Here Is How The Apple Watch Ultra 2 Fared At A World Marathon Major Race

Lifestyle, Tech

Here Is How The Apple Watch Ultra 2 Fared At A World Marathon Major Race

By Cheryl Tay
December 11, 2023

Cheryl Tay, fitness extraordinaire and marathon junkie puts the smart and sturdy Apple Watch Ultra 2 to the test.

A very common question that I get when people see me running with the Apple Watch Ultra 2 is, “Is the watch heavy? Is it too big?” And my answer is no. I actually prefer to wear bigger watches because I like the look of it, so the Apple Watch Ultra 2 is perfect. It’s a rugged watch built for people who crave adventure and pursue endurance.

Running on the watchOS 10, Apple Watch Ultra 2 is such an important part of my life that I feel lost without it. It’s my workout companion and I get anxiety if I forget to bring it along with me when I train for a marathon or triathlon. It feels like I’m missing something and this might sound silly, but it also makes it seem like the workout doesn’t count because it wasn’t recorded.

Therefore, the first thing I made sure that I brought with me to Germany for the BMW Berlin Marathon, a prestigious World Marathon Major race, was the Apple Watch Ultra 2. This was my A-race for the year and the journey has not been the smoothest – with a slew of injuries – but I had a plan in mind.

The plan was to pace myself properly and not go out too fast. Last year, at the same race, I was so excited that I went out the gates too quickly. Around the 26km mark, I ‘hit the wall’ (sudden fatigue and loss of energy caused by the depletion of glycogen stores in the muscles) and I had to pull myself along, walking and jogging the rest of the race. It was such a painful experience etched in my memories, thus I told myself to be more conservative with the pacing. It is a 42.195km race after all.

Due to my injuries, I could not train to an optimum and had to reduce the volume and intensity. But despite that, I was determined to give my best.

To ensure that I stick to my plan, the Apple Watch Ultra 2’s GPS is very important. I’ve tried it against other watches and the Apple Watch Ultra 2’s GPS is the most accurate. It has a dual-frequency GPS system that combines the L1 and L5 GPS bands into an antenna design. With data from both frequencies, the watch is then able to calculate distance, pace and route more accurately.

I configured the Action Button (the left button on the watch) to the Outdoor Run workout mode, so when I press on it, it immediately starts the clock, without having to do a countdown from 3. This is very helpful, so that I can start the watch once I run past the start line.

Using the same Action Button, I press it to mark segments of the race. The Apple Watch Ultra 2 automatically laps at every kilometre so I am aware of my pace, but for the marathon, I measure the race in 5km splits as well, thus pressing the Action Button every 5km.

With most of my training done outdoors in the sun, I need to look at the watch screen and I love that the screen display is now brighter. Brightness of this watch is at 3000 units, 50 percent brighter than the first generation Apple Watch Ultra. It is the brightest display that Apple has ever designed, made possible by the new S9 SiP chip, and a new Modular Ultra watch face that you can customise for sports, outdoor and water activities. Basically it can display seven complications, on top of time, so you can pack it with as much information as you want your screen to display. The Apple Watch Ultra 2 also has a new 4-core neural engine to process learning tasks twice as fast as the first gen Apple Watch Ultra.

The one thing that I was really grateful to have the watch for was the ability to reply my messages during the run. My partner Grace was out and about on the course shooting videos of me, and she was following my progress on the tracking app, which shows your pace. Somewhere past the halfway mark, I was slowing down and she noticed it.

Suddenly I received WhatsApp notifications on my watch (my iPhone was in my race belt) from her – “I love you”, “You got this!”, “It’s your own race!” – and I started bawling. My legs were getting heavier, I was feeling the fatigue creep in and dark thoughts were starting to surface. In a vulnerable moment like that, it really made me emotional and it was exactly what I needed to grit through the suffering and keep going. Through the tears and breathlessness, I managed to reply her with voice messages by tapping the microphone button on the watch and that brief interaction with her gave me so much comfort.

I eventually finished the race in 4 hours 6 minutes, which was a personal best for me. My strategy of starting out conservatively worked and I was overjoyed that I managed this at one of the world’s best races. The Apple Watch Ultra 2 battery life is amazing – the race was on Sunday and I didn’t have to charge the watch until Wednesday!

At the point of time that I was using the Apple Watch Ultra 2 for this race, the double tap gesture was not ready yet. It is now and I love how I can control the watch simply by tapping my index finger and thumb (of the watch hand) together. It can open the Smart Stack, take a photo or video with the iPhone, answer and end phone calls, play and pause music and podcasts, start and stop a timer and more.

Besides running, another passion close to my heart is sustainability. Hence I was very happy to learn that the Apple Watch Ultra 2 when paired with the Alpine Loop or Trail Loop features 95 percent recycled titanium and is one of Apple’s first-ever carbon neutral products. This means that emissions were reduced from sources of greenhouse gases such as materials, electricity and transportation. The remaining emissions (not a lot) left are then offset with high-quality carbon credits from other nature-based projects.

I use the Apple Watch Ultra 2 for my triathlon and marathon endeavours, but it is also great for hiking, scuba diving and other extreme activities like wakeboarding and kitesurfing. I love that it represents adventure and wearing it makes me feel tough!