December 23, 2007 at 7:36 pm · Filed under Apparel, Equipment, Gadgets, Technical stuff
You should see the floor of my flat - tis littered with no end of exciting possibilities. I could of course take a snap and show you but then you’d see the truth, which involves an awful lot of boxes, wrapping and all those other things that I haven’t quite got round to putting away yet.
There are about 5 more months to go before I get thrown back into exam anxiety so in the meantime I’m needing a new project, that’s in addition to the running project and the allotment project which have ceased to be a new and have now slipped into the realms of “norm”. In times like these my fall back project always seems to be “teach yourself programming”, so here I am with a floor full of teaching manuals. The trouble with programming is the plethora of different languages out there, and then there are different variations of the same language like C, C+, C++ and C#, what is the novice supposed to make of it? As I can’t be bothered to research this too much I’ve opted to dabble with two languages at the same time: Python and VB.Net.
I’ve got python cos its free and sits nicely with computer that I just broke and accidentally forced into being a linux machine and VB.Net because that goes with my windows laptop and because Sporttracks, the best program ever (that I should have written) was developed in dotnet.
I’m sure no one is interested in all that but the other thing fighting for space on my floor is a little package that I’ve been asked to trial. Inside is a running rucsac the Salomon Raid Revo 20 and the latest Nokia N-carnation, the N82. What joy eh? I can see that I’ll have to go out and do a bit of running over the hols to try both of these gadgets out. Is it possible that the N82 could beat the N95 as running gadget par excellence?
The Raid Revo 20 is particularly welcome, I ordered the Inov8 Race Pro 18 ages ago but it seems to have been lost by the Royal Mail. I’ll try the salomon substitute tomorrow on my running commute and report back.
Popularity: 33% [?]
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Tags: allotment, commute, n82, n95, Sporttracks
June 17, 2007 at 11:55 pm · Filed under Running
I’ve just got back in from my run - it was a tough one. I’d meant to go out for a run with Shakti this morning but certain events, like the title of this blog post and then a rather large steak conspired to thwart me.
I’ve been going stir crazy most of the day and so despite having just eaten a large plate of chilli prawns and drunk most of a half bottle of ruby cabernet, I decided to push myself out for a run before bed. I don’t like running at dusk, its always light enough when I set off for me to think the river route would be a good plan but when I get to the other side it gets all dark and spooky. I kept feeling the presence of someone behind me, pushing me to a panic fuelled sprint towards the safety of the bridge. I had a stitch and was nearly sick by the time I got there. I felt sure that I must be on for a record time for the course but sporttracks doesn’t seem to be playing fair today, I was apparently a whole 2 minutes slower than yesterdays time. Mind you, no one ever claimed large volumes of red wine to be a performance enhancer.
So back to this morning….
I was in the middle of a dream when I was stirred by the sound of my door buzzer ringing repeatedly. I dragged myself out of bed keeping both eyes firmly shut. T’was Shakti so I released the door and went straight back to bed while she made her way up. It was 7.30 and I couldn’t fathom out why she’d decided to come round for our run quite so early. I hoped she’d just settle down quietly and let me finish off my dream in peace.
When she got in she was puffing like crazy so I rolled over and gave her one eyeball, my interest was stirred and I opened both eyes, then I sat bolt upright - all memories of my dream wiped out - don’t you hate it when that happens? Anyway, the vision in front of me is a woman in a skimpy t-shirt (no undergarment) and a pair of pants, thats pants in the knicker sense and not the trouser sense - there were no trousers! There were also no socks and no shoes. What the …?
Apparently Shakti had taken it upon herself to sweep her front garden and she decided it was perfectly acceptable to do this in a pair of high waisted pants. Of course, this is only going to end one way - the front door decides to slam shut and she found herself outside, completely exposed without phone, keys or clothes.
At this point I would have dug a waist high hole in my front garden and waited for a friendly visitor. Shakti decided she would sprint for a set of spare keys, thats a barefoot, bra-less 1 mile run through suburbia passing a busy bus route and the bus terminus. Good thing is, she decided she rather likes running, but only if she can do it barefoot and reckons she could even manage a marathon if someone swipd her trousers first.
Popularity: 30% [?]
