Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. However, the experiences and recommendations are my own.
I’ve been doing athletic running activities since the early nineties and one of the items that always came in handy was an electric watch. We would either use a stopwatch or a wristwatch to help us with our training activities, which mainly revolved around tempo running, pace, speed, acceleration, and interval running.
With the development of smart watches, people can train with more insights and data to enhance their performance.
I bought an Apple 3 watch a few years ago and it has been an incredible investment for my athletic performance. There are others on the market.
In this post, I’ll share some insights into the best running watches for people that plan to train for sprints, middle, or long-distance running events.
Apple watch

I own this watch and I wear it every day. I would consider this a very good all-round watch for runners and athletes that want to track their runs and their lifestyle.
Tracking your runs is important. But monitoring your non-running activity is just as important.
The amount of applications available and the ability to sync the data to your iPhone is really beneficial as well. The things I like about this watch include:
- The heart rate monitor (Which is fairly accurate)
- The ability to record your running distance and time.
- The smart sensor to alert you to track any running activity that you are doing.
- The ability to link the data to your health application on your iPhone.
- It’s water resistant (Very useful when getting sweaty or running in cold, humid, or wet conditions)
- Time-tracking settings
Prices for the Apple watch start from $449.99
Click here to buy an Apple watch from Apple on Amazon.
Garmin Forerunner watches

If you plan to do long-distance runs or training that will regularly be 1-3h, then you will want to opt for the Garmin watches.
They offer the same running functions as the Apple Watch, but with more accuracy. For athletes training over longer distances, the accuracy becomes more important since training for 5 or 10km; or even marathons require the athlete to maintain their stamina over the distance that they are running.
Garmins are for the advanced runner that wants practicality.
Different Garmins also have additional functions such as music playback.
Prices start from $349.95