# Watch pace alerts, and a better way to hear your pace

> How to set pace alerts on an Apple Watch or Garmin, why threshold buzzes make you ping-pong across your pace band, and how a continuous tone keeps you steady by ear.

A watch can buzz when you drift off pace. Here's how to set that up on Apple Watch and Garmin, and why a continuous tone tells you more than a buzz ever can.

## How do I set a pace alert on Apple Watch?

Open the Workout app on the watch, choose an Outdoor Run, and before you start, open that workout's settings and set a pace target or pace alert. You give it a target pace, and the watch pings and buzzes your wrist when you drop below or climb above the range around it. Start the run and it watches your pace for you.

The exact taps move around between watchOS versions, so treat the path as a rough guide. Look for the workout setup screen or the three-dot menu on the Outdoor Run tile, then for a "Pace" or "Set Alert" option. Some versions let you set an average-pace target for the whole run; others let you set a per-mile or per-kilometer band. Either way, the alert fires at the moment you cross the line you set.

## How do I set a pace alert on a Garmin?

On most Garmin running watches you set a pace alert inside the run activity's settings, or you build a pace target as part of a workout or a PacePro plan. You give it a pace range, and the watch vibrates when you leave it, too fast on one side, too slow on the other. The watch nudges you back toward the band.

Garmin's menus differ by model and firmware, so rather than name a menu path that may be wrong on your watch, look under the run activity for "Alerts" and add a pace alert, or set up a target through Garmin Connect and sync it. PacePro goes further and hands you a pace for each stretch of a known course, adjusting for the hills. All of it still works the same way at heart: you set a bound, and the watch tells you when you cross it.

A watch pace alert is a threshold: it fires when you leave your range, without telling you how far off you are or which direction you're drifting.

## What's the problem with threshold pace alerts?

They're binary. A buzz tells you **that** you left the range. It does not tell you how far off you are or which direction, and it only fires at the edges. So you drift slow, get buzzed, speed up, overshoot the fast edge, get buzzed again, and slow down. You ping-pong across the band instead of settling into the middle of it.

And a buzz on its own is ambiguous. Was that too fast or too slow? Often the only way to know is to raise your wrist and read the number, which breaks your rhythm and your gaze at exactly the moment you were trying to hold steady. The alert is honest about the edges of your band but silent about everything in between, which is where you spend the whole run.

## How is a continuous tone different?

Steady Pace plays a continuous tone instead of a buzz at the edges. The pitch rises when you slow down and falls when you speed up, proportional and instant. You always know how far off you are and which way, so you make small corrections early and settle into the middle of your band by ear, without looking at anything.

You set the tolerance band yourself, and inside it the tone rests quiet, so a little natural variation doesn't nag you. You can also choose one-sided coaching, so it warns you only when you're going too fast, if you tend to drift one way. The tone is not a spoken voice or a single beep. It is an ambient signal you stop noticing consciously and start correcting to.

|  | What it tells you | When | Do you look? | Feels like |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Watch threshold alert | That you crossed a bound | Only at the edges of the band | Usually, to see how far and which way | A referee's whistle |
| Continuous tone | How far off and which way, always | Constantly, in proportion to your drift | No, you correct by ear | A hand on your back, steadying you |

## Should I ditch my watch for this?

No. A running watch is a full-featured instrument: GPS, heart rate, structured workouts, race screens, history. If you already race with pace alerts and like them, they do their job well. This is not an argument against watches. It is a different tool for a specific want: running by ear, eyes up, without glancing at your wrist to know whether to ease off or push.

Steady Pace runs on your iPhone and covers the pace side of that want. It tracks with GPS and the barometer for grade, works offline, keeps your data private, and is a one-time purchase with no subscription. Alongside the tone it gives you a cadence metronome and spoken splits. If you run with both a watch and your phone, you can let the watch log the run and let the tone keep you steady.

### Does the tone play over music or a podcast?

Yes. The tone sits alongside whatever you are already listening to, so you can run to your own audio and still hear when you drift off pace.

### Can I get alerts on only one side?

Yes. You can choose one-sided coaching, so you hear the tone only when you are running too fast, which helps if you tend to drift one direction.

### Do I have to look at my phone while I run?

No. You correct by ear with your eyes up. You set your target and band before you start, then pocket the phone and listen.

### Will it work without a signal?

Yes. Steady Pace works offline. It tracks with GPS and the barometer on the phone itself and needs no connection, so it runs the same on a remote trail as it does in town. [Steady Pace on the App Store](https://apps.apple.com/app/steady-pace/id6773682525).


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Source: https://steadypace.ca/guides/watch-pace-alerts
App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/steady-pace/id6773682525