Google Really Wants You to Start Training for That Marathon. Here's Why

Sitting pretty inside the temperate, pastel town of Mountain View, California, Google's campus is a great place for a jog. It's also where the tech giant unveiled new running features for Pixel Watch 3 and Fitbit Premium, elevating its fitness features to race-day grade suggestions and insights. 

Google is getting serious about running. New training features for the Pixel Watch 3 let you build your own runs, offer guidance along the way and, with Fitbit Premium, give AI-boosted suggestions for how to do it. Maybe it's the virtue of having headquarters in health-conscious California, or the fact that running relies on highly accurate heart rate and motion sensors most health trackers have been accustomed to (which Google says it refined for the new Pixel Watch 3). But the tech company is fully leaning into running as the cardio exercise of choice for smartwatches and fitness trackers.

While the latest fitness features may help give Google compete for the hearts of runners, other smartwatch-makers including Apple, Samsung and Garmin also angle their health and fitness features for serious runners. Why is that?

"Running is highly amenable to the most basic of metrics that smartwatches can provide -- how far did I run, and how long did it take me to run it?" Ken Kozloff, co-director of the University of Michigan Human Performance and Sport Science Center, said in an email. Kozloff also researchers skeletal injury and the use of wearables in sport and daily life, and he's received funding from Apple and Samsung to assess their smartwatch capabilities. 

While not everyone likes running, it barely requires any equipment (except for shoes and a smartwatch if you want one) and people of all ability levels and ages can do it, Kozloff explained. And as smartwatches and fitness trackers keep packing new insights, particularly through heart-rate sensors, people can begin to set more fitness goals. 

Whether or not you like running as your choice of physical activity, if you wear a Pixel Watch, it'll be ready whenever you are. Here's the latest on wearables and Google's cardio-focused additions for Pixel Watch 3 and Fitbit. 

Pixel Watch 3, Fitbit Premium get fancier fitness features 

Aside from a new feature for Pixel Watch 3 that can detect a lost pulse, running was at the center of Google's health and fitness announcements at Tuesday's Made by Google event. 

With Pixel Watch 3, you'll be able to build and plan out your runs with great detail, including warmup, target pacing, timing, cooldowns and more in the Fibit app. While doing the run, you'll get haptic and audio cues so you know when to move to the next split, for example, or if you're over your target heart rate. 

Pixel Watch 3 also tracks your form with motion sensing and machine learning, giving you details about things like cadence (the number of steps you're taking), stride length and vertical oscillation (how much bounce you have, or how low you stay to the ground). 

All this is visible on the running dashboard in the Fibit app, where you can see your PRs and pull graphs to compare different elements of your runs. Those using Fitbit Premium will also have access to AI-built running recommendations and some Peloton classes. (Fitbit Premium costs $10 a month or $80 a year, but you get six months for free when you buy Pixel Watch 3.)

Google's fitness features are also taking a more holistic approach with Morning Brief, which pulls metrics like Readiness and Cardio Load, and also lets you know if one of your health metrics, like heart rate variability, is out of your norm. Similar to Apple's new Vitals app, it's designed to give you a little peek at how prepared your body is to take on the day -- or that run.

Can Google's new running metrics help beginners, too? 

Google says it's focusing on running for this round of Pixel Watch and Fitbit app upgrades because it's the most popular cardio exercise, and the fact it works particularly well with heart-rate sensing -- which the company says is improved through a new algorithm on the Pixel Watch 3. 

As someone who enjoys running and does it regularly, but hasn't had an interest in learning specifics like how fast I'm actually moving since I last trained for a race in high school, I've been curious about how wearables serve the "just to clear my head" or "just to get the heart rate up or cardio in" populations. The answer to that question may be dependent on the runner themselves, how much tech and analysis they want involved in their exercise and whether they feel discouraged or energized by said analysis. But as timers or watches have always been a racing runner's accessory -- I was forced to buy one by my track and cross-country coach -- tech companies may keep the bar high.

What will future health and fitness features on wearables look like? 

As sport and fitness features advance on wearables, so may the nitty-gritty health features that serve broader health interests. Kozloff, the sport science and wearable researcher, said he's most excited about the development of new sensors in smartwatches -- particularly ones that can monitor blood lactate and glucose in real-time, which is currently uncharted territory on consumer wearables. 

He also think wearables will potentially be able to track specific physiologic metrics associated with muscle damage, bone health and more. This would not just be for athletes, but will help others "monitor changes to help people advance their own goals of health and wellbeing."

In the meantime, improved fitness features may keep smartwatches the ultimate accessory to the sport that doesn't require one.

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