Not tracking when skating in a building (roller rink)

[SunsetRunner]

I've been skating in a roller rink pretty regularly, and I'm curious about how many miles I'm skating when I'm there. The roller rink is in a big, metal, industrial building, so I'm guessing GPS is blocked. And my FitBit doesn't seem to be recording steps or distance, because when I've tried having it record exercise it says I've only skated 0.17 mi. Over two hours and with as many laps as I do, that can't be right. 

One problem might be that I put my Fitbit in my pocket, because it doesn't fit under my wrist guard protectors... But wondering if folks have any idea how I can get it to track when I'm skating inside? Thanks.

[Odyssey13]

Hi @SunsetRunner  you might want to consider getting a band extender to wear your Inspire 2 on your ankle. I know they sell them on Amazon and they might be available elsewhere, too.

[SunsetRunner]

Thanks for the idea. Though with wearing my skates, it's still not going to be on my ankle. Closer to my calf. But maybe that would be good enough? 

[Odyssey13]

Hmmm, as long as it's on a part of your body that actively moves, it ought to work. I'm not sure how you'd attach the band on your calf securely, but you should experiment a bit with it. Looking at my Inspire 3, I can see how using a good string, it might work.. Good to play around with it before investing in the extender, which might not be large enough for the calf area.

[SunsetRunner]

Might see if I can find something that would fit my bicep. That might work better. But, yeah. It's definitely not really picking up movement when I'm in that building. I do *a lot* of moving in there... 🙂 I get that GPS would be blocked in a big metal building. But I thought Fitbit had other ways of recording the data too...

[LZeeW]

@SunsetRunner   If you can't use GPS, Fitbit will use a steps x stride length = distance to calculate distance.  This equation just won't work while skating.  I'm sorry, but there is no workaround to measure your skating distance.  

[SunsetRunner]

Why wouldn't it work? You're still striding while skating...

[LZeeW]

@SunsetRunner   Fitbit uses your walking stride length for all steps, unless you are using the Run shortcut on the Exercise app.  Your skating stride is variable and is longer than a running stride length.  I use a Sense 2 and it includes a Rollerblading shortcut.  But the distance isn't accurate unless you use GPS.