A long time ago I was working on my personal criteria for "success". One of my favorite indicators: I'll know I've made it when I don't need to wear a watch (and don't need an alarm).
Excellent post on the Oura ring and the background. I do think I pay more attention to those messages I get on the app than I should. I try to keep it simple and focus on a few items on a regular basis. When I first started getting messages from the Advisor, I did not know what to think. Should I respond? How? I felt unnerved by some of the questions. For those who are interested, I wrote my own year-end review of the ring and how it has impacted my day to day life and my training. Here is the link: https://open.substack.com/pub/jennwoltjen/p/does-wearing-a-health-ring-make-me?r=19b5er&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
I work for a tech company, but I don’t believe the hype, mostly because of two similar reasons: I want to be able to be in tune enough with my own body to know how I’m really feeling without any tech, and secondly I’ve found them, HRT for example to be inaccurate and not match with how I’m actually feeling. Also the information gathering aspect reminds me of Westworld. Why don’t we trust our own selves?
Am I the only runner left who wears a cheap timex? I tried Oura. I tried a Garmin. I tried an Apple Watch. I spent almost a decade working at one of the first serious companies building a women's health / cycle tracking wearable. I'm not anti-technology or anti-tracking tech. But so far, everything I've tried takes away more than it gives back.
Probably not! But I bet GPS watch adoption is broader than biometric tracking. I wonder if there have been any market studies of percentage of athletes using GPS, HR tracking, etc. I’d think there has to be…
I'm generally data-hungry, because I'm generally suspicious of my subjective sense of things, and measuring gives me objective feedback that helps educate my subjectivity. At the same time, I'm pretty sure that bad data is worse than no data. Even the best chest straps struggle to accurately measure my heart rate under stress, and the wrist-based measurements from my Garmin or Coros are so wildly wrong on anything but a steady-state low-effort run that they're worse than useless. So I'm very skeptical of these algorithmic (and proprietary) readiness scores that extrapolate broadly from a very shaky foundation. But I'm anxious for them to get better (and I think they probably will).
“Readiness” does seem a bit presumptive. But at least it’s not Strava Fitness Score, a no-range/no-cap arbitrary number that only goes up with hard efforts. They should call it a future injury score. 😇
I also wrote about the oura ring a couple of weeks ago but much (!) less in-depth than you! More like: "I had an oura ring for 5 years. Then I sold it. Then I bought it again.“ haha ;-)
Yes, that’s my hunch as well. So many times with technology companies, the question I find myself wondering is: “to what end?” Thank you for the comment and feedback!
I recently read the simplest statement: If you’re waking to an alarm, by definition you’re not getting enough sleep.
A long time ago I was working on my personal criteria for "success". One of my favorite indicators: I'll know I've made it when I don't need to wear a watch (and don't need an alarm).
#lifegoals
That sounds pretty true to me. The alarm clock is one of the more insidious innovations of modernity.
Excellent post on the Oura ring and the background. I do think I pay more attention to those messages I get on the app than I should. I try to keep it simple and focus on a few items on a regular basis. When I first started getting messages from the Advisor, I did not know what to think. Should I respond? How? I felt unnerved by some of the questions. For those who are interested, I wrote my own year-end review of the ring and how it has impacted my day to day life and my training. Here is the link: https://open.substack.com/pub/jennwoltjen/p/does-wearing-a-health-ring-make-me?r=19b5er&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Thanks, Jenn! I love your post!
Readiness for what? is the right question!
I work for a tech company, but I don’t believe the hype, mostly because of two similar reasons: I want to be able to be in tune enough with my own body to know how I’m really feeling without any tech, and secondly I’ve found them, HRT for example to be inaccurate and not match with how I’m actually feeling. Also the information gathering aspect reminds me of Westworld. Why don’t we trust our own selves?
Am I the only runner left who wears a cheap timex? I tried Oura. I tried a Garmin. I tried an Apple Watch. I spent almost a decade working at one of the first serious companies building a women's health / cycle tracking wearable. I'm not anti-technology or anti-tracking tech. But so far, everything I've tried takes away more than it gives back.
Probably not! But I bet GPS watch adoption is broader than biometric tracking. I wonder if there have been any market studies of percentage of athletes using GPS, HR tracking, etc. I’d think there has to be…
I'm generally data-hungry, because I'm generally suspicious of my subjective sense of things, and measuring gives me objective feedback that helps educate my subjectivity. At the same time, I'm pretty sure that bad data is worse than no data. Even the best chest straps struggle to accurately measure my heart rate under stress, and the wrist-based measurements from my Garmin or Coros are so wildly wrong on anything but a steady-state low-effort run that they're worse than useless. So I'm very skeptical of these algorithmic (and proprietary) readiness scores that extrapolate broadly from a very shaky foundation. But I'm anxious for them to get better (and I think they probably will).
Love this one Sam!
Thanks, Bridget!
“Readiness” does seem a bit presumptive. But at least it’s not Strava Fitness Score, a no-range/no-cap arbitrary number that only goes up with hard efforts. They should call it a future injury score. 😇
I also wrote about the oura ring a couple of weeks ago but much (!) less in-depth than you! More like: "I had an oura ring for 5 years. Then I sold it. Then I bought it again.“ haha ;-)
Yes, that’s my hunch as well. So many times with technology companies, the question I find myself wondering is: “to what end?” Thank you for the comment and feedback!