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Running a race and leaving garmin at home
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Does anyone on here use a garmin for training but not on race day. I wondered what's it like to run a race and ignore the clock and just run at a pace that feels right? I've got so obsessed with the pressure of PBS and hitting splits and race plans I think I might do this in my next race. Anyone have any experience good or bad? Thanks
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I use the Garmin to train with but only wear a stop watch for the races - that way I will run as I feel rather than be constanly checking what pace I am running -
If you are used to wearing a Garmin to train with then you should probably stick with it in the race.
If you have the time then try training without the Garmin for a while and see how good you get at 'feeling' the pace. If you get good at it then that's the time to ditch the Garmin.
Personally I only use a watch and even then it is just for the tempo run and occasionally the LSR. I can tell what is hard, moderate and easy pace. When I started running I timed every run, but prefer not to now.
(HR Monitoring could be the exception - where you feel it is hard/ easy, but the monitor says otherwise. I never went down that route but could understand that being a benefit.)
I train with a Garmin but stopped taking it to races. It was a distraction, the mile alerts never coincided with the race markers and I found myself watching the Garmin more than I was looking where I was going. That was before I started using Garmin Connect. I have a race this Sunday and come to think of it, I'd like to have it included in my log.
Hmmm. What I might do is put it in a bumbag if I don't think I can resist the temptation to look at it while running. That way, of course, I can go up to the race director afterwards and tell him "Call that a half marathon? My Garmin says it was 13.2 miles blah blah blah..."
As for pacing in a race, I know roughly what my hr should be at a given pace and a watch is enough to keep an eye on things.
I think after a while, a bit like riding in your car, you know roughly what speed you are going. But you kind of have, to have had the Garmin experience to be in that zone. There are some races where i only look at my Garmin purely to see where in the race i am, since there is not always the distance markers on the hill runs so frequently, and because you are running at naturally a slower pace, there is sometimes little point to see how quick you are going.
I used to get so obsessive and even wrote times down on my arm for the place where i wanted to be for each mile. I think with Brighton half, the Garmin was useful for two reasons. First the distance got screwed up, and second, i did have a time i wanted to achieve and knew i had to keep below 7.3 to achieve it, so my Garmin was needed.
I only use a basic Garmin Forerunner 205. It works though. When i have been running a few more years, perhaps realised i have peaked with my running, then i might hang it up for good, but for now, on my wrist it will probably always stay. For better or for worse.
I have done it but I use my garmin a lot for heart rate too. In a race I like to run based on heart rate and know whether I'm starting too fast fast or if my preceived effort is actually as hard/easy as it seems.
I don't know if you're similar. It's nice to not be obsessed with splits and just let your body and mind flow into the race....but my heart rate tells me a lot about myself!
Cheers,
LM
I used to obsess with my Garmin stats in training and races. But since returning to running after a serious illness last autumn, I've just left distance on my Garmin and ignored the rest to just get back to simply running again and not put any pressure on myself as I know I will be down on times. And I've really enjoyed it.
In the past I've found myself thinking "um... that's slow, I must be rubbish" or "um.... that's quick, it should be hurting now" and then find it hurts cos I think it should hurt. I do press the lap button at regular intervals to allow me to look at the data after the run, but not during. I did my first race like this at the Bath Half and it was interesting that I ran most of the race at my target pace just by feel (and then faded at mile 11 but that wasn't a surprise!).
I'm definitely considering heading down the HR route now as it seems like a good time for me to try something different - and when I'm back to full fitness it will stop me starting off too quickly.
Am running a mara this weekend and will turn off the HR as I used to focus on running to it but I want this time to try and run an aggressive, more risky strategy where I ignore HR and just stick to pace. We'll see what happens.
No, I'm used to it now. I wear it virtually every time I run. When I stated it took some getting used to and I had to cut off labels to stop rubbing. But I've never had a real issue with comfort while racing.
Am I missing something here? 10k pace is the pace that you can keep up for 10k, no more. Keeping it up for 8 miles would suggest that it's not your 10k pace, and why do that in a HM? You're a lot faster than me but I think you need to look at your race strategies.
Dylan man wrote (see)Yes!Dylan - if you've ever seen a Lactate Threshold graph, you will realise it reveals a lot about your ability to run and perform. On the bottom is pace and on the vertical axis, you have increase in lactic Acid concentration in the blood (mmol).
A bad lactate profile will have a gradual and progressive uplift of the curve.
A highly trained athlet ewill have an almost flat Lactate profile, so no real difference in energy burnt between recovery jogging speed all the way up to steady running. But then the curve will take a sharp deflection upwards, a sudden increase in lactate. Hang on, I think I made an example graph about this a few years ago. Voila. Hopefully that reveals something to you.
Only once turned up for a race (a HM) without my Garmin - after a minor panic attack, realised there was nothing I could do about it, so just lined up and ran how I felt. Got to the 6 mile point feeling great, asked a fellow competitor what the time was and was amazed to find i'd been running about 30 secs/mile faster than planned.
Wasn't sure whether to slow down, or just go for it , in the end decided to keep going, and managed to stay with it and come in with a big PB, something I'd never have done if I'd been a slave to my splits.
Despite that though, I have no intentions of leaving it behind again, I'll just aim higher at the start