Run naked!

Have you ever heard someone say that they enjoyed running naked? Or have you tried it yourself and discovered that feeling of freedom whilst running? I had to try it recently, not by choice, but I actually found the experience quite liberating and I wanted to share the potential benefits with you so you may be tempted to try it too!

I bet I have your attention now. But sorry to disappoint, running ‘naked’ in our era of constant connectivity is about running without a GPS watch. Now if you're emotionally attached to your GPS watch the idea may seem even more uncomfortable to you than the idea or running without clothes.

My husband bought me my first GPS watch about 10 years ago. When I opened the box, my first reaction was ‘Ugh? What do I need that for?’. 10 years on I am so addicted to my Garmin that I would almost (note the ‘almost’) rather stay in than going out to run without it. Thaaaaaat bad.

I religiously check my Garmin for power to ensure that it is sufficiently charged ahead of any training session, let alone a race. The prospect of running a race without my Garmin is the kind of stuff that keeps me awake the night before a race (alongside others like forgetting my bib or suffering from food poisoning).

Then this week I had my first speedwork session since my ultra. The aim was to start working on leg speed ahead of next year's Edinburgh marathon since my ultra has considerably slowed me down compared to my half-marathon days and I aim to use this marathon to qualify for Boston in  2020. So I was rather excited about this speed session and totally committed to it. I was due to start with a 20min run at easy pace, do my speedwork session at about 6:50min/mile pace and then make up the mileage afterwards with an easy pace run to a full distance if 7k. But then - shock horror - I realised as soon as I started that the battery life was dangerously low. 3 min later, I was facing the black screen of death. What was I going to do now???

The black screen of death

I had two choices at that point: pack it in and drive home or stick with it and still do my intended session with a bit of guess work on distances and speed. Given that I had left my kids before they were asleep to do that session I was not going to waste that time by driving home (as they would have been asleep by then anyway, so nobody would have gained from me dropping out). So I resorted to the old fashion way of asking someone what time it was at some point in my workout to estimate time and perceived effort to guess the distance covered (that must have been what I used to do in pre-GPS days? Who knows, as it was so long ago!). I pushed hard during my intervals, although I still don’t know whether I was faster or slower than my target pace (my guess is that I was faster, as I tend to push myself too hard). However once my interval session was over and I was on my make-up kilometres to 7k, I felt quite light on my feet from not having to constantly check my watch for pace. I did however wonder what pace I was at, was it faster or slower than what I would have run with a watch? No idea. I am not used to running by feel enough to accurately estimate my pace unfortunately. But this is something I would like to try for sure. It most certainly benefit me, who to this day still struggle to correctly pace my easy pace runs (the inner competitor in me always thinks I am going way too slow, which is rather annoying as it makes me a prime target for injury). Running by feel may enable be to finally run an easy pace run at easy pace instead of desperately trying to match or beat my last session’s pace. There are a number of reasons why you may want to consider ditching your GPS watch (at least temporarily) and try running by feel instead. Amongst other things it may help you run faster (a bit counterintuitive for a GPS-addict but undoubtfully worth a shot).

Related to this is the recent Asics Blackout Track experiment run sponsored by Asics and run by some sport scientists, which requires runners to run 10k in darkness with a sole spotlight to guide them around a 150m track with no means of tracking their progress (no watches of any kind are allowed). The idea is to assist with pace judgement and is probably the ultimate test of running naked.

I am still undecided as to whether to run my next half-marathon (Richmond on 16th September) naked or not. But even if I don’t manage to ditch the GPS this time, I intend to start doing most of my long runs without my watch. As my other sessions will be timed that will enable me to see how running naked helps or hinders my performance.

Fancy giving it a try yourself? Happy naked running!