Every decision we make is informed by our intuition, whether we like it or not. But how reliable is our intuition as an instrument?
I recently ran the same distance twice while measuring my speed, once with earphones that told me my running speed every kilometer, and once without these updates. During both runs, I felt as though I was going fast and pushing hard. But when I looked at the measured speeds, I had clocked 9.64 km/hr without periodic updates, and 12.07 km/hr with a voice telling me how fast I was going. My intuition, in both cases, told me that I was doing well. But the mere act of having immediate feedback improved my performance by 25%.
Our intuition is a versatile, but unreliable instrument that requires constant calibration – one that keeps us within our comfort zone but gives us the illusion that we are pushing ahead.
But this write up sounds like the run actually took more time when the audio was providing feedback.
Also on day 1 vs day 2 did you make a note of the constant factors vs variable factors??
Like wind speed, rest, shoes, terrain etc?
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Thank you! Those are good questions.
I mentioned speed in km/hr rather than min/km. Probably hence the confusion.
On Day 1 vs. Day 2, I was equally well rested and used the same gear. The route was the same as well. I hadn’t measured wind speed, but it is a circular track, so the effect tends to even out. Besides, the effect of wind speed is probably negligible compared to the difference I measured.
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