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Tags: Sporttracks, t-shirt
March 18, 2007 at 10:15 am · Filed under Uncategorized
I’m a self confessed gadget freak and another close shave with ebay and a ridiculously expensive but absolutely essential running watch has triggered the creation of this page - my homage to sports gadgets, gear and utilities that you can almost not afford to live without.
Asics Gel Kayano 14
This is the latest incarnation of my favourite running shoe. The Asics Gel Kayano 14 is the high end offering in the asics stability range, and as such is designed for the mild overpronator. Like its predecessor the Kayano 13, it is one of the few shoes recommended for the heavier runner, which is perhaps why I am so attracted to it.
I wasn’t expecting a huge improvement between the Kayano 14 and the Kayano 13 but I have to say the new version is definitely more comfortable. I’ve had these two models under the spot light trying to find an explanation for the differences in the ride. There is an increased amount of gel around the rear foot and I’m pretty sure the foam at the heel has increased in thickness too. Apparently the foam is a new springier version and there is a new heel collar. Although I can’t tell the latter points by looking at the shoe I do get the sense that my foot is being held at the heel. It’s an odd sensation really, rather as though my foot is being guided onto the ground as I run. It makes me feel quite stable and sure footed and I found myself ducking and diving a bit on my first run with them.
Runnersworld tagged these as the “best update” in their spring shoe buyers guide and I have to agree. I got mine from Distance.co.uk who are offering the best deal I’ve found so far - the cheapeast price, free delivery and super prompt dispatch.
Nokia N95
Here’s my review of the all new, potential running wonder gadget, the Nokia N95.
This phone has a lot of similarities to the much hailed iPhone, in that it’s a do-all wonder phone. Differences are that the N95 is available now, does more but of course isn’t quite as pretty or desirable.
I got it cos I love Swiss army knife electronic gadgets and I sold it to myself on the basis that I would now be able to run with a lot less stuff in my pocket. This one phone replaces my old phone, an iPod, a 5MP compact camera and a GPS unit. Admittedly I never run with a compact camera, preferring to settle for the rather spiffing model included with my old super slim an’ sexy Samsung D900.
So this now means I am running around with a considerably larger brick in my running shorts. I still haven’t weaned myself off the separate iPod either so I am going to have to work hard to prove the running wonder gadget claim. So far it just pulls my shorts around my ankles as I try to run.
Great features of the phone are its camera - a 5MP number with a load of different settings and in phone editing options. You can crop photos and then immediately upload them to flickr which is quite useful. I’ve never seen a phone camera with as many configurable settings. Quality is good too.
The video is of extraordinarily high quality but I seem incapable of uploading this to youtube without spending 2 days converting and then shredding with windows movie maker. The TdF movie I placed on the blog shows no resemblance to the version you see on the N95. I am clearly inept.
The best bit is the mapping feature. It has a built in GPS which will home in on your current location in a Google Earth style. You can either download the local maps to your memory card in advance or it will download the area as and when required. I’ve downloaded all the Prague maps so that I can find my hotel without recourse to a street map. Fingers crossed this works or me and my phone will become quite unpopular, quite soon.
The media player is again very good but I haven’t yet sussed out a very efficient way of loading my tracks onto the phone. I really need it to link with iTunes so I don’t have to do any faffing with new libraries and playlists and stuff but at the moment I am restricted to the application shipped in the box. I may come back to this when I’ve sussed out my options.
One weird thing with the phone is that shutting the slider doesn’t end a call. That has got me into trouble a few times when I have made comments about the call while still connected. There is a dble slider mechanism which acts to switch the layout between portrait and landscape and I imagine this is way it doesn’t close connections.
Its a doddle to connect up to the internet, using either my service provider network or any unsecured wireless LAN. This is a great thing because now I can access facebook from work and generally bypass their outrageous 15min internet restriction. An amazing number of sites work very well on the small screen.
I also wanted to get rid of my pda when I got the phone so I am now relying quite heavily on the calendar function. This is by no means as good as my dell axim version, as it is not easy to see what is lined up for a future week without looking at individual days. You can sync the calendar directly with google calendar or any iCal calendar by using goosync so I am currently trying to live my life out online. Hopefully I won’t miss anything too important in the teething stages.
