Some TrainerRoad Things I Have Learned So Far

I decided to take the plunge into structured indoor cycling workouts to both help my endurance and improve my overall cycling training. I have tried doing my own thing for years, where I will focus on drills and do cadence training. Don't get me wrong, it has worked really well. For an outdoor ride with hills, my longer rides have gone from averaging 15 mph to 19+ mph. However, I am training not only for an Ironman right now, but my goal is to qualify for Kona. This means putting out some serious bike speeds in addition to exponentially improving my swimming.

Accuracy
If you don't have a smart trainer or a power meter, don't take the actual FTP value as absolute. For example, I know my one friend can turn out some pretty decent power, but my base FTP after my FTP Test was insanely higher than his; 344 for reference. However, that doesn't mean this isn't a really useful number. Along with FTP/kg, you can really plan and gauge progress. Instead of focusing on actual FTP, I'll be focusing on my percent improvement over time. Therefore I will still be gaining all of the benefits I need from knowing this data. The only time accuracy is more important is if you are competing with friends, which I am definitely not, and would buy a power meter if I was.

Heart Rate Broadcasting - Garmin 935XT
Since I am back indoors, plus TrainerRoad needs at least a speed sensor, I put my Garmin speed and cadence sensors back on my bike. Pairing was easy once I had the Ant+ iPad dongle and the 30-pin to lightning adapter. However, my first workout got me stuck with 2 workouts showing up because my HR was tracked on my watch and power and related metrics on TrainerRoad. I learned the other day that the Garmin 935XT, along with many of the newer and more high-end Garmin devices, can broadcast HR for other devices to pick up. This worked and I am so happy. Here is what I did.

On Garmin 935XT Watch

1. Hold "Up" button then scroll to and select "Settings"

2. Scroll to and select "Sensors & Accessories"

3. Scroll to and select "Wrist Heart Rate"

4. Scroll to and select "Broadcast Heart Rate"

5. Your HR is now broadcasting and your app can pick up the data and you can do your workout

You perform this each time you do your ride. Once this is enabled, you do not need to start the activity on your watch. Just leave it as-is. You can now find and sync it with the TrainerRoad app. Perform your ride and enjoy!

You Don't Need an Expensive Trainer

Most people think you need an expensive trainer that measures power and can automatically adjust resistance when hooked in with training apps such as TrainerRoad. I beg to differ, as I am a very cheap triathlete and hate spending money on gear. I purchased a standard magnetic trainer on Amazon for about $50 and that's as smart as I went.

TrainerRoad, not sure about others like Zwift, has a fancy chart to allow you to match a supported trainer with the trainer you have. This obviously adds to less accuracy of FTP, but you can read above for my explanation on that. You will definitely need to buy a skewer, however, as trying to use the quick release that is common on most road and tri bikes doesn't really fit too well and you will be prone to the bike coming loose and risking some serious injury. Other than that, you will need a PC, MAC or iOS device that has an Ant+ adapter. Once you have these things, you are good to go. 

I hope to add more tips and tricks as I learn more. Enjoy your next workout!

Rock 'n Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon 2017

It's kind of nostalgic that the first race I run after more than two years due to injury, would be the Rock 'n Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon. My first half marathon I ever ran was this race. And aside from the last 2 years, I have run it every year since then. I completed the race, which I was very happy about. However, I did not train enough and suffered for it.

Overview

The race venue had three races; 5k, 10k, and half marathon. The 5k and 10k were both held on Saturday. There was a 30-minute difference between start times, so you could technically have done both, back-to-back. The half marathon was held on Sunday as usual. I did not participate in either Saturday race, so I'll just talk about the Expo and Sunday.



The Expo

The race expo was at the Philadelphia Convention Center as usual. And per typical Rock 'n Roll fashion, they had a great selection of vendors. This is an important thing to me, even if I don't buy anything. I really like seeing trending running gear and attire. I also use this opportunity to get additional discounts to sign up for upcoming races. Plus I just feel it makes the whole experience that much more well-rounded and enjoyable.

Some of my favorite vendors there were Jaybird and Garmin. I was a bit disappointed from Philadelphia Runner, as I was hoping to score some discounted On Running shoes. Oh well, maybe next time. I got to try out the upcoming Jaybird earbuds, the Jaybird Run, which were AWESOME! I will definitely be choosing these, once they are released in October, over than Apple wireless earbuds.

Other than this, the expo was typical and I score a lot of really cool samples and tried some awesome food.

