As I mentioned in this post, I am training for a half marathon in October. I usually run at the gym on the treadmill, but I occasionally run outside and now that my long runs are getting longer, not only do I need fuel to keep me going, but I need something to track my running. I had wanted a Garmin Forerunner, but couldn’t justify that cost. I already have a Polar Heart Rate Monitor, so another couple hundred dollars to track mileage/distance didn’t make sense. Enter new Nike shoes & Nike gift card. The new running shoes I bought last month were Nikes and my credit cards rewards came in the form of a Nike gift card. I bought a Nike+ iPod Sports Kit for $29.99!
The sensor (on the right), slips in a little slot under the insert in my shoe. The receiver slips right into your iPod nano or, if you have an itouch, it has a built in sensor! I had no idea my itouch could do that!
I used the Nike+ for the first time Friday for my long run. It said I was running much faster than I thought I was and than what the treadmill was telling me. I know that treadmills are notoriously wrong when it comes to distance, calories & such, so I don’t put a lot of stock in that. I had to calibrate the Nike+ today to get the most accurate results. I ran 1 mile (at a “normal” pace) in 8 min 50 sec. That is what the calibration was based on. Now, when I run, the results should be much more accurate.
Some of my favorite things about this new toy are:
- Voice comes on to update you on distance ran, distance left (can be turned off)
- Push a button & it tells you your pace
- You can custom design workouts, distances or do open-ended workouts
- You can upload your data to Nike+ website & keep track of your training
- You can set goals & compete with others on the Nike+ website
For $29.99, this was a great purchase. I really look forward to using this in my race next week & for training on my longer runs. Another bonus to the Nike+ over the Garmin is that you don’t need GPS for it to work. The Garmins won’t work inside (treadmills) or sometimes have issues picking up signals from the satellite.