It has a standard array of Office applications but unfortunately these are only viewers for reading email attachments. I think you can fork out for editable versions of these packages but that’s just too disappointing.
So in summary, it is not really your common or garden go-faster type of running gadget, more a gentle sauntering along, holding the waist band of you shorts sort of running gadget. It will encourage you to stop regularly to take amazing snaps of cows, edit them on the fly and then publish on-the-move, blog posts direct from flickr. You may also need to stop from time to time to confirm your location on the gps, search for the nearest pub and alter the route accordingly.
*UPDATE* I’ve now moved on to the Nokia N82, check out my first impressions and a comparison of the two phones here.
Garmin Forerunner 405
The latest version of the amazing Forerunner series. The GPS running watch has now been packaged as an everyday watch and is now smaller than a brick. It has a swanky touch sensitive bezel and all new graphical features but it’s still no good for swimming.
Check out my review here.
Garmin Forerunner 305
This is a dream machine, its like one of those tamagotchi pets that you have to look after. My tamagotchi forerunner requires exercise and it’s nutrients come in the form of data - it physically pushes me out of the door with my trainers and forces me to find new routes to entertain it. I haven’t started stroking it yet but its a close call.
The 05-series looks a little more attractive than its predecessor (01-series) but its still a shed of a computer to put on your wrist, its never going to become your everyday watch. The 305 also has added heart rate functionality unlike the 205 model.
The forerunner is first and foremost a gps unit so this means maps, lots of em, you’ll find this blog littered with images of my routes. If you do the same route day in and day out you are rewarded with the same image - here lies the motivator to get out and run new routes and further distances and so on.
It’s been designed with runners in mind so it provides the typical data fields such as pace, distance, time etc but you can also set the exercise mode to bike or other so then you can switch speed for pace if thats more appropriate. Back with running, I have mine set to beep at each km to tell me what my average pace has been which is really useful for hassle free pacing in a race. If you really want to be sure of hitting your target you can set up a virtual racing partner and chase a dot around the screen - just be aware of lampposts, rivers and other obstacles.
The jewel in the forerunner’s crown is SportTracks an independant and free software utility that just rocks! More on that down the page.
Polar RS800SD
I’m a sinner! Despite having proclaimed a serious commitment to the forerunner I appear to be shifting my affections towards another. So far I have been able to resist - it is after all, shockingly expensive - but ultimately resistance is futile, so I will attempt to rationalise my decision to have two all singing, all dancing running machines.
This watch would be the absolute pinnacle of runners watches, if only it had gps functionality.
Polar have rightly chosen to stick with their speed sensor footpod to determine running distances and speed. I’ve mentioned before in my comparison of the Polar RS200SD and the Garmin Forerunner 305, that the polar model actually provides more useful information when you are out on the run as its pace reading is stable and reliable. GPS on the other hand tends to jump around a bit as the signal strength wavers, even on apparently clear days I have to alter my route a little in sporttracks as it keeps suggesting that I was running along the riverside path and alternately jumping from path to the middle of the river and back again.
The downside of the speed sensor model is that it doesn’t enable you to plot glorious little route maps of where you’ve been and also the foot pod isn’t a great way of telling how fast you are travelling on a bike or skis for example. Now if it had a little gps add-on, it would be made! Well what do you know? Polar have announced that a little GPS add-on will shortly be available for the RS800 so all my dreams are about to come true.
One of the other super useful features present on the RS800SD is that it measures cadence and stride length, I could have hours of fun tripping myself up as I try to both reduce my stride length and increase my cadence.
Oh and its waterproof, so if I ever did jump into the middle of the Thames or move to the tri-side I could still collect data.
Right, I’m sold, I’m just off to Ebay again……
SportTracks
If you’ve got a gps unit then you need SportTracks, don’t worry, this one is free so you definately can afford it. Even it you don’t have a gps I reckon its still worthwhile having as your dedicated training log - it just won’t look so pretty without the route maps.
This screen shot just shows the basic activity screen but there is stacks more hidden away - weekly, monthly and yearly reports; splits; athlete stats including weight and injury/illness status. Again the blog is littered with examples.
Asics Barrios Backpack
Not terribly geeky but I’m chuffed with it all the same.
I use it for commuting, where I can get it to hold the bare essentials very snugly and I’ve had no chaffing injuries despite running about 75 km with it (not in one go).