The Race

The weather was a mixed bag depending on the person. For me, the temperature couldn't have been more ideal. However, the humidity was 80% and the dew point was around 70%. Therefore, it made it near impossible for my body to cool properly during the race. Thankfully the sun didn't pop out until the last mile of the race. Anyway, setup was good as always; plenty Port-o-potties, convenient location for gear check, easy entry into corrals. Some people complained about the port-o-potty lines back to the gear check. However, the grass was really wet and already fairly muddy, so I felt it was very thoughtful of the race coordinator to keep everyone from being covered in mud before the race.

There were tons of people as always, and the corrals were packed. They did a really good job at the staggered start, which is definitely an improvement from the last time I ran this race. Not only that, but for the first time in memory, I didn't experience pushy runners at all. Everyone was in a good mood and very courteous. This was very refreshing and helped keep me motivated as the race started.

The course had a few up and downhills. Nothing too crazy, which for someone who actually trained, would have made this a very fast course. I didn't train much, so all it did was tire me out more, haha. The route was really nice, with only one slight out-and-back, which kept the scenery constantly changing. Plus I love the Philly scenery for the races held here. Plus there was a good amount of bands along the way playing pretty good music.

My Race

I started off at what I felt to be a slow pace. I did this because I didn't want to spend the first couple miles trying to sprint around people. This strategy worked to my advantage, since I felt pretty good until mile 8. However, as I hit mile 8, my legs started to tire quickly. By mile 9 I was struggling. Once I hit 10 however, I was cycling through some of my motivational music, and was able to get myself moving. I still had trouble though because my longest run leading up this was 10 miles, but aside from that one run, I had only done one 8-miler, and then a couple 7's and 6's. Overall I didn't have a great base to handle the latter miles. I still pushed out a small kick at the end to finish as strong as I could.

The Finish Line

Even though I finished later than I wanted to, the finish line was very well organized. There was plenty of water, Gatorade, chocolate milk, and snacks. This was refreshing because so many times races will run out of hydration and snacks for the later finishers. There was free beer (1 per registered race participants over 21) and live music. I didn't stay to enjoy the bands playing, but I definitely got my snacks and drinks. I was bummed there were no food trucks, but that's alright, because I was so dead afterwards I just wanted to get home.

Final Thoughts

Overall a very fun race and I am so excited to officially be back to racing. I will be making sure I am properly trained for my Disney Dopey challenge in January. Hopefully my recovery doesn't take too long from this race, but I'll be tossing in some swimming to help promote quicker healing. Hope anyone else who raced had a great time!

Choosing a Health and Fitness Ecosystem - Part 7 - The Apple Ecosystem

The 1st Generation Apple Watch was not the game changer people had hoped for. It wasn't really good for anything other than standard pedometer and HR functions. It required to always have your iPhone with you and was just not very diverse. However, with Apple Watch 2 and the updated Apple Watch, this has changed everything; specifically because of the Apple Watch 2. I will be focusing on the Apple Watch 2, going into a little detail on the watch, and then going over the ecosystem.

Fitness Watch or Smart Watch?

It's both. I won't sugar coat this though; it's one of the best smart watches, but still lacks greatly in the fitness watch department. However, the Apple Watch 2, in my opinion, is superior to most non-hardcore sports watches. So, if you are a triathlete or long distance runner like me, then Garmin, TomTom, Polar and Suunto are your choices. Yes, you can use others, but they just don't have the accuracy, sports tracking metrics and functions, and battery life that the 4 mentioned do.

Anyway, Apple Watch 2 is my focus here because I got to use one for about 5 months. As a note, I am going to be selling it because, although I love the smart watch features more than I can really properly describe, it doesn't even partially meet my sports training needs. Maybe in the near future some third party software company will figure out how to tap Watch OS to get more data, and Apple will improve battery life. Until then, I'll be sticking with my generic smart alerts on my Garmin 920xt.

About the Watch - From a fitness standpoint

So, the Apple Watch 2 has GPS and is waterproof. This makes the watch a fully functioning multi-sport watch. It still has wrist HR, thankfully improved from the first generation. You will need to charge your watch daily with a standard workout regiment. However, I found myself having to charge 2-3 times a day when I was doing multiple workouts, where both were using GPS and longer than 1 hour each. However, this was me being cautious; you can get away with only 1-2 charges. As a point of reference for readers, standard use for me was utilization of many apps throughout the day, as well as at least 1 workout, non-GPS, of 60 to 90 minutes. I would still have close to 20% battery life before I went to bed.

