Excellent data collectors, mediocre trainers: where do fitness watches help and where don't they?

The spring marathon season is in full swing: Sebastian Sawe set a new world record at the London Marathon at the end of April, around 18,000 runners took part in the ING Night Marathon in Luxembourg City in mid-May and the Trier City Half Marathon is coming up in the Greater Region at the end of June.

If you take a closer look at such races, you will quickly notice an almost ritualized detail. When the starting signal is given, the runners' gaze wanders fleetingly to their wrist. Then a push of a button sets the running watch in motion milliseconds before the first step. Using GPS, it tracks the kilometres run, route, pace and altitude, while a pulse sensor on the wrist records the heart rate in real time. In endurance sports today, running without a wearable is the exception rather than the rule – and even those who do without a watch at least track and log their activities via apps.

Lëtzebuerger Journal meets 29-year-old Laura Czekanowicz and her grandfather, Francis Schenk, on the evening before the Night Marathon. Despite their different approaches, the two have often run together at events and competitions for years. Francis introduced the now triathlete and coach at the Ettelbruck running club Capa to the sport of running at an early age. "There's a photo of us together at the Walfer Vollekslaf, and in 2015 we ran the Tunnellaf together – that was my first ten kilometres, " says Laura. Although they didn't take part in the ING Marathon this year, they were involved in the organization – and with a twinkle in his eye, Francis tells the Journal that they are only missing Boston and Tokyo from the Abbott World Marathon Majors. They will be travelling to Sydney in August.