Your Watch is a Mean Girl- from July, 2022

​YOUR WATCH IS A MEAN GIRL
You may have heard me in person or on social media ranting about how Garmin watches, which I use to track every workout I do, can be downright mean. The watches flash messages of frustration ("non-productive training", but I was just outside running and I feel GREAT, you ridiculous piece of tech) and hand out suspect advice ("72 hours recovery time" for a moderate run, really?). It is a missed opportunity for what I call affirmation mode where after a workout your watch flashes, "you look gorgeous" or "way to get out for a workout today!" Science writer Alex Hutchinson wrote a piece titled, Your Watch Doesn't Know How Much Recovery You Need" and goes in depth into some of the why and alternatives to tracking training load. He doesn't advocate for affirmation mode, but I will keep doing that one!