From a GPS standpoint, I found that once it picked up the signal, it was almost spot on for distances in outdoor swimming, outdoor running, and outdoor cycling. However, the map detail is severely lacking and you CAN NOT export to another service to see more detail. Thankfully it was close enough to my Garmin 920xt that I felt somewhat comfortable with the accuracy. You can use third party apps to get more detail, but they can only get so much data because Apple restricts a lot of the data available to other apps.

From a non-GPS standpoint, I found the watch to still be pretty good. It did not handle rapid variations in HR very well, but for stead-state workouts, it was almost identical. For treadmill running, I was pleasantly surprised how accurate the watch was for distance. It was never more than .2 miles under what the treadmill mileage would read, and never more than .1 miles under what my Garmin watch would read. However, if I did intervals with constantly varying paces, it became like most other watches; inaccurate. I did not play around with 3rd party apps much, so I didn't see if I could sync up a foot pod...maybe you can do this, I don't know. You can sync up a BT HR monitor though, which exponentially increases the battery life of the watch. I had a 2 hour trainer ride where my battery hardly drained on my watch while using HRM, versus a 45 min trainer ride without HRM. So this might be a good workaround if you are going to have really long workouts or workout days.

Apple Activity and Apple Health

Apple has two application for you to review you data; Apple Activity and Apple Health. Apple Activity is the software on your watch that tracks everything. It then sends the details to your phone so you can see more stats, maps if you did GPS, etc. It's a great design and extremely easy to see your data. There is virtually no learning curve on this. On the flip-side, there is too little data for the more data-centric athlete.

Apple Health lives exclusively on iOS. It basically is a repository of any health data that you can sync with it. So, anything from your watch ends up here. You can see trends in regards to HR, sleep (need 3rd part app or 3rd party accessories for sleep tracking), or any other stat you get into this app. It's not the most intuitive app, but has amazing customization, which I find great because I can really tailor it to what I want to see and what I really care about.

As I said though, Apple Health lives exclusively on iOS. To make this more difficult, Apple Activity has the same issue. Therefore, you can look at Apple's ecosystem as a closed loop, with no online portal. However, there are increasingly more apps which can pull data from Apple Health to display on their sites, such as MyFitness Pal. It's still not ideal though, but a choice made for security reasons by Apple. Right or wrong, that's how it is.

3rd Party Apps

As I have eluded to, there are lots of 3rd party apps that utilize more functionality and data capturing of the Apple Watch. Again though, they can only get what Apple makes accessible. There are still lots of 3rd party apps not using the GPS function of the watch very well either. Although Runkeeper uses it, the GPS seems to have more issues than using the native app or the Nike+ app. I am sure companies will get better with supporting ALL of the functionality on the Apple Watch 2. The beauty of Apple's ecosystem is that it can grow exponentially thanks to 3rd party app and hardware vendors. In addition, there are rumors that the next iteration of the Apple Watch will have a much better battery; but we shall see.

Final Thoughts

If you are primarily into general fitness, do some races - short or long, or like multiple sports and don't need long duration tracking, then the Apple Watch 2 has you covered. In addition, it's one of the best Smart Watches I have ever used. Android watches still have a ways to go, even though the Polar one is pretty nice. If you need a long battery life though, more accuracy, and more data, you will want to have a dedicated fitness watch for that part. And since Apple's ecosystem is mostly closed off, you will have to manually sync, if possible, to get the whole picture of your workouts. If I was just starting out in triathlon, and never had been spoiled with my Garmin, I would probably find the Apple Watch to be a perfect training partner. The final ecosystem, TomTom, is up next!

Choosing a Health and Fitness Ecosystem - Part 6 - The Garmin Ecosystem

When you think fitness and sports tracking, one of the top names people respond with is Garmin. Garmin is one of the leaders in fitness and GPS technology. They were slow to the ecosystem game originally, but Garmin has really done an amazing job at building connections with third parties and making a diverse line-up of devices.

Garmin Fitness and Lifestyle Devices

The first thing to note is that Garmin makes many devices. But what matters here are its lineup of fitness and lifestyle devices. Whether you are looking for an all-day activity tracker (Vivosmart HR), a stylish activity tracker for work (Vivomove), a GPS fitness tracker (Vivoactive and Forerunner series) or a multi-sport and rugged GPS tracker (Forerunner and Fenix), they have you covered. One thing I want to note here is they also have a tracker for kids, vivofit Jr. I note this because nobody has really done this very well, and Garmin definitely has done a great job with this device. There are other devices as well for cycling, swimming, and more. They all integrate onto the same platform, making a great ecosystem for the devices.

