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August 17, 2009

Nike+iPod Review

I call this: mac,phones — Posted by KP @ 12:55 pm

IMG_0855This summer I have been trying to get myself in shape after six months of touring and a diet that consisted primarily of soda and bacon. I had done a decent job, in part by stopping eating soda and bacon, among other things, and also by taking long walks around the grounds of the apartments we’re staying at. Generally I would put on a playlist or a podcast, and powerwalk as fast as I could for a set period of time (usually around an hour, maybe more if it was a long podcast).

A few weeks ago I decided I needed a little more motivation to keep up with it, and I finally broke down and bought the Nike Plus. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s a little chip you put in your shoe. It’s about the size of a quarter, and maybe a quarter-inch thick. The idea is that you buy this thing, and then you buy some $100 shoes from Nike, and the shoe has a hole under your foot where you put the sensor, and you go and work out, and it keeps track of each step you take and then you can do lots of interesting things with that data.

I don’t have a problem in principle with buying a pair of shoes for this reason. However, I do have a problem in that for most of my life I have worn Nikes and loved them, but in recent years they don’t fit me at all. I have no explanation for it. They feel like they are designed for a different species, they bear no resemblance to the shape of my foot and ankle. So though I have tried many times, for the moment it seems owning a pair of Nikes is out. Thankfully, there are ways to use the Nike+ sensor with other shoes. Some companies sell a little pouch you put it in that ties to your shoelaces. I decided to start out small and use a Post-It.
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I literally folded a Post-It into a little pouch and taped it shut so it has an opening at the top with a little extra length to form a flap. I was planning to try this method for about a day, but after two weeks my Post-It is getting a little roughed up but still working well. Once I have turned on the sensor and established a link with my iPhone 3GS (which thankfully contains the transmitter inside so an external one is not necessary), I put the sensor into the Post-It and insert it under the laces towards the front of my shoe.
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I don’t have a really accurate way to measure distances here — ironically I live on an athletic complex and there’s no track — so I can’t say if it’s exactly calibrated, but it seems to work well enough. If anything it’s underestimating distances, which means I’m getting a better workout than I realize.

When you start a workout you can choose a number of different goals — either a set length of time (useful when I want to go out before work and know I only have 45 minutes or whatever), a set number of calories to burn, or a certain distance to cover. You can also do an open-ended workout, but I think I would be too lazy if I didn’t have a goal to complete. You can also keep going after you reach your goal, and it will periodically remind you by how much you’ve passed your goal, making you even more awesome in the eyes of your iPhone or iPod.

When you start your workout it lets you pick a playlist (you can also buy premade ones from the iTunes store, but I haven’t tried that yet), and when you reach certain milestones related to your goal it will duck out the music for a couple seconds to tell you (i.e. if you’re running for 5 miles, after every mile it will tell you how many you’ve completed, and once you reach the halfway point, begins counting down to completion, in smaller increments as you get closer). At any time you can tap the home button on your phone and it will read off your current distance, calories, time elapsed, and pace.

Once you complete your workout, you can sync your phone (I have noticed you have to hit “done” on the workout and have exited the Nike+ app before plugging your phone in or it won’t sync). iTunes will then ask if you’d like to upload your workout data and visit the nikeplus website.

The site can be a little weird at times (there’s also a beta version that looks cooler but is a bit buggy), but it allows you to see your workouts at a glance as well as examine them in more detail individually, and write a little summary of how you felt, the weather, what kind of terrain it was, and any other comments.

You can set long-term goals for yourself and it will track your progress, and you can join “challenges” which other people create to compete for specific stats. I am a member of one that is just for powerwalkers, and tracks who has walked the most miles over a period of a month. I’m currently hovering somewhere around 7th place, and I intend to walk a little bit longer today just to beat out my competition and move up a few places. The first goal I had was suggested by the web site, to burn 4000 calories in the first month. I did it in like a week and a half, partially because it was so satisfying to see the bar fill up so far past my goal (it also shows you how far into your goal you should be to complete it on time).
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I highly recommend it if you need a little extra motivation to work out, especially if you have an iPhone 3GS or newer iPod Touch, as you don’t need the external transmitter, so all you need is the sensor in your shoe. Also, the sensor can be purchased alone for $20, or with the transmitter for $30, so it’s a much better value.

It will be much harder for me to keep up with this kind of activity in the city, but I plan to stay as active as possible, and will look for opportunities when I’m on the road as well. I’m not sure I can become one of those crazy people in Minneapolis I saw running in the middle of winter — not because of the cold, but because the sidewalks turn into a solid sheet of ice for months on end. Even tiptoeing around them I wasn’t able to stay upright. But thankfully the Guthrie housing does have a treadmill, and I’m sure the college campuses we frequent will have lots of nice areas to explore.