How one ‘futurist’ is using tech to run the London marathon faster

Bill Quinn is a so-called futurist who is using technology to improve his performance in sporting events such as the London Marathon, which is this year sponsored by tech company Tata Consultancy Services.

First thing in the morning, most people reach for their phones. Not Bill Quinn though. Instead, he checks his rest and recovery data to gauge how well-rested he is from the previous day’s activities.

Quinn is a so-called ‘futurist’—someone fascinated by exploring predictions about the future.

His particular focus is on the future of running. Having completed the New York marathon last year, he’s now gearing up to join the 50,000 runners tackling the 26-mile course across London this weekend.

During these runs, Quinn, who considers himself an average runner, constantly monitors his progress using various devices. These include an Apple Watch on one wrist, a rest and recovery monitor on the other, and a glucose monitor measuring blood sugar levels on one arm.

“I wanted to experiment with whether consumer-grade wearables could create a digital twin of myself,” he explained.

Early on in his experiment, which has spanned a number of months, Quinn took the data from his devices and cobbled it all together in a spreadsheet. “I could see what my average heart rate was when I was on this run, but then also what was my glucose level during that one,” he said.

The point of stitching all this information together was to create a ‘digital twin’ of himself. Using this modelling, Quinn could see exactly what he needed to do to enhance his athletic performance.

“It’s all about understanding what’s going on in that environment,” he explained, “and then also being able to do scenario planning to plan and try out different scenarios to optimise for the future.”

The 50-something-year-old estimated he spends around $1,000 per year on various health and fitness subscriptions.

“It was really just kind of an experiment to understand what’s available to the average person in terms of a digital twin,” Quinn said.

By comparison, American tech entrepreneur Bryan Johnson is spending millions a year improving his fitness levels in an attempt to reverse the ageing process.

Although Quinn currently uses technology mostly for sports, it has heightened his awareness of diet. But long-distance running events like the London Marathon are just one of the circumstances where the concept of digital twin technology can make a difference.

Quinn also envisions a future where data will play a significant role in healthcare.

For example, health metrics could be continuously monitored and automatically shared between patients and doctors, rather than relying on sporadic annual check-ups.

This data-driven approach can detect and address conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and cancer early on, significantly reducing healthcare costs and enhancing overall wellness.

“I think there’s a huge opportunity in the medical field for this data to be leveraged,” he said.