iWatch and Ultra Running Vest

I am

by Pacer2019 - 2019-12-26 00:52:34

 Not familiar with a running vest but seems self descriptive .

you said you used it a month after the surgery ....do you think it could be less a problem after more healing ?  Seems like after a month I was still pretty tender 

healing

by runpacer - 2019-12-26 02:28:35

I hope you are right. I know up until yesterday I could not let the shoulder strap of my seatbelt touch the area of the incision. Today I was able to drive without irritation or pain. So maybe I will be ok with the vest, if not now, soon. Any chance you use an iWatch?

Thanks.

Phillip

seat belt

by dwelch - 2019-12-26 04:48:49

The seatbelt is the one thing that keeps us from forgetting we have a pacer which most of the time we do.   Right after surgery some sort of pad not on the device, but say below it or above it to keep the belt from touching the device/area.  Then I have tried various things the last 32 years and a big fuzzy fake sheepskin seatbelt cover so far has been the best.  New device slide it down or up to make the bridge, once healed can put it over the device to pad it from the belt.

Anything pack related, backpacks, even heavy jackets/coats, that put weight on the device will have some level of discomfort, similar to the seat belt.  And likewise a pad of some sort may be the solution.

I do not have an apple phone much less an iWatch, there is endless discussion as to whether these things work for pacer patients, depends on the heart rate monitor and how it works as to whether our device confuses its results.  Like 10 years ago perhaps I bought a watch with a heart rate monitor, it pretty much never worked. The finger cuff things like you have at the hospital that use a light rather than electrical signals, about $10 on amazon, seems to work great.  My treadmill monitor seems to work just fine as well.  So I expect your success to vary.  And if one person here has an iWatch that works doesnt mean everyones will work our conditions are different our pacer settings are different and how that affects these monitors can vary.  Good luck with that though.

I think

by Pacer2019 - 2019-12-26 14:03:24

It will improve with time . I play a racquet sport and was convinced I needed a padded shirt in case I got hit. Now I don't even think about and didn't buy a shirt.  I did find one made for shooters to pad against recoil from a gun! 

i do not have an apple 5 but have considered it . I use a Garmin Forerunner 35 ... no EKG but gps for running and it tracks heart rate. It creates a chart of pace and heart rate change that you can over lay - I have used to to see if when my pace slows if my heart rate does the same. 
 

Apple Watch

by nhorner10 - 2019-12-26 15:24:48

I've had an apple watch for about 6 months now - no interference with the PM at all. I'd definitely recommend it if using it for workouts/etc is the main purpose or if you're just interested in getting smart watch. However, if you're getting it primarily for the heart monitor/EKG/fall detector functions, I might hold off. I talked with the cardiologist about it at my last appointment and he told me those features were better than nothing, but they're maybe not all that reliable or accurate. There was about a week I had both the watch and a real monitor and numbers were defintiely a bit off on the watch. I kept getting an alert when I was sleeping that my heart rate was dropping into the low 30s but the lowest the monitor recorded was 40bpm.  Additionally, I've passed out 2-3 times while wearing the watch and it didn't trigger the fall detector so I think that's worth noting too. I only have my experiences to go on but I hope this helps!

Yes

by Pacer2019 - 2019-12-26 20:53:10

I think a watch is good to identify trends but not real specific.

i bought one of those Kardia Mobile devices .... they are FDA approved and said to produce a reliable medical grade EKG.  Seems like a really good thing if you are dealing withAfib.

Im pretty happy with my Garmin and it's capability for now 

Kardia Mobile

by AgentX86 - 2019-12-26 23:13:03

Note that the Kardia Mobile will only detect Afib.  Any other arhythmia it registers as "possible Afib". if you have other issues, it's best to buy the newer, upgraded, six-lead Kardia Mobile (the original only shows a single lead EKG).  It's about $50 more ($150) but gives a lot more information.  You'll have to learn how to read an EKG but it's not all that hard.  There are many sites on the web that'll explain everything you need to know.  More importantly, you'll have a good EKG that you can send your EP. Kardia will also have a tech read your EKG, for a price ($9 each, IIRC).

