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Swimovate Watch

Entries for next years Great Swim series are open already. Christmas is not a great time to start contemplating squeezing into an overly snug wetsuit, the annual quality street box is already half empty and the strawberry creams are not improving my silhouette.

Christmas is a time for trying out new gadgets though so it’s time I reviewed my latest toy.

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I was sent a swimming watch from Swimovate to try out for a week. It promised to count all my laps for me, freeing my mind to concentrate on higher level issues such as “what should I cook for tea?” and “did I remember to put any Stella in the fridge?”

It does more than that of course, storing my lap history and providing historical data such as distance, stroke rate, calories and efficiency.

It was the counting bit that appealed most to me though. I am always surprised at how inept I am at counting lengths. I start well enough, reciting 1, 1, 1 in my head til I reach the end and turn. Of course I then move on to 2, 2, 2 cos I’m bright and can count but I’m also easily bored so I start adding variety like 2, 2 and the next lap will be 3, next is 3, next is 3. If course when I get to 3 I think blimey that number is familiar I’ve already counted it. Then I have to go through the odd even calculation and match it to the direction of my travel. Basically I never get as far as 10 laps before I’ve stressed myself out and felt the need to re-enrole in kindergarten.

So it’s a lap counter, but a pretty good one. Beyond the first button press you don’t have to bother again until it’s time to get out of the pool. The motion sensors apparently pick up on the drift portion of the stroke at the change round. It will pick up tumble turns and your more sedate stop and turn technique. Provided you don’t change strokes within a length it will supposedly maintain accuracy.

I did my best to fool it but it was 100% accurate up to 16 lengths, beyond that I’m sure the watch maintained its accuracy but I didn’t and decided to just free my mind of the counting. Swimming with a blank mind is really rather freeing, it feels so much more like running.

It’s given me an efficiency rating of 73 which equates to below average which I suppose will be about right. They measure efficiency in terms of distance covered per stroke and I’ve always felt that I swim on the spot anyway.

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It would be quite useful to monitor efficiency gains if you were trying to work on your stroke but I didn’t get to play with it long enough to see how responsive it was to minor improvements.

The battery is supposed to last for 1 year after which you have to send it back to the company to be replaced. I suppose that shouldn’t be a big problem provided they have a quick turnaround.

You can’t currently use it as a distance monitor for outdoor swims because it multiplies pool length by laps but I have picked up on some internet murmurings that suggest that might be about to change.

It could do with an overhaul of the user interface, moving through the history screens required me to pull out the instruction leaflet twice but all in all it’s a pretty good adition to the sporting gadgetry world and costs around £69 from Swimovate.

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Garmin Forerunner FR60 – The Review

I can get over the treadmill boredom frontier by sticking a gruesome thriller on the iPod but the absence of a reliable data capture device (or sports watch) could call the end to a beautiful gym relationship membership.

I’ve worked my way through a number of fancy running watches over the years but my latest, the Forerunner 405 (reviewed May 2008) was just not designed to be a gym bunny buddy. Fortunately the Garmin Forerunner FR60 was released earlier in the year and appeared to be just what I required.

In summary, it’s a footpod/HR monitor which is ANT enabled meaning you can wirelessly upload data and connect to other ANT enabled equipment such as gym machines and the fancy new BC1000 Tanita weighing scales.
Unlike most of the others in the forerunner series, this watch does not have GPS, it is waterproof though.

I’ve had a few footpod watches before, including the Nike+, Polar 725 and Polar RS200SD and I’ve been impressed with all of them. In most cases they have proved to be accurate out of the box without the need for calibration and are ready for action from the moment you put the watch into training mode so there is no need to hang around stretching out your hamstrings while you wait for a the GPS unit to lock onto a satellite signal.

The footpod speed and distance monitors also have a huge advantage over GPS when it comes to monitoring pace. Pace readings on GPS units have a tendency to fluctuate all over the place while the footpod units prove to be more stable and therefore more reliable in any given instance.

What the footpods lack when compared to their bigger GPS brothers, is the ability to create lovely map trails of where you’ve been. GPS makes you feel like an adventurer, an explorer of uncharted tracks, but let’s face it, GPS isn’t for everyone.

