Running Naked

I’m going to advise something quite radical……. I want you to split up with your GPS watch! Not a fully-fledged divorce, just a little break, a breather, time to get your head together, put some perspective back in your running life. And this little break is affectionately known as “running naked”

Why would I advise something so drastic, am I crazy, have I lost the plot? No, I just want you to think about the health of your relationship with your watch. And I mean really think about it. Think about how you are feeling about your running now and ask yourself

Have I lost confidence in my running recently?

Am I feeling that I’m not improving/getting any better?

Am I chasing down splits instead of doing an easy/recovery run?

Do quicker splits make me feel like a real runner?

Are you constantly thinking how your splits will look on Strava?

Is my watch an ultra-competitive frenemy?

 Let’s look at this in a bit more detail

You are in a race or a training run, you look down at your watch and see your pace, you freak out as it’s WAY slower than you were “supposed to be”, so you pick up the pace, quickly, and then when you see (or hear) the next mile, and now way too fast. Not only that, but you are breathing much harder than you should be…. You feel like you might possibly die so you slow down the pace which results in an internal battle about whether you are going to achieve your race/training run goal! This doesn’t sound like too much fun.

Congratulations you are now essentially fartleking, fast, slow, a bit faster a bit slower. And this is hard both physically and mentally, once you see your pace your brain must process the information, do something with it, which can trigger/cause panic which can subsequently sabotage your race.

Runners constantly question how fast they should be running on any given day.  The answer usually comes from your watch, in fact your watch can now tell you whether your run has been productive or unproduction; this can have a huge impact on how you feel about yourself and your running.  I wholehearted believe that there is a time and a place for running by feel which can help you understand what different paces feel like.

A run-in hot weather may need to be 30/40 secs slower than a run-in cooler temps, however runners don’t always adjust their pace for changing conditions.

Pace is influenced by so many factors including those that are out of your control.  A 10 min mile is a lot harder when you’re in a headwind, dehydrated, stressed, or haven’t had your morning coffee.

Every single day, you are on a different run. Therefore, all you can ask is that you run the best you can for that day (remember that can also include running easy!)

For any race you may have a pace you are aiming for, so take it that you are going to run at that pace effort and then you are doing the best your body can for that day. You are not limiting yourself if you feel good. If 10:00 pace feels easy that day, then you may run 9:40 and be pleasantly surprised by the end. Had you looked at your watch, maybe you would have panicked about being too fast, freaked out, and slowed down to calm yourself down.

On the other side, if you had a bad week of sleep, it is cold and windy, or you are stressed at work, maybe you run 10:20 pace, but at least you do not spend the whole time panicking that you are “off pace”. Maybe that is the best your body has for that day, and that is OKAY!

Your body knows the best pace to run at and it will naturally find it.  Listen to those internal cues, your breathing, your posture, your foot strike, enjoy the freedom of just running.

I’m not asking you to not wear it, just put the watch face on a different setting so you can’t see your pace, press start, ignore throughout the run, and then press stop when you’ve finished. Simple, what’s the worst that can happen?

Go on, give it a go, just one race! Fall in love with running again and then you can re-kindle your romance with your watch in a healthy way.