Garmin Connect App

The Garmin Connect App has really come a long way since its inception. I will be covering the iOS app. With a simple dashboard, found in Snapshots, you get an immediate visual of your steps progress and sleep. Right below you can see your active calories, number of activities for the day, remaining calories you can consume, and how many calories you can consume. The calories remaining and consumed come from connecting to MyFitnesPal. I really like the lack of clutter on this first screen. Even though FitBit is one of my favorite connected apps, it can still be a little daunting to some to see so much information as you see right away with their dashboard. So, Garmin has additional screens, or Snapshots, you can swipe to. You can customize these as well. Basically, they go into more details from the dashboard and will cover specific activities, such as running or swimming.

In addition to Snapshots, you can see leader boards for challenges you have joined and with your connections (friends list). Your calendar gives you a glimpse of your scheduled training and events, as well as your completed activities. It takes a little bit to get used to what each color stands for, but once you learn that, the calendar is a really awesome tool. The News Feed will show activities or steps for your connections. Finally you get access to a massive amount of other features under More.

Overall, this is a wonderful app, especially for people who are very fitness and activity focused. However, unlike many of the other apps from competitors, there is a learning curve to this app, which may not be for the timid tech user.

Garmin Connect Website

The Garmin Connect Website is one of the most powerful sites I have ever used. It's also one of the most complicated to use and has a rather steep learning curve. The site is mostly easy to navigate. The real power to this site is that you can heavily customize tabs to show whatever information you want. For example, my loading tab is called "Training" and shows an overview of things I find important, as you can see below. I also have tabs for swimming, biking, running, and activity tracking. Each tab is customized how I want to see my information.

Some of my favorite features include being able to create training plans, running or cycling routes, and creating workouts. Garmin provides some free training plans which are pretty decent. You can sync them to your Garmin device, assuming that device supports it. The calendar is where I spend most of my time. I plan out my weeks by adding workouts I have created. I can then sync my calendar to my watch, and load the specific training activity on my watch for that day and begin that workout. Polar does this as well, and it's an awesome feature.

Similar to MapMyRun, Garmin has the ability to create routes. It is not as advanced as MapMyRun, but it's good enough that you don't need to rely on MapMyRun to map out your routes. There are tons of other features on the site, which would take a long time to cover.

Final Thoughts

The Garmin ecosystem is what most athletes and active individuals dream of using. It's important to note that Garmin is also, slowly but surely, getting with the times and allowing for multiple Garmin devices to sync with their app like FitBit and others have, working more with allowing third party integrations, finally starting to move to Bluetooth smart, and making the overall experience more streamlined. I am not convinced Garmin is for everyone, even if their devices, since there are some learning curves to the devices, app, and website. However, Garmin is one of my favorite ecosystems...then again, I am biased since I am a triathlete. Up next, Apple!

Running Cadence - The Basics

During my recent physical therapy in recovery from some foot and knee issues, I was able to get a full running analysis done. I had this done because my form has dramatically changed from my sprinting days in high school and college, and then again from my mid-distance running after college. It turns out that although I was not over-striding, I was landing solidly on my heel and not rolling my foot through to the toe. Therefore, I was having extremely heavy impact on my knees, with no real support from the surrounding muscles. I had some other issues too, but those were not related my running form. So, my PT prescribed that I do cadence training. Now, I haven't done cadence or stride training since high school. I therefore had to ask my PT for an initial training plan and also needed to do some research to refresh myself on cadence training. Since I had to do that, I figured I would share the basics.

What is Running Cadence?

Simply put, running cadence is the number of time your feet hit the ground in a given period of time, usually over 60 seconds.

You might also hear the term "turnover" used as well. However, it should be made clear that turnover is defined as how quickly your leg goes from the foot strike position back to the kick position, and then back to the foot strike position.

Determine Your Running Cadence

If you don't have a device that can determine your cadence, either film yourself or have someone else count how many times your feet hit the ground over 60 seconds. Personally, I use my Garmin HRM-Run to get my cadence. I have tested about 15 times now with the HRM vs. manually counting and they are the same each time.

