Day 6, Week 10: A cold snowy tempo run & a fitness watch face-off

Today I decided to bust out the Apple Watch (series 2) that my twin sis sent me and force a competition between it and my Garmin Vivoactive HR.

I had a 10 mile tempo on tap, which is a good distance for a watch competition.  It's also a good distance to wear out a dog that likes to eat drywall and steal your socks and underwear.

He's mad he doesn't have any energy to eat my underwear now.

We were supposed to do this run at 7:30 AM (I had the day off, so no 4:30 AM runs today), but it was 18 freaking degrees outside at that time and that meant I couldn't take large dog with me.  So we waited until around almost 2 PM when the temps were near 30 degrees to hit the road.  But it was still windy and cold, which meant I had to bust out a winter running outfit.

It was also hard to take a picture of my outfit because large dog kept asking me in his own special way if he could go running, too, because he knows when I am dressed this obnoxiously it can only mean one thing-RUNNING.

Anyway, how'd the run go?

• It was cold.  And freaking snowing, people.
• People driving by stared at my pants.
• Someone pulled over and tried to give Simon a treat.  Strangers with dog candy. (We declined.)
• I was wearing a watch on each wrist and the Apple Watch kept vibrating and I had no idea what it meant and that really bugged me. A lot.
• One time I stopped to let the dog relieve himself and I heard someone talking and freaked out a little.  Then I shut off my headphones and realized the Apple Watch talks to you and lets you know when you have paused/resumed your workout.  I wish it would tell me when the large dog was going to stop suddenly to pee so I wouldn't almost get yanked off my feet every time.

Speaking of that Apple Watch, I was more interested in the difference in the data gathered and displayed between my Garmin and the Nike Run Club (NRC) App, the app I was using on the Apple watch for my run.  Here's the difference in my splits between the two watches:

Nike Run Club App

Garmin Connect

The Nike Run Club App said I ran 0.3 miles longer than the Garmin app, but I think it counted the distance I walked in my house between miles 3 and 4 because nature called and all of the corn has now been harvested...if you get my drift.  My Vivoactive is better at cutting those brief pauses out of the final data.  The NRC app also doesn't differentiate between average pace and average moving pace, so it looks like NRC factored in any time I had to stop because the dog had to make a pit stop or I had to stop and adjust clothing (I'm still getting used to running in so many damn layers).  However, the one thing that the NRC has that the Garmin app doesn't is this:

The ability to actually show your pace on your pictures when you share your run.  Like this picture I took with the hubbs completely unawares.

Or you don't even have to have a real picture; you can use their "posters" feature and then slap your run data on the bottom.

Or you can use a screenshot....say, of another fitness app's data screen.  So meta.

It's the little things that do it for me, after all.  I just showed you that you can put run data on the pics; you can also put a map of your run or a cool starbursty-thing with your distance in the middle.  Because of all these neat-o and completely frivolous features, I'm thinking I will use the Apple Watch for my next few runs.

By the way, my tempo run was supposed to be at a 9:20 pace...here I am, keeping my "I run my tempos too fast" streak alive, people.

And we have learned...

• I should never review running/fitness apps.
• I should never review them because I love the least important features.
• The fact that it snowed during the run almost broke me.  Really.
• You'd stare at those running tights if you were driving by, too, to drink in all of their awesomeness.  Which is what I'm sure the people today were doing.
• Some people carry dog treats in their car for those times when they see runners with dogs, I guess.  

Tomorrow's workout:  My usual Saturday weight workout date with a barbell.