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WatchOS 9 beta... anyone try the new running features?
- Thread starter canyonblue737
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As I am currently running only with the Apple app, one question: has anybody seen runs that have been recorded with 3rd party apps (e.g. Workoutdoors) and later synced to Apple Health been offered with the "race route" feature?
I am asking because if yes, this would open a good possibility to achieve something similar to Garmins PacePro. For me, the race route feature is more or less a gimmick for training runs. More interesting would be to use as a pacer for real races. Problem: one seldom can run a race before the race date (e.g. as streets are not closed, etc.), especially not twice.
So my idea: create a GPX with the race route and with pacing information and upload it twice with different dates to Apple Health and run it on race day.
I am asking because if yes, this would open a good possibility to achieve something similar to Garmins PacePro. For me, the race route feature is more or less a gimmick for training runs. More interesting would be to use as a pacer for real races. Problem: one seldom can run a race before the race date (e.g. as streets are not closed, etc.), especially not twice.
So my idea: create a GPX with the race route and with pacing information and upload it twice with different dates to Apple Health and run it on race day.
Was programming a new workout yesterday and this bug made it to watchOS 9.2 final.
Reported it and hope it is fixed in 9.3.
I tried the new race route feature today.
For the context, I usually run around a loop which is almost a perfect 5K. After the watchOS update, the device found two routes following that course: one of 5K and another of 10K. Both also have start/end points that I use with the I believe the correct best/last run times. Quite happy on how the routes detection turned out.
Although it seems like I noticed a bug, or at least a strange behavior, regarding the first screen shown during a race route run on the AW (showing the position on the route).
When starting the suggested 5K route at the usual starting point, the graph on the watch was showing like i’d have started in the middle (like a 10K route?). The position at the end of my run wasn’t neither at the near the end of the graph.
The remaining distance and elevation were correct though, so not sure what was wrong. It finished the race at the right time too…
I’ll try again another time and see if it will be the same.
For the context, I usually run around a loop which is almost a perfect 5K. After the watchOS update, the device found two routes following that course: one of 5K and another of 10K. Both also have start/end points that I use with the I believe the correct best/last run times. Quite happy on how the routes detection turned out.
Although it seems like I noticed a bug, or at least a strange behavior, regarding the first screen shown during a race route run on the AW (showing the position on the route).
When starting the suggested 5K route at the usual starting point, the graph on the watch was showing like i’d have started in the middle (like a 10K route?). The position at the end of my run wasn’t neither at the near the end of the graph.
The remaining distance and elevation were correct though, so not sure what was wrong. It finished the race at the right time too…
I’ll try again another time and see if it will be the same.
Re. the ‘race route’ feature. I live in Belgium and I suppose that it should work for me (unlike the track feature this is not limited to US, am I right?)
Now I have been trying since the moment I upgraded to WatchOS 9.2 (a good two weeks ago) and now have at least two 10k routes that should in principle appear in the race route list, because I did the exact same route at least twice, using whe native app (I also use WorkOutdoors every now and then but to be sure I wasn’t doing anything wrong, I made sure to only consider the runs done with the native app).
The issue is, my race route list remains empty and I have NO clue as to what I could be doing wrong. Anyone experiencing the same issue? I read on other forums that the detection of routes is buggy and unpredictable. Any thoughts on what to try next?
Now I have been trying since the moment I upgraded to WatchOS 9.2 (a good two weeks ago) and now have at least two 10k routes that should in principle appear in the race route list, because I did the exact same route at least twice, using whe native app (I also use WorkOutdoors every now and then but to be sure I wasn’t doing anything wrong, I made sure to only consider the runs done with the native app).
The issue is, my race route list remains empty and I have NO clue as to what I could be doing wrong. Anyone experiencing the same issue? I read on other forums that the detection of routes is buggy and unpredictable. Any thoughts on what to try next?
@voyager72 , this is strange. I even had routes from before watchOS 9.2 was available there.
Are you nearby the route when you start the app? Filter setting maybe worth a try.
Are you nearby the route when you start the app? Filter setting maybe worth a try.
yes, the route starts at home... If you mean by filter setting, the "three horizontal lines" next to "suggested" followed by "route" to view the list of routes available, then yes, that list is empty.
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When opening „Outdoor Running“ with … you see a filter icon in the upper right corner. There you can select race routes. As in the standard view there are max two routes. But guess it will show nothing for you either. But try.
Curious bug for me: the route where I tested the feature is now there twice. One with date one week ago and 19.5km. Second with date two weeks ago and 19.4km. Was running the route of course the same. As exact as one can run though.
thanks - I just edited the orig post and the filtered list is indeed empty (see also picture I added).
I'm also curious, how long did it take on your watch for the routes to appear?
After installation of watchOS 9.2 one night. Watch was on charger though I do not know if this is necessary. As other sync features require the watch on charger, this could be.
So I made one more run with the race route feature and want to share my observations with you, in case someone finds it interesting also.
To make it more understandable I list the runs first.
