The Apple Watch has become a better sports watch with software updates every year, and the big new feature announced in watchOS 11 is Training Load, which helps you determine the intensity and physical impact of your recent workout

However, there are always plenty of small updates that you don't notice until you start using an updated watch, and what I like so far in watchOS 11 are the new features for running, swimming, cycling, walking, and various other workout types, such as weekly or It's a new widget and complication that shows your mileage for the month

I use the weekly mileage as a complication on my watch face This complication displays a bar graph showing the distance run on each day's run, with the total weekly distance displayed on top of that In addition, the monthly mileage is displayed in a widget on the smart stack

It's a small addition, but this is one of my favorite pieces of data to display on the watch face of any brand of sports watch I test It helps me stay motivated and not risk injury by increasing my weekly mileage too quickly

While Garmin displays weekly running distance on many of its customizable watch faces, and Suunto and Polar make it easy to see total workout time for the week, Apple has taken the lead with this update with the detail of weekly mileage at a glance In the past I have used Apple Watch apps like YouRace, which is great for running and also displays this type of information as a complication

Speaking of other apps, any favorite sports tracking app will reflect the weekly distance total in the widget/complication My favorite is WorkOutDoors, which allows a bit more customization of data fields and has maps that can load routes

However, if you don't make sure that the activity is not fed into Apple Health multiple times, the weekly distance stats in the widget will be incorrect; if it is imported into the Health app from both Strava and WorkOutDoors, the distance will be doubled! so I had to turn off Strava import

It can also display weekly distances for cycling and swimming, which will be a useful new feature for triathletes and those who do those sports

I am still working on getting more information on training loads, but I need 10 days of workouts to establish a baseline (information on workouts done before installing the watchOS 11 beta is not available) This would be a great addition to the watch and would be more important and useful to me as a runner in the long run than the new complications However, I think these new complications are an instant upgrade that most avid runners will love watchOS 11

To add a new complication to a watch, hold your finger on the watch face you want to edit and swipe to the complication Since this is a long complication, it can only be used in the appropriate slot The small circular complication will not display the weekly distance To add a distance to the smart stack, swipe down from the home screen and hold your finger on an existing widget to reveal the option to add

Another great new feature available in the watchOS 11 beta is the ability to pause the activity ring This is useful for rest days scheduled in a running training plan when you don't want to be prompted to move more or risk breaking your streak

For more information on the new update, check out our watchOS 11 guide to all the new features, and if you're buying a new Apple Watch, check out our best Apple Watch pages