"[Heather MacLean, an Olympic 1,500-meter runner] realized her watch was draining the fun from her runs. It was especially apparent to her during a low-key stretch when she was simply trying to build fitness.
I hated that every run I went on, I felt like I had to check my pace and my distance and whatever else,” she said. “So I just decided that I was going to lay off it for a while and switch to a regular watch.”
She never went back. MacLean, 28, who now wears an Armitron Dragonfly that she said she picked up for $10 at Walmart, acknowledged that there were certain workouts when a GPS watch would come in handy, like when she did a tempo run by herself. (Tempo runs are faster than easy jogs, and frequently run at a prescribed pace.) But Mark Coogan, her coach, has long prioritized effort over pace, and MacLean logs her training in minutes rather than in miles.
“I know I’m at the elite level now, so not everything is going to be joyful,” MacLean said. “But when there are things that bring me a lot of joy, I’m going to invest in them. And one of those things is the ability to avoid focusing on my pace during my runs.”
Without the pressure of feeling as if she needs to account for every mile — or, perish the thought, post her workouts for public inspection on Strava, the exercise-tracking platform — MacLean has also gotten better about listening to her body. She has no qualms about bailing on an extra workout if she is feeling beat.
“And I’ll tell Mark that I’m going for a walk instead,” MacLean said. “And he’s like, ‘OK!’”
It always blows my mind that people just can’t tell themselves no. Notice you’re looking at your Watch for every little thing and don’t like it? Then train yourself to not do it. Jesus.
I understand your point. I just believe that self-discipline is a skill that can be worked on no matter who you are or what kind of brain you have.
Whatever they’re experiencing, I have the opposite. It’s the numbers and the data that keeps me interested and focused. It’s learning to align what my body is telling me with what my watch is telling me.
If I lost access to smart watches, I’d probably not stay active
I feel like most of these could be explained by people who have lost their love and need something to blame.
There’s no way metrics is hampering them.
I can easily think of times I likely should have rested or slowed down but wanted to keep a number high.
For me, metrics are a net positive, but I’ve often done counterproductive things because of them.
Maybe I use my watch differently, but I use my watch to set the pace I should run at, and then it ensures I keep myself there without going too fast!
That’s in the company of others, most people playing solo keep tabs to see if they’re doing better or worse.
100% same for me. I’m a data geek. I don’t even need to actually be using the data to train by to get enjoyment just out of seeing it there. Seeing my averages change, or my monthly time grow, or just looking at the relationship between pace, cadence, and stride length. That’s part of the fun of it all!
Same, it was getting a Garmin that got me into tracking steps, fitness etc. I didn’t even run initially. I walked for 18 months first. Slowly progressing to jogging bits of it, then more until eventually I was jogging the whole circuit.
I’m no elite runner. The first kilometer of my circuit has a 130m ascent of staircase up an escarpment. It’s brutal and I love conquering it. But it stifles any hope of breaking time records.
Ever thought about letting that staircase be the stat end? That way you can also squeeze in a rest every circuit if you feel like it.
I’d just … not do it sometimes. I’d justify it with “too tired today” and “Don’t have enough time for Jacob’s Ladder today”. Having it when I’m fresh takes that excuse away.
It’s also kinda on the way out of the CBD and into a big park. It would be sort-of doubling back away from the office. I could make it work, but the beautiful park is like a reward for doing the climb. Having the return to the office be my reward for doing it wouldn’t quite have the same incentive.
Same, I want more and better accuracy. I just ditched an Apple Watch Ultra for a new Garmin unit because it’s just that much better for my needs.
I’m not a runner, but I lift and I’m very goal and data oriented much like yourself. I love to see objective measurements of improvement in what my body is capable of. I love track the sheer tonnage that I pick up off my basement floor then put right back down on my basement floor. I live to look back at my numbers from a year ago and see the difference and I think I really would lose a lot of my motivation if I couldn’t.
Anyone else ever just feel like every topic these days has to have pro and con article out there for people to latch onto? I’m sure it’s only getting worse with AI, but there’s so many of these that just seem to exist to be sticks to get people to discuss things.
I guess I’m the guilty party. :) I posted the article because I thought it was thought provoking enough to engender discussion – something I like if it’s civil and mostly intelligent. I didn’t think everyone would agree with the athletes quoted or that they should or shouldn’t.
Not using any kind of data made me a better cyclist imo. At my peak this year I rode 80km daily on average and pretty fast. Keep in mind that I was overweight at that point, started out obese this year and that I’ve never been fit in my entire life. If you only listen to your body your body will take you close to its limits. The first time I felt that my mind wasn’t capable of keeping up with what my body wanted to do was on my first 120km ride.
Currently I’m more focused on running and I’m still figuring some stuff out. I think I just got my diet right.
But I’m starting to look for fitness trackers now as I think that I’m getting to the point where I’ll run into a barrier without tracking my performance in the foreseeable future.
If you want to stick with cycling, I strongly suggest just getting OsmAnd maps and enabling cycling profile. You can configure map to show all kinds of useful things and have the phone turn off display while riding. It can record your route and other useful metrics but you can avoid having it displayed non-stop.
Thanks but I kinda want to stay ignorant about my cycling. I have a shitty mountainbike I bought for 130€ and due to rigorous training I’m about as fast as a casual rider on an expensive race bike. I don’t want to be the fastest, I want to annoy middle aged middle manager type guys who spent a lot of money on equipment by riding their pace. So cycling is more about philosophy and trolling for me.
I have a dozen cheap watches and one smart watch. I only wear the smart watch for dress up events.
I get how people are motivated counting steps and what not, that’s perfectly valid. Power to ya! But my body and mind know if I’ve moved enough for the day, or failed to do so.
I’m outside and moving, a lot. At first it was neat to have a watch telling me what I had done, not so much anymore. And how valid is the data? There’s a hella difference walking around the office/downtown, kayaking a swamp and hiking smooth/rough trails.
Gf and I are sporting $20 1980’s Seikos. Much love! I also have 3 Swatches from back in the day. Point being, go with what works for you. Hell, I’m told I’m ancient for even wearing a watch. (Are they in fashion again?)
But my body and mind know if I’ve moved enough for the day, or failed to do so.
I wonder how much of it comes down to that. I never know when my body has had enough until after the fact. I’ve ran myself in to a stress fracture without even realising that I’m hurt, because it’s so hard for me to hear what my body has to say.
I was like that when I was younger, beat myself to death. Now that I’m 52 I have a great physical “clock”, I can feel it.
