The Run tile on Microsoft Band is used to track running, of course, but also any activity in which you may wish to track your route—using the GPS sensor built into Microsoft Band—and compare your distance traveled across subsequent activities. So the Run tile is also a good choice for tracking walks, bike rides and other similar distance-based activities.
Note: This tip is based on content in my free e-book, Microsoft Band Field Guide, which I'm currently writing. You can always find the latest version of this book—which will be updated as Microsoft Band is updated—at the Field Guide Books web site.
Note: I will refer to this activity as a "run" in this article, but it all applies to any distance-based activity.
Track a run
To start a run, tap the Run tile on your Band. If you wish to track your route using the Band's GPS capabilities, swipe to the left to view the Run with GPS option and ensure it's set to On. Then, press the action button to start the run.
Warning: If you have enabled the GPS functionality, your Band will display a message about finding the GPS. Be sure to press the action button again to start the run while Band searches for a GPS signal, as otherwise it will not start tracking your run. This has tripped me up more than once.
While you run, Band will display the duration of the run, your heart rate, and the calories you've burned.
When you're done, press the action button and then tap End.
View your most recent run
You can always access your most recent run on your Band. From the Run tile, swipe to the left, past Run with GPS, to Last Run to see the date, duration, distance traveled, speed, calories burned, and maximum and average heart rates of that run.
You can also access your most recent run from the Run tile in the Microsoft Health app. But thanks to the additional onscreen real estate, this view of the run provides a lot more detail.
This display provides the following information:
Route. A nice map view that displays the route of your run with colored bars indicating your relative speeds at different intervals.
Duration. The amount of time spent on the run.
Calories Burned. The number of calories burned during the run, plus estimates of how that breaks down into fats and carbs.
Best Split. Each mile you run is split into one mile intervals so you can see what your fastest mile run was.
Avg Pace. This is your average pace per mile.
Avg HR. This is your average heart rate over the course of the run.
Ending HR. This is your heart rate at the end of the run.
Recovery Time. This is a suggestion—wildly inaccurate, in my estimation—of how much time you should rest between this run and your next exercise.
You can also tap the Splits header to view graphs of your pace, heart rate and the estimated elevation over the course of your run, which is split into one mile segments.
Name a run
If you're a runner, you probably won't want to rename your runs, as the default name is descriptive enough. But if you're using the Run tile to track walks or other non-running activities, you can use the Microsoft Health app to rename it to something that makes more sense to you. For example, I use this feature to track my walks, and I rename each activity from the default name of "Run" to "Walk."
To do so, open the run in the Microsoft Health app, scroll to the bottom of the display and tap Name. Then, type in the name (like "Walk," "Bicycle" or whatever) and tap Done (the check button).
Delete a run
To delete a run, just open it in the Microsoft Health app, scroll to the bottom of the display and tap Delete. You will need to confirm the deletion.
Share a run
You can share a run using email, a social network like Facebook or Twitter, text messaging, or other means. (This varies by phone type.) To do so, open the run in the Microsoft Health app, scroll to the bottom of the display and tap Share.
What you see next will differ between Android, iPhone and Windows Phone, but you will next choose how you wish to share the exercise and then proceed accordingly.
View all of your runs over time
To see a history of your runs, navigate to your activity history in the Microsoft Health app. (Menu, then Activity History.) To view only exercises, tap the Filter button (next to Metric) and then choose Runs.
Note: This display will show all runs, regardless of names. So you may see a mix of runs, walks and other related distance-based activities.