As a note, some devices count only single foot strike, especially when using a foot pod. My Garmin counts both feet, which I highly recommend and is more accurate. I won't go into detail, but depending on muscle balance and many other things, there could be a large difference between the 2 legs or feet, which could cause a mess of other issues.

What Should Your Cadence Be?

Most elite runners are tracked as running with a cadence around 180 SPM, steps per minute, or higher. Some of the fastest runners set themselves apart by being able to keep the same stride length for their final kick, but dramatically increase their cadence.

However, from generally reported and tracked stats across most websites, the typical running is around 160-170 SPM.

I recommend being closer to 180 SPM due to the benefits, which I'll explain in the next section. But to be honest, it's more important to be consistent. Whatever your cadence is, you should have that cadence consistent for your run, not just have it as the average. For example, if your average cadence is 170, but you fluctuate between 160 and 180 on a relatively flat course or treadmill, you are opening yourself up to injury and probably have some sort of running form issue.

I will argue that your cadence should be the same regardless if you are on a flat, going uphill, or going downhill. Your stride length will be different for sure, and your pace will vary, but your cadence should be fairly unchanged. Also, your cadence should be the same regardless of the distance you are running.

Benefits of Improved Cadence

When it comes to running, and most sports in general, how well you do usually is a matter of how efficient you are at what you do. Cadence falls into this concept of efficiency. A consistent and improved cadence usually translates to a faster run times, less impact on joints, and more consistent paces. This makes your training more effective and you less injury-prone.

Final Thoughts

Cadence isn't the end-all-be-all. You need to make sure you have proper form when you make ground contact, that your turnover and kick-back are following correct form, that you aren't over-extending or over-striding, and that you aren't pushing yourself passed your heart rate limits or lung capacity. Just remember though that how your foot strikes, forefoot, mid, or heel, doesn't matter! As long as you are consistent and that particular form is not negatively affecting your body, you are good to go. As a personal example, I am trying to get back to forefoot and mid-foot striking; this is due to my bad knees though and needing my muscles to handle the brunt of my impact, not my joints. Happy running!

Choosing a Health and Fitness Ecosystem - Part 4 - The Polar Ecosystem

Polar Ecosystem

Polar has always been one of the top fitness brands since I can first remember. Their HR accuracy was always second to none and their devices were reliable and for a long time were the gold standard. They had struggled with the smartwatch, integrated GPS and smart fitness watch concepts, causing them to fall dramatically behind the likes of Garmin, TomTom and FitBit.

However, they have really stepped up and have an amazing line of products in addition to amazing mobile apps and a website to compliment it all. So, first up is the Polar Ecosystem.

Polar Flow Website

Polar Flow is Polar's portal to all things Polar health and fitness. The site features the following sections:

• Feed
• Explore
• Diary
• Progress
• Community
• Programs

Feed is just the standard activity and social feed of friends' activities. Explore is a really neat feature that allows you to see what others are doing and where, assuming they allow it to be shared. This is a really neat social feature that makes it incredibly easy to find training partners or groups. Diary is a an awesome tool. It allows you to both plan out training, see training schedules from Programs, and see what activities you completed on what day. For details behind your training, races, and progress, the Progress tab has all of the information that whatever Polar device you use can capture. Community is another social feature that allows you find groups that you can join for training, competition, etc. For example, if you are a Strava person, there are Strava groups and challenges on there.

Finally, the Programs section. I wanted to break this out of the other description because this is an amazing tool which you won't find on most sites, especially for free. To put it simply, Programs is a tool that allows you to build a running program for common distance events; 5k, 10k, half marathon, full marathon. It's only for running, but it's amazing. And unlike most sites that provide running programs, Polar keeps in mind how important strength training is. Once you create the program, it will appear in your Diary, and depending on your Polar device, it will load the training plans onto your device. I am not going into specific details, but you can explore on your own and check out the screen captures I provided.

Polar Flow and Polar Beat Apps

Polar also has the Polar Flow and Polar Beat apps for iPhone and Android. One thing that makes these such great applications is that it can turn your phone into a fitness device and does not care if you have a Polar device or not. I am not sure why all companies do not follow Polar's lead on Polar Beat. Polar Flow serves as a dashboard and sync tool for supported Polar devices, from watches to accessories to cycling tools. I used to use a standard Polar HR watch and monitor, which cannot sync with a phone (it did had a USB sync though), as they do not have Bluetooth. However, with Polar's H7 combo Bluetooth and Polar Frequency heart rate monitor, I was able to use my watch and also use my phone with the Polar Beat app. Eventually I stopped using the watch because the Beat app had GPS and tracked way more data. As a quick note, Polar Flow used to be both apps, and I am not sure why they really had to turn it into 2 apps, other than for marketing and branding purposes.

