Right on Time: A Deep Dive on Running Watches

Pace Yourself

In last week’s post we looked at running shoes as the primary piece of equipment in the sport.  Today we want to look at the other item that’s become an increasing part of many runners' experience.  Since our sport is measured predominantly by time, a watch can be a valuable tool for any runner’s training.

That’s especially true for our program, where most of our runs have assigned durations, pace ranges, or both.   Whether it's a forty-minute easy run, a four-part progression run, or kilometer repeats, most days of training are going to be difficult if not impossible to complete as intended without a watch.   

Watch technology has expanded greatly in the last decade, with many people spending their day with a smartphone effectively strapped around their wrist. But is the highest dollar option really necessary for runners--or even a good thing for that matter?

Buying Time

I would group watches into two general categories. Non-GPS watches simply measure time.  They can be further divided into three tiers:

1.  Simple Watch:  These tell the time of day.  That’s pretty much it.  They could time a run, but someone would have to do the math themselves to figure out how long they’ve been running.
2. Basic Stopwatch:  These watches have the ability to measure the duration of a run from a starting point to a stopping point.  They work well for easy runs, long runs, or any run where the pace remains constant.
3. Lap Memory Watch:  These watches can measure the duration of a run while also logging the duration of individual segments (or laps) within the run.  These make workouts with multiple intervals far easier to time and/or pace.

Non-GPS watches are generally powered by disposable batteries and typically cost (in many cases quite a bit) less than $100

With the presence of GPS technology, the second group of watches has the ability to track distance and time and thus calculate paces.  Because the GPS drains more power, they typically include a rechargeable battery.  That--along with the technology--generally drives prices of these watches to a minimum of $100. 

Rather than categories, I would place most GPS watches along a spectrum of additional functionality.  The most basic models simply measure the duration of a run and the distance traveled and then calculate the pace, sometimes in nearly real time. 

Moving along the spectrum, one find watches with additional features.  That could be biometric sensors like a heartrate monitor or a sleep tracker.  It could also be smartphone functionalities like the ability to receive calls/texts, play music, or pay.  As expected, the price tends to go up with these.  At the far end are essentially smartwatches, but with the advanced biometric sensors and features like solar charging, prices can climb well over $800.  

With solar charging that can extend battery life beyond a month, gradient-adjusted pace calibration, a built-in LED flashlight, turn-by-turn route directions, and contactless payment, it's no surprise that the Garmin Fenix 7X Pro comes in at cost of $899.

Running by Feeling

So what sort of watch does a high school runner need?  My opinion has changed a bit on this over the last year.  For most runners, I would say a GPS watch isn’t necessary and might even be less than ideal.  I’ll try to give my rationale. 

​The first reason involves responsibility.  GPS watches have to be recharged.  This is probably once or twice a week rather than daily like a phone or Chromebook, so it's harder for a routine to take root.  What I observed last season was a lot of runners forgetting to charge their watches.  And a dead watch isn’t helpful.  While I would love for our runners to have enough responsibility to come prepared, I just haven’t seen it happen in many cases.

Along those lines, I’ve also seen watches lost/destroyed.  That’s a harder pill for parents to swallow when $200 is on the line instead of $30-40.

For a more responsible runner, those aren’t big concerns, but another thing I’ve heard from some of the top performers in the sport and seen in my own running is the impact GPS watches have on the ability to run by feel.  There’s an analogy here to ultra-cushioned shoes.  Just as shoes with a huge layer of foam can become crutches that inhibit the natural strength of a runner, a GPS watch can do the same for their ability to sense effort levels.

Until a year ago, I very rarely ran with a GPS watch.  If asked to run an eight minute mile—especially on a track or some other consistent surface—I could probably hit it within a few seconds either way.  I had a strong enough sense of my body and fitness to know what that speed felt like and whether I was revving the engine a bit too much or taking things too easy.  But with my GPS watch, I’m constantly fed a real-time pace.  Rather than looking inward for a sense of how fast I’m going, I’ve found myself more and more looking out to the screen on my wrist.  A year later, I’m not sure how close I could get my mile to eight minutes without GPS assistance. 

