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WatchOS 9 beta... anyone try the new running features?
- Thread starter canyonblue737
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@NME42, it's been a couple of weeks since I have been on the track due to various reasons. I was on the track once a week for a while, but the gap has meant my memory has "atrophied". LOL.
Looking forward to your report and seeing how well track detection works in your part of Europe!
Looking forward to your report and seeing how well track detection works in your part of Europe!
Guess what. I did the run today and it’s shown up now. So I think it’s all getting back to normal.
Aaaaand I’m jealous now. 😢😃 Hopefully they’ll add CZ to that list soon… (went to a track today as usually on Mondays, with a tiny bit of hope… but nothing, of course)Good news. Apple expands Track Recognition Mode to more countries:
Apple Watch Running Track Mode Expands To More Countries
A quick post for today as Apple has expanded their Apple Watch running track mode to more countries. This mode will automatically detect the running track as you step onto the track, offering to enter/trigger track mode (assuming you’re inwww.dcrainmaker.com
– Australia
– Germany
– Canada
– Italy
– UK
Love it. Want to go to a track next wednesday.
I cross my fingers that you have that feature too soon.
Easy way to check availability is the Fitness app. If you have the feature you can report a missing track in map view of your run.
Right.
Edit: have to correct myself. It is this icon with the exclamation mark here, not the share icon:
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Yes, only
- US
- Australia
– Germany
– Canada
– Italy
– UK
Will take some time for other countries.
But my guess: not too long.
So as announced, I did my first track workout with Track Recognition today.
Had too little time so I only did 6x400m/400m and a second "normal" run to test some things.
First disappointment: when I arrived at the track, nothing happened. It is an athletic track that should fulfill all requirements. So I did one lap and thought: well, maybe the track location is not yet on my watch. As the track is within 25km of my home address and within 1km radius of my work, I thought it should be.
Switched on cellular (almost always have it off, only when I have to be reachable) and immediately the watch prompted that I am on a track. Hmmm.
Did my laps and on the first laps, the lap marker matched exactly the watch alerts. On a recovery lap I had to fix my shoes and the next lap marker was coming earlier than expected. Checked this behaviour later and it seems the stopping takes some time until the watch recognizes and sees you moving. Smells like a typcial GPS thing but would have expected to be resolved by the motion sensors.
Then I left the track and it took quite a while until the watch noticed. Was about 150m off the area which I think is quite a lot. Ok.
So I tried one more thing: stopped my run, started a new run and switched off cellular to see if the track location is now cached. Good news: it was detected when I was on the track.
Overall: a great feature with some minor drawbacks.
Had too little time so I only did 6x400m/400m and a second "normal" run to test some things.
First disappointment: when I arrived at the track, nothing happened. It is an athletic track that should fulfill all requirements. So I did one lap and thought: well, maybe the track location is not yet on my watch. As the track is within 25km of my home address and within 1km radius of my work, I thought it should be.
Switched on cellular (almost always have it off, only when I have to be reachable) and immediately the watch prompted that I am on a track. Hmmm.
Did my laps and on the first laps, the lap marker matched exactly the watch alerts. On a recovery lap I had to fix my shoes and the next lap marker was coming earlier than expected. Checked this behaviour later and it seems the stopping takes some time until the watch recognizes and sees you moving. Smells like a typcial GPS thing but would have expected to be resolved by the motion sensors.
Then I left the track and it took quite a while until the watch noticed. Was about 150m off the area which I think is quite a lot. Ok.
So I tried one more thing: stopped my run, started a new run and switched off cellular to see if the track location is now cached. Good news: it was detected when I was on the track.
Overall: a great feature with some minor drawbacks.
Thanks for the update. Sounds like small bugs maybe but a great feature nonetheless
Apologies if I am hijacking this thread, as whatever I am checking on is or should not be a "feature". But I figured this thread is full of runners with apple watches, it might just be a good one to check in with.
Long story short - My Ultra's HR tracking during a run seems to be pretty wonky.
Quick background: I am by no means a super fit runner, nor am I an amateur. I've ran with both garmin and apple watches for years. So I do know a thing or two about tightness and positioning of fitness watches to get a good read. And I have run enough to be able to gauge my own heart rate to ~10 BPM accuracy without a HR tracker just based off understanding my breathing.
In my recent runs / weeks, I've noticed that the apple watch was oddly tracking a lower HR than it should be. So as an example of my most recent run, at around the 31 min mark, I took a glance and oddly enough, my HR was under 100 .. after a pace which I wouldn't consider as a "recovery" pace. Now I am somewhat alright in the fitness department, but definitely not <100BPM after half an hour run fit. So I checked in 2 mins later, and lo and behold, despite running a little harder to see if the watch picks up a higher reading, it actually went even lower to 72 BPM.
Now the last I checked, I have no Kenyan genes in my family. And I definitely did not have the low power mode on, nor did I have the fewer HR readings feature on.
Does anyone have any experience with this and have reached out to Apple? Needless to say, as someone whom is training to HR, this drives me nuts.
