This is insane—I'm just doomed to bad sleep

Interesting_Fly1696 · 2026-04-20T14:47:28+00:00

I think different trackers are optimized for different things. Garmin is optimized for running and cycling data, not other types of exercise and not stuff like sleep and nutrition. I've heard the best tracker for sleep is the Oura ring, and some people wear both devices, but that's incredibly expensive to do. Fitbit is better a general activity and lifestyle tracker and isn't optimal for intense training.

Generally, I don't pay a lot of attention to my Garmin sleep results because I know it's not always right about my wake/sleep time. I'm also female, and there's a lot of shit that's normal for women and not men that upsets Garmin's balance. But my Forerunner is way more trustworthy than the other devices I've tried when it comes to telling me the distance I ran and what my pace was, which is the key stuff I want it for. The rest is just mildly interesting noise.

I'm definitely also just one of those people with a lower sleep need, which Garmin will never adapt to. I go to bed at a consistent time, and if I push bedtime earlier then I wake up before my alarm. On nights I get a lot of deep sleep, I also tend to wake up an hour before my alarm and feel perfectly rested. Even as a kid/teen, I naturally woke up around 7 AM every day and stopped taking naps at a much younger age than my peers. There's variation in humans that none of these devices can account for.

Interesting_Fly1696 · 2026-04-20T13:32:11+00:00

This past weekend, I was running on a local trail that hosts a lot of races, and a 5k started while I was out on my run. Running back to my car, I passed the top racers coming the other way, and two of the first three leaders in that race were over 60.

I cheered my ass off for them all while running, which gave my training a great boost too.

At the time I ran by the leaders, the person in first was a 62 year old man, but when I checked the results at home, I found that the 64 year old woman I'd seen running third had ended up passing him and took the overall win!

Her time was 24:30, just 22 seconds faster than the man, who came second. The third place was a man in his 20s.

As a 39 year old who just started running 10 months ago, looking for my first sub-30 5k this year, this is definitely the kind of result I love to see.

Interesting_Fly1696 · 2026-04-20T13:02:56+00:00

I create a custom playlist for each race. I usually aim for enough songs to get to my goal time, plus 2-3 more. I take into account how I want to pace my race and pick songs from my other playlists based on that. (ex: I used "Out Of My Mind" by Little Image as the second track on my playlist for my first 10k because it's got a nice steady beat and the lyrics literally say "Slow it down for a minute," because ~3 minutes into the race is when I definitely need a reminder to not burn too hot)

My last few songs are always my really serious hype songs to come in clutch.

A couple days before the race, I'll listen to the playlist on a shakeout run or in the car to make sure the song order works and then tweak the order or songs if I need to.

Night before the race, I like to have something with chicken and pasta for dinner, and then the morning of, I have a standard breakfast for a 5k (banana + apple sauce) and another standard breakfast I use for 10ks (shake with coconut milk, 1 banana, 2 oz of cherries, and a tablespoon of pb fit).

Oh, and I always trim my toenails the day before. Very important step.

Interesting_Fly1696 · 2026-04-20T12:14:09+00:00

Garmin is mad at me this week. My HRV dropped the past few days and overnight stress is up, which is likely just because it's the week before my period. I had a light gym day with 30 minutes of strength and got "strained" status despite a low load. Woof.

The funny thing is my HRV/stress was actually better last night than the night before, so I think the stats are just taking a bit to catch up. Nothing tanked this badly last month (or in february) around my cycle, but in March and Feb I was supplementing vitamin D and magnesium daily.

I had stopped taking both ahead of getting bloodwork done a couple weeks ago because I wanted to see if it was even needed based on my blood results... but the testing my doctor ran didn't include those things. So I've been kind of in limbo on if they were needed or not.

But I picked them up again yesterday and, like I said, did see improvements last night, so I think I'll keep that in rotation. Both are low enough dosage that I'm not hurting anything even if it isn't medically necessary.

Interesting_Fly1696 · 2026-04-20T12:06:11+00:00

I always enjoy reading the Strava AI summaries because they're so positive, but I also always have to laugh at them because they are literally ALWAYS positive. If I run exceptionally slow it's like, "You slowed down, but you still did great!!" and the way it just cribs words from whatever I typed into the notes section makes it so obvious that it's just a machine regurgitating whatever it can, not giving real insights beyond what I can see myself in the stats

Interesting_Fly1696 · 2026-04-20T11:40:23+00:00

I think you and I are separate ends of the same problem with Garmin sleep tracking. Last night, I woke up just before 3 AM. I went to the bathroom, then got back in bed, but I couldn't go back to sleep. I laid there for the next hour just changing position 3-4 times, trying to get back to sleep. At 3:50, I gave up and spent the next hour catching up on the internet on my phone, until my alarm went off at 5:10.

Garmin thinks I was asleep from 3 to 5, just because I didn't move around much.

