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The philosophy of no watch (Read 1931 times)

    So, I own a Forerunner 110. After recovering from my injury in the spring, I've still been running consistently, but haven't even been using the thing or logging and uploading my runs. Why, do you ask? It feels more natural, and I felt like my eyes were constantly being drawn down to it while on a run. Plus, I know the distance of my routes by heart, so needing a watch just to tell me that I ran a meter short of my intended distance is just another distraction for me. If I'm having a crappy day/run, I don't need the watch to beep angrily and verify that my pace is off-target. 

     

    On the one hand, it seems that it lets me more in tune with my body; on the other, I sometimes miss the number-crunching of my former "training plans." I use quotes because I realized recently how flawed they were, and especially after reading some books on running training. Is ditching the watch a good idea? 

    if you're tired of starting over then stop giving up!

    KMB


      I ditched mine about 18 months ago and am happy I did.  I trained like crazy, made my goal (BQ) and spent the next year trying to have a good run.  After nothing worked, I took the watch off (regular ironman, not a gps) and stopped racing for a while.  The only race I've worn it in since was a half that I was leading a pace group on.  I race less but enjoy it more.  Its kind of cool wondering what the clock will say at the end.

        I can understand your thoughts,     I nornally run with my Garmin and struggle with looking at the time and pace too frequently,

         

        I have one setting that is ONLY distance run -- and another that is only time......so that I can still track it all but it forces me to not be looking at it all the time when I only have clock ticking or the miles ticking but not pace and other stuff.....

         

        A year or so ago I ran a HM and it was pouring rain so I went watchless for the race (figured the constant downpour would drown my Garmin) and I found racing without a watch to really be liberating - I was thinking pace and feel was WAY MORE FUN without that watch....so I go watchless when racing now,

        Champions are made when no one is watching

          Is ditching the watch a good idea? 

          If it makes running more enjoyable for you ("enjoyable" as defined by only you), then sure.  Experiment of one, follow your bliss, and whatnot.

          "I want you to pray as if everything depends on it, but I want you to prepare yourself as if everything depends on you."

          -- Dick LeBeau

          xor


            First off, when I think "watch", I think of looking at the time and/or a stopwatch with maybe lap/splits. Running with a watch (that kind of watch) to me is different than running with a garmin that is trying to give me real time feedback about pace and distance.  Plus a watch always works and is accurate.  My garmin does Goofy Shit sometimes.

             

            Anyway, I am an "it depends" person on this.

             

            In general, I don't run with a garmin.  When I do, I don't obsessively check it.  I do run with a watch... and may look at it a couple times. 

             

            I totally believe in running by feel - so I don't have a need to check my pace on most (not all... most) runs.  I am interested in distance and/or time, but I know how long my routes are, usually, so I don't need a garmin to tell me.  However, sometimes I will just wander and I *do* like to know how far I've gone.  So I will take my garmin or map it.

             

            And you may ask... "Don't you even want to know after the fact what pace 'easy' was today?"  Usually, nah.  And if I do, I just roughly estimate based on the time and distance.  I don't feel like staring at a chart of how my pace varied during the run.  On most runs, at least.

             

            But occasionally I do.

             

            As for running with literally "no watch" (the old school 'it tells time' kind), I can do that, I guess, but because I'm not checking it lots, I have no need to specifically ditch it either.  Sometimes I just want to know what the time is.

             

            Turbolegs


              I have tried doing this and think i will restart doing it - i take my Garmin 310XT out on my runs, make sure that in the settings, there are no beeps for laps, time etc, and then once i have started i scroll down to a screen which shows only one data field and that is the actual time of the day. That way, you pretty much run by feel yet when you end your run and come back home, you have data to show for it and quench your thirst for obsessive analytics. Probably a million other ways to achieve the same result but this one works for sure.

              I dont sweat. I ooze liquid awesome.

                Thats's a good idea Turbolegs! I might try it with my Garmin GPS - I think it can disable everything but the clock as well. I hate math and statistics, so I don't really like trying to calculate pace and all by hand. Still though, there are days where I KNOW I'm going to have a crappy run, and I intentionally don't bring a watch just because it's just specific negative reinforcement of something I already knew. 

                 

                In the end I think it boils down to the fact that I am a human, and the watch is a machine, so always listening to what the machine is telling me is invariably going to cause problems. If anything I should be listening to what my body is telling me, and I'm still working on getting in tune with that. 

                if you're tired of starting over then stop giving up!

