My Walking + Running Data on iOS 8

Since upgrading to iOS 8, I have been tracking my running data using Apple's Health app.  With my old iPhone 5 running iOS8, I had been manually entering my run distances--I know that I could pair the Health app with a variety of running apps to have the data tracked automatically, but I stopped using them because they exert a heavy toll on battery life (see my post on running apps for more).  After upgrading to my iPhone 6 Plus, I have enabled Fitness Tracking (Settings > Privacy > Motion & Fitness) and feel that my running distances are tracked fairly accurately with the motion sensors that consume far less energy than GPS.  Here's what my Walking + Running dashboard looks like:

Note the spike in activity during the March 28 to April 3 timeframe--that's when I went on a cruise (see this blog post for more) and ran on the ship's treadmill 1-2 times/day.  Speaking of treadmills, despite turning on the iPhone Fitness Tracking option, I still have to manually input my treadmill run distances because I don't carry my phone in my hands when I run on treadmills, so my phone is not able to estimate run distances.  Even if I did hold my phone while running on the treadmill, I wonder how accurate the data would be--perhaps I'll experiment with that scenario and blog about it later.

One thing I wish the Health app would do is to somehow differentiate between walking and running distances rather than merging them into a single "Walking + Running" distance.  I can understand why Apple did this for technical simplicity, but I personally don't consider my daily walking distances to count as exercise--rather, that is simply a byproduct of being alive (for me personally--I know that many people walk for exercise as well which is great).  Running, on the other hand, is what I prefer to track separately because I do it with the intent of improving fitness.

In any case, I am not really sure what I will do with this data in the future, but I expect that someone will write a cool app using HealthKit that will leverage personal health data to present insightful analytics and/or personalized recommendations to improve health and well-being.  Oh developer, where art thou?

Carnival Cruise Revelations and Factoids

Given that the theme of this blog is about my digital lifestyle, today's post could be considered antithetical to the purpose of the blog.  Nevertheless, I'd like to share some revelations and factoids from a 1-week Mexican Riviera cruise that I took last week.

• Caffeine Cleansing. While on board, the food, water, and juice was part of the all-inclusive fee, but there were extra charges for sodas so I remained soda-abstinent for a full week.  While the offered free coffee, I typically don't drink much coffee so I avoided that too. I thought that after going a full week without any caffeine, I might begin to feel some symptoms of withdrawal or perhaps even a sense of elation, but I simply felt no different.
• Internet Cleansing. I rarely unplug completely from work and social media, but when I saw the rates that Carnival was charging for satellite internet, I decided to forego connections to the rest of the world. Going a full week without internet access was not as hard as I thought it would be, especially with the fee schedule below.

• Cellular Cleansing.  There are no cellular towers out at sea, so communication can be difficult without cell phones, especially with large parties (we had 14 in our group).  Walkie talkies would have come in handy aboard the cruise ship.
• Body Cleansing. Given that I shared a room with 3 other people, there was competition for bathroom time which forced me to look for alternatives.  To my surprise, I discovered that the showers in the gym were better than the ones in our personal cabin.  The gym showers were equipped with rain shower heads and 4 additional shower heads on the side (not that I needed them), and there was much more space to dress.
• Wallet Cleansing.  I was not too surprised to encounter sneaky hidden fees—for example, the waiters asked if we would like sparkling water or bottled water, but they did not mention the option to drink regular ice water which was free.  After being charged $5 for 1 liter of bottled water during my first meal, I learned to ask for regular ice water.

Do you have any questions for me about my Carnival cruise experience?  Let me know by posting a comment and I'll do my best to reply.