Now that I purchased a Garmin 205 GPS watch (same as Eric's), I need to make a few philosophical comments.
Prior to buying my GPS watch a couple weeks ago, I sometimes used a stopwatch, but would also occasionally run with no watch, just enjoying the simplicity and freedom of soul and mind that runners have come to expect. On those occasions, much as Forrest Gump said, I was just runnnninnnnngggg! And even when wearing a watch, I did not know the exact distances of my runs, so therefore, I could not calculate an exact pace. On some runs, especially on grass trails, I frequently felt like I was running, floating, flying......you remember the feeling.......the runners high........endorphins...........
Now, all that has changed. The GPS knows EVERYTHING! Time, distance, my location on this planet to within 20 feet, speed (current and average), and maybe other items that I don't even know about. Now, instead of running free, I'm constantly checking my current and average pace, and worrying if it goes much above 8 minutes per mile. I find myself running faster, even racing, to drop the average pace below 8 minutes. For example, on a 6-mile run last week, I wanted to run easy.........in the past, I defined an easy run as about 8:10 per mile (or so I thought). But the GPS showed me an average pace of 8:40, with a slow mile of 9 minutes! Before I was blissful, and now I know how slow I can run on easy days!
Even worse, I now upload my runs into software that breaks the runs down into splits, plots it on an air photo, and shows elevation and pace plots, among other trivial data..........
This subject will warrant further commentary, but I'll stop here for now..........
Mark
1 comment:
Well, this comes down to how obsessive one wants to be. For example, I haven't uploaded any of my training info.
I do agree though that it is now impossible to lie to one's self. For example, for about a month now I am sure that my typical training pace over this last month has been around 9.
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