Long story short - My Ultra's HR tracking during a run seems to be pretty wonky.
Quick background: I am by no means a super fit runner, nor am I an amateur. I've ran with both garmin and apple watches for years. So I do know a thing or two about tightness and positioning of fitness watches to get a good read. And I have run enough to be able to gauge my own heart rate to ~10 BPM accuracy without a HR tracker just based off understanding my breathing.
In my recent runs / weeks, I've noticed that the apple watch was oddly tracking a lower HR than it should be. So as an example of my most recent run, at around the 31 min mark, I took a glance and oddly enough, my HR was under 100 .. after a pace which I wouldn't consider as a "recovery" pace. Now I am somewhat alright in the fitness department, but definitely not <100BPM after half an hour run fit. So I checked in 2 mins later, and lo and behold, despite running a little harder to see if the watch picks up a higher reading, it actually went even lower to 72 BPM.
Now the last I checked, I have no Kenyan genes in my family. And I definitely did not have the low power mode on, nor did I have the fewer HR readings feature on.
Does anyone have any experience with this and have reached out to Apple? Needless to say, as someone whom is training to HR, this drives me nuts.
Nice! Interesting thing about the cellular. It never occurs to me to turn it off except when flying. I guess the track hadn’t been cached yet which I'm not surprised.
Yes, it does take a much longer distance than one would think to go off the track before the track feature indicates you are out of the track area. I can understand that and it's not a problem. I rather it have a wide margin rather than one that is too narrow in cases where say during a recovery jog I want to jog a bit farther away from the track for whatever reason.
I really don't trust the HR sensors on wrist watches, whether Apple or Garmin, if I'm going to use those sensors during a vigorous activity. I find the sensors reasonable for walks and moderate hikes but they don't usually work well for me during runs. My suggestion is to use a chest strap heart rate monitor if you're going to train by heart rate.
Barring that, make sure that the back of the watch is clean before you put it on. Then make sure the watch is quite snug around your wrist when you're doing your activity. I'll say that I always have trouble with the HR sensor when my hands are cold which they tend to be in cooler weather. And to be even more sure, ensure that the watch has caught on to your pulse before you engage in your run. You don't have to do this last step, but it's a way to move more towards successful HR monitoring.
If you want to try, the Polar H10 heart monitoring chest strap is awesome to use. I use it any time I go running even though I don't exactly train by heart rate except during recovery days when I try to make sure I'm not running faster than I should.
Stupid question: there are now heart rate zones which is great but is there really no option that when I want to stay in zone 2 I get an alert when my HR is in Zone 3?
Edit: I found the option.
Edit: I found the option.
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DC Rainmaker on what is coming in watchOS 9.4:
www.dcrainmaker.com
Apple Significantly Changes Apple Watch Running Power In Latest Beta
Apple has quietly made a pretty substantial change to how and when running power is calculated in the Apple Watch, which will impact ultra and trail runners the most. Thankfully, this is a good change. This change is part of
www.dcrainmaker.com
Saw it today and love how fast he is with the news on all this.DC Rainmaker on what is coming in watchOS 9.4:
Apple Significantly Changes Apple Watch Running Power In Latest Beta
Apple has quietly made a pretty substantial change to how and when running power is calculated in the Apple Watch, which will impact ultra and trail runners the most. Thankfully, this is a good change. This change is part of
Seems like, even though he covers A LOT of Garmin stuff, Apple gives him news and early access.
Hey… anyone using the public betas - and noticed the following in last two versions (at least I think last two)?
After starting a run (or probably any other exercise, tried with walking and stretching so far), the exercise won’t stay on the screen if you don’t keep checking, and the watch will return to the home screen, you need to open the exercise app to see the progress. Which gets quite annoying, especially during a run (or right after a run, when you want to stop the timer quickly).
I’ll report it as a bug but wanted to check first, has anyone else observed this? Thanks!
After starting a run (or probably any other exercise, tried with walking and stretching so far), the exercise won’t stay on the screen if you don’t keep checking, and the watch will return to the home screen, you need to open the exercise app to see the progress. Which gets quite annoying, especially during a run (or right after a run, when you want to stop the timer quickly).
I’ll report it as a bug but wanted to check first, has anyone else observed this? Thanks!
That sounds super annoying. Been running a lot this year, clocking in 75K a week and on the tempo, intervals and long runs that would annoy me a lot.
That said, the Ultra and WatchOS 9 features has been amazing as a running buddy this year
Not sure what you mean by “that many”, I just meant “the last one and the one before”.
Not sure whether to interpret your answer as “I use the Beta and I don’t experience the issue” or “I don’t use Beta so I don’t have any input.” 😀
I am not on 9.5 public beta. Is there something relevant for runners in there?
Also I was wondering about the two public betas you wrote about. Or are you talking about 9.4 and 9.5?
Yes, you can create a time based workout consisting of two intervals, each 15mins long.
Instructions e.g. here: https://www.theverge.com/23432864/apple-watch-custom-interval-workouts-how-to