All of the downvotes are pretty clear about what the LRC community thinks of GPS watches, but I’m genuinely curious: what are some stylish and minimal watches that just have the basics? (stopwatch, repeating alarm)
Casio is the best wrote:
I can relate to the things the athletes and the article are saying, but I long back learned to not look at my watch during runs—both road and track workouts—though I still would like to know what distance I ran on road (unlike track), so I don’t see having GPS as a negative.
I suppose Prakel doesn’t have much room for improvement at his level, or at least not easily measurable with GPS precision anyway, so he doesn’t care to track his road mileage.
Garmin for the win.
i like my gamin with gps. Don't rely on it, but gives me a good guide about how far I have run and what HR.
You know one of the best sports watches I ever had was the Nike Triax. I really don't know why they discontinued it as they were popular and the features were great.
This is like some hipster subsection of "top runners" plus Heather MacLean. I don't see Kiplimo quoted here. That dude loves his watch and I love mine. But I'm not looking at it often during my run. It's just for after.
Casio is the best wrote:
I didn’t read the article but:
Isnt the trend with our worlds best distance runners to over analyze every little thing? Your heart rate, heart rate variability, lactate, speed of blood lactate increase/decrease, elevation, temperature, precise splits and recovery times?
I think many people make their watch their unknown enemy in training. Pushing for a pace on easy days, tempo days, pushing for a precise mileage planned out weeks ahead, running an extra few meters to avoid a Strava tax, etc.
I think analytical watches can be EXTREMELY Useful if you use it in a way that is beneficial to your training and not your statistics. I have my watch programmed to beep at me if I leave the 168-180 bpm range on my tempo days /threshold intervals, and when I’m checking my watch I have my heart rate and cadence displayed on these days instead of pace/splits. It will also beep at me when my heart rate drops under 140 for jogging recoveries and 120 for standing/walking recoveries. This means on good days I’m taking shorter rest, and on bad days I’m taking longer rest, in a productive way for both. I don’t have to be a slave to my watch either, if I don’t feel recovered enough to complete the next rep by the time the watch notifies me I can call an audible and wait longer, and vice versa where at the end of a hard Vo2Max session my heart rate might not get back under 140 for the next 10 minutes if I’m shuffle jogging at 12:00 pace.
This past training cycle I’ve really learned to instead of subconsciously forcing myself to run 7:30-8:00 miles for easy/recovery days as I check my watch, I immediately set it to heart rate display and keep it like that the rest of the run. Regardless of pace, I’ve learned for myself 130-150 bpm is the best zone for me to recover while still gaining aerobic benefit. Some days I’m running 6:40 miles in that zone, and other days I’m running 8:30s in that zone. I’d be wasting potential or wasting recovery by going my “normal” 7:30 pace on those days, and that’s the pace my legs naturally want to run most of the time too. If I’m not paying attention to anything my first split without fail will be a 7:20-7:40 on easy runs regardless of how sore or fresh I am, or how fit or unfit I am (obv to an extent on the latter)
