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Weekly Steps Total?
- Thread starter Julien
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I run 3 to 4 times a week and I do cardio machines (stair stepper, elliptical, etc) a couple of times a week. Also weight train 5x a week and that gives me a few extra steps. I don't like sitting for too long and always up and walking any chance I get. Also I haven't owned a TV in about 15 years and that is most people downfall (physically/literally and 'spoon fed' information wise/figuratively
). I will aggregate and read my information while walking around the house on my iPad or iPhone.I have also lost my appetite for riding my road bike. It has been over a year now. Never liked it as much as running and the logistics are a lot more time consuming. Also when I run against traffic I see how many people are looking down/distracted and it makes me even more wary of biking with my back to them (Atlanta is traditionally a drive the car even if just going next door).
Real athletes don't putt around on motorbikes and splash in the hot tub then call it a workout.
We get out and pound the pavement. Road biking is of course a step killer but do you swim with your
Watch? It seems you would get a step count, be it VERY small for the amount of effort. Oddly I do cardio machines a couple of times a week and get a fair amount of 'steps'. When doing things like Stair Stepper or Elliptical I never put/rest my hands on the bars (pre Watch habit) to intensify the workout. Oddly I can even pick up a few steps doing stationary bike, but very few on a road bike.Real athletes don't putt around on motorbikes and splash in the hot tub then call it a workout.
Road biking is of course a step killer but do you swim with your
Hahahaha. Legit laughed out loud when reading that first line.
Recent bikes I've been hitting 60km and it ends up draining me quite a bit. I do wear the watch during swims, and it gives steps (which I guess it shouldn't), but it's not usually significant, maybe 2000 steps for 1000m swim. During triathlon season I really increase the swimming and cycling and the running takes a bit of a hit. But through the fall/winter/spring the running will pick up a lot more.
What about you - are you doing a lot of running to contribute to those step counts?
Swimming should give you steps since arm rotation will look a lot like arm swing to the algorithms. Looks like swimming gets you a few more steps per distance compared to walking (1 arm swing = 2 steps which is about 1.5 to 1.7 meters walking) but of course as you know you don’t (or can’t) swim as far because of the extra effort exerted.
In general 2000 steps is considered to be about 1 mile (1.6km) walking distance.
I usually run about 3 times a week for a total of about 20 to 25 miles (About 35 km). Since you get fewer steps in running vs walking (7.5mph [12kph] is about 2.4 meters for 2 steps) so I probably get over 35,000 steps a week from running.
Nice. Actually the running really lines up with what I see (about 1000 steps per km, roughly). So a 10km run gets me 10K steps. Seems to be similar for you with roughly 35km of running netting 35K steps.
That seems to put you at about the same running speed as me (except you use that wacky metrics stuff ). Just for info which you may or may not be familiar with. The ideal running cadence (for everyone) is about 170 steps per minute. Once you get up to about 180 you are sprinting and going anaerobic. Your running speed is determined by your stride length.
Here is a 5mile/8km run I did this morning (sorry, you will have to convert). I was running for speed and they last mile is very uphill (1st pic) plus I was winded from running near anaerobic (also 95% humidity/muggy made it super hard to breath) and ran very slow. As you can see by my cadence I was almost sprinting on mile 2,3 & 4. Mile one is a good example of me true running at a good speed (168 cadence and 1.23m stride length).
I am a runner and triathlete also, and this caught my eye... Actually, the opposite is true. Low cadence is one of the first places that coaches will point to for free speed. Low cadence is directly tied to over-striding, which causes heel strike and brakes you with every step. If you grew up running without a coach, it takes a bit to rebuild your stride with a more efficient high cadence, but then the world is your oyster. I consider 180 a minimum desirable cadence.
