Ha! For those of you who have never heard that before…it’s not as shocking as it sounds.

“Running naked” is a phrase some use to mean they are running without technology. No phone, no fitness watch, no music or podcasts.

Many runners love the tech stuff. Tracking paces, mileage, etc. I love it too…even if I never look at it again after the run.

When we are training for a race, we consider that data invaluable. I suck at pacing, so if I didn’t have my watch to give me a clue I wouldn’t know what pace I was running at most of the time.

When we run without tech, though, we can just be out there enjoying the run. Running by feel and slowing down or speeding up just based on what our bodies want to do.

This past Fall and Winter, I have been experimenting with running by time (minutes) instead of distance (miles). And while I have concluded I like distance better, there have been some runs that I have no workout trackers going.

Tina Muir- “No watch me”

Tina Muir of the Running for Real podcast and website calls this “no watch me”. She advocates still wearing your tech and even having it running, but not looking at it.

She is an elite runner and goes in greater detail about her method here. She uses a “no looking at tech” approach for training.

Run for the Pleasure of Running

Here in Buffalo, the winters are very gray. Sunshine is at a premium, and if there is a day that isn’t designated a run day but the sun is shining? I run. I get dressed and get out and run.

Those days are for the pure pleasure of putting one foot in front of the other. They are usually bone-chilling…even with the sunshine. So I don’t want to walk…I want to run.

Those wonderful…sparse…days are such an uplifting experience. I can run for 2 hours without even thinking about it.

I love to be out in the sun, not sweating a goal (which contradicts how I am most of the time…I do love a goal) and just taking me wherever my feet go.

Can We Do Better Without Tech?

Time and time again I have heard runners say that they PR’d after ditching the tech. I know for myself, the times I haven’t checked my pace I start thinking I’m probably not running as fast as I should so I speed up.

The psychology of it is interesting. Are runners running faster because of that “panic”, or are they mentally enjoying the run more because they aren’t tracking it and therefore can actually do more than they think they are capable of?

For example, if I know I can run an 8:45 pace comfortably and my watch tells me I’m running 7:30…will I think “oh wow…that’s cool…let’s keep this up” or will I think “omg…I’m going to blow up/pass out/die if I don’t slow down”.

I can tell you…for me it’s the latter!

Whichever and whatever the mental gymnastics of running feeds into how we do running “naked”, it is a good question to try and figure out for ourselves.

Individual Runners

Each runner is so different. Motivations, physical makeup, self-image issues, and so much more make us all distinct. If you subscribe to any running pages on Facebook, debates will come up all the time. Music or not, carbs or not, cushioning or not…it goes on and on.

What is great about the running community is most people get that everyone runs based on their own experiences, capabilities, etc. Debates are (usually) friendly and it is interesting to get different perspectives.

Doing more research for this blog has introduced me to concepts and training considerations that weren’t on my radar a year ago. As I learn more about the sport I get more passionate about it, and want to learn more and more!

For those of us who like data, it can be hard to ditch it. But if we can experiment with doing just that…and allow ourselves to run in the moment, maybe we will see so much more inside ourselves.

Not to mention outside, since we aren’t looking down all the time!

I have a run scheduled today for an hour…I think I’ll go “naked”…