Run A was made before watchOS 9.2 released. It is my standard route for (about) 20km steady runs. When watchOS 9.2 was installed, this route was available with a date of Dec 9.
Run B was my first race route run on this route. It was a steady run and faster than run A. Did not update the race route.
Run C was my second run and a "fartlek" run where I ran 3km fast, 3km slower than my steady pace from Run A
Run D was my run today, again steady.
As reported in a previous post, I had to choose between two race routes on the same route:
First, the "legacy" route A from runs before watchOS 9.2 was released.
Second, a new route from runs B and C (recognizable through personal bests and last run coming from B and C)
Run D was run against second race route and afterwards updated. So I still have two race routes on the same course afterwards. Legacy route still shows data from Dec 9 and is not updated.
Observations:
1) I my previous runs I was wondering what the flat grey bars mean. Today with the newly created race route, I had a fully understandable elevation chart that showed about 1km of the route and even in my almost flat area showed every bump in the road. Excellent! At the end of the run, the behavior was the same as when racing against the legacy route. About 200m before the end of the route, it showed the entire elevation profile of the run.
2) As I was running steady pace, it was clearly visible where I was faster in run C and where I was slower. The "behind" "in front" was behaving perfect!
So, to conclude: running against legacy routes is not ideal when you want to utilize the elevation chart.
Also, there is a clear bug that legacy routes are not updated or deleted. After two subsequent runs on a route, Apple creates a new route and afterwards updates this new route.
To make it more understandable I list the runs first.
Run A was made before watchOS 9.2 released. It is my standard route for (about) 20km steady runs. When watchOS 9.2 was installed, this route was available with a date of Dec 9.
Run B was my first race route run on this route. It was a steady run and faster than run A. Did not update the race route.
Run C was my second run and a "fartlek" run where I ran 3km fast, 3km slower than my steady pace from Run A
Run D was my run today, again steady.
As reported in a previous post, I had to choose between two race routes on the same route:
First, the "legacy" route A from runs before watchOS 9.2 was released.
Second, a new route from runs B and C (recognizable through personal bests and last run coming from B and C)
Run D was run against second race route and afterwards updated. So I still have two race routes on the same course afterwards. Legacy route still shows data from Dec 9 and is not updated.
Observations:
1) I my previous runs I was wondering what the flat grey bars mean. Today with the newly created race route, I had a fully understandable elevation chart that showed about 1km of the route and even in my almost flat area showed every bump in the road. Excellent! At the end of the run, the behavior was the same as when racing against the legacy route. About 200m before the end of the route, it showed the entire elevation profile of the run.
2) As I was running steady pace, it was clearly visible where I was faster in run C and where I was slower. The "behind" "in front" was behaving perfect!
So, to conclude: running against legacy routes is not ideal when you want to utilize the elevation chart.
Also, there is a clear bug that legacy routes are not updated or deleted. After two subsequent runs on a route, Apple creates a new route and afterwards updates this new route.
I have some updates related to experiences with track detection and race route, both of which I tried again this week after a long week of extreme cold 
and therefore no running.
Track Detection:
Race Route:
and therefore no running.Track Detection:
- Went to a different track from the one I initially tried and the Ultra had no problems detecting it. Nice! I had pre-programmed a workout of 3 x 1600m with 3 minute recover between each interval, then 3 x 150 m run down with 250 m recovery between each interval.
- With that workout, and not extra manual pressing of buttons other than starting the workout, the Watch recorded:
- Intervals per the workout, distinguishing each by work (run) and recovery — nice!
- Laps around the track. I had chosen to run on Lane 5 because there were some other runners who didn't seem to know track etiquette so was doing things like jogging and stretching on Lane 1, which they really shouldn't but of course probably they just didn't know better.
- Mile splits
- ½ mile splits -- I think I had set all runs to automatically record and report every ½ mile run. This was recorded but not verbally reported which is expected behaviour since documentation for the Watch indicates that during track workouts, these kinds of splits aren't reported.
- The Watch knows when each run and the total workout is completed and I don't have to frantically press any buttons to make sure accurate recording occurs. I like that a lot! I can't tell you how much in the distant past that when towards the end of a workout and I'm running hard, how hard it is to be spot on pressing a button to record the interval because I just not need to only run through the finish line but also keep my form, posture, and finally recover with enough energy to press a button.
- Ability to create workouts on the Apple Watch app on the iPhone instead of only on the Watch itself. Creating the workout above on the Watch was not hard at all, easy to figure out, and the user interface seems nicely done. But, I can imagine how much easier it would be to do it on a much larger screen like the iPhone.
- Track workouts are currently distinguished by a purple running icon. The only distinction between this kind of outdoor run any other is the colour. Sorry, but I'm not going to easily remember that purple running icon signifies track workout. How about slightly modifying the icon so that not only is it purple, but beneath the running icon, draw in a partial track so by that visual alone it's very easy to see this is a track workout.
Race Route:
- Did another race route today; 2nd one so far. I picked one out of two options that the Watch detected.
