‘Just a half marathon’ might not be a common catchphrase but if, like me, you are in the marathon taper zone, that is probably what the weekend had in store. Mine was a lovely, leisurely trot along the River Lea where I have completed much of my training for London – 13 days and counting. For those in the same boat, there is nothing much more to do now except relax, take care of yourself and obsess about all the data that you’ve collected over the last few months.
During my marathon training journey I have been experimenting with Strava, Apple Watch and a Polar to see if maths can help improve my running. Late adopter as ever, I’d previously been dismissive of those constantly glancing at their wrist as if their willpower relied on the gadget alone. But several months down the line I have to admit it: I’m a fitness data addict.
I don’t know if it has helped necessarily aided my training, but it’s certainly been a reassuring guide. Last time I did a marathon I used a spreadsheet to keep track of the mileage I was clocking up. This time I have endless heart rate readings, recordings of calories burned, average paces and goodness knows what else. But can you use the mine of information you’ve gathered to predict how long it will take you to complete a marathon?
I shared the Apple health data I’ve recorded with personal trainer Steve Mellor of Freedom2Train and he suggested a time that I could barely believe. Describing the use of such statistics as a combination of “science and art”, he explains how it can be best analysed: “Data is really useful at making sure you are training at the right intensity. Most people overtrain and get injured.” As I was when I spoke to him a month ago.
“Based on the time you are aiming for, you can work out a target pace and heart rate, then build up your training. Let’s say for the first month your pace is always 9:30 minute miles and your heart rate is 155 bpm. As you progress to 16/18 mile runs and your average heart rate becomes 150 bpm, you are obviously running better, so you can reevaluate your marathon finish time goal.”
Of course you can track your progress the old fashioned way but for non-athletes it is incredibly motivating to have all this information at your fingertips. “We’ve not had wearable activity trackers for very long and obviously people have been breaking records for longer than that,” Mellor says. “So I think you can overplay that aspect of it but today people love that instant feedback.”
I know there will be purists out there that despise the idea of this, or those who OD on it, which can’t be healthy. Privacy of such data is also a concern: you need to read the terms of apps carefully. But health tech is undoubtedly here to stay – so do you think it is making you a better runner? And how do you analyse your own data? For me all will be revealed on 24 April.
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