Best way to monitor cooldown after a run

[Fb2022]

I have a Charge 5 and just got it about 2 weeks ago. After a run I would also like to record my cooldown as a separate exercise so I can study it later.

The best that I can do is to start a new exercise and do a slow walk. While this is OK, i am also interested in tracking my cooldown after a run while just sitting there.

How do I approach this? If I start an exercise and just sit there it does not seem to record anything.

Thanks

[Julia_G · Accepted solution]

Hi, @Fb2022 , that is an excellent question, and I wanted something quite similar.  I would say that there are two approaches.

In the first place, you could delay ending your exercise already tracked for a couple of minutes and then you can see your whole activity with your cool down as part of it.  When you are comfortable that the cool down is completed, then just end your activity,

Your second option, if you want, as you mentioned, to have “cool down” you can create a “custom activity”.

A custom activity can only be created in the web based platform, and this does sound like a faff, but bear with me - once created on the web it will be available to you in the app…

So, the first step is to create the activity.  While you are logged on here in the Community, you have a link to your web based platform at the top of every page on the right hand side.  At the top of the page click “Dashboard”.  That takes you to your web account.  There, also at the top, click Log and then Activity.

On the activity page scroll to the very bottom and on the right you will see create custom activity.  Choose that, and in the box type “cool down” and save.  

Next time you go for a run, start your run as part of the Exercise Shortcuts as normal, and end your exercise as normal.  Immediately after ending your Run on your Charge 5, start a new “Workout” activity.  Keep your “Workout” going as long as you want - presumably until you are clear that the cool down period has finished.  When you are satisfied, also be sure to click finish to end your “Workout” activity.

When you get home (or whenever you are ready) and you sync your Charge 5 and go to your exercise page on the app, you will find two activities.  The first will be your run, and the second will be your cool down period which will be labelled “workout”.  

On your app, click on this workout activity and depending on whether you are using iOS or Android either choose “categorise activity” or the pencil icon. On the next screen, as long as you have previously created the cool down activity you can begin typing  “cool…” in the box.  Your activity will appear for you to select.

You will then find, following this procedure, that each run activity is followed by a cool down activity, so you can see the heart rate graph, time elapsed etc (obv steps and distance not relevant).

The Fitbit activity “Workout” available as an exercise shortcut on your Charge 5 is especially designed so that you can track any activity and then rename it so that you have a good record for whatever activity you are interested in.

This is a very under used feature of Fitbit, but I recommend it all the time.  I personally use it to monitor periods of mediation and to check on my resting heart rate (I have a custom activity labelled “resting” and when I go into a period of deep breathing I start a “workout” - though it is nothing of the sort! - so I can see the effect on my HR of deep relaxation).

I know other people who use this feature to track panic attacks or other issues.

Your Fitbit is actually very flexible if you know how to use it!  (But please note: you must use the “workout” activity to take advantage of this flexibility.  None of the other tracking options will work.)

If any of this is unclear, please do post again, and I, or someone else will try to explain.  If this solves your issue, or helps, please do give me a thumbs up or choose “best answer” as that will help other users looking for similar information.

[t.parker]

@Fb2022 it depends on your cooldown. Most runners do more running to cool down just by lowering the intensity of such a run. In such a case, you would probably do best by tracking it as yet another run. This is what I do pre- and post- races, my WU and CD are separate runs. If this is a training run then I include WU and CD into that run and to separate segments I use the manual laps feature. Not ideal but does the job and you can easily see the main bit of your run in one lap. Anything else, like stretching or sitting down I don't track. That I find pointless. It's just a few minutes of barely moving body. Tracking it won't give me any useful information. Running for CD is a different story as I do cooldowns which are from 1km to 5km long. Tracking it makes sense mostly when it comes to controlling the effort and output power (it may be tempting to push harder but must not forget this is a cool down :D). It's the same story with warmups. I never track dynamic warmups (jumping jacks, dynamic stretches etc.) before the run because this data doesn't add any value to my training but I do track warmup runs (gradually increasing power, controlling cadence etc.). The actual names I update in Strava only (this serves as my main log as Fitbit doesn't provide any proper viewing/searching features anyway).