For the super competitive runner like myself, the numbers from the watch can also open a dangerous rabbit hole of overexertion.  If I knew my average pace on last week’s easy run was 9:45, my natural tendency this week is to try to beat that.  More than once I’ve seen this become a slippery slope toward too much, too fast, too soon. 

Plus, the ability to run by feel can be incredibly valuable for a runner, especially during a race.  Being in tune with their body can help a runner make adjustments better than most watches.  In a race on a hilly course, a watch might tell someone with fair accuracy that they are running a pace of six minutes per mile, but it probably can’t factor in the elevation change or the insane heat wave.  A well-trained runner listening to their heart and lungs can sense the reality that while their pace might have been fine on flat ground, it’s too much on the hills.  Runners who constantly depend on their watch lose that art.

Heather MacLean, NCAA Cross Country All-American and Olympian in the 1500m, does the bulk of her training in a $15 Armitron watch from Wal-Mart.

Too Much Time
​On One's Hand?

The wider problem is that even as technology has advanced, GPS remains inconsistently accurate.  Effectiveness depends on the brand, but also on other elements like weather or surroundings.  Running through a dense forest or city towering with high-rises can easily led to subpar data with location, throwing off measurements of distance traveled as well as pace.  I’ve observed this firsthand running at the lake trail. 

Beyond pace, there are issues with other metrics a GPS watch claims to offer.  A heartrate monitor on the wrist is fairly unreliable, sometimes off by more than 10%.  Something on the chest would get more accurate numbers.  The same is true for cadence (the number of times the feet hit the ground per minute).  Watches generate estimates based on hand movement, but the only way to get exact results is with a foot sensor. 

My watch claims to know my VO2 Max and plasters a number on the screen after every run.  Not only is VO2 Max probably overemphasized in the running community, but a watch on the wrist has absolutely zero way to measure the amount of oxygen someone is using.  It’s all estimates based on case studies of people of similar ages and weights running similar paces with similar heart rates, which one can find free tables for all over the Internet. 

Many watches or their corresponding apps will offer scores for sleep or recovery.  These have been shown to have low reliability … with Garmin's own study giving values below 70%. 

Fancier GPS watches will offer additional values like ground contact time or vertical oscillation that will supposedly optimize someone's biomechanics.  Again, these are mostly estimates based off hand movements and corresponding lab data.   And in the running community there’s currently way too much uncertainty about the relationship between these values and injury or performance to really get obsessed with them.

My point is that a lot of the industry talk is just smoke and marketing.  I’m not saying a GPS watch is all bad.  It can still have its place.  However, I do think consumers should understand what they are paying for and the downside of frequent use.

Once common issue in watches measuring heartrate at the wrist is what is called cadence lock, where the movements of the wrist that the watch uses to gauge cadence (orange dots) get mistaken for the pulses of blood it uses to detect heartrate (gray line). The cadence ends up being presented as the heartrate.

Armed for Success

My personal recommendation for most runners is a non-GPS watch with a lap memory.  Casio (men, women) and Timex (men, women) are the bigger names at this level.  Casio is generally cheaper for similar features.  Most people think Timex looks a bit nicer.  Prices can range from $25-$50 depending on the retailer, model, and color.  These watches are waterproof with durable screens and a backlight.  They don’t have to be charged or taken off, so the odds of them getting dead/lost/left at home is much much lower.  I could wear mine 24/7 and still get more than 2 years out of it before the battery died or the band started to wear out.  At that point it was more cost effective just to replace the whole thing.

If someone is really insistent on a GPS watch, I would suggest one of two extremes.  On the one end I would go with the entry model of the Garmin Forerunner, which is currently the 55.  It retails new for $200 but is sometimes a bit cheaper on sale.  A few stray copies of its predecessor (the 45) can also be found online at a discount, or one could look into used markets.  There are a few other reputable brands, but Garmin is among the top.  Their Clipboard App also makes it possible for runners to share their run data privately with coaches rather than venturing into the more problematic world of something like Strava.

