Six weeks ago, I was having a hard time maintaining my running routines and goals. Physically, he was mostly fine. Mentally, the thought of running, a sport I generally love, made me roll up in a blanket burrito and never get out of bed. I started hating myself, but none of my usual apps and fitness trackers were helping me. After racking up a week-long streak, I couldn't muster the energy to get out of bed on a Saturday. I broke it off and spent the next day wallowing in guilt and self-pity.
Fed up, I searched the Internet and ended up downloading the Smoother streak application.
Gentler Streak is what it seems. It is an app for iOS and Apple Watch with a more compassionate approach towards creating a fitness habit. You can set an activity status: active, resting, sick and injured. Selecting one of the last three will not break your streak. Instead, your activity is represented in an “activity path,” which is a visualization of your overall training load. There are educational readings on nutrition, exercise, rest, and the interaction between the three. Every day, you open the app and it will give you a boost. If you are very well rested, you may be told to push yourself a little. If you are tired, you will be reminded that rest is actually good. And if you really don't know what to do, you can tap the “Go Gentler” button on Apple Watch to see a series of suggested exercises based on the activities you like, with recommended durations and intensity levels.
There are many things I love about all of this. First of all, I enjoy that you incorporate interruptions and “failures” into your eventual success, and don't judge you for it.
That lack of judgment is what I needed. Eleven years into my running career, I encountered the worst crisis of my life. He was stuck in a vicious cycle of falling off the horse, getting back on it, and then getting angry every time my efforts weren't perfect. A silly walking app helped me reframe my all-or-nothing mentality. The problem is that inside my brain resides an evil, hypercritical elf who will find and dwell on every little flaw while he downplays all my successes. So what if a fun walking app helped me get out of the house? Walking is not running. What if I run twice a week for a few weeks? You used to run four to five times a week, very easy.
I know I'm not supposed to listen to the evil goblin brain, but there are times when life rudely hands you a very powerful megaphone. Adding Gentler Streak helped quiet it down. It's not very complicated for an app to say that “taking a rest day won't affect your overall fitness.” But many don't. Seeing that phrase over and over again underscored that, against my better judgment, I had begun to combine streaks with consistency. Streaks are just a measure of consistency, and a flawed one at that. A single break, which may actually be the best option for your health, will ruin your streak, and that is perceived as a bad thing.
The only thing worse than breaking a streak is feeling indebted to it.
Nothing Gentler Streak does is new. Features that emphasize recovery abound in other fitness apps. It's more about being guided by intuition rather than data. There's a real emphasis on creating space for everything, rather than sticking to something. One teaches you to adapt; the other depends on willpower, and willpower always runs out.
The only thing worse than breaking a streak is feeling indebted to one
Follow the daily “Go Gentler” tips. Rest and active recovery (e.g. yoga, walking, low intensity activity, etc.) are always options 1 and 2. The remaining three are usually things that will help you stay where you are, push yourself a little or to try a little. batch. Actually, you don't need to think much either because the suggestions are there. On stressful days when you run out of willpower, it helps keep the evil brain sprite from waking up.
Like any app, Gentler Streaks still has its flaws, one of them being its dependence on the Apple Watch. You can use it with other trackers, but I've had trouble pulling my sleep data from the Oura Ring reliably. Another is the subscription: $7.99 per month or $27.49 for a year. I paid as features like Go Gentler Suggestions and Additional Data Insights are paywalled.
Despite these shortcomings, a gentler approach seems to work for me. Some iron-willed people may scoff. To them, I take off my cap and tell them that I envy their blessed and silent brain sprites. But I'm running faster, longer, and more fun than I have in six months. My calf is still unharmed. When I tell myself, “I'm busy today, I'll do that race tomorrow,” the race really happens. I'll take it.
