Nike+ iPod Kit and Community
Amongst all the horse racing today, that Japan obviously excels at, I received delivery of a Nike+ iPod Kit.
I’ve been waiting for this since their announcement at the beginning of the year. I tried to grab one when I was last in the US, but I missed it’s availability by a week.
Now I love running, but I lack motivation, and there is no better way than convincing me to slap on the (almost rotted) running shoes by providing a gadget, and an online community–two of my favourite things.
This evening I strapped the transmitter to my old Nike shoe, and headed out with a bunch of motivational tracks on my wife’s iPod Nano. It didn’t take long before I hit my stride and I plugged away for 43 minutes–probably a very stupid decision which I’ll regret for the next few days, given I haven’t run for a few months.
So there are several things that make the Nike+ kit fantastic. Firstly you can track your run while on the road. Having said that, I need to buy a pair of Nike+ shoes, because strapped to the lace it wasn’t registering my pace correctly. I was running at about 5 minute 30 per kilometer, but it lost track and at points wasn’t recording my pace at all.
The second great feature is being able to plug the unit into my Mac when I get home, and it transfers the data of the run to the Nike+ web site. I can then track each run, how I’m progressing each week or month, and even create goals and team challenges. And the user interface is a nice flash site that has all the right round boxes and drop shadows. It even shows my pace through the whole run (you can see from the screen grab that it lost track of me at about 1 km in).
The important feature for me though, is I’m hanging out to run again. There’s nothing more addictive than feeding a database with a bunch of data that I feel compelled to improve.
I’m also looking forward to buying a few PowerSongs or Workouts from the iTunes Music Store.
Anyone else using the Nike+ kit? Maybe we can team up and do a few challenges.
November 8th, 2006 at 10:21 am
Now I would love one of those but Colin won’t let me get an iPod as a matter of principle.
I’m going to have to wait until someone else comes up with something similar, f that will ever be possible given all the nasty patents etc probably hanging around the things.
November 8th, 2006 at 10:24 am
Miriam: What principle?
November 8th, 2006 at 8:14 pm
Something to do with dodgy build quality; semi-illegal antics with price fixing and returns policies; and locking users into their own product with DRM I think.
I don’t usually attempt to understand his objections to things but it tends to avoid a whole lot of sulking and guilt trips if I pay some attention to them.
December 12th, 2006 at 7:18 pm
Hey Richard,
Check out http://runpl.us/ if you need some running buddies. They organise 3/5/10K weekly races. Some of the other participants have broke out into separate groups based on pace (which means you don’t keep losing to speedy gonzales every week).
Let me know how you get on.
I’m booyaa on nike+ site.
Regards,
Mark
December 12th, 2006 at 7:55 pm
Mark
Awesome!!! What a fantastic idea. I’ve joined up, and put myself down for a few of the runs. Damn this thing really does inspire me to run more. Best gadget buy in years!
Thanks for the link Mark!
December 13th, 2006 at 4:43 pm
Richard,
You’re very welcome. I’ve only started running (training for a marathon). I think the Nike+ a fantastic motivator. It’s easy way to keep track of your progress.
Re: shoe pouches for your chip - have a look on my site, podphille and tuaw. You can buy loads of them or make one (a few strips of velcro and thread should do it).