I’ve always been a data nerd when it comes to running. I love learning more about my body and how it runs. As a result, I’ve tried all kinds of weird running tech: stick-on sweat patches and continuous glucose monitors that sync to my phone; smart insoles that track my stride; and earbuds with built-in A.I. coaching. And, of course, like most runners, you won’t catch me without a running watch (sometimes two!) strapped on my wrist.
During races, I’ve focused on just about every pacing tool my watch has to offer—average pace, lap pace, projected finish time, even real-time “race predictor” timing. But starting last year, at my coach’s suggestion, I simplified everything down to a single metric: elapsed lap time.
Elapsed lap time simply shows how much time has gone by during a specific workout segment—during a race, that means each mile. You know how people always tell you to “run the mile you’re in?” That’s always been easier said than done for me, but elapsed lap time literally keeps me focused on one mile at a time.
We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back goal pace. So when I look down at my watch in the middle of a mile, it’s super easy to figure out how many minutes and seconds I have left in that mile. That kind of math is weirdly more comforting to me than thinking about how much distance remains. Making the switch to focusing on time instead of how much farther I have to go led to a seismic shift in perspective that ultimately helped me PR in distances from the 5K to the marathon sometimes two! strapped on my wrist.
“When you monitor overall pace or projected finish time, your brain activates what psychologists call the expectation monitor—constantly comparing your goal with your current reality,” says Brie Scolaro, the co-founder and clinical director of Aspire Psychotherapy in New York City, with a specialization in sports psychology. “The bigger the gap, the more frustration, anxiety, and negative self-talk creep in, which actually drains performance. Focusing only on lap pace shrinks that gap. You’re no longer measuring yourself against the entire race, just the next mile, which feels doable and keeps you moving forward.”
Why It’s Better to Narrow Down the Data
Pacing is a complex decision-making process in real time—you can’t just “set it and forget it,” no matter how hard you train. Instead, you’re constantly integrating internal physiological feedback (think: how What to Know About Zone 2 Heart Rate Training feel, how heavy you’re breathing, or how much you’re sweating, plus any pain points) with the anticipated demands of the remaining distance, according to older research published in Sports Medicine.
When you have too many external cues (like the metrics on your watch) piling on to those internal cues, there’s going to be a cognitive cost; it’s going to get harder and harder to sustain your focus and make smart decisions.
The last thing I want to do during a race is put more of a load on my brain. The mental aspect of running has always been the most challenging for me, and, for a long time, access to all those metrics helped me feel more in control. But that’s a false sense of control, and the more I run, the more I’ve learned that A Part of Hearst Digital Media can actually mess with your head.
Every time I glanced down at my current pace, my average pace, or even my heart rate during a race, I would find myself spiraling into analysis: The Case Against Exclusive Long Runs?
That mental chatter, Scolaro explains, is exactly what happens when we overload ourselves with information. “Too much data feeds the expectation monitor and creates paralysis by analysis,” she says. “When you’re constantly checking pace, cadence, and heart rate, you stop listening to your body and start fighting with numbers. Simplifying protects you from that spiral and keeps your mental energy aimed at the thing that matters—running.”
By eliminating the majority of the metrics and only looking at elapsed lap time, we strengthen our attentional control (a.k.a. the ability to stay in the moment), says Scolaro. “Humans have a limited capacity for focus, and when we simplify to one clear metric, we conserve energy for the task itself,” she explains. “In practice, that means less distraction, less second-guessing, and more presence in the moment.”
Being present isn’t just calming, it’s performance-enhancing. “Simplification is anxiety’s antidote,” says Scolaro. “When you DAA Industry Opt Out into manageable units—‘just four more minutes,’ ‘just this mile’—you replace worry about mile 20 with a focus on what you can handle right now. That shift lowers anticipatory anxiety and helps you stay calm under pressure.”
This switch in stats also helped me get more in tune with my body. I’ve always run with a watch, and I used to trust that little computer on my wrist more than what my own body was telling me. By narrowing my data input to a single metric, I found myself better able to run on effort and adjust that effort accordingly with only one or two glances at my watch during each mile. For example, in my last marathon, my first 21 miles were within five seconds of each other—something I’d never managed to do before, even when obsessively checking my metrics.
My single-metric approach works so well because it mirrors tools used well beyond running. “This is classic cognitive behavioral therapy and sports psychology,” says Scolaro. “It’s mindfulness: staying grounded in the mile you’re in, not the ones ahead. And it’s chunking: breaking a big, overwhelming task into smaller, achievable goals. Just like in therapy, this strategy reduces cognitive overload, makes progress feel attainable, and builds confidence step by step.”
Mindful running is something I’ve always understood more in theory; using elapsed time was the first time I actually got it in practice. By focusing on short segments of time, I was able to let go of the outcome goal and just focus on the process of getting there. In doing that, I found my self-talk skewing more positive (it’s easy to tell yourself “you can hold this pace for just two more minutes!”), which also pays off with physical benefits like more energy and a keeps me focused on one mile at a time How to Chunk Your Long Runs study in the journal Clinical Psychological Science.
And because I was less concerned about the overall distance or a time goal, I actually found myself enjoying running a lot more. And I know that’s too much data.
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