Wow. It's been waaaay too long since I posted, and Lana hasn't even tried to get the blogosphere to yell at me yet. Something must be up. Are y'all getting ready to throw me a surprise party or something?
It's OK. You can tell me.
Fine. I'll make sure to act surprised. But in the meantime, let me mention what all I've been up to, and try to keep it relatively short.
Wednesday, 5/21
Went to my second yoga class, ever. And this one was way different from the first one. The instructor wasn't nearly as much of a hippie chick (hugs were not mandatory on our way out), and the work was much harder! I was hurting for a while after this one. Plus, she kept telling us to stretch our chest and "breathe in the space". Huh? You can't breathe in space. There's no oxygen there. Nutjob yoga teachers...
Oh, and I had a run that morning, too. It sucked. It was hot.
Thursday, 5/22
Nothing at all. It was awesome.
Friday, 5/23
Skipped out of work early and headed to the local bar. Tried some good beer. Figured we would start our weekend of eating terribly off right. Left the bar and headed up to the UVA/FSU baseball game during the ACC Championship Series at the fabled Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville. Ate more. Cursed the powers that be for making college games dry. It's just not right. Don't they know how boring baseball is without beer?
Oh, and I twisted my knee at one point during the work day. Then I rolled my ankle that night in the parking lot.
Saturday, 5/24
Got up and went for a run. It was really hot, but it was only 10AM this time, not noon. Still, it was a great run. And now I'm worried that I have to be hurt to run well. I really hope that isn't the case...
Then, we headed over to my folks' house in Panama City Beach, FL. It's a long, boring drive, but it's always worth it to head out there and see them. This is actually the first time I've been out there during the tourist season, so it was interesting. And they have a local outdoor mall that's recently been finished, and it's pretty cool. Ended up having much beer, and then German food... with a 1-litre Hofbrau Maibock.
Oy.
Sunday, 5/25
Ouch. That was way too much to drink. Got up, went to church, went to breakfast, and ate a *ton*. Then we went to a Cajun festival... do *not* attend a Cajun festival when you are too full to eat anything, and too hungover to appreciate very loud zydeco music. It's a bad combo.
That night, we decided to just eat at the house, because, of *course* we can eat healthy. So we had bacon-wrapped scallops, boiled shrimp, and red beans and rice. Oh, and deviled eggs, just because my dad's deviled eggs are the best ever.
Monday, 5/26
Memorial Day. Got up and went for a run around PCB... or at least from my parents' place to the Wyndham and back. It was hot... I was slow... It was terrible. I ran the full first mile before a walk break, but I ended up on 1/1 ratio because it was so miserable. Bad.
After that, we got to visit the park where Dad volunteers (Camp Helen), and then we headed home. It was a great weekend, but my folks are not diet-friendly. At all.
Tuesday, 5/27
Decided to actually go to the gym and cross-train for once. Rode the bike, did some lifting, and then rode the bike some more. Pretty uneventful, except that I haven't been to the gym in so long, I forgot what weights I use for lifting.
Wednesday, 5/28
Apparently, I should be using less weight than I did on Tuesday. I'm a little sore. Thank God I didn't work my legs, since I've got a run this morning. It was actually nice and cool (only about 70F), so things were feeling pretty good. But I did run a bit out of steam at the end. I really need to do something about my really poor running in the morning. Maybe it's whatever I'm eating, or has something to do with my hydration, or my lack of being totally awake, but there's something going on there.
Thursday, 5/29
Seriously, it's been this long since I posted anything? Wow. You guys must hate me. In any case, I'm sitting at work right now, getting ready to head to the gym for my next round of cross training (i.e., bike and lifting). Today, I'll focus more on legs (no run tomorrow), and hopefully, I won't be in too much pain tomorrow morning.
I'll let you know in another week and a half.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
It Didn't Suck
Or, "If You Think My Shorts Are Tight..."
Last night was my first-ever yoga class. I'm not even sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't as bad as I thought. The teacher was a total hippie, which was interesting. It started with some relaxation, which was a nice way to start the class... some quiet music, the teacher spritzing some supposedly pretty-smelling stuff into the air, and lots of quiet. I almost fell asleep.
I liked that part.
