why do people time all their run even recovery and easy runs

I use a GPS watch, but I don't look at it at all while running. Only running by feel. I don't get why this is impossible for most people. Even after I'm done, I don't really even look at my splits.

Throw away the watch kinda wrote:

I use a GPS watch, but I don't look at it at all while running. Only running by feel. I don't get why this is impossible for most people. Even after I'm done, I don't really even look at my splits.

For athletes I coach I want to see what they are running each day so I can learn more about them and what paces to set for future cycles.

Also, sometimes I am telling them recovery or regular run effort but I still want to know pace after and how they felt. I have delayed or moved up workouts based on that information.

I look at them to make sure I am not running too fast.

There are multiple reasons. One reason is to make sure you aren't running too fast. Another reason is so you know how much weekly volume you're running. As for splits, I have my watch set to split automatically, and I see no reason why I should go out of my way to turn off auto-split for easy runs and then back on for other runs.

We don't want to be late for work, and still in a forest trail miles away from home.

Throw away the watch kinda wrote:

I use a GPS watch, but I don't look at it at all while running. Only running by feel. I don't get why this is impossible for most people. Even after I'm done, I don't really even look at my splits.

I run on feel most of the time, I have recovery runs but I still time everything.

How can more information ever be considered a bad thing?

It important to know your body. If you are running at a what feels like an easy pace it's good to know your speed.

There is a science to the decisions that you make in developing your body to run faster. How could information, if it's understood and used wisely, ever be a bad thing?

I only wear a watch when doing a hard tempo or time trial. I don't even know how far most of my runs are so the time wouldn't mean much anyway.

I use my GPS watch to know how far and how fast I am running. I find it incredibly helpful in having this information, seeing as I am a runner who is training to run faster.

You might not find it useful to measure your progress on easy / long run days, but I do. Last year 6 miles at 7:20 pace was an easy run. This year 10 miles at 6:45 pace is an easy run. I like knowing that, especially because it’s hard enough to find motivation as is. And it’s not like I must go out of my way to measure that, I just turn my watch on when I start and off when I finish.

Also, I run way too slow without a watch.

time is silly wrote:

I don't understand why some people time all their easy runs, even posting mile splits, for example, today I did 5.23 miles at a 7:32 pace and my splits where, 1 mile 8:00 minutes and so on. I did about 8 miles today myself and I don't want to know my splits.I was very tired today, so I ran off effort. Does any pro runner time their easy runs, with mile splits and all?

They do it because they are OCD.

I just run at whatever pace for whatever distance feels right. The numbers are irellevant. If that means walking is involved, then that's what I do. OCD runners just can't comprehend this.

I know right? Timing runs is stupid, I never carry a watch. I don't even know what day it is.

I also don't see why people run wearing shoes and clothes. I never wear all that, and I'm doing just fine.

I do it because I have ADD and am easily distracted. I naturally run very slow, so timing the run and checking my pace helps to cue me to run faster.

I guess I don't get the question. If your training plan calls for you to run x miles at y pace, why pinball wizard it?

natural man wrote:

I know right? Timing runs is stupid, I never carry a watch. I don't even know what day it is.

I also don't see why people run wearing shoes and clothes. I never wear all that, and I'm doing just fine.

Miss the point much?

Bit douchy to complain but yeah it's weird how obsessive some people get, i don't get it. You'l see some anal retentive runner post on some forum enthusiastically they ran a 7.37 mile on an easy run and proclaim shock horror they were only meant to have run 7.40, wtf? Or '8 mile Easy run today, bit quick!, ran average 7.12, probably should have done 7.15, hopefully no harm done!'..FFS. fkkk off. It's all GPS watches fault.

time is silly wrote:

I was very tired today, so I ran off effort.

That's the crux of it. If you know what effort you want to hit and can do it by feel, then it absolutely doesn't matter what the watch says. BUT if you are a new runner and don't know what an easy run should feel like, then I can see the value in keeping track of time and even splits. I mean if your coach tells you to do 3 miles easy in 24 minutes,and you go and split 6/8/10-min then you haven't done an easy run at all.

I used to disconnect for my easy runs because I usually run them in the mountains and it’s nice to just enjoy the outdoors. Then I got very ill and subsequently totally deconditioned. Now I time everything, including easy runs, to see what my recovery looks like. As a poster above said, new runners do the same thing for the same reason.

time is silly wrote:

I don't understand why some people time all their easy runs, even posting mile splits, for example, today I did 5.23 miles at a 7:32 pace and my splits where, 1 mile 8:00 minutes and so on. I did about 8 miles today myself and I don't want to know my splits.I was very tired today, so I ran off effort. Does any pro runner time their easy runs, with mile splits and all?

First of all, timing or not, I'm running off of effort. I just look at my splits to make sure I'm not going too fast. The reason you time these things is so you can see if you're recovering enough. For example, if you run about 7:30 pace on your easy days, but one week that same effort level is 8:15 pace, you may be overworked. Information is your friend, you just have to have the self control not to let it change the goal/effort of an easy run.

time is silly wrote:

I don't understand why some people time all their easy runs, even posting mile splits, for example, today I did 5.23 miles at a 7:32 pace and my splits where, 1 mile 8:00 minutes and so on. I did about 8 miles today myself and I don't want to know my splits.I was very tired today, so I ran off effort. Does any pro runner time their easy runs, with mile splits and all?

Why did you run "8 miles" though? What is special about 8 miles? You should have timed it instead with a stopwatch and not worried about the distance. 8 miles in 70 min is different from 8 miles in 50 min.

Timing your runs is important and it makes sense why people time their easy runs. The duration and effort is all that matters. What I don't understand is why people care about the distance of the run, even when it's workouts, long runs, etc.

because... wrote:

time is silly wrote:

I don't understand why some people time all their easy runs, even posting mile splits, for example, today I did 5.23 miles at a 7:32 pace and my splits where, 1 mile 8:00 minutes and so on. I did about 8 miles today myself and I don't want to know my splits.I was very tired today, so I ran off effort. Does any pro runner time their easy runs, with mile splits and all?

They do it because they are OCD.

I just run at whatever pace for whatever distance feels right. The numbers are irellevant. If that means walking is involved, then that's what I do. OCD runners just can't comprehend this.

This is ridiculous. For starters, I hate the term "OCD" being bandied around as if it's some casual character trait, if you'd spent any time around someone who is clinically OCD you'd know quite how debilitating it is.

And secondly, knowing how fast your recovery runs are can actually be very useful. A guage of effort relative to performance (yes even for a recovery run) is always a useful reference.

Finally, most people's watches just do this for them anyway these days