Leg Calibration.

First run with my Nike+ Sportband thing this morning. I have to say my experience with the thing has been a little mixed. When it arrived, there was of course that jolt of excitement about a new toy to play with. However the instructions that come with the thing are somewhat basic and it's one of my delights with new gear to eke out (perhaps geek-out) those hidden features from the manual - non of that joy here.

Essentially, the instructions are "install software", "stick unit in computer", "charge for a bit", "go take a run", "stick unit in computer". There's a bit on how to press buttons too, but it does look designed to be as idiot-proof as you can make something with 2 buttons. My Garmin is not idiot proof, as I've proved on more than one occasion.

I think my main complaint so far would be that it has no screen backlight, and the display - gold on black - is difficult enough to read under overcast skys 52°33´North, and impossible in the dark before sunrise. However, on the plus side, this does encourage you to just start it up and then ignore it, just to enjoy the running.

I also found that it's not a perfect fit into the USB slot on my Macbook - there is a small locating pin on the bottom of the recording unit that is used to lock it into the strap on your wrist, and this means it puts a bit of strain on the USB port unless you put a book underneath the computer. Minor niggle.

I always knew the thing would need calibrating, and I found that it was quite optimistic about distance. If I were 6'2" it would probably be right, but with my 29' inside-leg pins it was about 10% out for the run. The software allows some calibration, so I've told it that what it thought was 3.45 miles was actually 3.11. We'll see how it does with my next run. I suppose the alternative is to re-calibrate my legs somehow. Stilts?

The real bonus though is the completely automatic upload of the run data, which is what I wanted it for. That worked a treat, and the Nike+ site allows you to link a graphic for the run, and here it is:

So, on balance, now that I've used it properly and have some data captured, I'm very pleased with it. I'll probably post some more about it once I have a dozen runs with it under my belt.

Mr Stumble.

Erratic schedules

My job continues to take me up and down the country, so that running is getting a bit like a guilty pleasure. However, I am trying and now have a regular set of hotels in London, the various Radisson hotels dotted through London, and they all seem to have a gym with a treadmill.

I've been trying to run from home on Monday's and Fridays, and on the 'mill Wednesdays - and this worked for a few weeks, but my schedule has got more and more erratic since July, so I take what I can.

Keeping motivated has certainly been a problem. The main two things that are keeping me going are:

1) weight control - I managed to shed a few pounds in Nigel Runner's 10-in-10 challenge a couple of months back and I'm trying to keep them off.
2) I know that when I stop for more than a couple of weeks, the likelihood of crushing migraine attacks increases 10-fold.

So as I write this, I'm again in my hotel, and aiming to get 3 miles in tomorrow morning. And I've also just bought myself (via Amazon) a new gadget to try out - one of these Nike+ Sportband things. I always find gadgets are good for at least a few weeks motivation (simple mind, easily pleased) and I'm hoping that this one will also give me low-effort access to the Nike+ community, which itself acts as a sort-of running club/community thing.

And two more feet on Nik and Dan's Million Feet Running challenge can do nothing but help.

Mr Stumble

Update
=====
When I got to the hotel gym at 6:30 the following morning, I found it closed - they had the decorators in and it was full of paint buckets and dust cloths! Bah.