After that, I guess we got into the more stretching part of the day, and this was a bit... difficult. Lana said that I was doing well, but I couldn't help but notice that I was not *nearly* as flexible as most of the people in the room. Yes, it was my first time, but dang! These folks ain't natural!
At this point, I can't say that I have a "favorite" position, but I do have several least favorites. Basically, anything involving my hamstrings is going to be awfully high on the list of "Poses That Suck". It's pretty obvious at this point that my hamstrings, as well as my calves, are very tight.
To go along with that, it's also painfully (and I chose that word carefully) obvious that I really should continue on with yoga. I may try again tomorrow, or it may have to wait a week, but yes, I will go back.
Oh, and thank God there were other guys in the class. That made me feel much better.
Last night was my first-ever yoga class. I'm not even sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't as bad as I thought. The teacher was a total hippie, which was interesting. It started with some relaxation, which was a nice way to start the class... some quiet music, the teacher spritzing some supposedly pretty-smelling stuff into the air, and lots of quiet. I almost fell asleep.
I liked that part.
After that, I guess we got into the more stretching part of the day, and this was a bit... difficult. Lana said that I was doing well, but I couldn't help but notice that I was not *nearly* as flexible as most of the people in the room. Yes, it was my first time, but dang! These folks ain't natural!
At this point, I can't say that I have a "favorite" position, but I do have several least favorites. Basically, anything involving my hamstrings is going to be awfully high on the list of "Poses That Suck". It's pretty obvious at this point that my hamstrings, as well as my calves, are very tight.
To go along with that, it's also painfully (and I chose that word carefully) obvious that I really should continue on with yoga. I may try again tomorrow, or it may have to wait a week, but yes, I will go back.
Oh, and thank God there were other guys in the class. That made me feel much better.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Monday Musings
As I was out on my runs on Saturday and this morning, I noticed that I was having a bunch of random thoughts. So, to the best of my recollection, here they are:
I did roughly 3.5 miles on Saturday (my first "long" run of marathon training), and about 3 miles this morning. I can tell you that 85 degrees and sunny seems to treat me better than not eating anything at all and having half a glass of water. Today's run was rough. I did my first mile in a good pace, and then I just completely ran out of energy. My legs were heavy and tight.
So, in an effort to at least get the tightness out of them, I'm braving new experiences... I'm going to my first yoga class tonight with the wife. I am not flexible and I have no balance, but hopefully I'll at least be able to have some fun with it.
- It's true... if you run long enough, you will have bad runs
- And sometimes you'll have some great ones!
- If you run in the morning, it's definitely a good idea to eat something first. Otherwise, your legs just quit on you... or on me, anyway.
- Headbands may look really stupid, but they are one honking great idea when it's 85 outside
- Running when it's 85 outside is a really, really bad idea.
- Even in North Florida, morning runs are good. Evening runs are good. Noon-time runs are very, very bad.
- Even though that was the best run I've had in a while.
- Calibrating a Nike+ doesn't really make it entirely accurate. I just made 5% off in the other direction.
- I love my Garmin
I did roughly 3.5 miles on Saturday (my first "long" run of marathon training), and about 3 miles this morning. I can tell you that 85 degrees and sunny seems to treat me better than not eating anything at all and having half a glass of water. Today's run was rough. I did my first mile in a good pace, and then I just completely ran out of energy. My legs were heavy and tight.
So, in an effort to at least get the tightness out of them, I'm braving new experiences... I'm going to my first yoga class tonight with the wife. I am not flexible and I have no balance, but hopefully I'll at least be able to have some fun with it.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Go Red For Women 5K Race Report (Finally)
OK, it took almost two weeks, and a little bit of berating from the wife, but here it is, as best as I can remember:
It was a gorgeous Saturday morning in Central Florida as roughly 1600 women and 160 fellas gathered together to do something to help women, or celebrate women and running, or something like that. I'm sure it was a good cause. Quite honestly, though, I really just signed up for a few very important reasons:
As with any other Disney race, it started with waking up way too early for civilized folks. Luckily, this was just a 5K, so it didn't start until 7:00AM, but we still had to be there before 6:45 to pick up my race packet. I didn't know at the time how much I would appreciate having that much time to sleep in (and we'll see more if holo wahini ever posts her race report -- sure, she wrote a little bit, but not an actual report), but again, I digress. We woke up dark and early at something like 5:45 AM, after which I spent a few minutes blindly stumbling around, muttering a bit, and attempting to put on running clothes. We grabbed a quick snack and got out of the hotel with lots of time to spare.