In general a cadence of 180 spm is in the realm of elite runners, which I am not. The average runner will move into anaerobic territory trying to maintain this fast of foot turnover pace and can't maintain it. I'm highly conditioned (for my age, hint you can get an idea because I hit MHR) and have an estimated VO2 Max of 50 to 55 (53 estimate right now) but a cadence of 180 puts me in low sprinting range and can only maintain it for 3 or 4 miles max under my most ideal conditions.
Here is one of my best 5Ks (3ed best) with a sub 22 minute and I managed an average of 180 spm, but it is pushing the limit for me at 3 miles.
![Screen%20Shot%202016-07-25%20at%205.14.15%20PM_zpsth383rzi.jpg]()
![Screen%20Shot%202016-07-25%20at%205.15.35%20PM_zpsbhiqeole.jpg]()
Here is one of my best 5Ks (3ed best) with a sub 22 minute and I managed an average of 180 spm, but it is pushing the limit for me at 3 miles.
Elite distance runners are often north of 190, into the low 200s.
Every runner is unique, but stride efficiency is something out there to check into. Who knows, judging from these and some of your other posts, you could have another ~10 seconds/mile in your tank by making some stride tweaks. Your vertical oscillation is very good and you have a long stride length. So, you have a powerful, forward push-off. But couple that with a low turnover, and it likely means that each heel impact happens out in front of your center of gravity and delivers a slowing shock through your ankles and knees.
The key to improving stride efficiency is to force yourself to take shorter, quicker steps. You want your strike to happen at your center of gravity. By doing this, you do not go into the anaerobic sprint zone like you have encountered. As you transform to quicker steps, your stride length becomes more of the speed the variable, not cadence. I am by no means elite, and I am a lot slower than you right now. But check out my quarter-mile interval workout this week. Even my rest intervals were relatively high cadence while my heart rate dropped way back down (the beginning of most intervals was around 135). But when I am in the rest intervals, it feels like I am barely moving my feet. My goal is to run a steady 180 cadence, regardless of speed. In my training runs, pretty much the only two fields I look at are cadence and HR.
![Garmin Intervals.jpg]( "Garmin Intervals.jpg")
Every runner is unique, but stride efficiency is something out there to check into. Who knows, judging from these and some of your other posts, you could have another ~10 seconds/mile in your tank by making some stride tweaks. Your vertical oscillation is very good and you have a long stride length. So, you have a powerful, forward push-off. But couple that with a low turnover, and it likely means that each heel impact happens out in front of your center of gravity and delivers a slowing shock through your ankles and knees.
The key to improving stride efficiency is to force yourself to take shorter, quicker steps. You want your strike to happen at your center of gravity. By doing this, you do not go into the anaerobic sprint zone like you have encountered. As you transform to quicker steps, your stride length becomes more of the speed the variable, not cadence. I am by no means elite, and I am a lot slower than you right now. But check out my quarter-mile interval workout this week. Even my rest intervals were relatively high cadence while my heart rate dropped way back down (the beginning of most intervals was around 135). But when I am in the rest intervals, it feels like I am barely moving my feet. My goal is to run a steady 180 cadence, regardless of speed. In my training runs, pretty much the only two fields I look at are cadence and HR.
What a neat tangent.
I've since decided that I'll sit at about 90 RPM and ride 'till the cows come home, though.
I'm still refining my running. I unlearned some bad stride habits by barely running for almost a year; I did a lot of P90X and put the most mileage on my bike during that time. I'll keep your comments in mind when I go out again.
On my bike, I switch my speedometer/Garmin to show me cadence, HR, and time of day (well, mostly). I stopped caring about speed thanks to one particularly windy day when I was suffering on the small ring at less than 15 mph.
I've since decided that I'll sit at about 90 RPM and ride 'till the cows come home, though.I'm still refining my running. I unlearned some bad stride habits by barely running for almost a year; I did a lot of P90X and put the most mileage on my bike during that time. I'll keep your comments in mind when I go out again.
What a neat tangent.
