trail running question

[limewave]

My uncle, back in his hey-day, used to be a prof. ironman triathlete. He's now in his later 60's. He just moved up by me so we use the same trails and sometimes run into each other.

One day we find each other and we inquire how far the other is going. My response, "Oh, I've been running for 30 minutes . . . so probably just under 3 miles."

His response, "Well, this trail is about 5,500 strides. If I add the other loop, that's another 3,800."

What!?!? He counts his strides to figure out his distance. I guess that's what they had to do before Garmin came along. God bless technology.

[roadie gal]

Counting strides??? OMG, I can't remember when I'm counting laps in the pool, much less strides... The problem with trail running is that your stride length changes so much depending on the terrain (tiptoe through the rocks, LEAP over the horse poop, hop over the log, etc) that it's hard to figure distance even from the number of strides.

[boy in a kilt]

Trail running for me isn't about pace or distance. I just go out and run. I do know how long it takes me to do my regular runs and what my regular heart rate would be.

I know that I walk 62 paces to 100 meters. I suppose I could figure my running pace count and keep track. But that would be more work than I care to put out, even with my pace count beads on me.