Sunday Runday
In this weekly column, Android Central Wearables Editor Michael Hicks talks about the world of wearables, apps, and fitness tech related to running and health, in his quest to get faster and more fit.
May was a terrible month for my 2025 fitness goals. I only ran 23 miles after averaging 60 my first four months. Several work trips like I/O wore me out, but I have to be honest: The biggest issues are motivation and weather. It’s getting hotter in California, and I’m months out from my New Year’s resolutions. I need a training reboot.
I suspect many of you are the same. That’s why June is the right month to retool our goals, with wearable tech to help.
The people who organized Global Running Day recognized that people need a training reboot in the summer. They encourage people of all fitness levels to run, jog, or fast-walk a few miles on the first Wednesday of June every year.
It’s a lovely concept, and I encourage people to join the fun with their local running org or shop. Many fitness watches and apps like Garmin, Apple, and Strava will reward you with digital swag. But this is just one day a year, and not everyone loves running like I do.
So I worked on a more comprehensive three-month plan to survive the summer heat and come out of the season in better shape than when I started, using my fitness watch and other tools to keep me accountable. Here’s how I recommend you do the same.
June: Focus on steps before everything else
Even though the 10,000 steps a day rule started off as a marketing gimmick, I truly got much healthier when I walked over 10,000 steps every day for a month. The exact number is arbitrary; the important part is prioritizing consistency more than intensity.
Why? Because there’s plenty of valid reasons to skip a hard workout after a workday: Tiredness, lateness, or responsibilities like cooking dinner will add up until you’ve spent a whole week slacking. But the only reason to skip a walk is lethargy. You can walk an hour whether it’s blazing hot or at night by streetlight, even if you’re worn out.
Plus, if you start doing a summer activity like golfing, pickleball, or softball, you’ll naturally get steps even if you’re not tracking a specific “activity” like a run or hike. Your smartwatch will keep you honest on how much you’ve actually moved and if you’ve burned enough calories to earn that post-match beer or dessert.
Most smartwatches have a widget or Tile showing whether you’ve hit your steps goal. My Garmin watch gives me badges for hitting 30 miles of walking or 300,000 steps per month, while a Galaxy or Apple Watch will praise you for closing your daily rings. It’s a useful way to motivate yourself.
If you don’t do anything else this June, take advantage of the late sundowns and pledge to walk for at least 8,000 steps a day.
Buy an epic fantasy audiobook or download a podcast that’ll keep your mind occupied for dozens of hours, or else use the time to call family. Planned multitasking makes it feel less like wasted time, and you’ll end up losing weight in the long run simply by staying agile.
June to July: Stay accountable with tech and people, not just money
Several watches and apps have great self-guided training tools I’d recommend. Garmin Coach and daily suggested workouts tailor runs, walks, or strength training to your ability level. A Pixel Watch will give you a target cardio load and daily run suggestions like Tempo or intervals. TrainingPeaks has well-regarded paid training plans, while brands like COROS have free training calendars.
All of them share one key problem, though: Only you can keep yourself accountable and motivated, and you wouldn’t be reading this if motivation weren’t a challenge! Trust me, I get it.
People use paid incentives like gym memberships to pressure themselves to work out, so they’re not “wasting money.” But negative motivation only goes so far before shame takes over. You can always tell yourself you’ll “go tomorrow” repeatedly when, again, only you are holding yourself accountable.
That’s what makes summer a great time for adults to reboot their goals. Unlike students who have sports clubs all year except summer, adults can typically find community activities this time of year for people looking to rekindle their love of sport and make connections.
Join a flag football league, running club, pickleball class, or any other team or community sport. You’re much less likely to flake out without a legitimate excuse because others expect you. It’s more fun than a solitary workout, so it feels less like work.
Some of these activities will continue into fall, but summer is usually when sports and training orgs recruit new members. So take the time this weekend to Google your best nearby options and get signed up for something fun before end of June. You’ll still have to work out properly other days of the week, but these community days will keep you limber and motivated.
July: Go all-in on sleep tracking
According to studies cited by BBC, people get (on average) an hour less sleep in June than in December, and 30 minutes less REM sleep. Early sunlight wakes you, the long days keep you out and active for longer, social drinking worsens your sleep quality, and warmer temperatures make it hard for your body temp to drop the 2–3º necessary for unimpeded sleep.
You’ll hopefully spend June getting steps and joining team sports that tire you out for better sleep. But if you’re spending evenings working out, it’s easy to fall into revenge bedtime procrastination (RBP). You stay up to stream shows, game, or scroll social media feeds, even though it makes you miserable the next day, because you feel you deserve to unwind.
Now that you’ve established good daytime workout habits, use July to keep yourself accountable with better and more consistent sleep.
For this, I’d recommend a smart ring since they’re more comfortable for sleep tracking than a smartwatch, as well as more specialized. My Ultrahuman Ring Air notes stats like HR drop, skin temperature, time in sleep stages, restlessness, and duration.
Of course, many fitness smartwatches track the same stats, if you’d rather not buy two separate devices. What’s important is using tools like Garmin Body Battery, Fitbit Daily Readiness, Samsung Energy Score, and so on to keep yourself accountable.
I interviewed Google’s clinical sleep lead earlier this year, and he warned that people are “terrible estimators” of their own tiredness and can function with a “severe amount of sleep impairment that you’re not even fully cognizant of.” It’s so easy to build bad sleep habits in summer and wear yourself out, so use July to fix those habits.
July to August: Give yourself some deload weeks
As my gym-nerd partner always tells me, even the most dedicated athletes pushing for serious gains need the occasional deload week so they can regain their energy and reach greater heights.
If you’ve managed to fill the first half of summer with constant walks, games, and early bedtimes, you’re either going to make working out your entire lifestyle and personality, or you’re going to burn out and fall back to normal.
That’s why, as the awful summer heat sticks around, let yourself off the hook and aim for fewer (but harder) workouts through August. Build off of your summer training foundation to push for new PRs, but take more rest days in-between. Then, when September arrives, set yourself a new three-month training regimen and ride a new wave of enthusiasm.
Hopefully, by the end of August, you’ll have established better habits and found the fitness smartwatch tools to keep you motivated through the rest of the year.
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