Kardia detects more.

by PacedNRunning - 2019-12-31 19:54:53

Kardia detects bradycardia and tachycardia now. Use to not. The 6 lead is not worth it. I have all 3 of their devices and the 6 lead isn't worth the extra $$$

watches and running vests

by Tracey_E - 2020-01-03 16:35:56

I tried on vests in a running store to find one that was a good fit for me. The pacer wasn't an issue, my challenge was finding one that fits someone who is not small chested. Just mess around with them in the store and see what feels best. I walked out of REI with nothing because the guy helping me didnt' know much about them and when I put them on none felt right. Next I went to a running store and the woman helping me was built similarly and is also a runner. I ended up with a pack I'd tried on and rejected before, it's all about the adjustments on the straps. Ultimate Direction is the brand. 

I have had an apple watch for a bit over a year, love it, works great and no issues with the pacer. The heart rate function is very accurate. I'm more interested in my rate while running so haven't paid much attention to the ecg function.  I got the one with cellular so I don't always take my phone running with me now.  I can make calls, call 911, use Strava and play music all from the watch. 

Response

by runpacer - 2020-01-03 17:29:47

Tracy, hi!

i have two or three ultimate direction vests. Maybe in February I will try wearing one again on a test basis. The last time was, at the very least, too soon after surgery. 
I went ahead and purchased an Apple Watch with cellular. It's been a pleasant surprise filled with discovery since purchase last week. I can't imagine running with my phone again unless I want to take pictures. Now that I think of it I'm not sure if I have much of a need for the vest. It can hold my keys. My distance daily is about a 10k so I don't need to carry water or the 11pro max. I haven't listened to music or news with my watch. I assume I will need to buy ear pods. 
I hope your day is as beautiful as the one I'm enjoying on the Promenade in Santa Monica. 
 

running

by Tracey_E - 2020-01-03 21:26:20

It can take a few months for all of the residual soreness to go away. I bet your vests will be fine. 

I mostly use the vest for water. I'm in south FL, summers are brutal so I do water in the bladder, Nuun in one of the bottles for anything over 6 in the heat. I think women have it better with running clothes than men. My favorite leggings have a pocket in the back of the waist for my phone, the sides will hold fuel and my car fob so all I need the vest for is water. 

It's astounding how much the watch can do!!!! I had no idea until I started playing with it. All I really wanted was to be able to play my music and see texts without taking my phone out of the pocket. 

You can use any bluetooth earbuds/headphones but I love the airpods. Great sound, they don't budge even on long sweaty runs, they integrate seamlessly with the watch and phone, and the charging case means you almost never have to plug it in to charge.  I got the watch last year for my birthday, got the airpods this year, so I used it a year with my old ones and was perfectly happy with them.  Set it up through the watch app on the phone. That's also where you can tell it what music you want on the watch and what you want to only have on the phone. 

My south Florida day is quite lovely also! 

Closer

by runpacer - 2020-01-03 22:48:17

I'm getting closer to purchasing air pods. I think it will guarantee that I will be stuck in the Apple universe. If there was a way to attach a file I would post a pic of the area where I live.. but... south Florida is probably nicer. 

pictures

by Tracey_E - 2020-01-04 16:32:37

You'd have to post a picture in the gallery. I just tried remote linking but it doesn't work on this rendition of the site. I'll post one from my run a few weeks ago when my daughter was home and we went to the beach. We ran together yesterday before she went back to school but we were lazy and did circles around the neighborhood. 

We both have better weather than most of the northerm hemisphere this time of  year! 

I have ipad (since the first came out), iphone (3 years), apple watch (last year) and airpods (3 months ago) so I've gradually made the switch and not interested in going back. They're popular for a reason. If you are a Costco member, keep an eye out. They occasionally run specials on the airpods. 

Search

by runpacer - 2020-01-04 18:31:43

I will search around for deals on the air pods. 

I looked at videos on Youtube evaluating the Nike Run Club app and Irunner. Today I ran on the treadmill. I ran a 5k with a nice slow 12 min per mile pace. The Nike app had it slower by over 1.5 minutes per mile. I noticed that my 7.5 mile run at the beach was reduced to about 7.1 miles. I don't know why the Nike app is so off. 

For some reason I can't get the iRunner app to work on the Apple Watch. No video demonstrated how to get the thing started.

Running apps

by Tracey_E - 2020-01-04 20:09:18

You can use the Apple app but the gps isn't very accurate. I've tried Nike and garmin (garmin Watch before Apple watxh) but ended up liking strava best. Its gps is right on with garmin and the analytics are nice. I got my daughter the upgraded version because it has live tracking, I use the free one. It'll automatically import into Apple health and Cardiogram.