that sit neatly on your wrist all day and night. You can personalise the look of the screen, keep track of your steps and training, monitor all kinds of health and fitness stats, stay in touch with friends, family and colleagues and be sure you are getting enough sleep and recovery, too. I have a somewhat old-fashioned watch that simply tells me the time and date sat in a drawer somewhere at home. I keep it because it looks nice, but I doubt I will ever use it again now that GPS sports watch look so good and offer so much health data.
I will be writing about the Ultra Tour Monte Rosa and revealing all the stats recorded on my sports watch. I am suitably nervous about whether I can complete the four-day event in September, but I can be confident that I have done the best I could with my training this year.
