More common than you think.

Whenever I really felt fit for a race, I'd leave the watch behind before the start of the race (i.e., I'd race watch-less). I always trained with a watch (a Timex Ironman watch in the early days), but in the race I didn't want to place any limits on what I could do. This approach worked really well for me over many years (I've been racing since '83)--almost all my race PRs came in watch-less races and my overall times in those races almost always exceeded what I would have otherwise predicted.
Did going match-less, and freeing myself from time expectations, make these results happen? Who knows; after all, I always used this strategy when I felt really fit, so maybe it was just "extra fitness" on the day. But I felt that racing just by "feel" and ignoring the watch was very liberating.

If true, missed sponsorship opportunity. Wear it but turned off. Or turned on with opaque tape over the screen to get the run data after the race.

Seems like overkill and something the aforementioned sponsorships wouldn't like. Just leave it on silent and showing a useless data screen (if she can't look away, which she can) so it at least looks like the watch is in use

Blu didn't wear his across the finish line. What happened to his watch? He looked at his very frequently throughout the run.

Like... the actual time of day. Good to know if you want to buy beer in Texas on Sundays.

Quick and lazy google search shows he doesn't have a watch sponsor. I bet he will soon! lol

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I believe I saw dcrainmaker post that he was wearing a Garmin but took it off close to the finish because he has a partnership with wahoo. Or something along those lines.

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That's odd. If he has a Wahoo partnership then why not wear a Wahoo watch instead of wearing a Garmin and ditching it at the finish? Equally odd if Wahoo said he can wear a Garmin during 90% of the race, just not at the finish

Ryf is sponsored by Breitling, which despite sponsoring triathletes, doesn't make a triathlon watch. If you look closely at the finish line when she won, you'll see that her support crew rush to put on a Breitling.

https://danielaryf.ch/...uad-with-daniela-ryf

It's Ironman which has the partnership. Blu was just taking off his Garmin because he wasn't sponsored by Garmin.

Yea that doesn't make sense. Does the garmin watch have some special metric that the wahoo watch doesn't? I would assume during the actual race he mainly looking at HR and pace (maybe power?).

When you buy a new watch it often has a vinyl 'mock screen' on the face (to make it appear to be on while in the box)...use that.

Now that makes more sense! I knew I was missing something. No free advertisement for the World Champ!

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Daniela trains with a GPS watch but for years she hasn't raced with a GPS watch.


Blummenfelt is similar to Daniela, trains with a GPS watch and doesn't run with one during the race. If not being sponsored by Garmin was such a big deal his instagram would be wiped of all Garmin related stuff...and yet there's tons of photos showing Garmin products in the last few weeks let alone months.

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I’m pretty sure Lionel doesn’t wear a watch, he mentions that in one of his YouTube videos.

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Not exactly on topic by when Lothar Leder did the first sub 8 at Roth 1996 he had no bike computer or watch and I believe he was told by fans around 1km out that he needed a sub 4km to break 8hrs. That was when sub 8 was a big deal

What? He wore one both at Cozumel and StG. Looks at it constantly.

to the chagrin of many age groupers, she doesnt record training data and didnt even use a power meter until very recently

jrielley wrote:

I believe I saw dcrainmaker post that he was wearing a Garmin but took it off close to the finish because he has a partnership with wahoo. Or something along those lines.

Close. ;) Here's the original tweet, and the immediate follow-up tweet/picture showing him taking it off: https://twitter.com/.../1523071136879333377


He took it off at 0.4mi remaining. Some suspect because Garmin doesn't sponsor him. The kicker is, my bet is had he left it on, Garmin would have at a minimum probably come to a deal with him to license that imagery/likeness for advertising purposes. If not a broader sponsorship.

As I said in some follow-up tweets, ultimtaely, it's his choice. But given he wore it on-camera the entire time, it just seems relatively petty (both from a consumer and company point of view). To me as a consumer, it says "I only endorse things when I'm paid off". And from a potential company point of view, it immediately reduces the pool of companies that might sponsor you in the future, as again, some see that kind of behaviour as petty. All of which ultimately devalues his sponorship income - even if you're the champ. A smaller pool of sponsors is simply less money you can make. But again, to each his own.

As for watches/bike computers not being used by pros. Certainly, it happens. But the overwhelming majority (like 95%+) of pro triathletes and pro cyclists are using the devices and collecting data on them daily. And that data is a core part of how coaches decide what happens the next day/week/month.

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Glad you chimed in! Tried to find the original but through your posted on IG story not Twitter. And interesting perspective on the other end of the “no free advertisement” idea.

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The running events I did growing up didn't allow pacers or watches. Wearing a watch is a race would results in a DQ. So the fact that everyone has GPS watches now and can not only get their mile splits, but can get their current pace, lap pace, full run pace, Hear Rate, power, cadence, etc. took a little bit of getting used to. If I am doing a running event I really don't need a watch. I run at as fast as I can sustain for the distance and if things are going well I can push the pace and if I am struggling I can easy up. Having a watch doesn't really help me at all. In multisport events I heavily rely on the watch. I can't pace by feel out of the water, of the bike, etc like I do in running events. I multisport ands too many variables to the equation so I use the watch pace to keep on track on the run.

I haven't seen anything from Ryf on the run pace strategy or lack of use of a watch.

I suggest that Ryf expected Matthews to take time off her and set off at the best pace she thought she could maintain, by RPE. Haug was 15 minutes back and not really in play. Ryf's pace in that first half was adequate and faster than a slightly cooked Matthews: Ryf slowed markedly in the second half. Matthews ran an even paced 1:30 and 1:30 and used a watch. Haug ran 1:25 to try to chase Matthews down but 'faded' with a 1:31.