Understand Personal Records and Best Efforts
FitKeep looks through every activity for your fastest continuous stretch at a set of standard distances. Those are your best efforts, and the fastest one at each distance is your personal record.
Which distances count
- 400m
- 800m
- 1km
- 1500m
- 1 mile
- 3km
- 5km
- 10km
- Half marathon
- Marathon
A best effort can start anywhere in an activity, so a 10km run can also give you a new 5km or 1 mile record. An activity only counts toward a distance if it’s at least that long.
Best efforts need GPS data. Indoor activities without a GPS track, such as treadmill runs or indoor rides, don’t get best efforts.
How efforts are timed
- Times are elapsed time, so short stops inside an effort, like waiting at a traffic light, count toward it
- A pause longer than 5 minutes splits the activity, so an effort can never span a long break
- Sudden jumps in the recorded distance, such as a GPS glitch, also split the activity rather than giving you an impossible time
Device distance and GPS
FitKeep calculates every best effort in two ways:
- Device: from the distance your watch or bike computer recorded, which may include corrections from a footpod, wheel sensor, or the device’s own smoothing
- GPS: from the GPS track itself, measuring the distance between each recorded point
The device calculation is shown when it’s available. When both exist, you can switch to the other one. If the two times differ by 5% or more (and at least 5 seconds), a ⚠️ marks the effort. That usually points to a patch of poor GPS signal or a footpod that needs calibrating, not a change in your fitness.
Where to view them
- The dashboard shows your records for the main distances
- The Best Efforts page lists your best times at every distance, plus your longest activities
- Each activity’s detail page lists the best efforts found in that activity and how they rank
Filter by sport and period
On the Best Efforts page you can narrow results by:
- Sport group: foot, bike, swim, winter, or other sports, so a fast bike split doesn’t fill your running records. Choose All to mix them
- Activity: a single activity type within the sport group, such as trail running
- Period: all time, this year, the last 12 months, one of your recent calendar years, or a custom date range
Drill down by distance
Select any distance to open its own page. It starts with your personal best for that distance, followed by your next-best times and how far each one is behind it. Below that, a chart shows how your times at that distance have changed over time. The filters above work here too.