counting my commutes around town

SparkPoints: (5,373)
Fitness Minutes: (7,612)
Posts: 47
9/30/12 5:39 A

Thanks for the input everyone!

I agree with you Unident, normally I don't count my biking around town but there are definitely days where I have to book it all over town and its those days that I'd like to track since I do break a sweat and feel like I'm exerting myself.

So I guess for those days I'll just keep estimating!

current weight: 154.0

172 167 162 157

152

SparkPoints: (33,983)
Fitness Minutes: (67,111)
Posts: 3,628
9/29/12 5:22 P

Of course, it depends on how you have things set up. If you have a active life style setting because you bike to work, etc, then it is included, if you are inactive then this is not taken into consideration. The idea is to know what you are wanting to track and why, and is it already counted in your initial setting.

current weight: 160.0

244 220.5 197 173.5

150

Posts: 31
9/29/12 3:14 P

I commute to and from work by bike and had the same issue. Its over 35 minutes both ways. I also run errands with my bike.

For my commute, I started with a bike computer to figure total time and average speed. That can be used with calculators on the web for an estimate. I also used a mapping tool. That gave similar results. Still, I was concerned I was not in my target heart rate range so I got a heart rate monitor. I found out two things, I was in my target heart rate range and I was burning about 20% more calories than I had been estimating.

For other errands, I don't usually count them. They are usually too short and I don't want to break too much of a sweat. If this is the case for what you are doing, I wouldn't count it.

current weight: 199.6

220 200 180 160

140

SparkPoints: (13,339)
Fitness Minutes: (20,043)
Posts: 865
9/29/12 2:32 P

Actually, to be honest, I'd go with Unident on this one :)

Posts: 33,295
9/29/12 2:31 P

I wouldn't bother tracking it at all.

It's like students who want to track walking between classes at the university. Well no, that's really just "day to day activity". This isn't exercise. This isn't challenging you cardio-wise. It isn't sustained. It isn't continuous.

Consider tracking only "exercise". There is already a calorie amount built in for day to day activities and minor moving about and this will double-count if you track it. It is more likely to sabotage your efforts than help.

SparkPoints: (13,339)
Fitness Minutes: (20,043)
Posts: 865
9/29/12 1:54 P

Without wearing a heart rate monitor or having a computer on your bike (although if you have a fancy phone, you can easily get an app like SportsTracker or something that will track your speed and calories as well as route), the best I think you can do is this:

Go to gmaps.pedometer.com or something similar.
Track something you do a lot, like your commute to work, and get the exact distance.
Estimate (better yet, time) how long it takes you to bike your route. With that, you can calculate the average speed thusly:

Speed (per hour) = 60 ÷ (minutes of your ride) x (ride distance)

Once you do that, you can track them as cycling in SP. I know it's not exact, and that your actual uninterrupted cycling speed will be faster, but I've found with heart rate monitors and calculations that it works out to be almost the same if I use less time with higher speed, versus adding a few minutes at slower speed.

Hope that helps! I hope I didn't just nerd out too hard, either. :)

SparkPoints: (33,983)
Fitness Minutes: (67,111)
Posts: 3,628
9/29/12 11:08 A

I would just use a rough average. You are only getting an estimate and it will not make a great deal of difference to the accuracy. You may get some responses about cardio expecting you to elevate your heart rate and keep it elevated for 10 minutes as being an important requirement ofr cardio, but you can use a bit of common sense to make adjustments to your estimate.

current weight: 160.0

244 220.5 197 173.5

150

SparkPoints: (5,373)
Fitness Minutes: (7,612)
Posts: 47
9/29/12 10:57 A

I bike around town instead of driving to get to work or to run errands. Many days this commuting time on my bike can add up to over 30 minutes of pedaling. I'm having a hard time figuring out how to track this activity as an exercise as my speed varies depending on traffic and there are many stops and starts with all the traffic lights I stop at. Tracking each leg of my commutes seems pretty tedious too.

Any advice?

Thanks in advance!

current weight: 154.0

172 167 162 157

152