Product: Nike+ iPod Sport Kit
Prices: $30.00 (foot pod & iPod receiver). iPod nano and Nike+ shoes sold separately.
Rating: Very Good 8.3/10.0
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Many trails near of my home in northern Utah are steep, rocky, and foreboding, requiring heavy tank-like trail running shoes that can withstand the punishment of the terrain — and protect my feet as well. Many of these dedicated trail running shoes weigh up to a pound apiece in order to offer high levels of support and protection.
However, there are times in my trail running when I don’t quite need that level of stability and “armor”, but rather, I want speed and agility.
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When I think “Garmin“, I automatically think “GPS“. For this reason, I was a little surprised to find about Garmin’s latest fitness monitor, the Forerunner 50. It measures speed and distance NOT by GPS, but rather by a foot pod, similar to the Nike + iPod Sport Kit, Suunto Running Pack, and Polar RS800sd. This is a deviation in how most people perceive Garmin, but they are well-respected in general for all of their products. Would the Forerunner 50 follow suit?…
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I was pretty excited when I got the 3rd-generation iPod nano; the possibilities for running were great. However, I lacked one critical accessory: a good protective case and armband.I soon found that the DLO Action Jacket solved my problems. The neoprene case is designed specifically for the 3rd generation (4GB/8GB) iPod nano, and comes with a 180-degree rotating belt clip and an adjustable armband. The Action Jacket retails for $30, but I was able to find it for as low as $18 (plus free shipping!) on Amazon.com. Colors are available in black, white, or pink. I personally like the black…
When I made the jump to running with an mp3 player, I quickly noticed two things:
- Running with music is fun and motivational.
- Stock headphones that come “free” with most mp3 players just don’t get the job done.
As a result, one of the first accessories I purchased were nicer, more comfortable, more stable ear clip headphones. Even these never quite fit my ears right and tended to jiggle around. Perhaps I should have first looked at a pair of Nike sport headphones.
I recently had the pleasure of testing the Nike Flight and the Nike Vapor sport headphones. I enjoyed both models, and each offered a unique set of pro’s and con’s.
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In the expanding world of hydration products, nuun has separated itself from the pack with their quality portable electrolyte tablets. It is dissolves quickly, is sugar-free, is convenient to use, and tends to have a mild, pleasing taste…
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It seems that in the world of hydration systems, there is always give-and-take and compromise. The small, light packs may not carry enough water. The bottle-based belt systems require use of hands and often make you stop in your activity during use. The hands-free, bladder-based systems tend to bounce around too much and cause discomfort.
Personally, I tend to gravitate toward the bladder-based hydration systems, such as those made by Camelbak or Ultimate Direction, because I can use them in full stride during my runs. I hate having to stop, pull out a bottle, and then put it back before resuming my run. However, all of the bladder-based hydration systems I had used in the past tended to have a heavy weight, poor center of gravity, and a tendency bounce around. Over the duration of a long road or trail run, this not only proves to be annoying, but can also cause chaffing, discomfort, and alteration of my stride.
This past month I have had the pleasure of testing the Camelbak Octane 8+ hydration pack…
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Have you ever wondered what it’s like to run for an NCAA cross country powerhouse? Have you ever wanted an inside look into the minds and workouts of a D-I national contender? “Running with the Buffaloes: A Season Inside with Mark Wetmore, Adam Goucher, and the University of Colorado Men’s Cross-Country Team“, by Chris Lear, brings all of those perspectives, and much much more…
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Documentaries have become an increasingly popular and powerful movie genre, with a variety of titles such as “Super Size Me”, “Fahrenheit 9/11? “Roger and Me”, and “Spellbound” gaining both cult status and mass appeal.
However, the special interests of runners have been largely neglected, and I’ve been left wondering, “Where’s my running documentary?”. My wait ended earlier this year with the release of “Dancing the Bear: A 100-Mile Journey of Personal Exploration“…
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Most of us are accustomed to sugared sports drinks - Gatorade, Powerade, Cytomax, and others. Although the sugars provide glycogen (energy) that can aid us during long runs, for many athletes it is “too much” and leads to stomach cramping and/or crashes in energy.Ultima Replenisher electrolyte drink offers an alternative to traditional sugar-bearing sports drinks, and if you’ve had bad experiences with Gatorade, Powerade, or Cytomax, you may want to check it out.
Here are a few of Ultima’s most appealing characteristics…
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I remember my first experience with energy bars, well over 10 years ago. I recall being somewhat curious and even a little excited about this new concept. I thought to myself, Will it boost my performance? Will it give me boundless energy?
My eager optimism crashed as soon as I began it to eat it. I managed to scarf down the dense, chewy mass, and proceeded to get a gut bomb that lasted the duration of my run. In the early days, some of those bars were terrible!