...which means we got there really early. And there wasn't nearly the lines I was expecting to pick up race packets. I guess most folks were either locals that were able to pick them up the day before, or people who had come from out of town and had time to pick them up the day before. Either way, I got my number, I got my shirt, I got my chip, and I was ready to go.
One side note -- the wahini did get my shirt, because the web site had said that it would be a women's shirt. From what I could tell, it looked like a plain ol' shirt to me. But I'd already signed up with her size, so, whatcha gonna do?
So there I was at the starting gate, putting myself toward the front of the 9:00 - 11:00 pace group. I was actually pleasantly surprised by the space that we were given (not packed in like sardines just yet), and the fact that there wern't all that many people there (for a Disney race), but I got to wander around a bit, warm up a little, and do some people watching. Mostly, it was nice to watch the sun rise...
At roughly 7:00, the far-too-perky-for-that-time-of-the-morning race hosts brought Minnie herself up to start us off on the race, but I think that either her recording broke, or she just didn't like us very much, because when one of them asked "Isn't this a great crowd?", she just stood there.
Awkward...
But then we counted down, and were off like a flash into the wilds of... the Imagination parking lot at Epcot. Yes, because the park is only so big, the first mile or so is run through parking lots, with cones set up to show the course. Like any other race, it was crowded at first, and you had to duck and move to get around people, but eventually, it did thin out. And honestly, having the course start out through the parking lot wasn't bad. At the very least, if you had to step outside the course to avoid a crash, you weren't having to step up onto a curb, a median, or some uneven ground. My knees thanked me for that. But when I finally got a chance to look at the Garmin, I realized that I may be going a little too fast: 8:17. Yeah, I might want to slow that down a bit. So I pulled back a little bit, just to make sure I had enough gas for the second mile, let alone the third. I do also have to make a mention of seeing the cutest little Minnie:
But we went around the parking lot, into a cast member parking lot, and got to mile marker 1 right around the back of Test Track. Of course, since this is one of our favorite rides, I had to try to get a picture of it, too... but on the run. There was no stopping for me at this point... I made the first mile in 8:42!
From there, we went around the corner, hit the first water stop (on both sides of the course -- I love it when they do that), and ran past what I think was the Universe of Energy pavilion, and out to Epcot proper, complete with giant golf ball. From there, it's just a simple run up and around, and...
OUCH!!!!
What the hell? All of a sudden, on the slightest of inclines, my left calf started hurting like crazy! I hadn't heard a pop or a snap, or anything, but my calf just did not want to run any farther. Of course, I did. And I'm more stubborn. So, against all sanity, I decided to keep going. It's a character flaw. But I did slow down a little, and I eased up a bit to where it wasn't hurting terribly bad. And as I kept going, it kept loosening up and feeling better. So on I went, past the various beach-themed topiaries (it was during the Flower and Garden Festival), past the fountains, and up towards the World Showcase.
Once I got up to the various countries, my leg was feeling... OK. Not great, but good enough that I could still run on it. So run, I did. There wasn't much going on in the countries, but I do want to point out a couple things. First, I actually was able to get a pretty decent picture of Norway while running:
And secondly, they very nicely had the torches lit around the water:
At some point in there, we also crossed mile marker 2. And believe it or not, I was still going strong. I must have picked back up before getting hurt, because my second mile came in at 8:42! All of a sudden, I'm thinking to myself that it was possible for me to come close to last week's time... as long as I don't walk. In the last race, I took a couple walk breaks in the third mile, and dangit, I wasn't going to let that happen again -- injury or no!
Of course, from there, it was pretty boring... I was just focused mostly on running a good race, making sure my leg was still attached and feeling OK (hey, I may be stubborn, but I ain't stupid), and trying to just keep putting one foot in front of the other. And after heading out of the park, I was on my way. The Garmin was still showing that I was doing remarkably well -- apparently, I did my third mile in 8:42, also! It was amazing how evenly paced it was. I've never run a race like that before -- and that was even while hurting for half the race. But I still had .1 miles to go... and it was time for the kick. And others around me were picking it up, too. I managed to pass a few people, but there was this one really tenacious woman that I just couldn't shake... and she actually passed me at the end. But still... 26:48! WOO HOO!!!!
