By Coach Adolfo Salgueiro

As we gear up for our goal races for the 2024-25 season, we set up objectives, benchmarks, training plans and invest countless hours, sacrifices, money, and emotions into what we want it to be. So, this may be an appropriate time to remind ourselves that we do this because we like challenges, because we are a little bit crazy, and because we like running. Nobody runs (or shouldn’t) because of a desire to be miserable.

Unfortunately, the ubiquitousness of the GPS watch in our sport has made us a bit miserable by turning our attention to countless measurements, mostly of parameters we don’t understand or should even care for. This, combined with social media oversharing, has turned training into competition. It has led to many a runner burnout, injury, and the withdrawal of the fun element of running.

I am writing this blog post because I recently saw the meme below (Credit to the appropriately named website www.dumbrunner.com). Is this you?

Unfortunately, this is not meant to be a funny meme. It is a sad reflection on what many of us have become thanks to a combination of what our GPS watch can measure and what we can share in social media. If this is not you, someone close to you certainly is.

We all know that person who:

• stops the watch at a traffic light or water break because it will mess their averages.

• equates their personal or athletic self-worth to their racing PRs.

• complained that a World Marathon Major was mismeasured because their GPS watch said so.

• ended up on the verge of death on a day it just wasn’t meant to be rather than show their unknown Strava friends that they had a difficult day.

• lives by his/her VO2Max fluctuation without even understanding what that VO2Max measures.

• refuses to take a day off because they’ve been predicating they are in a streak and nothing can stop them.

I once heard Coach Jonathan Marcus state that “the watch is a record, not a director”. What a deep thought! And sure, we all want to know what’s happening with our running, especially now that instant feedback is a wrist flip away. But most of what is being measured is product our running, it is not our running per se.

We must understand that:

• A 9.94 vs. a 10.00 run is not going to make a difference in your training.

• Not all intervals are supposed to measure how far or fast we can run on a predetermined amount of time or distance.

• Not everyone is interested in the splits of each one of your 20, 200-meter repeats.

• It still counts towards your fitness even if you did not post it on Facebook.

• Sure, courses may be mismeasured sometimes, but this is not determined by your GPS watch, regardless of how advanced it is.

• A day off, or two, is not a sign of weakness.

Not looking at your watch from time to time is a liberating experience. Try it. And the coolest thing of all is that your run still counts towards your fitness, your yearly milage and your training log even if your friends don’t know about it.

I am not advocating against GPS watches. It is a useful tool, with mass appeal, affordable and has revolutionized training in almost every sport. I can only imagine what Emil Zatopek, Paavo Nurmi or Frank Shorter could have done with one of those on their wrist. What I am promoting is the return of having fun on our runs. Making sure we are putting ourselves through a 20-mile run on a muggy summer day for the right reasons. In my book, showing strangers on Instagram how tough you are is not a valid reason.

Have you experienced and unhealthy relationship with your GPS watch? If so, share how you were able to overcome it, in the comment box below.