Thursday, August 08, 2024

Interesting data

Oh my.

When I started to keep track of my mileage in January, I thought it would be a fun experiment to see how much I do move and how far I walk for a year. I didn't expect it to amount to much, but today I thought I'd look up the stats.

Now a word about that. I am not obsessed really too much. For the first 6 months, I just kept track of hikes/walks that I remembered to track. I had to manually start the app on the phone and let it do its thing. That really was impressive though.

I remembered enough times to chalk up 173 miles in the first half of the year.

When I got the Vivosmart 5 Watch from Garmin, I also tracked certain hikes I wanted to recall and to my surprise, when I forget, the watch buzzes me and tells me I've been moving for 5 minutes and it is going to record it as an 'official' walk. 

Neat. Since I am often walking all over the place just to check on the animals and move them from place to place, I don't have to think about 'recording' it. I found that on average each morning and evening that I walk a quarter of a mile while just doing chores. Interesting! 

This smarty watch also has a sleep thing on it. I don't know how accurate it is so I don't look at it too often. One night I went to bed early and it said I slept something like nearly 8 hours. Well, for a good part of that night, I was awake, lying still and thinking. 

You know--those 2AM thoughts when you solve the world's problems and rearrange rooms and dig new gardens in your head?

So I stopped looking at the sleep stats. When we had that huge storm on Monday night, I was up with Charlie who freaks out at storms. My sleep thingy said I was having very light sleep. NO kidding! 

So I use that guide more or less as entertainment value. If I awaken and feel refreshed, I've had a good sleep. If I feel like crap, I didn't. 

I'm not sure how the measurements on a wrist can tell whether a person is sleeping soundly or lightly. But I'm sure technology will prevail eventually.

The details from the different screens tell me that I use too much energy. Duh. I knew that. Still. 

So how far have I gone to date? 

423 miles? Seems impossible. But I am on the move all of the time...unless it is too hot and humid, I am taking many walks on our gravel road or around through the woods to just peer at things and observe nature. I also go on intended hikes and other times, just wander about looking for something to take a photo of.

During the month of July with all of the heat and humidity, I did not 'walk' a lot. I avoided that heat and humidity as it made me feel wiped out. Hiking in the forest or at KVR was not recommended due to the monster skeeters and deerflies.

The wonders of technology are pretty interesting. I did compare the phone app to the watch and to a measured distance and found it fairly spot on. 


Enough of that. 

I do like some of the convivences of this technical world. Especially digital cameras!

Yesterday's morning view from the porch....




13 comments:

  1. Gorgeous view! My phone tracks my movement. But you need to carry your phone with you for that to work and I rarely do. I used to put in a lot of miles but those days are behind me. You are super fit for a reason.

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    1. Mine uses the phone GPS to map my walk/hike. But if I don't carry it, it still gives me 'credit' for walking a distance. It'll say 'walk' and then a distance but no map.

      That works for me.
      I purchased a cheap version to see if I liked how it worked and when I wear it out the technology might be better?

      You have had a lot of struggles so don't compare to someone who has been lucky to be sooo active for the past gazillion years with very few injuries.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous4:15 PM

    I find that my sleep app on the iPhone works fairly well most of the time. It pretty well seems to jive with my impressions. I have had a few weird results though. There was the time that I got up early, puttered about for two hours and then went to a dental appointment. It was a long one, and the app added two hours to my sleep — after two hours of being up first. /AC

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    1. Nice! I don't have a fancy one and the functions are basic. Activities, Sleep, Heart Rate, and Stress. But it serves just well enough for me now.
      My sleep habits for years was on rotating shifts which could include 4AM starts to my day or a midnight start to my day in the same week.

      Delete
  3. Most of the time I leave my phone on my desk...so I walk lots without it recording a thing. We are cool now you should be getting that soon...it has been raining for two days and town was just nuts with traffic today.

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    1. I did too and this watch picks up the walking without the phone nearby. Once the two get close the data uploads to the phone. But it doesn't map out the walk like when take the phone along.
      I find the map useful when hiking in the Reserve.

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  4. Hi Val. I just dropped by to say that your Mississippi is not my Mississippi. Yes, there is one in Canada, near Ottawa. I always hesitate to actually say our river's name because it causes confusion to newer visitors to my blog. 😊

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    Replies
    1. hah! And so it is! I think I knew you were from Canada, but I had a brain moment there. Still, beautiful scenery!

      Delete
  5. Anonymous9:25 AM

    I still have a fit bit, but don't even check my steps etc. anymore. it's 10am and I have walked over 4000 steps. For being old and gimpy, I still get in a fair amount. What you do is amazing! Lori

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    1. Yes! Doing chores really adds so much to your walking! Keep moving, it is good!

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  6. I am very impressed with all that movement! I am pretty sedentary but I did go to the amusement park with my daughter and grandchildren last weekend (when it was humid and in the high 80's so I get extra credit) and her watch said we walked over 7.5 miles. I admit I had to push myself, but I want to spend as much time with the kids before they grow up.

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    1. Any time you can create memories with Grands is absolutely precious!

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  7. Well done! I don't track it, but as you say, entertainment value!

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