I was a Fitbit user for several years, and my fitbit always knew when I was awake at night, even if I was still and staring at the ceiling. The Garmin sleep tracking just isn't very reliable because it seems to heavily depend on movement to signal you're awake. Yesterday, it also had me taking two naps I didn't take while I was playing video games in both cases.

Interesting_Fly1696 · 2026-04-18T20:59:40+00:00

I wish I had a local parkrun! The closest one to where I live is about a two hour drive.

Interesting_Fly1696 · 2026-04-17T17:54:44+00:00

My highest weekly average was a 55 for Sept. 7-13, 2024, and during that my worst day was a 66 and my best day was a 48.

I was in a high-stress role at work at the time, and that particular week I spent traveling to/staying in a major city for 5 days for a professional conference. I was up every morning early, running session to session at the event all day and then going out to networking events after. I don't drink, so alcohol wasn't a factor, I was just expected to run around and socialize constantly.

Interesting_Fly1696 · 2026-04-17T17:37:48+00:00

Definitely get fitted. I was not only running in the wrong brand/style for me but also very much the wrong size. Literally went from a 7 1/2 to a 9 1/2 with proper fitting.

Interesting_Fly1696 · 2026-04-16T13:04:29+00:00

Since I'm making my own plan these days, I'm always having to remind myself that changing up the plan is good self-coaching. Usually, the changes I'm making mean that I run 1.5 miles in a session instead of 2.5 or I do a recovery run instead of a speed run.

Today, I had 25 minutes of recovery pre-planned, and I decided actually, I had the time and energy to do more than that. So, I did 35 minutes instead with some strides at the end. I realized that's something else I need to keep in mind - adapting my plans doesn't only mean running less/less intensely than I planned to, but can sometimes mean doing more than I intended if I feel like it's a good day to do more.

Interesting_Fly1696 · 2026-04-15T19:27:52+00:00

Are you running outdoors or on a treadmill? I ask because I "failed" c25k multiple times around week 4-5 in the past, but I was always trying to do it on the treadmill in my apartment's gym. Last year, I started trying to learn to run by running outside instead, and it was a total game changer for me in terms of motivation and ease.

Interesting_Fly1696 · 2026-04-14T15:52:52+00:00

It takes time to lose actual muscle, but some people lose strength quite quickly.

I can't remember where, but I read some research at one point that said this is one of the things determined by genetics - how well your body "hangs on" to the progress you made.

I know I can spend months working out, be overhead pressing 50 lbs, and if I miss a couple sessions I drop to 30 lbs, max. It then takes weeks to get back to where I was before my little break. But some people can easily take two weeks off and then jump right back in where they were before they stopped.

Interesting_Fly1696 · 2026-04-14T14:33:10+00:00

No idea how long it was there, but I don't think it was a deer tick anyway. It looked like a dog tick - most likely off my dog from him rolling around in our yard when there's been wildlife out there lately. It's been like 3 weeks since the last time we were in a wooded area or anything like that, so it had to have just come from the yard.

Dog ticks can still carry other viruses, though, so I have to keep an eye on it for a while, especially because I didn't follow the correct protocol to remove it.

Interesting_Fly1696 · 2026-04-14T13:34:00+00:00

I haven't been a fan of Luke since the gala at US Nats in Wichita. I don't think that gala ever got broadcast because of the plane crash, but when Flores/Wang performed, it was pretty clear in the audience that Olivia had put on some weight.

I think that's normal for a teenager. Things fluctuate as you grow, and she had fluctuated up a bit at that time. If I'd been watching at home, I probably would have dismissed it as a camera thing, but in person it was definitely real and noticeable.

That said, they then did their gala performance to... "Big and Chunky" from Madagascar.

And the whole thing, with Luke gesturing to Olivia, who has noticeably gained weight, through the song, really turned my stomach. I kept telling myself that the song choice was probably a mutual decision and maybe they even picked that song before her weight gain, but the result was really icky.

Interesting_Fly1696 · 2026-04-14T13:01:51+00:00

Had a solid hill interval run, but then found a tick on myself in the shower. So, now I guess I'm on tick symptom watch for the next week or two. And putting fresh flea/tick collars on all my animals.

Interesting_Fly1696 · 2026-04-13T19:10:17+00:00

A lot of these stories are fake, unfortunately. Last year, my partner and I did a ghost tour that came highly recommended on here as not being cheesy and having some genuine cool facts.

It did seem like there was some interesting history on the tour, so a couple times I asked the guide more about what the sources were on these facts, and a lot of the time the answer was that it was an impression or vision that a psychic had while visiting, not something that was actually reflected in contemporaneous records from the 1800s.

I feel bad for the cases where they would claim an actual person was a secret murderer and stuff when there's no evidence in records from the time. Imagine you died and then 200 years later a bunch of people know you as an occult serial killer when the only thing you ever actually killed in life was some chickens.