Oh, and holo wahini was waiting for me at the end. I heard her cheering and gave a little wave as I was hitting the finish line. And then I had to wend my way through the chute, get my medal, Powerade, banana, and blueberry muffin thingy, and then go try to find my wife in the crowd. So, I started heading over to where I had last seen her. And... no wife. Thoughts of the Gate River Run started flashing through my head again, but this time, we had phones. I gave her a call, and she mentioned that Leana had finished shortly after I did, and that she was going to try to meet up with her, which we eventually did, and she's just about the nicest person ever. We also got to meet her folks, who ran the race with her. Of course, we had to get the obligatory photo:
Naturally, after standing around and chatting for a while, Leana went off with her folks to clean up and attack the day, and we went on to breakfast... and my leg had tightened up so badly that I could barely walk! So, there was one more stop for the day, and I know Lana would never let me live it down if I didn't post this photo, too:
Yes, that's me in the medical tent, getting checked out. It's fun having multiple knee braces, and trying to figure out why my leg doesn't want to work anymore. But, I just pulled it, and he gave me an ice pack (and I was very careful not to get frostbite!), and we went on our way. To make a long story slightly less long, it hurt for most of the day, but it did start relaxing in the late afternoon, and by dinnertime, it wasn't that bad at all. It's still a little tight, but I've been running twice more without a problem, so I'm just keeping track of it, massaging and stretching, and trying to take it easy for a little bit. Two PR's in a week and a half was a lot of work... especially when the improvement was almost a full minute! But I got some good rest in, and now we are starting the actual training for the Las Vegas Marathon. And to keep us motivated, we actually signed up a couple days ago. We're in it. And it's gonna be great!
BTW, all the pictures are available from Flickr.
FYI, here is the course from MapMyRun:
It was a gorgeous Saturday morning in Central Florida as roughly 1600 women and 160 fellas gathered together to do something to help women, or celebrate women and running, or something like that. I'm sure it was a good cause. Quite honestly, though, I really just signed up for a few very important reasons:
- It's a 5K with a medal. How often does that happen?
- It's the last year they are running it, so last chance for a 5K. With a medal.
- My wife was already signed up for the 15K the next day. Despite the fact that my first race back from injury was a 15K, I just don't think I'm quite to a point where I'm ready to go that far yet. Even for a medal.
- And, hey, it's yet another excuse to get down to Disney.
As with any other Disney race, it started with waking up way too early for civilized folks. Luckily, this was just a 5K, so it didn't start until 7:00AM, but we still had to be there before 6:45 to pick up my race packet. I didn't know at the time how much I would appreciate having that much time to sleep in (and we'll see more if holo wahini ever posts her race report -- sure, she wrote a little bit, but not an actual report), but again, I digress. We woke up dark and early at something like 5:45 AM, after which I spent a few minutes blindly stumbling around, muttering a bit, and attempting to put on running clothes. We grabbed a quick snack and got out of the hotel with lots of time to spare.
...which means we got there really early. And there wasn't nearly the lines I was expecting to pick up race packets. I guess most folks were either locals that were able to pick them up the day before, or people who had come from out of town and had time to pick them up the day before. Either way, I got my number, I got my shirt, I got my chip, and I was ready to go.
One side note -- the wahini did get my shirt, because the web site had said that it would be a women's shirt. From what I could tell, it looked like a plain ol' shirt to me. But I'd already signed up with her size, so, whatcha gonna do?
So there I was at the starting gate, putting myself toward the front of the 9:00 - 11:00 pace group. I was actually pleasantly surprised by the space that we were given (not packed in like sardines just yet), and the fact that there wern't all that many people there (for a Disney race), but I got to wander around a bit, warm up a little, and do some people watching. Mostly, it was nice to watch the sun rise...
At roughly 7:00, the far-too-perky-for-that-time-of-the-morning race hosts brought Minnie herself up to start us off on the race, but I think that either her recording broke, or she just didn't like us very much, because when one of them asked "Isn't this a great crowd?", she just stood there.
Awkward...
