What’s up everyone. Hope all is well. It’s Wednesday evening about 7:02pm and I’m just wrapping up work for today. Had to jet out for 90 mins to pick up my car from the auto body shop and get the rental returned, hence the late hours here. I was just thinkinig how well my runs and workouts (bodybuilding/strength building) have been consistently going. I ran my fastest mile last Friday and detailed my strength training workout program…but that’s just it. It was my last day in the gym.
This is a common thing that happens to many of us, no matter what we’re involved in. One day off can turn into two, two into…well, you get the picture. Add to that other projects and interests and you can see how conflicts can make themselves apparent. While it’s easy to let discouragement set in (as it has in the past), I’m looking for ways to maintain the motivation….and will find them. Maybe I’ll post the list when I compile it (for all those interested, raise your right hand 🙂 )
Interestingly enough, I was looking for a graphic for the intro to this post (the one above) and ironically, a great article was attached to it 10 Excuses for Not Exercising, and Why They Won’t Fly. While all don’t personally apply to me, the first one I can be guilty of. If you’re trying to stay on your program, I hope this article is useful. If you’re about to start, hope it is equally as useful.
I hope this blogpost finds you well. For many of you following me on Facebook and Twitter, you’ve seen my various status updates and tweets about my health and fitness training, especially in the areas of running and weight workouts. You also know, being the techie that I am, the ability to use technology to track my performance metrics against goals, is of great interest to me, and frankly makes exercising that much more fun. You also probably know that I am a fan of the Nike+ fitness tracking system. Well, this post is not about waving the Nike+ banner, but more about my experiences and knowledge gained about the whole fitness tracking phenomenon and how I see it with respect to exercising/training the old fashioned way – basically paper and pen at best!
I’ll start by conveying my experience with the Nike+ system, my likes about it, and convey a little about the dislikes of others about it (in comparison to the competition). I discovered Nike+, not via one of the many YouTube videos or a TV commercial, but by reading an article in Wired Magazine entitled “Living By Numbers”. While the article featured the work of Apple and Nike in developing the Nike+ system, it was also comprised of other articles and examples of websites and apps regarding performance metrics tracking. You can read the article here.
I’ve pretty much worked out -prettttttttttty- regularly since late HS, through college, etc (though I won’t state how many times I fell off the horse and got back on – thank goodness for muscle memory). Finding out about idea of using tech to track my performance was immediately golden to me and obviously, as said above, appealed to my tech side. What I liked (and still do) about the sports and fitness giant we know as Nike, is their entire approach – marketing, advertising, etc to sports and fitness. The appeal to THIS consumer and fan is great. Another company that does the same for me is Apple (as I type away on this sleek black Macbook).
So, Nike has developed this whole system called Nike Plus, or more overall Nike Active. The whole premise (if you didn’t read the article above) is the combination of an iPod nano or iPhone, coupled with a sensor that goes in specialized Nike running shoes, and a sensor receiver that goes into your iPod (which is how it was originally designed). It was first geared towards tracking your run stats. Since then, the iPod nano 6G (v1.2 software update) and iPhone 4/4S with iOS 5.0 do away with the need for the iPod sensor receiver that comes with the Nike+ Sports Kit. Here’s a video (not the newest, but my favorite) about the basics of Nike+
Since 2006, various Nike+ products have come into existence – the sports band, the Nike+ GPS watch. Here’s a comparison chart
For me, the best product is the iPod nano. I’m not at a point where I want to track my routes, nor do I need the instantaneity of posting to the Nike+ site via GPS. I also own an iPhone 4 that I make reference to later in this post.
Nike has upped the bar and added yet another fitness tracking item: The Nike Fuel Band
A really interesting, yet pricey, fitness tracking device that is designed to motivate you to stay active. I like everything about it (sans the price), except it isn’t waterproof and if you like working out to music, you’re out of luck. It’s slated to hit the US market on Feb 22nd. Here’s a good article on it.
Nike+ is great to me, however there are some definite naysayers and disatisfied users of the system. If you are on FB and search on the keywords “Nike Plus”, you’ll find their page. 98% of the comments currently there (they revamped the page over the last two years) center around the following areas”
Inability to connect to the website
Run data not posting to the site via iTunes or GPS
Run data not crossposting to Facebook
It appears to me that a good deal of the problem points to the fact that it’s a Flash based site, when many, if not all of the other ones are not. Frankly I like the site, and in the almost two years of running and using it, I’ve never suffered the myriad of problems these people are griping about. Nike did admit, and posted a formal letter, to the issues the site was having. I think that was admirable of them. Not having experienced the issues others have, it’s hard for me to share a sympathetic ear, but I hope that the site issues become minimal.