It has a peculiar bottle holder that I haven’t fathomed out how to use and the side mesh pockets are too tight to fit in anything that I’ve tried to shove in there but they would take gels etc.
It has a stowable holder for your cycle helmet and I’ve tried running the Bushy Park Time Trial while wearing the backpack laden with cycling shoes and helmet - didn’t lose anything. Its quite comfortable for cycling too but if was going on a long trip I may need to start looking around for a bigger sac.
*UPDATE* I have now found the larger sack I needed for fully loaded running commutes. After trying both the Inov8 Race Pro 18 and the Salomon Raid Revo 20, I have plumped for the Salomon model. Extremely comfortable, if perhaps a bit sweaty on the back, and holds everything I need.
Popularity: 45% [?]
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Tags: asics, backpack, bushy park, commute, Forerunner, Forerunner 305, Forerunner 405, Garmin, GPS, illness, injury, n82, n95, nokia, polar, RS800SD, runnersworld, salomon_raid_revo, Sporttracks, Swimming, thames
March 11, 2007 at 7:32 pm · Filed under Cycling, Event, Off road, Running
I really enjoyed the run this week at Bushy Park, I bumped into Rodiogirl and her daughter, who was preparing for her first assault on the time trial, and joined them both for the event. It was quite a novelty to run around the park with someone else, and the converstaion really helped to keep my mind off the the fact that I don’t like running!
It felt like a slowish pace, very comfortable, which usually means walking, and yet on the final straight it looked like I wasn’t far off last weeks pb time. I would like to wax lyrical about the speedy properties of the enell contraption but now that I’m losing my anonymity and keep meeting people who know me from the blog, I really think its time to stop discussing my underwear habits.
Final result: 5km in 35:42
Thanks Rodiogirl and congratulations on a great run Kathryn
Straight after the run I met up with fellow blogger Jason for blast around Richmond Park on the mountain bikes.
Something went a bit awry with the garmin on the return trip, I somehow managed to switch it off as I joined the park at Richmond and didn’t notice until Robin Hood gate. It’s messed the stats up somewhat but piecing all the events of the day together, gives a total of 52km. I was exhausted for the rest of the day, the cycling and running combination seems to knock me for six, imagine the effects of adding swimming into this mix as well.
SportTracks declared a whopping calorie expenditure in excess of 4000 for the mornings activities, which had me planning a mammoth feast until I realised I had left my watch set in running mode. Correcting this saw the calorie calculation plummeting and all my excitement fading away with it.
Popularity: 32% [?]
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Tags: BPTT, Garmin, Sporttracks, Swimming
March 8, 2007 at 11:00 pm · Filed under Running, Technique
Shakti joined me for a short run around the block last night. She hasn’t been running for a few months so she was even more reticent than usual. I’ve said before that running is a ridiculously psychological sport but Shakti has got to be the most psychological runner I know. We start at a reasonable pace but 20 seconds in she appears to start running backwards, I grab her sleeve and we carry on as normal for a while. Then I feel really strong resistance and find that she actually has turned around and started running in the opposite direction. I get behind now and start nudging her forwards in the right direction.
Despite the pulling, nudging and prodding, I really enjoy these runs, they are quite a bit slower than I’m used to and I feel comfortable and chatty. At just over 8 mins per km I still have the breath to holler abuse in the true sargeant major style - “Move that ass you good for nothing idler!”. Nice aren’t I.
The funny thing is, the moment we turn around and I announce we are on the way back, Shakti starts sprinting like a banshee. This shuts me up, I have to start my puffing billy routine while I tag along behind her desperately trying to keep her within my sights. Needless to say she doesn’t return the favour and pull me along by my sleeve.
So my plan for todays commute home was to go slow. I wanted to add a “slow for me” slow run to the routine instead of every run being at the same pace. As I set off it seemed to be paying off, despite the niggles in my hip I was feeling fairly comfortable and I didn’t feel the need to jump in front of a bus within the first 2k.
