Have just run 28 mins for first time in my life. Whoopee but oops. Need techie help from you good people!

[Suebguineapig]

Ok, so week eight run one today. Was tipping down and lightening predicted, so thought it would be a good idea to stay inside. Have been having probs with the podcasts as headphones keep cutting out on runs ( my fault for buying reconditioned iPhone on eBay, but I am used to Mr IPad and love my cheap Tesco deal and needed smart phone for the podcasts ha! ) anyway, thought would be a good idea to play week eight on the iPad and compare the distance with the Fitbit. Did the 28 mins and, to be honest, was not noticeably more gremlinyidh than the 25 ones last week (2 out of three outdoors). However, big prob is that when I finished the 5min warm up and the 28 min run, the treadmill said 4.4 km and the Fitbit said 4.53. Appreciate that this is not a huge discrepancy, but I would like to keep an accurate record of my progression. As my Fitbit is a very basic one, once I start to record my run times only, as opposed to the warm up included, my options would seem to be: take out iPod, phone (for emergencies), glasses, as can't easily read Fitbit screen in bright light, pencil and paper in order to pause at end of warm up to record distance before setting off on run. All seems problematic so would appreciate advice. Am prepared to throw money at it as love this programme. Also prepared to accept that I may be being too neurotic too soon

[poppypug Graduate]

Well done Sue, 28 minutes is flippin' awesome isn't it ?

I'm sorry I cant help with the Fitbit question, I am the worlds worst at any techie stuff !

I am sure someone will be along to help xxx

[Suebguineapig Graduate in reply to poppypug]

Thanks Poppy! Yes, it is an awesome feeling. It is just that, having committed to the programme, I really want to monitor my progress (not a control freak. At all. Ha ha!)

[Dunder2004 Graduate]

You are definitely being too neurotic, too soon but that is a common affliction and you are in good company.

For today, I would tend to trust the treadmill distance as opposed to the Fitbit.

For the future, it sounds like you need (or would very much appreciate) a Garmin. The basic model (Forerunner 10) is around £65 if you shop around.

[Suebguineapig Graduate in reply to Dunder2004]

Thanks, I have looked at this today (school hols) and this may be the answer. Whilst I love my Fitbit for everyday awareness of activity levels, it seems that you can't have two registered at the same time. So using the Garmin would be great for the running, whilst using the trusty (or not) FB for general purposes. The mist is clearing!

[Suebguineapig Graduate]

Ha, is good to know I am not alone in this neurosis thing. Is just that I seriously want to Improve. Will check out the Garmin thing. Thanks so much Dunder!

[secan Graduate]

I find that fitbit models without GPS are quite innacurate for what concern the distance, as the simply estimate it based on your heigh and number of steps. Your treadmill figure is probably the correct one.

That is something to keep in mind also when you run outdoor as, if you want an accurate information about your distance, you will probably be better off using a mobile app (MapMyRun, Endomondo, Strava, etc.) rather than your fitbit.

[Suebguineapig Graduate]

Thanks , Secan. I actually bought the Fitbit Surge as a Christmas present for my son when he was training for the London Marathon. Maybe this would be a solution as I have found the Fitbit platform very easy to use( even managed to install without the daughter's help!). I have Nike run installed on my phone, as per the daughter's instructions, but, to be honest, can't cope with more than one App at at time! Ah, 57 and 3/4 and hopeless with technology!

[secan Graduate in reply to Suebguineapig]

I do not know the Nike run app but I assume it can access your phone GPS and track distance and speed. If that is all you want to monitor, you should be fine with that, with no need to buy a quite expensive fitbit Surge. Unless you want to monitor your heart rate too, you do not need anything else than what you already have.

On the other hand, if you are interested in the heart monitor, you might want to consider something else, as I recently read the fitibit's HRM is quite inaccurate.

Finally, if what you really want is an excuse to buy a new toy (nothing wrong with that ) , forget all the technical specifications and just buy the object that you like the most.

[Suebguineapig Graduate]

Thanks for the sage advice , Secan. The truth is that I do not really know what I need to help me in this process and, while I said that I am prepared to throw money at it, that will only be when I have a clear picture of what I need and how to achieve it. (Always helpful when a child is around, but that is unpredictable these days) . Take care!

[secan Graduate in reply to Suebguineapig]

For the time being, what you need is just to complete the programme and then spend a few weeks consolidating the result by simply keeping running 30min or 5km three times per week. This will give you another couple of months to think what you want to do.

If you are happy with just keeping the three runs per week routine, with no particular pressure on performances (which doesn't mean you will not improve but simply that you will let it happen naturally, without specific workouts), your phone app might be all you need for the rest of your running career.

After all, the first Modern Olympics marathon was ran in 1896 and they did not have neither heart rate monitors nor smartphones back then...

[Suebguineapig Graduate]

So wise and so true and so eloquently put. Thanks, Secan!👣

[Coddfish Graduate]

My advice is to finish the programme and consolidate for a bit without worrying about whether you are "improving". Measure improvement by the elapsed time you can run for, and how easily you recover afterwards. Once you want to start recording distances, there are lots of smartphone apps you can use, without getting into the expense of gps watches. Whilst they aren't perfectly accurate they will be closer to the truth than your fitbit's guesstimate of distance. I use the free version of runkeeper, you can programme different run types into it (pace runs, interval plans etc). It lets you include a warm up if you wish. You can see the times for your kilometre splits and also for the different intervals, if you have used them.

[Suebguineapig Graduate]

Thanks for the advice. I guess I am perhaps being too much of an eager beaver. I will leave the techie stuff for a bit longer!