Untracked Running

If you run three miles and your Garmin ran out of battery halfway through did you even run it?

Of course you did. But this feeling is familiar to many runners who use devices to track their distance, speed, heart rate and other data. I love all this data; it helps me gameify my running and manage goals. It helps me compare my watch time and distance to the official distance and chip time of a race. It motivates me to push harder when I want to slow down. But it can also create the false impression that if you are not working toward a SMART Goal (Specific, Measurable, Assignable, Relevant, Time-based) you’re not really doing anything.

After the marathon last November I experienced a bit of a slump. From what I’ve read this is not uncommon after a marathon or ultra. I just couldn’t get back that loving feeling. I did a 5k in January and I was okay with my time and I had some fun, but my heart wasn’t really in it for the run. My family attempted to do our own 5k in February with all our dogs. We all started our Garmins and took off with our dogs spreading out and catching up to each other but my Josie was just a puppy then, she could not (and should not) run a 5k. I got a lot of my mileage literally running in a circle around her while she laid down in the grass or handing off her leash to one of my family members and running out and back to her. I wish I had the GPS map of how I put together 3.1 miles because I’m sure it looks wild.

I didn’t run much after that. At first I had all the usual excuses about the weather, or being tired or sad, or about my shins that always hurt… but then I stopped making excuses.

I didn’t run because I didn’t want to.

Then something shifted… I don’t know what changed but one day I was out with Josie in the park and we just started running and it felt really good. She would take breaks, suddenly deciding to stop and lay down under a tree. Sometimes she was tired and sometimes she just saw a dog she was hoping to say hi to. After a break I would ask ‘Okay Josie are we ready to run again?’ and do a little hop, if she jumped up ready to go we would run more and if not we would wait.

Over time we have been able to do longer stretches of distance without taking a break. I’ve tracked a single mile so I can establish some landmarks and I have a pretty good sense of the distance in the park now. Most mornings I get out to the park by 6 am. We run the first mile without stopping and then take it at a more leisurely pace. Her thick coat means she doesn’t like the mid-day heat so we try to really make our morning walk count. Generally we’re out there moving for about an hour. At 7 am we come back home and I’ll do a 10 minute Chloe Ting ab video or just take care of some chores or practice my banjo. This morning routine is serving me well, I’ve seen my weight drop over the past month since we started this consistently and Josie is happier with hanging out patiently while I work.

I don’t have any speed or heart rate data. No average weekly mileage. Just me and my Josie spending our time doing what makes us feel good.