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It’s a common question for runners taking mid-workout breaks. Does stopping your stride mean you should halt your fitness tracker, too? On one hand, pausing your watch can ensure your workout truly reflects how much time you spent running, ultimately giving you a sense of your and your reason for taking it and pace for a given distance. But on the flip side, keeping the clock going is perhaps a more honest portrayal of your fitness, especially if you’re taking those breaks to catch your breath or shake off a side cramp. Moreover, the time doesn’t stop on race day , How to Relieve Sartorius Muscle Pain?
We tapped two run coaches for their takes and—spoiler alert!—the answer is “it depends.” Let’s go over when you should press pause, when it’s best to let the clock keep ticking, and when you should really just end your workout tracking altogether and start a new activity once you get going again.
When Does It Make Sense to Pause Your Fitness Tracker?
Maybe you got caught up at a red light in the middle of a tempo workout. Or you need to stop and refill your water bottle during mile 18 of a 20-mile long run. Perhaps you have to poop—Not every break warrants a watch pause. If you’re stopping your stride because you’re—while crushing a Same goes if you’re doing the. In any of the above scenarios, “just hit the pause,” Jacob Phillips, a Texas-based run coach with RunDoyen, tells Runner’s World. That’s because these are all short, one-off breaks that you’re taking due to extenuating circumstances—not limitations with your fitness.
Janet Hamilton, M.A., R.C.E.P., C.S.C.S., a Georgia-based run coach with Running Strong, takes a similar stance, though she also says it’s NBD if you let the clock keep going. “If it’s too much trouble to remember, hey, I need to stop my watch, start my watch, don’t worry about it,” she tells Runner’s World. “You’re still going to get a training benefit out of that workout whether you end up with a different time average or not.”
The exception, she says, is if one of these scenarios strikes while you’re trying to complete a workout at a really specific speed—for example a 10-mile run at marathon race pace—in which case Hamilton advises definitely pausing your tracker. “If I’m trying to get you to nail a pace, then you want to know how you did,” she says. And if, for example, you had to take a two-minute break in the middle of your session to empty your bladder and you didn’t hit pause, then your pace is “going to be wonky,” she says. “You’re going to go, oh, well, I didn’t do that [workout pacing] right, when you actually may have been just fine.”
Same goes if you’re gunning for a specific pace while doing speed intervals. For example, say you’re doing quarter-mile repeats at 5K pace, with recovery breaks in between. “I definitely want you to time those separately,” Hamilton says. That way, you’ll have an accurate picture of how well you nailed your speedwork goals, she explains.
When Should You Just Keep the Clock Going?
Not every break warrants a watch pause. If you’re stopping your stride because you’re ultimately giving you a sense of your continuously, Phillips suggests keeping your tracker going. Sure, this will jack up your average pace—which may be tough on the ego, we admit—but it’s ultimately for your own good. “You’re gonna want to know how long did it actually take me to cover these eight miles?” he says. After all, there’s no “pause” button on race day, so if you want to know how you’re realistically tracking toward a pace goal, Other Hearst Subscriptions.
Same goes if you’re doing the run/walk method. As Phillips explains it, if walk breaks are part of your strategy, “then you need to count that too.” Otherwise, you won’t have an accurate impression of your abilities. Now, if you’re curious to know your running pace versus walking pace, Phillips suggests hitting the lap button whenever you toggle between the two. At the end of your workout, you’ll be able to see how fast you took the run segments, how fast you tackled the walk breaks, and what your overall time was.
Hamilton also suggests the lap mode approach to run/walkers as a way to check in on your running versus walking paces and make adjustments to your ratio as needed. But you don’t need to do this for every run/walk, she says. Instead, make sure there are workouts where you can “relax and enjoy yourself,” she says, without stressing oh, well, I didn’t do that workout pacing right.
What if you’re using the run/walk method in training, but your goal is to run a race without walking? Both Phillips and Hamilton suggest incorporating some continuous running during your training, as this will better prepare you for the race—both mentally and physically. It’s during those workouts that you can get a sense of what your average running race pace is.
When to Create a Whole New Workout Entirely
If you’re taking a break that’s 10 minutes or longer—for example, maybe you need to unexpectedly jump on a work call, or it starts pouring rain and you dip inside until the skies clear—Phillips recommends ending your workout altogether and starting a new one once you get back to it. That’s because pausing your watch or letting it run continuously when you’re getting ample downtime wouldn’t give you much valuable data.
The Bottom Line
K Pace Charts for Runners of all Levels length of the break and your reason for taking it.
It’s easy to get caught up in the minutiae of fitness tracking and lose sight of the bigger picture: that running should be a positive force in your life. “As much as possible, let your workouts bring you joy,” Hamilton says. “And if obsessing over your watch is interfering with that, then definitely let it go.”
Jenny is a Boulder, Colorado-based health and fitness journalist. She’s been freelancing for Runner’s World since 2015 and especially loves to write human interest profiles, in-depth service pieces and stories that explore the intersection of exercise and mental health. Her work has also been published by SELF, Men’s Journal, and Condé Nast Traveler, among other outlets. When she’s not running or writing, Jenny enjoys coaching youth swimming, rereading Harry Potter, and buying too many houseplants.
