
I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but less and less people just go for “a run” these days.
Instead, recreational runners are letting devices guide their running habits: they go out for a 30-minute threshold run and adapt their pace based on what the heat rate monitor strapped to their chest or wrist tells them.
What’s changed? The wearable smart watch or ringโand all the data it throws at usโis now on every runner’s wrist or finger.
But just because something is being measured, it doesn’t mean we should always pay attention to it.
And while having a purpose for each workout is undoubtedly not a bad idea, the ubiquitous wearable and the deluge of metrics that runners have access to have fundamentally changed how many of us run.
And that’s not necessarily a good thing.
This isn’t a rant against using devices to improve your running or health; instead, I’d like to present you with a treatise on why we shouldn’t become slaves to data, as it’s clearly now dictating how we run and, quite frankly, how we live our lives.
It may be surprising to learn that most elite runners and their coaches actually spend less time scrutinizing the myriad metrics available to them.
Seasoned pro athletes and their coaches know that even when they’re at the peak of a training cycle, their workouts have to be adaptable based on how they’re feeling and various external factorsโnot just blindly hitting metrics from an app.
Yet more of us recreational runners than ever are slavishly fixated on paces, heart rate zones (here at MH we can confirm this, based on how wildly popular our articles on “zone two training” are), andโworseโsleep quality. If you don’t hit your predetermined target, it’s easy to feel like you’re failing.

And we’re not merely using these metrics in the build up to a key race. We’re referring to them all the time.
For most of us, this form of chronic “optimization” is a fast track to burnout and a sense that we’re failing. Sure, there are a few “quantified selfs” out there who seem to thrive on an overdose of data. But they’re the exception rather than the rule.
Case in point: studies have shown that focussing too much on sleep tracking usually makes your sleep quality worse. There’s even a term for it: orthosomnia.
Per Calm: โOrthosomnia, or the drive for perfect sleep, is the fixation on the data from our sleep trackers to the point that it causes anxiety and disrupted sleep that can interfere with your daily life.โ
Now, I’m not suggesting we throw the baby out with the bathwater and go back to running deviceless (or running naked, as Gen Zers are calling it)โyour Strava, Garmin, Apple, or similar platform provides the best running log availableโas well as a whole host of general fitness tracking benefits I wouldn’t give up.
Each of us just has to figure out how much of this data trove we want to actually useโwhether it’s to record and guide our training, or to tell us what to do when we wake up in the morning.

A Tale Of Two Amateurs: The Day Trader vs. The Passive Investor
Bare with me as I leverage an analogy, courtesy of the world of finance:
Picture the amateur day trader. Let’s assume they are doing it on the side rather than professionally. They are constantly checking market movements and weighing how to react accordingly. Ironically, they don’t discount the increase in heart rate brought on by the constant high cortisol levels of this always-on lifestyle.
We know that humans are hard-wired to pay more attention to negative news than positive news, so on a typical day where things end up neither up nor down, our amateur trader experiences a flurry of negative emotions.
Next, we look at a stereotypical passive investor. They check their balances and the markets somewhat regularly, and they may make occasional changes in their habits based on prevailing conditions, but by-and-large they don’t spend too much energy worrying about the micro-movements of a piece of data on a screen. Compared to the amateur day trader, our passive investor’s financial concerns are minimal. Instead, they stick to the fundamentals of passive investingโsticking to good habits, and avoiding bandwagons and shiny objects.
And the kicker? In any given year, the passive investor does pretty well; often better the obsessive day trader.
In fact, in this mini-diorama, the day trader had a couple of excellent years, even beating the markets. But they live by the sword and also die by it. When there’s a market correction our day trader overreacts, losing everything they gained and more, as hubris and an addiction to outperforming and optimizing pushes them too far.
Both these amateurs had access to the same streams of data.
One chose to react to it obsessively, worrying about each hour’s movement and comparing it to the previous data point. The other was able to zoom out, see the forest for the trees, and use the data as a tool rather than be driven by it.
OK, back to exercise and running.
What Gets Measured Gets Managed…
… and the rest gets ignored.
And therein lies the problem with following the constant stream of algorithmic advice from your device.
Your watch or ring can’t measure everythingโlike your mood, or if you have a bunch of other commitments that day, or if you just got some bad news and were going for a run to clear your head.
And while wearables are getting better at estimating things like physiological and sport-related stress, they’re still not always great at it. There are well respected high-level coaches who refer to these scores as “random number generators.”
All of this raises a key question: should you really have to rely on a device to tell you that you’re stressed, or need a recovery day?
Perhaps worst of all, an over-reliance on devices and metrics reduces what running is all about down to a set of numbers that represent your performance.
It pushes out what space in running we might’ve previously kept for reflection, clearing our head, socializing, and allowing ourselves some time away from whatever the rest of our world looks like on a day-to-day basis. It minimizes the opportunity for what the Korean-German philosopher Byung-Chul Han refers to as vita contemplativa: intentionally unproductive time.
So as we are all lacing up and heading out to run enthusiastically in the new yearโeach of us with a wearable strapped to our wrist or wrapped around a fingerโallow me to suggest that you’re probably better off not taking those numbers too seriously.
At least not all the time.

Totally agree – I only use about 3 or 4 of the aproximately million (!) data sets I can access……..didn’t runners just used to stick their trainers on and get out there! Definintely going to return to doing this more often after my April marathon in Brighton… ….it does feel weird but very ‘releasing’ not to wear the garmin…. remember when running used to be something we just did for fun!? ๐
Keep up the terrific work MH – really appreciate all your efforts, you have been so helpful.
Craig
Frome, Somerset
England