Nike+ on the iPod Nano Review - Nike Plus Website Review

Yes, yes, I have a Garmin. So no, I don't really need to use the Nike+ system at all. But about a month ago, I bought a brand new Apple iPod Nano, 7th generation. I saw that had a Nike+ button on it, but I didn't really think about it, since I haven't had a shoe sensor for years. Then I noticed the instructions said you don't have to use a shoe sensor at all. It will work without one.

Wut?

So clearly I had to give this thing a try. How exactly was it supposed to work without a shoe sensor? I had no idea. Technical specs on the whole thing is sort of hard to find. Basically, it says it tracks you using an accelerometer. OK, I almost accept that. Although it also seems to work when you're running on a treadmill, so...what exactly is it measuring? Your arm movements? What if you have it in your pocket? What if you have it in a backpack? I don't know. I've given up on the science of the thing and just moved on to testing it out.

So, the Nike+ system does allow some calibration. At the end of a run, it may ask if you want to calibrate the run you just finished. You can then adjust the mileage if you know the Nike+ system has it wrong. I figured this was a pretty important feature, so I calibrated the system on three different runs before I officially started testing it.

Here is the first test - a 12 mile run through Corvallis. This run was mainly on paved, flat bike trails with just a few dirt trails thrown in. Pretty flat and simple overall.



And here are the Nike+ splits from the same run. Pretty basic, but Nike does provide your running time, your average pace for each mile and the up or down percentage change for each mile, compared to the average for the entire run.



So let's compare this to my numbers that my Garmin Forerunner 110 spit out. Now if you want to scoff at the numbers Garmin provides or that particular watch model, please be my guest. But it's as close as I can get to a "gold" standard for distance and pace, so that's what I'm using for my base comparison.



OK, the first note is the total distance. The Garmin has it at 12.02 miles and the Nike+ at 12.1 miles. That's shockingly close and quite remarkable really. An impressive feat for the Nike+ system to be that accurate on that long of a run. However, note the total time is not the same on the two systems - I walked a little to start and a little to end while I tried to get everything going and everything turned off. So there's about 3 minutes difference between the two...so maybe the Nike+ was quite as accurate as I thought. You can also see this in the pace numbers - the Nike+ and the Garmin have a few miles where the pace looks the same, but most are quite a bit off. Still, not bad overall.

Now let's take a look at a tougher run to track. Here's a run where I went up and down Bald Hill twice and had a total distance of 9.80 miles according to the Garmin.



And here is a look at the splits from the Nike+ system.



And then let's compare the Nike+ splits with the Garmin splits.



OK, now we start to see some issues. The accelerometer seems to have some issues when the pace/cadence changes quickly. Going up and down hills causes your form to change, your stride length to change, and definitely your speed to change and the Nike+ seems to lose a little in the translation. The Garmin says I ran 9.80 miles and the Nike+ says I ran 10.30 miles. That's a .50 mile difference over 10 miles, or a 5% difference. Now depending on how you look at it, maybe 5% doesn't make that big a difference to your training. Good for you. But that much of a mileage difference changes the average pace from 10:00 to 9:30 and that's a pretty big number.

And looking at the splits, it seems the Nike+ system has my pace WAY fast going uphill. Why? I couldn't tell you. I'm guessing it's because my upper body, and iPod, move pretty normally going uphill, but my feet are taking tiny, little strides.

I've done a bunch of runs over the last month and I can confirm these general observations.
-normal, flat paved run: Nike+ will get you within 5% accuracy and usually even better than that.
-odd paces like tempo runs or odd terrain like hills and trails: Nike+ will be probably be off 5%-15%.

Now the treadmill.

Yes, the Nike+ works, sort of, on the treadmill. It's not great - usually it shows me MUCH slower than I'm actually running - but it does work. Whereas the Garmin doesn't do squat (obviously) on a treadmill. So if you're just looking for some kind of numbers and aren't too concerned with the accuracy, go ahead and use the Nike+ on the treadmill. Then again, the treadmill itself keeps pretty good record of how far you've run and your distance, so why would you need anything else? Hmmmm... Of course, when you're trying to break records and win challenges on the Nike+ website, you wear it on EVERY run.