But then we counted down, and were off like a flash into the wilds of... the Imagination parking lot at Epcot. Yes, because the park is only so big, the first mile or so is run through parking lots, with cones set up to show the course. Like any other race, it was crowded at first, and you had to duck and move to get around people, but eventually, it did thin out. And honestly, having the course start out through the parking lot wasn't bad. At the very least, if you had to step outside the course to avoid a crash, you weren't having to step up onto a curb, a median, or some uneven ground. My knees thanked me for that. But when I finally got a chance to look at the Garmin, I realized that I may be going a little too fast: 8:17. Yeah, I might want to slow that down a bit. So I pulled back a little bit, just to make sure I had enough gas for the second mile, let alone the third. I do also have to make a mention of seeing the cutest little Minnie:
But we went around the parking lot, into a cast member parking lot, and got to mile marker 1 right around the back of Test Track. Of course, since this is one of our favorite rides, I had to try to get a picture of it, too... but on the run. There was no stopping for me at this point... I made the first mile in 8:42!
From there, we went around the corner, hit the first water stop (on both sides of the course -- I love it when they do that), and ran past what I think was the Universe of Energy pavilion, and out to Epcot proper, complete with giant golf ball. From there, it's just a simple run up and around, and...
OUCH!!!!
What the hell? All of a sudden, on the slightest of inclines, my left calf started hurting like crazy! I hadn't heard a pop or a snap, or anything, but my calf just did not want to run any farther. Of course, I did. And I'm more stubborn. So, against all sanity, I decided to keep going. It's a character flaw. But I did slow down a little, and I eased up a bit to where it wasn't hurting terribly bad. And as I kept going, it kept loosening up and feeling better. So on I went, past the various beach-themed topiaries (it was during the Flower and Garden Festival), past the fountains, and up towards the World Showcase.
Once I got up to the various countries, my leg was feeling... OK. Not great, but good enough that I could still run on it. So run, I did. There wasn't much going on in the countries, but I do want to point out a couple things. First, I actually was able to get a pretty decent picture of Norway while running:
And secondly, they very nicely had the torches lit around the water:
At some point in there, we also crossed mile marker 2. And believe it or not, I was still going strong. I must have picked back up before getting hurt, because my second mile came in at 8:42! All of a sudden, I'm thinking to myself that it was possible for me to come close to last week's time... as long as I don't walk. In the last race, I took a couple walk breaks in the third mile, and dangit, I wasn't going to let that happen again -- injury or no!
Of course, from there, it was pretty boring... I was just focused mostly on running a good race, making sure my leg was still attached and feeling OK (hey, I may be stubborn, but I ain't stupid), and trying to just keep putting one foot in front of the other. And after heading out of the park, I was on my way. The Garmin was still showing that I was doing remarkably well -- apparently, I did my third mile in 8:42, also! It was amazing how evenly paced it was. I've never run a race like that before -- and that was even while hurting for half the race. But I still had .1 miles to go... and it was time for the kick. And others around me were picking it up, too. I managed to pass a few people, but there was this one really tenacious woman that I just couldn't shake... and she actually passed me at the end. But still... 26:48! WOO HOO!!!!
Oh, and holo wahini was waiting for me at the end. I heard her cheering and gave a little wave as I was hitting the finish line. And then I had to wend my way through the chute, get my medal, Powerade, banana, and blueberry muffin thingy, and then go try to find my wife in the crowd. So, I started heading over to where I had last seen her. And... no wife. Thoughts of the Gate River Run started flashing through my head again, but this time, we had phones. I gave her a call, and she mentioned that Leana had finished shortly after I did, and that she was going to try to meet up with her, which we eventually did, and she's just about the nicest person ever. We also got to meet her folks, who ran the race with her. Of course, we had to get the obligatory photo:
Naturally, after standing around and chatting for a while, Leana went off with her folks to clean up and attack the day, and we went on to breakfast... and my leg had tightened up so badly that I could barely walk! So, there was one more stop for the day, and I know Lana would never let me live it down if I didn't post this photo, too:
Yes, that's me in the medical tent, getting checked out. It's fun having multiple knee braces, and trying to figure out why my leg doesn't want to work anymore. But, I just pulled it, and he gave me an ice pack (and I was very careful not to get frostbite!), and we went on our way. To make a long story slightly less long, it hurt for most of the day, but it did start relaxing in the late afternoon, and by dinnertime, it wasn't that bad at all. It's still a little tight, but I've been running twice more without a problem, so I'm just keeping track of it, massaging and stretching, and trying to take it easy for a little bit. Two PR's in a week and a half was a lot of work... especially when the improvement was almost a full minute! But I got some good rest in, and now we are starting the actual training for the Las Vegas Marathon. And to keep us motivated, we actually signed up a couple days ago. We're in it. And it's gonna be great!