                  .  Sometimes I just want to know what the time is.

                   

                  Does anybody really know what time it is? (  I may be the only person left alive who gets this)

                    Does anybody really know what time it is? (  I may be the only person left alive who gets this)

                     

                    Does anybody really care?

                    "When a person trains once, nothing happens. When a person forces himself to do a thing a hundred or a thousand times, then he certainly has developed in more ways than physical. Is it raining? That doesn't matter. Am I tired? That doesn't matter, either. Then willpower will be no problem." 
                    Emil Zatopek

                      I ditched the mp3 player for the first time on Sunday for an 8k race. It went pretty well But at this point I can't imagine ditching my garmin!

                      2018 Goals

                      Figure out the achilles thing...... and THEN try to get running regularly again.

                      No racing goals 

                       

                        My Garmin is a recording device. The last couple months I've been doing more track work. At first, I looked at the Garmin during intervals. Mostly to make sure I wasn't  running them too fast. It's not accurate enough on an interval anyway. But after several workouts I stopped looking at it altogether.  Except when I hit the Lap button and I'd see my split for that lap.

                         

                        I can find the right pace by feel now but the Garmin helped find it at first. But it's great to know I can hit pace by feel now. I've always used it on my other runs but it's always to just review the data after, not provide feedback during the workout. Same thing with races. I'll look at it after. 

                         

                          I ditched the mp3 player for the first time on Sunday for an 8k race. It went pretty well But at this point I can't imagine ditching my garmin!

                           

                          Prior to a hot 10k this Spring, I was talking to a guy who noted the field would be small and sparse. There would also be no mile-markers or split times.

                           

                          For that reason, specifically, he was opting to race with his iphone, contrary to his habit. It played music and had an app that told him his splits.  Something. I didn't have an ipod, but I fished my watch out of my bag and ran with that.

                           

                          First place: 36:14

                          He came in second with a 38:05

                          Third: 39:57

                          "If you have the fire, run..." -John Climacus

                          DoppleBock


                            When time does not matter, I do not wear a watch on my runs - Most runs time does not matter.

                             

                            Most of the time I wear a watch is for really long runs (4-6 hours) so I can track when its time for a gel or s-cap.

                             

                            In most races I wear one - But I do not look at every mile.

                             

                            80% of the time I run watchless - So how do I log my time in runs - I just pick something based on how I felt. 

                            Long dead ... But my stench lingers !

                             

                             

                              My Garmin is a recording device. The last couple months I've been doing more track work. At first, I looked at the Garmin during intervals. Mostly to make sure I wasn't  running them too fast. It's not accurate enough on an interval anyway. But after several workouts I stopped looking at it altogether.  Except when I hit the Lap button and I'd see my split for that lap.

                              FWIW: for intervals, I set the display on mine to show two things: Time-Lap and Time-Previous Lap.  Use the first just like a Timex from back in the day (look, don't look, whatever); use the second field to see what your time was as you're recovering between reps.

                              "I want you to pray as if everything depends on it, but I want you to prepare yourself as if everything depends on you."

                              -- Dick LeBeau

                              DoppleBock


                                All I ever have had is a Timex - Today I actually wore it for an 8 mile easy run.  I ran @6 minutes faster than I had planned.  I am not sure if there is a coorelation to me wearing a watch and how fast I run or I just was feeling pretty good on this 1st lunch run in many weeks where it was cool out.

                                 

                                Can a person run too slow for easy?  I know that you can run too fast for easy and you are not as recovered or ready for the next hard workout.  I also know easy is a range and every day easy can mean a different speed.

                                 

                                I used to run my easy runs 7-7:45 and most were a bit too fast for purpose and total mileage I was running.  I was stubborn and refused to run easy slower than 8:00.  Now I am on the other end of the spectrun.  Most easy runs are 7:45-8:15 pace - Long easy might be 8:15-8:30.  There is a good chance some of these days are right on, but others are too slow.  But what happens if you run easy too slow?

                                 

                                Now that I am running a little less mileage, I think I will increase my easy pace by 15 seconds per mile.  I would like to get my long run (30-45 mile) pace to 8:00 eventually.

                                Long dead ... But my stench lingers !

                                 

                                 

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