OK, the website.

Maybe it's just the middle school kid in me, but I've got to admit, I like all the fancy graphics and colors and prizes and trophies and STUFF that is on the Nike+ site.



I mean look at all this cool stuff! What time of day you run, your fastest records, your challenges against other Nike+ members...stuff, stuff, stuff! Of course they also have this Nike Fuel thing, which makes no sense to me...but I've almost got a million units of it, so...maybe I'll win a stuffed chicken or something!



Ah, but even here, the main problem - accuracy - crops up. Note that the shot above states I have a 4:41 mile record and a 17:25 5k record. Well, I don't have either. Not even close. My 5k PR is a 19:58 and I wasn't wearing an iPod when I ran it.

So basically, if you're running for strictly health reasons or for fun, the Nike+ is perfect for you. Hey, I like it for those reasons.

But if you need seriously accurate times and distances, stick with a GPS unit of some sort.

Dancing Treadmill Guy

Well, that's the end of running on a treadmill for me...I just can't. After seeing what this guy can do on the treadmill, I'm sort of embarrassed to even get on there again.

Just...wow.

Five Years...Ten Posts

It's hard to believe, but we're coming up on the five year anniversary of The Two R's.

I know, right? Five years of running, writing and writing about running.

And what better way to celebrate than to reprint some of my favorite posts of the last five years! It only makes sense to do my top five posts for the five year anniversary...that's why we're going to do a top ten! Since when have we worried about making sense? Besides, I can't narrow it down to five.

So, let's count down to October 20th - the 5th Anniversary of The Two R's!

First up: a little tale of woe from August 12th, 2009. A visit to Dixon Rec Center at OSU. One of my favorite places in the world, but also a place where I've had a lot of strangely interesting adventures. Ah Dixon...

AS COOL AS ICE...

You know, it's really not that easy to be cool when you're working out with a bunch of college kids that are in the best shape of their lives without even trying. There's usually more posing going on at Dixon than exercising, but I'm always in there, sweating, panting, gasping for air while everyone around me flexes and tries to find a date for Friday night. But hey, I still try to be cool...

So I'm at Dixon last night, just got changed into my running stuff in the locker room and I'm walking out to hit the treadmill. They've got a nice full-length mirror just before you leave the locker room so you can make sure you've got your pants on. As I go by, I notice I've got a Bounce sheet from the dryer hanging out the leg hole on the back of my right leg. Jeez, how embarrassing - glad I caught that one before I made it out.

So I go do a nice little five miler on the treadmill, sneer at the college kids putting in their mini workout/poses. That's right, you want to see a man working out? Right here. Check it out, Holmes. You gotta keep these kids in their place.

So I finish up and strut out to the lobby. The basketball team is hanging out - Hey guys, how's it going? Man, I'm feeling good. I'm showin' these kids what an old man can do.

I head back into the locker room to shower up and glance in the mirror on my way through. I'm heading the opposite direction now, so the mirror is on the other side of me. Hey look! I've got a Bounce sheet stuck hanging out of my shorts on that side too! Ya know, if you just glance at it quickly, it sort of looks like toilet paper sticking out of my shorts. Nice.

Yep, I'm cool all right. Maybe I'll just start working out at home.

Save this treadmill for me!

Just minding my own business, going for a little run on the treadmill...or so I thought.

So I head over to Dixon Tuesday night after work. Needed to do some speedwork: a mile warmup, four 1-mile segments at Half race pace, six 200m segments at 10k pace moving to 5k pace, and a mile cool down. I have a hard time keeping pace for that many segments out on the roads. Plus the hay fever thing. So...Yo Treadmill!

Since finals were last week at OSU, the crowds are pretty light. Which I lurv. So I walk into the main cardio room and there are only about two people on the treadmills. Cool.

I step up to my favorite machine and hop on.

The first mile is always tough. The 45 year old body just doesn't warm up as fast as it used to. I feel like Phoebe from Friends only not as cute and I can't play guitar.


