"Running watches can often do more harm than good"Unsplash | Artur Luczka

Ahh running watches. Whether it’s an iWatch, a FitBit or what appears to be a NASA Supercomputer strapped to your wrist, global sales increased some 20% last year as lockdown provided the opportunity for many people to finally ‘get in shape’. And don’t get me wrong, I can understand the appeal of being able to accurately track your performances and gain a sense of progress. However, I just can’t shake the feeling that something’s missing from the joy of running when every step and every heartbeat is mechanically recorded and printed out in black and white.

“...the cold, unrelenting digital face of a smartwatch telling you that you’re just too slow can leave you more miserable after the run than you were before.”

Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a bit of a puritan when it comes to running. I’ve never been one to drool over the latest Nike Zoom Alphafly trainers trimming off 0.3 grams of mass, and I don’t even record my training on Strava. But that’s only because I think there’s an inner beauty to the act of running itself, to the freedom and opportunity it brings. I’m at my happiest when off on a run through the countryside, with no idea of my time or my exact distance. On the one hand, I appreciate that not everyone is blessed with an innate love of running, and that for many running is an arduous chore that makes up a necessary but loathed part of a fitness or dieting regime. However, I don’t think turning running into a mathematical exercise is going to change that; any delight one may gain from noting that their average BPM was 3 beats lower than last time can’t compare to learning to love running for its own sake.

Only last week I was hotly debating this very topic with National 3000m and cross-country runner Jack White, an athlete currently of Churchill College, who made the point that “when you want to run a distance without a GPS watch you’re limited to known routes, but with a GPS watch you can explore freely and make the route as you go, really have fun with it.” I fully acknowledge that GPS can be useful in some circumstances such as route planning and recording, however, the vast majority of people running with a smartwatch will know their route beforehand and will be using the device purely to scrutinise their results.

“I still find that part of the fun of running is sucked out when every aspect of it is incessantly recorded.”

This leads me to my second point, which is that running watches can often do more harm than good. It’s all too easy to become obsessive about kilometre splits and precise weekly mileage – the cold, unrelenting digital face of a smartwatch telling you that you’re just too slow can leave you more miserable after the run than you were before. And whilst healthy competition and camaraderie are certainly good things, constant notifications informing you that Susan down the road has just finished her seventeenth marathon of the week aren’t going to make you feel any better about yourself. Moreover, statistical evidence suggests that fitness watches don’t actually help with performance. A randomised test of 800 subjects conducted in 2013 and 2014 and published in the Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology concluded that a fitness tracker had no overall effect on subjects’ health and fitness, even when combined with a financial incentive.

In addition, it’s not just running anymore. Now, the simple pleasure of a Sunday morning cycle ride or a dip in the local swimming pool are calculated not in terms of enjoyment gained, but rather in terms of total vertical distance achieved or calories burned. Exercise for exercise’s sake seems to have become a thing of the past, and I for one grieve for this lost innocence and simplicity. Sport of this kind can be an excellent method of spiritual detoxification, and can help us keep in touch with nature. It seems a shame, therefore, that technology should so doggedly mark our every step.


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Perhaps I’m nothing more than an old dog struggling to keep up with the new tricks of the modern age. No doubt, I’d rather have been born two hundred years ago so I could go running in my shirtsleeves and pantaloons. And of course, what I am saying doesn’t apply to everyone; many people find their lives are greatly enriched by the availability of simple fitness-tracking devices. However, I still find that part of the fun of running is sucked out when every aspect of it is incessantly recorded. I’ll leave it to you to decide, but who knows? Maybe next time you go for a jog, you’ll just leave the watch at home and make your own time instead.