Q: Do Fancy Watches like the Nike+ Sportwatch GPS or Garmin help you train better?
Lauren-
It seems like everyone has one of those Garmins or the new Nike GPS watch or something similar. Does having one of those actually help you train better? I just have a watch (and a Nike sportband, which I haven’t used in a year) and half the time I don’t even time my runs. Do I need to have all that data to get better?
If I bring back the ol’ sportband, I’m challenging you on Nike+.
-Meggie
A:
Running in the New Mexico forest with Mena.
Dear Meggie,
My purest running is of the “hippy on a forest trail” variety, and I often run with no watch at all. Do you have to have a fancy watch to improve? No. But can they help you train better? Yes. And by the way, the answer to the question you didn’t ask: “Are GPS watch people annoying?” is also “Yes.” 🙂
When it comes to using techy watches, the endurance world splits into two groups: GPS people and freedom runners. When the Garmin first came out, freedom runners everywhere were appalled when a GPS person joined them on their favorite long run only to tell them afterwards that it was 10 miles, not the promised 12. GPS people would kindly alert their freedom runner friends that their easy run pace was actually a minute slower than they’ve been recording in their logs for the last five years. It didn’t take many of those experiences before a passive aggressive resistance movement took hold.
If I hadn’t been a Pro runner looking for every edge possible in 2005, I would probably be President of the freedom runners by now. I get it, I really do. If a GPS gets into the wrong persons hands:
- You can’t go on a run based on how you feel (they two-step you and push the pace into their zone).
- You can’t be content with a 90 minute long run on hills (the end mileage # suddenly seems pathetic).
- You can’t stop the run when you get back to the car like a normal person (they start doing loops around the parking lot until the watch says exactly 6 POINT ZERO miles).
But the fact of the matter is, a GPS can really take you to the next level. I’ve used several over the years and most recently a Nike+ Sportwatch. They are still updating the firmware since its a first generation model, (all 1st gen. have their quirks) but I have confidence it will soon be the best watch out there, especially because of the online community 4 million strong on Nike+. A GPS lets me know exactly how fast and far I’m running. It liberates me from needing to run on a track to get exact paces, which helps me stay healthy and refreshed on the trails or roads. I can get an effective workout in ANYWHERE…on vacation, on an island, you name it. Most importantly, it gives me objective data so I can use logic rather than emotion to evaluate my training.
Here are some tips for people who are considering getting a GPS watch:
How to Use a GPS Watch Effectively:
The trick to using a fancy watch effectively is to use it for a week or two without looking at any of the data during the run. Run the way you always run, THEN go through the data. The number one mistake people make is they obsess over the paces and numbers from the word “start,” freak out when it says 8:30 pace instead of the anticipated 7:45 pace, and ramp up their training to make the watch say what they were expecting it to say. That is a quick way to both over-train and lose all your training partners.
A fancy watch will tell you the truth. Don’t be afraid of the truth. Once you make the mental adjustments to your actual data, the fancy watch is your best friend. You still run based on how you feel (freedom runners take note) but after the run is done, you can look at the stats and have real information that helps you make real training decisions. And sometimes you need to run out of your comfort zone and hit certain paces on command if you are going to improve.
A fancy watch helps you interpret and plan for the future. If it turns out you’ve been running much slower than anticipated for a week, you have concrete data that you are on the edge a bit, and need to watch your recovery. If you record some impressive numbers, it can really boost your confidence to see the data laid out there for you. Without a fancy watch, you miss the opportunities to really relish in your awesome days. Any sports psychologist will tell you the importance of spending time bathing in your successful moments. Staring at your timex simply doesn’t inspire a chest bump.
You don’t need to use all the features, (or ANY of them for that matter,) every day. But it is great to have them when you need them.
I can geek out with the dorkiest of GPS runners, but please, if you get one, promise me one thing:
“Lauren, I promise I won’t become a geekazoid splits monkey and run around the parking lot to finish on a perfect mile split.”
Think about it…those things have a margin of error, people! Seek help!
Readers, what do you think of GPS watches for training?
Funny you should post this, since my Garmin 305 factored heavily into how I ran my long run this morning.
I run with a large training group (100+ people of all levels) so you can always find someone to run with. If the ones you’re running with are too fast or slow, you speed up or drop back as necessary and run with someone else. The folks I usually run with started a bit slow–I was feeling antsy at the early 9:20 pace–so I sped up to closer to 8:15, thinking they’d catch me in a mile or two. They always do, eventually.
So I ran with some normally faster people for a while, but switched my Garmin to a “heart rate only” setting that only shows (1) time of day, (2) heart rate and (3) total miles for that run. (This is normally my recovery run setting.) If my heart rate hits too high, I make myself slow down. (Pride be damned!) I ran with those faster guys for a few, then dropped it back a bit, and by then the herd had spread out enough that I ran by myself for a while, which is nice for a change sometimes.
My usual running partners never caught up, and I had an unusually fast run given the heart rate constraints. I ran an 8:08 pace average until I really eased up over the last two miles for a 8:15 pace total.