If you run the same few routes over and over again the joy of the GPS map soon begins to wane and if like me, you spend a good proportion of your time on the treadmill, the GPS output would result in a terribly unsatisfying mess centred above your gym coordinates.

Garmin Forerunner FR60 in Action – Screenshots

Here’s a few shots of the Garmin FR60 as I move through the history screens for one workout. The final image shows the virtual partner screen which is one of the view options while training.

Garmin Forerunner FR60

Garmin FR60 Compared to Nike+ and Polar

Nike+

The Nike+ wrist unit offers an accurate footpod with a minimal design. It’s ideal for social networking as it makes it so easy to upload stats via twitter, facebook and assorted other widgets. It’s the cheapest option as well but I can’t help finding it a bit disappointing, I just can’t stand the cartoon style display of the stats.

Polar

I really loved the RS200SD, the display was brilliant and the history data lent itself perfectly for being transferred to a training log. It has now been superseded by the Polar RS300X and I was momentarily tempted by it until I started pricing up the extras. The really annoying feature of Polar is that they require you to by all the necessary attachements separately. The ridiculous “flowlink” is required for uploading data to the web but costs £49.99 whereas Garmin include their usb ANT connectivity stick in the box along with the watch.

Garmin

Garmin has the edge over the competition, everything is supplied in the box and the connection is relatively straightforward.
Having uploaded the data it is easy to import the data files into sporttracks or other training logs.

Popularity: 1% [?]

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iPod Giveaway

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Sainsburys and The Mirror have teamed up to offer a 26 day alphabetic giveaway.
Tomorrow (Thursday 10th Sept) is day I, as in I for iPod, and they are giving away the ideal runner’s gadget, an 8GB silver Apple iPod Nano.

The competition is free to enter and requires you to answer an apparently simple question. Check it out here: mirrorcashback.co.uk/sainsburys

I’ll be holding back for day 26, I think I have the idle spot for a jazzy zebra rug.

Popularity: 1% [?]

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Running from the In-Laws with the Sony W Series Walkman

Easter is about chocolate, lots of, and family stuff and as the latter involved a weekend at the in-laws with loads of artificially enhanced kids, it also turns out to be fairly conducive to running.

I haven’t been very successful with my running recently so I was grateful that we were in the flatlands of Lincolnshire and that it was a delightfully drizzly day. Here’s my 10k out and back route along the canal:

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Sony Walkman

I was sent the latest Sony Walkman W Series to test out the other day.

It came bundled with a playlist designed to either inspire or drive me nuts, with the challenge laid down for me to create my own inspirational running ensemble.

The new Walkman is an interesting looking gadget, minimal and stylish in a Dr Spock kind of fashion. It clips apart neatly to sit around your neck with no extraneous wires to get tangled up in your arms or t-shirt.

I’ve been through a fair few headphones and mp3 systems in my time. It started with the iPod nano with assorted headphones – the best being the ubiquitous lime green Sennheiser PMX80 running headphones and then moved on to the chunky, yet delightful, iPhone. The iPhone coincided with loads of tube commuting time so I shifted to the excellent Sennheiser CX500’s, great for private listening on crowded trains but outrageously irritating now I’ve gone back to the running commute – I have to stop every couple of steps to disentangle the cables.

So, now I’ve got my hands on the Sony W Series mp3 Walkman, all my separate headphones are defunct. I have to admit to not having much of a musical ear but to my mind this unit has the best sound quality yet. The integral headphones seem to sit quite deeply into your ear and the sound is excellent. Mind you the playlist had a few dodgy tracks, rather heavy reliance on the synthesiser and some sounded like they were recorded from the bowels of a coke can but I’m sure that was how they were meant to sound. It’s quite fun running to someone elses playlist but I’m looking forward to getting some “quality” music on board to really test them out.

Sony W Series Walkman

I found them very comfortable, although I did feel like a prize tool running along in them – you can get them in bright pink if you want to look extra special.

