Wearable technology – what does it inspire you to buy?

Have you read Trina Watt’s blog about what would inspire her to buy a wearable? With wearables everywhere in 2016 I started to ask myself if one would inspire me to buy anything. Even though I’m a keen runner I’d never had a wearable. I was more interested in clocking up the kilometres than looking at the data about my run and I certainly wasn’t interested in information about my sleep patterns. I knew if I’d slept well when I woke in the morning. To me, running was about being in the open air, switching off from everything and not stressing about data.

As a fair-weather runner I’ve always hibernated during the English winter, only donning my training shoes around March. So, in the interest of research I bought a cheap wearable watch a few months ago to see how it would benefit me and even inspire me to buy something else. It had its work cut out as it had to inspire me enough to even get me out running in the cold and rain.

Well I confess, my wearable got me so hooked on running that this winter I’ve found myself running whatever the weather. Pressing that button to find out how many kilometres I’ve done has been so rewarding and kept me running through the winter months (along with the wonderful Parkruns). As I build distance at this time of year, I know that in a few months I’ll be using it to analyse more data to improve my speed and strength. However, the great thing with this technology is that I can use it as and when I want, I’m not tied into it.

So whilst I love my wearable, has it inspired me to buy anything else? Well yes in a roundabout way. By inspiring me to do more of my chosen sport it has inspired me to buy more running gear and I’m sure this year I’ll be adding more wearables to my collection so long as I benefit from them. But for now, I’d be interested to know if there’s a wearable that would get me out to do the gardening during winter!