Devices

Polar currently has a very nice lineup of devices, ranging from activity trackers to multi-sport devices. They pretty much have everything to cover your healthy lifestyle. I am not going into the list, but you can visit Polar's website to learn about all of the offerings.

Polar Beat and H7 Heart Rate Monitor

Polar Flow

Final Thoughts

Overall, Polar is still a top company when it comes to fitness and fitness tracking. They have come a long way in smarter devices and activity tracking. If you know people who are using Polar, it's an awesome ecosystem to work on. Plus, as an added bonus, most gym equipment supports the native Polar signal. Up next is FitBit.

NOTE: Both Polar Flow and Beat pictures are taken from Polar's website and are property of Polar.

Choosing a Health and Fitness Ecosystem - Part 2 - Activity Tracker vs Fitness Device

Activity Tracker vs Fitness Device

The health and fitness tech market is growing exponentially, with everyone either wanting to get healthy or being obsessed with numbers. However, before you jump on the bandwagon, you need to know the difference between an activity tracker and a fitness device. They are starting to become one-in-the-same for the most mainstream brands, but there is a clear difference and this will hopefully help you when you are deciding what to choose.

Activity Tracker

An activity tracker does just what the name implies; it tracks your daily activeness or lack-there-of. At the most basic, an activity tracker will tell you how many steps you have taken. Most however include sleep tracking as well. Once you start going up the line, you will get automatic workout tracking, integrated or external heart rate tracking and other metrics related to your steps, such as stairs climbed and inactivity periods.

It should be noted that if you are not a huge fitness person and you just want to track the basics because you either something to keep you on point with hitting your step goals or achieving some level of activity toward health or weight goals, then an activity tracker is key. And most companies are hitting up these devices with extremely stylish designs. For example, Withings has an activity tracker watch that is really slick, the Activite Steel and Saphire. Garmin just came out with one as well, the Vivomove; and it's probably the most attractive looking activity tracker I have seen yet.

Other devices can track activity as well, like smart phones and smart watches. So, your iPhone or Android phone will probably have a step tracker app or you can get an app that can utilize your phone to track that. But Apple Watch and Gear S2 can track your workouts like mainstream fitness devices, right? Yes and no. I leave the super technical details to DC Rainmaker, but basically these devices are not the best when it comes to true fitness tracking. The have severe accuracy flaws. Now, there are some 3rd party companies that have apps to correct some of this, but overall, if you are training for races or have a huge focus on working out, then an activity tracker is going become very limiting at some point.

Fitness Device

And now the fitness device. This is a device that is purely designed for tracking detailed metrics about your workouts. This can include heart rate min, max, average, and zones, calories burned, intensity levels, elevation changes, distance, speed, instant pace, and the list goes on and on. Now, thanks to FitBit being so competitive, they forced companies like Garmin, Polar and Tom Tom to incorporate activity tracking into their newer devices. So nowadays, a fitness device usually has all of the activity tracking components in addition to everything it already has and is designed for. This basically gives you an extremely detailed and advanced device that will give you a holistic look at your day-to-day lifestyle and the impacts of your workouts, activities, sleep, and more.

In addition, thanks to Apple, many fitness devices and activity trackers alike are incorporating smart features now as well; apps, music control, message alerts from your phone, and much more.

How Do I Choose?

This is fairly simple in most cases. If you are just trying to be active or you have goals set by your work, then a standard activity tracker will meet all of your needs and then some. However, if you consistently workout by doing running, cycling, strength training, swimming, other, or a combination of them, then you will want a fitness device so you can see metrics specific to the workout you did so you can keep improving for whatever goals you have. This is not to say that a fitness device wouldn't be good for someone who is just looking for standard activity tracking, but it will definitely give you way more than you want or need...although for some of the extra smart features or style, in some cases, it might be worth it.

Summary

This was a short article, but I wanted to make sure you understood the top level difference between devices before I start going into more details on which ones to buy, how to customize your ecosystem, and more. Up next I will be discussing calories burned across activity trackers and fitness devices.

