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Latest watchOS 9.2 Beta Includes Race Route Workout Feature for Runners and Cyclists

mapsdotapp said:
View attachment 2113949

Workout types on Apple Watch - Apple Support

The Workout app has multiple workout types that you can use to track your exercise.
support.apple.com support.apple.com
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On the rare occasion that I am forced to endure a treadmill workout, I find that the data is usually off by ~10% (watch stats compared to treadmill stats), despite having hundreds of hours of outdoor runs logged to "calibrate" it. It's not a huge deal obviously, and I understand that there are technical challenges that can't be easily or completely overcome.... but it's annoying.
 
AgeOfSpiracles said:
On the rare occasion that I am forced to endure a treadmill workout, I find that the data is usually off by ~10% (watch stats compared to treadmill stats), despite having hundreds of hours of outdoor runs logged to "calibrate" it. It's not a huge deal obviously, and I understand that there are technical challenges that can't be easily or completely overcome.... but it's annoying.
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I’m not a runner so I’m genuinely curious, what about the data is off? how do you judge which of the watch or the treadmill are correct?
 
I am very eager to see the Track Detection feature. The Race Route feature would be awesome too.

I've long used GPS watch for training but never really used the GPS feature when running on the track. For those records, I only depended on the timestamp even though I did also use a footpod to "track" distance but it was never really accurate. I wonder how track detection is going to work in real-life track training situations. Track runners train in pace packs and obviously in order to overtake, we have to scoot out of the lane to go around the person or persons.

For racing sprint and hurdle distances, typically runners remain in their pre-assigned lanes. However, for middle and long distances, no one stays just fixed to their lanes; we all have to merge onto the innermost part of the track at some point. When the merging happens depends on the distance being raced. For 1500m, the merging happens right at the start :) How will Apple's Track Detection work for all of this, or does it?
 
The distance shown on the watch is consistently lower than what the treadmill shows. I am making an assumption that the treadmill is more correct than the watch, since it's actually measuring how the belt is moving.... versus the watch which is making an educated guess based on my cadence and average stride length. It's possible that I'm wrong, but that would require every treadmill I've used in the last 4 years to have been similarly out of calibration.
 
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Mitthrawnuruodo said:
I would love this for walks.

I'm not much of a runner or cyclist, but I do go for walks, and have a few routes (most of them up hills or even over mountains) where I definitively compete with myself, and track times to gauge my form.
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If you use the Outdoor Run workout, I bet that would work.

I'm not a race walker (regulation race walking) but would love to learn one day. I have wondered what race walkers would use on the Watch to categorize their workouts. I don't see Race Walking as a workout type, but as far as I understand, Outdoor Run in terms of what it records probably should work well for race walking? Anyone know?
 
Filip01 said:
If I use the native run app on my Apple Watch, will it sync with other apps like Nike, Garmin etc.?
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Coming from Garmin, I was not able to find an automated way to get runs or walks into Garmin. But I was able to use HealthFit to automatically export to files in iCloud and from there its an easy manual import into Garmin Connect online.
 
Quasi26 said:
Coming from Garmin, I was not able to find an automated way to get runs or walks into Garmin. But I was able to use HealthFit to automatically export to files in iCloud and from there its an easy manual import into Garmin Connect online.
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Wow, I would have sworn that HealthFit had a Garmin sync option.... Crazy that it doesn't, given how many 3rd party services it does sync to and how many people use Garmin.
 
Super happy they included cycling in this, as that's my primary summer workout activity and I generally follow the same route along our multi-use trails.
 
