Every now and again I like to leave the mp3 player, gps and even my stopwatch at home, put on my kit and just go out for a run. I think it's sometimes easy to forget that it wasn't so long ago that the only piece of technology runners used to rely on was a stopwatch and a decent pair of shoes. These days gps tracking devices are so readily available that we have become somewhat dependent on them.
Now don't get me wrong, I think the technology available to runners these day is tremendous and benefits novice runners like myself enormously. I use my smart phone, a HTC desire and the running sportstracklive application which allows me to measure my run and get immediate feedback regarding my pace and distance. It's also possible to link a heart rate monitor to the application and measure cadence breathing rates and optimise calorie burn calculations. This kind of technology used to only be available to professional sports coaches and was limited to elite athletes but now is's often free or a cheap download. For me the principle advantage to this kind of application is that it measure my route so I have a much clearer idea of whether I am hitting my mileage targets every week. I also confess to having taken a phone call while running on more than one occasion and why not, what a marvelous advantage it is to be able to contact a friend or a loved one at anytime. What if there were an emergency?
I only started running in 2004 but since then the increase in availability of sports tracking type software can be matched by the lower cost of the devices that run them. And it's not just electronic technology, back in 2004 running gels and sports nutrition drinks were limited to lucozade and er.. that was about it. With the running gels come the belts to hold them so much so that many runners line up at the start of a half marathon looking like warriors about to head to the front line into battle against some bizarre enemy. Strapped up and bristling with technology; wireless, bluetooth, gps tracking systems, carbo-loaded to excess.
Do we really need all this technology though? What if by some cruel twist of fate all the satellites fell from the sky and burned up in the atmosphere? What if all sports drinks were prohibited by law and we runners were forced into blue poweraid speakeasies? I'm sure life would go on and we would go back to measuring our routes with bicycles before we went out for our runs.
The development of technology in any human endevour is governed by the push/pull forces of want or need and I suppose that the technology available to runners falls into both of those categories. If I were to be perfectly honest I suspect that I don't really need any of the technology available. There is a simple pleasure in running, it's simplicity as a sport if part of it's attraction and yet we try as hard as we can to complicate it as far as we can. I don't think the technology has improved my running one bit but it has made life a little easier for me during my race build-up.
So it is that every once in a while I leave all of the paraphernalia that increasingly accompanies the sport these days at home just go out for a run. When I do these kind of runs I tend to go exploring, as if the lack of technology has somehow liberated me, I run down random streets making things up as I go along.
This is in fact what I used to do when I first started running, living in Germany at the time I often had no idea where I was anyway. Forget about the training, forget about your average pace, bpm, cadence, calorie burn rate, carbo-loading, glycogen conversion, VTO max, playlists, audiobooks, radio, hands free wireless high speed internet access. Forget all of that, put on your running shoes, get out the door and admire the scenery, feel the cool, crisp autumnal air under chrome blue sky along the banks of the river. All we do, after all, is just put one foot in front of the other anyway.
Now don't get me wrong, I think the technology available to runners these day is tremendous and benefits novice runners like myself enormously. I use my smart phone, a HTC desire and the running sportstracklive application which allows me to measure my run and get immediate feedback regarding my pace and distance. It's also possible to link a heart rate monitor to the application and measure cadence breathing rates and optimise calorie burn calculations. This kind of technology used to only be available to professional sports coaches and was limited to elite athletes but now is's often free or a cheap download. For me the principle advantage to this kind of application is that it measure my route so I have a much clearer idea of whether I am hitting my mileage targets every week. I also confess to having taken a phone call while running on more than one occasion and why not, what a marvelous advantage it is to be able to contact a friend or a loved one at anytime. What if there were an emergency?
I only started running in 2004 but since then the increase in availability of sports tracking type software can be matched by the lower cost of the devices that run them. And it's not just electronic technology, back in 2004 running gels and sports nutrition drinks were limited to lucozade and er.. that was about it. With the running gels come the belts to hold them so much so that many runners line up at the start of a half marathon looking like warriors about to head to the front line into battle against some bizarre enemy. Strapped up and bristling with technology; wireless, bluetooth, gps tracking systems, carbo-loaded to excess.
Do we really need all this technology though? What if by some cruel twist of fate all the satellites fell from the sky and burned up in the atmosphere? What if all sports drinks were prohibited by law and we runners were forced into blue poweraid speakeasies? I'm sure life would go on and we would go back to measuring our routes with bicycles before we went out for our runs.
The development of technology in any human endevour is governed by the push/pull forces of want or need and I suppose that the technology available to runners falls into both of those categories. If I were to be perfectly honest I suspect that I don't really need any of the technology available. There is a simple pleasure in running, it's simplicity as a sport if part of it's attraction and yet we try as hard as we can to complicate it as far as we can. I don't think the technology has improved my running one bit but it has made life a little easier for me during my race build-up.
So it is that every once in a while I leave all of the paraphernalia that increasingly accompanies the sport these days at home just go out for a run. When I do these kind of runs I tend to go exploring, as if the lack of technology has somehow liberated me, I run down random streets making things up as I go along.
This is in fact what I used to do when I first started running, living in Germany at the time I often had no idea where I was anyway. Forget about the training, forget about your average pace, bpm, cadence, calorie burn rate, carbo-loading, glycogen conversion, VTO max, playlists, audiobooks, radio, hands free wireless high speed internet access. Forget all of that, put on your running shoes, get out the door and admire the scenery, feel the cool, crisp autumnal air under chrome blue sky along the banks of the river. All we do, after all, is just put one foot in front of the other anyway.