BTW, all the pictures are available from Flickr.
FYI, here is the course from MapMyRun:
Sunday, May 4, 2008
A Weekend Full of PR's!
Yes, my wife and I both got PR's this weekend at the Minnie Marathon Weekend in Disney! I ran the 5K, and shattered my previous best:
26:48
I'm too tired to do the full race report now, but suffice to say, I'm thrilled!
26:48
I'm too tired to do the full race report now, but suffice to say, I'm thrilled!
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Nike+ SportBand Review
For a couple days, we'd been planning on going for a run last night. Unfortunately, when I got home, I was greeted with the sight of a sleeping wife on the couch. Yeah, she slacked out, but she did look awfully cute, too. So, I berated her a little bit, put new Yankz shoelaces in my running shoes, and got ready to head out the door. I figured that after my performance last Thursday, I should go ahead and try to do another 5k or thereabouts, and see how well I can do, and how long I can go without a walk break. So, I put on my Garmin and my Nike+ and headed out the door.
For starters, I should mention the "install" process. Everything works remarkably similarly to the Nike+iPod setup -- the system comes with a small sensor that supposedly gets installed into the sole of a Nike shoe. Of course, I just recently got a pair of Brooks shoes, and I'm really not a fan of Nike, but luckily, Lana had previously gotten a little pocket for the sensor that attaches to the laces using Velcro, so I was still able to go ahead with my run.
I wanted to make sure that I had the running part of the whole thing properly timed out, so I left the Garmin waiting to start until my warmup was complete, but I did start the Nike+ for the warmup. To sync, you simply hold the big button down for three seconds, after which, it will attempt to find your shoe sensor. It will ask you to walk around until it can find it. Also, if there are multiple sensors around (such as at the start of a race), you may have to walk away from the group to sync up the sensor and the SportBand. Once you sync the system, you just press the button to start, and press the button again to stop. Finally, you can end the run completely by holding the button down for another three seconds. It's pretty simple, even if it took me a couple days to completely realize what to do. But that's because I'm an engineer, and I don't read instructions.
So, I completed my warmup. According to the Nike+, I did roughly .2 miles in 5 minutes of walking. When I completed the warmup, I started the Garmin, and proceeded to watch both for the next 3.1 miles.
For starters, let me mention that I have not calibrated the Nike+, and it showed. It was generally off by a bit -- at some points, the Garmin was showing my pace at 9:45, and the Nike+ was showing at 13:00! But most of the time, they were both pretty close to each other. From what I could tell, it seemed to be somewhat based on the length of my stride, and as I was running, I actually used that to note that I did need to shorten my stride. So in that, it actually helped. And I'm sure this will be corrected when I decide to calibrate the thing.
As for the rest, I like this product. The connectors seem to be solid, with snap-like connectors both to hold the band on your wrist, and to hold the module into the band. However, the connectors are deep enough to ensure that they will not accidentally become undone, but not so deep as to cut into your wrist at any time. When not running, you can use the connector as a simple watch (showing time only). When you are running, you can set it to show you current distance, current pace, time, or calories burned (if you entered your weight into your Nike+ profile).
As far as the online environment goes, I'm pretty sure that has been talked about more times, and significantly better than I ever could. But if you haven't seen it, I recommend just checking it out at http://www.nikeplus.com. It's well worth the time, and the online community was one of the major reasons that I made this purchase. Well, that and the upcoming rainy season in Florida, which will make me run inside several times.
So, let's move on to things that I am not particularly fond of. The display has no backlight, so it is nigh upon impossible to see in dim light. I *love* that the 'face' of the watch is removable and plugs directly into your USB port for updating, but the fact that the face is curved does make it difficult to plug into a slim laptop when it's sitting on a table. The only time that this is a problem is when you need to leave it plugged in to charge. Of course, I understand that this is so that it fits around your wrist better -- and I certainly don't fault them that. It's just something to be aware of. Finally, as a geek, I have to point out that the Nike+ Utility (no iTunes requirement) is only supported on Windows and OSX, so if you're a Linux user, I guess you're out of luck for now.
