Forums >Gears and Wears>De-garmining myself
For the past year or so every morning i would dread getting up and putting that big chunky garmin on my wrist. While i must admit it is great to know your current progress, say your having a great day and it is reflected in your time, the times when I'm not at my best the garmin can be a real de motivational tool. Those days not only would i struggle to complete the run but there would also be my garmin there... constantly telling me how i was failing my goal. Well no more... for 2011 i vow not to use the dam thing for at least half a year, and go back to a basic watch.
Happy Holidays to everybody here!
Good resolution. That in a nutshell is what racing your workouts means. All your runs are a good min/mile over your Marathon race pace.
While you are at it I'd leave the watch also at home.
If you are struggling to finish runs, or failing to hit some sort of "goal" on a daily run, then the Garmin is not the problem.
Lots of wise people advise training by time (not distance), and when you want to run harder, do so by effort (not pace).
The process is the goal.
Men heap together the mistakes of their lives, and create a monster they call Destiny.
Feeling the growl again
The goal on most of my runs is not to run TOO fast. If you are trying to hit some time goal on every run, you are probably beating yourself up for a negative fitness return.
"If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does. There's your pep talk for today. Go Run." -- Slo_Hand
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+1
My Garmin is used mostly to keep me in check, ie: slow me down, for most of my daily training runs. And even when I use it for pace-specific runs, like tempo, fartlek, or MP runs, it is just a tool to keep me on target and not something I am always chasing. If you are struggling to hit training paces more than every now and again, you are simply reaching to high for current fitness level and need to back off. In which case, the Garmin is doing a very useful thing for you, in letting you know this.
You'll get better results if you don't worry about it on a daily basis. The important part is to run fast when it counts. On recovery days, it's important to recover, even if that means running slow or not running. Try varying your paces between days so that you feel fresh for big efforts and so you rebuild during little efforts. Having a lower valley in your training isn't a bad thing if you learn how to make higher peaks.
It's a pretty simple matter to adjust the data fields and convert the Garmin into a simple watch, display-wise. If seeing pace is weirding you out, just have it show elapsed time. It still captures all the GPS and pace data, though, so it'll be there for you to mine in the future if you desire (e.g. to see what you were doing when you starting running great or got injured).
"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
My Garmin was encouraging me to run too fast, so I removed any notion of pace. However, I left time elapsed on there, and eventually just started to mentally calculate pace. The good thing is that the period of time I didn't do this has caused me to slow down. I certainly enjoy my runs more now.
Don't de-Garmin! (You might hurt someone's livelihood )
Well, I confess, there are a lot of times when it's just better to leave a watch, any watch, at home. Sounds like maybe you are at that point. Ironically my boss feels the same way. She is trying to get back into running after a long layoff and she doesn't want to know how slow she is going.
- Joe
We are fragile creatures on collision with our judgment day.
Isn't "just a basic watch" still de/motivational, at known distance markers, or at least at the end of your run, you'll still be reminded of your failing goal (or successful goal)? It'll just be intermitent feedback instead of contstant feedback.
I gave up watches a long time ago, and only ever want to know exactly how fast I went on the three or four or five days a year I race. Keeps me sane-ish.
MTA: I've had this body for 35 years, so I pretty much know generally (within a range I care about) how fast I'm going without a watch (unless it's dark out, which messes with your brain).
Come all you no-hopers, you jokers and roguesWe're on the road to nowhere, let's find out where it goes
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I love my Garmin..I want to marry my Garmin. I would never leave my Garmin all alone while I go out and run..
Seriously..I have no problem putting on my Garmin and not looking at it the whole run. Its not the Garmin- its the user.
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I'm going to to the same thing...with my scale...
2013 Goals.......
like clive said, the info could become invaluable to you later so i think you should use it. i often suggest people start their watches but leave it at home. this way you dont get distracted and it keeps you motivated to stay moving on the run, because the clock is still ticking. i have used this method a lot and it works great for me.
I love my Garmin..I want to marry my Garmin. I would never leave my Garmin all alone while I go out and run.. Seriously..I have no problem putting on my Garmin and not looking at it the whole run. Its not the Garmin- its the user.
Same here! In fact, I did marry my Garmin. Well, it's not recognized legally...