Training naked...

Did I get your attention?  LOL...I just read Kelly Williamson's article on Ironman.com about shutting off the numbers and listening to your body during a race.  This got me thinking.  Appropriately timed, as I just had a run where I had to go "by feel" and "not look at devices".  That run was soooo hard for me to do, purely because I had to force myself NOT to look at my heart rate monitor.  I thought to myself, I am a slave to my heart rate monitor.  If I am, I wonder how many other people are?  Seriously, I wear that thing for every workout.  OK, except swim but ONLY because for some reason I lose my heart rate on the watch (displays 00) while swimming.  And I hate that.  Whether I'm checking it for heart rate, calories burned, time spent exercising, which zone I'm in, that watch is always on my wrist.

I ran a 10k in 2010, the Sycamore Pumpkin Run.  Shortly after the race started I looked at my watch & it displayed 00 as the heart rate.  I never got it back.   Crap, I thought!  I knew my heart rate was sky high but the watch pooping out on me forced me to run based on how I felt.  Granted, it was a race.  And I had Coach Joe's words "10k's are great because they are not too short and just long enough where you can run to the point where you feel like you're going to puke, but don't".  That seriously was probably the last time I did any kind of workout without a heart rate monitor!

I lost the computer on my bike this summer...it popped off while riding & was run over by a car (yes, we had gone back to find it on our way back).  I haven't replaced it yet.  The few outdoor rides I did after that sucked...purely because I had no idea how far or how fast I was riding.  Again, slave to the device...

Anyways, this article talked about at times, it's good to run (or whatever) and not look at the devices, just go based on how your body feels.  So many things can affect our performance anyways - weather, terrain, how you feel that day, race conditions...so go ahead, I dare you!  Turn it off & train naked for a day :)

Here's a link to the article if you didn't see it:  http://ironman.com/training/kelly-williamson-offers-some-tips-on-race-day-strategy?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ironman%2Ftopstories+%28Ironman.com+Top+Stories%29#axzz1mUGohF7L