I just purchased the new Forerunner 235. It is great at tracking steps, whether running or walking around during the course of the day. But I would really like to see an option to have the running steps excluded from the daily steps goal total (or at least reported separately). For people like me who run a highly variable number of miles each day (0-26.2), I do not want these steps to blow my daily goal out of the water (or on my rest day have it tell me I did miserably). I would imagine my regular daily steps outside of running would be much less variable. It is these I would like to compare to a daily set goal. I recently read that leading a sedentary lifestyle, even for people who run a lot, is very bad for you. In order to motivate myself to take more daily steps, I need to see them tracked separately against my set goal. I do like that at least there is the option to set a manual steps goal, but this still doesn't solve the issue. I would imagine this request would apply broadly to a lot of runners out there. I am optimistic that it won't be too difficult to implement and that it will help many with their walking outside of running. :-)
On Garmin Connect in the Steps section, it shows a summary for each day.
If you click on the Activities tab it gives a breakdown of steps in your timed activities and what you seem want - "Daily Steps" which is just from the activity tracker.
Don't really understand your concerns though. Be interested to read the article where you can lead a "sedentary lifestyle" but run a lot. Was it on the Internet?
For instance, yesterday I ran for just over 20 miles and covered 29.098 steps in the run. I "only" managed 707 other steps. Be interested to know how much walking about I might also need to have done to avoid being "sedentary"?
On Garmin Connect in the Steps section, it shows a summary for each day.
If you click on the Activities tab it gives a breakdown of steps in your timed activities and what you seem want - "Daily Steps" which is just from the activity tracker.
Don't really understand your concerns though. Be interested to read the article where you can lead a "sedentary lifestyle" but run a lot. Was it on the Internet?
For instance, yesterday I ran for just over 20 miles and covered 29.098 steps in the run. I "only" managed 707 other steps. Be interested to know how much walking about I might also need to have done to avoid being "sedentary"?
The idea is that if you take an entire day view of your activities then you might think you've been active, but actually you might have had an intense 1hr workout followed by the other 13 hours of your day sitting in a chair. The argument there is that you've really only been marginally more active vs. a person who did nothing all day.
I'd have to say though - if you'd run 20 miles in a day that's probably not in the same category. I doubt I'd manage ANY more steps the rest of the day after that!
GailNestor - I don't have my 235 yet, but as I understand it there is an option to remind you to move if you've been inactive for a period of time. Wouldn't that be more useful than setting a separate steps goal?
On Garmin Connect in the Steps section, it shows a summary for each day.
If you click on the Activities tab it gives a breakdown of steps in your timed activities and what you seem want - "Daily Steps" which is just from the activity tracker.
Don't really understand your concerns though. Be interested to read the article where you can lead a "sedentary lifestyle" but run a lot. Was it on the Internet?
For instance, yesterday I ran for just over 20 miles and covered 29.098 steps in the run. I "only" managed 707 other steps. Be interested to know how much walking about I might also need to have done to avoid being "sedentary"?
As for the Activities tab, do mean on the GC phone app or on the PC? If I click Activities on the PC, it gives me a list of my runs. If I click on a run, I do not see a step count. If I click the Activity Stats on the phone app, I can click Steps. Then if I click a single day, it shows that I ran 27,669 steps. It does not break down the steps into running (activity) vs. just the steps I take in walking around the house and to the store, etc. I would like to isolate and track just this second group of steps toward a goal.
It's great that it tells me to move when I'm sedentary for an hour, but I think I sit far too long. Having running steps count toward my steps goal defeats what I am trying to achieve. I hope this makes more sense.
Ah, I did find where you were trying to point me! On GC on the PC, you have to first click the Steps tab. Then scroll down to Activities. I like to have that information, at least. Is there a place where you can also look it up on the phone app? I can't find that one. Mainly, I just wish that I could see only Daily Steps on my watch face. Looks like I walked 4,349 today. Not terrible. I'd like to walk at least 5,000 a day. Maybe someone will come up with an app or widget that will track these Daily Miles against a daily goal. :-)
I finally understand what you were asking for on the CIQ forum.
short answer is no. There is no separation from the SDK / Garmin provides.
so it's one big fat step volume
What does SDK stand for? This information is definitely broken out by Garmin, at least on the PC, if not on the phone app or the watch itself.
If you go to Garmin Connect, click the three parallel bars, select Steps, and then scroll down the page, you will see more tabs. Choose Activities to see any timed activities listed separately, followed by a line item called Daily Steps. Beside the Daily Steps there is a ? which, if you hover over it, it reads: "Daily Steps includes all the information from your activity tracker except your timed activities which are listed separately."
My timed activity, a 14-mile run, shows 23,320 steps - way past any reasonable step goal on a non-running day. My Daily Steps shows 4,881 - a little less than I would like. This is the number that I want to track and improve, especially after reading the following article: http://www.runnersworld.com/health/sitting-is-the-new-smoking-even-for-runners.
I keep trying to respond, but my messages seem to be waiting for approval. If you go to Garmin Connect on a PC, then click the three parallel bars, and then click Steps, you can scroll down to where there is an Activities tab. This is different than the Activities tab off the main menu options where it shows timed activities.
On this second Activities tab within the Steps page, you can see the number of steps from any timed running activities (my 14-miler showed 23,320 steps). Below that, it lists the Daily Steps. Hovering over the question mark beside the Daily Steps will tell you: "Daily Steps includes all the information from your activity tracker except your timed activities which are tracked separately." My Daily Steps total for yesterday was 4,881. Those were the steps I took just walking around the house and at the store. This Daily Steps number is the one I would like to have measured against a daily goal.
As a follow-up to this post, I called Garmin support and the agent gave me a workaround I'll pass along. It's not perfect, but it does help.
Right before I go for a run, I go into the watch's Menu/Settings/Activity Tracking. I then turn the Tracking Status to Off. After the run, I have to remember to turn it back on. What this does on the Steps screen of my watch is to show only the number of non-running/Timed Activity steps (i.e. today 4,837 Daily Steps out of my manually set goal of 6,000). This is much better than it showing the 28,000 steps I ran during my 18-miler today PLUS my Daily Steps of 4,837 against my goal of 6,000 vs. tomorrow's "only" 6,000 Daily Steps which I anticipate having on my rest day if I reach my Daily Steps goal. Below the steps count on the watch, it still shows 20.2 miles (18 for the run and 2.2 so far for my Daily Steps). This is fine.
The drawback (other than having to remember to set this before and after each run) is that on my PC on the Steps page in Garmin Connect, the stats are messed up on the Activities tab. I will probably call Garmin Monday to see if I can get this fixed.
