The Lost Art of Pacing

When Katie Edwards toed the start line at the Hartford Marathon on a rainy day last October, she was chasing a 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Trials qualifying time. But somewhere around mile 5, her GPS watch lost its signal—and it never came back. Alone on a course crowded with more than 2,400 runners, she had nobody to help set the pace.

"I am completely dependent on GPS in racing and training. I have pretty awful internal pacing," Edwards says. "There was no one to run with. [I thought,] 'I trained for this, and now I have no way of knowing what my pace is.' That was a little panicky."



But the sudden lack of GPS was "the best thing that happened that day," according to Edwards. She started letting the time on her watch and the clocks on the course guide her, calculating her splits along the way. It kept her mind occupied and showed her that she could trust in her training—it had prepared her to run 6:11 pace for 26.2 miles.

Edwards clocked 2:41:56—making her eligible to enter the Olympic trials. She also qualified to run as one of a handful of elite women at the 2015 Boston Marathon.

Breaking The Addiction

Although GPS interference didn't end in a missed goal for Edwards, it easily could have. Kevin Hanson, coach of the Hansons-Brooks Original Distance Project, thinks there is a "lost art of feeling pace." He encourages his athletes not to become too dependent on their GPS—especially in cities, where buildings can affect the transmission of satellite signals that are crucial to providing accurate numbers for distance and pace. He recalls a race last year in which several of his athletes struggled.

"The race was in a city and they weren't getting accurate feedback, but they thought they were. It wasn't until midway through the race when it dawned on them, and they thought, 'Wait, that doesn't make sense,'" Hanson says. "They thought they were running on pace and they were actually 40 seconds slower."

While GPS devices continue to improve, they're not perfect. Who hasn't run a marathon and heard the familiar ding of watches clicking off mile splits before or after the official race markers? That's because no measurement is as accurate as the one taken to certify a course. When a watch is off by several seconds each mile, runners adjust to match desired pace, often going too fast initially, then fading later in the race after trying to make up for lost time.

"We become less efficient at running pace with a device because we're always bouncing back and forth at what our watch says instead of what it feels like," Hanson says.

Predictable Pacing

Bryn Mawr Running Company in Pennsylvania hosts several "prediction runs" each year, in which runners leave behind their devices and predict their finish time for a set course, typically 5, 8 or 10 miles. The runs aren't about speed—they're about accuracy. Awards are given to the 10 runners who finish the closest to their predicted time.


The top-10 prize winners always finish within 30 seconds or less of their predicted times. But the top five are typically within 10 seconds or dead-on, says Bob Schwelm, owner of the store. He has hosted hundreds of these runs since 1996 and says many athletes have told him that the repeated exercise of ditching their watches has helped them learn their proper paces.

Schwelm went an entire year without wearing a GPS device.

"There is a time and a place for a GPS—like something hard, such as a controlled tempo run," he says. "I think that's the only time you need it. I don't think you need it for recovery runs."

Hanson echoes the belief that a GPS can be beneficial in certain instances, particularly in unfamiliar areas or on an uncertified course, when runners really need to track the distance covered.

Although Edwards says she still uses her GPS most of the time, losing that signal during a big goal race built up her confidence that, if disaster strikes again, she can feel a pace and hold it.

"Now I'm not so uptight about things going wrong," she says.

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Use It or lose It? When to wear a GPS.
USE IT

Tempo Runs
When you need to get in a hard workout and pace is key.

Unfamiliar Areas
When you need to make sure you're running a mile and not 0.8 miles.

Uncertified Courses
When there's a chance that 5K course actually could be 3.3 miles.
LOSE IT

Recovery Runs
When tracking your pace isn't critical.

Certified Courses
When you're running a course blessed by USA Track & Field, your best bet is to use the clocks and mile markers along the route for accuracy.

Cities and Wooded Areas
When you're surrounded by trees and high-rises that block the satellite signal needed to accurately report mileage and pace.