I ice-skated an ultramarathon with my Garmin watch; here is how that went

I’m a type-two enjoyable type of man — my mates know this, and most of my colleagues do at this level, too. Which means I’m all the time searching for an exercise that appears like a problem. Whether or not which means driving a single-speed bike 100 miles to Washington, DC, or attempting to cram one other aspect quest into a visit to go path working, I’m virtually all the time in for the journey.

So, when two of my mates determined they wished to ice skate for a whole day to see how far they may go, I jumped on the probability — and I wished to see what my Garmin Fenix 8 AMOLED considered the concept. With rental skates in tow and free snacks to maintain me going, right here’s how my lengthy day of creating (virtually solely) left turns went.

Earlier than I get into the specifics of ice skating with the Garmin Fenix 8 AMOLED, I ought to most likely clarify the problem higher. Final 12 months, certainly one of my mates determined she wished to ice skate a marathon, trying to cowl 26.2 miles round a tiny rink on the Johns Hopkins College campus all through eight 90-minute periods. She not solely succeeded however crushed her objective and determined to push into ultramarathon territory, finally logging 31.8 miles for the day. I joined up for a couple of periods, largely planning to supply ethical assist however by no means figuring I’d tackle the same problem myself.

Quick ahead to this 12 months, and I virtually instantly needed to eat my phrases. Not solely did she wish to run it again for a second marathon, however one other certainly one of my closest mates wished to hitch. So, I did what any fitness-obsessed journalist would do and acquired aggressive. I made a decision that not solely did I wish to be part of the problem, however I wished to deal with the marathon sooner than she had final 12 months, which meant a bit extra decided skating and a bit much less social time on the ice.

So, I strapped on my Fenix 8 AMOLED and toggled right down to its ice-skating mode as a result of, after all, it has a type of. Truthfully, I don’t suppose I’m stunned that Garmin helps ice skating as certainly one of its many actions — it has dozens upon dozens, in any case. I’m, nevertheless, stunned at how good its skate monitoring is, supporting each indoor and outside modes and providing the identical degree of customization as should you had been going for a run. I’m not solely certain what the distinction between indoor and outside monitoring is (I’ve solely skated outside), however the customization was a lifesaver.

If you bounce right into a skate, Garmin doesn’t supply your total distance by default. I get it — most individuals aren’t on the market to log miles a lot as spend time with mates or go for a really chilly first date. I, nevertheless, wanted each my complete time and distance if I used to be to have any hope of ending a marathon at an affordable velocity. So, I jumped into Garmin’s large internet of menus, buying and selling the coronary heart charge graph for my complete time and swapping energy burned for my total distance. Then, it was time to hit the ice.

Luckily, I’ve virtually nothing to share about my precise skating time — it merely went too easily. Positive, I fell a few times (it was twice), however my physique didn’t fail me, and neither did my Fenix 8 AMOLED. It continued to impress me throughout our necessary 30-minute breaks whereas the rink supervisor took his Zamboni for laps to wash up the skating floor. Every time we hopped off the ice, I may give my watch a break with Garmin’s Resume Later perform, halting the GPS monitoring and saving valuable battery life. Additionally, with the exercise on maintain, I may faucet into different options like Garmin Pay to purchase much-needed snacks and breakfast sandwiches to maintain me going.

Earlier than I knew it — alright, after about six and a half hours on the ice — I had notched a 50k. I’d skated to the marathon distance after which shattered it, checking off practically 630 laps on a tiny little ice rink on my technique to 31 miles and alter. Better of all, I did it earlier than the beginning of the ultimate session of the day, which began at 10 pm and would have stored me on the ice till 11:30 pm, which meant that I acquired to go house early. However first, I needed to add my exercise to Strava as a result of if it’s not on Strava, it didn’t occur.

Maybe essentially the most shocking factor that occurred throughout the complete day of skating lap after lap world wide’s smallest, most momentary ice rink was after I completed my exercise: The Fenix 8 AMOLED stumbled — my first time ever seeing a Garmin have an issue of any variety. It didn’t fail me or lose my exercise, but it surely took longer to course of the quantity of information than I’d ever seen earlier than. I sat and watched as Garmin’s blue rings looped across the “Saving…” message, virtually holding my breath on the risk that it wouldn’t have the ability to course of the complete effort.

However then, after about 30 seconds of fascinated by it, my watch kicked into gear, saving my exercise and sending it to the nice Garmin Join database within the sky. I used to be lastly in a position to verify my total coronary heart charge, which stayed round 110-120 beats per minute, and my velocity, which was a pleasant, snug 5-6 miles per hour. Unsurprisingly, Garmin reported again to me that this was my longest skate — I imply, after all, it was; no one of their proper thoughts spends this a lot time on the ice greater than as soon as — however that wasn’t my favourite a part of the recap.

No, the most effective half was, with out query, trying on the map of my exercise. My Fenix 8 AMOLED stored me completely on reverse sides of the ice with every lap that I completed, which meant that when uploaded to Strava, I had the thickest orange band of a map I’d ever seen. After which, I tapped on the video replay of my effort. It’s not solely three minutes lengthy when performed at 1x velocity, but it surely offers the identical impression as a tiny atom flying round CERN’s famed particle accelerator. Then, I bumped it to 3x velocity and watched my GPS beacon fly across the map at a velocity that will make my post-Tremendous Bowl hangover really feel even worse.

The one shock remaining was how I’d really feel the subsequent day.

When you’ve ever logged an exercise on a Garmin watch — or any health watch, for that matter — you understand that restoration time is as necessary because the exercise itself. Generally, your watch will inform you that you just want fairly some time earlier than you’re prepared for one more onerous exercise, whereas different occasions, you’ll really feel such as you’re able to get again on the market after only a few hours. This time, although, I used to be ready to name Garmin a liar.

After I completed my skating ultramarathon and saved my exercise, Garmin instructed me that I wanted roughly 9 hours of relaxation. For me, 9 hours is similar suggestion that I get after an easy-to-moderate run — concerning the exercise degree I verify off every single day. So, for that to be my suggestion following practically seven hours on my ft when my decrease again and proper leg felt able to fall off, I believed my Fenix 8 AMOLED should have forgotten what we’d simply completed collectively.

Then, I awoke the subsequent day and was instantly confirmed fallacious. As a lot as I believed all the things would damage, I felt fairly good. Positive, my proper leg was drained from pushing into turns virtually all day, however I didn’t really feel practically as crippled as I had after any of my street marathons or perhaps a onerous velocity exercise. Surprisingly, Garmin’s really helpful 9 hours turned out to be spot-on. Was I about to place my skates again on and head again to the rink? Completely not; that’s what they name Stockholm Syndrome — effectively, type of — however I felt like I used to be in ok form to go for a run or a climb later within the day. I didn’t do this, however I may have.

And that concept, the “however I may have,” retains me loving the Garmin Fenix 8 AMOLED. It’s a watch that listens to my weirdest concepts and worst-thought-out plans and is completely prepared to trace them as precisely as doable. I’ve referred to as it the finest ultra-grade watch I’ve ever used previously, and it continues to shock me by proving its value many times.