Don't let tech get in the way

I've been running for years, but today I finally found out what a truly easy, zone 2 run feels like.

Even though my "easy" runs already felt slow-ish, I was going too fast all this time (around 5:30/km, 140-150 bpm).

Today I found out what truly easy run feels like, and it turns out, I need to drop my ego and run extremely slow.

The key was to stop looking at my watch, and start talking out loud to myself, like a complete madman.

As soon as I start speaking, my pace and heart rate drop naturally and I'm able to maintain a steady, slow pace without even thinking or constantly staring at my watch.

The best indicator all this time was the classic, old school, advice:

Being able to hold a conversation.

Not the fancy metrics on my garmin watch.

The point is that most of the time more data and more gear only get in the way.

And it's the same in a lot of other areas in life, like speaking on camera.

I've been trying to get better at speaking on camera for years, but whenever I try to record, I first need to make sure I have the best lighting, the best lenses and the perfect setup.

When what I should be doing instead is to just hit record on my iPhone and put in more reps every day.

And not to mention the newest player in the room, AI. Which makes it even easier to procrastinate. You can easily spend days talking to a bot and doing more prep and research, instead of actually doing the thing.

The more tech I use, the more I feel like we should be going analog and low tech instead