Running without gadgets

#41
Barefoot Gentile said:
Call it old age but my attitude is defiantly changing when it comes to running. Losing interest? Not really but the obsessiveness is dwindling. I am running my first 50k this Sunday, and thinking about ditching the garmin, and just run by feel. It's funn, when I ran shod for 18 years I never wore a watch, logged miles, etc. Then once I started running barefoot I cluttered running with useless crap. Now I don't even stress over race times or speed now, its like a cloud lifted and I am returning how I ran when I first started. Or again, I am just an old bastard that wants to run barefoot without excess baggage. I might just ditch the garmin for good.
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Congrats again on the race!

I have never been a big fan of my Garmin and run almost all of my runs "unplugged" as the kids say. I use it for speedwork so that I can hit certain splits or for intervals and on trails that I am not familiar with. Why do I need to track my mileage when I know that the trail is 7 miles? Or the loop around my neighborhood is 2 miles? I also have a thing about numbers, I guess it goes with being a scientist and all, and will find myself saying, "I ran 17.89 miles" when I could just not clutter my brain with that extra info and just say, "18 miles" I was down in Austin a few weeks ago having lunch with Doom and BF Jim and I had worn my Garmin the afternoon before and was talking in hundredths of a mile!!
 
#42
bubba hotep said:
Congrats again on the race!

I have never been a big fan of my Garmin and run almost all of my runs "unplugged" as the kids say. I use it for speedwork so that I can hit certain splits or for intervals and on trails that I am not familiar with. Why do I need to track my mileage when I know that the trail is 7 miles? Or the loop around my neighborhood is 2 miles? I also have a thing about numbers, I guess it goes with being a scientist and all, and will find myself saying, "I ran 17.89 miles" when I could just not clutter my brain with that extra info and just say, "18 miles" I was down in Austin a few weeks ago having lunch with Doom and BF Jim and I had worn my Garmin the afternoon before and was talking in hundredths of a mile!!
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That's kind of why I was hesitant to lay down $150 for the Garmin. Once I get an idea of what my different paces are, will I use it much? I already know the approximate length of all my routes, thanks to Google maps or info on park brochures. Likewise, a friend gave me his old HR monitor last fall. I used it once on a run and once while rowing. It was kind of nice to know that I was in the right range, according to Mayo Clinic's formula, but I kinda already knew that, since I was able to sustain those paces, and after that, there hasn't really been any reason to use it again, since I'm not doing Maff training or anything. And with the Garmin, since I don't think I'll be doing strict intervals, but rather more of a fartlek-style training, or half-assed intervals, I wonder how much I'll end up using it. We'll see . . .
 
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#43
bubba hotep said:
Congrats again on the race!

I have never been a big fan of my Garmin and run almost all of my runs "unplugged" as the kids say. I use it for speedwork so that I can hit certain splits or for intervals and on trails that I am not familiar with. Why do I need to track my mileage when I know that the trail is 7 miles? Or the loop around my neighborhood is 2 miles? I also have a thing about numbers, I guess it goes with being a scientist and all, and will find myself saying, "I ran 17.89 miles" when I could just not clutter my brain with that extra info and just say, "18 miles" I was down in Austin a few weeks ago having lunch with Doom and BF Jim and I had worn my Garmin the afternoon before and was talking in hundredths of a mile!!
Click to expand...

Hey bubba, thank you! Since the 50k, I haven't been running much, just chilling out for a bit. But I want to try to keep going with this "unplugged" running. It's like a fun experiment and to see if I can really get used to it. I have not been counting mileage or wearing my garmin, it's quite enjoyable to just go out and run. I do wear my trusty timex ironman watch, which is my everyday watch, just so I know when to come home though. I am running a half marathon in two weeks, and leaving the garmin behind again. Hope all is well!
 
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#50
Just got back from my first run with my Garmin.

After starting out, I got frustrated that it wasn't showing changes in pace. So I stopped to mess with it. Nope, couldn't figure it out. OK, kept running. I decided today would be a long and slow day instead of a fartlek day. I was happy to see my pace was about 9:30, a little faster than my 10-minute pace the last time I checked a month or two ago. The hills work I began shortly thereafter had been paying off. So at least the gadget was providing some immediate gratification.

A little further on, I once again tried to see if I could make the pace display more responsive, this time without stopping or slowing down, because I wanted to maintain my overall pace in case I couldn't figure it out. OUCH! I stubbed my toe while looking at the watch. An uneven block of sidewalk. That's the first time that's happened while BFR. I walked a bit to make sure no serious damage had been done, then ran the rest of the way home at a slower pace. Thanks Gadget.
 