On my bike, I switch my speedometer/Garmin to show me cadence, HR, and time of day (well, mostly). I stopped caring about speed thanks to one particularly windy day when I was suffering on the small ring at less than 15 mph.
I'm still refining my running. I unlearned some bad stride habits by barely running for almost a year; I did a lot of P90X and put the most mileage on my bike during that time. I'll keep your comments in mind when I go out again.
Agreed - neat tangent and great info. I agree with the bike as well, from when I first started cycling on a road bike I was taught to focus more on cadence than speed, funny enough that 90 RPM seems to be a sweet spot that many people suggest.
Quick question and figured you guys would know... Is it possible to manually add steps? I've been using a Jawbone Up and when I'm not able to move my arms I can clip it on my belt or shoes to continue counting steps. Don't have an Apple Watch yet but plan on getting one w/ gen 2. Just curious if I could manually add X steps when I'm doing something like mowing the yard. Thanks!
I have not figured out any way to get external steps into the watch. You can manually enter steps into the iPhone Health app, and some devices will automatically import to Health. But Health will not push step activity down to the watch or the Activity app on the iPhone.
Kind of what I figured, thanks for the information. Not super active so I thought if I could give myself credit for mowing the lawn I would.
This is one of the mega gaps in the AW versus every other activity tracker on the planet. So, maybe Apple will fix it with wOS3 or wOS4.Kind of what I figured, thanks for the information. Not super active so I thought if I could give myself credit for mowing the lawn I would.
Keep in mind caloric burn is relative to your size. I have extremely low, low body fat (not really reflected in the algorithms) which makes my weight a little low for my relative size and I'm not too large (5'8"/1.73m).
Here is my Garmin Connect summery for last week. It ONLY includes actual activity/exercise time and has me burning 4624 kcal. It was actually a weak week
. I usually run 6 miles on Monday and 8 to 10 miles on Saturday but the humidity kills me (I'm a humidity wimp ). My lower running milage is why I'm surprised at this week's step count.
True, good points. I'm sure I'm not at your level, though I'm 5'9" and 175lbs. Maybe the long bikes are contributing a lot to the calories without adding any steps.
And I agree with the humidity - I have a tough time with it as well. I remember last year, was doing a lot of outdoor running here through the winter - mostly 10-20 F the temps. Then one week on vacation in Florida I went to do a usual run and boy did it hurt, HR through the roof, way slower pace while the energy output felt the same.
And I agree with the humidity - I have a tough time with it as well. I remember last year, was doing a lot of outdoor running here through the winter - mostly 10-20 F the temps. Then one week on vacation in Florida I went to do a usual run and boy did it hurt, HR through the roof, way slower pace while the energy output felt the same.
A little OT but I ran my 2ed fastest 5K race this morning. My official time was 21:31:87. Actually was not expecting to do well at all. The humidity has been terrible for the longest time this summer. This morning was not exception with a starting humidity of 94%. At least it was not hot. I have just been struggling a little lately with maintaining speed. Still did very well within my abilities.
Also I didn't tighten my band and myWatch HR was off worse than normal for running (works fine for other cardio, but not running) and I forgot to stop it at the end. I was struggling for recovery.
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![Screen%20Shot%202016-08-06%20at%2010.34.40%20AM_zps19bnslbf.jpg]()
![Screen%20Shot%202016-08-06%20at%2010.36.45%20AM_zps5usddqtz.jpg]()
![Screen%20Shot%202016-08-06%20at%2010.33.47%20AM_zpsml1syc1f.jpg]()
Also I didn't tighten my band and my
Watch HR was off worse than normal for running (works fine for other cardio, but not running) and I forgot to stop it at the end. I was struggling for recovery. 
That is awesome. I am dying to get back to that speed. There is nothing like it. I have another 10 lbs. to go and a little fall/winter work, and maybe I can be there in the spring. I did a tri today, but I did not wear the AW, so I have nothing to show. It is a little tricky to try to use an AW in a triathlon, so I just leave it home.