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To Pause or Not?

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RunningRonnie Jun 2015 8:29am, 25 Jun 2015 1,385 posts	Quote Pin RunningRonnie When you are out running in town, you come across certain obstacles that do not appear in your racing or on other types of runs. Things like waiting for pedestrian crossings to change. Now, while these can feel like a welcome break, they run havoc with your stats. Your pace and total run time goes out of the window. One easy way to change this is to pause your Garmin, or set up auto-pause. However, doing this means you get a rest while your Garmin is off leaving you refreshed when you start it again and giving yourself an artificially quick pace. I am undecided on which way is correct, but I am decided that whichever way you choose then consistency is key. The one thing I am not though, is consistent due to the fact that I keep changing my mind as to whether or not pausing the watch at the lights is a good idea. Any thoughts?
Ultracat Jun 2015 8:39am, 25 Jun 2015 11,233 posts	Quote Pin Ultracat I pause my watch if I have to wait to cross the road or for any other reason I need to stop whilst out running, sometimes you are waiting for a good few minutes. I do not stop my watch in races if I need to stop for a comfort break.
Wriggling Snake Jun 2015 8:40am, 25 Jun 2015 9,568 posts	Quote Pin Wriggling Snake Pause, I have to run across quite a few sets of traffic lights, some I get across in one go, some not,luckily they are early in the run or at the end. Pause, if you always pause, it is always taken care of, and is consistent
Diogenes Jun 2015 8:46am, 25 Jun 2015 9,978 posts	Quote Pin Diogenes Pause if it's for more than a few seconds
GregP Jun 2015 8:55am, 25 Jun 2015 76,655 posts	Quote Pin GregP Pause - but not auto-pause - it needs to be a conscious decision.
Fleece and Dust Jun 2015 8:55am, 25 Jun 2015 21,873 posts	Quote Pin Fleece and Dust I've decided pausing is cheating if you're doing a proper training run rather than a mimble. After all, you can't pause during a race!
RunningRonnie Jun 2015 8:55am, 25 Jun 2015 1,386 posts	Quote Pin RunningRonnie Yes, I'd never pause it in a race. One other hazard of stopping it during a run that I forgot to mention is forgetting to start it again. Argh!
LindsD Jun 2015 8:55am, 25 Jun 2015 5,753 posts	Quote Pin LindsD Same here
RunningRonnie Jun 2015 8:57am, 25 Jun 2015 1,387 posts	Quote Pin RunningRonnie Interesting, Fleece. What if the training run is for a 3 hour run (for example). Surely not pausing is cheating in that case, as your watch will read 3 hours when in actual fact you ran 2:50 and waited at lights for 10 minutes.
Wriggling Snake Jun 2015 8:57am, 25 Jun 2015 9,570 posts	Quote Pin Wriggling Snake or don't pause ;-), so long as you do one or the other