Tech and the Triathlon
Sunday, June 8, 2014 at 3:47PM So, you want to participate in the upcoming Triathlon and are wondering exactly how to get yourself in tip-top shape. Sound about right? Well, in our modern digital age it's quite a bit easier to track your progress and get professional tips than it was, say, 10 years ago. In fact, it's expected to be something that we'll all be doing in a rather short period of time. Case in point: According to an article on Verizon Wireless, "Technology market intelligence company ABI Research says wearable computing devices will be the norm within five years."
This is in part because we now have the advantage of wearable technology and onboard smartphone hardware that tracks your heart rate and communicates directly with the wearables. This ensures that we're getting the most from our workouts and training techniques, even down to our diets.
Since the drop of the Galaxy S5, which includes said onboard heart rate sensor, there has been an industry-wide push for more health and fitness uses for technologies that currently exist. Inasmuch, these extant technologies are to exist as dual-purpose: gyroscope, accelerometer, and gravitometer, and GPS receiver, in that the onboard hardware native to smartphones will offer information to the fitness apps and wearables to display your relevant training information.
The following wearables and apps are sure to help with your daily workout tracking in addition to offering new tips and alternate routes for your bike ride or run based on what other users have recorded.
Wearables
Gear Fit The Samsung Gear Fit is a neat little wearable device that provides onboard heart rate monitoring and limited smartwatch functions, even to the point of knowing to turn on when you've moved your wrist to check the time. With the Gear Fit, your cycling and running data are automatically tracked and cooperate with Galaxy smartphones only (an admitted limitation). However, the comfortably curved screen has been praised as well as the interchangeable band that will fit your personal comfort.
The wearable also offers call rejection (not answering) and gives updates from your apps, in case you're waiting on an important email during your workout, cycle, or run.For bare-bones tracking of vital fitness information with a few smartwatch capabilities, this is certainly the wearable for you.
Pulse O2 For the more technically-minded trainers, the Pulse O2 is probably the better of these two choices. In the lowest of its uses, the device monitors heart rate, sleep and activity, a term here used to include steps, distance, elevation, and calories. Still, the coolest part of this wearable device is the implemented light and blood-oxygen level monitor located on the back of the device, which can be flipped around to keep that information at the forefront of your climbing exercises, among others.
While this may be useless information for some, it is a wonderful tool for asthmatics and climbers alike. Thus, for an all-encompassing wearable fitness band that relies on serious metrics more than it does just heart rate and surface-level indicators, the Pulse O2 may become your best workout partner.
Pairing these devices, and others, with specific apps is the way to go to get the most of your varied workouts. They provide ample information to favorite fitness apps available to smartphones of any make and model. That being said, here are a few that are sure to help with your triathlon, run, or bike training—or anything in between!
Apps
Zombies, Run! Zombies, Run! (iOS | Android) is a fun little app that will make your morning jog or long-term run more of a survival exercise than anything else. You can pick your favorite soundtrack and in between the songs, the app will unfold another part of a story involving your saving individuals from zombies and hoarding special items to aid in your and their survival. With a plethora of storylines to choose from that only get larger with each update, you'll not soon run out of campaigns to run to.
Best part: if you're not keeping up the pace, you may very well be overrun by zombies! Better keep going!
Endomondo Let's face it: we're social creatures. Thriving on interaction is essential to overall happiness, and in the fitness world, workout partners, whether virtual or physical, only help in keeping up morale in the gym or at home. With Endomondo (iOS | Android), you can keep a daily workout diary and update your social media statuses with your times and training information. This app is good for keeping your training healthy and competitive amongst friends, co-workers, and family.
Don't forget to set your workout goal so your audio coach can help you reach it!
BikeCal Among the information that BikeCal (iOS) uses in order to generate accurate statistics concerning your necessary calorie intake on your next bike ride are: gender, weight, intensity, distance, time and speed. We all know it's necessary to have a little something before, during (for long sessions), and after your training routine, so let this app tell you just what you need to keep your body ready for the work and well-fed during recovery!
This app isn't going to tell you what to eat though, so you should get prepared at the grocery store or your local farmer's market with a little help from GetFitGuy's blog.
Bike Hub Cycle Journey Planner Let's say you're not feeling that high-intensity bike ride today and are just looking for a nice, quiet way to enjoy your light, long workout. You're in luck! Bike Hub Cycle Journey Planner (iOS | Android) finds the quietest route for a gentle ride through what will probably be a more scenic route than you'll find when looking for a hilly, intense training session. Another perk: the app can also be used to find the quickest route back home if you've overdone it and really need to coast on back without the noise and clutter of a frequented roadway or trail.
Added perk: you can use this app to give you the best route for your work commute when you want to miss the noise and, just maybe, the traffic!
These are certainly not the only or necessarily the best technologies for everyone. The best route to take when deciding on a fitness parter is to try everything you can until you find something that works for you. As with smartphones, a piece of health/fitness technology or a health/fitness app is only as good as it is able to communicate with the technology you use the most to get the most from your daily workout or training routines.
About the author - Sara Upton is a triathlete who loves exploring the great outdoors and sharing her experiences with the world. When she is not enjoying the beauty of nature, she enjoys wrestling with her dogs, hanging out with friends, and writing.
