Anybody run without a garmin?

I never ran with a Garmin, but have run with a Polar and Suunto. They each have footpod (which alone added about $100 to the price of the watch), but it's something I rarely use because I found I rarely needed it.

$100 is pretty much the lower end for a good entry level running watch.

How do you know how far you are going? Usually time is a good enough estimate, when you know your approximate pace. If you need accurate distances, you can run them on a track. Or you can measure your most common routes, using mapping software, or even more crudely, with a bicycle equipped with an odometer. Or you can ask you mom if you can buy a Jones counter.

How about gauging efforts (someone else asked that question)? For beginners who cannot judge efforts by feel, using a HR monitor, with a well-defined set of training zones, is a good way to control the efforts from becoming too fast for your fitness.

I run without a Garmin and I have never own one so far.

I map my runs with gpedometer maps, and I run mostly the same loops that I know their distance from the maps. Occasionally I do long runs in a course with kilometer marks, so I find no need for a Garmin.

As for races, I choose races with kilometer markers.

If you're a serious distance runner, run by feel and without the use of a GPS watch. Several others have already commented how they are in tune with your pace. It doesn't matter if your scheduled run is 8 miles, and you run 7.8, or 8.3 miles.

And besides, inevitably at every road race I run, I hear folks always bitching about how that 5K they just ran was actually 3.3 miles, or their Garmin says they ran 13.7 miles for this half marathon. It doesn't matter what your GPS says, the course is the course.

Since your young, get in good habits now and do without.

Go down to your local track and jog around it for several miles. Figure out your average pace/mile. Now when you get back on the roads assume you'll be going a bit slower for grades and turns and road crossings, fiugre out your general distance from that. No need to be down to the tenth accurate for daily runs.

I didn't mean to imply I do it every run. Sometimes I end up g-mapping, occasionally I have driven a route. Also from running with others who have Garmins on occasion.

One of the friends I run with regularly has almost made a game out of it. He'll ask what our pace is or how far we've gone and wait for my answer before he checks his Garmin. I'm typically within 2-3 sec. Per mile. If nothing else it's something to do on a long run.

I run with a Garmin 305. I bought it because I was living in a town where I didn't have access to a track and I wanted to be able to program workouts and know fairly exact distances. Did I need it? Probably not. But I like it, and it worked for me.

As for finding out that the 5K was actually 3.3 and the half marathon was actually 13.7. That stuff never really bothers me. Run your tangents and try to beat the person in front of you!

Nice troll.

People survived without a garmin for years and you can too.

I don't even use a watch.

I have a garmin 410 and love it. It's completely worth the money and if you break it they will replace it for life.

If your mom won't let you buy one, you can always use mapmyrun.com to determine your distance and pace.

Old Miler wrote:

Back in the 80s we all had sextants, and navigated by the stars.

....and timed ourselves with sundials.

I used to use a garmin, then I accidently destroyed it.

Now I don't even use a watch. I really enjoy just running now instead of being worried about pace, distance and time. Coming back from an injury this has been the best thing for me because now I actually listen to my body and run on feel instead by the watch.

I've tried a Garmin (my wife's)--damn thing's too heavy. I'm aware of it swinging on my wrist. Anyway, if I don't know how far I've just run, I like getting home and Google-mapping it. It's particularly fun to look at the close-up satellite view of somewhere you ran on a trip. If I need a really accurate course (road time trial, etc.), I get out the old measuring wheel from my XC coaching days and go for a stroll with it. (Last time, some guy asked me, "Does it eat much?") The wheel is also the only way I've found to measure things like hallways inside buildings or the warmup loop around the New York Armory (indoor) track.

I run on a trail with mile markers and wear a timex. A couple times per week I don't even bring the watch. If I'm trying something off the trail, I will map it first.

Haha, YO (super cereal) wrote:

I assume you're kidding, right? If not, how the fvck do you know that you're "pretty much always accurate to within 1/4 mile" without GPS? Do you measure it with your car or on a map after you run?

And I am assuming that you are kidding. There are many ways to measure the distance of a route. Drive it in a car, ride it on a bike, measure it on a map, map it on google maps... And then there is the fact that with experience one can simply become good at whatever one practices, like for example knowing one's pace.

I was in HS during the late 70's. No garmins then. I could easily estimate the milage of any course I ran to within 0.1 miles (courses up to 15 miles) just by feel. I could then go back and check it in a car but I was so consistently within 0.1 miles that after a while I rarely even bothered - I already knew how far a course was just by running it. And no I don't think I have any special gift for that. All of my running buds could do the same thing.

I think that when one gets dependent on a particular technology one loses any sense of what one is capable of without that technology.

Just run a certain amount of time and divide by 5. That will give you the distance you ran. That's what everybody else here does.

Casio 50 lap WS110 marathon watch $45.

This is the best running watch I know of at any price,

and the only one with dual countdown timers to the second.

I have found this map to be more accurate than a garmin.

http://www.usatf.org/routes/map/

Lane length calculator

http://www.eracewalk.com/CalcTrac.htm

All my usual courses have been measured with a jones counter and the calibrated bicycle method. If I run some other course then I just go by time or else use the map.

I've used a garmin a few times for hiking routes but it's a hassle to use and not very accurate.

J.R. wrote:

All my usual courses have been measured with a jones counter and the calibrated bicycle method. If I run some other course then I just go by time or else use the map.

Really? Not being a smart a**, but how many "usual courses" do you have? Do you just run the same routes over, and over, and over ... Do you have your own jones/bike combo?

Old Miler wrote:

Back in the 80s we all had sextants, and navigated by the stars.

Luxury, absolute luxury. We had to navigate by the seat of our pants.

It's been posted before, but gmaps pedometer works great.