​LISTEN AND LEARN

Stairway to the Public Market in Seattle from the Elliott Bay Trail. Taken by PKSenagore June 12, 2017. All rights reserved.

LISTEN TO YOUR BODY TO TRAIN TO BE A BETTER RUNNER.  That’s what all the gadgets claim to allow us to do, says Adam W. Chase in his article “This May Make You Rethink Training with So Many Gadgets” for Competitor.com. Can we do this without the gadgets? YES.  Many of the top coaches and trainer advise us to ‘run by feel’.  So why do runners favor using devices that provide warehouses full of data instantly?

Ask yourself this question and the answer will likely be similar to that of other runners.  My answer: I don’t trust myself to do it well AND I’m a bit lazy. I want it done for me. I don’t have a human coach to urge me to pick up the pace, run another speed interval set, or ignore the rain.  The voice in my head might indicate it’s okay to slack off on a tempo run or skip a strength session after a run.  The next best solution is a device in my hand (phone).  For others, it might be on a wrist, in an ear, or on a shoe.

Chase reports that there is “a new wearable that measures your heart rate through ear-mounted biosensors and uses artificial intelligence to analyze the data and then coax you through your run via high-end earbuds and a soft, feminine voice.”  

ThE collection and analysis of biological data in real-time means that interpretation of results can be communicated to a runner almost immediately. We monitor the display screen or listen to a voice as we run. The downside:

1. We stop monitoring and listening to our own bodies, and become worse at doing it.
2. The natural rhythm of our run is interrupted as we intermittently check for feedback
3. A lost or corrupted bit of data can become a catastrophic training event.

Chase makes a good point, by asking whether a serious athlete would rely on a smartphone to train. If we hope to be serious about our sport we might be better off working harder to monitor ourselves, and learning how to trust our own observations and feelings. 
 
The BASIC equipment needed to run by feel, from personal experience gained after deleting my phone running tracker, are:

• Stopwatch function on a timepiece or phone.
• Track oval with its known yardage for speed work.
• Hill or parking lot ramp with a moderate slope that takes 1-2 minutes to climb.
• General measurement of distance markers (1-5 miles) along regular training paths and roads for longer runs.
• Classic ‘talking’ method for measuring running effort: holding a conversation with another person (easy), saying only a few words (hard) or gasping for breath (hardest).

 
Runners who need to be convinced to wean off gadgets after reading this article, should go for an important training run with a phone almost out of charge or in an area without a cell signal. Or in the middle of a run mimic accidentally resetting or deleting the session. Imagine this situation will be long term.  It’s what changed my mind about the wisdom of relying on gadgets for training.
 
RUN HAPPY!
 
http://running.competitor.com/2017/07/shoes-and-gear/rethink-training-with-gadgets_165811