All in all, a successful Saturday 11.6 miler* in the sweltering central Texas heat! (I’ve found that in this hot/humid weather, it’s better to get your quality miles done in the middle and ease up at the end. You recover faster–even though the training books want you to save the faster miles for the end.)
*See, we’re not ALL geeks! I was toast by the end, and didn’t want any part of another .4 miles. 😉
Where is this group of 100+ runners you meet with? Sounds awesome.
I love training with a GPS watch. I got one right when I was at a down point in my training. I was having a hard time finding good places to run in the city (I live in a somewhat shady area of town), but being able to look at where I’d run on a map each day (without having to remember every run to put it on MapMyRun or whatever) made it a lot easier to see where I’d gone and where I hadn’t, and I eventually found some pretty nice routes. I love using the heart rate monitor with mine too; I set my display to only show my heart rate, so I focus on that rather than the actual mile splits on recovery days. And, like you mentioned, heart rate and pace over time can be a really good way to track when you’re worn down and when you need extra recovery. Overall, I’m a fan.
That’s cool. The heart rate has been the most valuable tool for me as well. Do you ever use the online community to find runs that other people have already synced, to get ideas about where to go? You can search for your city and a bunch of routes will pop up on the Garmin or Nike+ sites.
I have done that, actually. I’m in Philly in a not-so-great part of town, but I’m pretty close to La Salle. I looked on the Garmin Connect website and found one of the runs that one of the La Salle guys did (I’m guessing it was a La Salle guy, judging by the pace), so I just did that. It was much nicer than the runs I’d done before!
Blake and Phil bring up good points, but until my gps monitor will sync to the ‘Net and upload my data before I take my shoes off, I am going to stick with my nifty 100 lap memory recall watch.
You know what Gerry Lindgren’s favorite/hardest workout was? He’d devise a 10 mile route with several (5-6) waypoints along the route. Then he’d run all out to the first way point and take his split, then he’d keep going as hard as he could to the next one, etc. Every couple of weeks he’d do this and have to beat his time each time he did it. Worked for Gerry.
Sounds like a good workout. Especially if you like running the same loop repeatedly to measure your progress.
Running around the parking lot to get to 6.0–guilty. 🙁 But from now on, I will stop that practice, so thank you! But I love the freedom of going anywhere and knowing (with some margin of error) that I’m getting in the training assigned for the day. Another great post, Lauren.
Yeah, way to fess up. 🙂 Stopping when its natural to stop is really just a statement about your training…that you aren’t a slave to your watch. The ideal scenario is to create a loop using the watch that happens to be exactly 6.0 miles without looping the parking lot. Then you don’t look like a weirdo. Ha!
Just gotta figure out what turns to run long and which ones you need to run the tangents perfectly! But I’m not figuring that out – even though I love math – count me out! In regard to Lauren’s comment, after Tiffany’s…
Too funny ! I got a Garmin 405 with the “premium” HRM strap. It did a ton more stuff than I really cared about. I really just wanted to know my HR zone while running, more for interest as I can usually guess pretty close based on how I feel. Other things like current pace, overall pace and distance are good but that’s about it for me. I do like being able to download the route to Garmin Connect. I did at first fall into the trap of “Damn ! That was only 4.93 miles instead of a full 5.00!” but got over that quickly. I did have problems with the Premium HRM strap which gave huge fluctuations. I knew that I was really not on Zone 8.4 (243 bpm for me) two minutes into my run otherwise I’d be in the ER. Ended up buying the standard strap and all has been good. I don’t think I like the touch bezel as much as simple push buttons but will hang on to this one for a while. Anyway, a fun tool and you can get as techie as you want although I’m more into the KISS mode.
I had that watch. It was great except the touch bezel didn’t work that great when it was raining (which is all the freaking time in Eugene). I was lucky I bought it at REI (lifetime warranty) so when it fritzed out, I traded it in for a 310x. Not as sleek, but bullet proof, water proof (rather than resistant) and more accurate (the 405 only takes a GPS point every 4 seconds so its less accurate on trails). But it sounds like if you don’t really care about all the excess nonsense, you might be a great fit for the Nike GPS. It focuses on the things you care about. By the time you are ready for a new one, they will probably be on 2nd gen.
It has nothing to do with the Patriot Act, the pcctaire has been used since the late 70 s. It has been upheld by the Supreme Court. There is no search involved, a search means to look into a closed area. As long as the tracking device is placed on a vehicle licensed by the state to traverse public roadways, it is perfectly legal. And yes if you find it you can do what ever you want with it. Oh yea, if you have a fast-pass you already have the transmitter.
I am a long-time Garmin wearer and love using the GPS watches. I am almost always a freedom runner with a GPS watch on, even on the track, and look at my numbers after the fact to see if they line up with my perception. Lately, coming back from a weird injury that affected my gait, I look at my watch during the run because it tells me if my gait is still off or if I am doing okay. Sometimes it’s hard for me to tell by perception alone because I have kinda gotten used to it. Mostly I like being able to run all over town and still know how far I went, and the watch has helped me develop general routes that go wherever I want.
