After completing a run, my Suunto Race watch asks me a simple, straightforward question: How do you feel? It’s a multiple-choice question carrying five potential responses – Excellent, Very Good, Good, Average and Poor – and I’m tasked to click one before the watch saves my run.
Truth be told, determining my reply has proven a near-daily conundrum since I began wearing the watch about two months ago. A seemingly benign question proves challenging to answer and spurs critical self-reflection.
A matter of perspective
How do I feel? Well, when I think of how “easy” most runs used to feel – back 25 years ago when I wore split shorts without reservation and clipped off mile after mile at a quick tempo alongside college teammates – it’s hard to think any run these days feels “good.” The miles are tougher on my almost 44-year-old body, so I most frequently find myself clicking “average” or “poor” to Suunto’s post-run inquiry.
Even though it’s a fool’s folly to compare oneself to the best of times, I nevertheless fall into the trap. In two months, I’ve yet to hit “Excellent.” Not once.
(Here, I envy the perspective of Red Rock Running Company owner Mark Jimenez, he of a daily run streak nearing 2900 days. Mark likes to say, “Every run is a good run,” a mantra boldly painted onto the walls of his Las Vegas running stores. “Good,” then, is the baseline. You got out the door and embraced movement. That’s always good. Never bad. And I should take Mark’s advice.)
My watch’s post-run question got me thinking about how others respond. Are they similarly tough on themselves? I turned to the team at Suunto for some insight.
It turns out the Finnish company explored this question before. Back in 2022, Suunto investigated “how do you feel” responses and discovered a few interesting tidbits, including that the feelings after running and trail running lagged behind other activities, namely dancing, downhill skiing, horseback riding, badminton and snowboarding. Runners, it seems, were a comparatively self-critical bunch. Phew, I wasn’t alone.
Suunto’s data from the previous 12 months, however, proved eye-opening.
Nearly half of athletes said they felt “excellent” following their activity. Another 20 percent or so reported feeling “very good.” Less than 10 percent, meanwhile, fell into my typical camp and said they felt either “poor” or “average.”
Now, Dan Suher, head of Americas for Suunto, issues a kind warning: Take those data points with the proverbial grain of salt. “Excellent,” he notes is the question’s default option.
“If you do not scroll and simply push in the dial, you will select ‘Excellent.’ This certainly skews the data a bit – or more than a bit,” Suher allows. “Consumer behavior or just general human behavior tells us that people tend to regress to default options and this data would reflect that.”
Nevertheless, Suher contends we can likely still find differences by gender, activity type, duration and even country, so even if many people stick with the default, the different scenarios “should be able to eliminate that ‘bias’ and still provide some decently interesting insights,” Suher says.
Notable differences
Admittedly, I’m no statistician or data scientist and I’ll acknowledge a high margin of variance, but two particular data points stuck out.
First, female athletes are kinder to themselves. Over the past 12 months, 74 percent of female users said they felt “excellent” or “very good” following their activity. By contrast, only 68 percent of men reported feeling “excellent” or “very good.”
Second, post-activity feelings varied widely by country. When asked to consider how they felt after logging a workout, more than 80 percent of Chinese athletes clicked on “excellent” or “very good.” By contrast, fewer than half of athletes in Japan said they felt “excellent” or “very good.”
The U.S. fell right in the middle of the 30 countries included in Suunto’s data set. About 70 percent of U.S. athletes reported feeling “excellent” or “very good” after logging a workout.
So, while far from alone, I am a bit of an outlier in my self-criticism after a run. Perhaps I need a reminder of just how spectacular – check that, ‘Excellent’ – a run can be.
An ‘Excellent’ run beckons
In a few weeks, thousands of run specialty folks will gather in Austin for The Running Event. TRE is an annual adventure that renews and inspires me. Though three long, tiring days, TRE delivers engaging conversations, new ideas and an opportunity to build and strengthen relationships with so many.
This year, I’ll begin my TRE Tuesday the same way I have across recent years: a group run with running retailers and their teams. The run affords me face-to-face time with retailers and helps spur familiarity, which I hope sparks earnest and enduring bonds amongst all of us. And honestly, and selfishly I will confess, I enjoy serving as connective tissue and introducing retailers to one another.
“You’re interested in offering paid coaching services? Talk to Greg at 605 Running here.”
“Oh, you’re thinking about incorporating appointments? Meet Toni with Running Lab.”
My Tuesday morning jaunt sets the table for the remainder of my TRE and all the goodness that follows. It awakens and energizes. The pace doesn’t matter. The company does. And it feels awesome.
So, when my Suunto asks me “How do you feel?” after that morning run in a few weeks, I can predict my reply with some certainty.
“Excellent” will be the only suitable answer. We’ll see you in Austin!
Run specialty retail owners, operators and staff are welcome to join me for my annual TRE Tuesday run on November 19. Meet in the lobby of the Hilton Austin hotel at 6:45 a.m. Even if you peel off at the Waller Creek Boathouse for the Trail Cleanup event starting at 7:00 a.m., you can still begin your TRE 2024 journey with me and fellow run specialty retailers.
