Running on water

[Runsome]

Wow these gps devices seem to have a mind of their own I don’t remember running in the sea at today’s Parkrun 😀

[Mummycav Administrator Graduate10]

😂😂

[Wizziewood Graduate10]

Haha! ... very interesting!

[AlMorr Ambassador Graduate10]

On week 4 my GPS showed me not walking/running along the side of a Loch but like your GPS actually IN the water

[Runsome Graduate10 in reply to AlMorr]

Perhaps you were going so fast you skimmed over the surface like a stone😀

[AlMorr Ambassador Graduate10 in reply to Runsome]

Yip, talking about speed, there was another time that my app showed that I ran 1K in 9 seconds, that day I was according to my app, jet propelled.

[Dizzysmum17 Graduate10]

😆 😆 perhaps your arm is really long and you were holding it out at right angles to your body? 😝

[Runsome Graduate10 in reply to Dizzysmum17]

Love it😀

[MarkyD Graduate10]

Ahh, GPS multipath propagation 😀.

A quick tutorial on GPS: so the geostationary satellite constellation broadcasts a radio time signal to your watch. Each satellite that your watch can “see”/“hear” broadcasts the time, and depending on how far away is the satellite, each signal arrives at a slightly different time. With some clever maths, the watch can triangulate it’s position and altitude based on those time differences. I think the GPS constellation has 23 satellites. But your watch may not see all of them. When you start your watch it’ll tell you to wait for GPS and when it can see enough to work out your position, you’ll be ready to go. But the watch may be using a satellite that is lower on the horizon as part of the first fix. Off you run, and then suddenly the watch gets a reflection of the radio signal from the water/sea. This bounced signal is delayed fractionally (it travelled further) and this throws off the calculation: you ended up in the sea. When the signal did not bounce off the sea, it recovers back to putting you on dry land.

This gps effect is common near water, and in cities with tall tower blocks.

The watch company will advise you to wait for 1 minute after the watch says “gps is ready” to allow the watch to find more satellites. If it can find more satellites it can do a better job of ignoring weird reflected signals. Once you hit “run” it’ll just use the ones it found up until then.

Sorry, probably too much information...

[Runsome Graduate10 in reply to MarkyD]

That’s cool I wish I knew stuff😀

[Dexy5 Graduate10 in reply to MarkyD]

Well thank you for that @MarkyD. GPS Must be your specialist subject. And there I was thinking runsome had jet propelled running shoes 😂

[Runsome Graduate10 in reply to Dexy5]

you’ve found out my secret 🛩🏃‍♂️😀

[Elfe5 60minGraduate]

Love it😂 Mapmyrun often says I have run under water if it is low tide! 😄

[ju-ju- Graduate10]

Hee hee, I get that when I run on the beach.... looks pretty cool tho....

[Runsome Graduate10 in reply to ju-ju-]

Yes I looks strange and thanks everyone for the explanation, be it technical or otherwise and I think I’m gonna go with Dizzysmum17’s long arm explanation 😀

[cheekychipmunks Graduate10]

Runsome your talents are endless! 😅😅😅

[Runsome Graduate10 in reply to cheekychipmunks]

I try🤡😀

[Hidden]

😂😂😂 Love it!

[UnfitNoMore Graduate10]

😂. Those shoes gonna take some drying out!

[Runsome Graduate10 in reply to UnfitNoMore]

Yea I thought my shoes 👟 were a bit squelchy on the return to the finish line perhaps I should buy some armbands and put them on my feet instead 😀

[UnfitNoMore Graduate10 in reply to Runsome]

Don’t forget to rinse the salt out 😂

[Runsome Graduate10 in reply to UnfitNoMore]

Will do 😀

[pianoteacher Graduate10]

Haha! Mine often puts me in the water but I've never been that far out 🤣😂

Didn't do you too much harm though - am I right in thinking you PB'd today? 😀

[Runsome Graduate10 in reply to pianoteacher]

Hi It did go a way out perhaps it thought i was doing a triathlon. Yes I Did Pb today an improvement of a whole 2 seconds but I’ll take that better 2under than 2 over I guess. Thanks for the smile and wave at the halfway today It was really nice😀

[pianoteacher Graduate10]

A PB's a PB Runsome 😀

I had 2 things to do today - put out a cone and start a stopwatch. 50% success rate 😂🤣😂 Phone problems put paid to halfway split times I'm afraid.

It's really nice to put a face to a name. I'm going for a PB next week so I might not be quite so smiley 🤮

[Runsome Graduate10 in reply to pianoteacher]

Yes it is nice to put a face to a name. Not to worry about splits I don’t think anyone minded. All the best with your Pb next week. 😀I will be doing my first 10k that Sunday so won’t be parkrunning ☹️

[pianoteacher Graduate10 in reply to Runsome]

Oh yes I forgot about your race! Is it the Bodiam one? If it is today's tailwalker is doing it x

[Runsome Graduate10 in reply to pianoteacher]

Yes it the Northiam to Bodiam. I was warned by someone at parkrun not to do it as my first 10k as the hills are big all the way round up and down. I have run half of it and it is steep so I’m a bit worried about what to do😐

[pianoteacher Graduate10 in reply to Runsome]

It'll be very scenic I would imagine though. I would just walk when you need to and enjoy it x

[Runsome Graduate10 in reply to pianoteacher]

Yes I think slow and steady is the way to go😀

[Runsome Graduate10 in reply to pianoteacher]

Yes I think slow and steady is the way to go😀