Jogging with My Oura Ring 4 and Garmin Venu (2021)

OK. This one is for science.

Previously, I took both devices for a hiking activity. But what about jogging — both outdoor and indoor? I must say, there were some unexpected results.

A Little Backstory

Before I get to the results, here’s some context. The last time I jogged — outdoor or indoor — was during the pandemic, about four years ago. Post-pandemic, I rarely exercised. The incentive just wasn’t there anymore (read: back then, the only time we could remove our masks was during outdoor exercise, besides eating and drinking).

I mean, why bother sweating it out when I could… cook a nice meal at home and enjoy a bottle of wine?

But things have changed. With my Oura Ring, I sleep better. I’ve stopped drinking alcohol (except in social settings). I feel more energetic. And I’m more motivated to exercise.

Why Jogging, and Why Now?

Long story short: a young colleague at work — 26 years old — lost a bet and signed up for a half marathon. He plays tennis but doesn’t jog. He bought some new (and expensive) running gear and… on his first run, he only managed 2 km.

We chatted, and I thought, why not motivate each other with our jogging progress?

The next day, I put on my running shoes (the cheap version compared to his) and started running around my block.

Outdoor Jogging: A Humid Reality Check

Oh. My. Gawd.

Looking back, I should have done proper warm-ups. But I didn’t. My heart rate shot straight to Zone 5 (maximum) within a minute! The first kilometre was brutal. I almost gave up. But no — not against a young guy at work. I had to do more than 2 km!

Jogging outdoors in Singapore’s humidity is no joke, even in the evening. I wasn’t prepared. I should have worn a Dri-Fit shirt — I didn’t. I should have brought a towel — I didn’t. My glasses kept sliding down, so I had to jog without them.

It was harsh. But I managed a 4 km run.

Actually, slightly more — about 5% extra — because I was tracking my distance using my Garmin watch. And here’s where things got interesting: the GPS tracking was horrible. Had I not compared the recorded routes between the two devices, I would have assumed Garmin — the so-called industry benchmark — was accurate.

So:

Oura 1 – Garmin 0

I also noticed a difference in Zone 5 heart rate tracking. The definition is the same, and the 15% variation is within my tolerance.

Indoor Jogging: The Treadmill Test

I recalled my outdoor jogging pace was 6:25/km (discarding Garmin’s GPS data since it was off). I don’t use treadmills often, but when I hopped on, I saw three buttons: 3, 6, and 9.

Intuitively, I thought, “Let’s warm up,” and hit 9.

Oh. My. Gawd!

That was 9 km/hr! I nearly fell off. Thankfully, the bright red emergency stop button was right there.

Eventually, I did hit 9 km/hr and kept going. Garmin registered my pace as 7:00/km — slower than my outdoor run. No wonder my heart rate stayed below Zone 4. That extra 10% pace outdoors had clearly pushed my heart rate to a higher zone. Good to know.

This also explained why it felt much less taxing than my previous run.

Since heart rate zone definitions differ slightly between the two devices for Zone 4 and below, the only truly comparable stat was average heart rate:

• Oura: 133 bpm
• Garmin: 134 bpm

Pretty much identical.

Active calories burned were:

• Oura: 275 kcal
• Garmin: 294 kcal

Again, within my tolerance. These are estimates anyway.

For future treadmill runs, I’ll bump the speed to 9.6 km/hr to better match my outdoor pace.

Final Thoughts

From this experiment, I’d say the Oura Ring 4 is perfectly sufficient for tracking my jogging activities. But Garmin is useful to have for real-time heart rate feedback during the run.