AgeOfSpiracles said:
Wow, I would have sworn that HealthFit had a Garmin sync option.... Crazy that it doesn't, given how many 3rd party services it does sync to and how many people use Garmin.
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I wouldnt say I put a ton of effort into it. I will also say I have everything else in Garmin so i really only wanted running/walking from the AWU into Garmin. Everything else like cycling I already had a garmin head unit for and didnt want double reporting. I'll have to root through it again. Would be great to just have all my run/walk data auto import to Garmin without getting dupes of everything else.
 
msackey said:
Curious to know what's lacking.
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Mile count is off by quite a bit and calories burnt is too. I walk everyday on a paved bike path and it takes me around 1:30 to walk 6 miles and burn around 625-650 calories. The indoor walking workout says I walked 4.2 miles and burnt 769 calories. The treadmill is set to 4 miles an hour and it showed 6 miles at the 1:30 mark so I have to assume the indoor walk algorithm has to be off in some way. I know it's not a very scientific way to analyze the situation.... Maybe future workouts may be more accurate because winter is coming and walking outside is getting harder to accomplish so I'll have more data.
 
BugeyeSTI said:
Mile count is off by quite a bit and calories burnt is too. I walk everyday on a paved bike path and it takes me around 1:30 to walk 6 miles and burn around 625-650 calories. The indoor walking workout says I walked 4.2 miles and burnt 769 calories. The treadmill is set to 4 miles an hour and it showed 6 miles at the 1:30 mark so I have to assume the indoor walk algorithm has to be off in some way. I know it's not a very scientific way to analyze the situation.... Maybe future workouts may be more accurate because winter is coming and walking outside is getting harder to accomplish so I'll have more data.
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Hm....! How curious indeed! The treadmill could be off (they do need calibration) but the difference seem to be that you would be able to sense if it off.

You could try this: when doing your regular outdoor walk on the bike path, set your watch to record using Indoor walk mode. You know how many miles the path is according to the Outdoor workout you chose. Do these two methods of recording reconcile?
 
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How do you access this feature? Sorry if this has been answered already, I haven’t looked through all the replies.
 
MacRumors said:


With the third beta of watchOS 9.2 that was provided to developers on Tuesday, Apple has added the new Race Route feature to the Workout app.
....
Designed especially for runners and cyclists, Race Route lets you compete against yourself on a route you've already completed and tracked as an outdoor run or cycle on Apple Watch.
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I'm still waiting (increasingly impatiently) for a "walk to destination" workout that stops when I get there. (My most common walk is to the local, and it's very easy to get distracted and forget to turn it off, despite my best intentions.)

This seems like a piece of cake.
Start, walk, arrive at destination.
*tap* *tap*
You have arrived at your destination, end workout? (YES/NO button)

DONE (so to speak).

Also applicable to runs, swims, etc., for outdoor activities.
 
glindon said:
My treadmill has FTMS Bluetooth. Why can’t the watch connect to it and get the metrics? Kino app can control it and read the data but distance, elevation doesn’t go into Apple health, watch just records its usual data. Seems trivial for apple to add this. They have GymKit already which is same but different protocol. FTMS is universal Bluetooth profile.
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It baffles me to no end that this doesn’t work. I recently got a direct drive smart or turbo trainer for my bike due to injury and I am super perturbed that this seemingly simply protocol isn’t there. For example, I’d enjoy their spin classes on Fitness if they controlled resistance (based on my FTP) vs me up/down shifting to make up for a lack of manual resistance setting. Plus, there is so much data that can be reported and I get….. calories.
 
mapsdotapp said:
I’m not a runner so I’m genuinely curious, what about the data is off? how do you judge which of the watch or the treadmill are correct?
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In my case the watch is always ahead of the treadmill. The watch will say the 5k run is finished while the treadmill is on 4.6 or so.

The treadmill is usually the correct one, because all it has to do is count the revolutions of the machine to know how much distance was covered.
 
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AgeOfSpiracles said:
I use strava, but I don't use their app during my runs. I run with the Fitness app and all the data is imported into Strava... as far as I can tell, the result is the same as using their app during the run (which I don't care for).
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Exactly the same here. I much prefer the metrics that display on the watch face (especially in the recent watchOS updates).
 
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With GPX import support, this would be actually useful.

Till then, I couldn't care less about what Apple and others "recommend" to me.

Strava is guilty of the same thing btw, if you wanna follow a specific track, you need to use a separate app for that, like Outdooractive.

These things should be so obvious, yet they refuse to care.
 
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