If the other fancy features like music and payment are truly a priority, I would just get something like an Apple Watch.  I’m not really a fan of smart watches, but that’s mostly for mental health reasons rather than training performance.  The GPS on the Apple Watch works fine (some say it’s slightly less accurate than Garmin, but the tests I’ve seen are mixed), and it can often still sync to a number of run analysis apps.  I would say the run-tracking experience is still simpler on the Garmin, but it seems silly to me in most situations to purchase both a smartwatch and a separate running watch.  

These are just a few of the watches with lap memories I found at our local Wal-Mart. The Casios were about half the cost of the Timex. I've also been largely underwhelmed by the Timex options for women.

Isn't My Phone
 a Watch?

About once a week while running I pass someone—usually in the city park—running with their phone in hand.  And on one hand (pun intended) this makes sense.  Phones have a stopwatch and GPS.  There are even a number of dedicated running apps one could install that could offer real-time pace and many of the same metrics as a watch.  This begs the question:  Is a watch even necessary?  Couldn’t someone just run with their phone? 
​
As the people I pass obviously demonstrate, someone certainly could use their phone as a watch.  However, this isn’t ideal for a number of reasons. While some argue a phone is at greater risk of overheating during a long run in someone's hand, I’m not convinced.  I do think there is a high chance of a phone being dropped and damaged. 

However, I’m more worried about how the practice affects the runner than the phone.  First, a phone weighs significantly more than a watch.  To be readily available for checking times and paces, someone pretty much has to hold it in their hand.  That poses a number of concerns.  Gripping a phone for close to an hour is likely to cause hand fatigue and/or cramps. 

​Furthermore, the extra weight of a phone is going to create an imbalance between the left and right sides of the body.  Initially this will affect shoulder movement, but because arms and legs largely synchronize, issues can begin to spread throughout the body’s kinetic chain.  Over time that can disrupt form and mechanics and increase risk of injury. 

I want to be clear that I’m not opposed to someone running with their phone.  Especially when running alone, the presence of a phone provides an added sense of security in case of emergency.  While I like to use my easy runs alone as a time to disconnect and process, some people prefer turning to music or podcasts.  The upper end GPS watches can call, text, and play music independent of a phone, but this isn’t true of the more affordable models. 

I have no problem with a runner keeping their phone on their person during a run.  I just don’t think they should run with it in their hand in place of a watch.  If someone does want to bring their phone on a run, a number of alternatives to holding it exist.  Some—like armbands—are only a marginal improvement.  However, several companies make shorts, leggings, or sports bras with large but secure pockets that can hold a phone.  These are nice, but obviously someone would need a full wardrobe of these garments if they plan to bring their phone daily.  And depending on the location of the pocket, it could still shift weight more to one side of the body than the other.

My recommendation would actually be a belt that stores a phone at the waist.  Because the phone is centered at the core, it won’t generate any lopsided imbalances.  Two brands to consider are Flipbelt and SPIbelt.  

Something like the SPIbelt above is perfect for keeping a phone secure and impact-free during a run.

Winding Things Up

I hope this article has proved helpful in understanding the features and abilities of different watches.  In the end we can make just about any watch work for our training.  If someone already owns a watch, my goal isn’t to create pressure to go out and buy another.  But if someone needs a new watch or is due to replace an old one, here are a few things to keep in mind in summary:

• A durable non-GPS watch with a lap memory is perfectly sufficient for most runners.
• The fancy bells and whistles on high-end GPS watches are largely unnecessary for a high school athlete.  Unless someone has the desire for a smartwatch, an entry model from a reputable brand like Garmin’s Forerunner 55 does all that’s needed.
• While running with a phone can make sense in a number of situations, it should be stored in a specialty belt or pocket rather than carried in hand.

Feel free to reach out with any watch-related questions.  Next week we'll begin exploring some of our specific training activities, starting with our warmup!