I had to change my route and run to my home today. Shakti is out go-cart racing or something exciting like that and is therefore not available to make my tea or run me a lovely soapy bath. What a bummer eh? Also the sun is staying above the horizon for a bit a longer now so I also intended to shift my route to take in a bit of riverside beauty. I made 3 attempts to hit the river around Brentford but each time I was introduced to a lovely riverside promenade that lasted about 10 metres before being thrown back onto the grotty Brentford High St. I was cursing the inefficiency of my run until I got home and loaded the satellite data into SportTracks - another perfect 10 km run. How lovely is that??? I’m going to have to make those irritating riverside detours every time though now.
SportTracks also revealed the truth about my pace. Although slow, it was pretty much on a par with my previous commuting runs. The average pace for the 10 km route today was 07:52/km, the average for the previous 3 commutes has been: 07:51, 07:50, 07:51. You’d think I must run like a metronome but this excel graph shows the degree of variation.
I find it odd that I can complete the route literally within seconds of my previous time despite setting off with completely different pacing intentions. Psychological I tell you!
Popularity: 20% [?]
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Tags: commute, Sporttracks
February 22, 2007 at 11:20 pm · Filed under Running
Oh blimey it was a struggle today, as I type my legs are seizing up. During the run my legs felt like lead and the tarmac like sand, I only continued because I thought it must be good for the soul to suffer so greatly. I convinced myself that I would need to be prepared for miles like this if I was ever to reach marathon distances.
Funny thing is, after I loaded the results onto sportTracks I see that my time was actually faster than last week, weird. While I was out running I was convincing myself that the first half is always bad as it’s a relentless uphill struggle but again sportTracks reveals the truth - downhill all the way
.
Final results: 10 km 1:18:29
Popularity: 15% [?]
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Tags: commute, Sporttracks
February 15, 2007 at 11:07 pm · Filed under Running
Despite a few resistant sniffles I reckon I am back on form and so today was time to push myself to run home again.
Result: 10 km in 1:18:43
It was an interesting run, typically it was a struggle to start with and at the 2k stage I was patting down all my pockets to check that I had remembered to pack the oyster travelcard. At the half way point though I had a bid grin on my face and the run started picking up. I had started forlornly as my legs felt really heavy and I kept threatening to trip over cracks in the pavement. Looking at photos from the BPTT run at the weekend I’ve noticed that one of the differences between me and the “proper” runners is that my feet never leave the ground. I started focussing on this at the 7k mark and actively changed my stride, forcing myself to raise the knee as I ran. I didn’t consciously alter my pace but the sporttracks image shows a great improvement in the pace of the later k’s.
I chose to run in my old shoes today as they are a half size larger and don’t cause my toes to blacken but by 5k I was noticing all my old niggles returning - ITB and hip pain that hasn’t troubled me since the physio encouraged me to change my shoes. I was quite pleased with this in a perverse way, it at least meant that I hadn’t wasted hard earned cash with the physio. I’ve found a site offering my Asics Kayano X11’s at almost half the price so I’ve ordered a new pair with the extra toe room.
Popularity: 20% [?]
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Tags: asics, BPTT, commute, knee, Sporttracks
January 17, 2007 at 9:23 pm · Filed under Equipment, Running, Software
I’m still intent on running home once a week, so today I repeated the exact same running route as last week. I again finished the 10k distance in 1hr 20mins, and was strangely within 15 seconds of my previous time.
Given that it was direct replay of last weeks route, there isn’t much point me repeating the sporttracks image. Instead I’ve used it as an excuse to introduce my new discovery - everytrail.com. I first came across this on The Trail Runners blog which is certainly worth a read.
Everytrail allows you to upload your running tracks directly from your GPS unit, add waymarks and photos and provides a really simple way to share the route as an iframe on your blog. Non of this is all that new really but I’m particularly happy that I can also directly upload the gpx file. This means I can plot out a route on memory map and upload it without actually having to cover the course with my garmin. I used this feature when I needed to plot my friends planned commute. I was able to stick it on the web for him to peruse at work and determine whether it was a manageable distance.
If you use another mapping package that saves the routes in an alternative format (eg tracklogs), you might want to try out GPSBabel which is a free tool for converting routes into the gpx format.
Popularity: 30% [?]
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Tags: commute, everytrail, Garmin, GPS, motionbased, Sporttracks
January 1, 2007 at 3:01 pm · Filed under Equipment, Gadgets, Running, Software
pure
Originally uploaded by warriorwomen.
