I ran the NYC Marathon wearing 7 fitness trackers, for science

People will tell you that you should run a marathon because it is a mental and physical challenge. People will say that it requires dedication and perseverance. People will tell you that it encourages community and gives you the courage to test yourself.

But the best reason to run a marathon is to test seven fitness trackers for your job on Mashable.com. So that’s what I did.

Two years ago, I wore the Apple Watch SE during my first New York City Marathon, and it died before I even crossed the finish line. Say it with me: Booooooooo.

In its defense, the NYC Marathon is notorious for eliminating fitness technique because there is too much Waiting before and after.

I started the race in the fourth wave, that is, I started running at 10:50 in the morning. But I started my day around 5 a.m., left my apartment at 6 a.m., got on the Staten Island Ferry for a 7:20 a.m. departure, and then boarded a bus that took us on a 20-minute drive to the starting village, where you walk through security and find your corral. By the time you start, you’re on a long, cold journey for hours – and Then You have to run 26.2 miles, walk about a mile from the marathon finisher area, get to the subway, and find your way home (it took me a little over an hour).

Apple has since improved the battery life of its smartwatches, but the SE dying before it even got a medal was a blow I wasn’t willing to deal with a second time.

I want a lot from a fitness tracker (comfort, readability, aesthetics, recovery metrics, workout metrics, reasonable price), but I need A tracker with impressive battery life. So, I began my search.

While training for the race, I used a total of 10 different fitness trackers and smartwatches. I still had my Apple Watch SE, but upgraded it to the Apple Watch Ultra 2 and eventually the Apple Watch Ultra 3. I also tried its Android counterpart, the Pixel Watch 3, which I upgraded to the Pixel Watch 4. I also wore the Garmin Forerunner 570, Whoop MG, Suunto Run, Ora Ring 4, and Fitbit Charge 6. In total, I ran 508 miles, did 30 weightlifting sessions, rode. Biked 110 miles, and practiced yoga or Pilates about once a week — and did it all while wearing seven fitness trackers.

In the end, I found the Apple Watch Ultra 3 best for actually running the race; Garmin Forerunner 570 for training; And WHOOP MG for health data. I wrote all about it in my guide to the best fitness trackers for running marathons, but now I want to talk about what it was like running the actual race.

Full disclosure: it was messed up.

Apple Watch Ultra 3: I love you

Contrary to what many people will tell you, the biggest challenge in the New York City Marathon isn’t the hills or the late start time — it’s seeing your friends cheering you on on the sidelines. With almost 60,000 runners and over two million spectators, it’s not easy to find your friends. Enter: the Notes app.

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To be completely honest, I find the size of the Apple Watch Ultra 3 to be a negative quality. It’s huge, it’s bright, and it’s kind of annoying to have around the house or, God forbid, during a normal day of Pilates class. But during the marathon, I learned that size is actually a feature, not a bug. Notes in your iPhone’s Notes app automatically upload to your watch, and because it’s bigger and brighter than anything I have on my wrist, it’s really easy to read, even after you’ve run 26 miles.

In general, this is what I liked about the Apple Watch during this run. It’s easy to see your friends’ messages, easy to send messages back, easy to check your Notes app, and it’s also really easy to see your speed and time. The watch appeared to have a significant size and shine.

Whoop MG 4.0: Thanks for the verification

Looking at my stress monitor on the Whoop MG 4.0 was not what I would call “helpful.” The Whoop MG is a great tool for long-term training – it shows you how much your body can handle for a future workout, how much you can push yourself, and recommends when you should back off. For me, it helped me recognize patterns. For example, I sleep better when I smoke marijuana, spend time outside, and connect with friends and family; Caffeine doesn’t have as much of an impact on my body’s readiness as I thought; And it takes me longer than I thought to recover from a beer with dinner.

So I didn’t anticipate that this would actually be the most useful tool for running marathons, and I was right. It has no screen or display, no GPS, and no immediate heart rate feedback during workouts, making it essentially useless for live training metrics.

Then I vomited.

This is not an unusual experience for the New York City Marathon, but it is for me. My stomach is of steel. It never disappoints me. And here, after 18 weeks of solid training, boom: vomit on the Queensboro Bridge.

My first thought, obviously, was, “Oh God, oh God, no, oh God, please no,” but then it was, “Oh, this is going to look interesting on my whoop tension graph.” and this Was interesting.

You can see the peak of stress around 1:50 pm, when I reached mile 15 and got sick. Then you can see I started out walking, recovered, started running again, and you can see another spike around 2pm when it realizes I started running too early, and pull back once again. Then you see me recover, start running and having a good time, until at 2:45, I get sick again and my stress hits rock bottom again. Then you can see my very cool time in the NYRR medical tent, where they gave me salt, a bag for being sick, some water, and a yellow Gatorade.

Then I went out around 3:05. My strain was fine at first – you guessed it – I got sick again around 4:10. The rest of the race is a bit of a mess as I force myself to the finish line.

You can see that the tension subsided after the race ended, peaked again during my ill-fated attempt to get home, and never In fact settle.

You can see much of this data reflected in my strain graph as well.

Overall, the Whoop MG was actually one of the least useful devices when running a marathon, but it was great for before and after the race.

Neither of these machines are really my first choice for training – that would be the Garmin Forerunner 570 or the most affordable Suunto Run – but I loved having them on during races.

The right fitness tracker won’t make running a marathon any easier. But it can make you more prepared at the starting line, it can give you a more reasonable perspective on your ability, and it can help you understand when, where, and why your stomach was so insistent on turning itself inside out at mile 15. I probably won’t run another marathon with seven fitness trackers, but I’ll definitely run another marathon (Berlin? Chicago?) — and I can’t wait to see what technology will help me get another medal around my neck.