Watchletic app with an Apple Watch
This page describes how to configure the Watchletic app on an Apple Watch.
Watchletic is ‘the most connected Apple Watch app for runners’.
Why would you use Watchletic rather than the Stryd Workout app? From the Watchletic website:
- You can train using a wider range of workout target types – power, pace, HR, RPE etc.
- You can use a broader range of external services for planning and reviewing – TrainingPeaks, Final Surge, Intervals.icu and many others, while still uploading to Stryd PowerCenter (import of planned workouts is a premium feature)
- Watchletic uses your Stryd footpod as the source for power, pace, distance, vertical oscillation, ground contact time and stride length
- Your completed workouts contain all of Stryd’s additional metrics – form power, air power, impact loading rate, leg spring stiffness etc.
- You can still use Stryd Duo and Footpath sync to collect Duo metrics via Stryd Mobile – which communicates directly with your footpod
Initial Setup
Once you’ve received your footpod, follow the setup instructions in the box.
The Apple Watch setup instructions are also on the Stryd website.
Once you’ve finished setting up your footpod, you should have:
- created a login to Stryd PowerCenter
- installed the Stryd mobile app on your phone (and paired your footpod to the mobile app)
- paired your Stryd to your mobile phone
- installed the Stryd Workout app on your Apple Watch
As a final step:
- install Watchletic on your iPhone and Apple Watch
- connect Stryd as an external sensor
- connect it to your external services (import of planned workouts is a premium feature)
Settings that apply to every watch / power meter
Based on the experience of hundreds of runners who’ve used power, there are some watch / power meter settings that every runner wishes they’d understood or configured when getting started. These are detailed on the Settings & Configs page.
Because these instructions are quite detailed, the following sections are collapsed – please expand the sections you’d like to know more about.
Height & Weight: ‘set it and forget it’
As explained in Settings & Configs, it’s important to ‘set and forget’ your height and weight.
Instructions for setting your height and weight are on the Stryd website.
Height and Weight are entered in the Stryd mobile app (for iOS or Android) and stored in the Stryd footpod.
Auto-lap: the app doesn’t offer auto-lap
As explained in Settings & Configs, it’s important to disable auto-lap when running intervals using a structured workout.
Watchletic doesn’t offer auto-lap – in effect, it’s already disabled.
Auto-pause: Disable auto-pause; never manually pause
As explained in Settings & Configs, it’s important to disable auto-pause, and never manually pause when Running with Power.
Auto-pause is enabled/disabled using the Watchletic mobile app > Settings > Pausing.
Auto-calibrate: the app doesn’t offer auto-calibration
As explained in Settings & Configs, it’s important to disable auto-calibration if you want to track changes in your Running Effectiveness changes..
Watchletic doesn’t offer auto-calibrate – in effect, it’s already disabled.
Recording frequency: the app always records ‘every second’
As explained in Settings & Configs, it’s important to choose ‘every second recording’ so that power averages (used for your metrics) are calculated correctly.
Watchletic always records ‘every second’.
Power averaging: for ‘current power’ use 3s smoothed; for ‘keep-to-target’ use lap (or step) average
As explained in Settings & Configs, real-time power is ‘spiky’ – you may prefer your power numbers to be averages:
- for ‘current’ power, use smoothed power matched to the lap duration (3-second or 10-second)
- for ‘keep-to-target’ power, use lap power or step power.
Watchletic offers real-time, smoothed and lap power. You can choose which power averages to see using the Watchletic mobile app > Layouts.
Choose (or create) a layout, choose a metric position, then choose a power average using the Power> menu item.
Power units: I prefer ‘percentage of Threshold Power’, but see what you prefer
As explained in Settings & Configs, it may be possible to display your power targets and actuals as Watts, Watts/kg or percentage of Threshold Power (depending on the power units available in the app you’re using).
Watchletic offers Watts or Percentage of Threshold (CP). You can choose which power units to see using the Watchletic mobile app > Layouts.
Choose (or create) a layout, choose a metric position, then choose a power average using the Power> menu item. For each, you can choose to see the metric as Watts, or ‘as a % of CP’.
Displaying Pace & HR: I prefer not to show pace or HR; some activities (in the book) suggest you show power, pace and HR on your watch
As explained in Settings & Configs, some of the activities in the book ask you to display power, pace and HR on your watch so that you can keep track of changes in those metrics as you begin to experience running with power.
To do this, ensure you choose a screen containing at least 3 fields, with 3s (smoothed) power, pace and heart rate included.
Moving to the next lap: press both side buttons together; or enable the ‘circular next button’.
As explained in Settings & Configs, it’s worth familiarising yourself with the way to move to the next lap before you find that you want to do it but don’t know how.
You can press both side buttons together to move to the next lap.
Or, enable the circular next button using the Watchletic mobile app > Settings > General > Show circular next lap button. This will add a circular button to the centre of your touch-screen.
Settings specific to the Watchletic app
These settings are specific to using the Watchletic app on an Apple Watch.
Pace and Distance from Stryd: Rather than relying on GPS accuracy/signal reception
Stryd’s Pace and Distance calculations do not rely on GPS, which can be useful if you regularly run routes with a poor GPS signal.
In addition, Stryd’s Pace and Distance numbers are often more accurate than calculating pace and distance using GPS.
The Watchletic app always uses Pace and Distance from the Stryd footpod (if connected).
Adjusting what’s displayed on your watch
The Watchletic App allows users to customise which metrics are displayed during activities – customisation uses the Watchletic mobile app > Layouts.
I’ve found it most useful to use a 1+2 layout. This allows me to see lap time/distance, lap and 3s (smoothed) power.
Running workouts using the Watchletic app
Planning: Training plans; building your own workouts
You can purchase training plans via Stryd, TrainingPeaks, Final Surge or any of the other external services that Watchletic can connect to.
Or you can build your own workouts using an external service (you may need to use the paid / subscription version in some cases), or using the Watchletic mobile app > Workouts (at the bottom of the main screen, look for the running man).
Downloading: The app downloads from your external service(s).
Planned workouts are downloaded from your connected service(s) to the Watchletic app, and shown in the Watchletic screen (at the bottom-left of the main screen, look for a calendar icon).
From there, they are synced to the Watchletic app on your Apple Watch.
Executing: Pick a scheduled workout; or choose the ‘run’ workout type for an open run.
Planned workouts are downloaded to your Apple Watch from the Watchletic mobile app. Open Watchletic on your Apple Watch, and choose Scheduled Workouts.
If you’re not using scheduled workouts, or you don’t have a workout planned for that day, you can do an ‘open run’ by choosing the picture of a runner.
Uploading: All non-Duo Stryd metrics are uploaded automatically to Apple Health and your external service(s); Duo metrics need a Footpath sync
Completed workouts are uploaded to Apple Health by the Watchletic app. Detailed (second-by-second) workout files are also uploaded to your external services(s), ready for reviewing.
All non-Duo Stryd metrics are recorded and uploaded in your workout files. You don’t need to ‘offline sync’ using the Stryd Mobile app.
If you use Stryd Duo, you’ll need to use Footpath sync in the Stryd Mobile app to transfer balance data to Stryd PowerCenter.
If you have feedback or a question, please let me know in the from1runner2another Facebook group.
Updated: