If you know me well, you will know that I am really into statistics when it comes to sports and in particular my own statistics. I have been recording down all my own football stats from competitive matches I’ve played since the age of 17 years old when I started playing senior football. I can tell you off the bat now that I have played 906 games, scored 1,127 goals (22 of those were peanalties scored out of 26 attempts) and made 865 assists.
I have always been fascinated by stats and looking at stats, both professional or elite athletes or sports persons and amateur sports people like myself. Until 2016 I recorded every single race I have ever ran since I was a kid and the time it took me to finish and my finishing position. I don’t do that anymore but as I write blogs about all my races I can easily trace my times and positions back if I want or need to.
So, having had this obsession with stats and my sports performances and finding it interesting looking at when I was at my optimal and sporting physical peak, you would have thought I would have entered the world of fitness and sports technology much earlier than I have done.
So, I have finally joined the fitness technology world and it has been a long time coming. In some ways, fitness technology has always scared me a little bit, just like mobile phones did when they first became popular, my mum had to push me into buying one, now I’m guilty of staring at my phone a little too much I think (don’t we all though?). These GPS watches for runners, Fitbits, Apple Fitness watches, I’ve heard how they track your steps, track your runs, track your swims and other exercises, they track your heart rate, sleep and much more, and although I love stats I probably was a bit intimidated by them since they became popular four or five years ago.
I like to run and train off how I feel, even in my races I very rarely wear a stopwatch, only in the marathon and some half marathon’s where I need to keep a track on my pacing do I wear a digital stopwatch. It isn’t even mine, it’s my dad’s work watch that I borrow and I keep it old skool too, I print off an old pacing card and tuck it in my shorts, until this year at the London Marathon where I bought some pacing bands.
Anyway, I am going off track here, I have been hearing from other runners and amateur sports enthusiasts how their GPS watches track their runs, shows their splits and helps them improve. I knew that deep down I should and would eventually get one of these fitness watches and I have to say, I am obsessed in it and I love tracking my stats.
However, after losing my fitness and having an unplanned year and a half to two years off competitive running, I think purchasing my Fitbit has come just at the right time and a time that I need it in my sporting life. In my sporting comeback, I’m in my early 30s and due to age, many, many miles on the clock and the fact I now do a job where I am sat at a desk all day, my metabolism has changed and my body fat does not burn like it once did a few years ago when I found it so easy to look ripped and feel light on my feet.
I am past my physical prime but still feel very fit in many ways and I am loving the added motivation the Fitbit has given me. It is one of the older Fitbits, the Flex2 and my fiancé Katie saw it was on sale at Argos for £39.00 and I we thought why not?
Katie is currently on her own journey to getting back fit again and we are both loving our Fitbits. For Katie, it is more about achieving her steps and calories etc, where as for me, it’s a little more fitness based and scrutinised.
As it is one of the older Fitbits it does have GPS, so when I run it just tracks the distance, steps and calories, however, if I use the app on my phone which has GPS, it will track my splits and route, which is very useful and interesting for me. A few years ago when I was much faster, running 36-38 minute 10Ks and 17:43-19:00 5Ks, the thought of having my phone strapped to my arm did not appeal to me. However, now I’m not as quick over the shorter distances and I am going to mainly run half marathon’s, I can now tolerate having my phone strapped to my arm, atleast until I get a new Fitbit which has GPS.
I went to Up and Running Shop and bought an I phone arm holder for £19.00 and I am happy I did as I can now track my runs with GPS and know where I can improve etc. See some of my run GPS stats below to see how it tracks and can benefit you to improve.
My skipping is great to track for my Fitbit where I can track all my steps and calories burned and I must say, skipping is amazing for that. With the steps and from long skipping sessions I can also step some good distances.
Football is the most fascinating for me, particularly when I play on a bigger pitch on Tuesday nights at Lawnswood YMCA. It’s usually 11 a side, it’s a bigger pitch and I always do a lot of running. Although I’m now past my peak years in football by three years and probably in the twilight of my competitive career, two years off becoming a ‘veteran’ officially, at 33 years old I am still younger than most of the players at Tuesday football, so whichever team I play for I am expected to do most of the running around, which I do and I love it. You can see some of the stats below for the Soccer (football) and how many steps I do for just over an hour of football.
I don’t think it is very good for sports that are static such as weight training or core strength but for energetic sports it is great. When I was doing a core training exercise it thought I was swimming and I did like 20 lengths haha, so it’s not always 100% accurate but I’m impressed with it.
Me and Katie go out for walks now when we have a day off together and the Fitbit is great fun for that as we can track our route and steps after.
The Fitbit isn’t just good for tracking your sports, fitness and training, it is also great for adding your foods that you consume, water in-take, calories in and out and also sleep. The sleep statistics is something that really interests me. I know lifestyle and work hours can effect your sleep, as can certain foods, eating at certain times, alcohol, soft drinks, caffeine and other things such as partying.
I have had problems with sleep in the past, due to a number of factors and I have suffered from both temporary severe insomnia and long term insomnia condition in the past (not officially diagnosed though haha) and I know how important sleep is and I want to improve my sleep, I really find it fascinating.
I’ve ran several half marathons on no sleep, infact I have ran two Leeds Half Marathons straight after finishing partying, which looking back was dangerous and stupid but you feel invincible when you are in your early 20 to mid 20s. I’ve gone through periods when I used to work at Boots where due to working night shifts and 4am starts, where I was living on an average of about 3 hours a nights sleep, it was effecting my life and health at the time, I was having to have a power nap every day for an hour to get through the day, I was living like that for four years. I was relying on three to four caffeine energy drinks a day just to get through the day. During my partying days in my mid 20s I once went four days with no sleep, I was dreaming with my eyes open I was that sleep deprived, such stupid things to do.
Sleep is very important and with working stable work hours and shifts these days at my current job at Burberry where the earliest I start is 8am one week and the latest I will ever finish is 8pm I am getting much better sleep patterns. You can see an example of one of my better nights sleep that I experience these days and since I have been tracking on Fitbit.
I have also made a compilation video for my RJ Sports You Tube Channel which you can view below. Just clips from May and June since I bought my Fitbit Flex2.
Just a bit of fun and I love looking back at footage and seeing myself improve. I have many compilations, some from training in the gym, some from football, some from Tough Mudder’s obstacles, some from boxing, running and core strength. I just love documenting my sports, fitness and training highlights and looking back years later and saying ‘that’s when was at my peak’ or ‘that was my moment’, it makes me happy and also motivates and inspires me for the future too.
Enjoy:
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