Choosing a Health and Fitness Ecosystem - Part 1 - The Basics

The Basics

If you don't have a naturally fit and healthy lifestyle, then it may be a struggle to figure out what you need to help motivate, track, analyze and progress. There fitness devices, smart devices with fitness features, apps for smart phones, websites, software, and much more. Not only that, each group has typically no less than a dozen or two companies / brands you can go with. This alone makes wanting to track what you do intimidating and can stop you before you get started.

So, let's cover a simple checklist to help you navigate this crazy world of health and fitness. As a note, I will be doing more in-depth posts on various options, ecosystems, and advice to blend your lifestyle into the ecosystem you choose.

What Do I Need to Get Started?

You need to first ask yourself, "Do I really care about tech and tracking as a way to motivate myself?" If the answer is no, stop reading and go get healthy! If the answer is yes, which is how it is for most people, then let's figure out what your initial motivation is.

Most people want to be healthier or improve something about how they look and/or feel. Some people also have major health issues that should be addressed. However, this isn't always enough to get going. Once you decide to get going, you then need a way to keep yourself motivated.

We'll start with the easiest and fastest growing motivator: Your job, school, or coach has laid down the hammer and said you either have to be more fit and healthy, or there is some awesome financial perk to being fit and healthy. This is the easiest to address. In most cases, especially with companies, there is already some tool that the company is going to use, such as Viverae or Shapeup. Almost all of these tools link to other fitness or tracking websites and electronics. The most common examples are MyFitnessPal and FitBit. So, if your company is your motivator, your ecosystem is simple: Use what they have, get a fitness tracking device that will connect to that ecosystem, and if you plan on tracking nutrition, either find a site that allows you to track what you eat or utilize the site of the fitness device you got, assuming they offer food tracking.

Let me give you a common scenario. Let's say your company uses Viverae. Their portal allows you to track sleep, steps, activities, and nutrition. Most companies who have this setup also offer company stores or discounts to activity trackers, the most common being FitBit. FitBit is a one-stop-shop for general activity, health and fitness tracking. For example, the FitBit Flex HR will track you steps, sleep and activities. This data will automatically (once you set it up) sync to the Viverae portal. In addition, FitBit's website and app allow you to track your nutrition as well. This also syncs with Viverae. You can also get a FitBit scale that will get your weight and other vitals. This can also sync with Viverae. You now have an all-inclusive ecosystem with minimal effort:

1. Viverae Portal to show all progress for whatever bonus you will get from your company
2. FitBit Device
3. FitBit Application and Website

That's it! It's not as intimidating when you see it that way.

But I Do More than Just Health and Fitness for Work, School, or a Team

That's fine. And maybe you already have fitness devices or activity trackers you currently use. This can be both an easier and more complicated scenario. If you are using one of the major brands, like Garmin, FitBit, Jawbone, Under Armour, Polar, or TomTom, then those companies already sync pretty well with other websites and portals. In regards to nutrition and health tracking, if you are using one of the major ones like MyFitnessPal, then that syncs with all of the major activity and fitness tracking brands. Therefore, for those who are doing multi-sport, activities other than walking/running, and so on, there is an easy way to sync everything up.

Now, the caveat here is that you may need to be using multiple sites and apps to see everything, but it's still rather minimal. Here is an example of a common scenario for someone who does multiple sports in addition to nutrition tracking.

1. Garmin VivoActive HR
2. MyFitnessPal
3. Withings Scale

This scenario is very common. And it's also the easiest to manage. Now, there are other sites you can sync your data to for a different or more in-depth look at your workout and health data, but that is completely optional. However, let's say you have a device that doesn't sync up well with other sites you want to use. There are websites out there that will sync with virtually anything that can give them data. In turn, they will then format that data and send it other sites you use. So, if your fitness device doesn't sync with MyFitnessPal, for example, you can use a site such as tapiriik.

In Summary

Ideally, you want to stick with an existing ecosystem, especially when it comes to devices. So, if your planned support group all use FitBit, and FitBit's devices meet your needs, don't look any further. If you have tons of friends who have all sorts of devices, find a site that can sync with all of them, and then get whatever device looks the nicest or is the easiest to use. Up next I'll cover the difference between an activity tracker and fitness device, and how to choose the right one for you.

Nike Apps (for iPhone)

I had done a post a while back on NTC (Nike Training Club) and I figured it was time to just talk about Nike's other app offerings for iOS.

