Running with the nike plus

When it comes to running, i tend to love my tech. So it will come as no surprise that for a while now i’ve been looking at the Nike plus widget for the ipod. I usually listen to my ipod while i run, so adding a device that links to my ipod and tracks the distance and time of my runs seemed a fantastic idea.

The one think that but me off was initially, I thought it only worked with nike trainers with the nikeplus built in, however it looks like i was wrong with the addition of a simple carry case that fastens to your laces you can add the nikeplus sensor to any pair of trainers.

So you can imaging how happy I was when Lucinda treated me to a nike plus for Valentines day.

I have to say, so far i have been really impressed with the technology. Its pretty robust, i’ve yet to complete a run that has not been recorder and right out of the box its been accurate to a few hundred meters even on hill runs and marathons. One thing that isn’t too accurate is the time/speed break down, the chip can’t distinguish between running fast downhill with long strides and running slowly uphill with short strides, of course this averages out over a circuit, but it makes the speed analysis a bit of a waste of time. Another really cool features is that sports superstars like Paula Radcliffe and Lance Armstrong have pre-recored a number of motivational messages, telling like you have a new bp or you’ve reach a milage target. Unfortunately there a few bugs and i had Paula congratulate me after every run for 200 miles for a while.

One of the major selling points of the whole Nike plus system is the website that goes with it allowing you to download and share your results. For me this has proved to be a bit of a mixed bag, some of the features of the site are great, the ability to set and track goals is great, and create and take part in challenges. There are a few brocken bits of the site as well, there are several different colour levels that you achieve through distance logged, in theory each level get you new features in practice, I’ve yet to find one of the new features. Another huge let down is that you can’t import contacts from another Ap like your gmail account. The site uses get satisfaction, and there are hundreds of complaints about the social side of the site not working,  but Nike are yet to respond.