Thursday 31 July 2014

Running Geek

I once asked the question whether if a tree falls in the middle of the forest and no one posted it one Facebook did it really happen?  I now find I'm asking myself a similar question about running, my Garmin and Strava.  If I run 12 miles but the event is not recorded did I really run it.  Well yes, I know I did really run it but I honestly do find myself being bothered by it.  A number of times recently either my Garmin Forerunner 10 or an upload to Strava have failed me.  My data recorded for the Great Warford 10 miler, for example, just vanished into thin air.  A few other runs have only recorded the distance and route but have no information about speed or pace.  Don't even get me started on Strave segments because they really don't make sense (I want my missing trophoes Strava!!).

I know it shouldn't matter and that there are more serious things to worry about in the world but I can't help feeling annoyed and chested in some way but maybe it's indication of a much bigger issue... actually obsessing over run data.  I know my finish time for Great Warford and that should be enough really but gone are my splits per mile, the little graph where i compare speed and elevation, the breakdown of my pace distribution and the roads that i ran will not appear as a little blue line one my Strava heat map.  Like totally the worst disaster since the Titanic I know (sarcasm) but it does make you wonder  why we spend so much time on this stuff.  It's not new, I know some of the more elder members of my club have kept old style running diaries since their youth (around about the Boer War :p ) and I guess what we have now is just a more modern version of that but i'm pretty sure that they never ran in each new location that they visit to get it on their heat map. 



I'm not sure what impact that this technology reliance has but there are theories that people are ability to do mental arithmetic declined with the increase in the use of calculators.  That's not necessarily a bad thing, why have a calculator and bark yourself so to speak.  I forgot my watch for a race once.  Luckily it wasn't so bad because I could use my phone to record the run but as it was tucked away in my pocket I couldn't watch my pace and speed, and check it against my little negative split guides that I take to each race.  Instead I ran the speed that my body told me to go, forcing it to go slower than this speed at the start (We Love Manchester 10k so fat chance of going fast for the first half a mile anyways).  I still managed to do negative splits across the six miles and even though it wasn't a pb (dodgy leg cramps) the timing was actually pretty good so maybe we are losing some ability to listen to body signals.  I've stopped watching my pace so much since but I still need the little blue line that told me that I ran there and a couple of graphs to obsess over.


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