• Nike+ Running (Free)
• Nike+ Fuel (Free)
• Nike Training Club (Free)

As you can see, the theme here is "Free". For now, I have a review on Nike Training Club you can check out.

The main reason for bringing up Nike+ is that it's still a very strong community and they have great tools to really help people succeed. There are tons of alternatives out there, and yes, Nike+ isn't as much of a focus anymore since Nike discontinued the FuelBand and there hasn't been as much focus on Nike+ from Nike.

So let's dive in! The main reason I like these apps is because they are really well built and useful. Aside from being required to create a Nike+ account, there really isn't any downside I can find, unless you are someone that needs extremely detailed statistics. Nike has designed their apps more around the idea of social fitness and the average user. This means that someone just starting out won't get overwhelmed by too many features and screens. In addition, the learning curve is fairly flat, so if you know how to use your iPhone, you can easily use these apps.

The other reason is that I love the way Nike has built the social and rewards aspect so fluidly into their apps and site. One of the hardest things for people to do is stick with a plan to improve fitness, have a healthy lifestyle, achieve a fitness goal, or the like. One of the easiest solutions is to take the journey with someone, which is easy to do with Nike+. You can setup goals, challenges, and share your progress.

In regards to additional tracking, you can link your Nike+ account to other 3rd party sites / apps; some popular ones include MyFitnessPal, Garmin, TomTom, Apple Health, Google Fit, and more.

So, now for a brief overview of each app, which I will have follow-up posts on more details for Running and Fuel.

Nike+ Running

This is basically your standard app that allows you to track you run; indoor or outdoors. You get standard information which is very important to beginner or seasoned runners / walkers. First off, you will be able to track your distance, total time, and average pace. In additional, you will see your total count of runs, total miles overall, Fuel Points, and how you rank compared to friends (assuming you use the social piece).

One thing I always loved was how you could integrate your music into your run. You can create a Pace Station which allows you have you music sync up to your pace to keep you motivated and consistent. This is partnered through Spotify. Or you can just select a playlist you already have.

During your run you will get alerts, such as each mile completed, as well as be able to see your current distance, average pace, heart rate if you have a bluetooth HR monitor, and elapsed time. You will also see what song is playing and have the ability to change tracks.

Once completed, you can add a picture if you want to make the session more memorable. For example, if you are running a race, you could add a finish line selfie. Finally, after your run, you will see a map of the course you ran/walked, total time, average pace, elevation gain, average heart rate if you used a HRM, how you felt after the run, the temperature, and the current mileage on your shoes. You can also share your session with all of the popular media sites.

I want to mention that if you are using a FuelBand or an iPod nano, you can utilize this for indoor running. Now, it is not the most accurate, but you can get a foot pod which is surprisingly accurate for tracking. However, it's best for steady paces, and does not do well with large fluctuations in pace. Interval training works well though.

I also have to mention Apple Watch. You basically have the same functionality, but on your watch. As with most apps, you will need your phone with you for GPS and HRM.

Nike+ Fuel

If you still have a Nike FuelBand, then you use this app to sync all of your information. As a note, I am pretty sad Nike got out of the tech arena, as the FuelBand and their GPS watch really set the tone for the current wearables market today. Anyway, the app is very standard for any activity tracker; shows you steps, activity levels throughout the day, and your Fuel Points. You can view extra detail on your activity level as well; viewing day, week, month or year. You can view your progress, how you are doing on your goals that you defined, and how you are doing versus others. In addition, you get social updates your friends. You can also see you summary of all of your training sessions. This app integrates with NTC for activities. In addition, you can use your iPhone 5 or later if you don't have a FuelBand. You pretty much track what Nike calls Nike+ Sessions.

Nike+ Training Club - NTC

As I noted above, you can read my full review on this app. Basically, it's a fitness trainer on your phone. The app includes workout plans for all types of goals and personal schedules  (I love the 30 minute workouts). The app syncs with your music, gives you alerts and counts reps for you. In addition, if you aren't sure how to do a move, there is a video for every move to show you proper form and technique. There are tons of paid apps out there, and yes, there are many apps you can customize your workouts to your heart's content, but there are still few apps that offer such a solid and well rounded set of workouts for FREE! I still use NTC a bunch, but being a triathlete, I typically use apps that allow for fully customized workouts, such as Fitness Builder.

As you can see, Nike really offers a 1-stop shop for anyone who wants to get fit and healthy, or for anyone who is seasoned and needs solid and reliable tools. Enjoy!