Mileage

[Adam R Wende]

I’ve had this discussion with a few people and thought it might strike up some conversation. I know I used to be a watch runner and never really logged mileage just time. Then I started training seriously and ran the same “metered” loops every day. Then I got a Garmin and went crazy. However, I’ve noticed I’ve also become somewhat of a gadget slave, circling at the end of runs to get to that next mile mark… What about you?

[Jon Allen]

I'm not at all a GPS guy, and firmly believe that many runners (some on this blog) put too much faith in the accuracy of those gadgets.  Paul is somewhat an expert on this matter, and he will tell you that the accuracy is not down to 0.01 miles.  I chuckle everytime I see someone complain in a race report that a 5k was long since their garmin reported the milage as 3.14 or something like that.  I've also had runs where GPS people I was with looped around the parking lot for 10 extra seconds just to get to the "round number", thinking it somehow made the run more official. 

Personally, I always round to the nearest 1/2 mile.  Never more exact.  Somedays I know I am a bit longer and somedays I am a bit shorter, but rounding is close enough for me and evens out in the end.  I can understand people rounding to 0.25 mile, but not more specific (unless they were doing track repeats or something like that).  Unless you have had a USATF guy come wheel out the length of your run, exact distances are not... well, exact. 

That is my opinion.  I'm sure lots of you will disagree.  But as for me, my mileage board is always in nice mile or 1/2 mile increments.

[Scott Zincone]

I have set out for a run with a specific distance in mind, but not a specific route.  So I will use my Garmin to let me know how far I have been.  But if I am getting close to home and still want to get in that distance  I will circle the block to get it.  But I also go by how I feel.  Sometimes I cut it short, but many times I will go a little further.  The Garmin has proved to be more accurate than driving my route and measuring it my car.  It is hard to drive on the wrong side of the road and on the sidewalks to simulate where I have been.   And Google Earth does not cover my entire running area with high quality maps.  So that is not an accurate measuring tool for me.  But the newest version of the Training Center I just downloaded will plot my runs in Google Earth.  I really like that.

Also it seems a lot of people use the Garmin for pacing.  So far I have not.  I do not even show that feature on the display.  But I do show my mile splits.  I like to see them even though somedays I am not happy with what it displays.  My pace is set by how I feel. 

[Paul Petersen]

I round to the nearest half mile.

[Dale]

Call me a gadget slave...it doesn't hurt my feelings.    I go by my Garmin, which may not be exactly accurate, but is consistent, which is an important distinction to me.  If I run the same 7 mile stretch as recorded by my Garmin, it records the distance within a half-dozen paces every time.  Perhaps it's not exactly 7 miles, but at least I know I'm getting what I believe is 7 miles consistently.  Later, if I need to bump up my mileage and add a mile, it'll get bumped up by a consistent amount....perhaps not exactly 1 miles, but a consistent amount that's close.  Consistency is the key in my mind.
I have used Garmin too much for pacing, a practice I've tried to get out of by looking at it much less frequently.  But using it does certainly help me associate paces with how I feel much better than my math skills on the run every would.  Guess the trick is to use the available tools and not become their slave...

[Sasha Pachev]

I use the most accurate number I can get, ideally with .01 precision. If I am out on a random unmeasured course, I just go by time, and estimate the distances to 0.1 accuracy from the feel of the pace.

[James Winzenz]

the newest version of the Training Center I just downloaded will plot my runs in Google Earth.  I really like that.

I hadn't even seeen that yet . . . that is totally cool!  I will have to check that out.  I just downloaded and installed the newest version because Garmin had me upgrade my firmware on my device to troubleshoot a sound problem.

I also use the Garmin for measuring the distance I run, and probably need to be a bit less anal about the precision.  I also use the pace function, purely to make sure I am not accidentally running too fast (for extended periods of time).  Sasha has pointed out before that the immediate pace feature is not very reliable, which I agree with, but if I see my pace staying faster than I want to go for more than a 1/4 mile, I know that I need to slow down a bit.  My purpose in keeping track of my pace is to make sure that I don't run too fast all the time to avoid getting injured.

[Scott Zincone]

the newest version of the Training Center I just downloaded will plot my runs in Google Earth

James,
It is Training Center version 3.3.2  When you do try and use it with Google Earth it may lock up everything...like it did for me.  It was trying to plot ALL of my runs at one time.  I guess this was too much for GE.  It worked for me when I right-clicked on a single run and chose to plot it.  I just upgraded to this last night, so I am not sure what else it may be capable of.

[Craig Green]

With Jonathan and Paul- I round to the nearest 1/2 mile.

I only use the Garmin for 3 things:
1) To get my pace when I've done some sort of speed/tempo work
2) The first time a do a new route, to get the mileage. This is most applicable to long runs that may incorporate two or more shorter routes that I'm familiar with.
3) To get my mile splits for a race- after the fact.

I really believe in running by feel, both in training and racing. Because of this, I don't use the Garmin during the actual run. I just use it as a point of reference after the run. That way I can run by feel and see what my level of fitness is based on the numbers that show on the device when finished.

[Jon Allen]

Craig- you are my kind of guy!

Lest anyone misunderstand me, I am not anti-knowledge (i.e. pace, distance, etc).  For example, I know how long some of my runs are.  I have a route that is almost exactly 4 miles, one that is 8 miles, and one that is 15 miles.  I can also tell how fast I am going those days based on my times at certain splits, such as if I need to speed up a bit on a tempo run.  I have even used Garmin's.  But, I prefer to run on feel most days, then check my fitness every so often by doing a known distance.  I don't think I lose out on any fitness by not running the extra 0.1 miles around the parking lot at the end of a run just to get the right distance.  If my run is much shorter than planned (i.e. more than 2-5 minutes), then I will add some more distance.  But nothing short just to meet an arbitrary number.

[Ted Leblow]

I am very similiar to Craig as well. Use the data mainly for analysis purposes. In fact I was bugging Sasha eht other day about looking at his watch to often, especially during easy runs.

[Jon Allen]

Run naked on easy runs (i.e. no watch!)- you should just run easy and not worry at all about pace.  I can relate to wanting to hit a certain pace on tempo runs, etc.  But easy runs should just be easy, irregardless of pace or GPS reading.

[Paul Petersen]

It's a lot easier to not worry about pace during the winter, since my sleeves cover the Garmin! And once it gets really cold, rolling up the sleeve to take a peek just isn't an option.

[Cody Draper]

I like to put exact mileage to bug people.  Mainly Jon and James.  They can be easily annoyed.  Or I am good at annoying.  Who knows?

[Jon Allen]

Mainly the second.  Aren't you the "toughest whiner"?