I did a randomish fit test around the house this morning and it seems I was the only one who found them comfortable. Admittedly two of my subjects were of the small child variety and the other grown up obviously has a particularly small head with odd ear canals, but it might be worth testing them out before buying if you’ve had problems with ear related stuff before.

They are apparently a doddle to update by simply dragging the songs across to the external drive (USB cable supplied), I’ll try this out next week with my new and hopefully improved playlist.

Here’s my trial list:

1. Simian Mobile Disco – Sleep Deprivation
2. LCD Soundsystem – Get Innocuous
3. Hot Chip – Ready for the Floor
4. Weezer – Buddy Holly
5. TV on the Radio – Golden Age
6. Mylo – Drop the Pressure
7. Prodigy – Out of Space
8. Michael Jackson – Beat It
9. Don’t Punk – Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger
10. Gu’s and Roses – Paradise City

Popularity: 25% [?]

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While Not Running

Some of you may have noticed that I haven’t run an awful lot of late, in fact if you want to be reasonably precise, I have run only once in the last month, which also happens to equate to once this year. How neat.

If we want to be 100% precise it could be argued that I’ve run a few more times than I’ve let on, for example, I may have attempted the occassional dash to the bus away from work and I sprinted to the train station last night after my blood doning session but all in all the consequences were ugly and should remain hidden from public conciousness.

I feel like I’m taking confession and will have to start with the hail Mary’s soon but in my defence, I do have some excuses.

For one thing, as the last two months of my fairly sparse blog writing will attest, I am far too happy for running. Running appeals to the miserable side of me, it’s the perfect alternative to a pack of Benson and Hedges and bottle of JD. Mind you it also appeals to the exceptionally jolly side of me as well, so maybe that’s not such a good excuse after all.

Secondly, and this one has to be foolproof, I’m working on a ridiculous placement that means I have to travel between 4 and 5 hours every day.
Not a chance that I feel like running after all that nonsense.

Still, there is light at the end of the tunnel. I have secured myself a proper job, midway between happiness and home and I forsee many exciting new routes ahead of me, incorporating the best of London’s seedy commons and the highly rated Wandle trail. Expect updates of the running variety in March.

In the mean time, what better way to spend one’s non-running time, than by analysing data from runs gone by?

RunSaturday is new website stacked full of new and intriguing ways to analyse data held across multiple sites and generated by multiple gadgets. I’ve been able to bring together runs from my Garmin Forerunner 405, Nike+, Nokia Sportstracker along with all my historical runs stored on SportsTracks. I can also bring in runs manually entered onto Fetcheveryone and analyse my stats from the Saturday morning 5k park runs.

All this makes RunSaturday the most comprehensive database of my running shame prowess, which is quite a lot of fun because the site provides loads of ways to share the data across social websites such as facebook and personal blogs.

Here’s a particularly ancient route showing the mammoth run/walk I did along the Capital Ring. If you click on the heart symbol you’ll see a colour coded route indicating the specific heart rate zones during the run. You can see similar images for speed but as I’m a one speed wonder you’ll have to upload your own interval workouts to see rainbows in this feature.

There seem to be loads of new features coming along, so I’d recommend checking it out for yourself. I’ll add more images from the site just as soon I manage another run but don’t hold your breath til March.

Popularity: 35% [?]

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Nike Humanrace and Waterlogged Gadgets

Saturday evening, after entertaining my family with a slightly charred roast lamb joint but a perfectly acceptable bottle of vino (or two), I get an email from Nike. Apparently, if I could resurrect the long dead Nike+ Sportband, and push my sorry arse out of the door, complete with Sunday morning hangover, to complete a 10k of my choosing, I would soon be the proud owner of a freebie Nike Humanrace t-shirt.

Hard to resist a freebie t-shirt, so I left my visitors to rustle up their own breakfast and arranged to meet them in Kew Gardens approx 1hrs 20mins later.

Syon

Lovely day for running, providing you don’t have a pointy head or too much body jewellery.

I have a particularly round head and enjoy running through electrical storms and downpours but I was surprised to see quite so many other water babies running along the river. I searched for signs of commitment to the global humanrace but saw none, it seems that some folk don’t need freebies to run.