One of the major capabilities in fitness tracking tech is the use of GPS, especially in running. As widely known, you can track your routes and via GPS upload them to your favorite fitness track website via the accompanying smartphone app. Garmin, of course, is in the game and many fitness sites, along with Nike, like Map My Fitness, GainFitness, Dailyburn, Dailymile, and so on. As you can see from iPhone screenshot, I’ve downloaded a number of fitness tracking apps that, aside from Nike+, have tried yet. Since I workout with weights as well, I’m looking for one that will allow me to success track performance there as well. There are eight so far that need investigation. Assessing each will be a project in itself. Currently, in addition to the Nike+ sites, I am using the online site, Dailymile. It was recommended by a friend of mine who’s done a thorough assessment of the site and what I’ve seen so far, I like. It not only allows me to track my runs, but other types of fitness workouts as well. It crossposts to Twitter nicely, allows for the upload of pics and video, has the ability to import my run data from Nike+. From what I understand, it has great capability for analytics as well. Many of these sites allow for import of data from Nike+ and other sites as well.
Many of the sites mirror the same capabilities so, as said above, the best thing to do is compare and maybe use multiple sites, if necessary, to meet the needs you have for tracking your metrics. This leads me to an obvious aspect of performance tracking – accuracy. Just how accurate is all of this? To quote a friend. “If it’s tracking faulty stats it’s futile”. True indeed. One can, depending on what they want to get out of tracking performance, get VERY hung up on how accurate one device is against another in an apples-to-apples comparison. Then there are those like a weightlifter, whose comment I saw in a forum that was attached to an article about this aspect. He basically said he didn’t care much about tight accuracy because he’s just a weightlifter, but wanted to have SOMETHING to gauge his run performance, something simple he could use as a tool to track improvements. The article by Daily Burn CEO Andy Smith is entitled “DailyBurn CEO: Fitness-Tracking Devices Aren’t Gimmicks, but They’re Close”. The article can be read here. Personally, I think one, especially someone who is highly data driven, can get too caught in the phenomena, losing sight to why they started the fitness journey to begin with.
In summary, I look forward to continuing in the leverage of fitness tech to allow me the added enjoyment of keeping fit. I’m settled and happy with the physical tools (iPod nano and Nike Sports Kit) that I have…I can see a bluetooth transmitter for the nano and an accompanying lightweight set of bluetooth headphones, but other than that, I’m good. As for the apps and websites, research and trial awaits. I’m looking forward to that as well, but in the mean time…it’s all about breaking that 10 min mile and training for my first 5K this year. Hopefully I can find an interesting app to aid in my bodybuilding, or should I say weight workouts. Time will tell. In closing, for all the excitement there is in gaining and maintaining good fitness, I try to keep this thought first and foremost.
Here are a number of popular online fitness tracking sites:
On this next to the last day of Health and Wellness Week, I decided to post about another physical aspect of well being and that is the benefits of water. All you physicians check me on this, but from what I know, the brain is 78% water and the body itself is composed of 98% of this stuff called dihydrogen oxide. I try to drink as much water as I can. It’s my favorite overall beverage (with Sobe Elixirs a close second…haha). In any event, with the plethora of sports drinks out, I always reach for water for replenishment and thirst when I can. I ended up finding a pretty good article earlier this week entitled
As the week winds down, I wanted to also share another friend in my Twitter stream, Dr. Melodie, a health and wellness practicioner and practicing chiropractor. She has a great health and wellness blog that I suggest you check out. I like it a lot. If I get a chance to do a final post tomorrow, I’ll reflect on what I enjoy about it. Check out my friend’s posts this week at
Good morning crew…
Happy Friday to all. It’s been a minute since I blogged about running, much less blogged at all, but since I have a few minutes this morning before I head into the office, why not.
If you’ve been noticing my FB page updates, I’ve been having my run stats posted there. I fell off the wagon last summer (right at vacation time) from running for the first time with the Nike+ system. Running is a great form of cardio, but frankly, I’ve NEVER liked running. It’s the techie in me that made running interesting, because with Nike+, I can track my personal performance metrics using a device I’ve grown to love since the first ones came out – the iPod. Running with music is great, the Nike+ website leverages superb marketing and offers a great deal of interactivity, not just with the site but fellow runners, known and unknown.
Most of my runs have been on a treadmill, but as much as I hate road runs, it’s not only the most popular form of running, but I’ll be doing it more and more to sever the reliance on treadmill running. The training of outdoor runs, for me, is tough now, but the gains I’ll achieve will keep my mindset looking forward to them. Combined with an improved diet, free weights and circuit machine workouts, I like what the combination is offering. Today’s run was not bad, the weather was perfect and I learned about pace. Time permitting, I may run at the gym today at lunch or after work, I’ll see. The good thing is I got my run in for the day either way. As for inspiration, this five year old commercial does it for me…this is where I am (at least) trying to get to:
I hope this post finds you well. I got up early this Saturday morning (5:30am) to go on an early morning run. I succeeded in doing so. I did a little editing of a podcast I am posting tomorrow, drank some Gatorade G2, had a little apple sauce. By the time I got to the track (6:39 am), it was already bustling with walkers. Anybody already out walking around a track at 6:45am on a Saturday morning, has got to be serious about their fitness.