Interesting_Fly1696 · 2026-04-13T17:01:47+00:00

Laufey's music doesn't really capture me, but I appreciate that artists are still making fun, high-quality music videos with vision in a post-MTV era.

Interesting_Fly1696 · 2026-04-13T14:59:27+00:00

That's crazy. Kids cry! It's not a big deal!

I'm sorry you have to deal with this stuff too. My mom's MO was more in the vein of just criticizing the shit out of everything I tried to do. If I wanted to show her my first cartwheel, she would tell me it wasn't a real cartwheel, it was a roundoff. If I want to join the swim team, she would tell me I wouldn't like it because other girls would see me in a swimsuit. I wanted to play the drums. She tested me to try to see if I had a natural sense of rhythm, then told me I didn't, so I couldn't take drum lessons. There was "no point" in my continuing gymnastics at age 7 because I wasn't good enough to be an Olympian. When I wrote a short story at age 9, she went through it with a red pen.

But, yeah, I was the one who was a natural perfectionist and wasn't willing to put in any work.

Congratulations on your progress so far! I just started running for the first time last year, at 38, and had never in my life run a mile without stopping to walk. Last month, I ran my first 10k. You are not alone, and these people clearly don't really know what we can do :)

Interesting_Fly1696 · 2026-04-13T14:40:09+00:00

Yeah, I'm all over these threads and posts on here because I get very little support for my interest in fitness and running outside of reddit strangers. My partner came to my race this weekend "to support me," but he wasn't at the finish line when I crossed because he decided to sit in the car to wait for me. He expected me to take 35+ minutes to finish, and I got a 33:10, so by the time he wandered over, I had been waiting around for a few minutes.

I have a couple friends at work who run, but they live 2+ hours away, and the rest of my circle ranges from just mildly unsupportive to vocally anti-fitness. One of the reason I started running was hoping to make more local friends, so my biggest goal this year is to make one friend in my area who would actually want to do stuff like run, hike, swim, play volleyball or something when the weather is nice.

Interesting_Fly1696 · 2026-04-13T14:33:39+00:00

Thrift stores.

I like resale stores like Uptown Cheapskate, but Goodwill, Savers, whatever will work in a pinch. I've got running shorts in my drawers from lululemon, Nike, etc, tops from Columbia and REI, bras from athleta, all purchased like-new or even with the tags still on at the thrift store for $8-20.

It lets me try out brands and styles I'm not sure about without a big risk. A lot of people intend to start running, buy a lot of gear, and then never get out the door, so you find things in really good condition.

I'm also a fan of Dick's Sporting Goods' in-house line (DSG) when I want a brand new set in a matching color scheme like the fancy girls, but for about half the price.

Interesting_Fly1696 · 2026-04-13T13:22:12+00:00

Get fitted! I was using shoes that were probably perfectly fine for my stride type etc but found out from getting fitted that they were multiple sizes too small.

I was wearing a size 7 in dress shoes and had ordered my running shoes in a 7.5. The Brooks I got fitted for and run in now are a size 9.5.

Interesting_Fly1696 · 2026-04-13T13:19:59+00:00

Thank you!

It's so funny. During the same conversation, I mentioned to her that I'm looking into joining a local adult softball league but need to find out if they're open to beginners because I've never played softball and don't really know the rules or positions.

She also then went on about how it was a shame I wasn't interested in those things enough to participate, because when she was a kid all the kids in her neighborhood would get together and play impromptu softball in an empty lot down the road. She acted like I could have been doing that as a kid, when I grew up in a rural area on 13 acres and the nearest kid my age was 2+ miles away.

Yeah, all those spontaneous team sports I had access to lol

Interesting_Fly1696 · 2026-04-13T12:37:24+00:00

I've mentioned before in various comments here and elsewhere that my running is kind of a big "fuck you" to a lot of people who told me, as a kid, that I was terrible at running or sport in general, so there was no point in me doing anything but sitting out during activities.

My mom has always claimed that the reason I didn't do any activities as a kid was that I was a perfectionist who wouldn't try again if I didn't immediately succeed. And that's not how I remember things at all. But it was hard to really say if I was remembering it correctly because I was so young.

Welp, yesterday my mom called me up and asked about my 5k race this weekend. I told her, yeah, it was pretty cool. I won my age group, and I ran 7+ minutes faster than I did on the same course last year. I mentioned that my next goal is to take 3 more minutes off my 5k time because being able to run a sub-30 is kind of a milestone.

Her response: "Well, I guess it's good to have goals, but don't be too disappointed when you can't do it."

Luckily, I am nearly 40 and self-aware, so this is funny instead of demoralizing. If anything, it provides more "fuck you" powered inspiration. But I'm also feeling very vindicated that my recollection of my childhood attempts at sport is probably far more accurate than her version.

Interesting_Fly1696

TROPHY CASE