3 months on the sub-bench allowed the Nike+ Sportband to dry out sufficiently for me to read the screen again, but I thought it prudent to spin the screen round to the underside of my wrist to provide a little water protection. Pity I didn’t do the same for the garmin forerunner 405!

A few weeks ago I had a comment on my forerunner 405 review, warning me of short-circuiting type responses when the garmin bezel gets wet. Apparently a few reviewers had commented on the bezel bleeping and flicking through screens randomly when exposed to water or sweat. I was quick to reject that the forerunner 405 had a problem but I should have kept my mouth shut.

Running through this downpour left my watch bleeping like crazy as I tried to stop the timer and move it off the training mode. In the end I had to wait for it to run out of battery life to switch off. Serious design flaw here.

I’ve had the forerunner 405 for a few months now and as it’s pretty much rained non-stop throughout the whole of summer, I find it hard to believe that I didn’t notice the problem earlier. I’m wondering if it could possibly be related to the recent firmware I downloaded – doesn’t really sound like a software issue but I’ve upgraded to the latest update just in case.

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Garmin Forerunner 405 – The Review

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As you all know, I think the Garmin Forerunner 305 is the best thing since sliced bread but I’m so fickle it’s taken barely a thought for me to stick it on ebay and swap it for the new version – the Forerunner 405.

I’d like to say the new and IMPROVED Forerunner 405 but is it?

Reading the spec list it’s hard to see where Garmin made any attempts to improve on what had gone before, they missed out by not making it fully waterproof and therefore tri suitable, for example. Instead they appear to have simply repackaged the existing 305 as a sports watch that can be worn all day with the bonus of a nifty touch sensitive bezel control.

Out of the box, I decided I liked the look and feel of the watch very much. Garmin put a lot of effort into design and the strap closure is ingenious, a big improvement on the 305 which kept coming loose, snagging on my clothing and risked falling off. A minor point maybe, but Garmin are big on the little details.

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The watch charged fully in 3 hours by the use of a strange bulldog style clip that slips snugly into a couple of recesses on the back of the watch. Another neat design but I fear it is just going to prove an inconvenience. With the 305 you uploaded data to the PC by slotting it into a USB docking station and it would charge at the same time as uploading. I’d leave my device in for a few minutes longer and thereby ensure I always hard a fully charged unit. With the 405, uploading data is automatic and will occur while the watch is still on your wrist, which now means I’ll have to remember to charge the unit separately.

In standby mode (ie time display only) the watch will supposedly last 20 days, although I’m down to 89% charged after 1 day so I doubt it will last much longer than a week. When used in active mode the battery life is expected to be in the region of 8 hours. So that’s another charging gizmo to be added to my pile of wires under my bed.

I thought the software was a bit of a faff to install, it didn’t happen automatically and I had to hunt around to see what it was that needed to be loaded up. It comes with Training Centre but after installing it I immediately removed it again because I remembered how pants it is. Instead I’m using the ANT uploader linked to Garmin Connect which is quite a neat online training log.

Setting up the watch is a doddle and it takes you through the process quickly with a mini tutorial that teaches you the basics of the bezel control. Basically:

  1. press and hold on the relevant label to access either time/date, training, menu or GPS functions
  2. slide around the bezel to move through menu options
  3. tap to accept
  4. tap in two separate places to activate the backlight

Forerunner 405 Virtual Partner

All very easy really. I had no problems using the bezel on the run, not that you need to use it much, you can tap to nudge the screen to a different view and in virtual partner mode you can increase/decrease the pace of your partner by sliding the bezel. I’m particularly fond of that feature as it means I can ensure I win every race now.

I’ve heard a few people fearing that accidental touches of the bezel would mess up the data but they shouldn’t worry. The start, stop and lap functions are all controlled by the big side buttons. Pressing the bezel during a run just alters the view – not a big deal. I haven’t tried it with gloves but as long as they aren’t massive affairs it shouldn’t be a problem.

For my first run I decided to set up a simple interval session, run 90 secs, walk 60 secs. I know that’s lame but I’ve got a cold and needed the walk periods to retrieve my hankies and have a good blow! Easy enough to setup, you don’t even need the manual. Features and settings are much more intuitive on the 405 than with its predecessor.