#51
Ouch Lee watch those toes. The 205 is similar to the 305 is it not? I think you can set it up so it displays avg pace, current pace, etc... My 305 I have set up so it shows my avg pace but I may change that so I see current pace. Oh wait, I just remembered why I switched it from current pace. All the hills around here I couldn't keep my pace constant so I couldn't get a good read on how fast I was going so I changed it to average pace and it works much better for me. I also have my laps set up so it auto laps each mile and displays my pace for that mile.
 
#53
As a beginner, I've found a GPS watch to be helpful with pacing. I also post my runs to Facebook and appreciate the words of encouragement from old friends. If I inspire any of them to be more active, all the better.
 
#56
I blamed it on mapmyrun for awhile, but then my wife banned me from that app so now I use my garmin 305 again and still post the exact mileage to the hundreths. :D Part of me does it just to annoy my couple of cousins that are bothered by it. :D
 
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#57
Epilogue:

Thanks for the timely replies. You guys got my back, er ... toe.

Soon after I wrote the above, I had to help unload the groceries and look after the kids while my wife made dinner, so just replying now. A little after dinner the joint where the 1st metatarsal meets the phalange of the big toe on my left foot really started to hurt more, and my wife decided we needed to go to Target to get some last minute supplies for our daughter's fifth birthday (Daddy doesn't have the right to get hurt or sick like everyone else, apparently). By the time we got there I was in too much pain to get out of the car. When we got home my wife gave me some of the pain medicine left over from her impacted wisdom tooth surgery in April. It took a good 40-50 minutes for the sharp pain to diminish enough before I could get to sleep. And then I slept like a baby!

Today the toe feels better, more of a dull ache now rather than sharp pain. The joint is tight and I'm limping a bit. I wonder if I should have it x-rayed. Anyway, I feel like a real jackass for letting this happen.

Just checked my Garmin again, and right above 'average pace' there's something called simply 'pace'. I wonder if that's the 'current pace' Nick is referring to. I had only been scrolling down from 'average pace' and wasn't finding anything. 'Average pace' on my 205 is average throughout the run I think. Since there's a 'pace smoothing' function, I assume there must be a 'current pace' to smooth, and since no function is labelled as such, just 'pace' must be that. I'll go out when my toe's feeling a bit better and check it out.

If I can get this sorted out, the Garmin will definitely have been worth it. I saw when I got home that my best pace was 6:30, and I wasn't even sprinting, so this will be an invaluable tool for fartleks, and I think fartleks along with hills will really help me increase my speed. But it's a bummer to be laid up for a while. The run started really well, and the 4.39 miles (like the decimal point Nick?) felt pretty effortless, aside from the toe. So the variety I've been adding is helping, and the Garmin will be a good motivational tool, at least for a while.

So thanks BG for this post on Running without Gadgets: I now have a small item belt for my phone, a Garmin, and a stubbed big toe!

P.S., my brief exposure to some real pain has made me all the more empathetic to all those undergoing this kind of thing on an ongoing basis. So there's always a silver lining I guess.
 
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#58
Love the mileage to the hundreths decimal place. Hahaha! I think it is called Pace (current pace). There's a lot of stuff these Garmins can do but I am not techy enough, nor do I have the patience enough, to figure them all out. Like I am dreading changing up the screen on mine because it took me like an hour last time to figure out how to do it. I don't really care too much to see during the run what my hr is doing and I need to put the actual time visible (so I'm not late on my weekend runs). Anyhow, hope that toe gets better for you fast. You know you kind of proved the running without gadgets that this thread is about right?;)
 
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#59
NickW said:
You know you kind of proved the running without gadgets that this thread is about right?;)
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Yah, my second-to-last paragraph in the last comment was a sarcastic recognition of the irony involved.

My display is just three fields: time, pace, distance. That's all I want to know, and after a while I'll probably be leaving the gadget at home most of the time, just checking in once in a while on a new route or if I feel like I've made some improvements in pace and want to verify. I have to say, I've been impressed with the design and sturdiness of the Garmin 205, but it's kind of annoying to have it on my wrist.

Probably going to have a doctor check out the toe joint. The pain was enough (and I have a high pain tolerance) to warrant caution. I wouldn't want to be running on a broken or fractured toe. I kicked the side of the upturned concrete with a lot of force, and it's a bit swollen today. I feel soooooooo stupid!
 
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