Prioritize podcasts downloaded to watch over phone

One of the primary reasons I purchased an Apple Watch was to listen to podcasts/books/etc. when running. It worked (mostly) great for years, but lately the syncing has gotten worse. Starting a podcast via the watch (even from the Watch—>Downloaded playlist) before I leave the house, always seems to insist on pulling the data over Bluetooth from my phone. As I get into my run, I get out of range, and the watch freaks out; occasionally, it will continue with the local content seamlessly, but most of the time the AirPods disconnect, and I have to wait around for the watch to finally stop trying to connect to the phone and play locally downloaded content. It’s a relatively small annoyance, but it shouldn’t be this way—these should be simple things to do correctly! Audiobooks are an even bigger disaster because the two devices can never figure out where to sync the correct place in a book. How can I force the watch to play local content even in the presence of my phone so that I don’t have to turn off Bluetooth and/or stop my run as soon as I’m out of range just to get the correct audio playing? I’m using only apple hardware and apps, so this shouldn’t be a compatibility thing, it seems to be a ‘someone prioritized battery life at the expense of user experience’ thing and won’t let me change it, though I can’t see how streaming over BT uses less energy than straight from storage on the watch.