“Should I stop my running watch at the traffic lights?”

You’re running along comfortably and then, horror, you stumble across a red traffic light. Do you keep Strava running, despite having stopped? Or do you reach down to press the pause button?

We runners tend to have a complicated relationship with traffic lights. On the one hand, a red light can offer a much-needed break/chance to change running podcasts/tighten laces; on the other, they break your momentum. 

Anyone running in a busy city will be all-too familiar with having to stop every five minutes to let cars go past and if you’re trying to run fast, you may be tempted to pause your running watch or Strava app in a bid to save your splits.

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When I first started running home from work some years ago, I’d leave Strava running. The journey from Kensington to Mile End involved jogging on the spot at every junction between Green Park and Bank, and along with the heavy backpack, the weekly session was more about wracking up time on my feet than trying to go at any great speed. In a post-pandemic world where home working is the norm and commuter running is far less common, however, I’ve become the person who stops their watch at every chance.

In defence of stopping the clock

Some runners will say it’s an ego thing but I think stopping your watch is more practical than letting it run on. In a race, you don’t have cars, cyclists or phone-drone pedestrians getting in your way, so when you’re training, it’s more useful to see the time and effort you exert when you’re actually on the move. 

Sure, you might stop to use the loo (although for some, that can be avoided) or need to detour slightly to grab a drink, but on the whole, there are far fewer obstacles in your way in a Parkrun, RunThrough 10k or marathon than there are on a random run.

Stopping your watch also gives you a chance to have a little active recovery (which you wouldn’t need/want during an actual running event). If you’ve got tight tendons, jogging on the spot can stop them from getting stiff and painful. You can do some hamstring and side stretches, move the hips, pedal out the calves. A stopped watch isn’t an invitation to stand still, but it might give you an opportunity to stretch without worrying that it’s time to get going again. 

Lauren Geall, Stylist’s digital writer, honorary Strong Woman and recent running convert, runs with an Apple Watch that stops automatically when she stops moving. If she didn’t have such a fancy, intuitive tracker, however, she’s still stop the clock. 

“I think I’d still pause it because I really enjoy the sense of achievement running gives me, and being able to track my times and strive for improvement is part of that experience,” she explains. “Five or 10 seconds at the traffic lights may seem small in the grand scheme of things, but it can make a big difference when you’re chasing a new 5k PB, for example. Also, it doesn’t hurt anyone, so who cares if I’m being pedantic about it?”

Why letting the clock run can be freeing

I’m with Lauren: who cares if we stop our own trackers on our own runs? Ask a lot of runners, however, and they’ll roll their eyes at the idea of pausing the clock because for them, it’s about a holistic running philosophy. 

When I asked running Twitter whether it was common practice to pause trackers at traffic lights, 64% voted to keep watches running – far more than I’d expected. I thought most runners were like me, furiously rolling up their sleeves in order to pause their watches at the slightest disturbance. Not so, says running blogger Alistair Jones, who explains that he “always let it run. Start at the beginning, stop at the end”.

It’s the idea that you press ‘start’ when you step out of your house and from then on, timing becomes second to the overall experience. “I find if I stop for any reason, I enjoy a little burst when I start up again, so it all evens out anyway,” Jones said – suggesting that many runners are “too obsessed with numbers”.

He’s right, of course; I’ve spent whole days annoyed after my Garmin has ‘cheated’ me out of a kilometre on a morning jog or after realising that I’ve not restarted Strava after a temporary pause. Those things don’t negate the work that’s been put in but when numbers are key motivation, you run the risk of a lot going wrong (poor GPS connection, low battery, forgetting to stop/start etc).

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While it all depends on what you want out of running and what you find motivational, perhaps there’s room for outings when you pause your run and those when you let it run. If you’re going slowly on a long or easy run, is there any point in pausing your time? Then again, these are hard habits to crack and if maintaining a certain split is crucial to getting you out of the door in the first place then, friend, keep on pausing. 

For more running tips and ideas, check out the Strong Women Training Club.

Images: Getty

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