The intervals were well “signposted”, I was given a 5 second warning of loud beeps followed by a clear “chirrup” that marked the start of the next interval. I didn’t miss one and I appreciated the warning. A good feature.

forerunner-405-3

I personalised the display I wanted to see on the run, you can choose upto 9 features to be displayed on 3 screens. On my main screen I had pace, time and distance and I accepted the defaults for the other screens. It’s well worth playing around though as there appear to be some great features. This is available on the heart rate screen for example and shows progress within your heart rate zones.

I had set the screens to auto scroll but will turn this off for the next run, I think it is more convenient to control the screen I view by tapping the bezel, that way I don’t have to wait for it to get around to the bit I’m interested in.

Back home, I was just unlocking my door, when the watch beeped to say it was uploading data. By the time I’d staggered through the hall to the laptop, my stats were already displayed on the Garmin connect website.

As a simple everyday watch its functioning fine, but I would have preferred the power save mode to be the time and date screen, not just the time display. It’s a fiddle unlocking the bezel so I can access the date feature. Its also quite chunky so if you have a small wrist you are unlikely to find it very comfortable and it will probably overhang a little. I don’t have a small wrist though so I’m alright Jack.

I’m pretty pleased with it so far and think there are clear signs of improvement, I’ll be scrutinizing it further though and am particularly keen to see if there are any improvements with the speed in which it locks on to a GPS signal.

*UPDATE 22 July*

If you are in the market for a GPS running watch, this is the leader in my opinion but as for pros and cons of the 405 vs 305 here goes:

Pros:

  1. Faster GPS pick up, I’ve seen responses within seconds even when I’m moving but it is still not perfect. In heavily built up areas of London the reception is slow.
  2. Louder volume on the beep/alarm so you can actually use it for interval training.
  3. You can wear it as a watch all day – should last about 2 weeks before charging.
  4. There are a lot of new screens available and it is very easy to adjust – more intuitive than the 305.
  5. You can adjust the speed of the virtual training partner while you are on the run.
  6. Easy wireless upload.
  7. Smaller, lighter and more inconspicuous.

Cons:

  1. Sometimes the bezel seems to be a little unresponsive, so if I tap the edge to get to a different screen it may not respond, so I tap again and eventually it goes crazy and skips thru multiple screens.
  2. Because I don’t want the useless training centre on my computer I have to be quick if I want to upload the run to Sportstracks, as it doesn’t seem to save the file on my pc.
  3. When the watch gets wet – say from splashing at a water fountain – the bezel goes nuts and the forerunner generally doesn’t respond. Wipe it dry and its back to normal again. See comments 22-25 and here’s a link to one bloggers frustrating although amusing communication with garmin about the issue.

Not many cons really but maybe I’ll to them later.

Popularity: 100% [?]

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Nike+ Sportband Dies

Nike+ Sportband

The Nike+ Sportband is clearly not designed for use in British weather conditions, after this mornings run in the rain the watch has died on me. It was admittedly tipping it down but it’s supposed to be a running watch and runners run in the rain, they have to.

The screen has clouded up with condensation and half the display seems to have disappeared.

It’s quite a shame really as I enjoyed the motivating aspect of the online challenges. Oh well, at least it frees up another wrist.

Popularity: 25% [?]

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Salomon Challenge – An Introduction

I was enjoying a nice leisurely Saturday evening when JogBlog reminded me that today was the start of our double challenge combo.

Snazzy Free Stuff

Some months ago, Salomon contacted me (and several others) with the offer of oodles of snazzy free stuff in return for the completion of some crazy running feat. I am quite prepared to commit to almost anything 2 months prior to any requirement to expend actual energy, so I said yes, thought up some crazy feat, then sat back and forgot about it while enjoying the snazzy free stuff.

Unfortunately decisions made in haste have a tendency to turn around and bite you and today is the start of that lesson.

