I’m sure 90 percent of us started the New Year with a resolution to get fit and eat healthier. I made a resolution last year to start running and I stuck to it. By June, I’d run my first 15km race and I ran two more by the end of the year. I’d never run before, and when you are 29 and running for the first time in your life, you learn a lot about your body. A few things I learned were: I have terrible knees, I have flat feet and I have a really high heart rate.
I spent months visiting cardiologists to learn more about why my heart beats fast, simply receiving the answer that, it just does. What they did tell me was to keep an eye on it when working out and to slow down if it got too high (180+ bpm). After hearing that, I immediately ran out and bought an expensive heart rate monitor that straps to my chest and connects to my iPhone via Bluetooth. This got really high-maintenance, really fast. I had to hold my phone every time I was working out to monitor my heart rate and the strap was uncomfortable. Then I visited a TELUS store. I had heard that they just opened a connected experience store in Toronto’s Eaton Centre and was curious.
I sat down with a TELUS Learning Centre Expert for a free one-on-one session to help determine what device would be best for my needs. After looking at the various fitness devices they carry, we decided the Fitbit Charge HR was the perfect wearable for my very specific needs. Not only does it track my heart rate, steps, kilometres travelled, flights climbed and doubles as a watch, it doesn’t have to be connected to Wi-Fi. Also, I don’t have to lug my phone around to get those immediate stats. There was way less fuss when getting ready for a run, so I was actually able to enjoy it. Anything that distracts from the task really affects my run (even wearing headphones bothers me). So I like that when I need to check in with my body I can do so, quickly and easily. When I do have my phone, I can log into my Fitbit app, see how active I was, check all my stats for the day and compare them to the previous day’s stats.
My goal for this year is to run my first 20km straight. I was training for a half marathon late in 2015, but because of a knee injury I had to sit the race out. Now that my knee is better I want to finally reach that goal. Since I don’t need to use my phone, which usually drains of battery before the run is over, I can focus more on the road ahead of me. Plus, I can set weekly challenges through the Fitbit app to help me stay on track and motivated.
What I learned was that not every trendy fitness device is going to turn you into a track star. Learning which device best suited my individual needs and having a TELUS expert show me how to use it properly was key in getting that edge for my run.
