Dirt in your skirt blog

Notes From a Recovering Competitive Athlete: Ditch the Watch

Posted on July 25, 2018 by Margaret Schlachter

For years I made sure my GPS watch was all charged up and ready to go on each hike. I calculated my distance, time, and heart rate. It became a ritual, a routine that I felt naked when I didn’t have it. Recently in my question to find balance and just joy and love for all things active again. I have sometimes been ditching the watch and just going out on a trail adventure.

Today was one of those days, not by choice but laziness by not charging up my watch after the last adventure. I did want to bring my watch as I chose a different trail than I had done before. I always like to track those things and at first, I did feel naked without the watch.

Then I settled into the hike/run and what happened? I started to notice more things around me. I watched the bees both honey and bumble on the queen anne’s lace all around. I saw so many butterflies! I stopped when I wanted and had some music playing without really knowing how far I had gone, how fast, or my heart rate.

 

It turned into a wonderful experience. Can I post it on Strava? No. Can I have it count towards my TomTom Activity? No. But what I can do is know what I did on the trail, know the adventure my dogs had, and share a few moments from my experience today.

 

How about you? Do you love having tech track your workouts or are you old school and map a trail on a map then just go for it?

 

Share your experiences with us in the comments below.

 

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