I warmed up and started my run. After the first lap I already heard that G2 in my stomach and yet again realized one thing: I dislike running outdoors, which made me realize another thing: I have to start running more outdoors. While running outdoors is far more popular, running in the gym is more convenient for me (and my performance is much better). I want the best of both worlds, so time to have at it.
Today’s run was eh…not my best time. I’m still not convinced my form is quite right (meaning foot placement), maybe still too much heel. I’m learning to land a bit more on the balls of my feet but not totally, as I watch other runners for their form and it seems they are not on their heels at all. I’ll get there. Right now the goal is to build cardiovascular endurance.
On a related note, I got the pleasure of teaching a good friend all I know about Nike+ (she seems to think I should work for them or something, based on my blog posts- *wink*) I think she’s gonna enjoy using it, via the Sportsband or iPod solution! Best wishes whenever she gets started.
Had a really good run during lunch. Everything about it from the mental prep through the end of it was good. The gym was packed with an exercise class right in front of me – maybe that added a lil energy to me as well.
The anomaly was me somehow during off the female feedback voice (or so I thought I did – checking the iPod now shows it as on) I didn’t hear her during the whole run, which resulted in a longer, but best workout length so far.
After work, my kids persuaded me to head out to the track so they could jog, so I guess I can add that on as post-run activity. I also met my first goal!
Back from my run. This time it was on a different terrain – the track. Today I saw how much different running outdoors (again) is than running in a more controlled environment. This one was not one of my better runs (could it have been the nap beforehand?). I’ll attribute the less than desirable performance to the terrain – I had to walk part of it, as opposed to the steady non-stop runs I do indoors. This tells me I have to run outdoors more. I think it’s time I look into Nike+ Coach. Let’s go! This is where I’m trying to get to:
On another note…this was a family event. Wife and kids came this time. Son had a good share of running, while the ladies near power-walked. Great temps – low 70’s. More people were on the tennis courts than on the track, although by 8:15pm, people were still coming. I’ll miss daylight savings time.
Short post here. Work has it’s ebbs and flows of busy-ness. Today was a flow, that flow right into my lunch hour. Needless to say I didn’t run during that time and decided to go right after work. About 3pm, and being a Friday, I started to skip the run altogether…BUT…missing out on a run last weekend put me behind in reaching my goal for tomorrow. Unfortunately this run was not a good one. I definitely wasn’t mentally hyped for it, and the performance showed (plus, they cut the AC off in the gym after 5pm….what? So what I was the only one there :-))
Anyway, the dreaded run stats: Ran 0.92 mi on 8/6/2010 at 5:44 PM. Looking to do a 6am run in the morning., Seeing as it’s 10:47pm, I should be getting in the bed, huh?
I trust all is well with you. I got in not too long ago from the track, where my kids decided they wanted to go for a run. It was my daughter’s first time and she did well. We jogged two laps and walked two. As expected (at 8:10pm) there were a good amount of runners and walkers at the track, per the cooler temps.
After a few days off, I finally got back to my regular lunch time run schedule. Today was another personal best (as notified by Tiger Woods in my headphones after I completed the workout). It’s really convenient to have a gym in the building, as lunchtime is the perfect time to run for me during the week. Run stats are below, along with a description of my run.
My daughter has a new iPod Touch, which comes with the Nike+ app preloaded. If she gets into running, all I need to do is get her the sensor and maybe even the shoes…or neither…go for the wristband. Looking for a cheap iPod Nano for my son, as he is sensor all the way. He gets a kick out of the Nike+ minis (think Wii Miis) on the website…go figure.
Hope all is well. After a string of HOT days, the temps have eased down a bit. I packed my gym bag this morning hoping to run, but didn’t think I’d get it in. Boss is back from vacation and had ANOTHER meeting that dipped into my lunch hour, but I went and did it anyway. Turns out, it was my best mile yet, so I’m definitely excited about getting THAT news.
The pace was good, finally getting the breathing rhythm going a lot smoother. and the form is slowly getting better (less and less shin splints).
I’m definitely down with the whole Nike+ system. Always good encouragement: 10 kilometers down. Now let’s see what else you’ve got. You’re off to a fantastic start. Whether your first 10K was a breeze or hard-earned, keep it up.