But I get through it and start the faster stuff. Begin a mile repeat at just under 8:00.

I'm only about a quarter-mile in when a girl...young woman...college-age female student...(give me a break, I'm old), hops on the treadmill next to me.

Quick glance. Cute enough. Almost fall off the treadmill. Act cool. All good.

I don't really try to make much eye contact when I'm on the treadmills at Dixon. Mainly because they have big stickers on them that say "Keep workout to 30 minutes." Which is a joke. Sometimes I'm on there for 60 minutes, hardly ever longer than 90 minutes, but it has happened. So I don't even look around. Ignore the plebeians giving you and your treadmill longing looks and soon they'll wander over to the stationary bikes. That's always been my theory.

So cute or not, I don't really look at her, cause I'm busy using the hell out of this treadmill for the next hour and a half, so everyone else can just beat it.

But she's only on there for about five minutes before she's waving her hand in front of my face. What the hell?

"WHAT?" I scream.

She winces and everyone else in the room turns to stare at me. Whoops. Still have the iPod going full volume in my ears. I take off the headphones.

"What?" I say, turned down to about six.

"Can you watch my stuff for me while I run to the bathroom?" she says.

"You've got to be freaking kidding me?" I say in my own head where I always say lots of cool stuff.

"What? Really?" I say out loud in the real world where I never say anything at all to cute college age young female type people.

"Yeah," she says. "I'll just be a second."

And she takes off.

I mean, who does that? I don't want to watch her stuff. I'm trying to do speedwork here. This isn't easy for an old man!

Oh, whatever! So I glance over there. She left her stinking iPhone or iPod Touch or freaking huge old school iPod with a big old screen right there on the treadmill. Who does that? Is she afraid she'll get cooties on it in the bathroom? So now I'm responsible for her damn iPhone?



I'll show her cooties. I'm going to lick the damn thing.

So I tell myself to forget about her stinking iPhone and concentrate on my speedwork. I look down at the screen on my treadmill and see that I'm at 1.18 miles. Sweet humpin' Moses. I've run almost a quarter mile past my mark. I'm totally off my game here.

I belatedly slow my treadmill down for my recovery between mile repeat one and two to almost a walk. I glance around and notice that every treadmill is taken now except for the one beside me. The one I'm watching. The one I'm saving. For the girl I don't know. And her iPhone.

Un.

Believable.

So I'm just about read to crank up the treadmill for the second mile repeat. About a 7:50 pace for this one. The treadmill has a touchy button - you've really got to lean on it for about 30 seconds to get it to start going faster. I'm leaning on the damn button with everything I've got when an Asian guy in bright red nylon Adidas sweat pants and a huge fleece hoody gets up on the girl's treadmill.

First, it's about 80 degrees in Dixon during the summer. There's no way this guy is going to actually run dressed like that. Second, about 90% of the students at OSU during the summer are International Students because, well, who can afford to fly around the world every couple months? And third, dammit!

"HEY, SOMEBODY'S USING THAT!" I scream.

He looks at me like it was only a matter of time until some American freaked out on him. He's searching me with his eyes. Probably looking for a handgun. I mean, America, right?

I take my headphones off and say in a normal voice, "I think someone's on there." Which is clearly a lie. "She'll be right back." Which I hope to God is true.

"Are you almost done?" he says.

"No. I just got on," I lie. "I got 30 minutes left."

He frowns at me and walks over to the stationary bikes. That's right, buddy. Just keep on walking. Nothing to see here.

I try to get back into a rhythm, but I've only got into the mile for about two minutes when another guy walks up to the treadmill and points at it. Looks at me. Points at himself. Then at the treadmill again.

I hate people.

Yeah, I get it buddy. You want to get on the treadmill. Tough luck for you. He's some older schlub like me. Probably on staff. No faculty person is dumb enough to be on campus this time of year - they're all on vacation.