Then I discovered CLIF Bar. Conceived as an idea in 1986, debuted in 1992, and incorporated in 1997, CLIF Bar has chewed its way to the top as a leading maker of energy bars…
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On Wednesday, January 24 of this year I heard a chilling story of a local runner who was struck and critically injured by a vehicle while running in a bike lane along a low-traffic road. At the scene and for hours afterward, emergency personnel were not able to identify her.Just this weekend on en route to our marathon, we were forced to take a long detour. The main mountain pass to our destination was completely closed down, a rarity since it is a U.S. Highway. While sitting in traffic and listening to AM radio, we learned that a cyclist was struck by a vehicle, resulting in a large accident that killed both the cyclist and several occupants of the vehicle.
These are stories that have come from my own backyard in the past 6 months. And they are not just stories, but are real accounts of factual events and they hit close to home. Tragic events such as these hurt my heart and make me wonder, “What if this happened to me? How long would it take for my wife to find out? Hours? Days?”
Recently I began wearing a Road ID simply because I couldn’t stand the thought of being unidentified in an accident and what that would do to my wife…
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Garmin, Suunto, Timex, Adeo, Polar… and the list goes on and one. In today’s saturated market of fitness toys there is a plethora of gadgets available that can measure running stats such as pace, distance, heart rate, and more. The gadget companies respond by releasing increasingly innovative products that offer features of increasing quality and quantity.
The Polar RS800sd (speed+distance) may have just trumped them all. Using a foot pod to measure speed and distance, and an ECG-accurate transmitter to measure heart rate, the RS800sd running computer offers enough features, analyses, and bells-and-whistles to make your head spin. I recently had the pleasure of taking this unit for a “spin”…
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Sometimes plain water just isn’t enough for the hydration needs of running. As you sweat, you lose water and electolytes, which both need to be replenished during the hydration process. Traditional sports drinks, such as Gatorade and Powerade, have offered viable electrolyte replacement drinks for years, but their high sugar content translates into an unsavory aftertaste in the opinion of a variety of testers. Moreover, hydration packs are particularly difficult to clean after holding sugary sports drinks.In an effort to address these issues, CamelBak recently introduced their Elixir Electrolyte Enhanced Hydration as a convenient, no-sugar, no-mess hydration alternative…
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Coaches, runners, and fans of training methodology take note: the knowledge of the man declared by Runners World as “Worlds Best Coach” and by NCAA as “Cross Country Coach of the Century” is now accessible through DVD. You can now gain insight into the mind of running guru Jack Daniels via the Jack Daniels - The Art and Science of Running DVD…
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In the growing world of athletic speed/distance monitoring, runners are presented with two primary choices: GPS units (ie - Garmin 305, Timex Bodylink, MotionLingo Adeo) or accelerometers (ie - Suunto Foot POD, Polar Foot Pod, Nike+iPod). I have trained with several different fitness GPS units and had variable success, and “foot pods” provide an intriguing alternative because they can be used indoors, under any sky condition, and boast of potentially high accuracy. I had the opportunity to try out the Suunto Running Pack (T3, HRM, and Foot POD), and put it to the test over three rigorous weeks of training….
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In just the past month, I have had to travel on business to three different destinations on three separate occasions. This plethora of traveling has often made it difficult to run, but since I maintain an active racing schedule, I really can’t afford to have these trips impede on the 80-90 miles of weekly running required by my training program.After my most recent trip, I returned home fatigued and endured a series of terrible runs on the ensuing days. I’ve been spending these trips sitting around a conference table, not hiking around or digging ditches, so it was not immediately clear to me why travel is so taxing on the body.
However, after serious reflection, I identified several reasons why traveling can be perilous to a running regimen…
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I am often surprised at just how flimsy and breakable many of my expensive sports watches turn out to be. Too often these gadgets, which are high-tech in functionality, literally fall apart (usually from the band breaking). And if the body of the watch actually withstands the punishment I dish out, the battery inevitably dies a premature death. These past experiences have made me - admittedly - a bit cynical when it comes to sports watches.However, this all changed when I had the opportunity to try the GW-800 1V model of Casio’s G-Shock watch series…
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Recently I participated in Relay Del Sol, an overnight team relay race that traverses nearly 190 miles through central Arizona. As if running and managing team logistics isn’t exhausting enough, I decided to punish myself even further by acting as a vendor and selling souvenirs all day at the finish line. That meant that while other participants had the privilege to go home, take a shower, and dive into the realm of slumber, I had to remain in the land of the living…
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Over the span of March 30-31, 74 teams and nearly 900 individuals gathered in central Arizona to run the inaugural Relay Del Sol, part of the Ragnar Relay series.My team, MarathonGIS.com, was comprised of 12 men from various locations in Utah, Washington, and Michigan. Some of us were friends, some were strangers. Some of us were experienced relay runners, some were neophytes. Regardless of personal backgrounds, overnight adventure relays have a knack for bring people together, mostly due to close quarters! Every team that does a relay has their own stories, adventures, mishaps, and humorous quotes and inside jokes. The following is our story…
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