In my mind, that’s the ideal way to use one. Although I’m unclear about how it helps you get information about your gait. Can you elaborate?
I’ve been using a very low end Garmin watch for the past two years now. For people like me that cannot afford a coach, it’s the next best thing. I think it’s agreat complement to anyone’s training. First, it keeps you honest. If you need on a given day to run a specific distance at a specific pace, the Garmin will make sure you do it. And for a numbers guy like me, the statistics it supplies you are a great tool to measure your progression or to identify areas that I need to focus on.
Just like any other tool, the idea is to use it wisely, not obsessively. Balance is key. I use the watch for many training runs but for some, especially the more relaxed stuff, I have no trouble leaving it home.
Good point about it serving as a coach. Its like the perfect coach: one you can listen to when you want, and who doesn’t bullshit. 🙂
After getting one for Christmas 2 years ago I wonder why I didn’t get one earlier. Since I mostly train by myself, it’s nice to get the instant feedback on pace (since I have never been able to be that consistent). Most of the time now I glance at it for the pace and see how I’m doing or if I want to see how a certain pace feels I try to get to that time and stick with it. Keeping the log of the runs is great because I can always look back and see my progress and leave comments about how it went.
The best is when you start running and a see the time on the watch and completely surprise yourself with how fast you are going.
Not sure if you already know but your blog got mentioned in the February issue of Outside Magazine (page 37). It was great meeting you last year at New Balance in Farmington Michigan. Good luck with your training and racing this ye.iaMrchael
If you have a GPS watch you should learn how to use it’s navigation features. You never know when you’ll need it.
http://gpsrunner.blogspot.com/2009/11/using-navigation-on-your-garmin.html
Johny, if you’re running that far, you’ve got more problems than just trying to get faster!
I had a cheap polar watch for a few years before getting a polar 800 with the s3 foot pod instead of gps, and I fell in love. It gives stride length and cadence as well as distance (and it’s at least as accurate as gps if not more so around turns). You can definitely see where you started falling apart in a race or even in a casual long run with this plus hr, speed, etc. I don’t know how to train specifically for cadence or stride length, but I can see which routines get better results over time (at least that’s what I tell myself). I agree with others as far as using it more for the after-run-review. It’s fun to see improvement, and it motivates you to get after it when you see a downward trend. It diffinitely helps guide me in the weeks before a race, even if it’s mainly to slow down. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not elite or anything, but pr’s are always rewarding.
Lauren, longtime fan, first-time commenter.
This is a great discussion and you are, as usual, spot on.
I have a slightly unusual perspective on this, as I work tech support for Nike+, and wanted to comment on something I find to be a huge issue among GPS users (or users of any technology that captures run data, for that matter). Like any piece of technology, a GPS watch is imperfect. Your battery may die, GPS signal may become unavailable, there may be a firmware or software glitch affecting users with your configuration, you may run into uploading issues, etc. These devices and the online environment around them have a ton of moving parts, and things can and do go wrong.
I see people get so frustrated and disappointed by these technical glitches–it’s as though the validation of their run via all their gadgets is more important than the actual run! I think you’ve got to adopt a mindset that you run because running is important to you, not because you’re a data-gathering robot. The actual run should always, always be more important than the digital evidence of the run.
Great point. Many of us have probably had those mornings where you’re heading out the door to run, and you put on your GPS watch only to find out it’s not really charged, or something like that. And then you seriously contemplate blowing-off the run altogether rather than run without, or simply going with a “regular” running watch!
Hey Lauren, I know I’m about a week late here, but I’ve been thinking about investing in a gps watch for a long time, and have hesitated for mainly one reason. I do a large amount of my running on wooded trails, and I am concerned the watch wouldn’t get a GPS signal because of tree coverage, making it useless for a majority of my runs. I’m sure you and many who have posted before also do a large portion of running in wooded areas, so can anybody speak to the ability of garmins or nike sports watches to keep a sigal while running on trails of this nature? thanks…and also awesome race this weekend. I was SO pumped to see you come back from injury so strong, it must feel great. Will you be racing a 5k before USA’s or are you gonna go for the 1500 instead?
Coach always said watch don’t lie, but I’m old school. I wear a watch but will go on feel for distance. I am slowly coming around to the benefits of the GPS but I will never be that guy running around the parking lot, and nor will I be that guy who goes back to change the log to correct the distance for my fav go to runs.
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This article was posted a long time ago, but I’m just now in the throws of researching GPS watches. I’ve never felt that I needed one since I have a trail right by my house with mile markers, but at the same time, it would be nice to run somewhere else for a change. I’m a very mile-conscious runner and if I say I have to run 6 miles, it won’t be a tenth of a mile less than that! But I can’t run other places that aren’t marked, so I feel like GPS might be a good thing. Also, I feel like by not having one I’m somehow missing out on a valuable training tool that may make me a better runner. I think it would be nice to see my pace so I can speed up or pull back as necessary. So does a GPS watch make you a better runner? I don’t want to miss the boat on being able to improve!
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