The Connected Runner

Runners love gadgets but are some of these gadgets just gimmicks or do they aid training and motivation? 

I recently read an article about a smart running shoe that could record your run through an accelerometer and provide data such as time run and distance when uploaded to an app. It also provided data on the amount of miles your running shoes had covered – useful when you are clocking up a lot of miles through marathon or ultra-distance training. 

There are so many choices of devices out there for the beginner through to more seasoned runner or triathlete. You can use an app on your mobile phone to measure the distance you’ve run, your average pace and map the route you’ve run. If you use a head torch for night runs there are headtorches that allow you to control the beam output from an app on your phone to help manage the battery life - handy for those ultra-distance runs when you are running through the night. You can use a watch that connects directly to GPS satellites or via an app on your phone to measure your running time, distance, pace, heart rate and the route you’ve run, which can then be uploaded to an associated device app or Strava. You can even use these devices to race yourself the next time you run the same route.

There is so much information on hand.  Yet, do we use these gadgets regularly to aid our running? Do they motivate us and what value do we get out of them?

As a coach at my local running club, I love to see how our runners interact with the gadgets that they use and the frequency with which they use them. When we set off on a training night, almost everyone gathers eagerly outside the leisure center, waiting for their GPS watch to pick up the satellites before they hit the start button and head off. A slow connection to GPS means the odd straggler left having to wait after everyone else has set off, then run quickly to catch everyone up when they finally get a connection. 

Without a record of their run they have no evidence that they turned up to club that night; no comparison with their fellow club mates on Strava; no record for their app to track the mileage they’ve achieved this year so far. 

Will the recording of their run on such a device make them a better runner? Not necessarily, but perhaps it is more about whether it motivates them to run in the first place. Many of the apps that go with these devices now provide challenges or badges of achievement. They may publish a league table amongst fellow local runners or a club to show who recorded the most mileage that week or climbed the furthest during their runs.

There is, however, nothing more liberating than heading out the door, without waiting for a connection to a satellite, without knowing how far you have run, how fast or how long for, without an app telling you every kilometer what your time, distance and average pace is. Just enjoying the pure feeling of running. Parkrun themselves hold ‘naked runs’! These do not mean running with no clothes on! Simply rather running without a watch to track your run! But for those worried about not being able to log every mile, there is always the option to log miles manually on your app or maybe those smart running shoes could be a smart idea after all!