The Salomon Challenge

My challenge is to recreate the central London tube line (zone 1 and most of zone 2), running between stations to create my own GPS version of the underground map. Over on the right sidebar you can see a my challenge widget kindly provided by Salomon. It suggests that I will be doing this in a mere 11 days. This is a LIE. The challenge was for a crazy running feat not a suicidal one. My aim is to complete the task within 31 days. I’m also not a “he” but I’m prepared to let that one pass.

I’m not entirely sure what I have committed to, beyond the obvious – hours spent wandering around in circles trying to find the shortest route to the next tube station on the brown line, heck, maybe I’ll even get to learn the names of all those tube lines. It’s very difficult to work out the distances between stations. The London tube map is not to scale so I’ve been printing off geographical versions, tracing pieces of string around the track and totting it all up on my abacus.

An incredibly inaccurate estimate of the track length is 100km, but when you factor in the above ground restrictions, I can imagine my total distance coming closer to the 100 mile mark. This then explains the second challenge. JogBlog is aiming to run 100m in a month as part of her Salomon challenge so we’ve decided to coincide start dates for a little bit of competitive rivalry. Can either of us actually hit the 100m target? Can I do it first?

If I win I may even be tempted to throw a game of scrabble for her.

Anyway, back to today. By 8pm the pressure has built up sufficiently for me to consider a run. I grabbed the Garmin, Nike+, N82 with Sportstracker and iPod. Tooled up with hundreds of pounds worth of gadgets I get on a bus and head towards one of the seediest areas of West London. I was not in slightest bit surprised that when I puffed past a group of lads on the North End Road one of them said “Shall we mug her for her….” I didn’t hear the what for part, I wasn’t really hanging around at the point. Maybe they took a shine to my incredibly red Salomon XT Wings?

I wanted to start off slowly today so aimed to tick off one of the smallest sections of tube line on my map. That’s the district line (green line), Kensington Olympia branch and Hammersmith branch. I made a bit of a bodge though and included West Brompton into the mix which, although part of the district line, is actually on the Putney branch. So I messed up on the easiest section of the whole month, I may have to write tube names up my arm for the trickier sections. As it is, I’m running with the Nokia N82 in my hand watching the little dot moving around the google maps image.


View Larger Map

So todays tally:

Salomon XT Wings Challenge
6 Tube Stations complete
5.26 km total
Sports Tracker map with photos.

Warriorwoman vs Jogblog 100m Challenge Combo
3.3 miles total

…and in case you are all feeling sorry to be missing out on all these challenges, there is a third one starting on the 1st of June. Tis the annual Juneathon where you commit to run every single flipping day for a month. Head over to Joggerblogger’s joint to sign up and if you have a Nike+ thingummy you can join the challenge here as well.

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Utility Run

I’m supposed to be off work at the moment on study leave but it may as well be called gardening leave as I’m spending all my time on the allotment. Today I thought I’d make my non-studying day a little bit more productive by running to the plot and I’m glad I did as it brought me and the sportband just that little bit closer.

As usual I left the house with both wrists laden with super sporty gadgets but the garmin was playing me about big time. I was walking down the street exceedingly slowly but it was still taking an age sighting satellites. As I passed WHSmith I got bored and nipped in to see if they had anymore veg growing gazettes that I hadn’t yet read.
They hadn’t.
I went back out and the flippin garmin started back from scratch scanning the skies. A couple of minutes later, after numerous elderly folk had stood on the backs of my heels I decided it was time to start running – the gps would just have to run along behind me.

500m later the garmin beeped at me and asked if I was actually inside! I switched it off – power to the people! I was only running 2k so I couldn’t afford 10 mins at the start just to capture data, I could have walked it in that time.

No such nonsense from Nike+ Sportband. Just switch on, walk, press start – RUN.

My new discovery, the bit that makes me almost love the sportband, is all down to Buckeye. The training log over there on the righthand sidebar is driven by buckeyeoutdoor and if you have a blog you owe it to yourself to register and get yourself a widget – just look how cool it is! They’ve set up a Nike+ challenge and if you join that and then enter your Nike+ username in your profile, all your runs get automatically uploaded. In this day and age where I seem to be uploading my stats to about a million trillion different online logs, that sort of convenience is just impossible to resist.

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