- I pressed the Start Workout onscreen button but wasn't sure if I also needed to press the action button. I first ran for some seconds after pressing the Start Workout onscreen button and while I noticed the watch detecting me running, the timer didn't go off until I pressed the action button. So I'm actually still a bit unsure how to appropriate START a race run. Do I need to both press the Start Workout onscreen button followed immediately by the Action button?
- Also, I'm never really sure where exactly the starting point of my race is because while I usually start recording at my house, it could be at the top of the outdoor stairs that lead 1.5 storey down to the street, or sometimes it could be at the street level, or some times it could be a few metres after the stairs. In other words, I am inconsistent with where I exactly start recording although it's all in the proximity of my house. I live on a hill and to get to street level there is a brick staircase of 1.5 storey tall that lead from the main door to the street
- While I was racing a route that I am generally familiar with, which is an out and back loop, I was not exactly sure where the turnaround point for this race was when I started. I run this trail a lot and have many places that I turnaround. The map on the watch is way too small for me to know exactly which turnaround point this race route is at. As a result....
- I missed the turnaround point and ran past it. In about several metres, the Watch alerted me that I was off route and I back tracked and ran back. Not a problem but for race purposes, it would be nice to know exactly where the turn around point is. There are a number of ways to solve this problem including ability to zoom in the map on the Watch to see exactly the turnaround point; or, the Watch provide an audible and visual alert when a turnaround point is coming up.
- It looks like when I go off route, the virtual runner keeps running the correct route so I lost some ground that I had gained. That seems to be appropriate behaviour.
- It's pretty easy to know when the route is completed because the Watch will signal the race is completed, but the timer will keep running until I manually press the Action button to indicate I am done. That looks to be appropriate behaviour.
Great report, @msackey ! Excellent stuff, really looking forward to this track feature.
My plan is to use the race route feature for fitness reference runs. I have a 4km route where I want to test my fitness every week or so. Will track warmup and cooldown seperately from the route.
My plan is to use the race route feature for fitness reference runs. I have a 4km route where I want to test my fitness every week or so. Will track warmup and cooldown seperately from the route.
Turns out that someone else has written some detailed documentation about the Race Route feature:
www.myhealthyapple.com
A lot of useful information but also, so many of these seem to be hidden in the UI.
Use the new Race Route Workouts on your Apple Watch to compete against yourself
Use this Step-by-Step guide to learn how to compete against yourself using the new Race Route workout feature available on your Apple Watch
www.myhealthyapple.com
A lot of useful information but also, so many of these seem to be hidden in the UI.
The only way I found to zoom on the map is to press Edit (with the small pencil) on the route before the run, where you can see the map with elevation profile and the alerts settings, and then press on the map. From there you should be able to zoom in/out with the digital crown.
Quick update - it still does not work.
- I tried putting the watch on the charger as suggested, but it didn't help. I didn't try this overnight though - not sure if that matters - since I'm wearing the watch to sleep.
- Normally there should be at least three very different routes now that I've run multiple times, but still none of them appear.
- As I switched from Garmin about a month ago, Apple Health contained a lot of Garmin workout data, runs without any route information. Just to be sure that it wasn't interfering with the "race route" detection I deleted all Garmin data from Apple Health. Sadly it did not help.
- As a result, Apple Health now only contains runs that I've done with the Apple Watch (so it should be clean). However some of them were done with the native app, some of them with WorkOutDoors. Hopefully WorkOutDoors runs are not interfering with the "race route" feature?
Some folks posted similar issues on reddit:
Suggestions are welcome.
Latest iOS release is installed on your iPhone? Probably yes.
No other idea than open a support issue with Apple.
All the other things like deleting the watch and pairing it as a new one I would not do.
The algorithm is a black box. Totally unclear how it decides. For instance I thought it looks only four weeks in the past. Nope, found one cycling route with date of early October.
I chatted with an agent, who was not very helpful - he basically directed me to https://www.apple.com/feedback/watch/ to report the problem, which I did. Not expecting a lot there.
Interestingly, I also came across this thread on the Apple forum. One of the users managed to solve the issue by updating and restarting both iPhone and Watch. Another user has pretty much the same issue as me and is now going to try "unpairing" the watch to see if it helps...
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/254507549
Interestingly, I also came across this thread on the Apple forum. One of the users managed to solve the issue by updating and restarting both iPhone and Watch. Another user has pretty much the same issue as me and is now going to try "unpairing" the watch to see if it helps...
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/254507549
On another note I visited my grandfather in hospital yesterday and didn’t know the most optimal route home, as I was planning running. In maps and pressed walking directions to home and pressed start.
After starting my run and started running I got audio and vibration feedback regarding turns and directions pretty precise.
If they could incorporate this directly into the workout app for runs, walks and bike rides like they have with music, it would be amazing.
If they could top it with a big database of great trails, routes etc. it would solve one of the last missing pieces
After starting my run and started running I got audio and vibration feedback regarding turns and directions pretty precise.
If they could incorporate this directly into the workout app for runs, walks and bike rides like they have with music, it would be amazing.
If they could top it with a big database of great trails, routes etc. it would solve one of the last missing pieces