Forums >Running 101>do you GPS watch or not? add heart monitor or not?
do you run with a gps watch? always? sometimes? never?
if not, do you map your run distance? or just run by time or what?
also would you get the heart rate monitor option if you had to do over?
I have an older polar heart monitor only, no gps. if that affects anything, but i think if I wanted the heart monitor I'd want an all in one unit nowadays, but not sure I need/want the heart monitor, plus more $$.
and do you race with it? for some reason that idea sounds odd to me, as the course I know the distance ahead of time, but perhaps it would help?
Hmmm, now I'm wondering chest strap vs. wrist, heard the chest is more accurate, never had a problem with the chest strap in the past, like i've read some people complain of...
thanks.
300m- 37 sec.
I almost always run with a GPS watch. Only time I don’t is if the battery is dead because I didn’t charge it
Old , Ugly and slow
Always.
I run in the woods and it would drive me crazy to not know how far i ran.
first race sept 1977 last race sept 2007
2019 goals 1000 miles , 190 pounds , deadlift 400 touch my toes
Chief Unicorn Officer
Yes. The only time I don’t is if I’ve taken a break—in which case I don’t try to worry about time or pace so I leave the watch at home until I’m back in a consistent routine first, and THEN can worry about time and pace. I do map out my distances beforehand.
Mile 5:49 - 5K 19:58 - 10K 43:06 - HM 1:36:54
#RunEveryDay
I run with a Garmin most of the time. I try to run once or twice a week without it (my lowest mileage days) and I don't wear a watch the day after a race when I'm doing a 1-2 mile recovery run. Typically when I'm running without my watch, I run a known route for distance.
Half Fanatic #9292.
Game Admin for RA Running Game 2023.
I typically set out with the goal of running an approximate distance and use the GPS to know when to head back. That allows me to run down random roads and trails without having to preplan a specific route.
I mostly run by effort and record the resulting heart rate.
Except for speedwork. Then I need the GPS to motivate myself to maintain the goal pace, and the heart rate to tell me when to back off.
SMART Approach
Always and love the wrist heart rate monitor. If you are into numbers, stats and monitoring your fitness, training HR, race HR etc. get the HR monitor too. Garmin Connect app is cool too.
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I wear a GPS watch with HR wrist strap for all runs, including races. In a longer race, pace info (usually) keeps me from running at too fast a pace early on. HR data from a 5k can be used to estimate your max heart rate (maybe add a couple bpm to max HR during a hard run 5k), if you plan to use HR data to guide your training.
I wear my Garmin all the time. It has a wrist HRM which I occasionally use to monitor my pace but mostly it's just of academic interest since I don't know how accurate it is. Mostly I pay attention to the lap pace so I can figure out if I'm going too fast (often the case on my easy runs) or too slow (especially in races or speedwork).
When i first started running, I used mapmyrun to figure out my miles, but when I started racing I wanted to know how I was doing during my race rather than just at the end. People don't always answer when you ask them how fast you're running.
I’ll add to my response that I ran for years without a GPS watch (because they hadn’t been invented yet) and did just fine
I run with a Forerunner 235 with a HR sensor. it helps me keep track of my overall mileage, and how hard I am pushing myself. For a while i would check my pace often, but this year I am intentionally not looking at my pace until after the run. The surprising result is that I have cut almost 30 sec off my pace by not being a slave to what the Garmin says. However, the data from my run is invaluable so I always run with it.
Pace Prophet
I didn't get a GPS/HRM until I'd been racing for a while. I like having the data, both during runs and for analyzing obsessively afterward.
I like being able to keep track of my pace (I just use lap pace, but that's enough) in races, and keeping an eye on my HR to make sure I don't push too hard on longer races, so yes, I use it during races also.
I track with my phone sometimes. Same thing as a GPS watch, right? Am I missing anything?
Have a heart rate monitor but rarely use it. It was good to remind me to run harder. If I'm not paying attention, I'll slow down and my heart rate will be like 110. I'm basically a zombie.
thanks, went with gps with the chest strap.