Other than that, I absolutely love the thing. It's light, it's comfortable, and it's small. For the time being, I'm still going to wear my Garmin anytime I'm running outside, but when the Nike+ is calibrated, I could see a time where I cease wearing the Garmin for my more standard runs around the neighborhood. Until that time, I'll be happily wearing both, and looking like the absolute gadget geek that I am.
Oh, and BTW, I was able to complete the 5K in under half an hour (~29:45), and without taking any walk breaks. And I felt pretty good about that.
On to tomorrow's Go Red For Women 5K!
For starters, I should mention the "install" process. Everything works remarkably similarly to the Nike+iPod setup -- the system comes with a small sensor that supposedly gets installed into the sole of a Nike shoe. Of course, I just recently got a pair of Brooks shoes, and I'm really not a fan of Nike, but luckily, Lana had previously gotten a little pocket for the sensor that attaches to the laces using Velcro, so I was still able to go ahead with my run.
I wanted to make sure that I had the running part of the whole thing properly timed out, so I left the Garmin waiting to start until my warmup was complete, but I did start the Nike+ for the warmup. To sync, you simply hold the big button down for three seconds, after which, it will attempt to find your shoe sensor. It will ask you to walk around until it can find it. Also, if there are multiple sensors around (such as at the start of a race), you may have to walk away from the group to sync up the sensor and the SportBand. Once you sync the system, you just press the button to start, and press the button again to stop. Finally, you can end the run completely by holding the button down for another three seconds. It's pretty simple, even if it took me a couple days to completely realize what to do. But that's because I'm an engineer, and I don't read instructions.
So, I completed my warmup. According to the Nike+, I did roughly .2 miles in 5 minutes of walking. When I completed the warmup, I started the Garmin, and proceeded to watch both for the next 3.1 miles.
For starters, let me mention that I have not calibrated the Nike+, and it showed. It was generally off by a bit -- at some points, the Garmin was showing my pace at 9:45, and the Nike+ was showing at 13:00! But most of the time, they were both pretty close to each other. From what I could tell, it seemed to be somewhat based on the length of my stride, and as I was running, I actually used that to note that I did need to shorten my stride. So in that, it actually helped. And I'm sure this will be corrected when I decide to calibrate the thing.
As for the rest, I like this product. The connectors seem to be solid, with snap-like connectors both to hold the band on your wrist, and to hold the module into the band. However, the connectors are deep enough to ensure that they will not accidentally become undone, but not so deep as to cut into your wrist at any time. When not running, you can use the connector as a simple watch (showing time only). When you are running, you can set it to show you current distance, current pace, time, or calories burned (if you entered your weight into your Nike+ profile).
As far as the online environment goes, I'm pretty sure that has been talked about more times, and significantly better than I ever could. But if you haven't seen it, I recommend just checking it out at http://www.nikeplus.com. It's well worth the time, and the online community was one of the major reasons that I made this purchase. Well, that and the upcoming rainy season in Florida, which will make me run inside several times.
So, let's move on to things that I am not particularly fond of. The display has no backlight, so it is nigh upon impossible to see in dim light. I *love* that the 'face' of the watch is removable and plugs directly into your USB port for updating, but the fact that the face is curved does make it difficult to plug into a slim laptop when it's sitting on a table. The only time that this is a problem is when you need to leave it plugged in to charge. Of course, I understand that this is so that it fits around your wrist better -- and I certainly don't fault them that. It's just something to be aware of. Finally, as a geek, I have to point out that the Nike+ Utility (no iTunes requirement) is only supported on Windows and OSX, so if you're a Linux user, I guess you're out of luck for now.
Other than that, I absolutely love the thing. It's light, it's comfortable, and it's small. For the time being, I'm still going to wear my Garmin anytime I'm running outside, but when the Nike+ is calibrated, I could see a time where I cease wearing the Garmin for my more standard runs around the neighborhood. Until that time, I'll be happily wearing both, and looking like the absolute gadget geek that I am.
Oh, and BTW, I was able to complete the 5K in under half an hour (~29:45), and without taking any walk breaks. And I felt pretty good about that.
On to tomorrow's Go Red For Women 5K!
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