"Someone's using it," I say. No other explanation. I've just about had enough of the whole "saving seats" deal here. I mean, it's not easy for me to run under 8:00 pace on a treadmill in the first place. It's all I can do to not shoot off the back. I don't need to hold a freaking conversation with every person that walks in!

"Where is she?" he says.

"Bathroom," I shrug.

He shakes his head at me like he's picturing a bus running me under the tires.

"You almost done?" he says.

"Just got on," I say. "30 minutes."

I haven't talked this much to the general public at large in months. I'm going to have to take a sick day tomorrow.

The guy sneers at me and walks away. Like I care, buddy. I'm getting all riled up like it's my fiancee that I'm saving the treadmill for. I try to focus my anger in the correct direction.

I'm going to wait 60 more seconds, then I'm taking her iPhone and stepping on the damn thing.

How long does it take to go to the bathroom anyway? Does she have some kind of issue? It's been like 10 minutes, I swear. Maybe 15.

People on the stationary bikes that are trolling the treadmills keep turning around and staring at me. I pretend I'm watching the NCAA baseball world series game on the TV on the wall. Good Lord, I could absolutely not care less about anything in the entire world than Florida State and UCLA playing baseball.

The Seminole pitcher has a damn fine moustache however.

The girl comes strolling back down the hall outside the cardio room. She's talking to another girl. She's actually standing outside in the hall now, chatting. I look down at my treadmill screen and see I've gone past a mile. Again.

I'm this close to losing it. If she ever wraps up her conversation and comes back in here, I'm going to give her a piece of my mind. Her parents clearly did not do their jobs on the responsibility advising side. I'm going to step up to the plate.

She finally giggles her way back to the treadmill and steps on. She checks her phone for a minute before she even starts the treadmill back up.

That's it. Bull. Horns.

She turns toward me. "Thanks so much. I really appreciate your help." She smiles. She is pretty cute.

"Sure," I say. "No problem."

I'm never working out at Dixon again.

Ever.

Woodway Curve Treadmill Review

Before you ask...Yes, yes it is.

So I was at Dixon the other night, minding my own business, hitting the treadmill hard since it was in the upper 20's outside, and I noticed something very strange sitting over against the windows. Very, very strange. Why, it was a new treadmill! Two of them in fact! And it's...well, it's...not flat.

This crazy treadmill is actually curved at both ends! Why? Hell if I know. I assume it has something to do with the fact that this treadmill has no motor. That's correct. This thing is a George Jetson-style, let Astro take off after the cat, pull you under, self-powered treadmill.

Obviously, I had to try it.

So I hopped on and gave it a whirl. Hmmmm...

A couple of observations:

-I don't know if you can grease the bearings on these babies, but it seemed hard, as in difficult, as in Wow, I'm having to sprint to keep this thing going. I mean, you could walk on it OK, but if you wanted to run, you actually had to run. No kidding around - you had to move your legs to make it feel halfway like normal running. Also...

-It doesn't seem to work well if you run in the center of the treads (the dip). To keep it moving at a constant rate, you have to consistently be running up at the very front. So you're always running up a hill! It was a very strange feeling.

-If you're just trying to burn calories, I could see it working. But if you're trying to actually get in a workout, especially one where you want to move your speed around a bit (which, frankly, is one of the best reasons to use a treadmill), this just doesn't seem to work very well.

-Go ahead and check out the attached videos and you'll see what I mean. None of the folks they have running on the Curve in the videos look like they're running smoothly. They all seem a bit out of sorts and struggling.

Overall, a very odd experience. I mean, I only spent 15 minutes on the thing, so I'm hardly an expert, but it seems like you'd really need to work at this treadmill to get used to it.

I think I'll stick to the tried and true.

Haile Gebselassie Runs 4:00 Pace on Treadmill

Hey, look at Haile!

He's hitting 4:00 pace on a treadmill. I know, it's like I'm looking into a mirror, right?

I don't think the treadmills at Dixon can even go at a 4:00 pace. They'd probably start kicking out smoke like Wile E. Coyote's Rocket Running Shoes at about 6:00 per mile.

Ah well, that's what I would look like.

Stinkin' cheap Dixon treadmills...