Garmin and the University of Nottingham are working together on a global research project to study the effects of Covid-19 on running, training and recovery, and you can join.
The Running Through study is open to runners and walkers from around the world, and will examine the effects of prolonged covid on fitness symptoms on running performance, the potential impact of running on recovery times from covid and the potential effects of the disease on training regimens and injuries.
To participate, you must be 18 or older and have a Garmin wearable device, such as a running watch or heart rate monitor. You will also need to agree to share your health data with the company so that it can be included in the study.
To register, visit RunningThrough.org and complete the survey form. This will ask you to provide some details about your running habits and general health, as well as any Covid-19 infections you may have had.
Once the study is complete, the results will be made public to help runners better understand the effects of the virus on their training and fitness.
Physical Activity Tracking Data
It's not the only study to use data captured by devices like fitness trackers and smartwatches to help us better understand covid-19. Fitbit is currently conducting its own study in the United States and Canada and aims to create an algorithm to detect signs of the virus before symptoms appear.
The study is still ongoing, but in August 2021 Fitbit reported that it was able to detect half of Covid-19 infections a day before participants reported their first symptoms, with a specificity of 70%. We've reached out to Fitbit to see if there's been any more news and will let you know when we know more.