Out of step, out of time, and missing a few heartbeats!

Looking back to a post I wrote in February 2020, reminded me about the recent failure of my Smart Watch. The same watch that I’ve been using, since that article, on a daily basis to record my movements and track my fitness goals.  So, what happened, and what has failed? Mrs PBT’s and I had a lie in yesterday (Friday). For me, the day marks the beginning of three days of R &R, because whilst my 3-day work week ends on Wednesdays, I have to get up reasonably early, in order to take the lady of he house to her workplace. That place happens to be a scaffolding company, based on a nearby farm. Her one day a week work routine, is something of a token gesture, and before I’m accused of being patronising, she’d be the first to agree with me.

She would also admit that her part time job gets her out of the house, stops her going completely stir-crazy, whilst allowing her to reconnect with the outside world, even if it is just for one day. The 9.30am start still means a lie in for us both, and for me departing the house at 9.15am, is definitely more preferable than leaving the house at 7.45am, in time for an 8am start at my own place of employment.

Back to the narrative. After arising shortly before 9am yesterday, I made my way downstairs, as usual, to make us both a cup of tea. Returning back to the bedroom, with said refreshing and stimulating liquid, I glanced at my watch and was mildly surprised to notice that my step count was precisely zero. Perhaps, like me, my Garmin Forerunner 45 was taking time to get going, so I thought little of it, apart from placing the timepiece on charge, because the battery indicator was advising a recharge was necessary.

After a fairly hectic schedule the day before, I didn’t have a lot planned, apart from catching up with this blog, and sorting things out for our forthcoming cruise. The weather was dull and overcast, but I was still looking forward to a walk, after breakfast. When I fastened the watch back around my wrist, the step count was still showing zero, even though the power indicator was showing the unit was fully charged. That was when the “fun” started.

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not the most tech-savvy of people, and I will also say that smartwatches aren’t the easiest of devices to programme or adjust. There are five buttons, located around the periphery of the watch casing, and whilst one is just a light, the others allow access to a number of other functions that allow the user to scroll up and down. They have to be pressed in the correct order, sometimes holding one down whilst pressing another. This isn’t exactly intuitive, and there have been past occasions where I have ended up accessing the completely wrong part of the built-in programme, and I think this is what happened when I attempted to re-engage the step-counter.

Unfortunately, rather than re-connecting the step counter, I ended up by disengaging the heart-rate monitor, so I now have a smartwatch where two of the most important functions don’t work. Not smart at all, and despite various online guides and You Tube videos, I have not been able to rectify the matter. Mrs PBT’s had already told me to stop obsessing about the issue, saying that it’s just a watch, and to a certain extent it is. However, both functions, although more so the step counter, form part of my daily routine, giving me something to aim at each day, as I head off on a walk, or make a decision to leave the car at home and go on foot instead.

The ultimate solution, of course, would be a factory re-set, but as I don't know how to do that, I shall leave things until Monday, and consult one of my work colleagues. The person in question, is not only very tech savvy, he’s also a smartwatch user as well – a Garmin model too, albeit a higher spec model than my own. He’s a keen cyclist too, and uses his watch to record his various cycle rides, so if he can’t help me, then I don’t know who can.

First world problems, of course, but still a very real one, and for someone determined to remain fit well into the next decade, a rather important one as well.