Running is normally considered the minimalist sport, much favoured by purists who just like to pop on a pair of shoes and head out of the door to freedom. I somehow manage to thwart this image and see a necessity in spending the best part of a months salary on “essential” running clobber.
This snap shows a representative sample of the gear I require to push one foot in front of the other. Its amazing I can even move under the weight of all this gear.
Dr Nick asked me, a few entries back, whether the GPS actually improved my running performance or whether it was just the gadget factor. Thats quite a toughy really. It has undoubtedly improved my running but only really by providing me with the incentive to get out there and run.
I suppose the actual question he wanted answering was “will it improve my running?”. This again is a tough question. I tend to think if it was going to work for you, you’d have one by now.
I enjoy the post run analysis more than the actual running. If I forgot the garmin - I just wouldn’t bother running, it has become the most important feature to me. I run to feed its little data banks. If you were just such a data fiend I reckon you wouldn’t have any difficulty rationalising the expense.
Here’s my list of “essential” running gadgets and utilities from 2006:
- Garmin Forerunner 305 - see above for my sad addicts confession. Here for a review and comparison with other speed and distance monitors. Plenty of other bloggers have seen the light as well and adorn their sites with the maps and stats acquired en-route: Steve’s Running, Trail Runner, Celeste and Getting Buff
- SportTracks - Training log software. I’m tempted to put this in at number 1 as it is the reason that the garmin forerunner is such a dream gadget. Without SportTracks the gps system would be seriously emasculated. SportTracks is available for free download and I can’t recommend it strongly enough for anyone with a gps unit. It is by and far the best sports diary I have come across. Whats more it continues to be a work in progress, with the developer working closely with the users to make it increasingly brilliant. Most of the stats I dsplay in this blog are cut directly out of SportTracks.
- Runners World Marathon schedules - I’m not up for the marathon yet but these have been made available as downloadable schedules for the garmin forerunner. You can select the schedule based on standard predicted finish times or alter each for your specific target. I’ve been playing around with these schedules as part of the testing phase and have found them to be excellent. Even without completing the full program I now have a load of training routines to add variety to my runs.
- iPod Nano - I don’t run with this all the time, sometimes its a joy to hear the birds and the rowers. The good thing about running with music though is that it adds an element of bouncing fun and it stops me hearing my gasping breath. It also stops me from hearing the fattist abuse hurled from white vans. I haven’t been tempted by the Nike+ phenomonen, mainly because I have the forerunner, but you can see some interesting Nike+ paraphenalia at Booyaa.
- The Filter. One of the reasons I don’t use the iPod too much while running is that I struggle to develop suitably stirring playlists. I just can’t be arsed to dedicate that much time to iTunes. My latest discovery is another free download and seems to be working wonders for my playlist doldrums. I can highlight a few songs that typify the mood I’m after and then press a magic button on The filter console and watch it search through my library to propose a whole new playlist. Apparently it learns from its mistakes and takes into account both my preferences and those of the online community. It seems pretty good so far.
Popularity: 51% [?]
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Tags: Forerunner, Garmin, GPS, Nike, runnersworld, Sporttracks
January 1, 2007 at 2:03 pm · Filed under Running
I woke to a new year and discovered a brand new grey hair slap in the middle of my forehead. Tis a feisty little critter, taking evasive action as I attempted a pincer attack with my thumb and forefinger. Looks like it will get to live out another day.
Illness, injury, dark nights and life in general seems to have got in the way of my running schedule recently. This summary chart from SportTracks illustrates the lack lustre end to the year as there were two weeks of zero running in both November and December.
I’ve made the most of the festive break to get back into a routine and had a great time in Richmond Park this morning, sliding around in the mud and leaf mould. I’ve taken heart from the marathon trainers who are showing great commitment by building up their mileage despite the inclement weather and grotty dark days.
Although I’m not planning a marathon event this year, I do want to take part in a few more races and as I’m half-heartedly considering the Great North Run, I need to build up my running stamina. I’ve decided to leave my bike at home once a week and run home from work. That way I get a decent 12k run in the middle of the week without having to get up early or dragging myself back out into the cold after I’ve made it home in the evening.
Popularity: 12% [?]
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Tags: illness, injury, Sporttracks
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